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I'll also suggest Guild Wars as being fun. Plus, no monthly fees. ^_^ It was a lot of fun to play (I have no internet right now = no playing), and I had a group of people I went to high school with that I played with.
You might give Atlantica a shot. http://atlantica.ndoorsgames.com/center/default.asp
It's more of a MMO meets Final Fantasy game.
Me and the hubby just started it and so far it seems pretty fun.
Oh and it's free. We used to play EQ and EQ2 then WoW but now with 2 small children and always seem broke we quit WoW and have tried a few of the free MMO's.
Art style: World of Warcraft is probably going to be the first, second, fourth, fifth, and ninth suggestion we get, and with good reason, but neither of us are terribly attracted to it visually. It's just too bright and colourful and stylized; we prefer a more realistic, traditionally medieval-fantasy aesthetic. City of Heroes/Villains shares this flaw too, from what I've seen. Visual style isn't a make-or-break factor, so we're not ruling anything out based solely on this, but if we're going to be playing something for hours, it would be nice if we enjoyed looking at it.
Minimal grinding: our time is limited, both by necessity and choice. We're not interested in spending a minimum of four hours per day grinding exp on witchaloks to reach level ten so we can start spending five hours per day grinding hagalocks to get to level twenty and maybe after five weeks we'll be high enough to try running the level thirty shamanalocks instance. We want to feel like we're actually progressing in the game even if we can't treat it as a full-time job. If I had to guess, I'd say we'll probably be spending maybe 10-15 hours per week playing, total, and it would be kind of discouraging to not accomplish anything during that time.
Active community: we want the server (and the game!) to still be there in a year. We want to be able to find a guild to join, if we choose to do so. We want robust player economies, and amusing interpersonal drama to watch from the sidelines, and people to hang out with.
Easy or optional grouping: nothing makes me ask myself "why the fuck I am even playing this stupid game" like sitting down to play for a scheduled, time-limited three hour block, putting the LFG tag on, spending two hours and fifty minutes trying to get something organized, then getting an invite to Velks ten minutes before I need to leave. In EverQuest, a few classes could solo effectively by kiting mobs around, but us tank types didn't have a chance of that. Do any games lend themselves particularly well to duoing or soloing, or are there any that make the process of finding a group as quick and painless as possible?
Setting: our strong preference is for fantasy. I kind of have a thing for hitting stuff in the face with an axe.
Interesting PvE content: we don't have time to get into the PvP game; it tends to be very un-fun unless you already have all the leet gears, and honestly, if I want to ruin another human being's day, I'll play Team Fortress 2 on a pub server. (And if I want to get my day ruined, I'll play TF2 on one of the uber-competitive Toronto-based servers). Both of us just want to kick the shit out of some unfeeling NPC mobs.
I only played it for the first month, but imo it met the bolded requirements, at least in comparison to WoW. Personally I found the grind a little bit thankless once I hit the teens, but I was playing alone. The public quest system is fantastic; rather than sitting around watching LFG for an hour you just run into the quest area and join in with everyone else. It's a PvP-centric game, but I think the PvE is solid enough to be entertaining if that's the sort of experience you're looking for.
I think it's at least worth looking into. I can't really give a whole lot of info as I haven't played it for some months now.
I also hate (or at least dislike strongly) the WoW art style. I love fantasy MMORPGs, not really SciFi stuff. I played CoH/V for a few years (with friends) and tried FF, GuildWars, and LotRO before I just decided that I couldn't like it despite my expectations. Which didn't make any sense to me, because it has all the things I like and want about MMORPGs... But anyway, although I hated the art style of WoW (I still hate some of it.... like the WoW credit card designs, tshirts, concept art... whatever.. ) I heard that the narrative was solid and diverse so I gave it a try. (+ bf wanted to since we were running out of games to try)
In the end, I have to agree with everyone that it's a good, well made game. There is a lot to do, and you can really see that they put time and effort in things. The distinct art style you see everywhere is not an accurate representation of all the visuals of WoW. There are amazing sceneries that I love and I'm pretty sure you'll like too (such as castles) that I did not expect.
Hope you guys are as pleasantly surprised as I was.
(Oh and I am waiting for Aion because it looks just too damn pretty. XD)
As a casual player, Warhammer is the only MMO I have played in the last few years that has held my interest fast for more than a couple-three months. To put things in perspective I didn't even consider it an option, didn't keep up on news on Warhammer, etc. Picked it up on a whim after Age of Conan proved to suck after level 25 or so.
