Hi, im a new member and a bit edgy about posting incase i incur a minus penalty. I'm sure some clever person will now give me a minus anyway just for mentioning it but here goes my attempt at post number 1.

This WHOLE reason i found this site was because games stole my life away about 6 years ago.  Well, about 25 years ago really but i started serious gaming about 6 years ago when introduced to counterstrike when it was in its Beta.  (its okay, im heading towards mmorpg banta)  This led me to start and run a counterstrike LAN called chookgamerz (see chookgamerz.com) and then once i gave the LAN off to a friend i moved interstate and started (shock horror) an internet cafe!!  Yes, for a couple of reasons, one of them being so that i could live my dream and play games FULL TIME.  Which i did for the following four years.  I played Counterstrike, Warcraft III/TFT, Magic ONLINE and Ragnarok Online for the majority of that time (as well as real dice D&D which meant i would later look foward to the realease of DDO).

WoW was the last game i played and i left it for a new paragraph because it gave my life back, un-intentionally.  The build up was huge, i knew about WoW early due to rumours on the net and then followed the buildup of WoW for at least a few years, i rightly cannot remember how long since i first heard rumours to when Blizzard first made a /wow wite on their webpage. (can anyone give me some historical dates here.)  Rumours were spread far and wide and only about half of them came true, although later chatting with a Blizzard employee who also 'played' WoW (before being employed was an alpha tester for all blizzard games starting with starcraft) proved that some rumours were TRUE!!!! but were not followed thru.  SUCH as the fact taht Boats were going to be included as Mounts in the original concept, small rowboats to travel up and down rivers and such.  I'm not sure what benefit they would have had or HOW they would have worked if they would have worked like griffins or what BUT they were never used.  The orginal Alpha i BELIEVE had the characters level to 10 but the boats couldn't be purchased yet from the shed where they were being sold.  BUT just LIKE the SEIGE TANKS that could be seen for 1000 gold in the Open Beta (which i was juicing up over) you could go to the shop and view them.  I could kill Blizzard for taking such temptations away from me... curses to ye!!

Anyway... i soon became embroiled in what would later be called "Guild Dramas" and was a guild leader for a year and a half before eventually quitting WoW and now games all together.  I sporadically play Magic Online still and am waiting with abated breath for version THREE.  Why did i quit wow?  Because i didnt have 4 to 5 nights a week to seriously put into the game and couldn't professionally raid or lead raids.  I was either too busy working in my shop, or on my days off with someone else working and i never played PC games on my days off instead spending them with an ungrateful friend (another matter but related thus the mention).  Also i got sick of the G R I N D.  I gotta space that word out because its the cause to the END (END) <END> [END] of my gaming life!!!  I just cant stand the friggin endless grinding in MMO's.  I have become distraught about the fact that no games are entertaining me anymore.  I LOVE online gaming because you play with real people and it will forever FASCINATE me because i come from that unique agegroup (im 29 if you wanna check) that was not only introduced to Online Multiplayer gaming during their early 20's but introduced to computer games during the primary school age ... bom bom bom... IN THE HOME!!!   What i've done since quitting games is search for something that can meet the following requirements for ME.. FOR ME....

1. ONLINE and MULTI PLAYER

2. FUN

3. GOOD Character Creation allowing creation of a very unique LOOKING character and unique SKILLED character.

4. Small Monthly fee or no fee

5. No need for Grinding to get anywhere

6. More to the end game then endless big party raiding.

IF anyone can point me in the right direction in what to give a TRIAL to i'd appreciate it.  So far i've trialed DDO and EVE and quit both of them already.  Just can't handle and don't like certain aspects of those games. Please note also when looking at my 6 criteria that i didn't mention COMBAT.  I don't care if its combat or not and i WILL be giving Uru Online a go once its out jsut to see if its what im after... maybe it will be but previous URU graphics and info didn't impress me, this new one had better be ..... better.

anyway... good to make my first post, hope i dont get overly flamed by all you MMO pros :) have fun...

