Hey there folks. In my quest (yes I know, cliche) to find my perfect MMO I have gone through many different games to try to satisfy my urges. Among the things I look for in an MMO, roleplaying is one of the biggest factors for me. The problem however is that you can't truly know unless you play a game or have some really good reviews out there.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find solid reviews or been able to experience every single MMO. So I ask for some opinions. I'll list a few major things I'd like in an MMO and we'll see if anyone can tell me if anything like what I want exists.

Major Factors (Most to least important):

Roleplay: Solid and mature roleplay with a point and a purpose. Not movie-based fanplays. Genre doesn't matter.

Immersion: Seamless world that doesn't feel fake, cartoony and compact. I prefer HUGE landscapes that seem to have no real boundary. Believable NPCs; can be fully voiced or not, doesn't matter.

Combat: Fluid and enjoyable combat with the perfect balance of action and ease; not tedious button mashing. Would love combat that required skill (FPS/TPS) but I know that's hard to find.

Skill-based Progression: Definitely love this, not sure if anything's out there.

Soloability: I enjoy doing a lot of solo stuff when I can but usually because group stuff usually involved a dungeon crawl or some tedious activity.

PVP: Involved PVP that requires some skill, no-BS like WoW. FFA full loot is fine.

PVE: Been there, done that. Don't like dungeon crawls or raids for a small chance of getting gear. I like easily obtainable equipment that doesn't require rep grinds and such. I like to pay in cash (in-game currency).

So that's about it. Mainly I need RP and immersion but the above factors are still major things I need/want. Thanks in advance for the help!

Sounds like EQ1 is your game, most mature community I've ever found especially on test server where all expansions are unlocked. You can solo EASILY now with the new mercenary system, however the major downfall is pvp, or lack there of...

Either way, I'd look into a guild called Unintended Consequences. They basically roleplay a group of time warped adventurers who are stuck in older expansions progressing their way through as if it were new.

Is it anything like EQ2 because I really did not like it at all...

DnD online is so accurate with what you asked for it's actually kind of creepy.

This game is nothing like Neverwinter Nights in terms of gameplay. Instead of "click your move for this round of combat", you click the left mouse button to take a swing. This swing may or may not hit, depending on how far away the object is and what you rolled for that swing (rolls are automatic), as well as if you actually bothered to aim at the damn thing. You can also dodge and block attacks with the shift key. Skill is important in the game because of the large number of enemies you may face against. If you don't predict your enemies' attacks, the damage dealt on you will gradually increase until the final boss deals the finishing blow.

In terms of role playing and immersion, this is DnD. If it didn't have a story that lived up to the franchise's great reputation, Gary Gygax would cry.

It's well worth the $15 a month. You ought to try the 10 day trial, at the very least.

You might like Lord of the Rings online...there is a server for RP

Actually, eq1 is pretty much completely different except for the name of the classes and the lore. On eq1 your combat pace is significantly slower, but more effective. You have like 2500 aa's possible, where in eq2 you got what 60?

Eq1 will take you a SIGNIFICANT amount of time to reach the cap level or if like I recommended on test it will still take you longer than eq2 with double exp. So, you're sure to not run out of content too quickly. As for eq1 vs eq2 they deffinitly have better quests in eq2 but eq1 has better dungeon crawls and much larger zones.

Like I said it's 14$ to try out the test server and see what you think, you've already got a guild that would probably accept you and rps actively.

Unfortunately what you are describing is Asheron's Call and its too dated now to matter. All the games with wide open immersive worlds have crappy combat systems.

Darkfall is close to what you're saying as well, but it will most likely be underdeveloped for the next year.

The Chronicles of Spellborn is real close as well. Its immersive, has fast and fluid combat, is player skill rather than gear based, has an interesting take on PvP, but it still falls into some of the same trappings as other MMOG's. Its still a level and quest grind, has some low budget rough edges, and isn't even released yet.

D&D Online is a close fit as well. The combat system is the best on the market. Its the perfect mix of player skill, player knowledge, and character attributes. The dungeons (which is 99% of the game) are immersive and conducive to RP. The world is cramped and mostly instanced though. You also won't find much solo content.

you could look into planeshift, a 100% free game but not sure where it is in development, although it is playable just not sure if it's playable beta or alpha atm(it's open source)

Mabinogi may fit what you are looking for.  At the very least, it is genuinely different gameplay experience than pretty much anything else on the market.  What follows is a detailed and, I hope, relatively unbiased response to each of your points.

For your first point, I'm not really sure how to evaluate it.  Too much of it depends entirely on the group of people you end up playing with.  Of the games I've played, I think Mabinogi is one of the better ones for RP, but given the other things I've played, that might not be saying too much.

