I played WoW a bit after its initial release through the first couple xpacs. Getting the MMO itch again, but I know the WoW I grew up with doesn’t really exist anymore, so now I’m pretty out of touch.
For those of you playing / recently played an MMO, which one? How’s the community? How’s the lore? Gameplay in pve/pvp/rvr?
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FFXIV
I don’t PVP so I can’t speak to that but the lore and PVE is solid. Gameplay is very classic MMO. The releases continue to be ranked and reviewed higher with each one that comes out. Players are strongly encouraged to help new players (sprouts) via the mentoring program. Community has been so good, very helpful, never seen anyone rage or get angry at a new person, or anyone for that matter. Very LGBTQ+ friendly. TONS of fun stuff to do on the side between chapters like glamour or housing for folks that want a chill experience or you can do savage raids or hunts for the more hardcore game play focused players. Me and a friend love to just run around to all the apartments and houses to check out everyone’s place from time to time. Some are really amazing. I’ll throw mine and my buddy’s apartment in that ring we put a lot of work in and did some really cool tricks to make the space feel bigger and more unique. Some people turn their houses into cafes or dance clubs, some require RPing when you visit some don’t. They are pretty fun to go to. From time to time they’ll have giveaways for gill or items at the parties.
BONUS: It’s totally free up to level 70 so you have plenty of time to figure out if the game is for you.
I’m not playing right now, taking a quick break but I’m in the NA server Sargatanas. The name is Obi-Bun Kenobi, I think I have the address to my place in my Adventurer Plate. I leave the apartment unlocked so people can use it for g-posing or just to have a nice place to hang. Come check it out sometime!
XIV is the WoW that respects your time.
the pvp is pretty fun but suffers from not being a primary focus of the devs or the community and lacking basic things like a duo queue Balance and skills is entirely decoupled from pve which means there’s virtually no cross-value to doing both pvp and pve aside from unique cosmetics
This fucked up pay to win one called “Life”. Shit is hard as hell and I don’t think the devs even care about balance.
Oh my god don’t even get me started on this game.
Get this, you know how over time you get fatigue points and can only get rid of them by eating food items you’ve previously gathered? Well, when doing this one day last week my character nearly fucking died because of some race condition glitch where mid-swallow they tried to breathe for some unknown reason and because the devs, in their infinite fucking wisdom, decided that while there are two completely separate and incompatible systems for food and air, they must accessed via the same hole, but clearly not at the same time!
The mind boggles, I hope someone was fired for that blunder.
Git gud noob
Not that hard: Iddqd, idkfa and you’re set
The ones I’ve been playing on and off over the past few years are Guild Wars 2 and Lord of the Rings Online.
GW2 is a really nice game to just pick up and play without needing huge time investments. It has a fun gameplay loop and well designed zones to explore. Haven’t gotten around to playing the new expansion yet, but I hear it’s pretty good.
LOTRO is great for that traditional MMO experience. The community is very friendly and surprisingly active. It has a nice atmosphere. They are also frequently giving away the expansion packs, so you get a lot of content for free.
LOTRO would absolutely be my jam but the server performance is absolutely horrendous and the UI desperately needs at least an update for its fonts. It’s a real shame.
Old School RuneScape, getting in a clean 7 hours a day
It’s one of the best! And I feel it really holds up well as a modern game with classic design.
Check out FF14. Great free trial option. Community is overwhelmingly good (though none is perfect). PvE is pretty damn good, especially once you get to late/end game. PvP is not the best (IMO) but it is very active if you do like it. Has a couple different modes including a 5v5 push the objective mode and a 24v24v24 objective capture mode. No RvR.
Kinda boring/typical MMO at first, but really picks up. With the free trial can play the base game and first two expansions for free, plus get the jobs (classes) from those (most of the ones in the game) up to level 70. Including crafting/gathering jobs. Can easily spend 1000+ hours just on the free trial if you choose to maximize it, but the expansions and sub are worth it IMO. And unlike WOW you van access all those classes on one character and switch with the press of a few buttons.
And the next expansion is summer of next year, so you do have time to catch up if you decide you want to get into it.
I was the same way. I quit WoW after WotLK, and started looking into it again about two years ago. Then I saw the bad reviews and how the story tanked. So I looked around at the other big ones, and FFXIV looked interesting. The story is kind of average until you get past level 50 stuff, but it gets really good. Shadowbringers is just a masterpiece. Easily as good as any other FF title you’ve played. I came for the graphics, and stayed for the lore. Compared to WoW, the graphics are great, that is.
