Worst Community - EQ. Killstealers, trainers, and ninja looters galore. Oasis chat = Barrens chat. People charged for buffs, rezzes, and other things that were easy to hand out. This made for selfish people unwilling to help anyone. I think all the jerks in EQ made a nice home in WoW(which would be EQ's successor in douche's per sq. mile). Best Community - DAoC. Just awesome people that used to play that game. Most people always lent a hand. Drive by rezzes if you died, and used to get buffed all the time.
In the classic EQ days buffing people cost plat gems did not come free to anyone. Now days they cost nothing to cast
I'd have to say that is about right. I actually was tempted on placing down Lineage II for best, because I love competitive communities. I'm sure some people can't stand it, but I love all of the trash talk and forum warrioring .
Still, Anarchy Online was an amazing experience in community for me. I joined the game when it had the fr00b deal, and needless to say I was confused. I actually had someone stop by and start talking to me. He told me about implants, how to use them and all of these other things. He than actually bought me some implants, told me how to put them on, what was good... I mean he seriously spent a solid 30 minutes of his time helping out a poor old fr00b .
It's a good thing too, I probably would have gotten frustrated with the game otherwise.
Worst is runescape, easily. No explanation needed.
My best community experience will have to be: Silkroad online. I greatly enjoyed that game, plus grouping was fun. ALSO, Gates to heaven, which was literally my first MMO and I thought it had a great community.
Worst: WOW To be fair, the community in wow is HUGE meaning it attracts all sorts of people, good and bad. Don't get me wrong though, there are lots of nice people on WoW as well but more times than naught, the "bad" sort of people are more and plentiful than the "good" people.
Underlined Part: I used to play Silkroad Online, but it ultimately has been destroyed. Bots fill up 90% of servers (both gold farmers/seller and user controlled), the GMs are untrustworthy and care about money more than you, and the forums became filled with angry and violent people (well, counting ones that ranted non-intellectual posts).
Silkroad Online's original community (during the times when the level cap was before 90) was nice, and the group-oriented gameplay was very fun. You also couldn't really be an asshat during that time, because word would get around quickly and you would find soon enough why people refused to party with you. However, then bots started showing in masses, GMs stopped monitoring their forums carefully (to the point where some posts were downright racist, yet were never deleted or editted by the GMs), and the community went to hell. There are some good people left, but ultimately many of them left.
Best: Tough one. I've played quite a few games with great communities, although most of them only for a short period of time. One of the best was the community on UO's Siege Perilous shard a few years ago, although that shard died off eventually and the same can't be said for it at all anymore. Vanguard's was pretty good, AO isn't too bad, FFXI is pretty good. Generally I find that games with smaller playerbases tend have better communities, either because it's more personal or because they know pushing players away risks potential failure of the game they play. When you have a huge playerbase, you just don't have the personal connection with the other players so there's no real incentive to go out of your way to be friendly to them (except in the case of AO, which rewards you mechanically for helping low level characters).
Worst: Guild Wars, hands down. I played it for a few months, and while the arenas and AB battles were fun for a while, I never -once- had anything good to say about the community. I was in a guild with a few of my friends, but outside that... Horrible, horrible interactions, especially when you beat other players which apparently makes you a noob in that game and I was playing it wrong all along. How foolish of me. Of course, I've had some bad experiences in other games, but I've never played a game besides GW where I felt like over 95% of the playerbase consisted of horrible miscreants. I find a lot of F2P games tend to have less diserable playerbases due to the fact that the average age of the players is lower than games which require subscriptions, although it's not always the case thankfully.
Ah, I forgot to mention my best and worst communities I've seen.
Best: FF XI
Reason: First off, I must state that I actually only played FF XI for about an hour (a friend owned the game). And that one hour was magical. I also have been shadowing the game for a very long time, and the community I've seen was beautiful. It encourage team work (it is a hardcore group game), was friendly to the average noob, and asshats were reported quickly to ruin that person's chances of being with a party anytime soon. A beautiful community it was, and I hope to see that in FF XIV (of course, SE didn't realize that when they tried attracting the casual and soloist communities to FF XIV that we would see less of a nice community than before).