The current world is rather small and compact.  It does sort of feel like most of the world is there only to separate the towns and dungeons from each other.  However, sometime in the next month a large series of patches should be rolling out that will introduce an entire new continent several times the size of the existing game world and specifically designed to encourage exploration.  (You can even earn exploration levels by running around and do nothing but finding buried treasure, odd statues, and sketching monsters.)

The NPCs are actually the best I've seen in an MMO so far.  While they're all nailed to the ground like in every other MMO, you have a large list of keywords to talk about and the vast majority respond well, and occasionally humurously, to them.  A fair number also have their own stories where when certain conditions are met, you can run through one of the dungeons AS that NPC and see an important event in their life unfold.  (The time Tir's magic teacher got horribly drunk and wanted to proove she was OK by killing the giant spide, how a red spider got to be the gigantic size it is and guard Alby dungeon, etc.)

Combat is NOT auto attack based.  Trying that will land you on the floor in a heap for anything that you can't kill in three hits.  Instead, the best strategy involves learning the patterns unique to each family of monster and making very good guesses about exactly which skill they will use next.  Some people play have played since the time the game was released and still cannot clear some of the basic dungeons without constantly dying.

The character advancement is skill based.  While the game has levels, they are almost irrelevant.  The main purpose of leveling is to get the points you can spend on getting skills.  (The skills require a combination of skill points and actual use in order to advance.)

If you know what you're doing, almost all of the dungeons can be soloed.  However, the game does encourage you to bring other people along.  It helps dealing with multi-aggro, bandaging other people is more effective than bandaging yourself, the XP penalty for being revived by antoher player is much smaller than reviving in town, etc.

PvP is mostly just through goofing around in the Arenas.  There is also faction based, open world PvP that players can opt into.  (Giants vs Elves, with humans getting the choice of who they support; and Paladins vs Dark Knights, humans being the only race that can be either of those)  I believe there is no real reward and this probably isn't one of the games stronger points.

Nealy all leveling will be done through dungeon runs.  It is hands down way more effcient than grinding in the open world.  Pretty much all of the best equipment is player crafted.  The best rewards from dungeons are typically unique items (They look different, but their stats are the same as anything you could make.) and enchant scrolls.  Ignoring the drop rates for the pages needed to learn the advanced magics, the drop rate is usually pretty good and it only takes a small number of runs to get what you wanted.

Their is no mechanism in game for forming raids and there are no raid instances.  The only time that number of people might be involved is when attempting to kill dragons and other field bosses.

Some nice responses here. Not sure if I'm game for EQ1, DnD looks decent but I'm thoroughly done with dungeon crawls/instances so probably a no go there. Asheron's Call is indeed too dated for me and LoTRO I have already played (don't want movie RP).

I'll list all of the MMOs I have tried, so nobody repeats them:

ArchLord, Auto Assault, Cabal Online, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Entropia Universe, EVE Online, EverQuest II, Furcadia, Guild Wars, HellGate: London, KALOnline, Lineage 2, Lord of the Rings Online, Perfect World International, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Requiem, RF Online, Runes of Magic, Runescape, Second Life, Tabula Rasa, The Matrix Online, Tibia, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning and World of Warcraft.

Betas I'm part of:

Fallen Earth (Can't mention anything due to NDA).

I just need something to tide me over until the release of Darkfall, Fallen Earth, Earthrise or Champions Online.

I'd love some input on what Planeshift is like, it sounds sort of interesting. I'd heard though that it's more like a playable alpha and that even some races lack a male or female version.

I would have to say try Face of Mankind when it gets going again, shouldn't be to much longer.

Before it had lots of roleplay since everything is done by the players as in the main factions are controled by people, items, law enforcement, training, every thing from the players.

It is a FPS style of game so its not just siting and pressing number keys over and over.

The factions had lots of PvP depending on what faction you picked with them fighting over differnt areas.

Only thing is i dont remember the areas being massive they seemed fine to me tho.

Things could be differnt with the re-release tho since they said they were reworking some things to try and make the game better but i dont remember reading anything saying to what was being changed.

SWG used to have good roleplay but i'm not sure if it still does since i havn't played the game since they did the massive change to it.

I've been kind of watching FoM and will be trying it out when it goes into beta but we'll have to see what it's like at that point.

I need something to play now though while I wait for anything potentially awesome.

you could give bounty bay a look if you don't mind f2p boating with IM/cash shop

Try Age of Conan. RP is serious stuff there. (I did not read the whole thread seeing as I'm tired as hell, but for RP alone AoC is a nice game).

LotrO!

My AoC account is still active actually but while I played I wasn't seeing any RP. Not sure if I want to go back... As I said too, movie based RP is not my thing.

