Thinking of trying an MMO for the first time...

S

Superhuman

[H]ard|Gawd
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May 19, 2006
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I'll try to keep this short.

Basically I'm pretty much just bored of the current scene and am looking to try something new and fresh (well, for me at least). The only game I'm looking forward to right now and know I will be playing for a long time is Diablo 3. Everything else I am bored to death of (BF3 and pretty much every other shooter).

Never really played any MMOs (except for maybe a half hour of WoW one time) because quite frankly the learning curve seems intimidating. I have a lot of friends who are going to be buying Guild Wars 2 and was wondering if that would be a good place to start for an MMO.

Any suggestions are welcome.
 
Not in the GW2 beta, but I found GW to be one of the easiest MMO's to jump in and out of. If you've played regular RPGs, it's not that tough to learn.

If GW is similar (and it's a good game) it should be a decent fit.


Edit: SW:TOR is like... imagine a decent single player voiced RPG, then throw in tons of kill/retrieve quests that interrupt the flow of the story. At least that's how I saw it.
 
Yeah, just wait for GW2 to come out. It's always a lot more fun to play with friends, anyway.
 
KatalDT said:
Not in the GW2 beta, but I found GW to be one of the easiest MMO's to jump in and out of. If you've played regular RPGs, it's not that tough to learn.

If GW is similar (and it's a good game) it should be a decent fit.


Edit: SW:TOR is like... imagine a decent single player voiced RPG, then throw in tons of kill/retrieve quests that interrupt the flow of the story. At least that's how I saw it.
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That's good to know. It would be nice to be able to try the beta without having to plop down the $60 for the game...
 
The WoW learning curve is a lot less than it used to be if you wanna give that another shot. Swtor is good for a month of play, too.
 
Steams got a bunch of F2P mmos

http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Massively Multiplayer/

I've become really obsessed with stronghold kingdoms though I've never played Stronghold.

Global Agenda is very popular as well as Star Trek Online if you're just interested in something to pass the time.

My two favorite MMO's are the Original Star Wars Galaxies and Phantasy Star Online.

The two things that most MMO's lack is environmental impact and action.

Firstly Nothing you do ever changes anything. SWG had that. On top of being a successful droid engineer I had my own farm and you could actually build cities and fight over them. I actually had a massive battle over a rebel base on naboo that lasted weeks before we drove them out. Haven't seen much of that lately though I hear Guild wars has at least some symbalence of it.

Secondly most MMO's are still heavily turn based. Phantasy Star Online is literally the only one I've ever played that wasn't turn based. I think theres others but nothing I've seen quite like it.

Anyway, Stronghold Kingdoms is a Settlers or Civilization kinda MMO. They are very not in your face about buying anything. Everyone playing is cool as fuck, been nice to me and helped me out a lot. If you like either of those games go join world 1 and I'll hang out with you.

Star Trek online seems interesting one of the [H] guys plays it. I haven't gotten far enough in come to a conclusion.

(sorry for rambling broke a front tooth playing baseball high on vicodin going back to sleep now :D)
 
Lemonjello said:
The WoW learning curve is a lot less than it used to be if you wanna give that another shot.
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Not trying to troll, but how is that possible? As far as I remember it was just learning the universal group roles.
 
Try C&C Renegade in one of the 128-player servers (if there are still any).

There is also PlanetSide.

SubSpace used to be an MMO, now its a dead game.
 
Yea, it would be nice to not have to pay a monthly fee.

Maybe I should just take the chance and plop down the $60 on a pre-purchase so I can try it during one of these beta event weekends they're gonna be having?....and if for whatever reason I'm not feeling it I can always give the game to one of my friends who will be getting it anyway...
 
You could give "Tera online" a try as an MMORPG.. its an action based rpg and quite honestly the gameplay is really fun and new.. I wish you could give the beta a try but its about to go retail soon.. if your interested, google it... not sure on your learning curve though.. maybe gw2 might be best suited to you if all your friends are gonna play it. but in anycase you can give it a look.
 
If you want to try a standard fare MMO style game I would go with Lord Of the Rings Online. Its a solid game a f2p to boot. The other f2p MMO that I'd suggest giving a go would be DC Universe. I really like the way the combat system works. With both of these it will give you an idea if you like the genera without having to shell out any cash.
 
If you already know a bunch of people going to Guild Wars 2 it probably makes sense to for sure look into that. Did your friends preorder? I mean you could try it at there place or with there account even for the closed betas. Or see if can get into any of the closed betas before launch, it is after all still quite far off from release so there is no need to rush and buy it now.

But if you are going be into Diablo 3 do you really want to commit to multiple "time sink" (for the lack of a better term) type games? Not sure how much you will be into D3 though.

