Personally, I have been giving Ryzom a try again and its very much like PreCU. Its sandbox with an incredible amount of character skill customization. The community is there and they are very helpful. The only real drawbacks are the graphics are not dated and the learning curve can be a ball breaker. Still delving into the Ryzom Ring content creation thing but overall, its very nice to be back in a sandbox to play.
Seeing as the game is free at the moment - not much of a risk to give it a try.
Back on topic. I've bounced around a lot as well. Since SWG I've tried:
Horizons -- Closest thing to pre-CU SWG I've found (minus any PvP whatsoever, which is fine by me). However, also the closest thing to SWG in terms of horror show corporations. When the whole account system blew up, that ended it for me. Fantasy though.
Anarchy Online -- This one is actually a great game. The graphics might be dated, but the ability to differentiate the look of your characters is great. Purportedly sci-fi, but you need to spend a LOT of time in Shadowlands, which is WAY to necromancer-ish for my tastes in a sci-fi game. The Alien Expansion at least brought back the sci-fi stuf. Problems were twofold: after lvl 100, the game got too tough for me. And crafting doesn't begin to really become viable until after lvl 100. And in what other game can you play a viable character class called the Bureaucrat? LOL (CC, charms and some XP buffs that every group wants along!)
LotRO -- Probably the most graphically beautiful game to date. And...a yawner. With prohibitive money sinks that make grinding through the early levels REALLY tough. And no early mounts for a LOT of repetitive running back and forth across zones. Turbine, ya coulda made us proud.
Tabula Rasa -- Yikes! Richard Garriot? What went wrong here? OK, it's kinda fun if you like zergs and button mashing, but no thanks.
Shards of Dalaya -- I found this free emu-of-an-early-SOE-fantasy-version-I that's been almost completely reworked and is a LOT of fun. It's like a new game with the early-SOE-fantasy-version-I graphics. A great job. And the guy who did it has a commercial title in the works. Could be good. No player housing, though. I recommend this to folks who don't want to give SOE any money but liked the early-SOE-fantasy-version-I.
Age of Conan -- Oh my. This from the same company as AO? OK, to be fair, AO for the first year or more was unplayable, and became a really fine game. But AoC? I don't think so.
WoW -- Believe it or not, I find myself enjoying this very much. I play on an RP server and found a great guild, both of which keep the raving 13-yr-olds to a minimum. Lotta 40+ players on my server. Very polished and a lot of fun in standard MMO style. No, nobody's gonna forget pre-CU SWG for WoW. And comparing the NGE-SWG to WoW is ludicrous. They're nothing alike. WoW IS fun, and is at the top of the heap for many reasons.
Now, I just finished the Warhammer preview weekend. Yes. I'm going to subscribe to this one. It does NOT purport to be anything "revolutionary". It sets out to take what made DAoC a classic, and make it better. It uses standard (WoW-like, if you must) mechanics, adds in a few evolutionary touches and some well-documented/developed story-world elements and comes out with a VERY nice game. I'm definitely looking forward to this one.
-- Xix "I know what you're thinking: 'Why, oh WHY, didn't I take the BLUE pill?'"
I've played a lot of mmo's since precu swg, which was my favorite. WOW was fun for about a year and then I got bored. Then LOTRO was fun for about 4 months, but now I'm bored. I've played other games like Vanguard, EQ2, COH, AOC and Matrix Online: these games held my attention for about 1 to 2 months.
I'm looking forward to Warhammer Online, but I'm not following it. I'll just play it when it releases. STO and the Star Wars mmo are long ways off. Spellborn...who knows when that will launch. I'm not following any of these games but they are somewhere on my radar.
Actually, I've pretty much stopped playing mmo's and now am back to reading sci fi again. Lot's of good books, a lot more entertaining than playing mmo's at the moment. I just finished the Dune prequel trilogies and am on the third book in the Dune Series, Children of Dune. After these I may reread the Conan books, or start on the Star Wars or Tolkien books.
