Myself and a friend are looking for an open world PvE game that doesn't just usher us from one area to the next with redundent quest NPCs. We enjoy combat and just kicking back and doing some good old fashion monster slaying and testing out characters limits without being told where to go when by some NPC.

Ultima Online is one we used to play, but have pretty much mastered inside and out. Ragnarok Online met the description but it seems either monsters die in one hit, or the characters do, so that wasn't very enjoyable for a duo combat experince.

Any advice would be welcome, we are trying to avoid games where we need to worry about gankers and open world pvp interupting our experice. However we will tolerate PvP as long as it isn't the centeral focus of the game.

Wait for Guild Wars 2  ;)

From what I've seen Guild Wars 2 will be full of quests, just disguised as dynamic events. I saw a video where the guy had to put out fires with a bucket of water in a dynamic event, "put X amouts of fires out" is still a quest, just now it's so the town doesn't burn. But it's still a "quest" without the fluff. 

Originally posted by Guler

Myself and a friend are looking for an open world PvE game that doesn't just usher us from one area to the next with redundent quest NPCs. We enjoy combat and just kicking back and doing some good old fashion monster slaying and testing out characters limits without being told where to go when by some NPC.

GW2 is what the TC is asking for.

He's asking for light on quests not questless. GW2 won't be light on quests at all, but it will be light on telling you what you have to do. Then again, I'm just assuming here. I won't reccomend you wait for GW2 because hey, I've never even played it so It could turn out to be terrible. 

Ragnorok Online has virtually no quests I think. Or maybe it's you can play the game by just grinding without quests. 

Fallen Earth has a free trial. Give it a shot.

Personally I'm sick of themepark quest grinders. This is what I am playing now.....feels old school.

It's also worth noting that Fallen Earth will be going Free to Play with Gamers First soon. 

Mortal online. Altough PvP is a unlimited, but open world, no quests etc. The nights are dark. Give it a try, 14 days free trial. :)

well this game isnt light on quests (quite contrary), but you can imho happily ignore them and play without them (even tho it will take you rather long time to level) - vanguard

If you don't mind the dated graphics and have never tried it before, you might want to give the AC trial a go. The quests are really only to get items and/or experience, but most of the time the experience gains aren't even as efficient as jumping into a dungeon with a friend and clearing the whole thing (if you can...)

Some of my fondest MMO memories come out of AC!

Originally posted by Wharg0ul

Fallen Earth has a free trial. Give it a shot.

Personally I'm sick of themepark quest grinders. This is what I am playing now.....feels old school.

He said lite on quests. The primary reason(aside from their questionable buddying up with microtransactions and now the F2P direction) I didn't stick around with Fallen Earth was that, while I liked that the quests added some direction, you had to do that ridiculous "grind the wheel" crap and gain/lose faction with every faction to get all your skill points. You ultimately have to quest your ass off if you want a decent character.

Originally posted by lantesh1

Originally posted by Wharg0ul

Fallen Earth has a free trial. Give it a shot.

Personally I'm sick of themepark quest grinders. This is what I am playing now.....feels old school.

He said lite on quests. The primary reason(aside from their questionable buddying up with microtransactions and now the F2P direction) I didn't stick around with Fallen Earth was that, while I liked that the quests added some direction, you had to do that ridiculous "grind the wheel" crap and gain/lose faction with every faction to get all your skill points. You ultimately have to quest your ass off if you want a decent character.

Not true any more because they put a cap on AP by level. To max out you would still need to do some quests, but it is actually a lot faster to level by grinding and then come back and breeze through the AP missions. They also have faction reset mutations that make the whole thing easier.

ok so let me get this straight..you want a pve based game with lite questing?

I didnt even know such games existed ! Maybe a game that is a dungeon grinder? maybe idk?

Only game i can think of thats like that is not F2p..and its hated by everyone ! at least on mmorpg.com anyway.

Maybe Vindictus?...although the game feels almost lobby based..the game has some pretty hardcore action and is pretty much a dungeon grinder , and the queting felt lacking..so maybe thats what you meaan by lite..idk.

So ya Vindictus is what i would recommend...you in your buddy would probably have a blast grouping in that game.

Finding a game thats open world..with lite pve might be kinda tuff to find. unlless of coarse your lookin for a sandbox style game..which there isnt really any good ones..but if so than FE would probably be your best bet.

From what you ask for with the emphasis on open world and the fact you enjoyed UO I'd really only recommend Dawntide. It's open beta and feels sparse but it sounds almost exactly what you want, so try it and see.

Sounds like Mabinogi to me. It's a sandbox game with no classes, only skills that you level up. It also has strategic yet actiony combat system so you won't be pressing tab+1+2+3. As far as quests, there are tutorial quests (run out quickly) and main storyline quests, but little else besides those. The main storyline quests give rewards that make them almost necessary to do (not in terms of exp, but in terms of like, bonus skills), but you can tackle them whenever you want. PvP is completely optional; there are duels, guild vs. guild, and a faction-based world pvp system that you can turn off at any time.

The only answer is Asheron's Call.

The quests area actually quests, they take days to weks to complete and are optional. It's awesome.

Sounds like Diablo 2?

Almost no quests at all, just dungeon grinding and character/gear building.

Obviously that isn't an MMO, but it fits well for just 2 players (out dated graphics).  However, from the sounds of things i'm not sure why 2 buddies need an MMO.  Is it the simple fact that you "could" group with people but don't that attracts you to MMO?  If you aren't playing with 20+ people it doesn't seem like an MMO to me (aka Raiding).  2-5 friends who group together and run around with eachother only can be done in Diablo, Borderlands, heck... just about any console style game supports multiplayer between a few friends!

Anything pre WoW.

Ranting but WoW changed MMO's from worlds to explore to a game that you are lead around by the nose.

Personal favorites are EQ and AO.  Yes there are quests but they are more focused on just killing stuff.

Originally posted by Zzad

Wait for Guild Wars 2  ;)

This....^^^^

I'm waiting anxiously for GW2 myself. :)

You only do a few key quests in Lineage 2. Other than that you just form xp groups and grind mobs.There is open world pvp but people will generally leave you alone as long as you are not kill stealing their mobs and taking their xp spot.Its a bit of a grind to level at higher levels of the game though but its improved a ton over the years.