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Looking for an MMORPG

kaliyamakaliyama Left to find less-moderated foraRegistered User regular
edited July 2011 in MMO Extravaganza
Hello,
I'd like to play an MMORPG. I played a little bit of Champions and Warhammer, but to me they really seemed like theme park rides - i don't have much control over the world, the plot is server-side and mostly static, the production of items and goods depends on the server rather than the players, and death has no consequences.

What can I play that's the opposite of that? I never got into SWG, but that sounds exactly like what I want. I was considering getting into EVE but with their recent micro-transactions clusterfuck i've ruled that out. Does anyone have any suggestions?

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kaliyama on
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Posts

  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=143857

    That seems to be the best option at the moment.

    TOGSolid on
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  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    Maybe Fallen Earth Online?

    I haven't played it personally but it appears, to me at least, to be something that might be what you're looking for. I've actually always been interested in playing it I just never did. I think it's going F2P soon.

    Earthrise is supposed to be pretty sandbox-y but I don't think it's doing very well.

    There's another one coming out sometime down the road but I am totally spacing the name. I'll try to find it.

    EDIT: Oh, ArcheAge. It's still in Closed Beta though. No clue about any western release.

    The Dude With Herpes on
    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
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  • CorehealerCorehealer The Apothecary The softer edge of the universe.Registered User regular
    edited June 2011
    I suggest you try: http://www.xsyon.com/. It's a little known subscription MMO released in January of this year and it's pretty much the definition of what your looking for, MMO wise. You can pretty much do whatever you want with the environment and craft like crazy, as well as join with others to build new societies and villages. I myself intend to give it a go sometime, since I can appreciate a good sandbox now and then.

    An example of gameplay:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzijDxg4h5U

    And another, 2 parter with commentary explaining the game in more detail:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeWBOo_9CL0

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKagYhrQJbE

    And since I always plug it anyway, try taking a look at Guild Wars 2 if your not giving up on traditional style MMOs entirely, as it is an upcoming MMO that's not a sandbox but definitely is going beyond current theme park MMO standards by making combat more fluid, replacing questing with a dynamic event system, and making character customization more expansive, to name a few things. ArenaNet explains it better though:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJJA_veYQ5s

    Corehealer on
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  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    Guild Wars 2, if all the hype turns out to hold true, is going to be a game changer in MMO development.

    TOGSolid on
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  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited June 2011
    TOGSolid wrote: »
    __________, if all the hype turns out to hold true, is going to be a game changer in ______ development.

    TheStig on
    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    Hey, when it's true, it's true. Having seen Guild Wars 2 in action I could easily see how other companies may take heed from what ArenaNet is up to.

    PAX: It changes your life yo.

    TOGSolid on
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  • kaliyamakaliyama Left to find less-moderated fora Registered User regular
    edited June 2011
    I was not prepared to loiter around the GW2 beta at pax, though. What did surprise me is that SWTOR was so underwhelming. I'm going to give this xsyon a shot, thanks!

    kaliyama on
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  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    I was not prepared to loiter around the GW2 beta at pax, though. What did surprise me is that SWTOR was so underwhelming.
    That was my exact reaction last year too. I stopped by GW2 just for giggles and ended staying for the rest of the presentation going "hooooolllllllyyyyyyyy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit."

    TOGSolid on
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  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    kaliyama wrote: »
    What can I play that's the opposite of that? I never got into SWG, but that sounds exactly like what I want. I was considering getting into EVE but with their recent micro-transactions clusterfuck i've ruled that out. Does anyone have any suggestions?
    If you're into PVP, Darkfall Online fits the bill. All gear worth anything is player-made, everything except your basic weapon can be looted off your corpse on death, etc. I enjoyed it, it just sucked up too much of my time. Definitely not something you can just pick up and play for 10 minutes at a time.

    Glal on
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    edited June 2011
    Glal wrote: »
    kaliyama wrote: »
    What can I play that's the opposite of that? I never got into SWG, but that sounds exactly like what I want. I was considering getting into EVE but with their recent micro-transactions clusterfuck i've ruled that out. Does anyone have any suggestions?
    If you're into PVP, Darkfall Online fits the bill. All gear worth anything is player-made, everything except your basic weapon can be looted off your corpse on death, etc. I enjoyed it, it just sucked up too much of my time. Definitely not something you can just pick up and play for 10 minutes at a time.

    It's also filled with macro users who just leave their PC on and let their dude macro their skills to max power. Causing a huge void between regular players and macro users (See: Cheaters.). Making PVP un-fun to the max.

    Ever thought of looking at Ultima Online or its many shards? A lot of them sound like that you want.

    Elimination on
    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    Even if that weren't a gross exaggeration, what's the difference between fighting a macro user and a long time player, exactly?

