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If you're a Star Wars fan... or even if you aren't so much, I believe The Old Republic will be amazing. Also, this won't be an MMO per say, but I think Diablo III deserves to be mentioned especially if you've play the previous ones.
 
If you're a Star Wars fan... or even if you aren't so much, I believe The Old Republic will be amazing. Also, this won't be an MMO per say, but I think Diablo III deserves to be mentioned especially if you've play the previous ones.

No doubt Diablo 3 will have it’s sales run as with any Blizzard title. But I have a feeling that the Diablo/Rogue class of game has had its run. It doesn’t really seem to fit in with modern standards in multiplayer RPG’s. I think they are trying real hard to give a new twist to an old concept. I don’t see D3 as a title that will live up to its previous reputation.
 
Star Wars seems like a super carebear game to me so far. I suppose if that’s the case it would have a pretty good appeal to saga lovers and RPers but it doesn’t look like they are putting a lot of effort into PVP aspects of it. It has a KOTOR like combat system but I’m not sure how that will play into end-game “raiding” since that type of play seems to drive a lot of other MMOs.

I'm trying to imagine exactly what the SWTOR end game would consist of?
 
I think the only game that I've played that even comes close to WoW is EVE Online, which is amazing. I've invested enough hours in WoW though that I don't feel like switching to EVE. Although EVE is more my kind of game, WoW is still very fun (especially battlegrounds :cool:)
 
Last I heard that is going to have a monthly subscription. I'll tell you what I did not like about the original GWs as far as MMOs go- invisible walls, no jumping, no accidental falling to your death, and 100% instanced questing space.

My impression is that it could be pretty good if you had dedicated parties, people you partied with on a regular basis. For a comparison, in WoW, 30% of the time I would meet people out in the wilds by chance and group with them on the fly as necessity dictated. Could not do that in GW. I wonder if any of that will change with GW2?

Well the pay to play model seems to make games good at least. It's always better to pay to play something that works right and has good "maintenance" than to waste your time beta testing with a million kids who only play because they don't have a credit card. :p
 
I think the only game that I've played that even comes close to WoW is EVE Online, which is amazing. I've invested enough hours in WoW though that I don't feel like switching to EVE. Although EVE is more my kind of game, WoW is still very fun (especially battlegrounds :cool:)
Yeah. Blizzard has a way to keeping you playing and try to reach that ever moving goal. EVE has its “veterans” as well. It seems that these are the only real full MMOs that emerged successful in this age. Most others have been dwindled a lot by WoW even to the point where they offer it for free with some other mode of funding. If they have to do that, it must mean they lost a lot of subscribers but just don’t want to outright abandon their users.

DDO is one sad story. You’d figure that DND is the original and should make an example of the genre. Now they became free and reduced much of their servers.
 
You probably know I burned out on WoW in Nov09. I've been having a good time with Dragon Age and just got hold of Mass Effect 2 but I've been missing online questing. No, I can't go back to WoW, very much been there done that. However after perusing a recent PCGamer, I'd like to ask has anyone played:

Runes of Magic or Dungeons and Dragons Online, both now offering free play. Does anyone here consider these games worth messing with on a very casual basis?

If you have personal knowledge, how solo friendly are they?
Are they all instanced questing space or a mix of public and instanced space? I believe D&DO is all instanced questing space not sure.
Invisible walls like Guild Wars?

Other MMOs mentioned were WoW, Aion, Champions Online, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online and Fallen Earth. I tried LOTRO in beta and it under whelmed me. Maybe it's improved. AOC got trashed during it's early days. My addicted Wow friend told me Aion was so-so (can I trust her judgment?) ;)

I have to admit I'm a little excited about StarWars Online because I read you can fill up your party with A.I. team members. Although I'm not adverse to having real people in my parties, having a group at your disposal seems attractive.
 
You probably know I burned out on WoW in Nov09. I've been having a good time with Dragon Age and just got hold of Mass Effect 2 but I've been missing online questing. No, I can't go back to WoW, very much been there done that. However after perusing a recent PCGamer, I'd like to ask has anyone played:

Runes of Magic or Dungeons and Dragons Online, both now offering free play. Does anyone here consider these games worth messing with on a very casual basis?

If you have personal knowledge, how solo friendly are they?
Are they all instanced questing space or a mix of public and instanced space? I believe D&DO is all instanced questing space not sure.
Invisible walls like Guild Wars?

Other MMOs mentioned were WoW, Aion, Champions Online, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online and Fallen Earth. I tried LOTRO in beta and it under whelmed me. Maybe it's improved. AOC got trashed during it's early days. My addicted Wow friend told me Aion was so-so (can I trust her judgment?) ;)

I have to admit I'm a little excited about StarWars Online because I read you can fill up your party with A.I. team members. Although I'm not adverse to having real people in my parties, having a group at your disposal seems attractive.