The PvE is good, especially when you consider that you don’t need an alt. If you make it to level 60 and find you don’t like the class you picked, you can just start with a new job on your same character and continue. So you can pay all classes without going back to the newbie tutorial zones. Plus, you will “level sync” to old content. Making the level 20 dungeon worth running as a level 89. It’s not instantly forgotten, dead content.
PvP isn’t as good as WoW. It’s fun, and I do it daily, but there’s no rock paper scissors mechanics or supreme balance like back in the day in WoW.
I don’t feel like I’m on a treadmill, and I’m not pressured to log in every day or fall behind. I can play casually, take a break, and not feel like I’ve lost out. Some people are hardcore raiders, but those days are behind me.
I would never go back to WoW now. I like it better overall than I ever did running Molten Core, or Burning Crusade even. Which was pretty peak WoW, imo.
I’d recommend watching Josh Strife Heyes videos on MMOs, but if you want an overview, the biggest ones are WoW, FFXIV, and Guild Wars 2. I’d recommend the latter.
I still play EVE online, having a lot of fun in faction warfare these days.
A video came out on the history of the game recently, just a cool 6 hour deep dive. https://youtu.be/BCSeISYcoyI?si=1sKdXt8oPRUTbzs1
I’ve also gotten into Guild Wars 2 recently and I’m a little addicted. The game just feels great: nice community, events are engaging, so much stuff to do but at the same time not demanding like games can be sometimes.
Guild Wars 2 is great!
I’m biased because I’ve been playing it since launch, but I’ve also dabbled in the others and simply couldn’t justify a sub fee when
a) there are so many other games I’d like to play simultaneously and not feel guilty doing so b) there’s no gear treadmill! It really sucks in games like WoW where I want to check out the older content to get up to speed and just the zones were dead. Conversely, I’m doing map completion with my wife in GW2 and even the core maps had a bunch of people running around doing dynamic events and world bosses. The game feels so much more alive!
All the activity in every zone I visit really does just feel so great. There’s no better sign a game is alive and healthy. It was totally that which hooked me.
All the activity in every zone I visit really does just feel so great. There’s no better sign a game is alive and healthy. It was totally that which hooked me.
So true! It’s a game that really respects your time and there are always people around to help you if you get stuck.
Welcome to GW2, I genuinely hope you continue to enjoy your time here!
GW2 is my mmo home world. I started with wow but things changed when I realized Blizzard was always playing catch up with arenanet. There were a few months where blizzard made dragon riding easily accessible but once you hit max level the world content wasn’t as good and the retail community became more toxic and elitist than ever, so I switched back.
WoW Ascension on the Area 52 server. This server is classless, you can pick any ability and talents you want. Plus there are mystic scrolls you can find in the world which when equipped (you can have 17 equipped at once, 1 legendary, 3 epic, then a bunch of blue or green) and these enchants completely change how abilities work to allow for you to make incredibly cool custom classes.
It’s full of fresh ideas, I love it a lot!
I enjoyed classic wow through TBC but when wotlk dropped I lost interest. I just started on ascension wow area 52 a few days ago and it’s a really interesting spin on the classic experience. I’m enjoying it but I don’t think I’ll play it as seriously as I did for classic wow and classic TBC.
Really curious to try out this season of discovery thing though. I might resubscribe just to try it out.
I went and set this up after seeing this comment. I will say, it’s wild and I’ve had a blast playing it. The community is awesome and I have no idea what I’m doing but that doesn’t seem to matter at all.
I’m so happy someone tried out Ascension based on my post! I’ve been playing around in there for a few months now, nothing hard core, just trying different specs or build ideas. At first it does feel very overwhelming, but they’ve made changes to the talents to sometimes make them a bit more agnostic or if the talent says “Increases Pet Damage” it’ll generally apply to any pet. That combined with the ability to search for any ability or talent based on keywords or phrases like “All Damage” to find talents to increase damage mitgation all combines to allow you to think up interesting specs and try building it your self.
The other thing I adore about this system is, in normal WoW, there has always been the meta, if you’re a fire mage and you want to raid you better be specced this one certain way or your trash. Well in Ascension, the options are so god damn wide open that no you could very well come up with unique build that is better then anyone has made before. Also people can’t see your spec in game, so there just isn’t that rigid expectation of choosing the “right” spec.
