MMORPG: Any good ones in the works?

[brandonb]

Aion is still being played.

I did some fort defenses last night where about 70 or so bad guys came to take over the fort, and we kicked their butt. The bad part about aion is that in the big battles the lag is just horrible, and it has artifical restrictions. If you attack anything 6 lvls higher than you, you will automatically be resisted in every attack, so while the high lvls can kill you, you can't do squat to a high lvl. This really kills the PVP, as the low lvls have to keep picking through targets to see if they can even do any damage, and in a big battle you're going to be dead before you get that opportunity. I would like to just be able to hit TAB (target closest enemy) and start attacking. Because of this, I can't recommend the game to anybody especially for PVP reasons. But I am still having decent fun playing. It's too linear though in the gameplay, if you want alts, you will be doing the same quests in the same order, etc.

 

[JoshGuru7]

The artificial restrictions are necessary to Aion. Otherwise, a level 35 sorc could stack m.acc and end up able to consistently crowd control 50s. The game actually scales much slower than other games you may have played and the developers use the level restrictions to keep hard mobs hard and such. It's a design decision but I don't see a big difference personally between it and removing the restrictions but increasing the rate of stat increases instead.

I'm an ex-SWG player banking on SW:ToR because I really like Bioware's stuff. It won't be sandbox, it won't have much exploring, and it will feel like you're being run through the world on rails on a very set course. However, the action and story should be great and the idea of playing Co-op through KOTOR is extremely attractive to me. The biggest hurdle for SW:ToR to overcome will be the mix of melee/ranged combat which gamers have grown to love in their fantasy based MMO's. This is hard to implement in a sci-fi game (TKM were always a little silly in SWG) but the ability of a lightsaber to block a blaster bolt gives a jedi tank a semi-authentic feel to a damage sponge in a sci-fi setting.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the next LOTRO expansion. Turbine cannot release content quickly enough to keep power gamers from trying other MMOs but they do release high quality content and I bet a whole bunch of people will come back to LOTRO with the next expansion (for 3-4 months).

 

[danman00]

www.globalagendagame.com

MMORPG-FPS

I know I can't wait for it to come out. For more info you can look up some vids on youtube or whatever. I know you can play the FPS part for free but the MMORPG part is like 13$/month or w/e. Supposed to come out Feb 1st I believe.

 

[Jinru]

Personally I am concerned about old republic, I really want it to be great but I fear it will be WOW with light sabre's and a better story. I really want a mmo with 2 or 3 factions, pvp, free for all pvp and safe zones. Crafting to make good items and some form of consiquences for bad decisions plus some world shaping events every now and then.

Sounds like DarkFall Online would be perfect for you.

 

[KMFJD]

Sounds like DarkFall Online would be perfect for you.

If you like the fps style combat....

 

[Markbnj]

Been playing Aion since October, and I still like it quite a bit. Pros are great graphics, a fairly unique visual/atmospheric style, the flight mechanic, the Abyss, and the fact that the devs seem determined to keep the game a challenge. Cons are a small and fairly linear world, few dungeons, legions of profane, nerd-raging WoWtards, money sellers and bots. Probably my biggest gripe with the game outside of the constrained world is the lack of in-game GMs, broken forums, and lack of moderation on the forums. All in all, though, I'm enjoying it more than any game since DAoC.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I wish they'd do a DAOC 2 with AoC engine and without buffbots. That would make me splooge my shorts. Hopefully FFIV will be good and have enough English-speakers to keep me playing.

 

[SunnyD]

Fallen Earth. I finally "caved" and got a sub for it. If you liked SWG Pre-NGE, Fallen Earth is about as good as it gets. Pick up a 10-day trial key off their website and give it a try. Best/most immersive MMORPG I've ever played. Sure, it doesn't look pretty at first, but once you get into the whole theme of everything, it all just clicks.

 

[crownjules]

Jumpgate Evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpgate_Evolution

Space fighter MMO where you have full control of the ship unlike EvE.

Black Prophecy is the other offering in this category. And, assuming they can find a publisher sometime soon, it will be out way before JGE. They've pretty much stated that JGE is not fun and have to scrap most of the gameplay and rebuild it from the ground up.