    Glal on
  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited June 2011
    Glal wrote: »
    Even if that weren't a gross exaggeration, what's the difference between fighting a macro user and a long time player, exactly?

    The size of the neckbeard I'd imagine.

    TOGSolid on
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  • Arden CaneloArden Canelo Registered User regular
    edited June 2011
    Reporting in on Xsyon game experience -
    Game population at any given time is usually less than 100 as far as I could tell after playing a few hours. This is due to the fact that there is only zone specific chat and no global chat. The game is basically made as if it were 2001 - that's how outdated it looks and plays. However it is not without fun. If you like the idea of building your own base or joining other dudes in base building it's a fun time. I suggest starting as a toolcrafter and just wandering looking for a build site. You'll need to place your totem near a junk pile, grass, water, and at least maybe a tree or two. I don't think it was worth the 40$ I spent on it, but I am enjoying it nontheless.

    Arden Canelo on
  • ChaosRedChaosRed Registered User regular
    edited June 2011
    You might want to consider RP. Role playing pushes as much plot as you like client-side by just interacting with other RP groups. If you want dynamic content, City of Heroes lets you create your own missions and stories via a tool called "Mission Architect".

    If you want a "death has consequences" game, World of Tanks is one of the best PvP systems out there. It has a variety of combat tactics, a plethora of tanks to ascend to and build and when you die in a PvP session, you die. The nice thing is, you can even escape that session after death and start another session with another tank, literally earning XP across multiple sessions.

    But it isn't a character-focused game, its strictly a combat MMO with tanks, but it is F2P and has a very solid design.

    ChaosRed on
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  • hugehardhugehard Registered User new member
    edited July 2011
    city of heroes, lego universe,

    hugehard on
  • BeltaineBeltaine BOO BOO DOO DE DOORegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    I really enjoyed Darkfall Online when I played it. It had that old school UO feel to it.

    It really does take up way too much time, though.

    I'll second World of Tanks. But it's really more like an online shooter that's more intelligent than the standard run-n-gun Call of Duty type stuff.

    Beltaine on
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    PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Glal wrote: »
    Even if that weren't a gross exaggeration, what's the difference between fighting a macro user and a long time player, exactly?

    It really isn't an exaggeration. The game is pretty much "Macro use the video game".

    Elimination on
    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Not the last time I played, but the question stands.

    Glal on
  • FiatilFiatil Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    kaliyama wrote: »
    Hello,
    I'd like to play an MMORPG. I played a little bit of Champions and Warhammer, but to me they really seemed like theme park rides - i don't have much control over the world, the plot is server-side and mostly static, the production of items and goods depends on the server rather than the players, and death has no consequences.

    What can I play that's the opposite of that? I never got into SWG, but that sounds exactly like what I want. I was considering getting into EVE but with their recent micro-transactions clusterfuck i've ruled that out. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    The good old sandbox SWG died years and years ago, and it's finally getting put out of its misery in December. You could give SWGEmu a shot though, it's actually in pretty good shape. It's reverse engineered code from the game before the terrible "upgrade" patches (long very notorious story, look it up if you're interested) were applied. You need to have a copy of the game, but aside from that the servers are free. It's a emulation server so it's a little buggy and is missing features, but it has a huge population and is the place to go for the old SWG experience.
    Glal wrote: »
    Not the last time I played, but the question stands.

    I've never even played the game, but I can see how macroing would make it much less enjoyable. If it's such a brutal cutthroat free for all PvP experience it's not very fun to know that while you're out slowly grinding to get to the top you just got destroyed by a few guys who set up some macros and went AFK for a week. I guess it's a "What's the point?" sort of thing; it's a lot easier to ignore in a PvE game than a competitive PvP game.

    Fiatil on
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  • DirtyDirtyVagrantDirtyDirtyVagrant Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    You sound like me.

    I suggest finding a good D&D group. Or another RPG. You can play them online! I even think you can set it up to play over skype.

    Good times.

    DirtyDirtyVagrant on
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Fiatil wrote: »
    Glal wrote: »
    Not the last time I played, but the question stands.
    I've never even played the game, but I can see how macroing would make it much less enjoyable. If it's such a brutal cutthroat free for all PvP experience it's not very fun to know that while you're out slowly grinding to get to the top you just got destroyed by a few guys who set up some macros and went AFK for a week. I guess it's a "What's the point?" sort of thing; it's a lot easier to ignore in a PvE game than a competitive PvP game.
    I guess this is the same disconnect I have when Blizzard started allowing server transfers and people flew into a rage until they stopped allowing PVE->PVP transfers. I don't really care whether someone else had an easier job getting to the cap than me; that's not what I play for. I enjoyed teaming up with other newbies to go farm mobs or gather resources, even when we got our asses handed to us (most of the time they didn't even bother taking our gear, since no one uses hard-to-get gear in world PVP. At most you lost some reagents and a mount if you misjudged the opponent and chose to fight, rather than use the mount to run away), I enjoyed getting more proficient over the weeks and I got a surprising amount of fun out of the crafting system.
    There was no way to tell whether the person who ganked me was a bored vet or someone who got there another way so I didn't really care, I died the same either way. It was pretty sweet when we managed to catch and kill them though. Oh so sweet.

