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Seriously Casual...
Veingloria
Member Posts: 50
So, I'm faced with a new challenge to my gaming life--a schedule that will only allow me to play for a few days at a time, every ten or so days. I know there are other folk who find a way to game around this kind of thing, but I can't for the life of me imagine how!
The game I have been playing, V:SOH, just doesn't lend itself to this kind of on-again, off-again play. Neither does guild life, and I have always been a "guild player". Worst of all, I can't imagine trying to RP when my character will live such a sporadic life, but that's one of my favorite parts of gaming.
Does anyone have any advice for me? I've been thinking about just game-hopping; trying the free or free for a while games out there, to see what they are like, instead of trying to play any one game during my short bursts of time, but that isn't my preference. I thought about EVE, because at least my character could be learning while I was offline, but although I get why it's a brilliant game, I spent three months on it and never really got to the point where it was fun.
Help!
V
Comments
It's fairly easy to solve this issue.
1) Pick a game you really enjoy playing, regardless of how much time you have.
2) Post in the official forums in the Looking for Guild section that you are a very, very casual player looking for a RP guild to play a couple times a week.
The issue here is not he game. Some games may be better for casual or not, but you really need a community (and by that I mean guild) which is conducive to your play style. Once you find that you'll be back in the fun again.
Rappelz is a f2p game geared towards casual play I believe.
everquest 2 also encourages you to take breaks by giving you exp bonuses , big ones, based on how long your character was away from the game.
I work as a contractor, which means I have some periods of massive downtime and other periods of insane work schedules.
I find myself playing more "serious" MMOs during downtimes but if you like action RPGs, may I suggest Guild Wars? It's an easy game to get into and just play, and even though it's shallow compared to other games like EVE or VG you won't be getting burned out playing it on and off. I'd be happy to put you in touch with some mature, cool guilds if you like.
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Guild Wars doesn't have any monthly fees and is very casual friendly. It depends on why you want to play an mmo casually and not just an offline rpg though, since GW lacks a lot of those "mmo elements" that some of us enjoy, like wars and politics. PvP is restricted to "matches" and the entire game is instanced, save the towns and outposts (which arguably are instanced as well, considering shards and regions).
It's extremely solo friendly since you can add npc's to your party. It's not unheard of that people finish the campaigns without ever teaming with another player. This let's you play it without "having" to join a guild and earning yourself a lot of obligations.
Shadowbane is completely free (with a video advertisement when you launch the game) and is one of the few current open pvp mmo's, but with a strong emphasis on guilds. You won't get far solo, but it shouldn't be too hard to find a guild which accepts casual players.
You know, I ruled out Guild Wars when it came out for the reasons you mention; I just didn't get that immersive, this is a whole other life, feel from it. But you're right--it might be exactly what I'm looking for now. Would really like it if someone could point me towards good, mature guilds.
I might also give Shadowbane another look. I played it at launch, and was hugely disappointed, but I think that is because it fell into the same trap that V:SOH did; it set expectations way too high before launch, and when it wasn't holy-grailish, it seemed like such a let down.
Thanks!
V
LOTRO, meant to be casual? I don't know, not played it but impression I get from people who have played the game.
I would recomend Lord of the Rings Online. The game was built from the ground up for casual players. Also they are constantly adding new content so if you time your play sessions just right you'll never run out of content, which is the major complaint against the game right now.
Hmmm... I have been playing a little LOTRO, and it didn't grab me as a casual game, but that is probably because i was trying to RP and, of course, that's hard to do when you're wafting in and out. I may also roll up another character and see what that is like from a solo perspective.
Thanks!
For pay to play, I recommend LotRO, Turbine is a great comapany and there history for keeeping up with updates and new content is unmatched in the industry.
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I completely agree that Turbine is a GREAT company. The kind of company I want to see control the MMO space in the future, in fact. AC was my first MMO (if you're not one of those people who insists that we consider MUDS MMOs, that is) and I loved it. It was dynamic, and brilliant, and there was always a great sense of forward motion. I often wish I had never left it; I know a few folks who started with me on day one of retail who are still there, and what a rich and rewarding experience they have had. Alas, I seem to always follow the shiny. It's my downfall. <Grin>
But, yeah, Turbine rocks. They take risks, and those risks don't always work out. (Poor DDO... brilliantly conceived and nearly unplayable.) But that they take them, and that they are still so detail-oriented (I can PLAY my lute in LOTRO, how cool is that!), gives me hope for the future. Rock on, Turbine!
kisses,
V
Don't you wish some of these companies would offer a consumable payment plan instead of a time period plan? Like allow you to pay for 30 hours and it slowly ticks off when your logged on and stops when your not.
LOTRO would probably be safe. Not sure how the guilding will work out.
On the plus side, I'd say its really good for on/off playing. Most of the advancement is tied to job-style quests. So you can usually make some progress. At worst, you might log out mid-quest. In which case your progress is basically still the same when you next log in.
Also most of the pre-45 group areas are good for a couple hours. I mostly get involved in those areas on the weekends and haven't had much trouble.
Though I can usually play on weekday nights too. So I'll run easier group and solo quests, do some crafting or work on accomplishments for a few hours. Then on Saturday or Sunday I'll go for crawling to the bottom of some dungeon or camp of orcs.
The casual MMO to rule them all – CoX.
But CoX is not for everyone, if you like RP'ing I would not suggest it.
Guild Wars is fun. I couldn't find a good guild for pvp so I gave up on it. But that was before any expansions.
Nope, that type of payment plan doesn't work for me since I like to play often. Unlimited gaming time for a fixed low payment of $20 a month or so is a great value for me.