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EVE Online is a great MMO. Caters towards adults, though. No 12-year olds in this game :)

EVE Online can never be a "big MMO" though. It's way too complicated and involved for most ppl. Most ppl who aren't really into games (or just 12 y/o) would just get frustrated really soon and quit. I think they HAVE made it more beginner friendly since, but it's still a little hard-core (if not THE most hard-core MMO presently).

But the last 2 years, it was actually voted MMORPG.com Game of the Year 2009 and 2010 beating WoW.
 
Basically all of these games are faced with giving the player (for all intents and purposes) the same game mechanics, any experienced MMO player has seen before. I have a hard time imagining something new in this regard. You have story, quest types, environment, combat plus combat visuals. The easiest thing to change is the story, environment and visuals. The other aspects feel very much like been there done that and depending on individual tolerance at some point the been-there-done-that feeling will return.

So far, based on limits of bandwidth and PC power, it's hard to really have a persistent world that's truly affected by players. With clouds, you remove those limitations to a great extent when you don't rely on "client updates" and "massive mobile/character objects". For example, in EVE Online, the game doesn't really work good when it's 200 vs 200.

So not only do you remove the restriction of "amount of players / monsters running around"...you also get to change the world for everyone without real-time patching.

e.g. If playing a WWII game and artillery is hitting the ground...ALL of the live players can see the new craters of various sizes and jump into them for cover from machine guns. You can even erect a (non-cookie-cutter) customized base somewhere random and it will stay there until damaged/destroyed...by realistic physics. And anyone coming near the base for the first time (or during the damaging) will not "lag" with some type of massive structure/crater/fire/body-parts location coming over the internet.

Aesthetically, you can have near limitless character customizations. When your shoulder is dirty from falling on the ground...everyone sees that...until you bring it to the cleaners. The models will only be limited by how much time/money the devs want to spend because none of it is stored on your PC. On this idea, a "1 GB WoW Major update" could be a 100 GB 1 hr downtime at 3AM. Theoretically, the players could update the world by "100GB" every single day!
 
Does EVE allow you to walk around the space stations yet? Know they were planning on doing that
 
Does EVE allow you to walk around the space stations yet? Know they were planning on doing that

When i tried it a few months ago you could walk around your ship when you were docked but that was about it, the character didnt control very well either.
 
When i tried it a few months ago you could walk around your ship when you were docked but that was about it, the character didnt control very well either.

It's point-n-click movement. And you can only walk. It's supposed to be a phased upgrade. Your "quarters" is supposed to be the first part of it. They also added some non-functional "cash shop fashion items" as well. My guess is that they are preparing for the FPS game that integrates with the ship game. This is when you will be able to "meet" other XBox players, etc.
 
It's point-n-click movement. And you can only walk. It's supposed to be a phased upgrade. Your "quarters" is supposed to be the first part of it. They also added some non-functional "cash shop fashion items" as well. My guess is that they are preparing for the FPS game that integrates with the ship game. This is when you will be able to "meet" other XBox players, etc.

Yea, apparently the goal is to integrate the MMO EVE Online with a separate FPS game named Dust 514.

Factions within EVE Online will be able to directly influence the action on the ground in Dust 514 by purchasing or building structures or weaponry.

Sounds like a true definition of MMO, but certainly will be difficult to pull off without major hurdles.
 
Yea, apparently the goal is to integrate the MMO EVE Online with a separate FPS game named Dust 514.

Factions within EVE Online will be able to directly influence the action on the ground in Dust 514 by purchasing or building structures or weaponry.

Sounds like a true definition of MMO, but certainly will be difficult to pull off without major hurdles.

Yeah, the new "Planetary Interaction" will likely play part in it as well. Maybe FPS players can battle for the ground stuff or something like that and you can recruit each other to help do your bidding and take over "territory". It sounds more fun to do something like this than just have some space ships bombard colonies from afar. Maybe it will even have "monsters" to clear every once in a while to keep the peak resource output in colonies in some sort of PVE aspect too. Who knows?
 
Yea, apparently the goal is to integrate the MMO EVE Online with a separate FPS game named Dust 514.

Factions within EVE Online will be able to directly influence the action on the ground in Dust 514 by purchasing or building structures or weaponry.

Sounds like a true definition of MMO, but certainly will be difficult to pull off without major hurdles.

Yeah, DUST 514 will be PC and PS3 exclusive from what they said at E3. It sounds really interesting and I would play DUST.

