MMOs without an ingame store other than FFXIV?

viivo

viivo

[H]ard|Gawd
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FFXIV has been great, but I'm past the burnout phase and into "nauseous just thinking about logging in" so I'd like to find another MMO with zero P2W elements. ESO was sort of fun once, but it has devolved into a singleplayer experience whose focus on microtransactions puts mobile games to shame.

Do any non-F2P/P2W MMORPGs still exist?
 
Guild Wars 2 isnt p2w. It is pay to look cool and pay for more convenience (storage, character slots, convenience items, etc)
 
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I actually find the ESO shop the least offensive, most appealing, and most generous of all the MMOs that have cash shops. SWTOR puts free-to-play mobile games to shame with how disgusting it is if you try to play the "free" version of the game.

But as to your question - that's a good question!? It's crazy that FFXIV and FFXI may be the only ones??!
 
Well if you don't mind subscribing, (which is not clear to me from your post) World of Warcraft, Swtor are pretty good, there is also Rift which is not bad, I just never got into it.
 
Denpepe said:
Well if you don't mind subscribing, (which is not clear to me from your post) World of Warcraft, Swtor are pretty good, there is also Rift which is not bad, I just never got into it.
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I prefer a subscription being required, but I realize how rare that has become. I put many years into WoW from release to right before the second expansion, as well as Rift before it got sold off.

It seems my only hope is for the upcoming Shadowbringers expansion to revitalize my interest in FFXIV, though I'm afraid things will be dumbed down even more than they have during the time I've played.
 
All this talk about FFXIV has made me want to play FFXI again. After all this time I kind of expected it to be at least buy-to-play now, but on the otherhand the only reason it's still going it most likely due to the subscriptions.
 
Armenius said:
All this talk about FFXIV has made me want to play FFXI again. After all this time I kind of expected it to be at least buy-to-play now, but on the otherhand the only reason it's still going it most likely due to the subscriptions.
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I never looked into FFXI much. I assume it's different than the Western standard MMO formula of post-ARR FFXIV, but I'm curious in what ways. It obviously has a loyal player base. Is it more of a Monster Hunter/Collector grind like other Asian MMOs? Also did you try FFXIV and wasn't interested in it?
 
viivo said:
I never looked into FFXI much. I assume it's different than the Western standard MMO formula of post-ARR FFXIV, but I'm curious in what ways. It obviously has a loyal player base. Is it more of a Monster Hunter/Collector grind like other Asian MMOs? Also did you try FFXIV and wasn't interested in it?
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The battle system is similar to FFXII, if you've ever played that, but with stricter rules (you have to be facing the enemy to attack, different attacks have an optimal range, your magic will be interrupted if attacked, etc.). Questing and whatnot are definitely structured differently compared to the Western formula. I think it is more engaging, personally. There is quite the grind to level. There are leveling areas that are well-documented and you need to get a group together to fight them. You get 200 XP per fight in a group compared to 5-50 against the mobs you are able to fight solo. Level grinding took similar amounts of time of doing the story quests if I remember correctly, so it evens out.

I rather enjoyed the whole gameplay loop. I never tried FFXIV myself because, frankly, it looked too much like WOW. I played FFXI precisely because it wasn't WOW. I think that it still has a devoted following because of how closely it follows the original FF lore, and the community was one of the best I was ever a part of.
 
It's been over a decade since I played WoW, but FFXIV is different in many ways both bad and good. The worst - and what is emblematic of the game's perpetual slide towards simplicity - is there are no class builds or skill customization of any kind. Each class gets the same set of skills at the same time. That lack of freedom and creativity in your character would have normally been a deal breaker for me, but the game's more positive qualities and the lack of other non-F2P MMOs made me stick around long enough to discover many sources of enjoyment. The housing system could be a game on its own and offers nearly infinite creative freedom, but only if there's an available plot of land on your server and you have the gil. Just doing things with groups of other people is another way to enjoy what the game has to offer; I and many others still derive more entertainment than we should from being in 24-person pub raid groups wiping on obsolete content. Beyond that is the endgame content which requires teamwork from all 8 people and is the only challenge the game has to offer, though compared to WoW when I played is still far too easy.
 
viivo said:
It's been over a decade since I played WoW, but FFXIV is different in many ways both bad and good. The worst - and what is emblematic of the game's perpetual slide towards simplicity - is there are no class builds or skill customization of any kind. Each class gets the same set of skills at the same time. That lack of freedom and creativity in your character would have normally been a deal breaker for me, but the game's more positive qualities and the lack of other non-F2P MMOs made me stick around long enough to discover many sources of enjoyment. The housing system could be a game on its own and offers nearly infinite creative freedom, but only if there's an available plot of land on your server and you have the gil. Just doing things with groups of other people is another way to enjoy what the game has to offer; I and many others still derive more entertainment than we should from being in 24-person pub raid groups wiping on obsolete content. Beyond that is the endgame content which requires teamwork from all 8 people and is the only challenge the game has to offer, though compared to WoW when I played is still far too easy.
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I did not know that at all about the classes. One of the points of enjoyment in FFXI for me was unlocking the various jobs and building them up, especially with experimenting using different subclass combinations.
 
I would recommend Warframe. I enjoy it quite a bit. Money can be paid to speed things up, but I didn't actually spend any money until later in the game, and then more for fun/to support the dev than out of need (It is a Free to play game). You can buy cosmetics, but i don't care too much about those. Other than cosmetics, you can get pretty much everything else in game (and in many cases pretty easily). It has its faults, but being P2W is one of the least of those.
Also, after playing Warframe, movement in other games can be frustratingly slow. There is a thread in this forum where you can read more about the game.
I will also say, the Warframe community has been one of the more friendly communities I have experienced in online games.
 
Armenius said:
All this talk about FFXIV has made me want to play FFXI again. After all this time I kind of expected it to be at least buy-to-play now, but on the otherhand the only reason it's still going it most likely due to the subscriptions.
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I play on the free Nasomi server. Like 2005ish era. I just hit 55 DRK / 27 War. Got my LB2 done last night. PM me if you want info on the server or a link pearl
 
SWTOR does functionally require a subscription to play it, but it isn't pay to win. All of its cash shop elements are cosmetic only. I quit playing it due to lack of content over the last year or so and because they've added dailies to the gear grind for top tier raid gear. They can shove that crap.
 
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