EQ 1. Spent way too much time in this game, and still play occasionally. I think there are a lot of good ideas with each era, even though the changes may have seemed needless and detrimental at release time.
DAOC. Mediocre PVE with interesting RvR. Classes were heavily unbalanced, though, and the expansions didn't really help the game at all. Playing on an underpowered machine with dial-up probably influenced my opinion, though.
LOTRO. I've had an off-and-on again infatuation with this game since it started. Turbine has had some pretty odd decisions over the years. My current favorite, despite the apparent end in sight.
City of Heroes. A great game, that I didn't put enough time into, sadly. The height of CoH/CoV/CoX occurred at the time I was having difficulties that severely hampered my gaming habit.
PWI. The game is quite good, despite having an entirely evil company behind it. Even now, I've advocated that the only way to deal with PWE is through pre-paid cards, never giving them access to credit cards. Some of the quests featured excellent writing, some appeared to be badly translated. It you accepted the massive grind and were in a well-populated, active guild, this was a pretty game with lots to do.
Honorable mention.
WoW. Mandatory, isn't it?
AoC. Pretty. Interesting take on the Conan mythos.
Warhammer. Loved the idea behind the open world events. Never got far in it, either.
Champions Online. Pretty inferior clone of CoH. Great character creation.
STO. A rather odd take on the Star Trek universe. Too many lock boxes.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
I like games with a lot of depth and character development.
I loved WoW up through WoTLK until the gutted the talent tree and removed all meaningful choice. The Arena in BC being the high point. I've never been so dedicated to anything so meaningless in my whole life. My wife really hated this phase of my life too. I've tried it a couple times since but I just can't play a bland game with no options.
Below this is games always in my rotation of SP games - bored - MMO until bored back to SP games rotation.
Wildstar - WoW with fun combat and difficult dungeons. The arena was a big deal on release but the pvp gear system now isn't much of a carrot on a stick so that stinks. This game really needs an expansion to get it back on track, like BC did for WoW.
DDO - The character development is in a league of it's own. I disliked it and how it did things on release but went back a couple years ago and played this longer than I have played any game.
Champions Online - I like the open power selection and skill tree/system thing it has. The combat is fun but there really isn't much of a carrot on a stick at end game after you get the set you want (and there are only 2, one from cosmic currency grinding one dungeon and three world bosses, and one set from collecting drops from the 10 man raids. But the game is a lot of fun and has quick queues, etc.
STO - I probably play this game for the shortest period but has an interesting character/ship development system and tons of game systems and tons of crap to do and improve, etc.
Shadowbane - When this first came out I was still single with no kids so had time for guild battles and online friends. We had a lot of fun just grinding and pvping. We started out all with the horse-centaur race so we could be faster than our enemies to either run away or chase them down.
Damn, I forgot AO. This should be in my top five. When it first came out there were a lot of ways to game the system. I remember I got really high level implants at like level 60 and was destroying people way higher level in pvp. I still play this game in my rotation but I really hate having to waste so much time traveling to buy some upgraded weapons and gear. I hated that about SWG and any game that has player cities.
What many here are voting for top 5 are MMO's that didn't do anything ground breaking to push this genre forward. At the end if they did they would be far more successful and more clones would be popping over the years.
I rate MMO's based on how good they are in what they choose to focus on. Either if it's sandbox or themepark, how good they were to keep me interested for how long.
This is exactly why SWG, WOW and UO are the top 3 that come by far anything else I can think of and I've played many many MMO's since 2001
What many here are voting for top 5 are MMO's that didn't do anything ground breaking to push this genre forward. At the end if they did they would be far more successful and more clones would be popping over the years.
I rate MMO's based on how good they are in what they choose to focus on. Either if it's sandbox or themepark, how good they were to keep me interested for how long.
This is exactly why SWG, WOW and UO are the top 3 that come by far anything else I can think of and I've played many many MMO's since 2001
oh he is back....... the title of the thread is YOUR TOP 5. So if the game isnt groundbreaking / genre changing it does not deserve to be in your favorites..... Thats one way to catagorize / rank games which is completely ok but dont try to undermine others picks because it does not fit your standard
"I have found a desire within myself that no experience in this world can satisfy; the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." ~ C. S. Lewis
What many here are voting for top 5 are MMO's that didn't do anything ground breaking to push this genre forward. At the end if they did they would be far more successful and more clones would be popping over the years.
I rate MMO's based on how good they are in what they choose to focus on. Either if it's sandbox or themepark, how good they were to keep me interested for how long.