I'm not a PvP guy at all. Never even tried it once in WoW aside from my illfated attempt to play on my brother's PVP server. (protip: Casual players should avoid this. Everything takes WAY longer than it should)
Anyways, PvP in WAR is really fun. Some people ONLY PvP rather than grind. I do a mix as I kind of enjoy the single player aspect of MMOs but they really do make it easy to drop in and out of parties, scenarios, etc so it's perfect for a casual player.
Also, (keep in mind my highest char is only 28, YMMV at higher levels and I wouldn't know about it) it's harder to get ganked in seconds in WAR than in other games I have played. You actually CAN run away and sometimes you live if you do it early enough. I like that. 6 on one is usually quick and painless but if you see 'em coming you have a chance. Most of the times I die in PvP it's because I did something really dumb and not just because one guy decided to waste me.
There are free trials available and the lore is really, really well done.
edit.....
Interesting PvE content: we don't have time to get into the PvP game; it tends to be very un-fun unless you already have all the leet gears, and honestly, if I want to ruin another human being's day, I'll play Team Fortress 2 on a pub server. (And if I want to get my day ruined, I'll play TF2 on one of the uber-competitive Toronto-based servers). Both of us just want to kick the shit out of some unfeeling NPC mobs.
.
Oh yeah, and that's me to a tee. "I don't have time to PvP. I only play 8-12 hours a week." That's just not true in Warhammer. They make PvP accessible from level ONE. Again, this might change at high levels but so far it's been 100% true and a goddamn lot of fun.
I know Steev already mentioned it, but there is an Alliance guild on Draenor that is full of PA peeps. We started it up about 2 months ago and we've got about 70 people in it now. If you're interested in alliance on a PvE server, come check us out. We've got a thread in the MMO section of the forums.
We're going to try WoW for now... LotRO does look pretty great, but we're both just a bit tired of that particular world by now. We loved the books, we loved the movies, I have a copy of The Children of Hurin sitting on my computer right now and a map of Beleriand on the wall, but we want to try something that will be really new to us.
My offer still stands, pm me for info on my server if you decide to go there. If not goodluck in the WoW world!
Posts
http://atlantica.ndoorsgames.com/center/default.asp
It's more of a MMO meets Final Fantasy game.
Me and the hubby just started it and so far it seems pretty fun.
Oh and it's free. We used to play EQ and EQ2 then WoW but now with 2 small children and always seem broke we quit WoW and have tried a few of the free MMO's.
I think it's at least worth looking into. I can't really give a whole lot of info as I haven't played it for some months now.
I also hate (or at least dislike strongly) the WoW art style. I love fantasy MMORPGs, not really SciFi stuff. I played CoH/V for a few years (with friends) and tried FF, GuildWars, and LotRO before I just decided that I couldn't like it despite my expectations. Which didn't make any sense to me, because it has all the things I like and want about MMORPGs... But anyway, although I hated the art style of WoW (I still hate some of it.... like the WoW credit card designs, tshirts, concept art... whatever.. ) I heard that the narrative was solid and diverse so I gave it a try. (+ bf wanted to since we were running out of games to try)
In the end, I have to agree with everyone that it's a good, well made game. There is a lot to do, and you can really see that they put time and effort in things. The distinct art style you see everywhere is not an accurate representation of all the visuals of WoW. There are amazing sceneries that I love and I'm pretty sure you'll like too (such as castles) that I did not expect.
Hope you guys are as pleasantly surprised as I was.
(Oh and I am waiting for Aion because it looks just too damn pretty. XD)
I'm not a PvP guy at all. Never even tried it once in WoW aside from my illfated attempt to play on my brother's PVP server. (protip: Casual players should avoid this. Everything takes WAY longer than it should)
Anyways, PvP in WAR is really fun. Some people ONLY PvP rather than grind. I do a mix as I kind of enjoy the single player aspect of MMOs but they really do make it easy to drop in and out of parties, scenarios, etc so it's perfect for a casual player.
Also, (keep in mind my highest char is only 28, YMMV at higher levels and I wouldn't know about it) it's harder to get ganked in seconds in WAR than in other games I have played. You actually CAN run away and sometimes you live if you do it early enough. I like that. 6 on one is usually quick and painless but if you see 'em coming you have a chance. Most of the times I die in PvP it's because I did something really dumb and not just because one guy decided to waste me.
There are free trials available and the lore is really, really well done.
You might be surprised. I was.
PSN: Broichan
Oh yeah, and that's me to a tee. "I don't have time to PvP. I only play 8-12 hours a week." That's just not true in Warhammer. They make PvP accessible from level ONE. Again, this might change at high levels but so far it's been 100% true and a goddamn lot of fun.
PSN: Broichan
Edit: This is if you decide on WoW
My offer still stands, pm me for info on my server if you decide to go there. If not goodluck in the WoW world!