The curse of getting older is that i want more from my games now. I no longer enjoy mindless leveling, or leveling much for that matter. But i enjoy the social aspect of mmos, and questing (if its a good story). I need a good mmo to play that encourages roleplaying and has a very good gripping storyline, that is constant, not some every 5 levels storyline bullshit.  Ive enjoyed games like Face of Mankins (before they fuked it up, back when you cold drop items, and majority of players actually enjoyed roleplaying.) Guildwars when it first came out, i loved the first storyline, it was an amazing story imo, for an mmo. 

I do love to roleplay but i find it lacking when you have to level, or do endgame instances. I enjoy MMOs that don't have much leveling or epic gear, that put you into the game and you go through a storyline or create your own with fellow players, and its mostly based on skill.

I havn't seen a really good roleplaying/ a game with a great storyline   in forever, please help me find one. 

Thanks. 

You mentioned guildwars- all I can think of is the 2 new campaigns and the EoTN expansion ;)

You mean a heavy lore based game?

Maybe Aion will have it, I really like games that use cut-scenes like guild wars did, I heard Aion will use them too.

Have you done all 3 guild wars campaigns?

Also, I like to read the Vanguard quests, the lore is pretty cool on some, shrug, if you like to read little quests they're hella fun.

I tried vanguard, it felt to lonley, and the quests felt like i was grinding. I have tried the 2nd guildwars expansion, but i just could not get into the story, seemed rather sloppy.

You coudl call it a heavy lore based game, but you would have to be carful with that, as just becasue it has a lot of lore does not mean much, for example, wow has a huge huge lore base, yet there is no continuing storyline throughout the entire game, and the entire game feels like a quest grind, to meet an endgame where you grind for gear. Anyone who possibly roleplays in wow i salute you.

Well so far the best RP I've found in any MMO is on the Landroval server of LoTRO. If you like Tolkien at all it's pretty fun to wander around the world. It's a fairly good looking game without being terribly hardware intensive. There is a main epic story line that isn't too shabby, and you can get to all the main cities early on with the exception of Rivendell, but even that isn't too hard to reach. If you are going for mostly social about the only level you would really want to reach is 20 to open up two extra social clothing spots, and maybe grind a couple of gold after that to purchase a house somewhere. PvP is confined to one area so if you aren't big into that it can be a plus not to have to worry about getting ganked everywhere you go. The game play and character creation aren't anything spectacular, but they aren't horrible either.  It does have a free trial, 7 days I think, if you are looking for RP I'd check it out.

What you are asking for sounds a bit like a single player game.  I do enjoy roleplaying a lot and I'm interested in quests, but not the kind of quests that they are handing out in MMOs these days with '!' and '?' and 'X'.  Not quests that say kill 'X' and bring 'Y' to 'X'.  It would be nice if the quests were a little more sporatic in nature and didn't always start with an NPC querrying you to do something for them.  Warhammer seems to have some new ideas, but I haven't been able to get into the beta so I don't know if it's any good.

Id say it does get close to what a single player game is, but its mmo. Tbh the best fun i ever had in a game, was on a persistant world moduel for nwn (which basically turns nwn into a mini mmo) The roleplaying was amazing no matter what lvl you are, what i am having trouble with is, i want to roleplay and yet mmos these days make it so hard. And it has been ages since i have seen an mmo run a story line event. I don;t mean some crappy as wow bullshit event. I mean where gms hop on premade characters out and have a story unfold in front of the players. I have not seen that done in forever. All it seems developers care about now days is end game raiding and pvp. Where is the love for ppl who love to be pulled into a story, and cant stop playing because they want to know what happens next.

And as much as i love storyline i can't give up mmos, because NPCs are no fun, they are always easy to predict.

Originally posted by endermorgan

The curse of getting older is that i want more from my games now. I no longer enjoy mindless leveling, or leveling much for that matter. But i enjoy the social aspect of mmos, and questing (if its a good story). I need a good mmo to play that encourages roleplaying and has a very good gripping storyline, that is constant, not some every 5 levels storyline bullshit.  Ive enjoyed games like Face of Mankins (before they fuked it up, back when you cold drop items, and majority of players actually enjoyed roleplaying.) Guildwars when it first came out, i loved the first storyline, it was an amazing story imo, for an mmo. 

I do love to roleplay but i find it lacking when you have to level, or do endgame instances. I enjoy MMOs that don't have much leveling or epic gear, that put you into the game and you go through a storyline or create your own with fellow players, and its mostly based on skill.

I havn't seen a really good roleplaying/ a game with a great storyline   in forever, please help me find one. 

 

Thanks. 

www.citadelofsorcery.com 

It's really that next big questing experience.  It is currently in development.

is that...?  however, i like storyline very much. if the storyline of some game is good, i will stick to playing it for a long time..on the other hand...maybe stop..

