Help me find the right MMO

cayne-abel

 

I have some experience with MMOs, but not much.  I’ve tried a whole bunch (the last one was Tabula Rasa).  The only ones I played for more than a few days were the following:

 

- Final Fantasy XI – my first MMO; enjoyed it quite a bit.  Played it for about 14 hours a day for two months, then suddenly got bored with it (although I have a tendency to get bored with video games very quickly).  Never got further than level 30.

 

- WoW – played it on and off for a while.  Never got past the low 20’s I believe.  Never did much grouping.  Got bored with the soloing pretty quick. 

 

- Everquest II – ditto

 

- Tabula Rasa – I found the concept really interesting.  Gave it a few weeks before putting it down.

 

- EVE – gave it a couple of chances for a couple of weeks at a time.  Really cool concept, but I never got into a corp, and so I got bored pretty quick.  (I was later told that in EVE, joining a corp immediately is a must, so that was my mistake).

 

So I’m not exactly a veteran of MMOs, but no stranger either.  I almost always solo’d…but my most memorable and fun MMO experiences were working with a good group for hours at a time.  I only solo’d most of the time because I usually found it very difficult to get a good group going – so rather than take up hours finding a group, I’d normally just solo.  I never really got into guilds either.

 

 

Since there are plenty of new games out there, and since a lot of the older games changed a lot since I last played them, I’m wondering what y’all suggest I try.  Here are my criteria besides the obvious (good gameplay, compelling story/world, etc):

 

• 
  Fairly large, active subscriber base:  I don’t want a dead or dying game.  I’m looking for an MMO that has a fairly bright future and a well-populated world
• 
  Good community with newbie-friendly guilds:  I really wanna emphasize grouping this time around; I think soloing has been my fatal mistake, in terms of getting bored too quickly
• 
  A less-than-insane learning curve:  EVE, for example, seems like it’s just a bit too much for me

Silverangel7

LotRO is missing from your list, is currently free to try, and fits all of your criteria.  I would recommend it.  Go for a well-populated server, or maybe one of the new worlds they just opened for the new players.

Torgrim

How did you miss the sub forum

 

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/forum/841/LFGame.html

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

astoria

Originally posted by cayne-abel

 

I have some experience with MMOs, but not much.  I’ve tried a whole bunch (the last one was Tabula Rasa).  The only ones I played for more than a few days were the following:

 

- Final Fantasy XI – my first MMO; enjoyed it quite a bit.  Played it for about 14 hours a day for two months, then suddenly got bored with it (although I have a tendency to get bored with video games very quickly).  Never got further than level 30.

 

- WoW – played it on and off for a while.  Never got past the low 20’s I believe.  Never did much grouping.  Got bored with the soloing pretty quick. 

 

- Everquest II – ditto

 

- Tabula Rasa – I found the concept really interesting.  Gave it a few weeks before putting it down.

 

- EVE – gave it a couple of chances for a couple of weeks at a time.  Really cool concept, but I never got into a corp, and so I got bored pretty quick.  (I was later told that in EVE, joining a corp immediately is a must, so that was my mistake).

 

So I’m not exactly a veteran of MMOs, but no stranger either.  I almost always solo’d…but my most memorable and fun MMO experiences were working with a good group for hours at a time.  I only solo’d most of the time because I usually found it very difficult to get a good group going – so rather than take up hours finding a group, I’d normally just solo.  I never really got into guilds either.

 

 

Since there are plenty of new games out there, and since a lot of the older games changed a lot since I last played them, I’m wondering what y’all suggest I try.  Here are my criteria besides the obvious (good gameplay, compelling story/world, etc):

 

• 
  Fairly large, active subscriber base:  I don’t want a dead or dying game.  I’m looking for an MMO that has a fairly bright future and a well-populated world
• 
  Good community with newbie-friendly guilds:  I really wanna emphasize grouping this time around; I think soloing has been my fatal mistake, in terms of getting bored too quickly
• 
  A less-than-insane learning curve:  EVE, for example, seems like it’s just a bit too much for me

 If soloing too much was not your style, here are a few I'd recommend.

City of Heroes, guilds 'supergroups' are easy to find and are often themed. Pick up groups are all over the place. Healthy population, they just had a big expansion allowing you to switch between good and evil and shades of grey.

Warhammer, you can join open area conflicts and 'scenarios' almost constantly and there are public quests when the PvP is quiet. An expansion is close on the horizon.

You might give EVE another try and join a corp ASAP. While there is stuff to do without a corp, few do that as far as I know. Its just not a game about you personal development (your armor, weapons, stats) its about building things, land, and isk.

hardgames

I recommend Aika Global. You can solo many of the quests in the game. But, it has a VERY GOOD community. It has one of the best community, in fact. People are willing to help newbies. If you need to do dungeons, just shout out and there are people who will respond. I think it's the perfect game that satisfies your criteria since it has a large player base and a very good community like I said.

jodeemane

You should post this in the LFG section.

