MMO indecision

[TilMorrow]

Play EVE online not WoW. WoW will only drag you in and start sucking away at your money and time and life like a leech and won't die till you burn it off. Seriously WoW patches can be damn hypocritical at times. EVE sounds more like a constant game thats lots of fun. Also its great for working out how to best run a business.

 

[Charli]

WoW is good, very good, but play it with a friend/after cataclysm (Lots of new people). Because the at the moment the content at the last legs of the games leveling experience is more fun. And raiding if you have the time to waste on it. Control your addiction well though. And I mean rigidly.

Eve has a steep steeeep learning curve but if you have the time to waste it can be amazing. It can be a bit dangerous if you start investing seriously in it, so tread carefully.

You don't want to try final fantasy as it is right now

Guild wars is a fair, inexpensive alternative to these all


And ignore the nay sayers if you are a responsible person. I am, and I'm really good at what class I play in World of Warcraft (As a worldwide statistic I suppose). I also have a job now, a fair social life and enjoy other games. So if you feel you can handle an MMO being a monkey on your back. Don't let people get you down about it. The people who DO spend night and day and waste their lives away on it are more often the people that really suck at the game. :S

 

[NathLines]

As Cpu46 mentioned, try Vindictus if you live in north america. It's free to play, awesomesauce and hack n slash. You'll appreciate Vindictus more if you have any knowledge from Mabinogi.

 

[Ghostkai]

Wait for Cataclysm

(I be a beta tester, I know how good it is, anyone on Mekkatorque-EU Beta realm PM me and I'll give you char details for an add).

Then get WoW, Cata is going to eat up and spit out everything else.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

Graduate school?
My recommendation, then, would be to AVOID MMOs LIKE THE PLAGUE.
Those things are time sinks. They drain the day like nobody's business. If you're going into grad school, then this is a very bad thing; you're not going to have any time anyway. I would say spend that time hanging out with friends and saying goodbye to them for a while. You're not going be COHERENT for a LOOOOOOOOONG while.

This.

MMO take time and while you can level cap in like...3-5 weeks...the rest of the grind is what will kick you in your ass and make you beg for more...

 

[GonzoGamer]

From what I've seen/heard, if I were to join an mmo, I would go with EVE. It looks like the most interesting and the people I know who play tend to be smarter than the people I know who play wow.
In fact, I would say the only thing holding me back from eve (and most other mmo) is the monthly fee.

The 40k mmo looks cool too but once again, I'm not paying a monthly fee.

 

[PhoenixUp]

Recap: so EVE has a hardcore learning curve and feels more like a job but can be rewarding in its own way, WoW is a great stand-by but the greatest concern is its ability to eviscerate your life, and f2p MMOs (DDO, LOTR) should not be over-looked for casual players.
That about right?

Oh, and if Bioware has a hand it producing an MMO (The Old Republic), I 'have' to give it a look -I'm a bit of a Bioware fanatic.

 

[Legendsmith]

EVE

EVE Online is awesome. Incursion will be out soon.

If you like one or more of the following things, Eve is for you:
#)No level cap
#)Skill caps for each ship class. (ie, you can only be so good in X ship. A newbie can easily catch up to a veteran in frigates and destroyers).
#)Player driven economy
#)Real, player alliances and corporations. (corps are made of players, alliances are made of corps)
#)Being able to skill up even when not online.

One of the best things about EVE online is that there is no character levels and no character grinding.
Instead, there are skills. You buy a skillbook, add it to your training queue and then just wait. You train even when you're not online, so if you want to not play for a week, you can just queue up a few long skills and do something else for that week. I just did that and now I can fly Assault ships.

The only thing is that the first month of EVE can be a bit boring, as you need to training your Learning skills. Every character, for their first 1.6 million skillpoints, has a 100% bonus to their training speed. Learning skills increase your attributes, which let you learn other skills faster.

One last thing, decide what you want to do, then train for it, traning bits and pieces foe a whole lot of different things isn't a good idea.

If you do decide to get into it, send me a message here with your character name and I'll give you some stuff to start you off.