Maybe someone will make a good mmo someday. Maybe.
Darkfall looks pretty cool I have to admit. I'm a little worried about the player created stuff. I feel that if a game is set in a certain period everything within it should be the same. And I know that people will ruin that. So it'll be worth trying out, but if people constantly screw it up, I'll probably leave.
For now I've already preordered Warhammer and will be starting that up Sept. 7th so that's where I'll be. And I'll be there till the next best thing comes out unless it sucks.
The Saga of Ryzom recently re-opened. i though i would give it a shot and its a damn fine skillbased game. though i am still waiting for the...non SOE/Bioware version of SWG to come out, i have found a temporary home in the Saga (along with a few other vets after a discussion in-game).
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds -Solid non level based game -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
Cannot pass up the opportunity to share my sordid MMO history.
July 2003. Bought and played SWG until November 16, 2005. I left in absolute shock. My friends list disappeared quite literally overnight. I tried NGE, couldnt handle it. Left.
After talking with some friends i finally gave WoW a shot. Played for about 90 days. Thought that the vastness was impressive, the stylization, though cartoonish, was well-done, I just could not stand the cookie-cutter skills and toons and loot and armor. I also thought the economy was a joke. I played mostly because a fellow SWG vet who was betrayed by the NGE was with me.
After WoW, I attempted Matrix Online for all of about 10 mins. Immediately erased it from my box.
After Matrix Online, I attempted EQ2. Finished the noob area, erased it from my box.
After EQ2, i went back to WoW for about a week. I felt empty inside after questing nonstop for xp.
After WoW i went back to NGE. Put about a month in. Mostly to consolidate all my stuff in the absurd hope of it ever rolling back. My houses have about 12 year of maintenance on them now.
After a sample of NGE free-time, i tried Pirates of the Burning Sea. I played for maybe 2 days. Did not live up the hype. Was too narrow, too 1 dimensional.
After Pirates of the Burning Sea, I attempted the much-hyped "Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa". Gave up in disgust and boredom after about 3 hours.
During all these switches all I could do was think about how great SWG was, bugs and all. I missed my Kauri friends and adventures and grinding and hunts and crafting and houses and all that jazz.
After Tabula Rasa I attempted to play Entropia Universe. It's basically a money-sink. Brilliant concept. Someone is getting rich off that game, but not the players.
After Entropia i attempted Second Life. it's ugly. it's laggy. it's pointless, but it's a big sandbox and its free. So i made some stuff, talked to people, basically hung out. I still have an active account and installation but i log on for maybe 10-15 mins twice a week.
During that time period I also tried Sims Online. People reminded me alot of the types that hung around in preCU/preNGE swg cantinas. Gotta say i liked the community. Game sucked and was cancelled but it had promise.
After Sims Online i went back to NGE to check on my stuff (haha lame i know) and i ended up persuading a friend of mine who has Station Pass to play with me. We actually only did space stuff (on an empty server) and ended up both getting that huge-arse Blacksun Gunboat. Gotta say it was really fun in space. But I didnt really spend any time on the ground cuz it just depressed me.
So, i'm still waiting for some future-genius out there to make the "next SWG" type game. Or for someone to leave me 100,000,000 so i can just make the ultimate MMO myself and be the czar of MMO awesomeness.
That's my story.
ps i tried City of Villains at some point between its launch and the launch of Pirates. I didnt even make it thru the tutorial without getting bored.
pps I also tried LOTRO during its Beta and launch time period. I love the LOTR lore, but the game i thought was poorly implemented.
Comments
why cant developers just give us a good sandbox game again - it's less hassle and support for them and it lets players do whatever they want
I've been playing SWGEMU. Has it's problems still but gives you the old feelings of classic SWG
.
