Recommend an MMO

[harv3034]

Over the past ten years I have lost far to many friends and family members (and even a few potential girlfriends) to the clutches of Massively Multiplayer Online games, from Everquest, to Guild wars, to the all consuming void called World of Warcraft. I have grown tired of loosing contact with the people I care about for weeks at a time only to find them sitting in the dark, their eyes glued to the screens of their PCs and Macs. In many cases the only way I could communicate with them was by sending them messages in game via mutual friends. It is on that note that I have decided to give up what free time I have left and surrender it, and my soul, to the cult of the MMO.
First some background: I am a 20 year old, Male college student (Major: undecided) living in suburban Austin Texas. I have a minimum of regular and desposeable income, but enough for a monthly fee. I have friends and family in almost eery active and upcoming MMO. And most importantly, I have NEVER played an MMO before.

Please, use the information given above to recommend the best MMO for me (I have no bias in regards to fastasy, scifi, or both). Please include Pros and Cons and feel free to refute any suggestions from previous posters.

All I ask is that you keep your responces on topic, and respectful.
Thank you.

 

[Nimcha]

Eh, yeah. SWTOR is coming out in two weeks. Might be worth a look. It's nothing super groundbreaking but it seems fairly solid.

 

[Sectan]

I'd have to go with the old WoW. You can try it out for free, but you get capped at level 20. If you aren't having fun in that time then WoW isn't for you and you're out nothing but a bit of time. Just talk to your friends to see what realm they play on and they'll be able to walk you through it no problem. Bunch of other stuff, but it gets taught to you along the way and it's really just simpler to jump right in.

 

[Alexander Aulin]

What Sober Thal said, you should've asked this question to your friends. The fact that you asked it on an internet forum is quite ironic, considering you just explained how you're losing contact with people 'cause they're too busy sitting by the computer! XD

As for actual recommendations: Star Wars: the Old Republic holds a lot of promise and will soon be released (I bet you're friends are already planning on getting it). Alternatively, WoW is a giant invincible behemoth of an MMO. Despite what the anti-WoW movement will tell you, which is small but loud, it holds a TON of entertainment value while being reasonably challenging. Personally, my favourite MMO is EvE Online. Be wary though, while EvE is more immersive, fun and challenging than WoW or possibly any other MMO will ever be, EvE Online has more of a learning CLIFF than a learning curve (it's not recommended for the game newbies, or the faint of heart).

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Is it AN MMO? Shouldn't it be A MMO? I know it pronounces like "EM-EM-O", but it still starts with a consonant. It should be "A", right?

Anyway, the last generation of MMOs is getting a little long in the tooth. WoW is still very vibrant and active but more than a bit past it mechanically and visually, and the rest of the field is primarily composed of me-too clones and niche outliers like EVE.

You're better off waiting for the genre to take a small step forward and check out one of the big three upcoming titles...The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, or The Secret World. All three look very promising, and share a lot of fundamentals with slight differences. Just pick the setting/developer you're the most comfortable with.

 

[Uriain]

As said above, Starwars is coming out in a couple weeks. Playing through the beta I found it to be very enjoyable to play.

There are also a host of games that are FTP, like DCUO, City of Heros'/Villans, Champions Online, LotR, Age of Conan, Everquest, Everquest2 (I think middle of the month it goes FTP)

Those are the ones I would currently look at.

 

[Newtonyd]

EvE

Would not recommend this at all. Unless something has massively changed in the last couple years, you certainly don't want to play Eve as your first MMO.

Really, unless your idea of space flight is to sort through a dozen menus to do anything, you probably should look somewhere else.

WoW is an oldy, SWTOR is a newbie, both look like they play similarly. Guild Wars 2 is coming out sometime next year. It all depends where the people you are trying to follow go.

...Or you could just leave them to their own devices and find a hobby you are actually interested in. Whichever.

 

[Erttheking]

Personally I had a lot of fun playing Runescape, but from what I heard it is a little sparse compared to others. Still, it's only around $5 a month.

 

[Starke]

I can't really recommend TOR when WOW exists...

I'll stick to Free to Play games though, for the moment:

Champions Online is an excellent if very goofy F2P game that channels the Silver Age of Comic Books.

+The game has a very comic book inspired style.
+The combat is really good.
+The game has a strong, if deranged, narrative.
+Character customization is insane.
+Frequent seasonal events.
-Free to Play players (Silvers) are restricted to pre-built archetypes. These can underperformed freeform characters by a major margin. Inversely freeform characters can be completely ineffectual if the player doesn't understand the game mechanics.
-/+ Very silver age.
-Limited endgame content.

Guild Wars comes to mind as well, it's different and has a heavy player vs player bent, it's also about to get a sequel, but this one lacks subscription fees.

+Solid PvE progression
+Substantial Character ability customization.
+No subscription fees.
+Solid PvP system.
+Four full PvE campaigns.
-Seven years old.
-Sequel slated for release soon.

Age of Conan is Free these days, it's nifty, slightly engaging. I honestly could never get into it, but it had an interesting combat system.

+Really pretty.
+Entertaining combat mechanics.
-System resource hog.
-Could never get past the initial 20 level tutorial zone (lost interest twice).

Star Trek Online is, well... it's not a great game, but it gives you a unique degree of control over your crew setup, it's also not free to play yet, though most of the elements are there for it to go F2P. It could be awkward to learn (half the skill tree has been overhauled, and half is using the original setup, so there's a jarring difference in how skills work), but it's more casual than most. It's running about 15 bucks on steam now, though, so that is a factor.