Honorable mention: Silkroad Online before the level cap 90 came out and bots weren't rampant at the time. Was somewhat similar to FF XI's community (though asshats were existant in the game). Bots weren't rapid, you could trust the GMs at the time because they kept catering to the fans, all the nice things basically.
Worst: Silkroad Online when the level cap 90 came out and bots became rampant. Basically, the community went to hell (simply read my previous post for more thoughts on this).
Ill jump on the "cool kids" bandwagon and say WoW has the worse community because you know I've played on all 200 or so of my region servers... no sorry I've played 3 of em but thats enough to lable all players right? and every 1 shouts out "chuck norris" jokes... oh wait sorry that stopped in 2005... every one ninja loots... oh wait wait I tell a lie from my own 4 year experience I have never been a group with some one ninja looting... every one is 8 years old... oh wait somtimes I play up to the early hours around 2-3am and the servers are still packed. In all seriousness I didin't need to open this thread to know WoW would labeled as the worst... price it pays for being the most played MMO I guess. Your all entitled to your opinons but for me WoW is just fine community wise, not too serious and can have a bit of fun. Worst community and for the only reason no one talked was WAR.. for the short month I played it.
If you've nothing to say but trolling, dont say it.
EQ went from the best to the worst community during the years, it's a bit shocking how kind and helpful players used to be and how elitist and selfish they were when I left the game over a year ago.
Star Wars Galaxies pre NGE was heaven community wise. On an unofficial RP server a real community feel. You could walk into the mos eisley cantina at any time day or night like it was real and full of activity...I have never seen a single inn in any MMO with people actually in it other than for a brief event or two.
Runner up - Everquest 1 - Before velious expansion because so many of us were so nieve to this type of game and the rush rush powergame mentality hadnt kicked in in general across MMOs.
Worst :
Vanguard for a pve focussed game it was a real shocker it was this poor but probably largly down to there being noone left by time I was hitting higher levels..hard to have community with no players..just a feeling of doom and gloom most days.
Runner up - Everquest 1 - Post Velious expansion your own mother would stab you in the back for the super rare dropping loot item she always wanted ..paving the way for the general style of community ever since.
Best: EQ Worst: EQ EQ went from the best to the worst community during the years, it's a bit shocking how kind and helpful players used to be and how elitist and selfish they were when I left the game over a year ago.
wow to think you were writing this the same time as I was..:)
BEST: Vanguard. Most people will say "mature" or "helpful." I am going to use a different word. In my many (many) years of online gaming, I have to say that I think Vanguard players are the most . . . intelligent.
CLOSE SECOND: EQ 2 and SWG tied. Helpful, friendly players.
WORST: WoW. Typical answer, probably predictable. I know. I have had some awful experiences with this game in terms of my social interactions with people.
CLOSE SECOND: Everquest. I agree completely that when I first played EQ, it was an awesome social game. Let us face some facts: EQ was redesigned from group cooperative gameplay to guild competitive gameplay. It totally undermined the small group and community guild experience, which I believed --and still do-- was the very backbone and soul of Everquest.
Ah, I forgot to mention my best and worst communities I've seen. Best: FF XI Reason: First off, I must state that I actually only played FF XI for about an hour (a friend owned the game). And that one hour was magical. I also have been shadowing the game for a very long time, and the community I've seen was beautiful.
Wow, I feel bad for you. You only played for an hour and it left that much of an impression on you?
You know you can pick up FFXI pretty cheap these days...14.95 gets you the 2008 collection (whatever that has)
"Vanguard for a pve focussed game it was a real shocker it was this poor but probably largly down to there being noone left by time I was hitting higher levels..hard to have community with no players..just a feeling of doom and gloom most days."
My time in Vanguard was nothing but enjoyable, aside from this douche or that, the community had been nothing but awesome...
My two cents...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
Best - Horizons: This was easily the friendliest, co-operative and outgoing community I have ever seen in an MMO. Its a shame that game was plagued with so many problems.
Worst-Guild Wars: Arrogance, selfishness and vindictiveness abound. Its not often I see a community completely facemelt a profanity filter. Player attitudes have improved somewhat in recent years (but that means little since you can only go up from rock bottom).
