Regular readers will probably have figured out that there’s quite a bit of Killing Beasts going on behind the scenes here at RPS, even if we’re not heavy MMO heads. I’m currently juggling Age Of Conan with my usual Eve habits, and worrying about what will happen if Jumpgate Evolution is any good. Alec is probably considering playing World Of Warcraft for another three years, and Kieron has been playing a free Korean MMO, which I’ll be joining him so that we can talk about it a bit later in the week. It’s only John that isn’t virtual’d up at the moment. He’s probably waiting for his reprise as the world’s greatest healer class player in Champions Online, or something.
But that’s enough about us. We want to know about you. Are you playing an MMO? If so which one? (Is anyone playing Horizons, pictured above? Because that frog thing looks ace, even though the game was definitely terrible.) Are you in a guild? Do play endgame stuff? And most importantly of all: which upcoming MMO are you most excited about, and why? (We need to know, so we can pester the right people, you see…)
Speak your brains!
Related Stories:
No MMO here, though I’ve spent a pretty penny on the following ones in a desperate attempt to like the genre:
Everquest
Ultima Online
Dark Age of Camelot
WoW
PlanetSide
Guild Wars
MMOs, as they’re currently designed, are incompatible with my playstyle. I like my games action-packed, fast paced, and devoid of grind. Plus none of my friends PC game and I’ve never had a fun guild/clan (unfortunately), so the social aspect is lost on me.
I did however try Guild Wars for a bit, how could I not, it’s not an ongoing cost (well much) however it just boiled down to a boring as batshit light rpg, possibly like Diablo but minus the story and general cool and addictiveness)
RPS, I think you need an embedded poll system for these kinds of posts.
And no. Reason? Games just don’t appeal enough to me to make ongoing payments (no, not even TF2 which I feel I have an unnaturally huge WANT ON for nearly every day after work.
I played WoW for 3 years wonderfully depressing years. I’ve quit the habit and never going back to it.
Eve for me.
I tried a lot of the current mmos (and i mean a LOT), but the only ones that really interested me were wurm online (mostly for the terraforming) and Eve.
In Eve i am playing in Morsus Mihi, a 2000 player spaceholding alliance in the north of New Eden. I’ve been with them for 1 1/2 years, and if nothing drastic changes inside, i’ll be with them for another few years.
I’m one of the guys who will stay until the last node shuts down. While Chribba mines the last bit of Veldspar before Eve closes, i’ll run my last scans with my exploration probes..
Interestingly, the devs are a part of why i am playing eve, too. They are not unreachable gods, but are quite active both on the forums and on the testserver. If you have very specific gameplay questions they often take the time to explain it to you. Despite the 200k+ subs, it still feels a lot smaller, more like a huge family..
For a couple of years, I am now playing Eternal Lands. It is a small, free MMORPG with a very constant player base. It is still under development; there are constantly things being changed and being added to it. The Client is open source, so a lot of people are contributing.
It is very unlike WoW – ok, there is the grind, but there are no instances, no raiding, no classes, and there is a lot more to it than fighting. There are pvp / pk areas, but most of the maps are non-pvp, so you can choose if you want to fight monsters or humans, or not at all. For non-fighters, a large part of the game are other skills like alchemy, manufacturing, crafting, engineering, tailoring etc.
The entry is more steep as in commercial MMORPGs, it is not as newbie-friendly, and you need to read / ask a lot at the beginning (but if you can read it is not a big issue, which keeps a lot of idiots out). The community is mainly adult and very helpful. Most of the players are long-term players with more than 2 years of playing time. It is far from perfect, but it somehow hooked me. Oh, and it’s free :D
Followed my outfit from Planetside to Age of Conan recently, they’ve merged the two american servers into one, which meant quite a few of the werner players went there as well for the massive battles again. So last I checked Werner had become a ghost town.
I WILL play a spiritual successor to Planetside EVEN IF I HAVE TO MAKE IT MYSELF. When I’ve gotten through this game design course and found a way to worm the idea into a development company who’ll let me do it right. None of this one man mech crap that obviously wasn’t going to be easy to get right and shouldn’t have been attempted in the first place.
As it stands, planetside lost me the moment the devs started talking about deathmatch arenas… Outfit wars arenas fair enough, but deathmatch!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I was very interested in the Agency, but now I’m starting to doubt SOEs ability to get its subsequent development right as they’ve developed a habit of screwing over the gameplay post launch (SW:G – NGE, Planetsides – BFRs, I’m sure they did something that caused a lot of controversy in EQ as well, but never played that).
I tried Ultima Online, Warcraft and stuff like that. Not my cup of tea. I quite liked Doofus for the turn based combat and Armada Online, even though it’s not growing fast enough and has a very tedious grind. I will probably try the Doofus successor as soon as it’s out.
Currently beta testing WAR, and I still have an active WoW account but haven’t played in two or three months. I tend to play and enjoy the low to mid range of stuff, restarting when I get too high. I avoid the higher end stuff, I just can’t stand it.