+Engaging combat
+Heavy customization element (players can completely customize their entire crew and their ship).
+Player content creation tools
+Separate ground and space content
-The Writing
-Going F2P in Jan 2012
-Unreliable about new content
-Currently in transition with numerous systemic overhauls in progress
-Endgame is currently pure grind with little content
-Klingon Faction is currently gated for midlevel players

DCUO isn't really an MMO, it's a console action brawler disguised as an MMO. It's free, but there are some pretty harsh limits on free players. Probably worth looking at though, in passing.

+Visually appealing
+Action brawler style combat.
-Strict gameplay progression.
-Limited customizibility.
-Endgame is pure grind (I'm told).
-May need a gamepad to play.

Fallen Earth

This is a bit like what you'd get if you went looking for a Fallout MMO.

+Excellent Atmosphere
+Interesting
+Satisfying Crafting System
-Bleak
-Very heavy crafting focus
-Low population (if that's good or bad, you decide)

 

[mental_looney]

Most MMOs have free trials if not a version of free to play best suggestions play each of the ones your family or friends you want to play with does and pick one based on what you have enjoyed.

 

[Kayevcee]

If you love your DC Continuity, try DCU:Online. I, unfortunately, Made Mine Marvel at a young age and have never really gotten into DC stuff not written by Alan Moore or Grant Morrison (or animated), so I don't have much of a connection to the characters or settings and have found it rather tedious as I slog towards level 20.

That said, if there was a Marvel Universe Online that was EXACTLY the same in every other respect I'd be all over it like shit on velcro.

Since TOR isn't out yet, I'd suggest getting one of those free 3 day passes for WoW. A friend of mine tried it and, I quote, "I don't remember anything else that happened on those three days." I'm tempted to give it a shot just to see if I'll be able to unplug once I try TOR or if I'll be found as a skeleton slumped over a keyboard months later.

-Nick

 

[GrandmaFunk]

You're better off waiting for the genre to take a small step forward and check out one of the big three upcoming titles...The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, or The Secret World. All three look very promising, and share a lot of fundamentals with slight differences. Just pick the setting/developer you're the most comfortable with.

I'll second this, most of your MMO-obsessed friends will be jumping ships this year so might as well wait to see which of the new ones most of your friends gravitate towards. This has the immense benefit of being able to start a game on equal footing with your buddies.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'll second this, most of your MMO-obsessed friends will be jumping ships this year so might as well wait to see which of the new ones most of your friends gravitate towards. This has the immense benefit of being able to start a game on equal footing with your buddies.

Please, use the information given above to recommend the best MMO for me (I have no bias in regards to fastasy, scifi, or both).

Yeah, actually, this is pretty important, so I'm gonna quote you as well, OP, so I know you don't miss it. I can't overstate the importance of joining a MMO on day one. Everything is fresh, not just to you, but to the player base at large. Everything is new, everything is excited, no one is jaded, and you get to learn the game and grow into it with the rest of the community. If you can't join a game when it's brand new, you need to at least try and join on a new server.

Joining an old, stale game, where everyone is a grousing expert...the experience is not nearly as rewarding, to the point where I actually think it's an enormous waste of time.

 

[Sixcess]

It's hard not to recommend WoW to an MMO newcomer, because although it's barely in my personal top 5 of the genre I can't deny it's just very well made. Other than that I'd say:

City of Heroes - the oldest, biggest and (in my opinion of course) best of the superhero MMOs. Lots of customisation and tons of content. It is F2P these days but I'd recommend a subscription anyway as the F2P model is quite restrictive.

Negatives: Very heavily combat focused.

Fallen Earth - I love this game but it's not to all tastes. Fantastic atmosphere and exploration, and FPS style combat that makes a nice change from the tab targetting common to MMOs. Also F2P, with very slight restrictions on free players compared to most games.

Negatives: It's an acquired taste and really requires you take your time to immerse yourself in it to get the most out of it.

Lord of the Rings Online - A solid game with an absolutely stunningly realised world and a very good F2P model. If you're a fan of the movies consider it. If you're a fan of the books play it. Now.

Negatives: can't think of any offhand.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Is it AN MMO? Shouldn't it be A MMO? I know it pronounces like "EM-EM-O", but it still starts with a consonant. It should be "A", right?

No. You go off the sound, not the spelling, when it comes to determining which article to use. It's the reason you say "an X-ray" or "a euphoria".

 

[BloatedGuppy]

No. You go off the sound, not the spelling, when it comes to determining which article to use. It's the reason you say "an X-ray" or "a euphoria".

Thank you. This has been bugging me for years.

 

[synobal]

EvE

Would not recommend this at all. Unless something has massively changed in the last couple years, you certainly don't want to play Eve as your first MMO.

Really, unless your idea of space flight is to sort through a dozen menus to do anything, you probably should look somewhere else.

WoW is an oldy, SWTOR is a newbie, both look like they play similarly. Guild Wars 2 is coming out sometime next year. It all depends where the people you are trying to follow go.

...Or you could just leave them to their own devices and find a hobby you are actually interested in. Whichever.

Eve online was the first MMO I played. It has ruined me I can't play any other MMO for more than a month or two. They are all just so mm I dunno what the word is but when I kill someone they should not be able to respawn and just go continue on with their quests.

 

[Aeshi]

That's a bit of open question...

If you want an MMOFPS, Global Agenda is quite a good one (think Mass Effect crossed with TF2)

If you want an MMO Dungeon Crawler (like Diablo or Torchlight) then Spiral Knights is quite fun (if a little grindy/Pay-to-Win at times)

WoW may or may not be as good as it once was, but there is a reason it's still the most popular MMO.

Champions Online and City of Heroes/Villains are both pretty good superhero MMOs (CoH/V is more class-based than CO)

(Out of these I think only WoW actually needs a subscription though, I think the others are F2P.)

Though to be honest the best one would probably be whatever your friends are playing