Every game has good and bad people, that is just a fact. Bigger games just have more of each type.
Best - Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars galaxies. Guild wars is just a great fun game, and for a while, you basically had to group to do things. This lead to a lot of fun, hard, but new experience..ing..y...times...
Lord of the Rings just has great, nice people. Ask a question, two or three people answer polietly and quickly. Even if it's a "lol well duh" question.
Star Wars Galaxies. This might have been the best at first. Everyone was so caught up in, WOW STAR WARS, that people were just having too much fun and hanging out. Plus it was a social game and not GET TO HIGHEST LEVEL, RAID, PVP, GEAR, GOOGOGOGOGOGO, like every game now.
Worst - Aion, War.
Aion - In every beta weekend people basically ignore everything, and just laugh/be jerks about it. Everytime. They act like people who this might be their first time trying, should know it all. People say "This could knock WoW down a peg", it sure could, and it will get the same type of people in it. That are already permiating with it. Any forum I read, I get the same impression of people acting like that, just like I do at certain points of wow.
As for War, it was not so much the antisocial/rude/jerk people. It was the fact that there wasn't a soul in chat. Like ever. In the entire zone it seemed.
As for WoW. It sure did have some of the worst people I've met. But it also had some of the coolest people I've met. And not the RPers/MMOers for life. There were jerks and assholes, but there were cool people you could hang out with in RL all the time. As a game gets bigger, more people play, more different types of people. So It's obvious that you'll have it. But outside of the Elite Raiders that own everything, It was not bad at all.
Ah, I forgot to mention my best and worst communities I've seen. Best: FF XI Reason: First off, I must state that I actually only played FF XI for about an hour (a friend owned the game). And that one hour was magical. I also have been shadowing the game for a very long time, and the community I've seen was beautiful.
Wow, I feel bad for you. You only played for an hour and it left that much of an impression on you?
You know you can pick up FFXI pretty cheap these days...14.95 gets you the 2008 collection (whatever that has)
The thing is, I have real life obligations. I will be going to a technical college soon (or picking up a trade), so for the time being, I have no money for FF XI. However, I will be settled in soon, and by that time FF XIV will be out...
Warning: I am prone to "MWOT Syndrome"... You have been warned.
Well the best I've ever had the enjoyment to play in is: RFO (Rising Force Online, RF Online)
I started on this game when Fire and Spirit servers just came out (basically the start of the game 9 or so years ago.) And I played Novus once the servers merged. Took a hiatus, returned the day Lumen opened and within 4 days met the best guild I have ever met in my entire 19+ years of MMO playing career (I'm 27). Hydraulic-Union is just beyond the word Awesome. Once the Codemasters servers shut down, we all tried to go to CCR's retail, but just couldn't take that any more... So the "Race Leader" whom held the position for over 6 months straight (you need to be voted this by the entire race weekly... an epic accomplishment by any standards for half a year of service, attending 2 out of 3 wars a day! And get this, he is a Doctor!) Anyway this guy decided he and his guild R.O.D. are going to make their own private server.
I log in and what do I see? My entire H-U guild in full force! I rejoined within minutes... I've been with these people for almost 6 years and even tho I am under no obligation to talk outside of the guild... We are all the best group of people you'll ever meet. World chat is populated by the smartest most intelligent conversationalists I've ever seen. And this is rare, since world chat is basically "Free", as the /sell channel costs 1k to use and the blue font one costs about 2k. In case anyone wants to come to one of the best games and communities... rfdynasty.com/
I don't mean to sound like a private server recruiter... But really, it is a great game and wonderful community. And once Berkanix Online comes out, pretty much everyone is going there... www.Berkanix.com/ (You need latest flash and IE to view the site...)
