is it possible to play an MMO causally?

[Vault101]

by that I mean can I play an MMO without having to devote my entire life to it?

ok yes, this is an incredibly stupid question

Ive said before to me MMO is kind of a dirty word....that brings to mind images of addiction/grinding/fetch quests and all kinds of tedium

however (as I made a thread before) I've considered getting "the secret world" as it looks interesting

so anyway, what I'm asking is [b/]if you hope to get anything out of your experience does that mean you have to be prepared to put in countless hours? or if your not willing to have it as a second job is it not worth it?[/b] with any MMO you have play/have plaed

 

[Jedoro]

Casually?

I mean, it's possible, if you're more interested in the ORPG/OFPS part than the MM part. If you're not in a guild/clan/whatever, then it's perfectly fine for you to take your time progressing, because no one's bitching at you to keep up so they can get their epic lootz. Thus, you can actually pay attention to and enjoy the story and setting of the game.

 

[JaceArveduin]

yeah, you can, though it all depends on the kin/clan you're in. I play LotRO casually and still have fun, though that's probably because I've got a friend and we go around being an OP duo that kills everything, no matter the level.

 

[AndrewF022]

You can, but it really limits your choices.

Things like The Old Republic, Dungeon Fighter or Rusty Hearts might appeal to you in that case. Maybe The Secret World as well, but I have not played it, only heard good things about it. The former has a lot of solo content, and the latter two are essentially brawlers. Rusty Hearts is particularly good as you can just run through two or three dungeons (taking maybe 30-60 mins) then just stop and come back tomorrow and do some more, most of the content is also solo-able (unless its changed since I played it) so theres plenty to do if your on your own too.

Your other option is something like Minecraft, not really an MMO as such, but plenty of casual fun with your friends.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Why not? Just because some people like to race through 98% of the game and replay the same mission a million times doesn't mean you have to.

 

[Zeckt]

I'm playing Tera pretty casually for 1-2 hours a day lately and am having alot of fun with it, just give up any hope of competing versus hardcore players and be as nice as possible and you will do fine and make lots of friends.

 

[Vault101]

You can, but it really limits your choices.

Things like The Old Republic, Dungeon Fighter or Rusty Hearts might appeal to you in that case. Maybe The Secret World as well, but I have not played it, only heard good things about it. The former has a lot of solo content, and the latter two are essentially brawlers. Rusty Hearts is particularly good as you can just run through two or three dungeons (taking maybe 30-60 mins) then just stop and come back tomorrow and do some more, most of the content is also solo-able (unless its changed since I played it) so theres plenty to do if your on your own too.

Your other option is something like Minecraft, not really an MMO as such, but plenty of casual fun with your friends.

never played WOW but it looks like a real bore fest

but anyway as I said the main thing is I'm kind of really really interested in secret world and the only MMO Ive ever really playes is runescape

I mean just thinking about that makes me feel like a ex heroin addict thinking about taking another shot...not a pleasant thourght

 

[TehCookie]

Of course, though because I only play MMOs casually I got guild wars so I don't feel like I'm compelled to play it every month because of a fees like the others have.

 

[WoahDan]

Its posssible, but most MMO's are really not designed to be played that way and you wont get the full experience if you do.

 

[evilneko]

Only if you have a group of friends just as casual as you are. Otherwise you'll either be left behind (and possibly bitched at) and have no one to play with (in which case what's the point of an MMO).

I don't see a point to playing an MMO, much less casually. The people you meet, you may not meet again, or when you do they'll be higher level than you anyway and you won't be able to quest together, so why bother..

I'm playing Tera pretty casually for 1-2 hours a day lately and am having alot of fun with it, just give up any hope of competing versus hardcore players and be as nice as possible and you will do fine and make lots of friends.

Now I feel old. 1-2 hours a day doesn't even sound like "casual" to me anymore. :/

 

[AndrewF022]

You can, but it really limits your choices.

Things like The Old Republic, Dungeon Fighter or Rusty Hearts might appeal to you in that case. Maybe The Secret World as well, but I have not played it, only heard good things about it. The former has a lot of solo content, and the latter two are essentially brawlers. Rusty Hearts is particularly good as you can just run through two or three dungeons (taking maybe 30-60 mins) then just stop and come back tomorrow and do some more, most of the content is also solo-able (unless its changed since I played it) so theres plenty to do if your on your own too.

Your other option is something like Minecraft, not really an MMO as such, but plenty of casual fun with your friends.

never played WOW but it looks like a real bore fest

but anyway as I said the main thing is I'm kind of really really interested in secret world and the only MMO Ive ever really playes is runescape

I mean just thinking about that makes me feel like a ex heroin addict thinking about taking another shot...not a pleasant thourght

Haha, as an ex-Runescape player from back in my early high school days myself, I can safely assure you that there is no MMO out there that is as grind heavy or dull as Runescape.

Id check out The Secret World though, I have friends playing it who are having a blast, so you'd probably be pretty safe picking it up, especially if you want something different. Other than that I can only suggest the brawlers, like Rusty Hearts. Most other MMO's generally require a pretty hefty time-sink to get anywhere.

 

[Vault101]

Haha, as an ex-Runescape player from back in my early high school days myself, I can safely assure you that there is no MMO out there that is as grind heavy or dull as Runescape.

