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The Free MMO Überlist

2456761

Posts

  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Skulkraken wrote: »
    Star Conquest: Catalyst

    An old MUD that got revived a while back. Fly spaceships, trade cargo, go PEW PEW PEW a lot. RP-enforced, with key features locked away from new players until they create a detailed profile for their character.

    Thanks. :D

    Aldo on
  • JamesDMJamesDM Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    New thread is looking good, your efforts are well worth it, sir.

    JamesDM on
    If you have any complaints about this poster then feel free to: Иди на хуй, Сучьи :D

    Steam, PSN, XBL, Xfire and everything else JamesDM
  • zanmattozanmatto Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    There was a huge content patch added to Maplestory recently. They added in a lot of shit, and I had nothing to do, so I investigated.

    I'm scared.

    It's actually not as bad as it used to be.

    zanmatto on
  • Meta T. DustMeta T. Dust Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Details Zanmatto DETAILS

    Don't make me get my maple on for nothing.

    Meta T. Dust on
    motherfuckingwar.png
  • zanmattozanmatto Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Details Zanmatto DETAILS

    Don't make me get my maple on for nothing.

    uhh

    there is an entire new branch of classes

    like, before, there was the old archer warrior magician thief stuff

    now theres a whole new thing, called the Knights of Cygnus

    theres 5 knights, each representing one of the older archetypes (the knight of fire is a fire wizard, for example)

    All Cygnus Knights have an epic ass quest chain starting from level 1 to level ?? (havent met the end of the story yet, at level 25)

    your cygnus knight's power is linked to your mains, so the idea is to level them both concurrently

    theres a lot more optional shit, jump quests, etc etc, more party quests

    also, the leveling curve was made 25% easier

    edit: also the quest chain for cygnus knights lets them level FAST AS FUCK, and it's actually kinda funny too

    edit 2: also they added in pirates

    zanmatto on
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Okay, I think I'm done with Earth Eternal.

    The good: at its core it's not really a bad game. The basics are all there, the setting is kinda interesting (or at the least, not yet another LoTR rehash) and the graphics are cute, if you like low poly art. With 22 races, in-depth colour and pattern control over many body parts and the ability to combine two items together (one for stats, one for visual appearance) you can make a fairly unique character if you so choose.
    The skill system is also rather interesting, as you have a bunch of tiered skill trees where the general ones are accessible to all while the class specific ones only allow said class to access the core abilities, but lets everyone get the rest. In the end your chosen class only dictates the main flavour while the rest gets determined by your choice of skills from the other trees.

    The bad: while not bad it's also not terribly exciting. You get a quest, you use unexciting abilities on stuff until it dies, rinse and repeat. The bigger problem is the skill trees- while in theory offering a lot of flexibility in practice most abilities don't really seem worth taking. What good is parry to a class that uses bows or flings spells? What use is block to a class that can't use shields?
    Even class-specific stuff is, for the most part, generic. In this game druids are a mix between rangers and buffers, they get their box skills, their magic skills and buffs. Unfortunately a great majority of their buffs boil down to "spend X reagents to buff stat Y for Z minutes". Usually for mediocre values like 5% boost for 10 minutes. Hoorah.

    The ugly: it runs like crap for the visuals. I mean, really crap, in areas with many mobs around the game ran slower than Champions Online with most visuals cranked to the max. I'm still not sure that was poor optimization or lag, but I suspect it's the latter, as opening your inventory (at least for me in the UK) not only took a second, it also freezes the game for that period.
    The previously mentioned skill system? Yeah, it gets uglier. Unlike in most MMOs, where you unlock new stuff every couple of levels, here you unlock them in tiers (both new abilities and new upgrades for existing ones). Said tiers unlock at levels 6, 20, 30 and 40. Yeah, after level 6? Don't expect anything new until level 20. And don't expect anything actually interesting until +30, at least not if you're a druid.
    Your survivability also takes a nasty nosedive as you level. At around level 18 I found myself unable to survive adds without either running or having worked up attack charges to nuke the add with. Sure, I had a heal, but said heal has a chance of getting interrupted by damage, and the last thing you want when you start healing is stop 0.1s into it, with the skill now on a 30s cooldown. Combined with poor framerate and lag it made for a very frustrating experience in mob dense areas.
    It's around that time that quests also turn to complete shit. From solo quests whose last step requires a team to complete (thanks game) to quests leading into poorly constructed towers with mobs glitched into walls that can hit you while you can't hit them (thanks game) to instances with guards right outside them, so if your computer loads too slow you die before you finish loading the outside (thanks game) to quests where... well, this deserves more info.