Worst: Well believe it or not, I've never played WoW... So that isn't to be found here lol. Worst is actually the recent Jade Dynasty. You KNOW a game is destined to be crap when people, over 50+ of them got banned during CLOSED BETA! The game itself is fun until around level 75. Then it just gets so boring, and tedious... As there is only one way to level, the special event that happens 3 times a WEEK at the most absurd time, "Astral Tales". With a level cap of 150, only the dedicated or insane people with no lives will make it that far. I will say this, it is better than Perfect World by leaps and bounds far as gameplay, but the community is the most unhelpful unfriendly jerks I've ever seen. Money is hard to make until you are 60+, I wanted someone to "Fly" me up on their skysword to the top of this building, so I could get my skysword (that lasts only 3 days) instead of doing this kind act, which takes literally 10 seconds at max... He wanted me to pay him 7 gold! (Which is actually quite a bit.) You shouldn't have to pay someone to do something for 10 seconds. He spent more time trying to get me to pay him, than it would of taken to just do it in the first place. (Around 5+ minutes of PM'ing me! Geez what a loser.)
I've recently begun "Cleaning House" by deleting all these other games on my HD. 15+ games, from P2P to F2P, nothing comes close to RFO/D. I am ashamed I ever played anything else honestly. I wanted to have 1 game per week, for a full 4 games so that I would have a month covered and never get burned out or bored with any one game. But that just don't seem to exist, as I constantly search for the 3 other games and never find anything worth sticking with past a month. It is actually why I read most these pages here on this thread, to seek out good games. I've got a few ideas now. So this thread has been quite helpful.
The only real advice I can give people, if the gameplay is good, and you at least find a good guild in a game... Stay with it, do not leave it, don't try and find something "better". More often than anything, you will always compare everything to that wonderful experience and fall very short of it. And besides, you will feel bad for wasting your time looking for something else, when you should of been playing the other one in the first place. Oh and an honorable mention goes to another game that has been in development for ages past, and will eventually release...Blade & Soul: www.youtube.com/watch . Once this comes out, between it and RFD and BO. I'll finally have the long sought after 3 games to play... Not quite 4, but it is better than nothing.
Ah, I forgot to mention my best and worst communities I've seen. Best: FF XI Reason: First off, I must state that I actually only played FF XI for about an hour (a friend owned the game). And that one hour was magical. I also have been shadowing the game for a very long time, and the community I've seen was beautiful.
Wow, I feel bad for you. You only played for an hour and it left that much of an impression on you?
You know you can pick up FFXI pretty cheap these days...14.95 gets you the 2008 collection (whatever that has)
The thing is, I have real life obligations. I will be going to a technical college soon (or picking up a trade), so for the time being, I have no money for FF XI. However, I will be settled in soon, and by that time FF XIV will be out...
Comments
Best: Lord of the Rings Online
Worst: World of Worldcraft
In the classic EQ days buffing people cost plat gems did not come free to anyone. Now days they cost nothing to cast
Best
EQ
Worst
WOW
Darkfall
WAR
AOC
Best: Anarchy Online
Worst: Runescape
I'd have to say that is about right. I actually was tempted on placing down Lineage II for best, because I love competitive communities. I'm sure some people can't stand it, but I love all of the trash talk and forum warrioring
.
Still, Anarchy Online was an amazing experience in community for me. I joined the game when it had the fr00b deal, and needless to say I was confused. I actually had someone stop by and start talking to me. He told me about implants, how to use them and all of these other things. He than actually bought me some implants, told me how to put them on, what was good... I mean he seriously spent a solid 30 minutes of his time helping out a poor old fr00b
.
It's a good thing too, I probably would have gotten frustrated with the game otherwise.
Worst is runescape, easily. No explanation needed.
WOW & WOW
It has fantastic people and the lowest of the dregs all rolled into one.
Underlined Part: I used to play Silkroad Online, but it ultimately has been destroyed. Bots fill up 90% of servers (both gold farmers/seller and user controlled), the GMs are untrustworthy and care about money more than you, and the forums became filled with angry and violent people (well, counting ones that ranted non-intellectual posts).
Silkroad Online's original community (during the times when the level cap was before 90) was nice, and the group-oriented gameplay was very fun. You also couldn't really be an asshat during that time, because word would get around quickly and you would find soon enough why people refused to party with you. However, then bots started showing in masses, GMs stopped monitoring their forums carefully (to the point where some posts were downright racist, yet were never deleted or editted by the GMs), and the community went to hell. There are some good people left, but ultimately many of them left.