NovaCloud said:
You could give "Tera online" a try as an MMORPG.. its an action based rpg and quite honestly the gameplay is really fun and new.. I wish you could give the beta a try but its about to go retail soon.. if your interested, google it... not sure on your learning curve though.. maybe gw2 might be best suited to you if all your friends are gonna play it. but in anycase you can give it a look.
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There will be an open beta from April 20-23rd before launch if you want to try TERA.
 
I would not suggest WoW especially with the new expansion coming out. That game is not what it used to be and will never be again.

GW2 will definitely be a good option. The first one was very easy to pick up and play. At least you have D3 to look forward to. I don't know about you but I will be focusing my attention on that and Vanilla WoW.
 
MrGoat said:
If you want to try a standard fare MMO style game I would go with Lord Of the Rings Online. Its a solid game a f2p to boot. The other f2p MMO that I'd suggest giving a go would be DC Universe. I really like the way the combat system works. With both of these it will give you an idea if you like the genera without having to shell out any cash.
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Lord of the rings online was probably my favorite MMO to date. It had everything, from an immersive game world, to a great storyline and great combat. The only reason I did not play it as much as I would have liked was that, it being an MMO, I did not want to play alone, and could not find enough friends to move over from WoW. Speaking of WoW now, I think it's a great game, especially for a newbie to play, and it's still kicking. Lots of players, and lots of stuff to do. SWTOR was great as well, like I said, lot of people I play with aren't playing MMO's anymore, so it's not the best place/time for me to throw out decisions for you. If you've got some cash flow that you don't mind throwing into the entertainment bowl, I'd try them all to be honest.

For your situation, I would have to recommend GW2. It's fresh, it's re-vamped, and it'll be there to stay, like the first one still is. I honestly wouldn't play the first one as your starter MMO, because it's not really the full MMO experience. You have only instanced towns and dungeons with other players, the rest of the time you have to find someone else to play with, and that to me just isn't what an MMO is about. An MMO is about running around with other players in clear view, everywhere. Not just instances. Should be seamless. To me anyway.
 
ripken204 said:
http://www.swtor.com/
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No, for gawd's sake no.

GuildWars2 is going to be great. I would recommend that one, that way you don't get jaded by the fucking "holy trinity" of most MMOs....tank/healer/damage.

Was going to say EVE Online, but I think you might become a serial killer after you start to see how much you will need to learn as you go. Hell, 7 years playing and I am still learning something new :D

Also when Planetside 2 comes out, that's definitely going to be fun, and a good intro into MMOs. Think BF2142 except thousands of players instead of 64 and more fun :p

EDIT: Also, Guild Wars 2 won't have a subscription fee (I think), and Planetside 2 is going to be free to play, so both will have lower admissions getting into them. EVE Online can be played for free if you are good at making ingame currency (which I am very good at ;))
 
DDO is still my favorite MMO even many years of playing it on and off.

Whatever MMO you decide to play, your guild/clan probably counts for more than the game itself when it comes to having fun ingame, and even out of game.

To me that's the main distinguishing feature of an MMO vs. other game genres.
 
"MMO" these days basically means a persistant character in a co-op instanced game with 4 friends. That isn't "MMO" at all. Rift is "looking for group" plop, in a dungeon with 4 random's, never having to leave a town or walk there. Yawn. WoW, same thing. Aion, sort of similar, SWTOR, don't know, never played.

Honestly, the only game out there I consider MMO these days that is somewhat modern is Vanguard Saga of Heroes, which will be going F2P here shortly. There is no instances, and its massive.
 
Scoobydo, SWTOR is nothing more than a 4-person MMO lol, and that's only for hard modes. Never played Vanguard, but EVE is a massive MMO, i.e. it's the only game in existence that can have 1000 vs 1000 fights. Not even Planetside came that close :)
 
Send me a PM if you want a free trial to SWTOR. Just need a name and an email address. Like everyone said earlier SWTOR is really a single player game that forces you to play in a group at 50. It's not really a MMO in the truest sense of the word.

Now if you really want to play a MMO there is Rift. You can play to level 20 for free so there isn't a commitment to see if you like it. I'm not a fan of the graphics engine they use, but it's free so what harm is there in trying it? As a pure MMO it's pretty fun and it makes you group up from the beginning of the game. Grouping up makes friendships thus promoting the multiplayer aspect of the genre.

PM me for SWTOR if you want an invite.
Click this link for Rift.
 
I think MMOs are a niche genre that will soon return to being a niche. Wow was a huge crossover hit that only happened because of a very specific moment in time (cable internet taking over dial up, other mmos dying, in between gens in console gaming, lull in pc gaming offers). People just keep playing because of the time they have invested in their toons, but that is it.