DDO *puke*. At least the last time I tried it it was all instance based. Barely anyone was around to play with because that’s how much it sucked. Look up Wikipedia for the history. They shrunk and shrunk and eventually became free because no one wanted to pay for it. It reminded me of a 3D Diablo really…but behind it’s times for the MMO age.

I tried LoTRO after beta and it didn’t change all that much. It’s like WoW…but NOT!

Just wait for Old Republic of WoW Cataclysm where they are going to revamp the whole world or some crap.

Or just try EVE and see if that suits you. It’s a different pace that other MMO’s. You can get like a 14 day trial or something or if you want, PM me and I can invite you to a 21 day one. I haven’t played in a while, but last time I checked they just had a revamp in graphics and stuff among other things.
 
DDO *puke*. At least the last time I tried it it was all instance based. Barely anyone was around to play with because that’s how much it sucked. Look up Wikipedia for the history. They shrunk and shrunk and eventually became free because no one wanted to pay for it. It reminded me of a 3D Diablo really…but behind it’s times for the MMO age.

I tried LoTRO after beta and it didn’t change all that much. It’s like WoW…but NOT!

Just wait for Old Republic of WoW Cataclysm where they are going to revamp the whole world or some crap.

Or just try EVE and see if that suits you. It’s a different pace that other MMO’s. You can get like a 14 day trial or something or if you want, PM me and I can invite you to a 21 day one. I haven’t played in a while, but last time I checked they just had a revamp in graphics and stuff among other things.

Thanks much for the offer. Let me ponder Eve. The real problem I foresee with something like D&D or Runes of Magic is that I'll find them inferior to WoW and then where will I be? :)
 
Thanks much for the offer. Let me ponder Eve. The real problem I foresee with something like D&D or Runes of Magic is that I'll find them inferior to WoW and then where will I be? :)

Yeah I think WoW kinda spoils you. After WoW, for many ppl, you don't look at other MMO's in the same way. It's sort of like a standard.

I'm like that too. Most other games seem kinda dull ater WoW. So even thought I spend a lot of time during WoW...I'm not as interested in other games so it's sort of like a time saver. LOL So I waste my time on other things instead...like Forums :p
 
I'm not sure anything will beat WoW in the next 5 years.

I'd really like to get into WoW, I just don't like starting fresh in a game where millions are better than me.. I just don't really know where to start.
 
I'm not sure anything will beat WoW in the next 5 years.

I'd really like to get into WoW, I just don't like starting fresh in a game where millions are better than me.. I just don't really know where to start.

Cataclysm Expansion will revamp the world. Many veterans and return players are going to start new characters. This time there's not just like a new class or whatever. It's whole new content and storyline. I think graphics too.

Also, in any WoW expansion comes the total nerf of whatever used to be uber. Hence, even the few really uber characters will have only a small lead...because going up the ladder from the top is a steep climb for a small (often specialized) gain. Blizzard is good at making ppl grind forever just to achieve a moving goal for only one of several paths.

That said, the overwhelming majority of players aren't the super uber anyway. Those are just the people who make these videos and "advertise themselves" a lot. So you can still play now and enjoy it while experiencing the content and storyline before they destroy it forever. If you are into fantasy (with a humorous twist sometimes), WoW's PVE experience is actually pretty good...and the environments are very creative and the music is orchestrated and makes it really immersive. And they fixed the grind routine a bit by making lower levels XP gain faster.

Also, I think they may add servers from time to time. So you can also snoop arround to find the inside on which servers are newer with less of a saturated economy, etc. Or if you like, go to an old popoulated one and hope your computer can handle the 10,000 ppl Ironforge area, etc. ;)
 
I'm not sure anything will beat WoW in the next 5 years.

I'd really like to get into WoW, I just don't like starting fresh in a game where millions are better than me.. I just don't really know where to start.

If you start now, you could get a taste of the WoW world that we all love before it gets stood on it's head with the next expansion. :)

I would not worry about millions being better than you. Based on my prejudices, I would suggest if you try it, you pick a PVE (player vs environment) server. The reason being is if you want to quest, you don't want other players killing you, although I do admit some like the extra challenge of playing on PVP servers where the gloves are off regarding player vs player combat. Who cares if it messes up your quests? ;) Even on a PVE server, you can fight other players, but it's when you want to by either flagging yourself for PVP or jumping into Battlegrounds.

If you are not familiar with MMOs, the game starts you out very gently in a starter area, a different area for each race, sending you off to do simple kill and collect quests against mobs who are not that dangerous giving you a chance to figure out the mechanics of combat with minimal jeopardy. You'll be working your way through quests and quest chains and even now you'll run across other new people or experience people who have started new characters. When I played I ended up with seven active characters. You don't have to do that, you can just focus on one. A tip- when you party with someone designated as a friend, your xp (experience points) is increased and Blizzard a while back accelerated overall xp below level 60 so your character will rise through the levels at an accelerated rate as compared to when the game first started.