Personally, I have been giving Ryzom a try again and its very much like PreCU. Its sandbox with an incredible amount of character skill customization. The community is there and they are very helpful. The only real drawbacks are the graphics are not dated and the learning curve can be a ball breaker. Still delving into the Ryzom Ring content creation thing but overall, its very nice to be back in a sandbox to play.
Seeing as the game is free at the moment - not much of a risk to give it a try.
Back on topic. I've bounced around a lot as well. Since SWG I've tried:
Horizons -- Closest thing to pre-CU SWG I've found (minus any PvP whatsoever, which is fine by me). However, also the closest thing to SWG in terms of horror show corporations. When the whole account system blew up, that ended it for me. Fantasy though.
Anarchy Online -- This one is actually a great game. The graphics might be dated, but the ability to differentiate the look of your characters is great. Purportedly sci-fi, but you need to spend a LOT of time in Shadowlands, which is WAY to necromancer-ish for my tastes in a sci-fi game. The Alien Expansion at least brought back the sci-fi stuf. Problems were twofold: after lvl 100, the game got too tough for me. And crafting doesn't begin to really become viable until after lvl 100. And in what other game can you play a viable character class called the Bureaucrat? LOL (CC, charms and some XP buffs that every group wants along!)
LotRO -- Probably the most graphically beautiful game to date. And...a yawner. With prohibitive money sinks that make grinding through the early levels REALLY tough. And no early mounts for a LOT of repetitive running back and forth across zones. Turbine, ya coulda made us proud.
Tabula Rasa -- Yikes! Richard Garriot? What went wrong here? OK, it's kinda fun if you like zergs and button mashing, but no thanks.
Shards of Dalaya -- I found this free emu-of-an-early-SOE-fantasy-version-I that's been almost completely reworked and is a LOT of fun. It's like a new game with the early-SOE-fantasy-version-I graphics. A great job. And the guy who did it has a commercial title in the works. Could be good. No player housing, though. I recommend this to folks who don't want to give SOE any money but liked the early-SOE-fantasy-version-I.
Age of Conan -- Oh my. This from the same company as AO? OK, to be fair, AO for the first year or more was unplayable, and became a really fine game. But AoC? I don't think so.
WoW -- Believe it or not, I find myself enjoying this very much. I play on an RP server and found a great guild, both of which keep the raving 13-yr-olds to a minimum. Lotta 40+ players on my server. Very polished and a lot of fun in standard MMO style. No, nobody's gonna forget pre-CU SWG for WoW. And comparing the NGE-SWG to WoW is ludicrous. They're nothing alike. WoW IS fun, and is at the top of the heap for many reasons.
Now, I just finished the Warhammer preview weekend. Yes. I'm going to subscribe to this one. It does NOT purport to be anything "revolutionary". It sets out to take what made DAoC a classic, and make it better. It uses standard (WoW-like, if you must) mechanics, adds in a few evolutionary touches and some well-documented/developed story-world elements and comes out with a VERY nice game. I'm definitely looking forward to this one.
-- Xix
"I know what you're thinking: 'Why, oh WHY, didn't I take the BLUE pill?'"
I didn't read all the posts but, has anyone mentioned Ryzom. It's the closest this I've seen to pre-CU days.
Perfect World International
Guild Wars
Anarchy Online
Tried nearly all, but none do it for me. Oh and i'm also playing the unmentionable SWG as well. Coming along great BTW.
Gotta agree with Infrared! Ryzom is as colse as I have come to Pre-cu SWG! The community there is awesome!
Have to agree its the next closest thing to Pre cu, has a better creature ai too if you ask me.
Playing Fallen Earth.
I've played a lot of mmo's since precu swg, which was my favorite. WOW was fun for about a year and then I got bored. Then LOTRO was fun for about 4 months, but now I'm bored. I've played other games like Vanguard, EQ2, COH, AOC and Matrix Online: these games held my attention for about 1 to 2 months.
I'm looking forward to Warhammer Online, but I'm not following it. I'll just play it when it releases. STO and the Star Wars mmo are long ways off. Spellborn...who knows when that will launch. I'm not following any of these games but they are somewhere on my radar.
