Let's Talk Games

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

After three years of World of Warcraft, and the thousands of friends I've made, I've decided to quit. There is no specific reason, merely the end state of a burn out that's been coming a very long time - simply put, I no longer care and all my friends have long since quit themselves.

I used to play Final Fantasy 11 (mmo), a game I enjoyed and would like to return to. However, I understand it's been replaced already with Final Fantasy 14 (mmo) which is due out soon. This limits me in that FF11 might be shut down or worse yet, people might simply stop playing FF11, leaving me stranded and alone on the server.

So, question to you people out there - what MMO do you play? Which one is worth it? Best Buy has most MMO's, but I need to know which one to get!

Guild Wars looks nice but they disabled all chat functions for trial accounts, so I'm not able to ask questions about game content at all. Truely maddening, I can't test out the GAME.

[Entropy]

Hmm, good question.

Most other MMOs have tried but failed to compete with WoW.  Many had good launches but couldn't retain subscriber base for whatever reason.

Warhammer, for example, completely botched faction balancing, so I quit after a month.

Aion had such a brutal leveling grind and so many endgame bugs that they've already done a major server merge - that game is going downhill too.  The 1.9 patch came too late, too many people had left already.

EVE Online is one of the few other MMOs out there that is doing well, partly because they appeal to an almost completely different target market than WoW.  It's better described as a massively multiplayer online space sim, not an RPG.  I periodically consider returning to EVE, but lately I just simply haven't been gaming much at all.

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

Square-Enix has made a number of tweaks to FFXI in the past few months that have brought a LOT of previous players back to the game (like increasing the level cap and the introduction of casual play elements), but I hear ya - people  may migrate to FFXIV when it's released.  In all likelihood though you'll find people playing both games.  I personally played both FFXI and WoW part-time when Wrath of the Lich King came out, then went back to FFXI full-time once I got my fill of Azeroth.

If you're a fan of comic book-style action, you might want to take a look at City of Heroes/City of Villains (and its upcoming expansion Going Rogue).  A few buddies of mine have played it off and on, and although it wasn't my style of game it does feature one of the most robust character creation systems I've seen.  The game's player community is pretty active too, with players holding in-game costume contests and super group PvP events on a regular basis.

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

I've considered Eve, as I played it once during a trial period and was more then impressed. It lacked the type of social interaction I craved but won on the sheer fun factor. It is a consideration and on my list.

City of Heros/Villians I've totally forgotten about! I'll have to look up to see what that's about and do research. It isn't on my possible OR rejected list yet! Your input helps a lot!

The FFXI situation. Plus: I can get it from Best Buy (ship to store/home, I already checked inventory amounts in warehouse). Minus: Merged servers, practically no 'new blood'. In other words, almost everyone will be elitist, having played the game for a while and in the 'burn out' or 'scale down' phase. No excitement over getting to level 10, etc. Plus: A dang awsome game.

I'm still considering. Kudoing some posts in this thread, thank you VERY much.

[krimzen]

Well, once you get past WoW which pretty much tries to be everything to everyone, a lot of the other MMOs are a little more specialized and have their own little niche. So it kind of depends on what sort of gameplay you prefer. -If you liked FF XI, you could certainly go back to it for a while to hold you over until FF XIV. I could never get past the clunky interface compared to other MMOs and grindy gameplay personally. -For PvE questing content and smaller raids, I enjoyed Everquest 2. Pretty easy to get into because if you buy one of the newest expansions it gives you all the other previous expansions for free. They have added a ton of content and depth to it since its lackluster release. Lord of the Rings Online is also decent for PvE. -I could never really get into Eve, but if you get involved in a corporation and engage in PvP action it can be a lot of fun. There is not much in the way of things to do except PvP and grief though, unless you really like mining or crafting. Warhammer Online and Age of Conan both have a large focus on PvP as well, but are sort of boring to level up in.

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

Well, let me specify what I like then, maybe that will narrow it down a bit for those of you who have played MMO's and perhaps rejected them due to not being your cup o'tea.

1. I love the grind. As in, if it takes climbing the largest mountain to reach the goal, then everyone notices it when you reach it, and you feel a sense of accomplishment. In WoW, level 80 is kind of like 'What, it took you that long? It only took ME 3 weeks.'

2. I hate PvP. I'm not fast enough, wise enough, or skilled enough to figure out how to totally stab someone in the back when they arn't looking.

3. I'm a social animal. Woof.

4. I don't like huge crowds, but I like people to be around. I used to sit hours in Mhura on FFXI just watching people pass and listening to the zone music, perched on a bridge, no one else around. Watching what people did, what adventures they were on.. until they ruined it with the expansion. LOL. Then it became a major port.

Any thoughts?

[krimzen]

Ok, that helps narrow things down more. It isn't surprising you like FFXI since your preferences seems to match a lot of the korean/asian-style MMOs. My suggestions would be: 1. Go back to FFXI or perhaps wait a little bit on FFIV and go with that. 2. Another game to look into would be Aion. Seems like it might be sort of up your ally because the main thing that turned a lot of people off about it is that the game is very grindy. A new major patch is coming in early September for it. 3. There are also a ton of free MMOs out there these days supported by cash shops. They vary in quality a lot, but there are some surprisingly good ones out there if you want to spend some time waiting for another MMO to catch your eye. Most are supported by cash shops, but for most they are also entirely optional. There are some WoW clones like Allods. Atlantica Online gives you a group of characters that you can control in a sort of turn based tactical combat. Sword of the New World also gives you your own little party, but also allows you to control multiple characters at once.

[Entropy]

Since he doesn't like PvP, Aion is probably not a good choice.

[Neihn Valued Contributor]

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JakeTalahan wrote:

After three years of World of Warcraft, and the thousands of friends I've made, I've decided to quit. There is no specific reason, merely the end state of a burn out that's been coming a very long time - simply put, I no longer care and all my friends have long since quit themselves.

I used to play Final Fantasy 11 (mmo), a game I enjoyed and would like to return to. However, I understand it's been replaced already with Final Fantasy 14 (mmo) which is due out soon. This limits me in that FF11 might be shut down or worse yet, people might simply stop playing FF11, leaving me stranded and alone on the server.

So, question to you people out there - what MMO do you play? Which one is worth it? Best Buy has most MMO's, but I need to know which one to get!

Guild Wars looks nice but they disabled all chat functions for trial accounts, so I'm not able to ask questions about game content at all. Truely maddening, I can't test out the GAME.

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The 3 Games I am activly playing are:

Everquest 2: Plenty of quests and PvE is superb. Great friendly community. Main downside is at this point everyone is high level so newbie areas tend to be desolate unless you start in one of the newer start zones such as New Halas. But there is plenty to do in the world. Another plus side is its got a Free to Play Model now as well. While its restrictive in F2P mode it will at least give you a taste of what the game would be like.

Lord of the Rings Online: Another good MMO that has a great community and alot to do. This one will also be launching a free to play model in September.

Guild Wars: While I am satisfied with it its not one that I can actively play for a while. It just comes in to play when after several hours of game play on the other 2 it gives me another option.

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

Thank you, guys! I tried Atlantica Online, oddly enough, I can't get it to load. I've tried over two weeks and every time I get a 'Maintaince period' message. One time, I checked, and it was actually IN maintaince! LOL.

Anyhow, I checked router settings and everything was fine - no idea why it can't access the internet.

I think I'm going with FFXI, and transitioning to the new Final Fantasy when funds become available for some minor computer upgrades (that I assume I'll need).