Black Prophecy looks like it'll be a space sim MMO. Very promising.

 

[SunnyD]

Black Prophecy is the other offering in this category. And, assuming they can find a publisher sometime soon, it will be out way before JGE. They've pretty much stated that JGE is not fun and have to scrap most of the gameplay and rebuild it from the ground up.

Black Prophecy looks like it'll be a space sim MMO. Very promising.

BP won't need a publisher. I believe they'll be self-publishing it. To be honest, BP sounds like Privateer/Freelancer on MMO-steroids, and I can't wait.

JGE... their lead dev finally left and they've gone dark since announcing beta signups last year for a beta that hasn't happened.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Ffxiv

 

[pathos]

Been playing Aion since October, and I still like it quite a bit. Pros are great graphics, a fairly unique visual/atmospheric style, the flight mechanic, the Abyss, and the fact that the devs seem determined to keep the game a challenge. Cons are a small and fairly linear world, few dungeons, legions of profane, nerd-raging WoWtards, money sellers and bots. Probably my biggest gripe with the game outside of the constrained world is the lack of in-game GMs, broken forums, and lack of moderation on the forums. All in all, though, I'm enjoying it more than any game since DAoC.

I'm still playing Aion too, and I don't even care for pvp. That usually generates the question, "why are you playing aion when you don't like pvp?". The answer is, I like the rest of the game enough to get over it.

But, I'm still low level, since I'm a - taking my time, and b - playing all 8 characters on my account at the same time. Currently have 7 level 24's, and 1 level 23.

Probably my only problem with what I've seen of the game is rifting (big surprise, given my pvp revulsion). But, mostly because of the frequency. It gets a bit hard to actually level up when you're level 20 area to hunt in constantly has level 35+'s from the opposing faction killing you every time you turn around.

I'd expect that in the abyss, but I was not expecting it in Morheim.

My solution is usually just go to the secondary area for my level (which name currently escapes me) and grind for a bit, since it has much less rifters (if any, I haven't seen one yet).

 

[Malladine]

... I could recommend Ryzom ...

People playing that much? I downloaded the trial a couple of weeks back but haven't done much except create a character and log in.

Far as unreleased MMOs go, i'm waiting to see how these work out:

Final Fantasy XIV
Star Wars the Old Republic
Star Trek Online

tbh i'm not really all that excited about any of them though.

Recently I played Fallen Earth, I lasted about 3 months before it started to get old. I played EVE before that, for not much longer, maybe 5 months.

 

[Peteraleseetly]

A little backstory: FFXI was the first MMORPG I played back when it was released here in Europe , and I loved it. I loved the long traveling-times, I loved the slow exping, I even loved the harshness of the whole experience. I quit a bit before I moved away from home, but it was never for good, as I found myself re-activating my account several times, and then quitting again. Since then, I have tried almost every major MMORPG on the market ranging from Vanguard to World of WarCraft , but none of them had the magic of FFXI as far as I was concerned.

Recently a friend of mine found a banner for the 14-day-trial, and decided to give it a try. He had never played the game before, but it didnt take long for him to start liking it. Suffice to say that the decision to return to the world of VanaDiel wasnt difficult to make for me as I have a good bit of free time in my life right now, and a long summer-vacation ahead , and I hopped in once again. This time, though, on a new account, so I began from a clean slate.

Me and my friends play on CaitSith, and I have to say that SE has really improved the game. Its 100x times easier to solo, you get decent exp from easy mobs, you can even skip Valkurm Dunes if you feel like it, and theres the "level sync" -feature which makes partying that much easier to arrange. Im really loving it so far, and I think that Im in it to stay for good this time. Meaning that I will probably play FFXI until SE closes the servers or releases their new MMORPG. Or... If Biowares Star Wars MMORPG turns out good... But still, for the foreseeable future, at least.

So, all Im asking is... Do any GAFfers still play? Are there GAFfers who have played the game, and share my sentimental broodings about the greatness of it?

 

[KMFJD]

The artificial restrictions are necessary to Aion. Otherwise, a level 35 sorc could stack m.acc and end up able to consistently crowd control 50s. The game actually scales much slower than other games you may have played and the developers use the level restrictions to keep hard mobs hard and such. It's a design decision but I don't see a big difference personally between it and removing the restrictions but increasing the rate of stat increases instead.