This is exactly why SWG, WOW and UO are the top 3 that come by far anything else I can think of and I've played many many MMO's since 2001
I don't see how CoH can be off that list. Unless you didn't play it.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
EVE Online. Here's your character. Here's your first ship. Here's the undock button. There's about a thousand different things to do once you undock, but you can't stay here, so GET OUT. Oh and fly safe. o7. No, there aren't any question marks or yellow brick frakkin roads to your next quest tin man so figure it out on your own.
Age of Conan. Upper Left. Lower Right. Up. Use both swords to decapitate him and then kick his blood-gushing stump over and find another unworthy opponent to mutilate. Oh, you don't like the sight of blood or pulling someones head off and throwing it over your shoulder? WoW is that way kiddo. Grow a pair. Or maybe that's why your sword is twice the size of your body. Compensating?
Planetside 1. Look son, you wear a red and black suit and that means you shoot the people wearing purple spandex or anything that looks like a smurf. If you run out of ammo, then grab some off of the corpse's around you; there'll be plenty lying around. Unless you're terrible, in which case you'll be the static ammo bag.
Tabula Rasa. Wildstar? What the hell is that? You mean to tell me we fuck up another game only seven years from now? Well too bad, cause this is the first game that you'll actually like before we shut the doors. But hey, Wildstar is gonna be great!
World of Tanks. You can take your semantics, roll them into a tube and snort this line of "I don't care what you think an MMO is" off of my hind parts. Pull the corn cob out, join us, and have some fun while your raid leader changes their third diaper of the night in the middle of your progression raid.
Awesome Post!
Tabula Rasa was a tough one to see go down. I really loved the potential of that game and was fascinated by where it could have gone. Shame.
I have never tried WoT. I may just give it a shot.
The best times of WoT are long since past. Still, you can play it for free.
IMO world of tanks is better than ever. They've kept improving it throughout the years.
1. RuneScape - My first MMO experience and an extremely enjoyable one at that. I played with my real-life friends during lunch hour at school and generally had a blast exploring the vast world and learning the many different skills.
2. Dungeons & Dragons: Online - My first subscription-based MMO. I remember reading about DDO in an issue of PC Gamer and I absolutely fell in love with the entire concept. Soon after, I bought the game and proceeded to waste many nights dungeon crawling and creating that perfect character.
3. Warhammer Online - WAR was the first MMO I played which emphasized its PvP portion more than anything else. This game, albeit heavily flawed, provided countless hours of fun with its intense PvP and incredibly iconic classes.
4. World of Warcraft - Even though this game has become far too streamlined for my taste, WoW still presents a gargantuan world filled with interesting lore, diverse races, and exotic locations that really flesh out the Warcraft universe. Open world PvP also provided many unexpected and fun encounters.
5. The Elder Scrolls Online - ESO does so many things well that it would be hard to list them all here without getting carried away. I believe the game to be absolutely amazing in almost every department and it is definitely my current favorite MMO.
Honorable Mention #1: MU Online - When I was young and still enjoyed grinding, this game was an obsession of mine. I craved the flashy armor sets and spent so much time killing monsters over and over again in hopes of obtaining loot.
Honorable Mention #2: Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - I never did own a boat, but seeing a beautiful galleon docking in Khal while the sun set and the clouds turned pink and orange is a sight I will never forget. VG had perhaps the largest and most open game world in a fantasy MMO and I loved exploring its many areas. This was also the MMO I did the most crafting in, and while frustrating at times, nothing matches how rewarding it felt to forge my first set of armor to sell to another player.
EVE Online. Here's your character. Here's your first ship. Here's the undock button. There's about a thousand different things to do once you undock, but you can't stay here, so GET OUT. Oh and fly safe. o7. No, there aren't any question marks or yellow brick frakkin roads to your next quest tin man so figure it out on your own.
Age of Conan. Upper Left. Lower Right. Up. Use both swords to decapitate him and then kick his blood-gushing stump over and find another unworthy opponent to mutilate. Oh, you don't like the sight of blood or pulling someones head off and throwing it over your shoulder? WoW is that way kiddo. Grow a pair. Or maybe that's why your sword is twice the size of your body. Compensating?
Planetside 1. Look son, you wear a red and black suit and that means you shoot the people wearing purple spandex or anything that looks like a smurf. If you run out of ammo, then grab some off of the corpse's around you; there'll be plenty lying around. Unless you're terrible, in which case you'll be the static ammo bag.
Tabula Rasa. Wildstar? What the hell is that? You mean to tell me we fuck up another game only seven years from now? Well too bad, cause this is the first game that you'll actually like before we shut the doors. But hey, Wildstar is gonna be great!
World of Tanks. You can take your semantics, roll them into a tube and snort this line of "I don't care what you think an MMO is" off of my hind parts. Pull the corn cob out, join us, and have some fun while your raid leader changes their third diaper of the night in the middle of your progression raid.
