MMORPG - I must make a decision

[Schmidty]

I have hemmed and hawed (whatever that means) about which mmo I am going to stick with for the past 6 months. I've tried them all, and am down to 3 choices. I have a $30 Gamestop gift card (from doing surveys) and have decided to use it for one of the games.

1. WOW - I've played WoW off and on since launch and it still feels like an old friend, albeit one that gets a tad boring on occasion. I have some friends from '05 that still play and the urge to go back is strong at times. I have all of the expansions, so it wouldn't be a biggie to use my game card.

2. Rift - I bought Rift when it came out and played it with some people from FOFC for the free 30 day trial. In some ways, I loved it: The character customization was awesome, and the graphics were excellent on my newly built comp., and people there seemed pretty laid-back and interested in building a good gameworld. On the negative, leveling seemed slow and repetitive and the world seemed very, very sparse ad small. I kind of think of it as something with great potential, but I'm not sure how much time I want to invest in potential.

3. LotR Online - This one is the setting I like the most, for obvious reasons. I like the environments, the classes, races, story, etc. I love the idea of how cool it would be if I could actually get out of the fricking teens level-wise. And that brings up one of the problems. The whole beginning is b-o-r-i-n-g. Comb, Staddle, Bree, blah, blah, blah, slit my wrist. The world just feels totally and utterly dead. I also am not sure about the whole buy points to play without a handicap. I don't mind paying a monthy fee, but it doesn't seem like you get much for that. You still have to buy crap at the store to keep up. It's like this game has the most innate interest to me, but takes the most....energy? I guess is the word.

Anyway, I just wanted to see any other views on these games to help me out.

[jeff061]

I'm still playing quite a bit in Rift. Been at 50 for a couple months now and love it. No interest in going back and playing 1-49 over again though, which I suppose says something in and of itself. They have added a looking for group tool which makes it much easier to get into dungeons, something I struggled with mightily while leveling. Skipped over quite a few until I hit 50 and played them all on expert.

As for the world being small, what level did you get up to? I think the world is a good sized, but more importantly(at least to me) is the tremendous variety. Every zone and every dungeon is extremely different, it's own distinct flavor.

The only thing that makes the world small, in my opinion, is the number of ports that let you jump anywhere in the world in a second. Of course I haven't played other games with that feature, they all required you running vast distances which in turn made the world larger.

[Scoobz0202]

I am actually in the same boat as you. I had tried WOW, enjoyed it to an extent, but something about it just wasn't it for me. Graphically, I was not a fan. Something else I couldn't place, but not really sure. I may give it another go.

I purchased Rift, but have yet to play it, which is pretty stupid. But hearing it's similar to WoW in a way made me leery.

LoTR Online. Like you, should love it, but the little I played recently the world just felt dead. If this had the population of say, WoW, it could be epic.

The game I actually have started to play recently is EverQuest 2. Not very far, but as a former EQ player a decade back something drew me in. I do not know if I will stick with it, because the most important part I remembered about EQ was the community. I feel that EQ2 may be dieing, or dead.


In the end, I really feel that I will probably just be sitting on my hands until the next big one that comes along and hit it at release. Hopefully I can find one that has the right gaming mechanisms for me, but more importantly, a real, good, vibrant, community. It may be 6+ months before that happens, but I will wait. Star Wars: TOR may be the first one I hop on. But I see others that have potential, ArchAge, TERA, Guild Wars 2... I'll just have to wait and see.

[Mustang]

I'm holding off on joining a MMORPG until Old Republic comes out sometime between now and 2015.

[tyketime]

I can share my experiences with those games:

1. WoW- I decided to play this 2 years or so ago. I ended up subscribing for 3 months. While it was fun, I didn't like the sense of elitism I felt regarding the game and particularly players who've been with it for many years.

2. Rift - I'm currently playing this although truthfully I've lost some interest in the past few weeks. I bought a 6-month subscription, but at this point would not be inclined to renew. I also joined a guild and had some fun there (1st time I've ever joined a guild). The problem for me is that I am a very casual player (6-10 hrs/week tops). I was excited to join a brand new game, but quickly saw myself fall behind the other players who spend much more time playing.

3. LOTRO - I am actually a Lifetime Member. This is the one i have enjoyed the most. But I never reached the Level 65 cap (soon to be raised to 75). I hated Moria, and I really despise the whole Legendary Item system. I stopped playing for about 6 months, but picked it back up again last month. My concern here is that they have quickened the pace to gain experience and thus levels (I do not have the Isengard 25% xp bonus). But I'm finding that by Level 15 or so, I am already 2-3 levels ahead of many of the quests in that area. But like you, from a story perspective, this is the one I appreciate the most.

So... I'm starting to question whether I want to back off MMOs and stick to single-player games where I don't have to worry about my pace of play. I'm enjoying the Witcher 2. On the other hand, I like what I'm reading (and seeing) with Guild Wars 2. The fact that I wouldn't have to pay a monthly subscription means this would be the next MMO title I buy (if I jump onto another MMO).