Just to clarify I wasn't slating EVE earlier, i just think the game is way to vast and time consuming for someone like me at this point. From what I played it was a good game but I just can't invest the time a game like this deserves.
 
Yeah, DUST 514 will be PC and PS3 exclusive from what they said at E3. It sounds really interesting and I would play DUST.

Just to clarify I wasn't slating EVE earlier, i just think the game is way to vast and time consuming for someone like me at this point. From what I played it was a good game but I just can't invest the time a game like this deserves.

From what I remember, you don't exactly HAVE to like get real involved with everything. If you are able to just find a guild that will help you out and get you into the basics, you can do "useful jobs" with just an entry level ship or even one that takes a short time to learn how to fly. Some guilds will be happy to have "an extra gun" and will give some low level ships for free if you join them in whatever they are into. Especially those who PVP, because they know ppl will lose ships. It just seems real hard at first because alone you have to like "save up" for the 2nd, then 3rd level ships, but in a corp that has "territory" where they extract resources and make crap...those are like pocket change. For example, a 3rd level ship (cruiser) is like 5 mill or something like that. But many corp members sport 1 bill+ ships (carrier / dreanought / fancy battleships). Which often are upgraded with another 1 bill too. Not to mention "implants" witch are like "sockets gems" for your head. And when it gets blown away...POOF!!! :p
 
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So far, based on limits of bandwidth and PC power, it's hard to really have a persistent world that's truly affected by players. With clouds, you remove those limitations to a great extent when you don't rely on "client updates" and "massive mobile/character objects". For example, in EVE Online, the game doesn't really work good when it's 200 vs 200.

So not only do you remove the restriction of "amount of players / monsters running around"...you also get to change the world for everyone without real-time patching.

e.g. If playing a WWII game and artillery is hitting the ground...ALL of the live players can see the new craters of various sizes and jump into them for cover from machine guns. You can even erect a (non-cookie-cutter) customized base somewhere random and it will stay there until damaged/destroyed...by realistic physics. And anyone coming near the base for the first time (or during the damaging) will not "lag" with some type of massive structure/crater/fire/body-parts location coming over the internet.

Aesthetically, you can have near limitless character customizations. When your shoulder is dirty from falling on the ground...everyone sees that...until you bring it to the cleaners. The models will only be limited by how much time/money the devs want to spend because none of it is stored on your PC. On this idea, a "1 GB WoW Major update" could be a 100 GB 1 hr downtime at 3AM. Theoretically, the players could update the world by "100GB" every single day!

Holy ****! And we are all ready worried about data caps... ;)
 
It will take a long, long time...but I'm pretty sure that the next BIG mmo will be called Titan and released by an obscure company called Blizzard.
 
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Recently PCGamer had an article regarding the top 10 free* MMOs. Lord of the Rings Online was one of them and one I played during beta. I quit playing it because I was still in my WoW infatuation stage and I thought a class (minstrel) that sings its opponents to death was just plain silly. :) I'm actually thinking about going back and giving this a shot... Anyone playing? I mean it looks so pretty.

Rivendell:
lotro_rivendell_2.jpg

Wildlife:
lotro-wildlife.jpg


Age of Conan, another free MMO*, looks interesting.

1200.jpg


age-of-conan.jpg


*free of monthly subscription costs.
These games typically include charges for additional content or gear/items.

Rift was a bust...

PCGamer Top Free MMOs* Sept 2011:
*LOTRO
*Global Agenda
*Dungeons & Dragons Online
*Anarchy Online
*APB
*Everquest II
*Champions Online
*Hellgate:London
*City of Heroes
*Age of Conan

If you are mulling over free MMO trials, (vs free MMOs) take a gander at this mmohuts.com link. LOTRO is free to play initially, no trial involved.
 
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Age of Conan, another free MMO*, looks interesting.

I played this at release. The one thing that was cool was the combat system. But outside of the starting zone, the game wasn't finished. I remember the whole starting zone had voice recorded dialogue and then once I left, everyone stopped talking.

*Anarchy Online

First MMORPG I ever played and probably one of the best. Looked awesome in 2000. In 2011 it looks butt ugly and servers are empty. They were supposed to do a graphical update but it never happened. It also has remnants of the older generation of MMORPG's, where if you wipe before you level, your xp gets reset back to 0 and you just wasted 2 hours.

*City of Heroes

Played this too along with COV. Polished for what it was, but pretty one dimensional, even compared to games like WOW. Character creation was pretty diverse though.
 
