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Hello! My name is Kane and my friend Andy and I are looking for a MMORPG to play.
kanechart
Member UncommonPosts: 707
It's been a bad few years. We keep trying new MMO's and going back to old ones. Like a few that Andy and I played recently on and off: WoW, Rift, Wildstar, ESO, FF14. The biggest issue is that these games feel like a themepark. Okay well so is EQ2 I assume but a lot these games feel like your path is sent in stone more less in FF14 but you still don't feel like you have 100% freedom if that sadly makes any sense. They don't tend to have unique features or things that players discovered that make the game interesting. Like special farming places, cool hideouts, a world to share and a world that has a meaning in a way. A reason you visit that zone again for whatever strange reason.
So I'm going to throw some random things we are wanting and looking forward to and I want to hear what you guys have to say. Feel free to be detailed I'm also trying be as detailed as possible.
* I wonderful loving community that everyone knows everyone by name. I think looking back we keep talking about very old games like Anarchy Online and just how amazing people were close and how everyone was friends. We love to find the same thing in a guild. Be part of something wonderful and amazing. I miss the days being the new guy and people forced themselves on me! Like give me a break I don't want free armor and education and runs and omg it's like a bridal shower! I want all that again 
* Game that has a lot of things to do not just end game raiding.
* Collections if this is pets, mounts, social things like toys or wears or even house items.
* Trophies Something you never see in games at all is something like bring back a boss head and mounting it or something that you can laugh and cry about some the best moments in the game.
* We love dungeons a lot more then raiding these days. We like solo, small group dungeons also if they exist.
* Mentoring system something that allows my friend and I to level our own pace but also team up and do things together. Even more fun when you Mentor down and you are sort of a little badass and impress your friends with.
* Scaling content. Not sure but you don't really see content scaling these days. Mainly because most games use levels and not skill and you end up splitting away from your friends because you are not equals and can't do much.
* Great Crafting and Gathering System. Something that is a bit more then just chasing nodes on the map and have maybe some special things connected to it like abilities or outfits that might have better procs or do something special 
* Special rare crafting materials. Things you find and need if it's through mobs, or harvesting or other unique ways.
* Farming Mobs, etc.. This one is a hard one to explain. Clearly you can farm any mob. But the thing we missed a lot that is a consistently missing element in most MMO's now is the older school games you could spend days farming a particular group of baddies. Why? For special drop if it was a social item or house item collection it did not matter. I really miss where you could sit back watch some TV and get your grind on for a purpose other then daily quest or forced grind for rep etc... Normally these are things you don't need or have to do but you do it because you enjoy the farming!
* Exploration, This is becoming a issue in so many MMO's they are lacking places to explore. Sadly a good example be Wild Star, WoW, etc. Sure to a brand new player it's great but a old player it's 2 years of pain and suffering for another small hype once every 2 years. I miss games had so many dungeons and zones and so much to do and explore.
* Housing and Guild housing is important. Wildstar had decent housing. Just was that you never knew or got to see anyones houses. Sadly I know all games instance housing now but in WildStar it was a good example of housing that you never saw anyone else work. Even more so there is no Guild Housing at this time and really splits your community up. I love hanging out for hours just afking talking to guild mates.
* Storage I want storage I love storage give me storage!
* New content regularly. If you can add a new dungeon or raid 2-3 times a year or offer massive content at a fee once a year I'm sold.
* Lots and lots of random things to do new or unique features then a lot of MMO's I see MMO's where you can only fish for certain things at certain times or special mobs come out at night or just new type of game features you take for granted for example think EQ2 has something called AA?
Now a more personal Matter:
I have issues picking classes. I have always had this. Even the games with 4 Classes I could spend days even quit because I never can decide and people will hound me their the same etc or they are all good and Ahhh! I'm your kid and you are going to dress me up for School Today!
If I don't do this Andy my friend will kill me because this has caused us issues in the past
* I dislike casting classes.
* I dislike complex rotation classes. I'm so use to few button smash farming all night long and close my eyes classes.
* I dislike pets or third party things following me even if they don't need to be sent out to fetch I find them a distraction beside me even to be a dot.
* I love range and I love melee. But remember dislike casting so a lot of games archers are fine but mage would not be.
* I love soloing and sadly even in a MMO I'm a big lonely loser.
* I love classes that feel snappy and fast as taking things down with least amount of effort. So I just use the word hunter or archer tend to be ones I like a lot in many MMO's.
* I also do like the classes that can do all they tend to be the Warrior like classes like a Death Knight sorry for the WoW reference.
SNIP
Comments
I honestly think LOTRO ticks most of your boxes.. not all of them, but most of them. EQ2 is decent fit though but overall I think LOTRO is something you should look at. With either though, you'll want to subscribe eventually to get the most out of them. LOTRO has the content locks and EQ2 has the gear locks. You'll NEED to pay in either no matter what if you plan on playing seriously.
If you've never played GW2 though, seriously consider it. When you've played a lot of MMOs, GW2 is like something magical for a good long while. It's a good time to get into it with the recent expansion announcement. I mention this because you say you hate skill rotations and if you stick to the traditional theme park games that's not something you can avoid. EQ2 is MASSIVE on rotations. LOTRO less so but they are still there.