Also, there are 4 playable races. Each has their strengths when it comes to combat:
Mimatar: Have some of the best PvP ships. They use projectile turrets
Ammar: Have some great PvP ships. They use lasers
Caldari: best PvE (E = environment, NPCs and such) They use missiles (and some hybrid turrets).
Gallente: Best industrial ships, as well as best drone ships. They use hybrid turrets and drones.

Choosing a race doesn't mean you can't use the other races ships if you train the skills for them.

 

[Dastardly]

Do yourself a big, huge favor. Don't start playing MMOs this generation. The first generation of MMOs provided an experience that (while not perfect) was worthy of a monthly fee. Current-generation MMOs are basically single-player game experiences that charge a subscription fee simply because they can--the first-gen MMOs softened audiences to the idea.

Get a group of friends together, choose a couple of free-multiplayer games (Left4Dead, Counterstrike, etc), and play them when you feel like it. MMOs will, especially at the start, cause the following:

1) You will feel guilty for not playing, because you've paid the monthly fee. So each day spent NOT playing feels like you're "wasting" money or something.

2) You'll feel disillusioned, because these games are no longer the 'massive' experience they once were, where you meet tons of different people and interact in a virtual world. People talk only to group, and they group to run quests and get loot. They are not nearly as social an atmosphere anymore (time is money!), and that was really the only major thing that made them worth a monthly fee.

3) You'll spend more than you thought. Don't buy into the "free to play" models as they currently exist. The company is in it for the money, so rest assured you'll be bombarded with things that will pretty much FORCE you to pay, bit-by-bit, to have a fun game experience.

4) Six months down the road, a little voice in your head will say, "Wow... we've paid around $135 for this game. I really don't feel I've gotten $135 worth out of this game. What the hell is wrong with me?"

You can have bigger, more fun, and less demanding experiences with TONS of games that don't charge beyond paying for the box. Play those--you could get four or five of them for the same price as those six months of one MMO, if you don't buy new. You also won't feel pressured to play because of the fee.

MMOs are designed in such a way that you need three hours per session to get anything done. Single-serving multiplayer games, you can play for HALF an hour, if that's all you've got tonight, and still feel like you've had fun! MMOs are designed to be time sinks (and the free-play ones are designed to also include money sinks to help offset the extra time sinks) that keep you playing longer to get the same experience.

Maybe someday the trend in MMOs will head back toward games truly worthy of a monthly fee. Until that time, don't waste yours.

 

[A-D.]

Play Age of Conan, its completely free if you only do the first 20 Levels, which is Tortage, if you wish to play further, you will have to buy the Game though. At that Point you can choose if you want just the basic Game, which goes till 80 and gives most Content for 10 Bucks, or including the Expansion, which is another 5 Zones for 80+ Content for 30 Bucks. Both include a free Month though, but you can only get that once, so you have to choose wisely. Though Khitai is Grind, you will be forced to Group there and you will require to Raid prior to having a good Chance against anything there. The "Old World" i.e. pre-expansion is solo-able though, except for Instances, where you will need a Group, same goes obviously for Raids.

The Sub is also rather nice, 1 month is 15 Bucks, where as 12 Months is just 100 Bucks, due to the 45% Discount you get. You get Veteran Points for Subscription which lets you buy a few Things without needing any Ingame Currency, like a Mount, and you get more the longer you subscribe. You also get Offline Levels, which is 1 Level for any 4 Days of paid Subscription, though you can only spend them on Chars past lvl30, so again you can level, albeit slowly, when you cant play much as well. But even if you play only a few Hours per day, you can get one Character to 80 in about 1-2 Months at most and again, you are not forced to Group prior to reaching 80 if you wish to go to Khitai or for Instances. So play the "Demo" first, which is literally a free Game in the 1-20 Region of Tortage for as long as you want or go for LOTR if you want a bigger "free Game"

 

[fenrizz]

I currently play World of Warcraft.

Have tried Star Trek Online, but found it to be a very lacking experience.

Age of Conan showed some promise initially, but sadly I did not enjoy the game very much.


Now I'm just waiting for World of Darkness Online.
It will be glorious.

 

[Chibz]

Wait for Warhammer 40K Online: Dark Millenium.