Actually, I've pretty much stopped playing mmo's and now am back to reading sci fi again. Lot's of good books, a lot more entertaining than playing mmo's at the moment. I just finished the Dune prequel trilogies and am on the third book in the Dune Series, Children of Dune. After these I may reread the Conan books, or start on the Star Wars or Tolkien books.
Maybe someone will make a good mmo someday. Maybe.
http://www.mortalonline.com/
SitH happens
Darkfall looks pretty cool I have to admit. I'm a little worried about the player created stuff. I feel that if a game is set in a certain period everything within it should be the same. And I know that people will ruin that. So it'll be worth trying out, but if people constantly screw it up, I'll probably leave.
For now I've already preordered Warhammer and will be starting that up Sept. 7th so that's where I'll be. And I'll be there till the next best thing comes out unless it sucks.
The Saga of Ryzom recently re-opened. i though i would give it a shot and its a damn fine skillbased game. though i am still waiting for the...non SOE/Bioware version of SWG to come out, i have found a temporary home in the Saga (along with a few other vets after a discussion in-game).
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
Cannot pass up the opportunity to share my sordid MMO history.
July 2003. Bought and played SWG until November 16, 2005. I left in absolute shock. My friends list disappeared quite literally overnight. I tried NGE, couldnt handle it. Left.
After talking with some friends i finally gave WoW a shot. Played for about 90 days. Thought that the vastness was impressive, the stylization, though cartoonish, was well-done, I just could not stand the cookie-cutter skills and toons and loot and armor. I also thought the economy was a joke. I played mostly because a fellow SWG vet who was betrayed by the NGE was with me.
After WoW, I attempted Matrix Online for all of about 10 mins. Immediately erased it from my box.
After Matrix Online, I attempted EQ2. Finished the noob area, erased it from my box.
After EQ2, i went back to WoW for about a week. I felt empty inside after questing nonstop for xp.
After WoW i went back to NGE. Put about a month in. Mostly to consolidate all my stuff in the absurd hope of it ever rolling back. My houses have about 12 year of maintenance on them now.
After a sample of NGE free-time, i tried Pirates of the Burning Sea. I played for maybe 2 days. Did not live up the hype. Was too narrow, too 1 dimensional.
After Pirates of the Burning Sea, I attempted the much-hyped "Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa". Gave up in disgust and boredom after about 3 hours.
During all these switches all I could do was think about how great SWG was, bugs and all. I missed my Kauri friends and adventures and grinding and hunts and crafting and houses and all that jazz.
After Tabula Rasa I attempted to play Entropia Universe. It's basically a money-sink. Brilliant concept. Someone is getting rich off that game, but not the players.
After Entropia i attempted Second Life. it's ugly. it's laggy. it's pointless, but it's a big sandbox and its free. So i made some stuff, talked to people, basically hung out. I still have an active account and installation but i log on for maybe 10-15 mins twice a week.
During that time period I also tried Sims Online. People reminded me alot of the types that hung around in preCU/preNGE swg cantinas. Gotta say i liked the community. Game sucked and was cancelled but it had promise.
After Sims Online i went back to NGE to check on my stuff (haha lame i know) and i ended up persuading a friend of mine who has Station Pass to play with me. We actually only did space stuff (on an empty server) and ended up both getting that huge-arse Blacksun Gunboat. Gotta say it was really fun in space. But I didnt really spend any time on the ground cuz it just depressed me.
So, i'm still waiting for some future-genius out there to make the "next SWG" type game. Or for someone to leave me 100,000,000 so i can just make the ultimate MMO myself and be the czar of MMO awesomeness.
That's my story.
ps i tried City of Villains at some point between its launch and the launch of Pirates. I didnt even make it thru the tutorial without getting bored.
pps I also tried LOTRO during its Beta and launch time period. I love the LOTR lore, but the game i thought was poorly implemented.