I'm about to blow your mind OP about how WoW has 90% of the things you want, which is more than any other game can offer.
WoW arguably has the most things to do other than end-game than any other game save for FFXIV ARR. WoW definitively has the largest number of collectibles, be it toys, mounts, pets, social items. WoW even introduced Trophies you can show off in your Garrison with WoD so they have trophies now.
WoW has a wide variety of dungeons, and guess what...you can 2man most of the dungeons if you didn't want to deal with LFG. WoW has a refer-a-friend system(mentor system) which sounds just like what you want. WoW now has a scaling system in place for Raids, both LFR and the non LFR raids. But for the rest of the content, it remains unscaled.
While WoW's crafting/gathering is basic, it is serviceable. You can also hunt mobs for rare crafting mats, like skinning rare leather or getting core of heart or something like that. Want to farm a particular group of baddies for a special drop? You can still do this. There are plenty of mobs that drop unique skins for transmog for instance. Or mobs that drop unique pets, or toys even.
You already said how WoW is a good example of a game having a crap ton of places to explore/things to do so i don't have to mention that. While Garrisons are definitely not true "player housing" it is definitely a step in the right direction and WoW incorporated so much of the gameplay into the Garrison that it might make up the fact that you can't furnish it exactly how you want and make it your own unique place.
I don't know any other game that gives you as much storage as WoW does. Both the characters personal inventory space and their bank space are huge along with the recently added materials bag in the bank like GW2 had, the void storage to store holiday events or transmog, the separate space fixed into the UI for mounts/pets/toys and the soon to be added storage space for heirloom gear.
WoW definitely fills the quota of new dungeon/raid 2-3 times a year and surpasses that even. WoW also has plenty of random things for you to do. Like the Darkmoon Faire that rolls around Azeroth. The Fishing tournaments every sunday. Some of the best holiday events i've ever seen in any game happening all year. Plenty of random things to spend your time doing.
WoW has quite the range of class archetypes so there's still plenty to choose from even if you dislike casting classes. While some count it as a negative, WoW got rid of a lot of complexity in the combat, like you can no longer use multiple ranks of the same spell anymore due to mana reasons, and the condensed a lot of similar abilities or some abilities that just had no reason to exist into one so there's a lot less abilities to use than before so most of the rotations got a lot easier for a lot of the classes if not all of them.
While you have the option of having pets follow you, you definitely have the option to make them not follow you so no worry there. And while some armor might have effects that could just as easily distract you, you have the option of transmogging your gear to something that you find pleasing. If you like soloing, WoW most certainly offers you a solo experience, just as much as it offers you an experience to group up for anything(no annoyances doing quests in a group like ESO for instance).
The hunter in WoW is no different than how you expect them to be, they're pretty efficient and experience little downtime. There's even a trait you can select as hunter that makes you stronger for not using a pet since you don't like pets following you.
The only things WoW doesn't have on your list is "great" crafting/material gathering(which i challenge you to list any other recent MMO that does aside from FFXIV ARR and maybe WS cause those are the only 2 games i can think of). Housing/Guild Housing(while Garrison can sorta be a step in the direction towards Housing, it isn't Housing).
The last thing is the community. The community of WoW isn't as closeknit as you might want it to be. But that doesn't mean you can't find a community within WoW that is just as closeknit as you wish it to be. That is why Guilds are such a prevalent thing in almost every single mmorpg.
Which is why i don't understand even though you tried WoW why you passed it over when it has literally almost every single thing you asked for which was a pretty substantial list. WoW has its special farming spots for xyz items/gear/exp. It has countless cool hideouts to find and easily is a world that is big enough to share and have meaning in whatever way you choose for it to be. There's tons of reasons for you to revisit old zones, be it to go to where the Darkmoon Faire is currently located, a holiday event, farming for transmog or a mount, achievement hunting...anything.
So tell me, after all of this, why did WoW not meet your needs, cause from all accounts and purposes, it should have. If you'll allow me a guess first. I think the problem comes down, not to WoW was lacking, but perception.
That's a big problem with todays mmo players, specially the ones who do nothing but lament the old times and how todays mmorpgs are so horrible and that they want x, y, z feature back from EQ and such. They just don't perceive a lot of the inner depth that WoW has and claim its non existent just because the only thing that WoW pushes forth onto the player is the themepark view. But just because that's what the game advertises to the player, does not mean the player fully has the choice to get off the ride, and walk with their own two feet onto the rough gravel and find the adventure they've sought for so long.
I hate to to say this in the EQ2 forums, but I think you guys could do well with either of the previous suggestions, LoTRO or WoW. :-)
Maybe EQ2 COULD work, but I think the alternatives available now are just better. And I was an original EQ2 player in 2004 and personally love EQ2...so I'm not hating on it. :-)
FFXI offers everything any game has out there except the collections and housing that EQ2 has.
Big difference is that FFXI has ZERO hand holding it is not a Themepark,you can do anything you want when you feel like it,aside from the level cap quests,they are a must to move on in levels.