My opinion is that "storyline" quests and roleplaying don't mix. Storyline quests usually only make sense if just one person ever does them. But the reality is that thousands of people save the same town over and over again. They get the same speeches, the same experiences, and the same gratitude. Storyline quests are for single-player games, not MMORPGs...at least, not MMORPGs that actually care about roleplay-conducive consistency and logic.

This opinion might not be understandable unless one places it on the foundation of a particular definition of roleplaying: in a massively multiplayer online environment, playing a role is not sufficient - instead, in-character interaction between players, the game world, and each other is the primary factor.

In replacement of "storyline" quests, I suggest live storyline events that have persistent effects on lore that evolves over the course of the game's existence. This isn't a new idea, it's been done in Horizons/Istaria and Ryzom, just to name two (there have been others no doubt, but I'm less familiar with them).
In Istaria, for example, two playable races and a racial capital city were unlocked in events.
The lore on Ryzom's website depicts the playable races' perspectives on what they think they know about their world, not necessarily the truth of the backstory. From there, that lore would've been updated to reflect the state of the races' knowledge as they uncovered fragments of their past, understanding of their present, and inklings of their future. Furthermore, the lore progress would differ between servers.

With live storyline events, your character has unique experiences that they can tell stories about to their metaphorical (or literal) grandchildren. Epicness is justified and genuine, requiring no exorbitant suspension of disbelief. Though not everyone gets to participate in every event, there are always more to look forward to (unless, as in the cases of Ryzom and Istaria, bad companies take over and neglect the game; note however that Istaria is now under the care of a fine company who are already getting their feet wet in running events, releasing more lore, and providing lore-grounded explanations for mechanics changes).

Ultimately, what I want, as a roleplayer and a sandbox enjoyer, is a storyline implementation that fits in the persistent massively-multiplayer environment instead of being an ill-conceived port from the single-player realm.

You should try playing Final Fantasy XI, fantastic lore and the quests are not kill number of monsters and collect number of drops then return.  The missions given to you in the game revolve around the storyline of Final Fantasy XI.  Within each mission given to you, it unravels a part in the FFXI storyline and you find out more about Vana D'iel(name of the world in FFXI).  After you finish the main storyline then you have 4 other expansions with new storylines you can also finish.  The game, in my opinion, would make a great mmo to role play in but i haven't found many people that role play.  You can still try to find some people though, im pretty sure theres a lot of people in FFXI that are willing to RP.  

Originally posted by endermorgan

The curse of getting older is that i want more from my games now. I no longer enjoy mindless leveling, or leveling much for that matter. But i enjoy the social aspect of mmos, and questing (if its a good story). I need a good mmo to play that encourages roleplaying and has a very good gripping storyline, that is constant, not some every 5 levels storyline bullshit.  Ive enjoyed games like Face of Mankins (before they fuked it up, back when you cold drop items, and majority of players actually enjoyed roleplaying.) Guildwars when it first came out, i loved the first storyline, it was an amazing story imo, for an mmo. 

I do love to roleplay but i find it lacking when you have to level, or do endgame instances. I enjoy MMOs that don't have much leveling or epic gear, that put you into the game and you go through a storyline or create your own with fellow players, and its mostly based on skill.

I havn't seen a really good roleplaying/ a game with a great storyline   in forever, please help me find one. 

 

Thanks. 

1-Guild Wars new chapters.

2-Age of Conan on a PvE server.( as any fresh release it has bugs, but if you focus on PvE you will find tons of really good storylines and RPG feeling, but if you are not up to stand the typical fresh release issues, I would recommend wait a couple of months, anyway, it is the only Low Fantasy story driven MMO )

3-Dungeons and Dragons online

4-Final Fantasy online - but maybe the leveling and grind wont please you

5-If you forget the social side, The Witcher (if you enjoy RPGs, please get this one)

...

I'd have to say, try Age of Conan for some nice story telling.  The game is buggy as heck right now, but the story follows the Conan comics and novel's lore to the letter.  You will be very impressed with the beginners area.  Many quest that all relate to main story and make sense.

If you want an action game and like PvP: go for AoC

If you want a slower paced game and dont like bugs: go for LotrO

:)

Well Papadam, both Guild Wars and Age of Conan have fast pvp but they also have a lot of pve and they are heavily storydriven games, this is why I recomended a pve sever.

In the end both Guild Wars and Age of Conan are not exacly action games...I think Guild Wars is the only mmo I experienced at the release that was bug-free... but yes, games like Lotro and EQ2 are pretty much bug free now.

...

Originally posted by Umbral

 

Well Papadam, both Guild Wars and Age of Conan have fast pvp but they also have a lot of pve and they are heavily storydriven games, this is why I recomended a pve sever.