    So, you're doing a quest chain and it ends with the person thanking you and giving you a treasure map. "I don't know where it leads, I hope you find it and keep whatever you find as your reward!". Cool beans! First clue:
    "A lone grave on a hill."
    Not very obvious, but you search all the hills around and find... zilch. After 15 minutes of frustration I check the interwebs and discover the hill is on the other side of the continent. You were supposed to either find it by accident, literally search the entire continent for it or have remembered it from before (except it's in a higher level area, so you wouldn't have). Repeat similar non-clues for 8 more fucking steps; the objectives are literally so spread apart it takes 45 minutes just to jog between them all. Your reward? For this quest at level 18? A shitty level 15 ring. :?


    The game itself operates a cash shop, but it feels like the guys had an idea of what a cash shop is without investigating what actually makes one tick. From reagent generators that generate a set number of reagents (yeah, I really want to pay $5US for something that takes a couple of hours' of in-game questing to buy on my own) to $15US bags (one character only, not even account-wide) to costume sets where the complete set costs $10US. For just visual armour with no stats, intended to be applied over real items. Someone seriously misjudged just how much money people who play free MMOs want to pay for trinkets.

    Pics:
    eartheternalvista.jpg
    eartheternalgraveyard.jpg
    eartheternalvillage.jpg

    The main reason there are no real action shots is because of how damn easy it is to die if you fuck up.

    Glal on
  • Page-Page- Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Aldo wrote: »
    Page-: you were right, listing in-browser managers was foolish. I just wasted ~3 hours on it and it's just impossible. So I decided to throw it all out.

    I had no idea there would be room on the internet for multiple Cricket management games. And who would have thought people were willing to play a game in which you manage a Counterstrike pro-gamers clan?

    I figured it would end up like that.

    Anyway, I was tricked (long story) into trying Dofus. It's actually not bad, and there's a huge update (beta that I'm hoping to get in on) coming around December. But I'm a SRPG whore of the highest order, so whatever.

    Thing is, it's not free to play, it's more of a trail, as far as I can tell. You get access to the starting areas and level 20 + basic equipments, to get more you have to pay. I'm working my way up to the blocked content just to see how extensive the free stuff is.

    Dofus 2.0 is the big update they're working on. Basically same thing but with a graphical and engine overhaul (and from screenshots it looks VERY nice).

    To make things a little more confusing, they've also got a game called Wakfu, which is basically Dofus 1.5, set 1000 years in the future, new engine, modified classes, but same game structure. However, it hasn't been translated, though there's supposed to be an international release eventually. I can only assume it will be the same trail + pay scheme as Dofus.

    Dofus and Dofus 2.0 run on Flash.

    The whole thing is made by some French company and has cross-media ties to comics and cartoons and toys and who knows what else.

    The only free thing they offer is Dofus Arena, which is a very hardcore, PvP only SRPG based on Dofus (same classes). It uses a modified ELO system for matchmaking and rankings, there's no levelling or grind, though you can unlock cosmetic items for your Coach (Avatar). I've been having some trouble getting it to work properly, though. It does look neat, and I might dabble a bit. The lack of levels is nice, making everything based on strategy and team builds; essentially, a new player has just as many options and just as good a chance as the guy on the top of the server's leaderboard.