The other day I got the scroll of resurrection from a friend, got leveled up to 80, and than managed to hit 85 rarely leaving orgrimmar. The game is so easy and bland that one day I was healing a normal mode, had to go to the bathroom and when I got back they had pulled a pat, killed it, and never realized that the healer wasn't there.
Swtor, I think, is a lot closer to what "future" mmos will be like in terms of subscriber base: people who log on when there is new content, clear it, and unsub. There are just too many options now for people to invest in time sinks, so there will never be a new "wow."
 
diogo said:
I think MMOs are a niche genre that will soon return to being a niche. Wow was a huge crossover hit that only happened because of a very specific moment in time (cable internet taking over dial up, other mmos dying, in between gens in console gaming, lull in pc gaming offers). People just keep playing because of the time they have invested in their toons, but that is it.


The other day I got the scroll of resurrection from a friend, got leveled up to 80, and than managed to hit 85 rarely leaving orgrimmar. The game is so easy and bland that one day I was healing a normal mode, had to go to the bathroom and when I got back they had pulled a pat, killed it, and never realized that the healer wasn't there.
Swtor, I think, is a lot closer to what "future" mmos will be like in terms of subscriber base: people who log on when there is new content, clear it, and unsub. There are just too many options now for people to invest in time sinks, so there will never be a new "wow."
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I think you surmised the MMO market very succinctly.
 
I recommend waiting for GW2.

GW1, althought not a true open world mmo (which GW2 is) was a very easy game for new players to get into and learn.

GW2 is actually going to be something "Fresh" to the mmo world, ti's ditching the "trinity" focus (Tank, healer, dps) throwing in public questing like Warhammer had (basically you can get quests simply by being in a certain area at a certain time and helping do things).

Among htat it has the huge world vs world vs world pvp and things.

combat that consists of actual skill and not just spam special spam special and auto attacks, actually having to dodge and things.
 
GW2 would be a fun bet.

You could also try Tera's open beta that is coming up for a fun try.

If you play any type of FPS you may find it a medium step into an MMO due to how the aiming mechanics and such work.
 
I second DDO and free to play to boot. I also agree with Yakk, the key to fun in MMOs IMO is playing with friends. I just don't find playing solo in an MMO that fun, and playing with random people infuriating.

The learning curve can be tough, but just don't worry about the details at first and you will be fine.
 
cageymaru said:
Going to get that and play with a nephew of mine that works a lot so it will be a long time before I get to max level. Thx for the Beta code; it went to go use. :)
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cool glad you enjoyed it. my guild (Uprising) will be rolling on valley of titans pvp server
 
Yakk said:
Whatever MMO you decide to play, your guild/clan probably counts for more than the game itself when it comes to having fun ingame, and even out of game.
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I agree with this completely. Since you're friends are going to be playing Guild Wars I'd join in with them. If they're already playing something else in the meantime see if it has a free trial that you can play with them.

I have played WoW and Dark Age of Camelot, both games were tons of fun when playing with a few friends but not terribly interesting when playing solo or with random people.
 
Oomps said:
Not trying to troll, but how is that possible? As far as I remember it was just learning the universal group roles.
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Its hard to explain(For me), I havent played in a year and have just been doing the come back for 7 days stuff.
For new players everything is just more clear I guess. It shows in the abilities book what level you will get abilities at and highlight ones you qualify for but dont have and say "go see trainer".
Lots of little things with questing, too.
 
Yakk said:
Whatever MMO you decide to play, your guild/clan probably counts for more than the game itself when it comes to having fun ingame, and even out of game.

To me that's the main distinguishing feature of an MMO vs. other game genres.
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100% this

The social aspect of MMOs is what makes the genre IMO.
 
If you have any interest in other MMOs, let me know. I have experience with most of the major Western MMOs (and some Eastern) released in the past fifteen years or so, plus quite a few indie-style ones. I can recommend something based on what you're looking for in a game, as well as offer a referral/trial key that may give you free game time, a discount, or in-game benefit etc...
 
WoW is free up to level 20, and their downloader basically streams content so you can be up and playing in literally minutes. You could be playing that while you make up your mind :p
 
If you can get past the graphics in some of the older zones (the newer stuff looks good), the original Everquest is still the best of the best in terms of "MMO" gameplay and mechanics.
 
Start with Guild Wars 2, you really don't want to fall too far behind once an MMO comes out, so an MMO noob would stand a better chance getting a good jump with something brand new. Diablo and GW2 are going to pretty much bury an already on life support SWOTR and WOW IMO
 
If you put up with the almost vertical learning curve Eve Online is worth a look. But just remember..... its hard at first!
 
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