Currently looking forward, ish, to WAR. I keep thinking about touching AoC after I played the beta, but to be honest it didn’t grab me. Was happy to help in beta, but that’s it. Got a lot of mates playing though, which is the only reason I would play.
The only MMOesque game on the horizon I’m *really* looking forward to is the new Tribes-alike from Instant Action, the name of which has been forgotten by yours truly in a sea of clicking icons to bash orcs.
I’m currently hooked on WoW, although I am also playing Eve Online: Skill Training Spreadsheet Edition.
I dare say I will have a go at WAR when it arrives though.
As above, I keep EVE going as a skill training simulation … no idea why really.
Other than that Ibe played almost all of them at some point. Ive skipped the latest batch of fantasy based ones though, just plain tired of the fantasy genre mmo scene which has been ground to death in the grind of death.
Myros
“I WILL play a spiritual successor to Planetside EVEN IF I HAVE TO MAKE IT MYSELF.”
Brother!
Yeah, what you said.
In answer to the original question, right now none. Personally having been involved in MMOs for some time I can honestly say that there isn’t anything presently out there that captures my imagination in terms of what it delivers. Eve is probably the closest title to what I’d like to see more of from future MMOs (gameworld persistence), but it’s not a game that appeals to me in terms of subject matter. I’ll probably give AoC a look at some point later in the year to check out the game tech, but it looks to be following the standard MMO grind/fairground ride model, which although incredibly successful isn’t particularly innovative in terms of moving the MO game space on, say compared to the rest of the games industry.
My first MMO was playing the Beta of Saga of Ryzom with my flatmate and loved it. Played that once released for about a year and then left and started playing WoW.
I’ve had a love/hate relationship with it ever since, taking time off every now and again to try out other games (COH, EVE, Planetside) but always end up coming back to WoW (mostly cos of the friends I’ve built up on it).
Looking forward to Warhammer basically, will definately give it a try and fingers crossed its good enough to stop me going back to WoW for good!
I used to play the Japanese version of TalesWeaver. Being of Korean origin, it was grindalicious! Even so, it was free, and some people I knew were playing it too so it was still fun. Too bad they started restricting non-JP IP space (including mine, apparently) due to botters/hackers. :(
I also played 2Moons briefly, but immediately quit after someone hacked the game launcher splash page (among other things) to include some IE/RealPlayer exploit hosted on a suspicious Chinese domain.
i play wow because my sister works for blizzard so i dont have to pay the monthly fee.
I dunno. Gaming that’s truly involving requires a lot of free time. We all know that. MMO’s increase a gamers time commitment exponentially, without the same increase to potential rewards for the average person… I think.
MMO’s offer what is considered to be the greatest social experience in gaming. I don’t agree with that statement, but even if one were to; it could hardly be said MMO’s are a great social experience by itself.
I may well have been playing the wrong way, but when I tried World of Warcraft for a few weeks during it’s first year of release, I actually found the MMO to be quite a solitary experience interspersed by other people intruding on my play area, or teaming up with random and often unreliable strangers to “explore” a dungeon.
I’m saying gaming can’t be a social experience – years of Mario Kart and other console games have taught us otherwise. PC games too are great when networked, I remember a friend bringing me to a web cafe and though a baulked at the idea initially, playing Day of Defeat or that Warhammer RTS and being able to directly communicate with my team-mate/opponent really enhanced the experience. But I don’t feel that the current communication infrastructure in MMO’s is intuitive enough to allow for this to happen. Typing 60+words per minute whilst also playing a hectic, reflex dependent game is nothing but tedious, while voice communication in most iterations that I’ve played devolves into some whiny fourteen year old from Birmingham or somewhere broadcasting his own shouts and yelps to everyone…
I’d love to play MMO’s, the subscription isn’t a problem. I remember trying to play Planetside back in the day with neither a computer nor a connection up to the task. I also remembering trying a free trial of EVE a few years ago, enticed by all of Jim Rossignol’s stories I loaded it up, but after two-weeks of casual play (as casual play is all I’ll ever be able to afford) I found the learning curve too steep. The brilliant, fascinating and epic game, that I knew was there, lay beyond because the game didn’t cater for… I’m neither a casual or a hardcore gamer, I don’t know what word to attribute. I think I fall somewhere in between, where I wish for the depth and involvement of games enjoyed by hardcore audiences, but wish to only sacrifice the same amount of time as a casual gamer… So maybe it’s my fault, maybe I’m just not suited to MMOs…
Been playing Final Fantasy XI since shortly after it’s North American PC launch. I do some endgaminess in it — but only things that can be scheduled, no camping dragons that only spawn every 21-24 hours (or worse). It’s a pretty flawed game but I still find it fun and I have a very solid group of friends there.
Chesh, on Midgardsormr, if anyone else happens to be there.