    Almost forgot to mention the most interesting part of Dofus/Wakfu: There are no NPCs outside of the starting areas (at least in Wakfu, I'm still looking into Dofus). The entire economy and political structure is player run. For example, instead of an NPC shop, a player can idle next to a work area related to his profession (crafting skills) and, if he allows, any other player can use them as a shop interface and crafting machine by just giving them ingredients and paying the prices, etc.

    Page- on
    Competitive Gaming and Writing Blog Updated in October: "Song (and Story) of the Day"
    Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
    stream
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    If it hasn't been mentioned yet, Dungeon Runners is shutting down on January 1st, 2010.

    Zombiemambo on
    JKKaAGp.png
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Isn't Earth Eternal still in beta? These seem like standard beta problems to me. I don't know what's up with the cash shop though.

    I'll update the Dofus clusterfuck when I get home in the evening. Thanks Page-.

    Aldo on
  • Meta T. DustMeta T. Dust Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Dungeon fighter online was entertaining until we hit the fatigue wall

    As in whenever you do a dungeon you are losing fatigue, and when your characters out your screw-doodled until 6am the following day, sure you can make another character but thats just zany bullshit.

    I don't wanna level 4 dudes and get a couple cool powers each, I want my awesome Slayer to just be rippin' asses all day.

    Meta T. Dust on
    motherfuckingwar.png
  • Page-Page- Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Seems like that would just put a reasonable limit on your daily playtime.

    Page- on
    Competitive Gaming and Writing Blog Updated in October: "Song (and Story) of the Day"
    Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
    stream
  • Meta T. DustMeta T. Dust Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    But it puts an unreasonable limit on your playtime.

    Everytime you do a dungeon, every room you have to enter takes 1 point, characters start with 156 fatigue and I think it takes cash to increase that limit.

    Dungeons get longer the higher level you get, taking about 10 fatigue around level 8, and since the maps are randomly generated, branching paths that lead to nothing occur all the time making you waste more fatigue.

    There are quests where you have a time limit on a dungeon and if you don't find the boss on your first run through, you hit a dead end and its over. So you gotta redo that entire dungeon because you don't know where the hell you are going, and since its random its not like you have a chance to save some time when yo re-attempt it no you gotta haul ass and just hope you make it with a minute to spare to down the boss.

    Marsh and I only got to level 8 before running out of fatigue, and with how long things were getting compared to the start, on our best runs, getting extremely lucky so we don't have to backtrack, we would probably only make a 2-3 levels a day from here on out, and that window just gets tinier and tinier.

    Also since you can't leave a dungeon without getting rez sickness dubbed "Frustration", where you have to spend thousands of gold to alleviate it now, or wait at least 20 minutes or so to get back to reasonable amounts of HP/MP.

    Although I will say its sort of less bullshit then Valkyrie Sky, where if you do a mission during in-game "nighttime" you lose double stamina, so yeah its better not to have to wait 10 minutes or so every couple stages cause you want to play longer. They do have a system to recover stamina quite easily though so even then you can keep playing if you find someone playing music and throw 50 bucks their way.

    Meta T. Dust on
    motherfuckingwar.png
  • NerdtendoNerdtendo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    I could never play the game long enough to run out of fatigue. One or two runs through a dungeon, and I'm done.

    Nerdtendo on
    IHZR47b.png
  • Meta T. DustMeta T. Dust Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Dungeons aren't long at all considering everything you do is in a dungeon, if you played valkyrie sky then you have the idea.

    Its not like WoW where a dungeon is considered a fucking undertaking, its instanced with a town hub.

    4-6 minute level, turn in quests, sell, re-equip, repeat.

    Until you level or planned on buying a better weapon in town, thats all you do.

    They are just called Dungeons because the name of the game is Dungeon Fighter, if you weren't fighting dungeons how lame would that be, not to mention false advertising.