There is a major announcement coming on the state of the game within next two days ,so keep in mind or who knows perhaps totally forget it.
If it goes f2p everyone has a free shot to try it out.If it is closing down soon then nobody should try it lol.If they are announcing changes and more content,then i expect many more years for the game,who knows they may even be removing the level caps.
I have played most every game out there worth even mentioning.Since you already tried FFXIV and yes i felt the same way about that game as well,i would say if not FFXI,then likely EQ2 is still your best bet.
Btw a short story of note about EQ2.I played that game a LOT however i logged out and quit right before the AA was introduced.What i noticed when i came back,my player struggled a lot.Then when i got all that AA my player just felt like he did before i quit and had no AA,so the whole system was a fake system to make it look like you were getting something.
I did enjoy my time in EQ2 but i have always felt Smedley and SOE is a sneaky operation in everything they do.I enjoyed it a lot more before they went the f2p/cash shop route.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The way I understand it, FFXI has a lot of hand holding now and is nowhere near the same game it used to be. It's super suuuuuuper casual friendly now and you can level faster in FFXI than you can in WoW which is kinda funny.
Granted, i'm going by hearsay as I haven't played the game in like 10 years, but yea.
you will never find any modern mmo that will give you the feeling of old time mmo's.
times change, adapt, move on.
Since you and your friend played the same games my brother and I tried out over the past year, maybe I can help. I've only picked up EQ2 a couple of days ago and find it refreshingly complex.
There's so much stuff to do. You can learn other languages, research creatures for damage bonuses against their kind, work towards completing hundreds of collections. Apparently, there are quests for epic armor and mounts, but I am not that far yet. The alternate advancement system is pretty complex. In fact, I still don't fully understand how it works.
At level 10 my fury can shapeshift into a wolf, tree, tiger; has access to a multitude of buffs, a bunch of damage spells, cc, and heals. On top of that, you can start heroic opportunities during combat for extra effects. It's very fun to play, not like in WoW where you can get by just by pressing three buttons every fight.
You run around, do stuff, and level abilities most games don't have anymore like swimming, climbing, some wildernis skill I can't remember the name of. Your character has to eat and drink regularly, can choose a deity, has an appearance tab, and can own a player house. Crafting is nicely done.
The zones are big and there is lots to explore. The graphic is dated, but with alternate appearances enabled the characters look decent.
I play this and DCUO with SOE's All Access, which makes it a pretty good deal subscription wise. It's definitely worth checking out.
The only thing on your list that EverQuest 2 does not do is:
* New content regularly. If you can add a new dungeon or raid 2-3 times a year or offer massive content at a fee once a year I'm sold.
EverQuest 2 typically has new dungeons and such once a year with an expansion.
As far as everything else on your list of likes and don't like, EverQuest 2 has it covered.
And I love how people will tell you " game A has 70%, 80%, 90% of what you're looking for", but they don't actually say what the game is missing out of your list.
I also got this game in 04 instead of Wow. It was a big mistake back them. Went over to Wow and played it for a few years. A friend of mine started playing EQ2 last year and loves it. Was trying to get me to play it all the time. So with my disappointment in ESO i said what the heck and logged in to EQ2. Maybe they missed me or something but i got alot of things for free. Including a level 90 boost for my level 70 Warden. I also got unbreakable level 90 legendary gear and jewelry with the boost. Also got 2 new mounts. I just have to say my friend was right.That game is not the game i remembered back in 04. I was also so glad to see a real mmo ui for PC with my banks of hotkeys. Been having fun and resubbed since one monthly fee is good for all there games. And you talk about housing in mmo's..i forgot just how nice my home was in that game. My friend was in a great guild and got me in it. They have an amazing massive guild hall. I forgot how fun crafting was in this game when your guild has a huge hall with stocked crafting stations.
I just started EQ2 3 days ago, but i gotta second Hariken. It's great!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
The game you are looking for is called Project:Gorgon available at Projectgorgon.com Its not a AAA mmorpg for sure. But it hearkens back to the old days of mmos. It is free to play, so I highly suggest you at least try it. The only reason I don't play it any longer (And I was hooked during the mini-tutorial area) is because I work 4 days a week and take classes 5. But If I had more time, I'd skip all the "same" mmo's and play Project:Gorgon.
It is late and I don't feel keen on giving a longer "come play me", one of REALLY interesting things is there are bosses. And these bosses have the ability to curse you. If you die to them, you may not be able to use your Left mouse button, which is usually an auto attack of some kind depending on your weapon equipped as this grants you different skill sets. And there are more examples of these. Sometimes if you die to them, they will turn you into what they are. You could become a wolf, a skellie, a cow. There are more, but each of these little "form curses" have specific gear available to them as well as granting a whole new set abilities tailored to that form. And you can only remove the curses by defeating those bosses. So you might need help, need to make friends , etc.
There is also an increased chance to drop the type of gear you are wearing. So farming for items you would like is not as tedious. It's best thing next to vanilla EQ I have come close to. There is also a ShadowBane emulator up if you ever/never played that. As well as Project 1999 which is EQ and has multiple servers to play on. GL in your search!