So I'm after an MMO

[Yellowfish]

My favourite ever (readies flame shield) was Runescape. *hides*

I liked that one too. Granted, I was a schoolkid and didn't know any better, but even now for some odd reason I find it somewhat charming despite the horrible grind, the one-button combat and the overall ugliness. I want to return to this world, chat to some old friends if they're still playing, get my ass handed to me in the Wilderness and do some other silly things that nostalgia makes people do. But then I remember why I left it in the first place - bloody microtransactions were starting to creep into the game. Maybe I just can't embrace change, But I liked the old model better.

Anyway, OT: WoW has the most content. It's also pretty easy to learn. Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic both have a very, very pleasant leveling experience (the former rewards exploration and drowns you in experience points whenever you do something, while the latter has a well-written story that takes you from one location to another and some decent stories told in almost every quest), however, GW2 is still young while TOR is stillborn, with EA trying to sqeeze money out of it by imposing an inredibly retarded microtransaction system (you need to pay for EVERYTHING, really - even for the ability to wear high-quality gear), and they both don't have a lot of things to do when you hit the level cap. TERA... well, forget I mentioned it. It's not something you can "sink your teeth in". It's a grindfest with action-style combat (I admit, it works pretty well, but amazing combat is just about the only good thing TERA has) and characters designed to appeal to teenagers. The game seems to scream "Hey, look! We've got T&A! Lots of it! Not your thing? Have some little girls with cat ears! Not interested in women at all? We won't judge you, that's why we've these furry creatures!"

 

[Popadoo]

There is a reason World of Warcraft has been the top of the market for so long... it's a really well-designed game, and pretty easy to get into if you have little experience with MMOs. I'd suggest that.

 

[Sonicron]

Since I haven't played either of your top two MMOs, I guess I'm left with recommending what I personally enjoyed so far.

Mind you I haven't tried a lot of different MMOs so far, so maybe my experience pool is a bit anaemic, but the one that stood out above and beyond the others was The Secret World.
It's got your typical 'kill 10 snuffleferrets for lazy cockbag X' quests, and even though it purports to not have a levelling system it actually does - it just dressed it up to look like something different. However, it's also got investigation quests, and by the Dark Gods do you have to think hard and ludicrously far outside the box to solve those! Just imagine - an MMO that actually makes you use your brain! Plus the setting is fucking awesome, declaring every myth, legend and conspiracy theory you've ever heard to be real and tasking you with sorting that shit out; the very first questing zone basically has the broad overall objective of "beef yourself up by killing barnacle-encrusted zombies and tentacle monsters until we can send you off to smack Cthulhu in the chops".
The game used to be subscription-based, but they've since switched to the Guild Wars 2 model of 'pay once, then never again'.

Also, yeah, if you're just looking for something charming, colourful and mindlessly fun, I too can recommend World of Warcraft. It's aged remarkably well, and for all its widely known faults it really does feel like embarking on a hero's epic journey.

 

[SonicWaffle]

are there any other decent MMOs you guys love?

How important are graphics to you?

Because I play a MUD (text-based MMO, basically) based on the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. It's huge, it's absorbing, there's a fuckton of things to do (quests, random NPC hunting, crafting, missions, exploration, achievements and so on) and I've been playing it since 1998 without it going stale. If you want something you can really sink your teeth into, you can find it here. [http://discworld.starturtle.net/lpc/]

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Give WoW a shot. Buy the battlechest and play it for a month. There's a reason it's the unstoppable force of the genre. The amount of content is staggering, it having been in constant development for the last 13 years or so.

GW2 might well be worth a try, it has an interesting leveling experience, but I personally don't enjoy it. The questing doesn't have the same pull that wow does for me- the stories just didn't draw me in.

Hell, you could give runescape another go, at £5 a month for that level of content and development it's still a choice. It's just had the single biggest update of its life and combat is actually a thing now. The grind is a harsh one. The payoffs minimal. But you'll have a damn good time.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Don't consider Eve. I had my account hacked and despite that CCP could see what happened from their logs, they said they wouldn't do anything about it, they wouldn't restore anything back to me. They let hackers get away with it and paying customers get no support. Will never deal with CCP again.