Awesome Post!
Tabula Rasa was a tough one to see go down. I really loved the potential of that game and was fascinated by where it could have gone. Shame.
I have never tried WoT. I may just give it a shot.
The best times of WoT are long since past. Still, you can play it for free.
IMO world of tanks is better than ever. They've kept improving it throughout the years.
When I last played, I didn't get 15 v 15 battles, it was kind of random and smaller in numbers per team. They keep making changes and tweaking it and it felt over tuned to me.
It feels like the shuffle game devs do, when one thing is too strong/weak the adjust it. Which doesn't sound bad on paper but it seems to be used to keep players switching tanks.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
WoW(vanillas and I'll even give them burning crusade I did enjoy it at the time)
for lack of a 5th due to everything else being meh i'll say BnS because the combat is amazing and the pvp in theory is a beautiful idea just to much cheating and bots are allowed to ruin it.
Ultima Online - My 1st MMO, and blown away by the game at that time. Even until now no other sand box MMO is as good as UO
Everquest - Most social MMO and possibly the hardest MMO Ive played. Made alot of friends from EQ
SWG (Pre NGE) - Another sandbox MMO which i highly enjoyed
DAoC - A mix of group based leveling up (EQ style) with RvR
Archeage - surprising as it seems, but I really had alot of fun in archeage. From PVPing, to just chilling around in my house and going out sailing in the seas. Its a pity that the game is P2W, I quit it in less than a year due to this. If only there's a non P2W server, it'll be one of the best MMO ever...
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Be nice to see a Remake of Asheron's Call or Asheron's Call 3 and use all the lore and Idea From Asheron call and remake it for this time of age but keep a lot the unique parts of the first one.
Wow my taste is certainly different it seems, but those are the only 4 games I've actually enjoyed and played more than just the max level run. Really hoping to fill in the 5th with Revelations or Pantheon.. but we will see.
Comments
- EQ 1. Spent way too much time in this game, and still play occasionally. I think there are a lot of good ideas with each era, even though the changes may have seemed needless and detrimental at release time.
- DAOC. Mediocre PVE with interesting RvR. Classes were heavily unbalanced, though, and the expansions didn't really help the game at all. Playing on an underpowered machine with dial-up probably influenced my opinion, though.
- LOTRO. I've had an off-and-on again infatuation with this game since it started. Turbine has had some pretty odd decisions over the years. My current favorite, despite the apparent end in sight.
- City of Heroes. A great game, that I didn't put enough time into, sadly. The height of CoH/CoV/CoX occurred at the time I was having difficulties that severely hampered my gaming habit.
- PWI. The game is quite good, despite having an entirely evil company behind it. Even now, I've advocated that the only way to deal with PWE is through pre-paid cards, never giving them access to credit cards. Some of the quests featured excellent writing, some appeared to be badly translated. It you accepted the massive grind and were in a well-populated, active guild, this was a pretty game with lots to do.
Honorable mention.Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Best: Art, pvp, combat mechanic, maps, graphics, comminuty, economic model, no gear grind, pve 1-80 expirience
Very good: open world, pve-raids, story, music, massive pvp.
OK: dungeons.
Flaws: weak pve motivation model
2. WOW. (6 years)
Best: PvE-raids, music, dungeons, gear-treadmil motivation model.
Very good: art, story, maps
OK: pvp, combat mechanic, economic model.
Flaws: boring now, too predictable gear-treadmill, too time consuming, olg grafics and combat mechanics
3. GW1 (4 years)
Best: Class-system, skills system, PvP (GVG, Arenas, HoH), music, art, graphics.
Very good: story, heroes
OK: combat mechanic, maps
Flaws: instanced world, econimic model, no auctions
EQ1
Anarchy Online
WoW
DAoC
War Thunder
I like games with a lot of depth and character development.
I loved WoW up through WoTLK until the gutted the talent tree and removed all meaningful choice. The Arena in BC being the high point. I've never been so dedicated to anything so meaningless in my whole life. My wife really hated this phase of my life too. I've tried it a couple times since but I just can't play a bland game with no options.
Below this is games always in my rotation of SP games - bored - MMO until bored back to SP games rotation.
Wildstar - WoW with fun combat and difficult dungeons. The arena was a big deal on release but the pvp gear system now isn't much of a carrot on a stick so that stinks. This game really needs an expansion to get it back on track, like BC did for WoW.
DDO - The character development is in a league of it's own. I disliked it and how it did things on release but went back a couple years ago and played this longer than I have played any game.