Although I love Night Elves and have played mostly Alliance characters, based on what I saw the last time I played Nov08-Nov09, for Alliance, the human or dwarf starter areas were the best because they are in central more populated areas. Even so the Night Elf starter area located on a giant tree off the coast of Kalimdor (called Teldrissil) is magical, I still love it. And if you love that, after completing the area, you can move over to Dark Shore, another North Woods magical setting. The good thing is that even if you start as an elf, and want to get to more populated areas, it's very easy now to get from Teldrissil to Darkshore and over to Storm Wind City near the human starter area or take the tram from Storm Wind down to Iron Forge to get to the Dwarf/Gnome starter areas and continue questing there. The quests regardless of where they are located can be done by any race or class.

Word of caution- don't become an addict. Easy to say, right? ;) When I was playing, I would put in somewhere between 6-20 hours a week.

Even though I'm not currently playing, I still have the most fond of memories of this game. Every time I see screenshots of my favorite zones, I feel a longing to play it again. Any other questions, feel free to ask. :D

Comment to other WoW players- I remember when I first started playing (in beta) I remember thinking these are incredible zones! And what has amazed me is that with each new expansion, incredible new zones just keep coming! Yes, you can have issues with game mechanics. I don't like animals that run on tracks, the stagnant nature of the world (which has been addressed in a small way with scripted events), and I don't like the end game routine, but the overall atmosphere in WoW is the perfect fantasy escape if you want a world to explore. I guess I'm just an unrepetant fanboy... :)
 
Really big MMOs are going to be Biowares SW's MMO. The IP is massive, it can fail, as we saw how Mythic destroyed a concrete RPG IP, but Bioware really are innovators, albeit this isn't really their field. My vote would be on it being a huge success with players staying in on it for years opposed to months.

I'm not a SW fan so I'll avoid it.

GW2, that's the big one. Expect it in 2011. 4 mill subs in their first game which was f2p, this will go a more trad route attracting p2p players but without the sub model. It's going to be something else, truly.

Then there's the wildcard, 40K MMO.. jury's out until the big reveal later this year.
 
I played Ultima heavily, Everquest heavily, and WoW heavily. Loved them all in their own ways.

But I've finally found the *best* MMRPG (not 'O') ever. It's called 'second job' and it gives me tons of extra $$$.

It's a bit repetitive, but the graphics are *AWESOME*
 
Really big MMOs are going to be Biowares SW's MMO. The IP is massive, it can fail, as we saw how Mythic destroyed a concrete RPG IP, but Bioware really are innovators, albeit this isn't really their field. My vote would be on it being a huge success with players staying in on it for years opposed to months.

I'm not a SW fan so I'll avoid it.

GW2, that's the big one. Expect it in 2011. 4 mill subs in their first game which was f2p, this will go a more trad route attracting p2p players but without the sub model. It's going to be something else, truly.

Then there's the wildcard, 40K MMO.. jury's out until the big reveal later this year.

I've got my eye on SW. The problem I see with a game like this is you start out with a pristine lore environment, and then you populate it with a bunch of human players. The atmostphere just has to suffer! ;)

Regarding GW2 it will be interested to see how it does as a subscription MMO. I never liked 100% instanced questing space, invisible walls, and not being able to jump or fall to my death! ;)
 
I refuse to play MMOs anymore, I mean I still play online games like MW2, but I was never a WoW player. Runescape and Battledawn took about a year of my life each.
 
I've got my eye on SW. The problem I see with a game like this is you start out with a pristine lore environment, and then you populate it with a bunch of human players. The atmostphere just has to suffer! ;)

WoW has RPPVE and RPPVP servers that are supposed to be "pristine lore" too. But most of the RP tends to be reserved in guilds and such. It doesn't work that well because unless there is some type of "enforcement", people aren't all that fanatical about lore anyway. And for many who are, eventually it gets old to be like that constantly. Not to mention that many people won't know what the heck you are trying to really say if you're speaking Old English all the time. LOL I remeber some interesting interaction in RP servers, but overall, it's more "normal" than "pristine lore".
 
WoW has RPPVE and RPPVP servers that are supposed to be "pristine lore" too. But most of the RP tends to be reserved in guilds and such. It doesn't work that well because unless there is some type of "enforcement", people aren't all that fanatical about lore anyway. And for many who are, eventually it gets old to be like that constantly. Not to mention that many people won't know what the heck you are trying to really say if you're speaking Old English all the time. LOL I remeber some interesting interaction in RP servers, but overall, it's more "normal" than "pristine lore".

I was just focused on SWs. I admit it's a problem across all MMOs. :)
 
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