 

[Hagi]

If you really want something to sink your teeth in there's only one option I think, EVE.

It's very different from your usual MMO and it's depth is simply incomparable. Not everyone gets EVE, in fact I'd say most people probably don't. But if you get EVE then there's absolutely nothing like it.

The simple feeling that you and your corporation (guild) can carve out a little slice of the world that's uniquely and totally yours is something you can't find in any other game. You'll have to defend your slice, people will try to take your slice from you using any method available but while you hold onto it it's undeniably yours. It can be your own wormhole system, your own niche in the player-driven market or even your own null-sec empire.

Reality is that most of the time you won't have a slice of your own, everyone in the game is competing with each other after all. But the feeling that it's even possible can be enough of a drive for those that get EVE.

I'd say the free trial is worth checking out. If you don't get it, as is quite likely, then nothing lost but if you're one of those that do get it then there's nothing out there with more meat on it.

 

[felbot]

vindictus i say, best combat system in any mmo ever, way netter than guild wars 2 or tera.

although if you have a couple of friends i have heard dungeons and dragon online is pretty good.

also not a mmo but league of legends is always nice to play.

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

As many have said before, I'd go with WoW or GW2. Also, pick up Defiance when it comes out. If the beta is anything to go on, it's gonna be absolutely fucking amazing.

 

[Balimaar]

also not a mmo but league of legends is always nice to play.

id love to play LoL and have tried it in the past. I was however, totally turned by running into some really bad sports. I mean they make people you meet in your average FPS game look like mature adults! turns out one of my matches was with one of these guys here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121618-Two-League-of-Legends-Pros-Banned-for-Being-Horrible

If you really want something to sink your teeth in there's only one option I think, EVE.

ive played EvE and I agree I can get my teeth stuck into it. the only problem I have is sitting there watching my ship go through 10 jumps to get to destination. its especially a pain when your corp goes to war and having to move your stuff in 2-3 lots of those 10 jumps just to get everything into our 'home system'. then getting an aggression countdown from npc pirates because I dared to return fire (eg like Han Solo they shot first!) annoyed me.

They let hackers get away with it and paying customers get no support. Will never deal with CCP again.

I have found the owners of EVE to be the best people Ive dealt with tho.

So far looks like I might be revisiting WoW for the first time since about 6 months after it first came out and maybe joining Vindictus see what thats all about.

EVE is a chance too.

But guys and gals keep the suggestions coming!

 

[cerebreturns]

If you don't like being shoe horned and enjoy things being open Vanguard is swell, so are the old EQ and to a lesser extent EQ2.

GW2 maybe? It's true that you don't feel attached to "quest hubs". Plus it is just a great MMO overall.

 

[Hagi]

ive played EvE and I agree I can get my teeth stuck into it. the only problem I have is sitting there watching my ship go through 10 jumps to get to destination. its especially a pain when your corp goes to war and having to move your stuff in 2-3 lots of those 10 jumps just to get everything into our 'home system'. then getting an aggression countdown from npc pirates because I dared to return fire (eg like Han Solo they shot first!) annoyed me.

Find a corp with a crazy freighter pilot. They don't sleep, they don't eat, they spend most of their time tabbed-out doing lord knows what and they'll haul all your stuff around for insanely cheap prices.

Next to that the tech 1 Frigates and Cruisers have recently been rebalanced so that there's a lot of choice instead of just Rifters and Ruptures and they can take those 10 jumps in no time at all.

There's also always living it up in a wormhole, you generally don't take more than 1-2 jumps out because you might not be able to find your way back. There's vastly increased risk compared to high-sec though and the lower class wormholes often lack enough sites for decently sized corporations whilst the higher class ones do have enough but all of it can only really be done in groups.