    Glal on
  • kaliyamakaliyama Left to find less-moderated fora Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    You sound like me.

    I suggest finding a good D&D group. Or another RPG. You can play them online! I even think you can set it up to play over skype.

    Good times.

    Word. I actually wonder if skype would help the immersion. I gave swgemu a shot after chasing down a retail copy... It seems rough still. I think I might pour my energies into making a nwn2 mod. Or xyson if the toolset crushes me.

    kaliyama on
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  • ACSISACSIS Registered User regular
    Try Earth and Beyond. It was shut down in 2004 but has been reverse engineered and is free to play. If you don't like it move on: you lost nothing.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwGbLVdQBig

  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    TOGSolid wrote:
    Hey, when it's true, it's true. Having seen Guild Wars 2 in action I could easily see how other companies may take heed from what ArenaNet is up to.

    PAX: It changes your life yo.
    And people were saying that about Warhammer up until a week after launch or so.

    What you saw at PAX was specifically engineer to garner your reaction. After the trail of failures that have come in WoW's wake, we really need to curb our enthusiasm.

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  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    man, earth and beyond is still around?

    hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
    that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
  • ACSISACSIS Registered User regular
    some games simply refuse to die

  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Yeah, Matrix Online somehow survived for 4-5 years before someone mercifully put a bullet in it.

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  • kaliyamakaliyama Left to find less-moderated fora Registered User regular
    I remain hopeful I can use swtor as an ewok murdering simulator. That's cool that e&b is around.

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  • FandyienFandyien But Otto, what about us? Registered User regular
    i had a friend who played MxO for it's entire five year run

    it was the most massive circlejerk in internet history

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  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    my understanding is that for the first few months MxO was actually really awesome

  • FandyienFandyien But Otto, what about us? Registered User regular
    yeah it actually was pretty rad at launch

    i mean the mechanics and stuff were uniformly pretty bad but they weren't game ruining terrible, and the events were hella cool

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  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    edited August 2011
    man, earth and beyond is still around?

    .. this is the best news I've heard all day. See you all on!

    Anyone..? :(

    Edit: Logged in (Sunset), made a character, played for five minutes, and then noticed the upgraded tropical storm warning. We live right on the river. Off to pack some things and get the pets ready to evac if we have to! :P

    Shadowfire on
  • AvynteAvynte Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    The E&B Emu is surprisingly well run and very stable. Boy did it shake my rose colored glasses off though. I don't know how I stood all that mining in my Jenq Explorer. :P

    e; to post on topic with what the OP was asking: The SWGemu is worth trying out, it's all about that focus on community and making your own impact on the players around you. There's bugs, and not all the features are in yet, but it's got solid player driven action. As for Eve, don't worry about the microtransactions thing. Eve players fucking love drama and will blow any little thing out of the water if it makes for posting. Give the 10-day trial a whirl, or ask for a longer one in the thread. It's the only well polished mmo these days that really fits what you're asking for.

    Avynte on
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  • HallowedFaithHallowedFaith Call me Cloud. Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    TOGSolid wrote:
    Hey, when it's true, it's true. Having seen Guild Wars 2 in action I could easily see how other companies may take heed from what ArenaNet is up to.

    PAX: It changes your life yo.
    And people were saying that about Warhammer up until a week after launch or so.

    What you saw at PAX was specifically engineer to garner your reaction. After the trail of failures that have come in WoW's wake, we really need to curb our enthusiasm.

    I think this is supportive of changes to the gaming industry, but destructive to the overall process of the games creation. Money is what talks and hype sells games and can sometimes open the wallets or extend the watches of the men behind the curtain who are ultimately pulling the strings. I think it hurts the gaming industry because everyone goes "LOLZ GAME OMG REAL HDR SUNLIGHT!!!!" and the game sells on that alone, leaving the game barren of real creativity and originality. Man.. god damn we need some originality lol.

    Anyway, here is to another onslaught of unoriginal content I will still be paying for until the good shit surfaces! Huzzah gaming!

    I'm making video games. DesignBy.Cloud
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    TOGSolid wrote:
    Hey, when it's true, it's true. Having seen Guild Wars 2 in action I could easily see how other companies may take heed from what ArenaNet is up to.

    PAX: It changes your life yo.
    And people were saying that about Warhammer up until a week after launch or so.

