MMOs for Explorers - The Playlist at MMORPG.com

SBFord

MMOs for Explorers - The Playlist at MMORPG.com

In this new column we’re calling The Playlist, we seek to be your MMO Spotify. We want to curate lists of games for all kinds of player types or interests. To start off, we’re going to focus on the best games out there for all kinds of explorers. If you love getting lost in a world, seeing whatever is over the next mountain, we hope to give you quite a few games to check out.

Read the full story here

Neanderthal

Quest led games are not games for explorers for the simple reason that all the rewards are from going where you are told to go and doing what you are told to do so if you actually explore (rather than following the dotted line) you just feel like you are wasting your time.

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simsalabim77

If you like space, EVE is pretty awesome. There's a whole skill path dedicated to exploring space.

Gdemami

Neanderthal said:

Quest led games are not games for explorers for the simple reason that all the rewards are from going where you are told to go and doing what you are told to do so if you actually explore (rather than following the dotted line) you just feel like you are wasting your time.

You mistake questing for story telling...

Neanderthal

Gdemami said:

Neanderthal said:

Quest led games are not games for explorers for the simple reason that all the rewards are from going where you are told to go and doing what you are told to do so if you actually explore (rather than following the dotted line) you just feel like you are wasting your time.

You mistake questing for story telling...

Does anyone actually read the "story" text explaining why the npc needs 10 rat asses?

Po_gg

Wildstar's explorer Path is fun, and the world is pretty large.

Love to explore in LotRO, awesome world building there. A few years ago, before the map change it was even better
(when that lazy Peon made the first impression review, it was maybe the funniest remark, "can't zoom into the map" - dude, a few years back all you'd see there is an empty parchment... )

edit:

Neanderthal said:

Gdemami said:

You mistake questing for story telling...

Does anyone actually read the "story" text explaining why the npc needs 10 rat asses?

:waving:   I do...

Neanderthal

Po_gg said:

Wildstar's explorer Path is fun, and the world is pretty large.

Love to explore in LotRO, awesome world building there. A few years ago, before the map change it was even better
(when that lazy Peon made the first impression review, it was maybe the funniest remark, "can't zoom into the map" - dude, a few years back all you'd see there is an empty parchment... )

edit:

Neanderthal said:

Gdemami said:

You mistake questing for story telling...

Does anyone actually read the "story" text explaining why the npc needs 10 rat asses?

:waving:   I do...

So its you. You're the one responsible for all this.

I curse you!

4Renziks

Wildstar for a themepark MMO is good for explorers, as well as ESO.

blbeta

I consider myself an explorer. I love finding little hidden spots in the world. I don't care how big the world is, if most of the important stuff is marked for you I do not feel like that is an exploring game. That is not fun to me.

That said my exploration style vs this list to curate it what I like as far as exploring.

Lotro - Yes
Wildstar - No, but I immediately turned off by it pointing out everything to me as an "explorer"
WoW - Yes & No - Perhaps I played too long, but knowing nothing worth while is around the cliff is a downer to me now. In the beginning Yes it is.
Wander - DNP
Elite: Dangerous - DNP
Rift - DNP ( only beta a few times and I didn't stick with it.)
Guild Wars 2 - Yes (This is probably the best on the list to me atm for exploration)
EQ 1 - DNP
EQ 2 - Yes
Trove - DNP

My pick is Asheron's Call. Perhaps it is because there is not close up map, but the world is huge even by today's standards. Granted the is a lot of "empty" space, but none the less there are hundreds+ dungeons to find. Forts and all kinds of stuff. The loot system also helps because everything can be useful. The game is OLD though and the UI is probably the biggest reason I don't get back into it. I have to mod it to be able to play and these days I just want the game to be ready to play.

Scorchien

a list about MMO exploration that doesnt include UO or Asherons Call is a diservice, discreditted ,dismissed............

NoxMaelstrom

The Shire is one of the best characterizations given life in an MMO. If you are a "professional" MMO'er where end game is the bomb, you may not enjoy it. I read the text when it is worth the read and while I have raced to end game in many an MMO, I enjoyed the ride of LoTRO and took 2 years to reach end game with a toon.

Scorchien

NoxMaelstrom said:

The Shire is one of the best characterizations given life in an MMO. If you are a "professional" MMO'er where end game is the bomb, you may not enjoy it. I read the text when it is worth the read and while I have raced to end game in many an MMO, I enjoyed the ride of LoTRO and took 2 years to reach end game with a toon.

LoTRO is a fantastic game to explore also , my main Hunter which i started day 1 , is still only lvl 98 (2 to go) ... I take my time xploring Middle Earth , shut off names and the red dots(mobs ) from radar , makes for a great experience..

Wizardry

Trove ??Roflmao,,,i got so bored of looking at lego blocks one day was all i could take.