    Meta T. Dust on
    motherfuckingwar.png
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    I admit that it's completely silly to limit play-time like that, but from a greedy money grabbing scheme point of view it makes perfect sense. I mean, they want to get you interested in the game, but they also want your money. So now you get to play a little every day and they hope you enjoy it so much and get so frustrated by the time limit that you give them cash just so you can play a little longer.

    However, you could look at this from a different direction. In a MMO you want a lot of other people around you. You run dungeons with them, trade items, go do social things, PvP, call their mothers fat, etcetera. By severely limiting the amount of other players, you also lessen the experience of players who *do* pay you.

    Aldo on
  • MithMith Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    I find the "we could only advance X levels" argument specious. What matters for a stamina system is the amount of time you get to play (in the dungeon) in a given time period, and that doesn't seem to change much over the long term.

    Also, time trials aren't as big as problem as people could infer from what Meta says. First, if you level past a dungeon without completing its time trial, there's no harm done. Completing them isn't required for anything (not even later time trials), their rewards aren't that special, and they can be done concurrently with other quests in the same dungeon so you don't need to put other stuff off to try them.

    Second, you get a map; it doesn't show you paths to the boss, but it shows you the boss's location, so you're not stumbling totally randomly.

    Maybe you'd like to argue it'd be nice if they aggregated stamina over a longer period to allow for variability, or made leveling faster, or something... but you're going to call an hour+ of play a day unreasonable on the face of it?



    As a side note, Valkyrie Sky's motivations for night are clearly different - besides being able to recover stamina with in-game effort, everyone has night at the same time, which actually concentrates load to the other in-game day periods. It seems to be intended more as a "take a break, do something different, let groups change around" time.

    Aldo: A little off-topic, but one of the things DFO does is encourage people to choose their server channel by what dungeon area they're in (level range, essentially), by giving bonus EXP for certain areas on corresponding channels. It's an interesting way to break up their load a lot and allow flexibility but still have good player concentration.

    Mith on
  • KajustaKajusta Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    It's not just an hour of play to start, up until about the late 20's it's easily 3 or 4 hours to get rid of all your fatigue.

    I've been playing it recently, and my Mechanic just hit 20 last night; I started him about 3 days ago.

    Kajusta on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    XBL
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Definition (or: what goes on the list)
    Free: the game must be accessible without payment. A large part of the content of the game needs to be playable free of charge without any time limits. Additional content may be accessible for payment, but the base game must be free.

    Unless Runescape got a lot more free content than it had the last time I tried it, I don't know that it fits this definition. I tried the free account and paid account thing, and had to stop playing once I went back to free. There was almost nothing in that little walled-off section.

    But I haven't played in over half a decade, so it could have changed.

    MKR on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    MKR wrote: »
    Definition (or: what goes on the list)
    Free: the game must be accessible without payment. A large part of the content of the game needs to be playable free of charge without any time limits. Additional content may be accessible for payment, but the base game must be free.

    Unless Runescape got a lot more free content than it had the last time I tried it, I don't know that it fits this definition. I tried the free account and paid account thing, and had to stop playing once I went back to free. There was almost nothing in that little walled-off section.

    But I haven't played in over half a decade, so it could have changed.

    I'm basing my description on what their site told me or my predecessor. No idea what's up with Runescape and I don't want to check it out myself.

    Aldo on
  • KajustaKajusta Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    http://contest.mmosite.com/giveaway/allods/

    Allods keys for the CBT that's going on right now, there's like 600 keys they are giving out.

    Kajusta on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    XBL
  • HarshLanguageHarshLanguage Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Kajusta wrote: »
    http://contest.mmosite.com/giveaway/allods/

    Allods keys for the CBT that's going on right now, there's like 600 keys they are giving out.

    Just FYI, you'll need both an MMOSite and gPotato account to complete the process. Not too much trouble, but thought I'd point it out.