Best: Tough one. I've played quite a few games with great communities, although most of them only for a short period of time. One of the best was the community on UO's Siege Perilous shard a few years ago, although that shard died off eventually and the same can't be said for it at all anymore. Vanguard's was pretty good, AO isn't too bad, FFXI is pretty good. Generally I find that games with smaller playerbases tend have better communities, either because it's more personal or because they know pushing players away risks potential failure of the game they play. When you have a huge playerbase, you just don't have the personal connection with the other players so there's no real incentive to go out of your way to be friendly to them (except in the case of AO, which rewards you mechanically for helping low level characters).
Worst: Guild Wars, hands down. I played it for a few months, and while the arenas and AB battles were fun for a while, I never -once- had anything good to say about the community. I was in a guild with a few of my friends, but outside that... Horrible, horrible interactions, especially when you beat other players which apparently makes you a noob in that game and I was playing it wrong all along. How foolish of me. Of course, I've had some bad experiences in other games, but I've never played a game besides GW where I felt like over 95% of the playerbase consisted of horrible miscreants. I find a lot of F2P games tend to have less diserable playerbases due to the fact that the average age of the players is lower than games which require subscriptions, although it's not always the case thankfully.
Ah, I forgot to mention my best and worst communities I've seen.
Best: FF XI
Reason: First off, I must state that I actually only played FF XI for about an hour (a friend owned the game). And that one hour was magical. I also have been shadowing the game for a very long time, and the community I've seen was beautiful. It encourage team work (it is a hardcore group game), was friendly to the average noob, and asshats were reported quickly to ruin that person's chances of being with a party anytime soon. A beautiful community it was, and I hope to see that in FF XIV (of course, SE didn't realize that when they tried attracting the casual and soloist communities to FF XIV that we would see less of a nice community than before).
Honorable mention: Silkroad Online before the level cap 90 came out and bots weren't rampant at the time. Was somewhat similar to FF XI's community (though asshats were existant in the game). Bots weren't rapid, you could trust the GMs at the time because they kept catering to the fans, all the nice things basically.
Worst: Silkroad Online when the level cap 90 came out and bots became rampant. Basically, the community went to hell (simply read my previous post for more thoughts on this).
I played FFXI for 6+ years and the best help and good attitude were the japanese players, I got all kind of shit and drama from na players.
Now I'm playing rom and for my supprise every single time I ask for help in /zone I get help right away it's amazing.
When I was playing wow I felt bad playing online the wow players are the worst in he world.
Best community so far has been Ryzom and LotRO. Worst, by far, was AoC.
Current: None
Played: WoW, CoX, SWG, LotRO, EVE, AoC, VG, CO, Ryzom, DF, WAR
Tried: Lineage2, Dofus, EQ2, CoS, FE, UO, Wurm, Wakfu
Future: The Repopulation, ArcheAge, Black Desert, EQN
If you've nothing to say but trolling, dont say it.
EQ1 old school is best hands down
LoTRO is worst
best i've ever been in is EQ1 and LOTRO. worst i've seen WoW and AoC.
The best community I've experienced by far is Guild Wars.
The worst is a toss up between Darkfall and AoC pvp servers.
Best: EQ1, Horizons, FFXI, Vanguard.
Worst: AoC. Nothing else close. I thought WoW was bad but AoC made WoW look like a friendly and mature community.
Best: EQ
Worst: EQ
EQ went from the best to the worst community during the years, it's a bit shocking how kind and helpful players used to be and how elitist and selfish they were when I left the game over a year ago.
Best :
Star Wars Galaxies pre NGE was heaven community wise. On an unofficial RP server a real community feel. You could walk into the mos eisley cantina at any time day or night like it was real and full of activity...I have never seen a single inn in any MMO with people actually in it other than for a brief event or two.
Runner up - Everquest 1 - Before velious expansion because so many of us were so nieve to this type of game and the rush rush powergame mentality hadnt kicked in in general across MMOs.
Worst :
Vanguard for a pve focussed game it was a real shocker it was this poor but probably largly down to there being noone left by time I was hitting higher levels..hard to have community with no players..just a feeling of doom and gloom most days.
Runner up - Everquest 1 - Post Velious expansion your own mother would stab you in the back for the super rare dropping loot item she always wanted ..paving the way for the general style of community ever since.
wow to think you were writing this the same time as I was..:)
BEST: Vanguard. Most people will say "mature" or "helpful." I am going to use a different word. In my many (many) years of online gaming, I have to say that I think Vanguard players are the most . . . intelligent.
CLOSE SECOND: EQ 2 and SWG tied. Helpful, friendly players.
WORST: WoW. Typical answer, probably predictable. I know. I have had some awful experiences with this game in terms of my social interactions with people.
CLOSE SECOND: Everquest. I agree completely that when I first played EQ, it was an awesome social game. Let us face some facts: EQ was redesigned from group cooperative gameplay to guild competitive gameplay. It totally undermined the small group and community guild experience, which I believed --and still do-- was the very backbone and soul of Everquest.
Wow, I feel bad for you. You only played for an hour and it left that much of an impression on you?
You know you can pick up FFXI pretty cheap these days...14.95 gets you the 2008 collection (whatever that has)
www.direct2drive.com/6/6753/product/Buy-FINAL-FANTASY-XI-Vana%27diel-Collection-2008-Download
"Vanguard for a pve focussed game it was a real shocker it was this poor but probably largly down to there being noone left by time I was hitting higher levels..hard to have community with no players..just a feeling of doom and gloom most days."
My time in Vanguard was nothing but enjoyable, aside from this douche or that, the community had been nothing but awesome...
My two cents...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
Best - Horizons: This was easily the friendliest, co-operative and outgoing community I have ever seen in an MMO. Its a shame that game was plagued with so many problems.
Worst-Guild Wars: Arrogance, selfishness and vindictiveness abound. Its not often I see a community completely facemelt a profanity filter. Player attitudes have improved somewhat in recent years (but that means little since you can only go up from rock bottom).
Every game has good and bad people, that is just a fact. Bigger games just have more of each type.
Best - Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars galaxies. Guild wars is just a great fun game, and for a while, you basically had to group to do things. This lead to a lot of fun, hard, but new experience..ing..y...times...
Lord of the Rings just has great, nice people. Ask a question, two or three people answer polietly and quickly. Even if it's a "lol well duh" question.
Star Wars Galaxies. This might have been the best at first. Everyone was so caught up in, WOW STAR WARS, that people were just having too much fun and hanging out. Plus it was a social game and not GET TO HIGHEST LEVEL, RAID, PVP, GEAR, GOOGOGOGOGOGO, like every game now.
Worst - Aion, War.
Aion - In every beta weekend people basically ignore everything, and just laugh/be jerks about it. Everytime. They act like people who this might be their first time trying, should know it all. People say "This could knock WoW down a peg", it sure could, and it will get the same type of people in it. That are already permiating with it. Any forum I read, I get the same impression of people acting like that, just like I do at certain points of wow.
As for War, it was not so much the antisocial/rude/jerk people. It was the fact that there wasn't a soul in chat. Like ever. In the entire zone it seemed.
As for WoW. It sure did have some of the worst people I've met. But it also had some of the coolest people I've met. And not the RPers/MMOers for life. There were jerks and assholes, but there were cool people you could hang out with in RL all the time. As a game gets bigger, more people play, more different types of people. So It's obvious that you'll have it. But outside of the Elite Raiders that own everything, It was not bad at all.
Wow, I feel bad for you. You only played for an hour and it left that much of an impression on you?
You know you can pick up FFXI pretty cheap these days...14.95 gets you the 2008 collection (whatever that has)
www.direct2drive.com/6/6753/product/Buy-FINAL-FANTASY-XI-Vana%27diel-Collection-2008-Download
The thing is, I have real life obligations. I will be going to a technical college soon (or picking up a trade), so for the time being, I have no money for FF XI. However, I will be settled in soon, and by that time FF XIV will be out...
Warning: I am prone to "MWOT Syndrome"... You have been warned.
