I played WoW a bit after its initial release through the first couple xpacs. Getting the MMO itch again, but I know the WoW I grew up with doesn’t really exist anymore, so now I’m pretty out of touch.
For those of you playing / recently played an MMO, which one? How’s the community? How’s the lore? Gameplay in pve/pvp/rvr?
GW2 for the past 11 years, except for a stretch where I played ESO for a few months.
Community's mostly great. Cooperation between players is strongly fostered by the game's design (no kill or resource stealing, no competing for drops, etc), so players tend to get along in almost every PvE situation.
Lore is good, but not nearly as expanded upon as Warcraft's.
Gameplay is what makes it IMO. Skill effects and some gear skins can be a bit obnoxious, especially when you're in large groups for open world and World vs World, but it's still enjoyable. Don't play normal PvP, so can't comment on that.
The only mmo’s I ever really spent any significant time with were FFXI (on dial up for most of the time I spent with it so my experience wasn’t great) and GW2. not mentioning eve… we dont talk about that…
There was a free MMORPG called Planeshift (I played quite a lot in 2005 or so, it’s still around and being actively worked on) that was very elder scrolls inspired, I put a lot of time into in the past too but being a small free amateur project it didn’t have a lot of players.
I just don’t have the time or motivation to give modern MMOs the attention they really need to make progress, and I was very much a solo player at the time so progress was slow and hard.
I think if I was to pick up a new one it would be FF14, it has a balance of open gameplay and story which a lot of mmos ignore, it seems like a good community but as with all mmos they really dont want you to just drop in a play a couple of hours every second weekend, they want you to get in daily and stick to a routine, which I just cant commit to these days.
FF14 is actually a lot more forgiving of that more casual gameplay style. It’s very easy to gear up after a break for anything outside of Savage and Ultimate raiding (and even then, you can buy or craft the week 1 gear if you want to get into Savage), the dungeon roulette system makes it so it’s generally always possible to find people to complete content with, even if it’s older, and unless you want to get into housing there’s not really any penalty for say subbing for one month, taking a break afterwards and then coming back when you have time to play, outside of missing out on seasonal events (and generally any exclusives you get from those events get put on the cash shop the following year).
Also, FFXI player here as well, the ability for that game to run on low speed connections was frankly impressive for the time. I remember playing it using an infrared GPRS data connection on my laptop 😂 Sure it lagged a bit in city areas but the fact that it was still playable was a feat.
Got that itch again recently too and after looking through what's currently popular decided to give EVE Online and Black Desert (on private server) a try
I like open world survival crafting games (loved Valheim) and prefer to play with others so am hoping these will work out
Also played some GW2 few months back for a while and I host a Minetest server for our kiddos where I dabble as well
It’s been years since I played but can’t recommend GW2 enough if you didn’t try it yet. One of the more unique thempark style MMOs with the focus on dynamic events instead of quests - the events branch out into other events, with different branches based on if you succeeded or failed with some dilogue in between (do stick around when events end!). Lore is rich and story is nice (it has ups and downs).
The game had its rough patches and reinvented intelf several times but now it seems its in a nice place.
Also, I figured I would plug !mmorpg - it’s not much active unfortunately, but seeing as there are somr MMO enjoyers here there could be some activity to be had if you don’t yet know it
how does the newest xpac stack up? I'm a longtime player but just lately my interest has waned, but it tends to come and go and it'd be nice to know whether the newest content is worth coming back for. compared to the other xpacs I feel like they did eod dirty with how little time they gave it before releasing another full expansion (hell, path of fire got essentially two full living story releases)
It's split up so that the releases after launch continue the main story of the expansion and are included in the price, so no more buying an expansion then having to be playing at a specific time or pay for the follow-up story.
The next part releases tomorrow, so we'll see how that stacks up.
I did not play it but I heard good things. I recommended it because I played it extensively at launch and up to the first xpac. I fell off a bit after, but still played everything up to Icebrood Saga. It’s a great MMO with tons of content just for that.
The game had issues with how they want to do content delivery, they constantly went to reinvent the wheel for ot to bite them at the end each time. From what I heard it is quite simple now - buy xpac once a year, get xpac and living story like updatesfor the year. No logging in to unlock, no buying episodes if you miss them. You basically soft-subscribe for a years worth of content. On the other hand the xpacs will be smaller and without elite specs, but they plan to unlock different existing weapons for the classes.