Part of exploring,like the MAIN aspect of it is visually appealing,lego blocks are not visually appealing.

Never heard of Wander so i had to check it out.Visually it looks good but it is basically a bunch of trees and brush and water,hardly what i would call any effort on visuals.The game basically has 2-3 systems depending if you can even call them systems.It has very little going for it,i cannot see me wanting to spend time or money in a game to just fly around on some Griffin looking at trees.

Most of the other games are pretty good for exploration.They also provide a GAME to go with that exploration which is important because any slack developer can auto generate terrain maps.

Righteous_Rock

Hank Snow helped me get my wow chiev. endless loop

Quizzical

Based on that list, I think your concept of exploration is very, very different from mine.  You've got a bunch of theme parks in which exploration really only means, "A really inefficient way to find out what is already on the wiki."  That's basically the opposite of what I'd think of as a game for explorers, and seems to be closer to my concept of "games with lots of pretty artwork".

Meanwhile, Uncharted Waters Online is nowhere to be found, in spite of making exploration into a major game mechanic with literally hundreds of hours worth of content.

Dastar

Well i love LOTRO more for the history but where is Archeage? fuck i have explore a lot and still have more to Explore

BillMurphy

Quizzical said:

Based on that list, I think your concept of exploration is very, very different from mine.  You've got a bunch of theme parks in which exploration really only means, "A really inefficient way to find out what is already on the wiki."  That's basically the opposite of what I'd think of as a game for explorers, and seems to be closer to my concept of "games with lots of pretty artwork".

Meanwhile, Uncharted Waters Online is nowhere to be found, in spite of making exploration into a major game mechanic with literally hundreds of hours worth of content.

I did say it wouldn't be exhaustive, didn't I? :surprised: 

thundercles

Cool topic. It is intresting to see what everyones idea of exploration is. I would have said wurm, eve, project gorgon, eq2......

BillMurphy

thundercles said:

Cool topic. It is intresting to see what everyones idea of exploration is. I would have said wurm, eve, project gorgon, eq2......

Project Gorgon is a great one!

And yes, so is EVE, so is AC, but again. The list isn't FULL. It's a "playlist", or a sampling.

Ozmodan

Seriously Bill, Wow, the EQ's, Rift?  What the heck are you thinking?  There is no exploration in those games unless you are at or near the top level.  Most games that have character levels are NOT endowed with exploration options.  Asheron's Call was somewhat an exception as the levels did not mean much.

While I shudder at blocky Trove it is a good example.  UO, Eve are also good ones.  SWG was a good example too.

I think you are missing the reason for the criticism, you made bad choices that don't meet anyone's criteria for exploration.

angus858

LotRO and Rift were enjoyable to explore. GW2 was not. There were too many mechanisms designed to point out everything . Some of that could be toggled off, but it doesn't feel like exploration to me if I have to blindfold myself and plug my ears just so I have something to discover on my own. Does Wildstar have similar "features"?

Ryzom is probably the most enjoyable (and dangerous) exploration I have experienced in a mmorpg.

Ikeda

BillMurphy said:

thundercles said:

Cool topic. It is intresting to see what everyones idea of exploration is. I would have said wurm, eve, project gorgon, eq2......

Project Gorgon is a great one!

And yes, so is EVE, so is AC, but again. The list isn't FULL. It's a "playlist", or a sampling.

A big sampling...

Of arguably the only surviving "big" MMO's...

Some of which aren't really exploring at all since it's all retreading everything people elsewhere have already tread.

No Man's Sky excites me for this very reason.

Konfess

Why was WoW on the list? Because a Lot of effort went into decorating the world. There are a lot of places in the game world that the quest do not send you. Some are hard to get to, but given time and or effort a player can get to and see and explore a site to behold.

Early in my life I left 3 buckets behind. I wondered what happened to the buckets, and if the people who found them wondered about the story behind those buckets. For that reason I incorporate lost buckets into my games. I hope the explorer who find them appreciate them.

From what I have read here, there is a second type of explorer that I don't quite understand. They don't seem to be looking for beauty in the world. As far as I can tell they only seek area or volume?

BillMurphy

Ozmodan said:

I think you are missing the reason for the criticism, you made bad choices that don't meet anyone's criteria for exploration.

Hardly "anyone's". I see a lot of agreement here, just as I see dissent. Again, the list isn't exhaustive. It's not supposed to be a catch-all. Reading the intro states as much. Oh well, hopefully it sinks in as we do more like this.

Lobotomist

Only real exploration MMO is not on this list. It is called : Project Gorgon

Beside this LOTRO and EQ2 could be listed as exploration simply because they are old school and feature vast open areas. ESO tries to include exploration similar to Skyrim, but the maps are so small, it really makes no sense.

All the rest are joke. Especially Wildstar with its quasi platformer game that they call Explorer