    What you saw at PAX was specifically engineer to garner your reaction. After the trail of failures that have come in WoW's wake, we really need to curb our enthusiasm.

    Except that the original GW was, and still is, a top selling and extremely well recieved MMO, where as there was no Warhammer online previously. So the company already had a very good base to build off of, the game will still be Guild Wars, just with some added stuff. Which is what we expect from a sequal, yes? I played the original GW for a long time, it's one of only two MMO's that really "clicked" with me for years. EvE being the other.

    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • tdewey10tdewey10 Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    kaliyama wrote:
    What can I play that's the opposite of that? I never got into SWG, but that sounds exactly like what I want. I was considering getting into EVE but with their recent micro-transactions clusterfuck i've ruled that out. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Well if you want old-school nothing is more old-school these days than EQ Mac. Death hurts. But you'll need to make a hackintosh partition on your harddrive or buy a cheap ($100-$150) G4 or G5 Mac ;-) So getting started in EQMac also hurts. And of course EQMac has slow XP so leveling hurts ;-) And it behooves me to mention that most toons are maxlevel so finding groups hurts. :p But it's all a good pain.

    tdewey10 on
  • ArthilArthil Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    TOGSolid wrote:
    Hey, when it's true, it's true. Having seen Guild Wars 2 in action I could easily see how other companies may take heed from what ArenaNet is up to.

    PAX: It changes your life yo.
    And people were saying that about Warhammer up until a week after launch or so.

    What you saw at PAX was specifically engineer to garner your reaction. After the trail of failures that have come in WoW's wake, we really need to curb our enthusiasm.

    Except that the original GW was, and still is, a top selling and extremely well recieved MMO, where as there was no Warhammer online previously. So the company already had a very good base to build off of, the game will still be Guild Wars, just with some added stuff. Which is what we expect from a sequal, yes? I played the original GW for a long time, it's one of only two MMO's that really "clicked" with me for years. EvE being the other.

    Except for the fact that Mythic created Dark Age of Camelot, and Warhammer Online had a decent few similarities. Truly it's downfall might have been just how dissimilar it was. And the shitty management, that too.

    PSN: Honishimo Steam UPlay: Arthil
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    Arthil wrote:
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    TOGSolid wrote:
    Hey, when it's true, it's true. Having seen Guild Wars 2 in action I could easily see how other companies may take heed from what ArenaNet is up to.

    PAX: It changes your life yo.
    And people were saying that about Warhammer up until a week after launch or so.

    What you saw at PAX was specifically engineer to garner your reaction. After the trail of failures that have come in WoW's wake, we really need to curb our enthusiasm.

    Except that the original GW was, and still is, a top selling and extremely well recieved MMO, where as there was no Warhammer online previously. So the company already had a very good base to build off of, the game will still be Guild Wars, just with some added stuff. Which is what we expect from a sequal, yes? I played the original GW for a long time, it's one of only two MMO's that really "clicked" with me for years. EvE being the other.

    Except for the fact that Mythic created Dark Age of Camelot, and Warhammer Online had a decent few similarities. Truly it's downfall might have been just how dissimilar it was. And the shitty management, that too.

    I actually really enjoyed Warhammer until the WoW expansion came out and over half the playerbase left overnight to go play more WoW. But yes, mismanagement was also a big issue later on.

    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • kraz007kraz007 Registered User regular
    You have what Raph calls the MMO dilemma. You want single-player characteristics from an massive online game. It won't happen.

    That said, there's different degrees of "FAIL". I think that World of Warcraft is the best example of the current breed of MMOs. If you try it (it's free till level 20 currently) and like it, great. If you don't like it, I doubt you'll like any of the others. It's genre thing.

    Riftforge: a free online RPG with fantasy tactics!

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    Blogs: Endless Space - galaxy seeds | Diablo 3 duels
  • amateursuperheroamateursuperhero Registered User regular
    I'm going to join a few other posters in recommending Ultima Online (specifically, the IPY server: http://inporylem.com/). UO (on IPY) is the closest thing to a sandbox out there that I'm aware of. There are player houses, player kings, open-world PvP, thieves, pirates, boats, crafting skills, and so on. You can, for the most part, take on any kind of role you can imagine. The only downside is the game's age-- if you want something with beautiful graphics it definitely isn't the game for you. Also, IPY only launched a couple of months ago. So while you might be new to UO generally, you won't be far behind most of the people on the server.

    For a while we had a pretty large PA guild going, but most of the people have since gone inactive (you can check out the thread here: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/134421/uo-lets-give-this-old-dinosaur-one-last-glorious-go-ipy-2.0#Item_536). Skill gain was really tough in the beginning, and it scared a lot of our people off. It's infinitely better now though. If you're interested in playing, send me a PM and I'll help you out. There's also a whole guild dedicated to helping new players get their footing.

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