Id check out The Secret World though, I have friends playing it who are having a blast, so you'd probably be pretty safe picking it up, especially if you want something different. Other than that I can only suggest the brawlers, like Rusty Hearts. Most other MMO's generally require a pretty hefty time-sink to get anywhere.

but dude...i need a blue party haaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

yeah, I figure to at least try somthing different

 

[SajuukKhar]

Guild wars 1 was always very casual, you can stop playing for ages, come back, and just play.

 

[Kae]

I'm pretty sure it's possible, I've been playing an MMO called Mabinogi for quite a few years now and well I sometimes go months without touching it and yeah I play it very casually like once every blue moon or something, but it's fun to pop in every once in a while and do some stuff before remembering how much I screwed up my character since he has no useful abilities at all and how I'm pretty much unable to finish any quests because my character is too weak, not even specializing on the flame-thrower could save him...
SO yeah I suppose so, but it's probably not recommendable for subscription MMOs since you pay that monthly fee, it doesn't really seem worth it to pay 15$ a month to play every once in a while.

 

[Windcaler]

I suppose it depends on what you define as Casual. For me the definition of a hardcore player is someone that schedules their life around the game (i.e. someone who has a set time they play every day/week/month). However a casual player schedules their game time around their real life (i.e. playing when the mood strikes them).

That said i think every MMO can be played in both ways but casual players often have their experiences lessened in team enviroments like raiding and/or PVP. I think it goes without saying that you have to put some time in learning the game but I dont think that means countless hours.

If you enjoy anything in an MMO then you get something out of it, that being enjoyment. For example Ive always enjoyed raiding and I did put many many hours into raiding in Everquest. I took time away from the game to research the fights so I would be better prepared for them and wouldnt be a detriment to my team (not that any casual player is by definition detrimental to a raiding party). This was not countless hours, this was around the same amount of hours others put in to get to max level and their gear level (some less and some more) and it was maybe 30 additional minutes researching the fights we were going to do the next day. For that time I had a lot of fun and my guildmates had fun with me.

As a more casual example, for a long time I played City of heros which has a system where you can group with your friends despite your level range (its much more complicated then that though). I joined a Super group (their version of guilds) and I just played the game when I wanted. When I was on we would run missions together and some of them had really cool stories. I didnt research any missions, task forces, etc but they taught me as we played the game. I still had fun and they still had fun with me

So I guess what Im saying is your MMO experiences will largely depend on the people you play with. You dont necessarily have to put in a lot of time to have a fun experience but you do have to put in enough time to learn the game (usually this happens during the game but some games do a horrible job of teaching someone to play). Having watched the Secret worlds starting I can say it doesnt do a horrible job but neither do I think it does a great job.

 

[AndrewF022]

Haha, as an ex-Runescape player from back in my early high school days myself, I can safely assure you that there is no MMO out there that is as grind heavy or dull as Runescape.

Id check out The Secret World though, I have friends playing it who are having a blast, so you'd probably be pretty safe picking it up, especially if you want something different. Other than that I can only suggest the brawlers, like Rusty Hearts. Most other MMO's generally require a pretty hefty time-sink to get anywhere.

but dude...i need a blue party haaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

yeah, I figure to at least try somthing different

Haha, I can't tell you how many hours I wasted earning nothing by money in that game just to afford one of those rares.. only ever made enough for the Santa Hat and the Halloween Masks.

To avoid thread derailment I did think of another game worth checking out, since its free (the best kind of MMO), Fallen Earth.. kinda like Fallout, only buggier, uglier and glitchy as all hell (which doesn't sound like a recommendation), but it's pretty fun, and crafting can be done offline. So you can log in, do a few missions, start your crafting projects and log out. I played it for a bit when it went F2P, also, if you like achievements, it has over 500 of them, so theres plenty to do.

 

[wintercoat]

As long as endgame content isn't part of what you want to do, then definitely. I play a few MMOs casually myself. Vindictus is rather casual friendly, as is DCUO. When TOR goes FTP, depending on whether or not they go full retard like Everquest and Conan did, It'll be added to the pool of MMOs that I frequent every so often, as from what I saw in the open beta, it's also casual friendly. Considering it's owned by EA, however, my expectations are rather low.

Speaking of MMOs, anyone else rather surprised Rift is still doing rather well? For all the hype they tried to dredge up, it was a rather standard MMO. I was expecting it to do about as well as any of the others have.

 

[octafish]

I play LOTRO and STO pretty casually as a role-playing experience, so it can be done, hell I play solo. I just make sure I stay away from PvP areas and it is still a lot of fun.

 

[Aerosteam]

An MMO is not something you'd play while on the toilet.

I have no idea where I'm going with this.

 

[skywolfblue]

so anyway, what I'm asking is [b/]if you hope to get anything out of your experience does that mean you have to be prepared to put in countless hours? or if your not willing to have it as a second job is it not worth it?[/b] with any MMO you have play/have plaed

No, and no.

Contrary to what everyone may say you don't ~need~ to raid or do every single achievement to enjoy an MMO.

Even then only a tiny sliver of those raids or achievements require "extremely dedicated players".

While I was playing WoW it was very possible for an organized guild of people who cared more about "fun" then "raiding as a job" to do all but the "nigh impossible" fights, on a schedule of 6 hours a week or less.

If you like achievements in single-player games then you probably understand a little of the attraction to "do all the things" that an MMO can have.