Better Than World of Warcraft

[Brown Cap]

After a bland day with limited options of productivity, I pondered what I could do playing an online game, preferrabley an MMORPG. I considered my options from World of Warcraft to... well I had minimal options. I personally dislike WoW, and didn't want to begin investing any time or money into it. I tried to look into other MMORPGs with unsatisfying results.

So tell me, kind gamers.
Is World of Warcraft honestly a good, immersing game? or are there much better versions of online play out there?

 

[Saviordd1]

After a bland day with limited options of productivity, I pondered what I could do playing an online game, preferrabley an MMORPG. I considered my options from World of Warcraft to... well I had minimal options. I personally dislike WoW, and didn't want to begin investing any time or money into it. I tried to look into other MMORPGs with unsatisfying results.

So tell me, kind gamers.
Is World of Warcraft honestly a good, immersing game? or are there much better versions of online play out there?

WoW WAS the best MMORPG on the market but i (personally) feel its a bit dated graphics wise and other things wise.

I don't hate it i just feel its run its course.

As for finding other MMO's RIFT isn't all that bad, but honestly i can't find any other MMO's that are remotely attractive. (EVE got close but lost it by the sheer amount of player-unfriendliness)

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Is World of Warcraft honestly a good, immersing game? or are there much better versions of online play out there?

Immersion and MMOs shouldn't go hand it hand, really. Their lores are deep, but their story-telling methods ensure you won't really care. Usually. Plus, seeing people walking past you with names like "Mr. Porky Pants" can really break immersion.

But the core gameplay of WoW has benefited from years of availability and tweaking, and the core mechanics are more than solid.

If I had a regular income, I'd be playing it. For now, I sit here with my LOTRO.

Plus, the art style for WoW hides the age very well.

 

[Radeonx]

WoW is both money and time consuming.
If you have both of those resources in pretty large amounts, then go for it. I had a great time playing WoW when I wasn't a poor college student with no time to play games.

 

[Aureli]

WoW is pretty good. It has options for how each individual players wants to play their game, and their is always something for you to do, regardless of the level. The graphics are a little cartoony, but they're not going to go out of style anytime soon. Honestly, the game is a behemoth among MMO's for a reason.

 

[Ickorus]

Rift is a good game if you want an alternative to WoW.

 

[Lawyer105]

Personally, I like Guild Wars. I find it more interesting than WoW and (other than initial purchase price) it's free.

As noted, though... you're not going to find real immersion in most MMO's. People are just too idiotic, unpleasant etc. in most online communities for that to happen.

For real immersion, play single player. Mass Effect 1-2, Knights of the Old Republic 1-2 etc. will be far more immersing than any MMO.

 

[Grospoliner]

I won't lie. Warcraft has its moments. I will be entirely honest when I say though, that most of Warcraft's good moments for me came from the original preexpansion version. Regardless though, if you haven't played it yet, and you have some friends to play with. Go ahead and give it a try. There's a huge amount of content in the game, a nearly endless array of quests (which got overhauled recently), the dungeons are great, and the game-play is honestly better than most of the MMOs out there.

That said there are serious problems with the game, not limited to class balancing (PVP sucks), crafting (which is mostly useless), out-moding of content (previous endgame raids are no longer run), and the time investment requirement known as end-game gear acquisition (since you can't even think about walking into that dungeon if you're not item level 350 let alone run it; you stinking filthy plebeian.)

You might also consider picking up RIFT instead, assuming your friends aren't already playing it, or any number of "smaller" MMO. Check out mmorpg.com for a complete listing.

 

[Chechosaurus]

Addiction will keep you going for a good long while. I played it to level 70 and looking back I don't really know why I spent all of that time playing it. I hear that that it is MUCH better with the new expansion and it is still a fairly decent game all round but I don't feel that it deserved all of the time I put into it.

Personally, I would recommend Guild Wars (I've put well over 1,000 hours into it). Although, that being said, the number have players has dwindled substantially on the European servers. The American servers are still pretty full last time I checked but I'm not playing much at the moment. I would suggest you play it just to set you up for Guild Wars 2 but to be honest, unless you are long term fan of the game, it will be very hard to break into it now and really enjoy all it has to offer when it's so close to the end of the first game's life cycle.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I personally think 4STORY is better.

I think it has better enviroments
I think it's more immversive
I think the quests are fun
I think the classes are fun to play as
And I really like a class. Why? Because you can take direct control of monsters, and ride them through the magical land of What-Ever-The-Hell-This-Place-Is-Ville and go to magic fairy land.
And I don't want to waste $13 a Month to spend on a game I rarely play (Other than weekends and holidays, even then I rarely play it at all).

W.o.W's good, but it has its flaws (Tedious quests, and I know this is a 2004 game, but don't you think you could do a little graphics update, Blizzard? Back then, this game would've looked great, but now it just looks tacky).