    HarshLanguage on
    QSwearing_trans_smooth_small.gif
    > turn on light

    Good start to the day. Pity it's going to be the worst one of your life. The light is now on.
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Was playing around with Allods earlier; quite fun so far, if very player-filled (had to jog right to the edge of most quest areas to find things I needed without them getting instantly grabbed by others). There's some translation wonkery in skill popups and some item names, but NPC text is fine.

    Oh, and Gibberlings are brilliant. You get to individually name and customize each of the 3 you play, and when you equip your primary/secondary/off-hand items they each hold one. And during spellcasting they each do their own animation. <3

    Glal on
  • sidhaethesidhaethe Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    I positively love that the Gibberling in front ducks while a rear Gibberling hurls a spell. LOVE.<3

    sidhaethe on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    The gibberlings are practically the only reason why I want to play that game, so good to hear they're awesome.

    Aldo on
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Aldo wrote: »
    The gibberlings are practically the only reason why I want to play that game, so good to hear they're awesome.

    Yeah, same here.

    Zombiemambo on
    JKKaAGp.png
  • ArthilArthil Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    I think the fact that the damn website keeps telling me my code is invalid makes me not want to really play it yet.

    Arthil on
    PSN: Honishimo Steam UPlay: Arthil
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Are you on the right site (the featureless US one, rather than the detailed EU one), and are you using the code correctly (the parts after "###," are the code)? If so, try generating another one?

    Glal on
  • ZandraconZandracon Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Not quite sure on this, but AirRivals is the European version of Space Cowboy, or whatever the game is commonly called now, and the North American version is Ace Online.

    Zandracon on
  • zanmattozanmatto Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    huh

    just got a mail from maplestory, apparantly they added in a quest line for every new character that just got a job at level 10 that helps new players along

    that's pretty cool

    zanmatto on
  • KajustaKajusta Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    New expansion for Jade Dynasty is coming out today with a brand new faction that has two classes.

    Kajusta on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    XBL
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Kajusta wrote: »
    New expansion for Jade Dynasty is coming out today with a brand new faction that has two classes.

    Fuck I forgot about that. I might have to try it.

    Zombiemambo on
    JKKaAGp.png
  • KajustaKajusta Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Yeah, I'm probably going to roll the arching/summoning class first, then try the more barbarian looking one.

    Kajusta on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    XBL
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Huge expansion for Perfect World on the horizon: loads of new content and a new mermaid race with two classes: psychic and assassin. They look gorgeous.

    http://pwi.perfectworld.com/expansion

    Also the artwork on that homepage makes me happy as a clam.

    Aldo on
  • KajustaKajusta Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    The Jade Dynasty expansion is pretty great, Balo (the more Barbarian looking class) are awesome.

    Also, Allods Online is probably going to be the most polished free MMO to come out thus far, at least that's my impression from the closed beta.

    Kajusta on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    XBL
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Kajusta wrote: »
    The Jade Dynasty expansion is pretty great, Balo (the more Barbarian looking class) are awesome.

    Also, Allods Online is probably going to be the most polished free MMO to come out thus far, at least that's my impression from the closed beta.
    More polish than Dragonica? :o (dunno if you even played that)

    *e: I should probably update my JD entry. I have been editing various entries today anyway.

    Aldo on
  • KajustaKajusta Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    No, yeah, it's shaping up to be pretty much the best free MMO I've played.

    I played Dragonica for about a month, but they are two totally different beasts. Really though, if you can snag a key for the Allods betas do it, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

    Kajusta on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    XBL
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Alas, Adolf was taken.
    alldshitler.jpg

    Glal on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Holy fuck. o_o

    Should have named him Chaplin instead. ;)

    Aldo on
  • KajustaKajusta Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    I named my Warden (pet class that uses claws and staves that has a bear as a pet) Brian and his pet William.
    20040331h.jpg

    Kajusta on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    XBL
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Glal: what game is that?

    Hey, anyone remember that terrible movie from the 50's, Attack of The Giant Woman or whatever?
    She's back
    AttackofTheGiantWoman.png

    Zombiemambo on
    JKKaAGp.png
This discussion has been closed.