I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm really curious to see what others have experienced regarding their first MMO.

My first MMO was Final Fantasy XI. I had no idea what an MMO was, or that this game was even online until I bought it. I figured I had spoiled 10 by doing so much research on it before it came out that I wouldn't look a single thing up for the next installment. Well, in a way... that was a good and bad thing, for it was the beginning of my MMO addiction.

I managed to play the game for years on end, only getting more addicted as time went on. It took a strong burnout after a while for me to realize that HOLY CRAP, there are other MMOs in existence!? I found WoW, and decided to give it a try. I was hooked... again. I managed to experience the first MMO feeling twice, but never again, and WoW's "feeling" wasn't as strong as FFXI's.

That is why I'm making this thread. I'm sure most of you out there have experienced this before, probably in the first MMO you ever played. The world is MASSIVE, there are other people and you can explore freely and do what you want. The littlest things amaze you, and everything is fresh. As I stated above, I experienced that in FFXI in WoW (although not as strong)... but never since. I have never been able to recapture that feeling in any MMO I have played since then, and it is extremely disappointing.

Why do you think this is? Have you experienced it more than once/twice? Do certain games bring this out in people while others fail to do so? I'm wondering what it will take for me to experience this again... or have I become to jaded and I shouldn't get my hopes up?

There is no MMO world so there can be no social bond. The fix we search for as long as they keep denying it. Forums are the methadone clinics.

WOW was the last until they need more fuel.

I have no idea, so i practice my concpiracy craft instead.

Are you saying you dont know the answer?

The first MMO I played was Lineage 2 - and it was awful. A lot of running around, getting stuck, rubberbanding, suffered some griefing from max-level characters, slow progression and boring character abilities even after I had gained plenty of levels. Saw how people grinded respawning zombies next to a city. Asked a friend why they did that and discovered it was a major activity in the game. Camping respawning mobs?! That was it. It was pretty on the outside but ugly on the inside.

I was lucky enough to encounter it three times. The first time was with City of Heroes. The second time was with WoW. The final time was with LotRO. Since then, only Aion has come close to recreating that experience, and I don't think I'll encounter it again.

When you start with UO, there's nowhere left to go but down.

The first couple of years of DAOC came close though.

If it is a good game...first time I ever played WOW, Champions, Pirates of the Burning Sea, EVE...I played UO and other games...but they didn't reel me in. WOW reeled me in, and then I got away. I now play EVE. 

I have been lucky to have that feeling a couple times. Three to be exact. My first mmo was an mmo by Nexon called Nexus Kingdom of The Winds. So many people played. It had a large world with alot of ways for people to role-play. I made many friends and it was a wonderful part of my life.

The next was Runescape so many years ago haha. I loved all the skills and spent many hours playing it. 

My last was WoW back in vanilla. The whole game was fresh, difficult and the community on my server was nice. This was back before all the 9yr olds started playing and running their mouthes lol. 

I am really hoping GW2 will be another omg experience like the others.

on a side note, Dreamscape I absolutely love your profile picture, I have seen you around a couple times and your profile pic is awesome haha.

Also OP i recently started playing FF11 again with a few friends. its still quite alot of fun especially with a nice LS :)

My first MMO was UO and I loved the game. My second MMO was EQ and I loved that one too. My third one was SWG and I fell in love all over again. My next MMO was Wow and yet again I was hooked. I then went on to play Eve and the magic hit yet again. All of these MMO's I played for 2 years or more. Since then I have yet to find that magic trying many MMO's never lasting more then a few months at best.

Daoc, Istaria, Everquest 2, Wow, Age of Conan, Eve(to some degree) and Vanguard all gave me that amazing first mmo feel.

Warhammer, Rift, Aion and a bunch more did not.

I dont remember any "first MMO" feeling.

The thing that triggers a memorable 'first time' sensation for me is that the game is sufficiently different from anything that I've played before - and that I enjoyed playing it.  Ultima Online was my first MMO, but I didn't enjoy it.  I enjoyed EverQuest and it stands apart as a memorable 'first time'.  Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call and World of Warcraft weren't sufficiently different from EverQuest to have that effect.  EVE Online, however, was different, and offered another shot at a 'first time' sensation.  Alas, I just didn't enjoy the game that much.

I know that the next game that I hope to get another 'first time' sensation from will have to be pretty different from the stock level-grinders.  And it'll have to have a community that I can connect with.

My first MMO was Ragnarok Online.  After which, I played Rose online.  Then Tantra Online.  Then World of Warcraft.  Then City of Heroes.  Then EVE.  Then a !@#$load of F2P games.

The main thing for me is that the first 3 games were fun because there were always people around you.  Then in WoW it felt like a single player game.  Then CoX had the multiplayer feeling again.  Then EVE was boring for the first 2 weeks then fun when I got in a corp.  Then after that, allthe games seem to be extremely solo focused and that is what annoys me.  Along with the "Get hundred quests then finish them then run back n turn in" gameplay

So yah...My first MMO feeling is feeling like Im playing with a whole bunch of players.  Do I get that?  Not really.  Im still playing City of Heroes so Im cool.  GW2 will hopefully give me that feeling again as well.  Not expecting SWTOR to so much but hey at least I can finally play Kotor 3! Idk if they make swtor single player Im playing it for the story! @_@ and playign with my friend whenever we can do stuff together!

I think it's possible.  Big world, fresh design, fun combat, decent community.  VERY few bugs.

No dungeon finder, No phasing.

