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LF Populated F2P (not just P2W) with Variety
Up until Cataclysm, I was an on-again, off-again WoW player. It was my first MMO and I rarely felt the branch away from it. I wasn't a hardcore raider, but I enjoyed the community, atmosphere, and instances.
Age of Conan came out during a bit of WoW downtime. It held my attention for a few months at launch, but got stale during the 50s, so I went back to WoW to play with some coworkers.
Warhammer came out during another bit of WoW downtime. The low-level PVP was fun and refreshing, but leveling was uninspired and I quickly lost interest as the tiers became less populated... and back to WoW.
A few months before Cata hit, WoW was getting boring yet again. The release of Cata got me to play casually for a few weeks before it became the same rep/gear grind it had been since WOTLK (and arguably earlier, though it was "new" enough that it didn't matter).
In the meantime, I've been trying tons of trials and games, but can't seem to choose one (or any) to stick to.
My day-to-day life is unpredictable enough that I don't want to commit to a subscription at this point in time, but I need something to fill the void. I'm looking for a free-to-play game with a decently-sized population (1000+ during peak times would be good) that isn't all about the cash shop. It also should have a variety of meaningful gameplay options (not just grinding).
Alternatively, my fiancee is a big fan of the Farmville/Trade Nations-type games... I'v been interested in trying to find an MMO incorporating some of those concepts, too... but most lack substance.
Here are a few notes about games that I've tried (including P2Ps also), but I'm willing to revisit any of them:
- LOTRO = On paper, it seems like exactly what I want (with a reasonable F2P hybrid model), but there's something missing.
- RIFT = WoW-clone, sub fee, souls are interesting, rifts are tedious, and the rest lacks innovation
- FFXI = Awkward controls, sub fee, feels outdated, a little too focused on grouping
- Alganon = No population (checked last night... 10 people online)
- Haven & Hearth = Not a lot of substance, spend hours doing next to nothing
- Xsyon = Interesting concept, but no population, nothing to "do"
- EVE = Sub fee, lots of choices, very open... repetitive (especially the environment)
- Vanguard = Don't know much about it, but very small population
- EQ2 = Seems like a good game, but EQ2X has an awful F2P model
- Ryzom = Very repetitive/grindy
- EQ (EMU) = Free, but outdated in many, many ways
- SWG (EMU) = Free, but buggy and not many players
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Have I overlooked a diamond in the rough?
Comments
No idea what to recommend, since all MMO's have some sort of repetitiveness to them, which seems to turn you off. Maybe take a break from MMO's and try out other genres?
You might be interested in Mabinogi. It's a sandbox mmo with a good sized playerbase. It has a lot of unique features like a leveling system that makes it not worth grinding a whole lot. There's a lot of stuff to do like dungeons, shadow missions, part time jobs, working on crafting, doing main storyline quests (which have a good storyline and offer nice rewards)... It's fairly f2p friendly but it will benefit you to no end to buy a mount (~$8 for a cheap flying one) to cut down on walking, and you can't open shops without a sub (remedied by broadcasting trade messages). And uh I haven't play Farmville / Trade Nations but there is a homestead system that I think is somewhat like that...