So I'm after an MMO

[Me55enger]

Not a single person has suggested APB: Reloaded.

Probably for good reason. But dont listen to reason

Its a Third-Person Shooter. Cops n Robbers style. Most folk hear it and go "ugh, unbalanced guns and P2W". Truth be told: its neither. A massive weapon balance patch is coming in the next few weeks, and it never was P2W.

The community is simulteneously toxic and loyal. But its strong. The game is infinately better now than when RTW cocked it up.

Ive been playing for 3 years. Trust me.

 

[Coffeejack]

If you want something that gives you a decent number of options if you go free-to-play, you could do a lot worse than The Lord of The Rings Online. It can be found on Steam. I've been enjoying The Old Republic's storyline immensely, but that particular MMO is shamefully tight-fisted with its free-to-play options. You can't even sprint or remove your helmet during cutscenes without dishing out a few dollars.

I've never played World of Warcraft before in my life, but to many people it is still the standard by which newly-released MMOs are judged, so that must speak well of its overall quality.

 

[aceman67]

I'm surprised that no one has suggested Star Trek Online. Harp on it all you want, it has the best F2P model on the market. The game is 100% playable with out paying a dime (from lv1 to end-game, there's no restrictions to the leveling content).

You can earn item-shop currency by farming in-game resources and selling it.

The game really has gotten better since its launch, and with the 3rd Anniversary (They have something planned, they gave everyone a free Odyssey cruiser for the 2nd Anniversary) coming up in February, and the next large content patch is due late-spring/early summer.

 

[Cpu46]

Try out Mabinogi. Its relatively open though the dungeons get a bit repetitive after a while. Combat style is fairly unique and actually quite fun. It doesn't shoehorn you into any classes, instead opting for a rather open skill gain system where you have to track down most of the skills you would want. The hardest ones to get are completely worth the time.

Also completely F2P, nothing in the cash shop is required or gives you a huge boost over other players.

 

[Rule Britannia]

elder scrolls clposed beta just started, you could wait until the open beta is released?

runescape is pretty fun

 

[chaos order]

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!"

surprisingly theyve overhauled the combat system and now you can unlock special attacks with str,atk,magic,def, and rangeing.

 

[FallenTraveler]

firefall or guild wars 2

Firefall is just a really fun game, and it is really well made and is very unique. Guild wars 2 is the full package traditional mmo in my opinion. It is doing a lot of great new inventive things but it's workign within the hotbar framework of WoW and the like.

Secret World is also a good idea, it really is a fantastic game and with no sub anymore and just the 20-30 for the box/game itself, it's a steal if you're into survival horror/lovecraftian stuff.

I haven't played tera yet, but I'm definitely going to be trying it out when it goes free. So maybe that too.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

what am I after? something I can really sink my teeth into. My favourite ever (readies flame shield) was Runescape. *hides*

Runescape was also my favourite. I've yet to find anything since that even compares to it.

Um yeah, Runescape was just a dumb-ed down version of Ultima Online for web browsers. Play the real game, I spent seven years in UO

I don't really care if it's the "real game".

 

[Filiecs]

I would suggest The Secret World. It's quests are the closest to the quality level of Runescape than any MMO I've ever played. Also, the story is really incredible.

 

[Tanakh]

WOW will give you the most content depth and probably the cleanest mechanics. It is, alas, really starting to show it's age, but it's still the most populous MMO.

GW2 will give you the most pleasant leveling experience, at the cost of the most shallow end game. It has a pretty friendly business model, so it's easy to walk away from and come back to when the mood strikes.

TOR has a very pleasant leveling experience as well, if you like story, although the combat mechanics are a bit dull, and the FTP model is a bit questionable. Unlike GW2, the end game isn't shallow...it's just not very good.

EVE is another long standing incumbent game with a gentrified player base and a ton of depth. It can be pretty hard to get into as a newcomer, though, and you'll have a long road ahead of you to become competitive.

RIFT is a bit of a dark horse...it has a pretty rich feature set and lots of content to go with handsome visuals, but is a curiously inert game and has a pretty small player base.

Since you want something 'you can really sink your teeth into', I would look hard at WOW, RIFT and EVE.

If the ability to do what you want when you want to do it with little to no pressure is your priority over heavy depth, look at GW2.

This in general, but I disagree, GW2 has the biggest, classiest, most devastating election... I mean endgame game-changer in the human history of time, most definetly top choice. WoW is indeed the most polished and biggest, Rift is decent, EVE is no fun but interesting, The Secret World and The Old Republic have decent narratives, TERA and Firefall have nice twists to the gameplay.

I would however reccomend not doing MMOs but ARTS or multipleyer arenas like DotA2, World of Tanks, Bloodline Champions, etc. Also, when I said the biggest endgame i meant the biggest PvP endgame.

-snip-

Wow! You are ancient grandpa! Kinda surprised you didn't included EverQuest II or Ultima Online in there!

Also... yeah, those were good, but with GW2 here and TESO around the corner there is little to no point in playing DaoC except nostalgia and IMO TSW does all that Myst did right while also being good to play.

 

[Belaam]

I guess I loved the freedom, not being shoe horned into quests and just doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to do it

Definitely sounds like guild wars. PvP, PvE, WvW, Dungeons, Exploring, Resource gathering, Crafting, Healing other players, doing static quests (that normally have multiple options like A) feed the cows, B) find lost livestock or C) fight off bandits), and doing events (scaled quests, sometimes with multiple arcs depending on success or failure) ALL grant xp.

The way they set it up so anyone who does damage to a mob gets both xp and a unique loot of the mob leads to rarely going to the bother of joining a group while still giving you the benefits of grouping.

the uniqueness of the game compared to others I have played.

Conversely, this may be a problem. You'll never believe this, but elder dragons have awoken and are causing havok! e.e Yeah, they're a bit more Lovecraftian dragons than Tolkienian dragons, but still.

are there any other decent MMOs you guys love?

I currently have SWTOR, DDO, and GW2 installed.