GoT

Great post, and damian7 makes a good point. I to have been wrapped up in the MMO genra for many many years. It's hard to maintain a solid life when you enjoy something so much, it's all you think about. The key here is you have total contol over it, and can make the changes needed when ever. Keep your chin up, eventually an MMO will come out that has what most of us are wanting and looking for.

Hey u two, thanks for the replies, makes me feel a bit better to know theres people that understand what im talking about.  I've spent ages talking to WoW addicts that i'm friends with about it and they also get it completely.  Most of them are so into it that its all that they ever want to talk about which is hard because im not in that scene anymore so i find it hard to get excited about their latest GRINDING achievements. 

I'm also a little depressed about the fact that i don't have a full time game to keep me involved since i've been doing it for so many years, since that day about 7 or 8 years ago when i first experienced counterstrike. Previous starcraft experience had clearly got me prepared for lanning but CS got me hooked with the net.  I just hope that some clever designers out there find a way to combine a great game for the hard core players that the people who want to take it easy can play too, something where you can put a lot of creativity into your character as well as impress with your gaming skills (which are fairly lacking in 40 man raids compared to 5 manners). I've had some ideas but i think sending them to blizzard would be silly. I think they'd either a, ignore them or b, be not allowed to use my ideas incase i ask for compensation. so dunno how far i'll go with it.

But its always good to talk about.

cheers,

GoT

Thats okay mate, yeah i've been reading the dark ages website for a while it was going to be one of the next ones i gave a shot to.  It seems pretty interesting how theres sooooo many classes that you can go and how you go against the other Realms. Very interesting.  One thing i was wondering though was HOW obsolete are a lot of these MMO's going to be by the end of the year with a whole batch of new ones coming out AND the WoW expansion.  The Burning Crusade is either going to really do some damage to other MMO's OR kill WoW.  It seems that Blizz may be getting lazy by not introducing any new classes even though they're introducing MOOOORE leveling up (which is basically pointless isn't it?) and new realms to adventure into.

Anyway, thanks for the tip, i'll keep reading about dark ages and hopefully meet some people that play it who can give me their opinions which is what i'd really prefer.

GoT

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Originally posted by GoT1977
1. ONLINE and MULTI PLAYER
2. FUN
3. GOOD Character Creation allowing creation of a very unique LOOKING character and unique SKILLED character.
4. Small Monthly fee or no fee
5. No need for Grinding to get anywhere
6. More to the end game then endless big party raiding.

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Guild Wars, Guild Wars, Guild Wars, etc.

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Originally posted by hadz

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Originally posted by GoT1977
1. ONLINE and MULTI PLAYER
2. FUN
3. GOOD Character Creation allowing creation of a very unique LOOKING character and unique SKILLED character.
4. Small Monthly fee or no fee
5. No need for Grinding to get anywhere
6. More to the end game then endless big party raiding.

---

Guild Wars, Guild Wars, Guild Wars, etc.

---

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Originally posted by damian7
great post, sounds like you've seen the light.  no game should take over your life, no matter how good or addicting it feels to you.  

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I couldn't agree more. Real life should always come first. Don't get me wrong, I love games, they are my hobby. Right now, I have like 18 installed on this computer. I'll play one of them from time to time for like an hour or so and I never let any game prevent me from enjoying my life and spending time with my family.

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Originally posted by GoT1977

 Please note also when looking at my 6 criteria that i didn't mention COMBAT.  I don't care if its combat or not and i WILL be giving Uru Online a go once its out jsut to see if its what im after...

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Originally posted by GoT1977

Thats okay mate, yeah i've been reading the dark ages website for a while it was going to be one of the next ones i gave a shot to.  It seems pretty interesting how theres sooooo many classes that you can go and how you go against the other Realms. Very interesting.  One thing i was wondering though was HOW obsolete are a lot of these MMO's going to be by the end of the year with a whole batch of new ones coming out AND the WoW expansion.  The Burning Crusade is either going to really do some damage to other MMO's OR kill WoW.  It seems that Blizz may be getting lazy by not introducing any new classes even though they're introducing MOOOORE leveling up (which is basically pointless isn't it?) and new realms to adventure into.

