What is a good fun MMORPG?

[Dimensional Vortex]

Dear Escapists, I have one quest at the moment, and that is to find a great new mmorpg. I seek one that is actually fun to play instead of mindless hours randomly attacking wolves in forests that all look exactly the same. This is also a big part, I need one that is free, I can't afford $15 and I mean that literally. There is a TL DNR (Too long did not read) version at the very end.

I would enjoy a great story that I can think about while I am out on my adventures. Alas, not many MMORPG's have a story, let alone a fun interesting one, so I would enjoy one that has a great story line for the characters. Although I am not too worried about having this in a MMORPG, if I want story I would probably buy a more offline oriented game.

Game play, I would not like the Game play to be the exact same thing I have seen before, you know what I mean. Point, click, mash buttons 2-3-4-5 then mash buttons 6-7. Although I am willing to overlook this if the game can make up for it in other aspects.

Visual Appeal, this is probably a large part for me, I don't know why but I would really like the game to have a great visual appeal and variety in the scenery. I don't want to hike through the same form of forest each time I find a new area, I want to be able to venture onto mountains, into valleys and have fun finding, observing and enjoying some great places.

Replay Value, I would like the game to feel at least a little fresh when I start playing every now and again, so I don't feel like I'm doing the exact same thing I was doing 10 levels ago. A big part of this is also repetitiveness, I've played the game Maple Story so I know how painful grinding and repetitiveness can be, and I would like to find a game that doesn't always have me grinding through levels.

Anything Else: I don't want to feel like I'm playing World of Warcraft please.

TL DNR I would enjoy a game that is visually stunning as well as fun, and it won't let me feel bored after the first 20 levels. (Optional) The game has a good story. (Optional) The game play is creative and not generic.

Thanks for any help given at all, basically I just want a fun mmorpg.

EDIT: No one mention anything that costs a monthly fee, nor Allods, Maplestory and Flyff.

 

[Talal Provides]

Global Agenda has no monthly fee and it's pretty much half Tribes and half Team Fortress in an MMO wrapper. There's an open PvE questing area in the beginning, and there's leveling up and gear and skill tress and all that, but the bulk of it is co-op dungeon runs, raids, and, most of all, loads and loads of awesome PvP.

And it looks great, too. It's running on Unreal Engine 3, and the open questing area has the best magic hour lighting I have ever seen in a game.

If you're interested I can give you a code that'll get you half off, making it 15 bucks.

EDIT: also, the epic melee weapon for the Robotics class is a sledgehammer that's propelled by a jet engine. I'll say that again. A jet-powered sledgehammer. A game that includes this cannot possibly be bad.

 

[Protomega]

Is there a trial of this game?

 

[Talal Provides]

Yeah, it's an unlimited trial that lets you play up to level 12 for as long as you want. It's on Steam, but to get the discount you have to buy it from the game's site.

Seriously, guys, if you were raised on the PC shooters of the mid-late 90s-early 2000s, games like Tribes and Unreal Tournament and all of those, and are lamenting the rise of Call of Duty and the death of what you love, this is the game you've been waiting for.

 

[Nimzar]

LoTRO is pretty good as is DDO; while waiting for WoW:Cata to come out I tried them both and found myself preferring LoTRO, but DDO was pretty fun too.

Though, LoTRO is as generic a setting as you can get... though that is only because LoTR IS the prototypical western RPG setting.

 

[Papadam]

Lord of the rings: Online sounds like your best option. Very good graphics, you dont have to pay monthly fee or buy the client and you can play for free without problems to level 32ish. Probably the best story you will find in MMOs with the epic quests.

 

[Protomega]

Yeah, it's an unlimited trial that lets you play up to level 12 for as long as you want. It's on Steam, but to get the discount you have to buy it from the game's site.

Seriously, guys, if you were raised on the PC shooters of the mid-late 90s-early 2000s, games like Tribes and Unreal Tournament and all of those, and are lamenting the rise of Call of Duty and the death of what you love, this is the game you've been waiting for.

I think I'll try the trial out before dishing out the cash. I've spent about $50 in the past week on games that didn't meet their pricing in my honest opinion.

 

[Talal Provides]

Yeah, it's an unlimited trial that lets you play up to level 12 for as long as you want. It's on Steam, but to get the discount you have to buy it from the game's site.

Seriously, guys, if you were raised on the PC shooters of the mid-late 90s-early 2000s, games like Tribes and Unreal Tournament and all of those, and are lamenting the rise of Call of Duty and the death of what you love, this is the game you've been waiting for.

I think I'll try the trial out before dishing out the cash. I've spent about $50 in the past week on games that didn't meet their pricing in my honest opinion.

If you like it PM me, I'll get you a 50% off code.

 

[somadman]

One where you dont have to pay monthly!