Anyway, you might want to try Vindictus. A lot of players are saying that this is a great game. But to be able to play it you need to be in U.S.A. or Canada. Also, it's going to start it's OBT this coming week. (not sure about the exact date)

judex99

Wait for GW2, if you dont want to wait then Aion, WAR or Lotro could work.

Adamantine

Is there a reason why you want to play MMORPGs, when in the end you always solo ?

You can solo just as well in single player games, and those are usually designed in such a way that they will entertain you much better than a MMORPG.

arieste

Originally posted by cayne-abel

 

I have some experience with MMOs, but not much.  I’ve tried a whole bunch (the last one was Tabula Rasa).  The only ones I played for more than a few days were the following:

 

- Final Fantasy XI – my first MMO; enjoyed it quite a bit.  Played it for about 14 hours a day for two months, then suddenly got bored with it (although I have a tendency to get bored with video games very quickly).  Never got further than level 30.

 

- WoW – played it on and off for a while.  Never got past the low 20’s I believe.  Never did much grouping.  Got bored with the soloing pretty quick. 

 

- Everquest II – ditto

 

- Tabula Rasa – I found the concept really interesting.  Gave it a few weeks before putting it down.

 

- EVE – gave it a couple of chances for a couple of weeks at a time.  Really cool concept, but I never got into a corp, and so I got bored pretty quick.  (I was later told that in EVE, joining a corp immediately is a must, so that was my mistake).

 

So I’m not exactly a veteran of MMOs, but no stranger either.  I almost always solo’d…but my most memorable and fun MMO experiences were working with a good group for hours at a time.  I only solo’d most of the time because I usually found it very difficult to get a good group going – so rather than take up hours finding a group, I’d normally just solo.  I never really got into guilds either.

 

 

Since there are plenty of new games out there, and since a lot of the older games changed a lot since I last played them, I’m wondering what y’all suggest I try.  Here are my criteria besides the obvious (good gameplay, compelling story/world, etc):

 

• 
  Fairly large, active subscriber base:  I don’t want a dead or dying game.  I’m looking for an MMO that has a fairly bright future and a well-populated world
• 
  Good community with newbie-friendly guilds:  I really wanna emphasize grouping this time around; I think soloing has been my fatal mistake, in terms of getting bored too quickly
• 
  A less-than-insane learning curve:  EVE, for example, seems like it’s just a bit too much for me

There are only a couple of well-populated games that are missing from your list.   These are LoTRO, AoC and AION.  However, if you didn't like EQ2 and WoW, there is no reason why any of these 3 would appeal to you.  The 3 games are very similar - both to each other and to EQ2 / WoW.

 

To help you decide, here is what makes the games different from each other (even though they are made of the same mold really):

AION:  asian-style graphics, more grind-based than quest, 2 Faction PvP at the core of the game, totally disposable lore and setting that is meaningless bordering on idiotic.  if you don't want to read stuff and just want to slaughter 1000 blue bunnies to level, this is the game for you.

AoC:  best graphics, art design and music on the market, great setting and lore.  guild vs. guild pvp with land control.   quest-based, soloable leveling experience, few groups until level 40 (out of 80).  more pvp focused game, but end-game raiding exists.  if you absolutely hate pvp, AoC is not a good choice.  if you enjoy both pve and pvp, it's probably the best.

LoTRO:  best storyline & lore, large and immersive world.  quest-based progression, can be soloed by a lot of grouping available starting at level 20.   less linear than both of the above.  game is PvE & storyline focused.  it has pvp, but should n't really be chosen if pvp is what you're after.  free to play option that gives you virtually all pre-25 content free with different options for obtaining other content (if you grind enough in game, you can get all paid content free).

 

oh and community-wise:    LoTRO >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>AoC>>>Aion

BeansnBread

Oh --- Guild Wars sounds pretty damn good for what you are asking for.

scuubeedoo

FFXIV i guess is the game you are looking for. You say you were playing the first one and had fun, so you 'll probably like this one too. For that reason the learning curve should be shorter than it would take for a non-ex-player. And it's a new game so it should have a healthy subscriber base.

Kyleran

I 'd say... ... go back and try WOW again. New expansion Cataclysm is coming out on Dec 7th, lots of new players will be re-rolling the new races (Goblins for the Horde) and if you like PUG grouping w/o the overhead of being part of a guild they've got the new Dungeon finder tool which makes finding a group quite easy (especially for tanks and healers) and you can actually level from 1-80+ entirely in a group if you are so inclined. (though you'll probably want to solo quest in the revamped world I suspect)

 

cayne-abel

Thanks for all responses so far...much appreciated.

 

Can anyone tell me the big differences between FFXIV and LotRO?  Like in terms of community?  Or in terms of Soloing vs. Grouping?  Grinding vs. questing?  Ease of finding a group or guild?  Quality of quests (innovative / boring / lengthy / compelling storylines, etc)?