Anyway, thanks for the tip, i'll keep reading about dark ages and hopefully meet some people that play it who can give me their opinions which is what i'd really prefer.

GoT

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I played DAoC for 4 yrs., starting in 2002. I was and still is a big grind, however, the grind isn't as bad now, but it still is very boring and it takes a long time for someone inexperienced and/or who plays casually. Just wait like you're doing now.

Personally, I play 3 games to keep things fresh and interesting. SWG, EQ2, and Oblivion. Neither one of those games are grindy (so far) and all I do is quest. If I were you, I'd just keep an eye out on future releases while you get reaquainted with life.

Good luck!

Thanks guys you're all extremely helpful.  I think i will wait around to see what comes out.  My preferred option would be to design a game that meets all of my personal criteria and also ensure that it is possible for serious gamerz to play also. I have one in mind but gee... where did all my programmers run off to?... oh.. i didn't have any? 

lol... if only.  i have always had some great ideas, fortunately some of them are pretty common ideas and appear in games which is great so heres wishing... and hoping... that the ones im thinking of now appear in the near future.  I think Uru Online might hold the key as combat isn't 100% necesarry.  I'll give it a whirl.. Apart from that i'll hang out and wait.

GoT

omg ..wow

the game isnt bad

but..i have 2 chars...1 prist and 1 warlock

b4 lvl 60 and endless inctances wow is fun..but after..fcing routine

i will not buy thatr burnbing thing....

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Originally posted by GoT1977

 I have become distraught about the fact that no games are entertaining me anymore.  I LOVE online gaming because you play with real people and it will forever FASCINATE me...

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This pretty much sums up how I feel. 

I don't know if it is just me or if other players feel the same, but I have become pretty jaded.  I am tired of copy cat, same-old, been-there-done-that games.  I would love to find a game that pulls me in for years of fun but it just isn't happening.  Like the original poster said, I love the whole concept of online games.  I know exactly the game I want to play but nothing remotely close exists.

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Originally posted by Synyster777
I play lineage II and I think wow is a grind so eh.....I found wow to be more of a grind just because of the fact it was a terribly boring grind and everything you do is a grind people say if you get bored of grinding try quests! ok but the quests are boring and all the same to me so they say try crafting! which was even more of a grind. Alot of mmo's have grind nowadays even Guild Wars. In order to be a good pvp player you need all the right skills and armour which means you have to play a pve character until you achieve this goal. And the pvp isn't all that good anyways lol (just imo) and everyone starts to look the same when they grind hours on end getting money and materials for the uber looking armour in guild wars. and all the armour looks the same to me except for the uber expensive ones that dont give you extra benefits.

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you guys are making so much sense its scaring me.

Its the same as the way i'm thinking but the thing thats got me is this. The previous few posters had mentioned that i should try Guild wars but now you're talking about the Grind in it and although i don't have to technically take your word over theirs you ARE making a hell of a lot of sense about why you DONT like WoW anymore which is basically the same for me.  Then the last poster after Synyster777 says similar stuff also to how i feel which is that ONLINE games are the way to go [without a doubt] but the same-old same-old dosn't cut it anymore. 

It dosn't matter if its Blizzard or not anymore (i used to live for Blizzard even if they did do same-old) because basically what we need is some different games.  Why does WoW have to be about getting better gear to be able to kill better bosses?  That's so repetitive and pointless that its not funny.  What ever happened to playing a game to see if you're any good at it? Like when i used to play CS? It was to see if you're any good and try to beat people.  NOT to just try to play more HOURS to get more raid POINTS to get more GEAR. How friggin pointless.

What i think they need cannot be explained here either in words, and in a forum post.  Perhaps i'll design a webpage to put across my views? perhaps i'll put together a package.  But what we really need is ALL of the creative dissapointed gamers to get together, put together a PROFESSIONAL package demonstrating what the game community needs to freshen up and then present it to someone that'll listen.

Or maybe not because we're still gonna be getting dished up with the same old shit anyway.

Its the waiting game now.  Wait to see if anything comes out that is different.  Orginal concepts have never been hard to come into before, so why now.

Bring it on creative geniuses.

GoT