My first MMO was Pre-Cu SWG, it took hold of me so intensely that i cut my working

hours almost in half, (just enough to pay the bills) i'd of quit altogether if i could lol

I had 2 accounts & used to reactivate friends & families accounts at times if they

were not playing at the time, at one point i have 5 accounts running!

This was the best game for me as it was my first MMO & a awsome game too,

so i was very lucky :)

I have never recreated that same feeling, & i have played most the popular MMOs since

& not one of them has come close imo they all seem so linear (i am bias, but still...)

many MMO vets would agree that the likes of... UO, SWG, EVE, DAoC & other older MMO's

more so the sandbox ones are far superior, who gives a crap about t graphics etc!?

Its all about the fun & content!

Ok it would be nice for a newer MMO, but one thats an updated version of the classics

Something we will NEVER see im afraid

Ultima Online, before Trammel. I was both awed (All these other characters running around are actual people!), and more than a little nervous. The UO manual—which I actually read through before playing—specifically stated NOT to trust other player characters you didn't know. It even advised against going outside of town limits with a stranger if they asked you to follow them. It was a true virtual world.

Originally posted by Brueskie

Ultima Online, before Trammel. I was both awed (All these other characters running around are actual people!), and more than a little nervous. The UO manual—which I actually read through before playing—specifically stated NOT to trust other player characters you didn't know. It even advised against going outside of town limits with a stranger if they asked you to follow them. It was a true virtual world.

& the danger made it fun...

     I would have to say that yes I have felt it more than once and they were both really good games, however I don't think the feeling is as strong as the first time due to the fact that the first one you are just starting out and you feel like a needle in a haystack and are scared to death to move or you might get smashed or lost lol.  Once you have gotten past the stage fright it can't be as strong because you know more what you are doing.

   WoW was my first MMO and when I started playing I said WOW!!  The only other game that I have gotten that feeling with since has been EQ2 in which I left WoW for.  To me other than the stage fright in WoW I would almost have to say I still feel that way about EQ2.  I don't about WoW anymore.

  Now when I tried Rift I was looking for the first exit out of it there was no wow at all.  I have tried trials on several other games and they were the same as rift usually.  So I would definately say it would have to depend on the game itself and each persons likes and dislikes.

    I do enjoy that nastalgia when I run across it though.  :)

I can definitely say that my experiences are based on how excited about the game I am and whether or not it actually sounds like my kind of game.  I started with WoW first and my thoughts were:  "Holy crap what am I doing?!??!?"

My cousins had sent me an invite a while before, but I wound up not being able to use it because it didn't go through so I just started a normal trial.  I can tell you I was deffinitely wide eyed bushy tailed, stayed up until 5:00 AM in the morning and then went to sleep, woke up, waited for my mom to get her own play time in because she was playing it as well on the same trial due to not having two computers.

I went through several toons with all those feelings until I found my proper class I felt at home playing, which turned out to be a Draenei Hunter.  After much trying my mom decided to buy the game and did so, we were happy and excited.  I was excited to try Draenei since they had not been available on the trail because of no BC expansion.

After a while though the quests became tedious and all I wanted to do was dungeons, I blame this partially on the fact that I hardly got to play and therefore got a strong hunger and want for them, an leveled very slowly, but at the same time, it allowed me to reap what I wanted from an MMO, dungeons, cooperation with in-game people, and the fun of learning to play my toon.

A long time after I'd been playing and we managed to get a second computer and second account ect., one of our guildies on there was getting burnt out and wanted us to try "EQ II".  Well at first my mom and I were extremely sceptical.  My mom is a hardcore tradeskiller, she loves her tradeskilling and if a game doesn't have tradeskilling, it gets tossed out the window.  But our guildie assured her there was some.  Me, I was sitting back, slowly I had also gotten burnt out, I had gotten to where it was harder and harder to get a group for dungeons.

Finally my mom agreed and we both created accounts for a trial account.  There was that feeling!  New races and classes to explore!  Different factions!  We were speechless, we were loving it, mama even loved the tradeskilling system.  Took her a while though, at first she was getting frustrated with it, but after she got it, we were hooked, we were in, hook line and sinker.

We got accounts and played.  Now I can say though, I have not had this experience with any other MMO's yet... and I'm a big treader into deep waters, no MMO is too cartoony or too silly for me to try.  But at the same time, I can say there are a LOT of MMORPG's I haven't tried, like Ryzom(have it downloaded, haven't played it yet), DAoC, and I'm sure there's others I don't even know exist.

But based on those two experiences I can say that if a game is going to sweep me off my feet again, it's based on my preferences and what I'm looking for in that game.  Like Role Playing, I'm a big RPer, have been since before I played MMO's.  Table tops, to forums, I'm in.  Recently, I've been trying more games and none of them have given me that feeling and I've tried several in the last three weeks of this month.

Once again, this is from my personal exprerience, but I also believe it depends on the person. :)

The first time for me was with guild wars and after that World of warcraft, i love the times when i was a total nuub instead of semi pro.  Now it all feels like work after you done it 1x and nothing realy amazes me anymore. its all like OFMG A DRAG lols lame! i would orgasm 5 years ago :(

Yes, I believe it is possible to feel that again and completely immerse in the game.

As I replied to the main thread before about immersing, I believe in order for an advanced MMO player to get that feeling again, the game has to be truly unique and powerful. The reason why so many MMOs failed after the WoW is because they thought adding a different concept art and story line will repeat the success. Well, obviously this is not the case.

Granted, it will be extremely difficult to come up with such game, but it is possible. There is just way too much left on the table by the game developers now days. As some say it is not possible to make everyone happy, well... I think making a game with such mind set won't results in any break-through.