Looking for an MMORPG to tide me over until Guild Wars 2 is released

thezeronumber

thezeronumber

thezeronumber

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[My MMORPG history - Skip this if you like] - I have been out of the MMORPG scene for a good few years now and i'm looking to get back into it. The first one i played religiously was FlyFF, a free-to-play game which had a soft cartoon look about it and felt quite light-hearted for the most part. Was pretty fun until you got to level 70+ and noticed that the game relied heavily on the Cash Shop system which quite frankly broke the entertainment value. It seemed that if you wanted to progress at a decent speed or do well in PvP situations you had to buy your way there with what was quite literally hundreds of pounds. Instead of skill, tactics, or thought-out builds succeeding, it was simply about how much cash you pumped into the game. I made another character and got him to 70 too, but i soon faced the virtual wall once more so decided enough was enough and quit. My second and last experience was a couple of years on with Runes of Magic, another free-to-play game but this time with "realistic" graphics and focusing on a system where you can utilise two types of class on the same character. The Cash Shop didn't seem as prominent and things looked pretty decent at first, but a couple of weeks in and you realise it's just grinding after grinding. There were your generic extras to do like simple gathering quests and such, but it didn't have much else going for it. While FlyFF had a lot of grinding it also remained fun during the earlier/mid stages, where-as this bored me in a matter of days.

Another year or two on and we come to present day. I heard about Guild Wars 2 during my research for a new MMORPG and it looks brilliant, alas it won't be out until 2012 is near/has arrived so i need something to quench my thirst until then. Since i last properly looked there seems to be a huge increase in the number of these games being released, hence why i've made this topic today.

So what am i looking for? Being a fan of the FlyFF look, i quite like the cartoon/anime feel so i wouldn't be opposed to an MMORPG which had that style, however i am just as open to a realistic feel. Unlike FlyFF however, i would prefer if the Cash Shop didn't play a huge role in the game; i don't mind one being there as we all have to make money in some form, but it shouldn't be "needed" if you wish to do well (hope that makes sense). I would like to avoid a pay-monthly service but i don't mind if i have to purchase the game initially, i'm happy with a one-off payment MMORPG just as much as a free-to-play one. Lastly, i don't really mind if the game is quite new or not, as long as it has an active community and it won't die out in the next few weeks! :P

Any suggestions/personal experiences would be appreciated, thanks.
 
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Not sure I'm afraid, I have a wealth (15 years) of MMO experience but its all on the pay monthly ones, I really dont know much about the free ones or whats a good free one or a poor free one.

LoTRO comes to mind as a good free one, however it doesnt really fit your cartoon/anime style being as its somewhat more "realistic" looking. I could name a few pay monthly ones which would probably suit the style you describe (wow, rift, aion etc) , but those are pay ones, maybe someone with more experience of free mmos can give you some better options.
 
D&D Online or LOTRO. You'll hit a payment wall after a while in D&D, but you can go a lot longer in LOTRO without paying a cent.

Both are excellent, but very different games.
 
Forde said:
Ahh, didn't know you paid for that one.
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Certainly did, paid through the nose too, the monthly payment of course and then as it was dialup back then the phone charges as well. Occassionally my monthly bill for UO came to as much as £80. And to think that the young whipper snappers of today complain that mmos cost too much, when all they pay is £9 a month and thats it. With their fancy loud broadband and cheap gaming, why I oughta *shakes walking stick*.... !!

(on the other hand, it was , and is still to this day, the greatest MMO I ever played :D )
 
I don't really know much about F2P MMOs, I have only really played the Western ones. I would suggest trying Lotro. I'd also recommend Guild Wars but judging by the title I assume you already own them (all?). If you really don't care about age then Anarchy Online soldiers on in impressive style. (maybe wait for the engine upgrade, whenever that is).
 
I've tried DDO, Lotro, Maple Story and Battleforge.

I sank like £60-80 into each one, and they only entertained for a few months each :x

GW I keep going back to and it has me hooked for a lot longer, I've played for over 5500 hours over 66 months, including 2-3 years of not playing it.
 
Persil said:
Ah UO £130 a month for accounts and pre broadband my phone bill was about £150 a month ^^
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Seriously????

And people complain about cash shops in FTP games. I only want games that are completely free to log in and play, I dont care about optional purchases, if the game is cheap enough in the first place, I'd rather pay for mini transactions than monthly fees.
 
As i see it, you've bought the product - as long as any extra payments only go to keeping the servers and people running then it's really not worth paying these excessive amounts. Only subscription i ever did get was a Runescape membership, before i realized it was essentially clicking, but it was just something like £3/m.
 
The game I started on (pre UO) left openbeta and for a while was only available on Compuserve. Most of my guildies didn't play after that, but one did - and paid $3 an hour + phone bills (and played a lot). Think his monthly bill was in the $500-$1000 range!
 
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