Champions Online - I like the open power selection and skill tree/system thing it has. The combat is fun but there really isn't much of a carrot on a stick at end game after you get the set you want (and there are only 2, one from cosmic currency grinding one dungeon and three world bosses, and one set from collecting drops from the 10 man raids. But the game is a lot of fun and has quick queues, etc.
STO - I probably play this game for the shortest period but has an interesting character/ship development system and tons of game systems and tons of crap to do and improve, etc.
Shadowbane - When this first came out I was still single with no kids so had time for guild battles and online friends. We had a lot of fun just grinding and pvping. We started out all with the horse-centaur race so we could be faster than our enemies to either run away or chase them down.
2) Diablo II (since I see some people listing PoE)
3) Ragnarok Online
4) Guild Wars
5) WoW
I rate MMO's based on how good they are in what they choose to focus on. Either if it's sandbox or themepark, how good they were to keep me interested for how long.
This is exactly why SWG, WOW and UO are the top 3 that come by far anything else I can think of and I've played many many MMO's since 2001
1) Rift
2) Diablo
3) Vampire the Masquerade (why did they have to cancel Vampire the Masquerade: World of Darkness?)
WoW ( My first real mmo and had a blast with WotLK)
SWtOR
Guild wars 2
Final Fantasy: A Realm reborn
Eve
I don't see how CoH can be off that list. Unless you didn't play it.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
IMO world of tanks is better than ever. They've kept improving it throughout the years.
1. RuneScape - My first MMO experience and an extremely enjoyable one at that. I played with my real-life friends during lunch hour at school and generally had a blast exploring the vast world and learning the many different skills.
2. Dungeons & Dragons: Online - My first subscription-based MMO. I remember reading about DDO in an issue of PC Gamer and I absolutely fell in love with the entire concept. Soon after, I bought the game and proceeded to waste many nights dungeon crawling and creating that perfect character.
3. Warhammer Online - WAR was the first MMO I played which emphasized its PvP portion more than anything else. This game, albeit heavily flawed, provided countless hours of fun with its intense PvP and incredibly iconic classes.
4. World of Warcraft - Even though this game has become far too streamlined for my taste, WoW still presents a gargantuan world filled with interesting lore, diverse races, and exotic locations that really flesh out the Warcraft universe. Open world PvP also provided many unexpected and fun encounters.
5. The Elder Scrolls Online - ESO does so many things well that it would be hard to list them all here without getting carried away. I believe the game to be absolutely amazing in almost every department and it is definitely my current favorite MMO.
Honorable Mention #1: MU Online - When I was young and still enjoyed grinding, this game was an obsession of mine. I craved the flashy armor sets and spent so much time killing monsters over and over again in hopes of obtaining loot.
Honorable Mention #2: Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - I never did own a boat, but seeing a beautiful galleon docking in Khal while the sun set and the clouds turned pink and orange is a sight I will never forget. VG had perhaps the largest and most open game world in a fantasy MMO and I loved exploring its many areas. This was also the MMO I did the most crafting in, and while frustrating at times, nothing matches how rewarding it felt to forge my first set of armor to sell to another player.
When I last played, I didn't get 15 v 15 battles, it was kind of random and smaller in numbers per team. They keep making changes and tweaking it and it felt over tuned to me.
It feels like the shuffle game devs do, when one thing is too strong/weak the adjust it. Which doesn't sound bad on paper but it seems to be used to keep players switching tanks.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Of the top 14 most frequently mentioned games in the thread, only 1 was created in the last decade.
UO
SWG(pre nge)
RoM (Pre cash shop gansta grab)
WoW(vanillas and I'll even give them burning crusade I did enjoy it at the time)
for lack of a 5th due to everything else being meh i'll say BnS because the combat is amazing and the pvp in theory is a beautiful idea just to much cheating and bots are allowed to ruin it.
Everquest - Most social MMO and possibly the hardest MMO Ive played. Made alot of friends from EQ
SWG (Pre NGE) - Another sandbox MMO which i highly enjoyed
DAoC - A mix of group based leveling up (EQ style) with RvR
Archeage - surprising as it seems, but I really had alot of fun in archeage. From PVPing, to just chilling around in my house and going out sailing in the seas. Its a pity that the game is P2W, I quit it in less than a year due to this. If only there's a non P2W server, it'll be one of the best MMO ever...
But games are better now. Less grinding, f2p, less effort.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
-Aion
-Tera
-Eve
-???
Wow my taste is certainly different it seems, but those are the only 4 games I've actually enjoyed and played more than just the max level run. Really hoping to fill in the 5th with Revelations or Pantheon.. but we will see.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Star Wars Galaxies
City of Heroes
Tabula Rasa
Dark Age of Camelot
And for an honorable mention, Saga of Ryzom.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin