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Looking for a Free MMO with similar qualities of WoW
So my Nephew's mother asked me today if I thought WoW would be a appropriate game for a 12 year old(and most likely the 10 year old that wants to play anything his brother is playing><) . Personally I said not really because with their problems sticking with a game and the limited time they usually have for playing games it's not really worth it. I'd prefer to avoid the free trial route because I know full well what the first 20 levels are compared to the rest of the game and consider a free trial of WoW to be well, totally not worth it in evaluating the game
Of course he will probably keep asking to play it and such so I figured I'd see how he does with a free one and maybe save my sister quite a bit of money if he gets hooked onto a free one. I want something similar to WoW(decent instances, perhaps some instanced PvP, good number of quests and a decent leveling speed) hopefully however with a decent community and not so reliant on a cash shop. Preferably without terrible graphics.
Looking at the games I have personally played in the past, Runes of Magic and Allods probably fit the bill the closest. I've heard rumors that Allods leveling speed has increased which was probably my biggest problem with the game overall. But beyond the beginning of the game being decent I never got too far to see what the rest of the game was like.
Runes of magic on the otherhand was a lot of fun in the beginning, the dual-class system was excellent, the crafting system was decent and the leveling system was pretty good. PvP would of been fun if it wasn't totally unbalanced by the cash shop and the item modification system.
So I guess my two biggest questions are how is the leveling speed in Allods online right about now and are there any other free MMOs that anyone would like to suggest.
Comments
LOTRO is free. And was a AAA title so quality will be good. They can even earn cash shop money as they play to unlock additional content if they get far enough.
Allods - I had same issue, i'd play the game up past the first major quest areas to level 10-15ish? And it seems to fall flat. I didn't feel like there was a good progression from that first area to the next. Also, leveling didn't seem to offer much satisfaction. Didn't unlock any new or cool skills really...
LOTRO is not free, it's an extended trial version.
LotRO is free and WoW like in the terms you describe. Of course you could just let him play WoW for free. If he sticks to it, then think about buying it for him.
Except when I played WoW getting through the first 20 levels is no real indication of the game and a crappy introduction to whether one would be willing to play a MMO, one of the reasons i'm against free trials in any MMO. I'm sure it's even quicker now than before. Honestly also with the community in WoW I'd prefer them not play it anyways so i'm hoping they get hooked on a different better game.
Anyways i'll give a bit of a look into LOTRO, it's a game that personally I was always wanting to play myself also.
Hmm when I look at the site at the beginning it's not bad, VIP being 9.99 is really nice if they do get interested in it. Though I guess my biggest question is how important of a role does the cash shop play and how well is it offset by someone playing a low-modest amount(1-2 hours a day at most) through points earnable in game? Looking at some of the items they look pretty powerful and free players might be at a significant disadvantage without them.
The LotRO cash shop follows Turbine's typical model. You get starter zone quests, Bree, and Lone-lands for free (where the typical progression is racial starter zone -> Bree -> Lone-lands). After this, which turns out to be around level 30, you will need to buy adventure packs from the store (or become a VIP) in order to continue questing. You can still visit the zones - you just need the quest packs to actually do all the other quest chains and deeds, unless you are up for a lot of mob grinding. The 'epic' quest chain, which is a main story line, is free no matter what, but you'll want to supplement that with other quest content if you want to comfortably get to higher levels.
Deed grinding can net you quite a bit of TP - definitely better than Turbine's other game which follows the same model, DDO. Since deeds are character-based, you can always regrind the deeds on alternate characters. If you have a job though, it's probably much better to just buy the TP - like one of those TP cards they sell at stores - and wait for great sales on certain packs (you can sometimes get them for 50% off). That is, unless you want to give your nephew the grind of his life.
The cash shop does sell a lot of items, but let me warn you - they are traps and are there to suck your money. The only things you might really 'need' are the permanent account options like adventure packs. Better to get items through other methods (skirmishes, crafting, instances later on) and fight with those. The key thing is to have the will to ignore all the shiny shiny in the shop. The PvP isn't that competitive or serious, and is limited to one zone, so if you're looking for some kind of stellar PvP experience, this is not your game.
One tactic that some players like to do is to subscribe for VIP (or, even better, buy the Mines of Moria expansion box) and then let it lapse after a month. Certain advantages such as all 5 bag slots, no gold cap, all trait slots, mount riding quest, and more character slots will persist even when the VIP period ends, as long as you logged on with that character during the VIP period. The purchase for the expansion box typically costs less than $15 on Amazon and nets you the Mines of Moria content, the Warden/Rune-keeper classes, and the 30-day free VIP, so it's a great deal if you want to get started.
Just rememer to log in with as many characters as possible and get them to level 20 for the mount quest during VIP, or you'll have to pay 100 TP per character to get mounts!
Runes of magic is the game you are looking for. Its pretty much a free wow clone
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
Free Realms and Wizard 101 are pretty good kids mmo's.
Oh and Fusion Fall. (Made by Cartoon Network)
I think my cousin's son plays Wizard 101. He's like 8 or something.
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