Well the best I've ever had the enjoyment to play in is: RFO (Rising Force Online, RF Online)
I started on this game when Fire and Spirit servers just came out (basically the start of the game 9 or so years ago.) And I played Novus once the servers merged. Took a hiatus, returned the day Lumen opened and within 4 days met the best guild I have ever met in my entire 19+ years of MMO playing career (I'm 27). Hydraulic-Union is just beyond the word Awesome. Once the Codemasters servers shut down, we all tried to go to CCR's retail, but just couldn't take that any more... So the "Race Leader" whom held the position for over 6 months straight (you need to be voted this by the entire race weekly... an epic accomplishment by any standards for half a year of service, attending 2 out of 3 wars a day! And get this, he is a Doctor!) Anyway this guy decided he and his guild R.O.D. are going to make their own private server.
I log in and what do I see? My entire H-U guild in full force! I rejoined within minutes... I've been with these people for almost 6 years and even tho I am under no obligation to talk outside of the guild... We are all the best group of people you'll ever meet. World chat is populated by the smartest most intelligent conversationalists I've ever seen. And this is rare, since world chat is basically "Free", as the /sell channel costs 1k to use and the blue font one costs about 2k. In case anyone wants to come to one of the best games and communities... rfdynasty.com/
I don't mean to sound like a private server recruiter... But really, it is a great game and wonderful community. And once Berkanix Online comes out, pretty much everyone is going there... www.Berkanix.com/ (You need latest flash and IE to view the site...)
Worst: Well believe it or not, I've never played WoW... So that isn't to be found here lol. Worst is actually the recent Jade Dynasty. You KNOW a game is destined to be crap when people, over 50+ of them got banned during CLOSED BETA! The game itself is fun until around level 75. Then it just gets so boring, and tedious... As there is only one way to level, the special event that happens 3 times a WEEK at the most absurd time, "Astral Tales". With a level cap of 150, only the dedicated or insane people with no lives will make it that far. I will say this, it is better than Perfect World by leaps and bounds far as gameplay, but the community is the most unhelpful unfriendly jerks I've ever seen. Money is hard to make until you are 60+, I wanted someone to "Fly" me up on their skysword to the top of this building, so I could get my skysword (that lasts only 3 days) instead of doing this kind act, which takes literally 10 seconds at max... He wanted me to pay him 7 gold! (Which is actually quite a bit.) You shouldn't have to pay someone to do something for 10 seconds. He spent more time trying to get me to pay him, than it would of taken to just do it in the first place. (Around 5+ minutes of PM'ing me! Geez what a loser.)
I've recently begun "Cleaning House" by deleting all these other games on my HD. 15+ games, from P2P to F2P, nothing comes close to RFO/D. I am ashamed I ever played anything else honestly. I wanted to have 1 game per week, for a full 4 games so that I would have a month covered and never get burned out or bored with any one game. But that just don't seem to exist, as I constantly search for the 3 other games and never find anything worth sticking with past a month. It is actually why I read most these pages here on this thread, to seek out good games. I've got a few ideas now. So this thread has been quite helpful.
The only real advice I can give people, if the gameplay is good, and you at least find a good guild in a game... Stay with it, do not leave it, don't try and find something "better". More often than anything, you will always compare everything to that wonderful experience and fall very short of it. And besides, you will feel bad for wasting your time looking for something else, when you should of been playing the other one in the first place. Oh and an honorable mention goes to another game that has been in development for ages past, and will eventually release...Blade & Soul: www.youtube.com/watch . Once this comes out, between it and RFD and BO. I'll finally have the long sought after 3 games to play... Not quite 4, but it is better than nothing.
END
FOX
Wow, I feel bad for you. You only played for an hour and it left that much of an impression on you?
You know you can pick up FFXI pretty cheap these days...14.95 gets you the 2008 collection (whatever that has)
www.direct2drive.com/6/6753/product/Buy-FINAL-FANTASY-XI-Vana%27diel-Collection-2008-Download
The thing is, I have real life obligations. I will be going to a technical college soon (or picking up a trade), so for the time being, I have no money for FF XI. However, I will be settled in soon, and by that time FF XIV will be out...
Do a free trial (bottom right side)
www.finalfantasyxi.com/
If it's everything you expect, I'm sure you can find a way to cough up 14.95