Have you tried Reality?

Roleplay to your hearts content.  Be whatever you want to be.

It has a seamless world with HUGE landscapes.  And the NPC's talk!

Combat.  Well there's paintball for that true adrenaline rush!

Skillbased.  Definitely.  The more skills you have the better you will do and the more loot you will aquire.

Solo, sure, but its more fun with a friend, preferably of the oppsite sex.

PvP.   See paintball above.  Or sports in particular, martial arts.

Seems to fit all your requirements quite nicely!  

Originally posted by Boneserino

Have you tried Reality?

Roleplay to your hearts content.  Be whatever you want to be.

It has a seamless world with HUGE landscapes.  And the NPC's talk!

Combat.  Well there's paintball for that true adrenaline rush!

Skillbased.  Definitely.  The more skills you have the better you will do and the more loot you will aquire.

Solo, sure, but its more fun with a friend, preferably of the oppsite sex.

PvP.   See paintball above.  Or sports in particular, martial arts.

Seems to fit all your requirements quite nicely!  

 

What to say to this... I work, I socialize at various gatherings, eat out, sleep and am not suffering from lack of sex so uh, tried it, liked it, thanks though.

I'm not looking for an MMO because I have no life or do nothing in my spare time but game, I am looking for an MMO because there are times when I honestly have nothing else better to do. That being said, I hope you understand. Oh and for the record, I'm an avid 'baller and airsoft enthusiast and agree that it's the ultimate PvP experience...

Originally posted by Mystik86

Originally posted by Boneserino

Have you tried Reality?

Roleplay to your hearts content.  Be whatever you want to be.

It has a seamless world with HUGE landscapes.  And the NPC's talk!

Combat.  Well there's paintball for that true adrenaline rush!

Skillbased.  Definitely.  The more skills you have the better you will do and the more loot you will aquire.

Solo, sure, but its more fun with a friend, preferably of the oppsite sex.

PvP.   See paintball above.  Or sports in particular, martial arts.

Seems to fit all your requirements quite nicely!  

 

 

What to say to this... I work, I socialize at various gatherings, eat out, sleep and am not suffering from lack of sex so uh, tried it, liked it, thanks though.

I'm not looking for an MMO because I have no life or do nothing in my spare time but game, I am looking for an MMO because there are times when I honestly have nothing else better to do. That being said, I hope you understand. Oh and for the record, I'm an avid 'baller and airsoft enthusiast and agree that it's the ultimate PvP experience...

I hear ya friend.

It's just that I looked at the list of games you played and I counted 30 games!  Am I correct to assume that in all of those games you found at least one thing you didn't like about them?

So if you tried 30 or so MMO's and couldn't find that next "awesome" game, what makes you think you will find it here?

Because what you really what is a VR world. (Cmon admit it)  You and everyone else on these boards including me.  I'm hoping to see it in my lifetime but I'm a little more mature (in the age sense anyway ) so it may not happen.

Personally I think it is going to take VR glasses to really give us the immersion feel we crave.  Plus a lot of motion sensitive peripherals like the WII.   And finally some buttkickin PC power and memory to run the whole thing.  Man, then it will be so good we won't want to leave.  Gonna take a crapload of balls and money for someone to develop it tho.

Point of my rant is,  we gotta make the best of what we got now.    These are just games after all.  Every game has good points and bad.  Why are we always dwelling on the bad?  Enjoy whats good and if it bores you then move on and try something else.  

By the way, how much time did you spend playing those games, on average, and what was your fav and least fav games? 

Originally posted by Mystik86

My AoC account is still active actually but while I played I wasn't seeing any RP. Not sure if I want to go back... As I said too, movie based RP is not my thing.

AoC isn't a movie, it's a comic book series. I haven't read any of the comic books and I get along fine in RP.

I think Mystik is referring to the Conan movies that gave the Guvinator (Ahnuld) his first big break in Hollywood.

But the movies were based on the comics as you say, I believe.

Heck, what isn't these days it seems.

I keep considering playing AoC again but I know in my heart it isn't exactly what I want. Idealy I'd like an MMO set in the Elder Scrolls universe with the same skill based/open-ended/FPS style combat and a huge roleplay following. Sadly there's no official plans to make a TES MMO (though a Fallout MMO is on the horizon) and I haven't seen any MMO come close to the caliber of the Elder Scrolls.

I guess I am destined to either quit MMOs for good or to keep playing complete trash...

Wait for Mortal Online, like me!

I'm actually waiting on Earthrise above all else. For some reason it looks like it may come close to what I am badly in need of. I will say though that after checking out Mortal Online it does look very promising. I just wish all these amazing new MMOs would hurry up and release!