 

[Trippy Turtle]

i love wow. i played a lot because my friend let me share his account so while i got to enjoy it i didn't get addicted or waste money. so im not sure if its worth the cost but i think it is a great game.

 

[Doc Theta Sigma]

I probably have a somewhat biased opinion since I'm on an RP server on WoW so I can get a lot of enjoyment out of it when I get bored of raiding. Personally, I don't think it's that bad a game if you have the money and time for it. People ***** about the graphics but to be honest, I dislike games with uber realistic graphics. WoW has a charm to it. You'll get quite a bit of enjoyment out of it if you choose it.

Don't roll a warlock as your first character.
No seriously.
Don't.

 

[RheynbowDash]

W.o.W's good, but it has its flaws (Tedious quests, and I know this is a 2004 game, but don't you think you could do a little graphics update, Blizzard? Back then, this game would've looked great, but now it just looks tacky).

Blizzard designed WoW to run on virtually ANY machine. I've even gotten WoW to run on my Dell Dimension 3000 from 2002 with only 512mb of RAM with pretty decent framerates. Thats why they have the user base they do now, because a variety of machines can run it with minimal problems.

 

[Stammer]

In terms of overall quality, I'd have to say almost any game beats WoW. WoW is effectively the Nintendo Wii of MMORPG's. It's inexpensive to get started with and is so easy to get into that anyone between the ages of 2 (I've seen it) and death (I've seen it too) can play it and can end up winning as long as they have better gear.

Is the game bad? In my personal opinion yes. Is it polished to a shine? The answer also happens to be yes. And you also don't need a $5000 computer to run it.

Though I will say that WoW -is- better than Final Fantasy XIV in terms of overall quality in an MMO.

 

[Kilo24]

WoW is decent, and is supposedly a good bit better for new players now with Cataclysm. I started in Burning Crusade, got two characters to 70, and then got one to 80 in WotLK. Once you hit max level, the game shifts in focus from leveling alone to doing stuff in raids/5-man-groups. There are solo things to do at max and group things to do before maximum level, but it's they're not as favored by the game mechanics. I haven't played since Cataclysm came out, but I'm not particularly motivated to.

Personally, I prefer Guild Wars. No monthly fee, a lot more customizability in what you bring into combat, much less grinding (though Cataclysm solved a bit of this), and competent NPC AI that gives you ability to do most of the content without requiring other players.

 

[gostlyfantom]

Its a good game but... choose horde. nobody plays alliance.

 

[Dagnius]

I haven't found much of anything better than WoW... RIFT could be, though I have not tried it so I cant say if it is or not.

I found WoW's graphics to be part of it's charm (I've seen some places in the game that could've passed as a painting on the wall). The recent expansion revamped the entire level 1-60 experience quest and environment wise; The new quests were fun, fast, and in abundance. The community isn't what I would call great but you can find many cool people if you avoid Trade chat unless you're actually looking to sell something.

If you don't want to use Blizzard's 'optional services' such as the character customization/race change/server transfer/etc then you basically have the 15/mo fee which is about the same as any other p2p MMO.

It doesn't even take that much time anymore, at least while leveling. I leveled a little Gnome Holy priest just before I quit-(Due to lack of income) and I got to level 60 in under a week playing a few hours a day.

All in All it comes down to personal preference, I know quite a bit of people that want nothing to do with WoW, be it 'paranoia of getting sucked in', to 'it looks cartoonish', or they just don't like it for some really biased reason. Personally I think it falls down to your attitude towards the game.

The only other MMO's I know of that were half decent P2P was
-Guild Wars(not really p2p but you just buy the game then play it with no mo/fees)
-LOTRO (It seemed cool but This was before it went F2P. The game is dead to me now)
-FFXI (Slow paced MMORPG,very dated but it's constantly receiving updates and I enjoyed it)

There are a few good F2P MMOs out there but most are imbalanced with Item Shop and micro transaction features.

 

[Zydrate]

Its a good game but... choose horde. nobody plays alliance.

How gloriously incorrect.

 

[Katana314]

For a social game like an MMO, it needs to be played by lots of people and have a strong community for you to have a good time.
Unfortunately, World of Warcraft is easily the most popular. Thus, biggest community, best of its kind, etc etc.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

Its a good game but... choose horde. nobody plays alliance.

Lies and slander. I play both, and have fun on each side.

If World of Warcraft isn't for you, OP, that's your prerogative. Coming from a veteren of almost 5 years of playing the game, I've hardly ever stopped having fun with it. There is always something to do, people to meet, and places to explore.

Not to mention, the game is just fun. Ignore the majority of bitching that goes on and surrounds the game, and you'll have a blast.