MMORPG

[TheDarkness]

MMORPG
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.

These games involve massive numbers of people who either adventure solo, adventure with other players, compete against other players, or compete with groups of players against other players in a virtual world. Whether fantasy, sci-fi, or historical, the worlds of MMORPGs grow and evolve as time passes even if you are not playing. They are immersive worlds that attract millions of players.

Share your experience. What have you played? If you play and would like to share your character's name, feel free. Perhaps this world and that will coincide for a time....

[Angela]

I knew this discussion needed to be made, but I've never delved into any of them so I was sitting here with my fingers crossed hoping someone more experienced would come along and take the plunge. Thank you!!

I know there are so many of these out there, and the only one that I've really ever been curious to try is Shaiya. Have you played it??

[Slappy]

I play an MMO called FFXI. The biggest pro to it is that your one character can play all the jobs available to the game. Most if not all others you have to make a new character to play a new job and on some the limits on how many free characters you can make you can't always play every job. Oh and another pro (although some would see it as a con) is that FFXI is 360 and PS2/3 friendly. PS2 you have to have the older one and find a harddrive for it but it will run from it. Some say that PS2 holds the game back, because we have heard it so many times from SE it is the ongoing joke "Due to the limitations of the PS2..." They do have a free trial, many have some kind of trial.

I played LOTRO during the beta, it was neat to try something new and I did consider adding it to FFXI. LOTRO pro for me was that it wasn't the time sink that some of the other ones can be. Most have the potential to be a time sink but FFXI almost requires it so that would be a con to it. Although they have made travel much better which has relieved some of the time issues but still just to level is long in the later levels although in the years I have been playing they have lowered some of the experience between levels. Also LOTRO was very new when I was playing it the sheer amount of content can make a game a time sink but I do know that with LOTRO it seemed much less dependent on parties, FFXI is still pretty party dependent although it is at least getting away from full party dependency it seemed much easier to solo experience in LOTRO than FFXI by far.

I also know there are many free MMO games. One I know of is Requiem: Bloodymare I have been trying to find the time to try it out. The first time I went to download it our router happened to crap out and I just keep forgetting since, not that I have much gaming time lately. I also believe that Maple Story is still free, I know little about this game but I do know that part of how they make money is to buy with real money armor and stuff for the game but as far as I know you don't have to do that. I have heard people complain that the only way to do it though is to pay flat out for it but IDK first hand.

SE also supposedly has a huge new MMO in the works but this has been in the works for 4 years give or take. Some say it will be FFXI ver. 2 but SE swears it isn't. I have heard nothing on Conan yet, I don't play WoW. I do know many that play both WoW and FFXI, every MMO is going to have pros and cons once you get over the flame war. I hope this gives anyone wanting to jump in somewhere a good variety to check into. If you want to know about WoW I figure it being the most popular MMO that someone else here can fill everyone in.

[clover79]

I've recently started playing World of Warcraft and it's pretty interesting. It's my first real gaming experience and I'm just taking it in stride.

[Slappy]

Congrats, MMO playing is a whole new experience and can be really fun.

[SuperDave23]

I play Final Fantasy XI online and have been playing it for quite some time now. It's a really fun game. The social community is a lot better than World of Warcraft (I've also played that for a while.) The people on FFXI seem to be much more mature than those on WoW. I think WoW has a lot more kids on it than FFXI. They are both very different games with their pros and cons, but some who love one game may hate the other.

FFXI requires you to group with other people to level up or complete quests and missions.

World of Warcraft only requires this sometimes.

FFXI allows you to try all job classes on a single character.

World of Warcraft requires that you start a new character for each job class.

In FFXI, achieving the best gear is incredibly hard and time consuming. It is an achievement to obtain it.

In World of Warcraft, obtaining gear isn't as difficult.

In FFXI, making money is tough.

In World of Warcraft, quests reward you with money and experience points.

Both games are a lot of fun. I really enjoy both, but I am playing FFXI right now to get away from all of the idiots on WoW. Also, in my opinion, the job classes on FFXI are much more fun.

Both games are worth a try, at least for the 30 day free trial.

FFXI costs $12.96 per month if you choose to make only one character. Additional characters are $1.00

WoW costs $14.99 per month and allows you to make up to 50 characters.

Also, I notice that FFXI's servers seem to be a LOT better than WoW. I have experienced several connection problems (getting kicked from the server or unable to connect), on WoW, but I have never had this problem on FFXI.

Feel free to look me up on either game.

FFXI: Reilynn, 75PLD, 75DNC, Phoenix server.

WoW: Dalmarius 70 Human Paladin; Aerie Peak, Claestriela 80 Draenei Death Knight; Aerie Peak

[Slappy]

Ha too funny I am Rusalka on Phoenix and my hubby plays Effluo. 75 SAM and he is 75 MNK, we just did Apocalypse Nigh last night. Lately though we have been duo-ing my NIN his DNC and he likes it so much and we have done so well he is trying to talk me into taking NIN all the way to 75. With school it is hard for me to play much anymore but I love it too much to cancel it. With some of the new things they did like level sync I am hoping for me it will be easier to still do things and at least level with friends if nothing else.

[TheDarkness]

i haven't played any of the pay for play mmorpg.

i've played Hero. good place to start. all of the free ones i've played are essentially like this. some with better graphics and smoother play, but essentially the same.


















the last on i played is Mabinogi. it's slightly different and offers more of a sim type feel if you want to get into it. i didn't play it that long. it has an anime feel to it.

i'm currently in Fiesta. same stuff with slightly different graphics and system. very anime feel to it.

in all these, while it's free, spending money is easy to do if you really start to immerse yourself into it. in order to customize your character more beyond the basic styles, it costs real money.

a good place to find free ones is at download.com here.

[suquamish]

I just ran across this at massively:

Top 5 things MMOs should learn in the new year.

It's all common sense, but it's been nicely presented.

[Slappy]

That was a pretty good read, I think it could easily be a top 10 things MMO's should learn though lol.

[suquamish]

You speak the truth... If we applied ourselves for a few seconds, we could probably go "top 20."

Really though, if all the MMO developers took #3 (Leveling content is more important than endgame content) and #4 (Grinding is not content) to heart, then MMOs would be orders of magnitude better.

[Slappy]

I agree, there has to be a way for the game to be tough but get away from the grind. Right now many times leveling in these games is just tedious. Have the normal level grind but offer other ways to get experience that are not the normal party mode. The campaign/besieged battles from FFXI was a refreshing chance to get exp. from other avenues than traditional parties. I hope they keep coming up with things like this.

[Lol!ta]

I have sour feelings toward the game WoW.. I wont start venting them here since many of you play the game.

I am not sure what you would consider it, doesn't seem like it fits under MMORPG but it's a lot of fun and a huge way for me to stay connected with many of my friends all over the world and that's Second Life.

Back in 2005, when I was bored and lonely, living alone in Germany with no friends or family, I had heard about it a gaming magazine, I downloaded it and instantly got sucked into this virtual life when you can look any way you want and make lasting friendships with people from all walks of life.

I know it's much different that RPGs where there is an object or purpose to playing the game, but coming from a shy anti-social girl, the game nearly saved my real life.