 

[Marowit]

Recap: so EVE has a hardcore learning curve and feels more like a job but can be rewarding in its own way, WoW is a great stand-by but the greatest concern is its ability to eviscerate your life, and f2p MMOs (DDO, LOTR) should not be over-looked for casual players.
That about right?

Oh, and if Bioware has a hand it producing an MMO (The Old Republic), I 'have' to give it a look -I'm a bit of a Bioware fanatic.

I played WoW through undergrad, raided some, had a social life, and graduated with a 3.6 w/ a neuroscience concentration (B.S. in biology). I only say that, because it sounds like you and I are kind of similar in terms of aspirations and to say that it does not eviscerate your personal life if you have self-control, which it sounds like you do.

Games are what you make of them. I personally couldn't stand EvE - I didn't like having an avatar that was just a spaceship, and farming resources wasn't that appealing to me. One of my friends absolutely loves it, since he loves gaming the economy. Another friend eschews MMOs all together, but plays console games pretty regularly. My point is opinions are up to each person, and none of them are wrong as gaming is a personal preference.

My suggestion is to give the free-trials a whirl. However, since MMOs are meant to be social games, see if you have any friends that play/want to play, and try/pick up that game - they are infinitely more fun with a friend.

 

[Jorias]

Wow wierd im pretty much in the same boat as the Original Poster, i have been around the MMO block a few times, and would love to let you know that Eve is a complete waste of time, even for wasting time it's a waste. I like to think of Eve as the "beautifulpeople.com" of the MMO world, although anyone with a credit card can join this fun mess of mining asteriods and doing the same 5 missions over and over, the exclusion comes in the form of travel...."oh you want to make a profit by selling ur cargo in a low sec region?, sorry no you can't because a player-pirate that is got a good 400 hours on ur ass in skill says you cant sorry" fuck that.....

Age of Conan is a good choice, but i heard FC is coming out with yet another MMO...so that tells me AOC is going the way of the dumpster....

but i totally agree that Micro-p games are a good choice, mainly because you don't have to feel like you are attached to the hip when playing them...

 

[Aeshi]

World of Warcraft,there's a reason so many games have tried to copy it you know.

Global Agenda is also worth a look since it's pretty fun,has an infinite free trial (with a level cap) and no subscription fees.

EVE can achieve graphics that would probably give Crysis a run for its money even on medium and low end computers but that's really the only nice thing I can say about it (the actual gameplay is a massive bore)

EDIT: Champions Online isn't half bad either.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

City of Heroes has aged very well.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

EDIT: Double post

 

[PhoenixUp]

I played WoW through undergrad, raided some, had a social life, and graduated with a 3.6 w/ a neuroscience concentration (B.S. in biology). I only say that, because it sounds like you and I are kind of similar in terms of aspirations and to say that it does not eviscerate your personal life if you have self-control, which it sounds like you do.

Games are what you make of them. I personally couldn't stand EvE - I didn't like having an avatar that was just a spaceship, and farming resources wasn't that appealing to me. One of my friends absolutely loves it, since he loves gaming the economy. Another friend eschews MMOs all together, but plays console games pretty regularly. My point is opinions are up to each person, and none of them are wrong as gaming is a personal preference.

My suggestion is to give the free-trials a whirl. However, since MMOs are meant to be social games, see if you have any friends that play/want to play, and try/pick up that game - they are infinitely more fun with a friend.

I guess we're even more similar than that. I'm about to graduate with a degree in Psychology (Bio minor) with a focus in physiological Psy and am seeking grad school for behavioral neuroscience. Neat.
Anyway, I'm not really looking to make MMOs a part of my life, just to experience one before grad school really DOES suck out my soul. It's good to hear there are those out there who can play WoW while maintaining a real life. And a good number of my friends, play WoW..so I might just give it a shot. Thanks.

 

[Sephychu]

EVE is utterly brilliant. Try it out and see if you like it.

You won't regret it.

Won't regret it! It is next than impossible to play, is overly complicated, and seems to punish you for wanting to play it.

It's complex and unforgiving. Both are qualities I value in a game.