Where to go when the ship sinks

Decided to throw all this into one single thread, as I have been posting random stuff in random threads. Feel free to add in, or mock my choices, or w/e.

Everquest 2 - Where to go when the ship sinks?

Day Break Games options

Everquest
Everquest 2
Planetside 2
DCUO
Just survive
H1Z1:King of the Kill

The Healthiest Games according to MassivelyOP

World of Warcraft
Final Fantasy XIV
The Elder Scrolls Online
EVE Online
Guild Wars 2
RuneScape
Black Desert Online
Neverwinter
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Trek Online

MOBA

League of Legends
DOTA2
SMITE

Multiplayer Popular Games

Overwatch
Marvel Heroes
Ark
Playerunknown BattleGrounds

Future places?

Pantheon
Star Citizen
Ashes of Creation
Shroud of the Avatar

 

Forgot a few like...

Rift
LOTRO
DDO

 

I've been playing Destiny lately, (Both 1 and 2). Had much enjoyment from both.

They are a bit more FPS orientated but with some MMO aspects.

Overwatch is also good, but seems to be going on a downwards slide atm with toxic players.

 

Destiny

and Overwatch's slide to toxicity happened in WoW (i.e. barrens chat) and they stepped up there, with self policing. I'm sure that there will be similar coming. Most online shooters spiral towards "your momma" stuff... it's competitive and PvP, which always causes friction.

 

I really wish I liked PvP games, at least then I would have more options.

 

WoW does not require PvP. Neither does STO.

Edit: but i understand your point. a number of games gate some content behind PvP. ESO at least recognized the problem and makes the gates possible by questing IN PvP zones, like Dark Age of Camelot did with some of the dungeons in the RvR areas.

 

I'm only fantasy rpg, and have no idea where to go. Elder Scrolls and Rift, movement is too slow, it feels like half speed. But maybe, I just need to tough it out and dive into one. I'm between books now too so the depression is real.

 

ah books!

The Summoner (Chronicles of the Necromancer)

a canticle for leibowitz

A Wizard of Earthsea

Tools of the Titans

 

I haven't really found an MMO that sticks with me in the way that FFXI and EQ2 did, which I attribute to the age I started playing them but also how quirky and flawed they both are, making them more memorable than games polished to a sheen.

That said, I occasionally have fun with the following games:
- Elder Scrolls Online (love the world, hate the combat)
- Guild Wars 2 (same as above)
- Final Fantasy XIV (I only play for the story patches)
- Warframe
- Path of Exile
- Black Desert Online

I'm mostly over MMOs at this point, though; I'm a hardcore gamer with a casual player's ability/desire to commit time to games these days and those two things don't jive well in MMOs. It's hard because they've always been a big part of my life.

 

I'm going to give these 2 a try.

 

Hope you enjoy them!

FYI, base Guild Wars 2 is playable for free, though with some limitations (limited character slots, bag slots, can't use map [zone] chat). Nothing that would impact your ability to determine whether or not the game is up your alley.

GW2's progression might seem weird to those who come from traditional MMO backgrounds; "beating the game" (max level, max gear) is really easy because it's really about horizontal progression and appearance items. That said, I truly believe they've crafted one of the best virtual worlds and it constantly rewards you for going out of your way to explore nooks and crannies. I wished I like the combat better, but exploring is worth the price of admission for me.

 

I played GW2 at launch and enjoyed it quite a lot, the world vs world vs world, despite my dislike of pvp, was a lot of fun. The world is gorgeous and the races quirky and well fleshed out (go Asura!). The biggest drawback for me, other than a major beef with the publisher when they deleted my master NCSoft account, was the lack of housing. I love to decorate, it's one of the standards by which I judge a game (SWG set the standard for me, followed by EQ2).

Final Fantasy XIV was fun in the general sense, again despite a design I am not fond of - dungeons required for solo story progression. Beautiful world, the avatar customization is fantastic. But again, it lacked in housing - if you got over the hurdle to even get a single inn room, you're limited to 50 items with barely better than a hook system - though it is very pretty. The casino, lotto and chocobo races are a good way to kill time. And the Hildebrand side story is freaking hilarious.

I enjoyed ESO, but took a break from that for now. Some of the decisions Zenimax has made as a company has made my hand immediately cover my wallet. Not to mention the really counter productive way housing items are being introduced. That being said, the classes are easy to pick up, but have a lot of room for finesse and mastery. The avatars are very detailed and some of the costumes are fantastic. And the decorating itself is on par with EQ2 (and looks nicer), though not as much wiggle room for builders.