In the end both Guild Wars and Age of Conan are not exacly action games...I think Guild Wars is the only mmo I experienced at the release that was bug-free... but yes, games like Lotro and EQ2 are pretty much bug free now.

...

Ah Umbral not you again ;)

I didnt say that AoC isnt a storydriven game (as we have discussed before), I meant both games are story and lore driven with lots of PvE but the main difference between AoC and LotrO is that they have different pace and AoC focus alot more on PvP! Personaly I think that one of thoose games seems like the best fit for the OP, thats all I was trying to say :)

Dont know about Guild wars since I havent played it but Ive heard its a good game!

Originally posted by Papadam

Originally posted by Umbral

 

Well Papadam, both Guild Wars and Age of Conan have fast pvp but they also have a lot of pve and they are heavily storydriven games, this is why I recomended a pve sever.

In the end both Guild Wars and Age of Conan are not exacly action games...I think Guild Wars is the only mmo I experienced at the release that was bug-free... but yes, games like Lotro and EQ2 are pretty much bug free now.

...

 

Ah Umbral not you again ;)

I didnt say that AoC isnt a storydriven game (as we have discussed before), I meant both games are story and lore driven with lots of PvE but the main difference between AoC and LotrO is that they have different pace and AoC focus alot more on PvP! Personaly I think that one of thoose games seems like the best fit for the OP, thats all I was trying to say :)

 

Dont know about Guild wars since I havent played it but Ive heard its a good game!

hehe, hey Papadam...

Yes, Lotro is more storydriven than Vanguard, WoW or Everquest, but AoC and GW are a bit more... I think the OP should try all of them.

Guild Wars is a very good game ( maybe a bit old now ), my favorite is the first one (Prophecies), the game does has a short life, but it is a very good experience if you enjoy rpg games.

The main issue of Guild Wars is the community, very rude ( same with Lineage 2) and usually bad players, there are some very hard moments in Guild Wars, so it is the kind of game you should enjoy with a couple of real life friends and good players.

...

If what you're looking for is a roleplaying game and consider that to outweigh short leveling, little focus on gear and good storyline and quests then you should not give Guild Wars a try again. Roleplaying in Guild Wars hardly exists at all and will be ruined by all players running around screaming various illogical non-roleplaying comments in general chat. If you however feel you can sacrifice that in favor of other aspects then I would urge you to give Guild Wars a try; and Prophecies is the campaign you should try since it got the best storyline and longest one.

If you consider roleplaying and good storyline and quests to outweigh leveling and gear then I think Lord of the Rings Online may be a good game to try. I only reached a quite low level when trying it, but from what I saw then and have heard from others the storyline and quests were good and roleplaying was easy in the game.

Originally posted by katriell

My opinion is that "storyline" quests and roleplaying don't mix. Storyline quests usually only make sense if just one person ever does them. But the reality is that thousands of people save the same town over and over again. They get the same speeches, the same experiences, and the same gratitude. Storyline quests are for single-player games, not MMORPGs...at least, not MMORPGs that actually care about roleplay-conducive consistency and logic.

This opinion might not be understandable unless one places it on the foundation of a particular definition of roleplaying: in a massively multiplayer online environment, playing a role is not sufficient - instead, in-character interaction between players, the game world, and each other is the primary factor.

In replacement of "storyline" quests, I suggest live storyline events that have persistent effects on lore that evolves over the course of the game's existence. This isn't a new idea, it's been done in Horizons/Istaria and Ryzom, just to name two (there have been others no doubt, but I'm less familiar with them).
In Istaria, for example, two playable races and a racial capital city were unlocked in events.
The lore on Ryzom's website depicts the playable races' perspectives on what they think they know about their world, not necessarily the truth of the backstory. From there, that lore would've been updated to reflect the state of the races' knowledge as they uncovered fragments of their past, understanding of their present, and inklings of their future. Furthermore, the lore progress would differ between servers.

With live storyline events, your character has unique experiences that they can tell stories about to their metaphorical (or literal) grandchildren. Epicness is justified and genuine, requiring no exorbitant suspension of disbelief. Though not everyone gets to participate in every event, there are always more to look forward to (unless, as in the cases of Ryzom and Istaria, bad companies take over and neglect the game; note however that Istaria is now under the care of a fine company who are already getting their feet wet in running events, releasing more lore, and providing lore-grounded explanations for mechanics changes).

Ultimately, what I want, as a roleplayer and a sandbox enjoyer, is a storyline implementation that fits in the persistent massively-multiplayer environment instead of being an ill-conceived port from the single-player realm.

I think Asherons Call has a monthly storyline update.

I am also looking for one with a very active storyline. Means every few days some new events to advance the story. If possible with human gms advancing the storyline and giving it a human touch instead of the automated feel.