.

This is one of the things that i hate about Aion, unless you are within 5-6? levels you don't stand a chance, might as well wait until lvl 45 to even attempt pvp, if you get attacked by someone 6 levels higher just go afk because the outcome will be the same...

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

The only one that I have my eye on right now is the Bioware Star Wars MMO. But, so many possible WoW killers have been buggy and/or crappy nightmares upon release that do not get good until about a year or more after the release, after almost everyone has left. They need longer development cycles / funding than most investors are willing to commit. Very high risk.

This.

I have my eyes on the KOTOR MMO and Final Fantasy XIV, but it is still too early to tell if they will be any good, so I'm not really expecting anything new or great any time soon.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I would prefer a MMORPG balanced for PVE, with no thought given to PVP.

This as well. "PVP Balance" has so borked up WOW PVE; it is ridiculous.

 

[damocles]

This as well. "PVP Balance" has so borked up WOW PVE; it is ridiculous.

Agreed. I love PVP but once Blizzard started PVP balancing the game went into a death spiral (for me).

EQ2 was actually better than I expected. LOTRO was well done but not for me.

I'd prefer a more hardcore PVE game (by hardcore - I mean including time sinks such as alternative advancement points, gratuitious tradeskilling, full-on raiding and death penalties such as in EQ). I know I am in the minority but I can't be alone. EQ still has a loyal fanbase.

 

[Genx87]

How can people not be interested in a game like this?

http://hi-rez.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/72/session/L3NpZC9OODZHUUxSag==

Love that hahaha

 

[bullbert]

I have my eyes on the KOTOR MMO and Final Fantasy XIV, but it is still too early to tell if they will be any good, so I'm not really expecting anything new or great any time soon.

the new "KOTOR" mmo Star Wars The Old Republic has not even gone into closed beta yet, but closed beta applications were started last fall. Lots of people drooling over the Sith classes and non-jedi bad guy classes.

Bad boys get all the chicks.

To me, somewhere between Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Good sounds like a fun way to play any MMO. I have not read enough to know if I can be a Chaotic Neutral Jedi without facing consequences, though. I am sure I could be a Chaotic Neutral Smuggler and/or Bounty Hunter, though, but those might just be more of a support class for alternate toons to earn money for keep my primary Jedi/Sith class toon out of the red (in the black).

 

[terry107]

I am intrigued by APB. Looks like it has the potential to be a lot of fun.

 

[heat901]

Black Prophecy is the other offering in this category. And, assuming they can find a publisher sometime soon, it will be out way before JGE. They've pretty much stated that JGE is not fun and have to scrap most of the gameplay and rebuild it from the ground up.

Black Prophecy looks like it'll be a space sim MMO. Very promising.

Im waiting for this as well...sigh they dont send me any beta love....

 

[JoshGuru7]

I'd prefer a more hardcore PVE game (by hardcore - I mean including time sinks such as alternative advancement points, gratuitious tradeskilling, full-on raiding and death penalties such as in EQ). I know I am in the minority but I can't be alone. EQ still has a loyal fanbase.

Plenty of people say they want this but hardcore oriented offerings just get killed by casual friendly MMOs. Grinding and death penalty have both become sharply negative terms - look at the reaction to Darkfall Online and most recently Aion.

 

[damocles]

Plenty of people say they want this but hardcore oriented offerings just get killed by casual friendly MMOs. Grinding and death penalty have both become sharply negative terms - look at the reaction to Darkfall Online and most recently Aion.

I agree. However most people tend to equate hardcore with PVP. I want a hardcore PVE game where you can invest in the character etc. EQ still survives in some ways because of this.

The hard part is to build a sufficiently compelling game upon release and cater for a realistic fanbase.

 

[pathos]

I agree. However most people tend to equate hardcore with PVP. I want a hardcore PVE game where you can invest in the character etc. EQ still survives in some ways because of this.

The hard part is to build a sufficiently compelling game upon release and cater for a realistic fanbase.

Vanguard tried this. Unfortunately, it wasn't implemented very well when released, and failed pretty hard.

I'm still sort of fond of Vanguard for trying, though.