Right now I split my time between EQ2 and Rift. Yeah Rift is an older game, and has some of the same flaws as that sort of game design (top end heavy). But the classes are fun and very customizable (who doesn't want to smite their enemies with streams of deathy death? go tactician!) with clearly defined stats and abilities. It has a working group finder for for Instant Adventures (think agnostics, but raid sized), dungeons, raids and battle grounds. Avatars are more detailed and have a bit more customization than EQ2, plus an account wide wardrobe, tons of appearances and dyes. There are seasonal events with a range of rewards. The housing has surpassed EQ2 for decorating as well as building.

So my friends and I will sing the ship down, and when the merciful day comes, we'll have a place to go that's stocked and loaded for all the things we like to do.

 

I'm currently playing ESO and really enjoying it. The combat system does take some getting used to because it's kind of a tab target and shooter hybrid, but once you become accustomed to it, it's a lot if fun. I don't find combst slow at at all because there are no cool downs and I play a night blade, so lots of rogueish tactics and movement, which I like.

I also like the fact that everything in the game scales (no trivial mobs or loot), you can really customize and min-max to your play style (want to a healing rogue? You can...), and the PvP zone is absolutely huge and well designed.

Also, I love the mega server and if you like story telling, this game is for you.

If you are going to play this game, one suggestion I will make is that your character is going to be born in the new Morrowind zone. Do your tutorial quest and then immediately start the main quest line in your faction zone before doing the Morrowind line. The main line provides a ton more skill points and gear, and the more skill points you have, the more fun the game is.

I've also played a few others over the years:

DDO: really fun dungeons and I like the action combat. But I got kind of bored after a while because it lacks dimensional variety (at least it did).

LOTRO: I hated the combat in this game, but the quests and dungeons were fun. Been a while, but the game was real buggy when I played it.

Rift: I played this at launch. Liked the character customization, hated the combat. Also, at the time it just felt like another very linear theme park. Go to town, complete quests, go up the road to the next town...etc.

WOW: downloaded the trial, played for a week, deleted it.

Not real excited about Pantheon. Looks to me like it's going yo be eq1 with a new engine and modern widgets - very grindy .

I am interested to see if Ashes of Creation can be pulled off. If it can, that game is gonna be pretty neat.

 

I am currently playing Elite Dangerous but it is definitely not an MMO. I like space games a lot so it is hitting the spot currently and I played Elite a long time ago on my Commodore 64 so reliving my youth maybe. I have a joystick, throttle etc so it makes it a pleasure to play.

 

I keep hoping something will come along that I can really enjoy, but so far I've not found anything that checks all the boxes.

 

Just FYI, you get flagged for PVP involuntarily in WoW and I have no idea how to turn it off. If you get a shield icon on your character health bar area, it means you've been flagged for it. Logout/login doesn't clear it. I was playing along going "why is this area so empty?" Nobody's around. The xp is great, the rewards are great... why is it so emp.... GANK!

Ahaaa, that's why. LOL

If I ever play an involuntary PVP flagging game, it will be Black Desert Online. The description makes me grin in the dark part of my soul... Sneak this contraband past NPCs and avoid getting robbed by PC's on the way. Grinworthy PVP I might actually play.

Though that's literally the first time I thought that might be fun.

 

It's interesting to read others' thoughts on the topic. After watching some youtube's of old school EQ EMU - Project 99 I might take the plunge. A small but friendly veteran community. Actions count...corpse runs...ohh the memories..

 

While I plan to be with Eq2 until the end, I have been thinking about what I'd not mind playing instead.
Of the current crop, Rift would probably be the one I'd play more... maybe? I'm really not sure, some of their lore decisions left me scratching my head. It's only a small irritant though so I could probably ignore it and just play.

ESO, as a long time Elder Scrolls game player, is different enough from what I want it to be that the classes annoy me. I hear someone is working on a multiplayer Skyrim mod and that might be just enough for me to just give up actual MMOs unless something awesome comes down the pipe.

Others I've tried (archeage, GW2, LOTRO, DDO, too many others to even remember) just really don't float my boat. I played WoW as a secondary game off and on for some years and it was tolerable if i didn't have to play it all the time, until they made some stupid class restriction decisions that ruined the way I played. I haven't bothered to see what it's like in years, so who knows what that's like now.

 

I tried Rift when it came out... but the animations killed it for me. The elves with wing-sized ears are lame, but I could handle it. but the way the female characters move is too cringe-worthy for me.
Example: Female character with a shield on back... the 'sway' is so bad, each shoulder in turn is visible around the shield as the opposite leg moves forward. That might sound stupid, but when that's what you look at most of the time.. the back of your character and it makes me cringe.. all the time... yeah, that's a game breaker.