My MMO CV:
Ultima Online: 1.5 years
Everquest 1: 1 year
Everquest 2: 4-6 months
Final Fantasy XI: 9 months
Planetside: 6 months
World of Warcraft: 20 months
Age of Conan: Since release (almost 2 months)
Been in a world top 20 WoW guild, which resulted in Intel sending me some PC upgrades for free, which made me grin, since I subsequently quit WoW 3 months later. I resist the urge to chuckle evily.
I played Everquest back in 2004 and got hooked. It was my first MMORPG. Because of circumstances, I had to give it up. I would have stuck with it though if I had the choice.
I then got into WoW for about six months and was having some fun until I met my girlfriend, now wife.
She played City of Heroes / City of Villains, and I joined her. It was fun, but the UI was a little off. Not very easy to use. We quit due to lack of time.
When we had time again, I picked WoW up for a second time and she joined with me. We had a blast playing it. It’s a very good game, at least, for a few months. We got bored of it and canceled our subscriptions. Time was a major factor as well.
We are both looking forward to Warhammer Online. It’s going to change the MMO industry. WoW killer? Possibly. Don’t believe me? Look into it. All the crappy things that people complain about in WoW are taken care of in WAR. The dev team really cares about their game, and it shows.
EVE, for the past 4 years (with a few breaks here and there). I’ve played in alot of different ways (some low scale mining, low sec mercenary work, group empire missioning and for the past 2 years, life in 0.0) and throughout the majority of that time have played with the same small group.
I’ve flirted with a few others, Guild Wars certainly attracted me, and with Cry Gaia, APB and The Agency (though the latter two I’ll observe from a distance first) coming, I think I might stop being so monogamous.
EVE is unique, and for that I love it, but it also means I’m open to other kinds of play experiences. I was very excited about Warhammer Online when it was orignally being developed by Climax, but have since lost all interest after the switch. Age of Conan interests me (especially as I have alot of confidence in Funcom), but my EVE habit forbids me from playing something unless it’s subscription free. If I’m ever to take up another sub based MMO, it will be through playing a trial first.
And just as a generalisation, MMO’s for me have been about the small group of people you actively play with. This has meant alot of affection for EVE, Guild Wars and Biosfear, but an abhorrence for people who demand more support for solo players and their ilk. I’d ask for them to be ostracised if that wasn’t what the antisocial buggers wanted.
I’m married and have a full time job.
I think that pretty much answers that….
EVE Online, just started this week. I hate Jita.
The last time I properly MMO’d was Planetside, for which I had a very unhealthy obsession. 16 hour gaming sessions were not uncommon.
I’m really not interested in non twitch MMO’s, so most of my time is spent waiting for something interesting to come along again.
I’ve great hopes for Jumpgate Evolution and APB looks interesting too. Whilst I hope that Huxley will be Planetside 2, I have a feeling I am going to be disappointed.
Still playing Guild Wars, and still not paying a monthly fee.
Can’t wait for GW2 to come out, as well as WAR
After reading a review in Pc Gamer a l o ng time ago i bought a copy of Planetside. Few MMO’s have got close to the feeling of the bridge fight I got into when I logged in for the fitsr time.
However the Outfit I got into in Planetside turned into a Supergroup when City Of Heroes launched in the US. The long delay in launching City Of Heroes EU, and eventually launching within weeks of World of Warcraft (EU) took the wind of out of its sails and we switched to WoW. (I’m sure I’m missing an apostrophy in that sentence but I’m not sure where).
I’ve played WoW ever since, and I’ve been raiding for a couple of years now. We’re currently bashing heads against the last but 1 boss in WoW, M’uru.
I’ve tried many other MMO’s along the way but WoW keeps me coming back for a couple of reasons.
1. I’m in a good strong guild and have lots of friends in it.
2. There’s a comfortable familiarity to WoW now. This extends to the interface, the world and the gameplay. I know how it works, and so there’s very little barrier to enjoying the content or the banter. I’ve found the interface to be a real barrier to me in several other MMO’s I’ve tried, and learned which class does what, and which hydrid classes currently rule the roost in the 6th MMO I’ve triedthis year does get trying.
3. WoW is really well done. There’s regular new free content which has held interest and justified continuing to play for me.
I always find it interesting when playing other MMOs that you notice specific points which they do better. However the rest if the game doesn’t come close to WoW’s level of achievement. I’ve found very few been genuinely different and well done enough to hold my interest. Planetside, Eve and City of Heroes. The ship stuff in Pirates of the Burning sea was fun but I found the rest of the game played like a free Korean game. Who know’s what’s next, and if it will live up to the promise?
I played quite a lot of MMOs over the last years.
Currently I’m back to Everquest 2. I left it 3 years ago very disappointed. SOEs current promotion for former subscribers (2 month free play including all the Expansions) brought me back and so far I’m quite impressed.
Most of the “features” that made me leave are gone and I’m having fun so far. Very polished overall, allthough the german translation is still terrible, probably the worst I ever encountered in a mainstream game.
playing an MMO? yep. atm PotBS. before that over 3y EVE Online and 1 1/2y WoW but stopped playin both. also tried many many others.
greetings from germany