Also check out prestiging , it’s fun to loop back to level 1, level back up and earn rewards. Or prestige , and pick a Ironman challenge, where you get 1 life and need to accomplish a certain goal like, kill hogger before level 10 or you fail. I’m working on an Ironman Challenge called “King of the Jungle” where you get 1 life, and need to kill the final tiger boss in the Stranglethorn Vale big game hunt quest line before level 40!
Over all, it’s just a very well thought out and daring approach. On top of Ascension’s Area 52 server that I’m on (Free pick classless), there’s also the Thrall server which is also classless, but instead if free pick you get a selection of 3 or 4 abilities when you level and you try to assemble your build using those cards. I have some friends that positively love the draft server, but it isn’t my cup of tea.
I dislike MMOs that require friends, working together, joining other people. I’m not knocking it. It’s just not for me.
So the closest things to MMOs that I like are more single player but with people. Kinda like people who go to coffee shops with a laptop.
The list:
Fallout 76. I jump back in every few months to check out my house and then leave. I played for about 350 hours before I felt like I did everything.
New World. It got pretty good! Honestly I just like chopping wood. Maybe 100 hours?
Elder Scrolls Online. The combat is so “floaty”. But if you can get passed it, the story is really really really good. Maybe 400 hours?
Old School RuneScape is a mostly solo MMO. Essentially single player with people, like you described wanting.
GW2 for the past 11 years, except for a stretch where I played ESO for a few months.
Community’s mostly great. Cooperation between players is strongly fostered by the game’s design (no kill or resource stealing, no competing for drops, etc), so players tend to get along in almost every PvE situation.
Lore is good, but not nearly as expanded upon as Warcraft’s.
Gameplay is what makes it IMO. Skill effects and some gear skins can be a bit obnoxious, especially when you’re in large groups for open world and World vs World, but it’s still enjoyable. Don’t play normal PvP, so can’t comment on that.
Actually the wow you know does exist, they’re called Classic servers and have a huge community.
But I stick to retail servers, wow has come a long way and I think it’s the most fun it’s ever been nowadays.
To each their own tho.
Season of Discovery for WoW classic also looks really interesting. It was just announced and is starting soon I think!
It actually does look super interesting! Like I said, I’m not really into the classic servers, but that Season just might get me. It looks like it can be really fun with the right crowd.
If the server allows wow tokens then no, the wow op knew doesn’t exist anymore. Wow tokens killed guilds and much of the end point of it.
I think you’re kinda missing the forest for the trees, my friend. The game is still there.
Yeah, many guilds have died along the way. That just kinda happens. Join a new one, there are shit loads of 'em.
I’m not missing anything having experienced it both in the original time and now. People mostly no longer play it for the fun of it at end game, they have to “make everything worth their time” because the experience itself isn’t enough for them anymore.
That makes it a very different overall experience to play and not the same game at all. It’s very toxic in fact like a lot of modern multiplayer games can be these days unfortunately.
I usually play Guild Wars 2, but at the moment I’m trying out World of Warcraft: Classic Hardcore. It’s quite fun and challenging.
WoW: Seasons of Discovery has also
peakedpiqued my interest. I hope it has potential to become WoW: Classic+.Piqued. “peaks” are tops of mountains or pinnacle of achievement.
maybe his interest has peaked and it’s only going downhill from here
We will see, once Season of Discovery is out :D
I recently got the urge to play WoW again, so I figured I’d cash in on the ‘free play til level 20’ thing and play on a Classic server. Except those are pay only. Decided I’d try retail since it was free and quit within an hour. I’ve been really loving Turtle WoW, however.
Oh man I just discovered and joined turtle yesterday! Haven’t had a chance to play, but did confirm it ran without any additional setup on PopOS.
Awesome! All the advice I saw on the net was to try and run it via Steam (which ended up causing weird graphical glitches) but it ran great for me with just regular wine.
Already found a fun guild while I was running WC…let me know if you’re looking for one!
I keep going back to Star Trek Online for some star ship pew pew. I usually get a month or two in going back over the story arcs and participating in events until the constant event schedule makes me realize I’m trapped in the grind and not playing any other games. So I drop it to break free and play the rest of my game library. The community isn’t something I really interact with as pretty much all of the game content is playable solo or antisocial (the team content is easy enough you can just random queue and don’t really have to talk or strategize with them). It is overwhelmingly PvE (though PvP is technically in the game) and it has some fun lore if you are a Star Trek fan.