[GrantDawg]

1. Wow just didn't "grab" me. I liked it to start, but the lame graphics, the Leet Dudez, and no interest in the world/story killed it for me. Just couldn't stick with it.

2. Haven't played Rift.

3. Played LOTRO till they went "free." Saw it was a crock, and never went back. Well, that is not true. I did log-on after the change, but saw how horrible the FTP was (everything I imagined in a bad way, and then some). They just absolutely ruined a great game. I had three maxed out characters, and two more close. Yet, I was still enjoying the game (and paying them monthly) until they said "hey, all you people that made this game a success. Look at our middle finger." Greatest game ever destroyed. *sigh*

[CrimsonFox]

play pong

[Thomkal]

You should play City of Heroes now that its going "Freedom". :) I too have played all three. I would be hard pressed to pick any of the three in your situation.

WoW has the best gameplay overall of the three-been around forever with lots and lots to do and just went through an overall of at least the early level experience. Graphics just don't do it for me. You seem to love the game as you have all the expansions and the benefit of friends you can hook up with again so that's the one I would pick in your situation.

Rifts sadly has lost a good deal if its initial charm and sparkle for me. Levelling is getting tedious doing most of it solo for me, and I have a few alts that I havent played in a while because of the tediousness. But just yesterday I was in the mountains above the Sagespire and just really enjoying exploring looking around and below at the areas of the game I hadn't seen yet-its really a beautiful game. But a lot of people have left I think and zone event and invasions seem to go on almost unnoticed at times. Rift in three years will be a lot better I think, but will it survive to get there?

LOTRO I played for a while, and I didn't mind the early game experience-in fact I thought the Combe, Staddle, Bree area was a lot of fun. I liked the elven starting area too. I don't know if this has changed, but the main story quests were not soloable when I was there, which kind of destroys the interest in the game. I drifted away from it more because other games went free to play or came out, but likely would go back at some point. I'm guessing you have some characters still there, so at least you wouldn't have to start over and do all those boring parts again. If you feel you can invest the energy and time to get over that part to the "promised land", then maybe that's the route you should go.

I played the original Guild Wars and there was a lot to like, but some downright irritating things that just drove me completely away-like whenever you left a town or city, you'd be back in an instance where everything that you killed before would be back and would attack again no matter how many levels higher you were over it-just frustrating that I had to kill easy stuff just to get it out of my path to get to an area more appropriate for my level.

If I had to pick a fantasy MMO to put my money on right now, I might pick Everquest2 or Dungeons and Dragons Online over those two. DDO is definitely not for solo play at least after the first few levels, but its so cool that almost every quest is in some kind of dungeon rather than an outdoor area-and is chock a block full of Dungeons and Dragons love from my teenage/college years.

[BrianD]

So are there any free or free-ish MMORPGs that have a decent crafting system and craft leveling system? I don't want to be forced to fight to gain character points with which to level crafting skills.

[PackerFanatic]

I say wait for SW:TOR :)

[BYU 14]

I like Rift better than any I have played (EQ, EQ2, WOW) though I have not had a lot of time to play recently. It was boring early on and I nearly quit playing, but it has definitely gotten a lot better the higher I have leveled.

[Thomkal]

So are there any free or free-ish MMORPGs that have a decent crafting system and craft leveling system? I don't want to be forced to fight to gain character points with which to level crafting skills.

I went looking for an answer for this over at MMORPG.com because I knew there were some out there but I had never played one. The one mentioned the most was Vanguard, run by Sony, but looking like its dying a slow death as it's not had an update in over a year from what I can tell. It's not free alas either. Here's a YouTube explanation of its crafting and harvesting system-I didn't watch it past the first seconds, so can't say anything about its quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg5f-IXSmCs

Others mentioned in people looking for good crafting systems forum posts and articles are Ryzom (free), Fallen Earth (soon to be F2P), Darkfall (not free), Wurm Online (free), and Everquest2. I have played that one, and its a good crafting system, but not one that you just craft alone like you are looking for. You might join MMORPG.com and post in their forums-there are so many games out there these days its hard to keep up with the basic game mechanics let alone crafting.

[Thomkal]

Oh I forgot to mention A Tale in the Desert-not free alas, but I've always been intrigued by it, but not enough to pay for it. The game resets when a player reaches the title of Pharaoh in the game-every 7 months to a year I think-and Tale 6 starts later this year. Its very much an oddball game compared to the other MMORPG's out there today. Its a society building game where people work together to complete tasks in areas such as architect, religion, politics, etc. Lots and lots of crafting fun to be had there.

[BrianD]

Thanks for the info, I'll give some of those a try. A Tale in the Desert looks interesting, but I don't really get enough playing time to make any investment worthwhile. That is why I was looking for free or mostly free. Looks like some potentially good options in there.

[JediKooter]

What? No poll?