 

[felbot]

also not a mmo but league of legends is always nice to play.

id love to play LoL and have tried it in the past. I was however, totally turned by running into some really bad sports. I mean they make people you meet in your average FPS game look like mature adults! turns out one of my matches was with one of these guys here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121618-Two-League-of-Legends-Pros-Banned-for-Being-Horrible

If you really want something to sink your teeth in there's only one option I think, EVE.

ive played EvE and I agree I can get my teeth stuck into it. the only problem I have is sitting there watching my ship go through 10 jumps to get to destination. its especially a pain when your corp goes to war and having to move your stuff in 2-3 lots of those 10 jumps just to get everything into our 'home system'. then getting an aggression countdown from npc pirates because I dared to return fire (eg like Han Solo they shot first!) annoyed me.

They let hackers get away with it and paying customers get no support. Will never deal with CCP again.

I have found the owners of EVE to be the best people Ive dealt with tho.

So far looks like I might be revisiting WoW for the first time since about 6 months after it first came out and maybe joining Vindictus see what thats all about.

EVE is a chance too.

But guys and gals keep the suggestions coming!

funny enough i cant say i have ever met a bad person in my time in vindictus, probably because its a beat em up and you barely talk to them so you will avoid people like "iwilldominate" pretty easily.

although i should say right now that the game is pretty damn hard once you get to the blood lord, dude still gives me nightmares and im supposed to be 10 levels above him.

 

[Alfador_VII]

It sounds lazy, but World of Warcraft really is the most obvious starting point. It's exceptional newbie friendly these days, there's several great solo quest lines to get you into it, as well as other ways of levelling up. Lots of pvp and pve content later, and more still being added all the time.

 

[jackpipsam]

At the top of my head, this is what I can think of.

Freedom?

You will want Asheron's Call.
http://ac.turbine.com/

PvP?

You will want Dark Age of Camelot.
http://darkageofcamelot.com/

Population?

You will want World of Warcraft.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

Non combat puzzler?

You will want Myst Online
http://mystonline.com/en/

 

[Jynthor]

If you are into LOTR I'd suggest Lord of the Rings Online, it has a cool story line throughout the entire game which they keep updating, it has amazing areas, fun classes etc.
You can sub or play FTP, you can earn currency by completing deeds(Deeds are, well, deeds which range from kill x of x to complete x quest to explore x area.) With enough grinding you can play the game without paying anything, but 12 bucks a month seems like a better deal.

 

[Xyebane]

If money isn't really an issue, I would get both Eve and Rift and run them in windows. Eve is a slow game. That said, in all the MMO's i've played, EVE has the most times which were just unbelievable. I really enjoyed high end raiding in WoW too but that's all it really offered. Once you get into the politics of EVE it becomes a whole new game that you can sink days into and not even notice. Besides the strategy however, even when combat does happen it's still slow though it got my heart beating harder than any other game. As death = losing stuff permanently people tend to take fewer risks and as such the game is more like one massive game of chess where you are a pawn than the illusion that most other MMO's make of you being some kind of unique (other than all the other players) demi-god.

Rift on the other hand is a lot like TOR or WoW, but much much nicer mechanics and a interesting and unique class system. I really enjoyed it however i didn't get too deep into it. Some of the character builds are just fun, namely riftstalker as a rogue teleporting all over the place. Add to it that most classes can fill any traditional role in the party it really is a breath of fresh air with the more WOWish MMO.

Why get them both at the same time? Well, basically when your starting out in EVE, you can just tab between the two games as you go. EVE doesn't need a lot of constant attention, so while your out in Null-sec you'll have something more interesting to do than look at rocks until a hostile comes around, at which point you just switch over and let your rift dude die cause, well you know death in those games doesn't ever matter, unlike EVE.

 

[Nieroshai]

If you like Runescape, try Ultima Online. You can do pretty much anything, even be a brigand.

Note: griefing is commonplace, and you can get robbed (and be a robber) in-game.

EDIT: How could I forget Fallen Earth? It's built up from a cancelled Fallout MMO, and features an economy based on player crafting and a level-up system based exclusively on the skills you use.