Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Looking for a game with a strong community
I have been playing MMOs for about 11 years now. My first was a game called The Realm and at the time it was a Sierra game. Not sure what company is running it now but meh. I am not very picky really except for the community aspect. DAoC was a great game with lots of depth and a huge community (during its time) and WoW was fun but is very old hat.
Ideally I would like something with big grouping aspect. Getting a group together just to farm an area and making eFriends is what I call fun. All this themepark stuff is wearing on me. Gone are the days where being a dickhead in game meant you were ostricized from the rest of the playerbase. /sigh
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions or would like some further clarification on what I am looking for feel free to let me know.
It's gotten to the point where some MMOs have been reduced to little more than success dispensers. Don't think. Don't challenge yourself. Do as little as possible... but still be rewarded for it. Yeah.. *that's* fun.
-- WSIMike
Comments
The Realm had an awesome community, hell it was an awesome game. Funny thing is the combat and skill system in that game is still more challenging than some more recent games.
The community really made it though. There'd be huge player weddings every other week, GM's playing hide + seek for rewards, not to mention GM controlled events. They should totally go the browser/ f2p model with it. I'd never get any work done.
My suggestion to you question though, would probably be Vanguard. Tight knit community and very rewarding group play once you start dungeon dwelling. There's a lot of talk about this game dieing off though, my advice would be to check it out while you can, it's worth it.
Lotro has a great community, however my main problem with the game is grouping. Whenever a group starts the majority of the time some highlevel comes along and steamrolls the content for you. Not sure why this always seems to happen in Lotro but it really kills my enjoyment of the game. It seems to be fairly accepted way of playing the game though. This probably wouldnt be a problem at higher levels.
Fallen Earth also has a great community, however it's pretty light on grouping. You can find it if you try though, Good luck Realmer
Currently Playing: The Game
Dungeons and Dragons Online has the best community I've seen so far, but if you don't like instances stay far away. Otherwise group content is all over the place, and the community is very kind, helpful, and mature from what I've seen.
--------------------------
Playing:
FFXIV, TERA, LoL, and HoTS
My Rig:
GPU: GeForce GTX 770, CPU: i7-4790K, Memory: 16 GB RAM
I wholeheartedly recommend Ryzom for you. You'd love the community. Heavily grouping oriented. Lots of freedom, no signs saying 'go this way for epixxx'.
Awesome, thanks. I did play those but it's been a while. I'm headed to download DDO and Ryzom now.
It's gotten to the point where some MMOs have been reduced to little more than success dispensers. Don't think. Don't challenge yourself. Do as little as possible... but still be rewarded for it. Yeah.. *that's* fun.
-- WSIMike
From what I've seen, EVE has a good community. Due to its complexity, its playerbase tends to be older and more mature (there are always exceptions, though, and I haven't gotten into heavy PvP yet, so I can't speak for EVE PvPers). Still, many people are friendly and helpful to the point where whole corporations (guilds) are dedicated to helping new people get into and master the game.
I see Ryzom was suggested; seems that sandbox games tend to foster better communities. However, I want to mention LotRO. While the community is pleasant and mature, they do seem a little disinclined to grouping (except for things like dungeons), so based on your description, I can't say I recommend it for you.
Most heavily-trafficked games are going to have plenty of assholes no matter what you do. So learn to liberally use "ignore" functions or pick up single-player gaming.
That said, DDO is all grouping and instancing. Sadly, I found it to be experienced players zerging through dungeons, but a lot of folks clearly like that so it may be for you.
Some folks clearly like LotRO, but I found the game to be very WoW-clonish for all aspects of gameplay, but with a less-friendly community (if you can even envision such a thing, I sure couldn't). Did not find anyone the least bit interested of playing with others, so I don't know if you're going to find what you're looking for there. They have a free trial, though, so it can't hurt I guess.