What to play?

I'm looking for a new addiction.

I've replayed my whole library of solo games about 6 times, and I'm looking to get back into the fray. I'd like to play something
a) inexpensive, ideally with a clear idea of cost up front
b) with a steady player base of GWJers as well as pugs
c) ideally a newish game

(c) is because I don't dislike the grind to level/equipment par with guildies, which is always frusrating and leaves you feeling like you aren't contributing.

I had fun with SWTOR last year, but that seemed to run it's course. Guild Wars didn't grab me as hugely fun when I tried it afterward, but that may have been lack of guild action.. after all, I started a whole week after launch, so I couldn't go out with the rest of the pack!

In case it's relevant, I prefer to play support roles. (Smuggler healer in SWTOR was my favorite so far.) That's one reason why the solo grind is so hard.

Any suggestions?
Nathaniel

Only steady group of Goodjers in mmos right now that i'm aware of are GW2 and WoW.

Guild Wars 2 is the most obvious one, but it sounds like the game doesn't fit your groove. Support roles are marginalized at best in GW2 with the game being more or less designed around every class being self sufficient.

While I really doubt there's any kind of serious GWJ player base, Rift recently went free to play and is an excellent example of the traditional MMO model. Trion really did a great job of keeping core gameplay totally free and you could happily play forever without spending a cent if you really wanted to.

Elycion wrote:

While I really doubt there's any kind of serious GWJ player base, Rift recently went free to play and is an excellent example of the traditional MMO model. Trion really did a great job of keeping core gameplay totally free and you could happily play forever without spending a cent if you really wanted to.

+1 for Rift, they do the 'traditional MMO model' the best of any of them I've tried, they handle the Quality of Life issues just about perfect. The flexibility of character abilities and roles is amazing, the PvE is good, the PvP is decent, can't say what the end game raiding is like. The only thing you'd have to pay real cash for is the 4 new souls that came out with the Storm Legion expansion, and those are far from mandatory. While the GWJ guild on Shatterbone is dead, if you do give it a try, drop by, I can set you up with a starter kit of silk bags for free.

I played GW2 for a good while and you can get a very generous amount of content to play for the purchase price, in a setting that's attractive and varied. So it's good from that pov. I also enjoy support roles but found the only place they were desirable was large-scale PvP. Outside of that there's little reason to spec for anything besides dps and PvE is a little one-dimensional as a result. It's like ArenaNet was traumatised by healers or something.

Player base is most important, I think. WoW is probably not worth a third (fourth?) try; I think that ship sailed a while ago for me. So, that leaves GW2.

I dislike the trend towards lack of specialization. In my ideal game:

... the power level between a first-time player and a max-level, max-kit person would be within a factor of ~few
... characters would have highly specialized roles when playing in parties, allowing one to get better at the game (a la Dark Souls, not grinding levels)
... crafting skills would create their own economies, rather than relying on monster drops

But these things, when put in games, often mean flops, so what do I know?

Thanks for the comments.

I'm actually enjoying the Neverwinter MMO. Just stay away from all the money transaction stuff cos everything is so overpriced. But you can still have tons of fun. I did $60 for the founder's pack and really have no regrets especially since it comes with a permanent mount.

I like that the crafting is actually difficult and real time, and also it's making me want to log in daily just to do some crafting and to get the special invocation coins. It's just another currency that you can only get once a day and disappears if you miss one day.

I started neverwinter, but the lack of activity on the forum disheartened me. Crafting interface I can get at without booting into windows sounds good. (Yes, I'm a Mac-head)

I'm online-shy; I'm highly reluctant to shop around for online guilds outside of the communities I'm already part of.

A couple of points on GW2. You can go support, the thing is, its just not really needed all that much right now. But if you wanna get some ideas about GW2 support, try googling Altruistic Healing or Boonway Guardians or Water Elementalist.

Another thing to keep in mind is that more traditional raid style content (with Anet's spin on it) has been hinted at again by the Devs, with a real possibility that they will reveal more info on that subject in the near future. I never expect we will see hard taunt mechanics or full dedicated healers in GW2, but I do expect to see an increased emphasis on a softer support role.

Nathaniel wrote:

I'm online-shy; I'm highly reluctant to shop around for online guilds outside of the communities I'm already part of.

I'm the same way. Started Neverwinter as well last night. I've got a control wizard named Veloreyn on Dragon. I started a trickster rogue as well, but will probably delete that character. I might actually try the greatsword class, I typically don't do well with those, but with the control scheme of this MMO, it might be interesting.

Go play Metin2 Is the best game ever

I've been jonesing for some MMO action for the last couple of weeks. I scoured the top games on mmorpg.com but just don't see anything I'd like to try! The humanity!

LtWarhound wrote:
Elycion wrote:

While I really doubt there's any kind of serious GWJ player base, Rift recently went free to play and is an excellent example of the traditional MMO model. Trion really did a great job of keeping core gameplay totally free and you could happily play forever without spending a cent if you really wanted to.

+1 for Rift, they do the 'traditional MMO model' the best of any of them I've tried, they handle the Quality of Life issues just about perfect. The flexibility of character abilities and roles is amazing, the PvE is good, the PvP is decent, can't say what the end game raiding is like. The only thing you'd have to pay real cash for is the 4 new souls that came out with the Storm Legion expansion, and those are far from mandatory. While the GWJ guild on Shatterbone is dead, if you do give it a try, drop by, I can set you up with a starter kit of silk bags for free.

Another thing Rift has going for it is the multiplicity of end game activities available, many of which do not require large(ish) raid groups being planned in advance.

If you want to give it a shot and like it a strongly suggest reading up on how folks have organized action bars, at max level you will have zillions of actions.

You could try League of Angels, they have a pretty active community I would say: http://loa.r2games.com/

Oops I accidentally double posted... don't know how to delete posts though

If you guys are looking for a quasi MMO with a pretty active community right now, Id recommend Diablo 3. The new guild feature makes it easy to jump into GWJ games and the chat channel makes you feel like you're in a MMO. With the expansion coming out it is a good time to jump in.

And the last beta for Elder scrolls is this weekend. I think they're giving away a bunch of codes at the main site.