Non-fantasy MMO (some restrictions may apply)
My bunch of gaming friends are jones-ing for a new MMO & we're having trouble identifying ones that meet all our needs. Time to consult the MMOGWJ hivemind...
Constraints:
- We're fed up of elves, dwarves, swords & sorcery, regardless of the exact name they're given - a dwarf by any other name still smells oddly of cheese.
- Work and young familes mean this needs to be relatively casual. We've all done max level raiding & we're not looking for that this time out. This is a once or twice a week game, without a huge investment in research or grinding.
- Our group size varies from 4 to 12 from week to week, based on real-life commitments, so instances requiring very specific group compositions and long time commitments are out.
- Mostly PvE, though some consensual PvP is fine as long as it's not the primary game focus.
- We tend to mostly play as a group, so low server population is probably not a problem.
- We're easily amused by shiny things, so good graphics are a must.
- Nothing too twitchy.
- We're generally not early adopters, so count 2010 releases out.
We're tending towards Champions Online, but more by eliminating all the others than a specific draw. Anyone have suggestions of other MMOs we should be looking at?
Steam: Cod
With a small group Champions or even STO could be your answer.
Also just recently i jumped back into PotBS and i still find it a lot of fun putting around in my pirate ship and taking command of others. If you want you can totally avoid the pvp zones if you watch where your going.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
I'd have said STO fits the bill perfectly, except that it's just come out.
Edit: The current STO server could be a good reason to stick with your "no new games" policy if you like playing on the weekends though.
SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Steam
I had looked at PotBS very briefly - the 30-day free trial and $5 price tag certainly didn't hurt - but dismissed it as fun PvP ship combat, spoiled by lots of ganking, with a heavy crafting system to support the PvP. Is there actually much PvE content in PotBS?
Steam: Cod
There's a bunch of quests while the avatar pve still isnt on par to other mmos the ship pve is a LOT of fun. When you look at teh map you'll see red circles around certain ports... those circles are PVP hot spots. You'll also get a warning if you sail into a pvp zone. Rest of the area you're free to attack the ships and fight as pve.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
There's always Star Wars Galaxies. Running space missions with a group can be fantastic. Also, with the ground game they now have quest chains that can keep you going for a good chunk of your levelling without feeling lost. Early on the game didn't seem to have much direction. They've apparently been trying to fix this. Also, if crafting holds any sort of interest for anyone in your group, SWG has a crafting system you can easily lose yourself in. It's the only game I've ever bothered to get a master crafter in.
Fallen Earth might also be a game to consider. They've been improving it like crazy and if my gaming plate weren't so full I'd definitely be jumping back in. This is another game that can benefit from a regular group. The quests string together nicely and once you get up in levels you have the option of getting into a nice PvP system where you join a faction and fight for control of towns. The towns and their vendors will actually change based on who controls them. The crafting system in this game is also great and far more integrated into the core gameplay than most games.
Steam ID
They have a quest line for each class that'll take you into your 70's now.
The space portion of this is also a butt load of fun.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
Ever so slight derail, isn't SWG making February free for anyone who has previously had an account? I swear I read that somewhere but I haven't tried it out yet.
Steam ID
Thats true and PotBS is also free for past subscribers in Feb
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
City of Heroes might be a good change of pace. There actually coming out with an Ultra mode for the game in the near future, which is very, very nice.
I will say, though, that this game can get old after a while, depending on how often you play. And if you do manage to join up, avoid Freedom at all costs. Virtue is good, or one of the low population servers, like Protector or Pinnacle.
"Everyone's always in favour of saving Hitler's brain but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, ooh, suddenly you've gone too far."
I left out CoX just because it just seems dated and boring. Another reason why i didnt first mention SWG. While i hardly find it boring and still have fun jumping in to play it's a bit on the dated side.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
Yea, I can understand that. Hopefully with Going Rogue coming out, it will remedy some of those issues. From the videos I've seen, it looks excellent.
Edit: Well, this was a convenient day for a news story: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/3/view/news/read/16179/City-of-H...
"Everyone's always in favour of saving Hitler's brain but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, ooh, suddenly you've gone too far."
I'd say EVE. PVP is definitely a primary focust of the game, however there's more than enough space where it's 99% consensual. You can still be attacked, but it's a pretty rare occurence. Fleet size isn't a big deal; you can get way more than a dozen folks into a single fleet.
Beyond that, it's about as casual as it comes in MMOs. Skills train whether you're playing or not so long as you're paying your sub fees. Granted, that can force a longer term commitment, but I never found it to be a big deal. If you've only got a couple hours one week to play, that's fine. IMO, the time requirements for setting up skills isn't a huge deal. Not to mention that you can build out a 24 hour plan and not need to log in at all for a day.
Coldstream wrote:
XBL
Steam
Only in terms of the skill training. Otherwise there's a pretty huge investment in time before it becomes "fun".
MilkmanDanimal wrote:
NSMike wrote:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/garion333
Thanks for the input....it sounds as though we'll do free trials on Eve (14 days) & Champions (unlimited time! capped at level 15) over the next few weeks & see what we all think.
Steam: Cod
Make sure you join the GWJ EVE channel when you're there. It's usually quiet, but sooner or later someone will speak up and answer any questions you might have. EVE's an awesome game, but it doesn't have a learning curve, it has a learning guillotine.
Steam | Xbox Live | WoW | EVE Online - Elycion
One thing that you should know about the Champions Trial: You can't advance out of the tutorial zone. You can get to level 15, but you won't be able to experience of the powers.
That being said, you can get referral codes that will allow you to go beyond the zone, but you will be limited to 10 or 14 days.
Also, there is an option to turn off the black outline on everything. Look for comic shading in the video section of options tab.
"Everyone's always in favour of saving Hitler's brain but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, ooh, suddenly you've gone too far."
Thanks - the reputed learning curve was one of the factors against Eve, so I'll certainly do that. Now that I've created TheCodfather in Champions, I just need to think of a bad Cod pun to use in space & I'll be there...
Steam: Cod
EVE's learning curve isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. The tutorials are fantastic now, and while I personally would rather start with 800k skill points, doubled training for your first 1.5 mil or so can get you a lot further if you do learning skills first.
Coldstream wrote:
XBL
Steam