 

[AWOL]

Id say Guild Wars.

Its got a brilliant story and is very easy to pick up, but at the same time allows for incredible depth once you understand the skills/build system. The graphics are beautiful in my opinion, and the HUGE map ranges from idyllic cities to ruins to swamps, forests, snowy mountains, ice caves, jungles, barren deserts and volcanic islands. Id highly recommend it.

Oh, I think an account is actually $20, but there are no monthly fees. Still totally worth it though.

 

[Trenya]

Champions Online is really fun, it just went free to play. You get cool travel powers like flight and teleportation and the character creation is awesome.

 

[Protomega]

With Guild Wars they get you with the fact that each expansion you have to pay for, which the development team tends to have you holding money off every month just like any other MMORPG.

 

[OliverTwist72]

Game play, I would not like the Game play to be the exact same thing I have seen before, you know what I mean. Point, click, mash buttons 2-3-4-5 then mash buttons 6-7. Although I am willing to overlook this if the game can make up for it in other aspects.

Runes of Magic was a pretty fun F2P mmo that I tried. You are going to find some repetitiveness in pretty much any MMORPG out there.

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

Game play, I would not like the Game play to be the exact same thing I have seen before, you know what I mean. Point, click, mash buttons 2-3-4-5 then mash buttons 6-7. Although I am willing to overlook this if the game can make up for it in other aspects.

Runes of Magic was a pretty fun F2P mmo that I tried. You are going to find some repetitiveness in pretty much any MMORPG out there.

Well I already have it downloaded, I guess I could revisit it.

 

[OliverTwist72]

To be honest, there is no F2P MMO that I tried that I did not get bored of after awhile (usually less than a month or 2). Runes was just the one that lasted the longest.

 

[antibonk]

Might try vindictus, though it is more of a dungeon crawler, the multiplayer is set up like guild wars, shared meeting area to meet up with a group, then a instanced dungeon for your party.

Really fun hack and slash co-op dungeon crawler though, might give it a go

And yes, it is free to play.

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

Might try vindictus, though it is more of a dungeon crawler, the multiplayer is set up like guild wars, shared meeting area to meet up with a group, then a instanced dungeon for your party.

Really fun hack and slash co-op dungeon crawler though, might give it a go

And yes, it is free to play.

I can't play Vindictus, I've tried. Apparently no one wants to let Australians in, thanks Nexon. It's funny actually because I went and looked on the forums, looking for help that sort of thing, and every forum consisted of nearly all the Americans getting together and saying that Australians are shit, we don't deserve to play Vindictus, we will lag them, and that they don't like our 'kind' in their games. Gee thanks to all those Americans, I mean if any of those people who said Australians are shit were not allowed to play a game because they are from a different country, you can bet they would say how racist everyone is.

 

[antibonk]

Might try vindictus, though it is more of a dungeon crawler, the multiplayer is set up like guild wars, shared meeting area to meet up with a group, then a instanced dungeon for your party.

Really fun hack and slash co-op dungeon crawler though, might give it a go

And yes, it is free to play.

I can't play Vindictus, I've tried. Apparently no one wants to let Australians in, thanks Nexon. It's funny actually because I went and looked on the forums, looking for help that sort of thing, and every forum consisted of nearly all the Americans getting together and saying that Australians are shit, we don't deserve to play Vindictus, we will lag them, and that they don't like our 'kind' in their games. Gee thanks to all those Americans, I mean if any of those people who said Australians are shit were not allowed to play a game because they are from a different country, you can bet they would say how racist everyone is.

That sucks, had no idea it was region locked like that, couple friends and I started playing it last week. That's pretty stupid though, I got several friends from New Zealand I play with a lot. =/

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

Might try vindictus, though it is more of a dungeon crawler, the multiplayer is set up like guild wars, shared meeting area to meet up with a group, then a instanced dungeon for your party.

Really fun hack and slash co-op dungeon crawler though, might give it a go

And yes, it is free to play.

I can't play Vindictus, I've tried. Apparently no one wants to let Australians in, thanks Nexon. It's funny actually because I went and looked on the forums, looking for help that sort of thing, and every forum consisted of nearly all the Americans getting together and saying that Australians are shit, we don't deserve to play Vindictus, we will lag them, and that they don't like our 'kind' in their games. Gee thanks to all those Americans, I mean if any of those people who said Australians are shit were not allowed to play a game because they are from a different country, you can bet they would say how racist everyone is.

That sucks, had no idea it was region locked like that, couple friends and I started playing it last week. That's pretty stupid though, I got several friends from New Zealand I play with a lot. =/

It may have changed but I'm still not sure. What I really don't get is that the company, Nexon, made the game Maple Story, which my sister and I played occasionally when we were younger. Now Maple Story was available in Australia so why the hell isn't their other game Vindictus?