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Thanks guys for the replies. I'm thinking I have nothing to loose by checking out LOTRO besides the download time. Regarding RIFT, it did not click for me, very underwhelming environment.
 
Thanks guys for the replies. I'm thinking I have nothing to loose by checking out LOTRO besides the download time. Regarding RIFT, it did not click for me, very underwhelming environment.

I played LOTRO at release for a couple of months. I didnt really have a system that could properly handle it at the time though.

The minstrel healing class is great i loved playing tunes for heals. Also the game has an actual music system in it which is pretty neat.

The world is nice and the game is fun but I'm not sure how limited the free model is or how much grinding it involves. I would choose LOTRO over Age of Conan any day of the week though. I just can't get into older games, i feel like ive missed so much when i join up later, I want something fresh and new I can join at the start.
 
I played LOTRO at release for a couple of months. I didnt really have a system that could properly handle it at the time though.

The minstrel healing class is great i loved playing tunes for heals. Also the game has an actual music system in it which is pretty neat.

The world is nice and the game is fun but I'm not sure how limited the free model is or how much grinding it involves. I would choose LOTRO over Age of Conan any day of the week though. I just can't get into older games, i feel like ive missed so much when i join up later, I want something fresh and new I can join at the start.

When I think about most of the WoW starter zones, I see very special places where everything, especially the environment clicks in a way I find very appealing. I'm all most tempted to go back and run another character through Teldressil. :D Lately I've looked at (and played) other MMOs and they are not clicking for me, but when I stumbled across the LOTRO screen shots, it seems very reminiscent of a WoW kind of environment, not for the purpose of reliving WoW, but of offering an environment I find compelling to explore. And my opinion is that if a game is going to grab me, it should grab me upfront, not be something that will eventually grow on me. I should have LOTRO running in a couple of days and am sure I'll comment on it. ;)
 
Oh... I just did some reading about the new (relatively) feature in EVE Online, "Planetary Interaction".

It's seems like it can be done on a casual basis. It resembles "Farmville" in a way where you build some structures and every so often you go to your "colonies" and click on things to queue up some resource production. It has some tiers and branches where you can "route" your production chain depending on what you want to make (planet-type dependant widgets)...to give it some variety. Then whenever you want to sell your crap, you find a suitable space station somewhere and haul it there to place in the local market. Or you can put up a "hauling contract" and one of the in-game "logistics guilds" or free-lancers will move your cargo for a fee.

It seems to cater to some relaxing casual "login-and-maintain" type of play...or just something to do in between main activities. Though I imagine you can really get into it and make a lot of money if you maintain some big colonies and search for really valuable minerals. And I'm sure some big alliances find valuable planets in hostile space which makes some expensive craft items and fuels and stuff like that.
 
Oh... I just did some reading about the new (relatively) feature in EVE Online, "Planetary Interaction".

It's seems like it can be done on a casual basis. It resembles "Farmville" in a way where you build some structures and every so often you go to your "colonies" and click on things to queue up some resource production. It has some tiers and branches where you can "route" your production chain depending on what you want to make (planet-type dependant widgets)...to give it some variety. Then whenever you want to sell your crap, you find a suitable space station somewhere and haul it there to place in the local market. Or you can put up a "hauling contract" and one of the in-game "logistics guilds" or free-lancers will move your cargo for a fee.

It seems to cater to some relaxing casual "login-and-maintain" type of play...or just something to do in between main activities. Though I imagine you can really get into it and make a lot of money if you maintain some big colonies and search for really valuable minerals. And I'm sure some big alliances find valuable planets in hostile space which makes some expensive craft items and fuels and stuff like that.

Is this all space ships or can you interact with other tunes like in space stations? (I forget)
 
Is this all space ships or can you interact with other tunes like in space stations? (I forget)

Not yet. It is rumored that the colonies will be part of the DUST FPS game mechanics. But for now, you only get a top view from space. I think you have to carry an initial structure to the planet and plop it down, and then build some crap around it. Afterward, depending on the skills you trained, you can manage it from some distance away. But to pick up the products, you have to fly a spaceship with a cargo bay there to get it.
 
Just quit WoW as it wasn't a lasting experience and moved on to City of Heroes, it went free recently so I gave it another go (Tried the two week trial last year). Within a day I had subbed, the superhero concept grabs me and the character creation is the most diverse I've ever seen in ANY game. It's varied pricing options makes it even easier to subscribe in an affordable manner, too.
 
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