That's not such a bad model. And three elite specs feels like the right number - gives you some variety in your playstyle choices without risking overlap with what already exists.
Maybe if i ever get some free time from work ever again (lol), I'll try to dive back in.
Indeed. The stories are supposed to be self-contained too which should help people to return. Considering it myself but I used to play it so much I sadly overdosed for life it looks like
FFXIV is a fantastic game, with a fantastic free trial that lets you play the entire base game for free (and i think they recently expanded that to the first expansion too), and its beautiful as hell, has a fantastic story, and doesnt require a super computer to run.
They actually just expanded it to the second expansion, so you now get the base game of A Realm Reborn, as well as Heavensward and Stormblood included in the free trial.
It’s also releasing for beta on Xbox later this year (currently it’s PC and PS4/5) so there’s due to be a new influx of players as well, so it’s a good time to start playing. That and the new expansion is due out in the new year too.
yes, it’s currently ps4/5 and PC but when it launches on Xbox it’ll have crossplay on release. I also believe cross save exists but you have to purchase DLC specifically for the platform you’re on.
Yup, this is right. Everyone plays on the same servers regardless of the platform you’re on, but any expansion you purchase is tied to the platform (so Mac, PC, PSN and soon presumably Xbox). So if you personally want to play on multiple platforms you need to buy multiple copies of the game.
However that only applies to the initial purchase. FFXIV being an MMO still has a monthly subscription fee (unless you’re on the free trial, which isn’t time limited and includes the base game plus the first two expansions), but you only pay that once a month per account, regardless of how many platforms you play on.
Pretty much everything is stored on the server as well, so regardless of the platform you log into, your character will be the same. There’s a small number of things that are kept client side (things like your gear sets and your UI setup), however there is an option to upload your settings from one client and download them on another (so for me for example, my PS5 is my primary device but I sometimes play on PC, so I’ve copied my PS5 settings to the server, and then downloaded them onto my PC, all through the game client).
No stress! It’s only changed recently (like it was only announced at the NA Fanfast a few months back), so nothing wrong with having missed the change!
WoW was my introduction to MMOs, and ive never really replaced it, despite trying out ff and eso. That voids still unfilled, but I have picked up Warframe, which i suppose might technically count, but its not quite the same - third person mission based sci fantasy shooter doesnt quite scratch the same itch, but it is an mmo.
Great quests, i really enjoy them when they come in.
Labyrinthine progression system, im currently building a new class so that i can generate an Impact weapon and then i’ll throw the class into the dumpster, absorb its power blue-mage style, slap it on a different class, and use an upgrade from another part of the game to turn that impact weapon into an energy generator, slap the ability on another class i like, and use the impact energy generator fueled ability to set up a whip attack that needs enemies affected by the blue maged impact energy weapon fueled ability to farm another - ok ill stop, but its this kind of game.
The space hats are good and pretty to look at. most important part imo.
Like every day or casual? Shadowlands was pretty much the nail in the coffin for me retail-wise. Have had some fun with classic the last couple years though.
I was the same way. I quit WoW after WotLK, and started looking into it again about two years ago. Then I saw the bad reviews and how the story tanked. So I looked around at the other big ones, and FFXIV looked interesting. The story is kind of average until you get past level 50 stuff, but it gets really good. Shadowbringers is just a masterpiece. Easily as good as any other FF title you’ve played. I came for the graphics, and stayed for the lore. Compared to WoW, the graphics are great, that is.
The PvE is good, especially when you consider that you don’t need an alt. If you make it to level 60 and find you don’t like the class you picked, you can just start with a new job on your same character and continue. So you can pay all classes without going back to the newbie tutorial zones. Plus, you will “level sync” to old content. Making the level 20 dungeon worth running as a level 89. It’s not instantly forgotten, dead content.
PvP isn’t as good as WoW. It’s fun, and I do it daily, but there’s no rock paper scissors mechanics or supreme balance like back in the day in WoW.
I don’t feel like I’m on a treadmill, and I’m not pressured to log in every day or fall behind. I can play casually, take a break, and not feel like I’ve lost out. Some people are hardcore raiders, but those days are behind me.
I would never go back to WoW now. I like it better overall than I ever did running Molten Core, or Burning Crusade even. Which was pretty peak WoW, imo.
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