Not sure if its just a bad memory and things wern't actually like this, or what. But I miss the old school MMO's the ones where you would start and have fun in, the ones that you have play'd for 6 months and you have barly scratched the surface of.

FFXI was my favorit I play'd that for 2 years and still didn't level cap or get even close to the best loot, my crafting profesion was still low. But I have fun for 2 YEARS!

Finaly I had to quit because it was consuming to much of my life (trying to finish high school).

But now I long for somthing like that again, somthing where i'll start playing the game and be like "yeah I could deffinitly play this for the next couple of years"

Not like WoW, I caped 2 char. in 6 months and capped 4 crafting profesions. I had a friend who was doing leather work, and with about 1.2k gold he capped engineering in about a day and a half.

I want somthing that I can invest my time in and know its going to be worth somthing in a year or whatever. I guess i'm a long term player, I have a hard time switching games really fast, or trying to play 2 games at the same time (like have a WoW acount and a AoC acount at the same time)

I dunno...maybe its my faulty memory :S

I guess you've never tried Asheron's Call?

They're close to their 10th year anniversary and will be releasing new skills like dual-wield and gearcrafting.

New content every month, ongoing storyline that you participate in. I'm back in their world after 7 years away, and having an absolute blast. Check it out....

 I'm sorry, but did you read the "MMOs that need remakes" article? AC was on there for good reason. It was a cool game in it's day, but if you're going to deal with an interface/graphics like that, and the sparce population, and the ageing engine, etc etc you may as well start looking into MUDs. If AC2 had not been a technical disaster, it probably would have been a great game. But as great as AC WAS even heroes grow old. 

Well, if FFXIV won't give you that kind of long term experience, I doubt nothing will. I'm hoping for the same thing, fingers crossed!

I'm also waiting, I played SWG for over two years, then went to WoW for two years. It's been over two years now since I quit WoW and still can't find that one game for me. I know I'll never play a game again ran by SOE again. Right now i am waiting for FF XIV and SWTOR. Those are my last hopes. After that I don't see anything that will interest me at all, so I hope those are keepers.

Cool thread.  I also miss the "longer" term mmos, and the concept is something I think is missing in modern mmos.  However, our wait may not be in vain.  In the time that it takes for the next good longer term mmo (if such a thing will ever exist), many concepts will have been tried out (well, at least linear concepts), and the developers can pick and choose those concepts that work best.  I think we would agree that next generation game will be less grindy and larger in scope, utilizing the right amount of repeatable content mixed with dynamic and new content.

Originally posted by jt_too

I guess you've never tried Asheron's Call?

They're close to their 10th year anniversary and will be releasing new skills like dual-wield and gearcrafting.

New content every month, ongoing storyline that you participate in. I'm back in their world after 7 years away, and having an absolute blast. Check it out....

Yeah to be honest its a little old for me to get into at this point, I don't think that graphics are the main part of gameplay, but at the same time there is a point where its just hard to get into.

And along with another poster yeah FFXIV is what i'm waiting for *crosses fingers*

If you want a game for the longterm, try Eve online or Ryzom.

Edit: to give a bit of perspective, 5000 of the players who subscribed to Eve at launch in 2003 are still playing. Original takeup 25k, current subscriptions 300k+, in one world, even at the low pop times you have approximately 12-15k people playing alongside you.

If you want a game with long-term commitment, EVE definitely has that. Skills train over time, and the possibilities for your character are limitless.

I was like the OP, then found EVE about 2.5 yrs ago.

Still going strong and its almost the longest stint I've played in any game.

 Try FE.  They are fixing all of the performance issues day by day and the gameplay and diversity of character developments that are possible are going to take you a long long time to get through.  Very fun game so far and I can't see any reason for it to not hold my attention.

Originally posted by cshanor

If you want a game with long-term commitment, EVE definitely has that. Skills train over time, and the possibilities for your character are limitless.

I have to agree. You can play EVE for several years and still feel like you haven't tapped the games full potential. Allot of this has to do with the depth of the game, and allot is because they continually expand the concept without changing the core game. There are so many different skill sets and avenues within the game. I'm not sure if you had started at the beta it would be enough time to be proficient at all of them.

Originally posted by qazyman  There are so many different skill sets and avenues within the game. I'm not sure if you had started at the beta it would be enough time to be proficient at all of them.

Its been worked out, that with maximum learning skills and +5 implants it would take someone over 12 years real time to cap all the current skills, and a lot of the items that decrease the skill learning time weren't in game at launch in 2003, no one has capped all the skills in Eve.

EvE does have a lot to it. Then there's Vendetta, there's (hopefully) Black Prophecy, etc. Darkfall could last a while if played the right way. I'm doubting SWTOR will be built to last though. Just doesn't seem much like it.

Originally posted by Hyanmen

Well, if FFXIV won't give you that kind of long term experience, I doubt nothing will. I'm hoping for the same thing, fingers crossed!

This... of all the MMO's out there I've checked out or played, this one has some interesting appeal. Trying not to get my hopes up. We'll see... we'll see.

Originally posted by cshanor

If you want a game with long-term commitment, EVE definitely has that. Skills train over time, and the possibilities for your character are limitless.

Yep, however it's unfortunate that one of the only viable options for this gameplay style is stuck in a ship with no avatar.  It may seem ridiculous to some, but that very concept is what keeps me from playing eve.  I'm your good 'ol fantasy type of guy, you know mages and warriors, and orcs/elves/humans.  Yeah, I know it's played out nowadays, but that doesn't change the fact I prefer that type of game.  It's not like I haven't stepped out of that realm of fantasy either, as I was big into SWG, and indeed there were a lot of things about a mmo set in modern/future times that I thought added a lot to the genre.  I just can't get over the darn ship as an avatar thing though.  Shame, really....

What keeps me from playing it is the real time skill training (pay for longer to be stronger), and the lack of twitch based gameplay for combat (like Elite/Freelancer).

I would love to see a game that would take over 500 hours to max everything, like Diablo 2, before the LOD expansion.

I went back to EQ personally, and am having the time of my life!  If only SOE had come out with the Mercanaries 6 years ago I'd never have left!