1. Without a doubt DAOC. Never played a game where I felt like I was actually a part of a realm fighting for the greater good.

2. Easily FFXI. Would be tied with DAOC, but the lack of pvp made it second. Can t say enough about the world though, I could get lost in it again , and will for sure.

3. Planetside. What a fun epic game, can t really say much more, but the amazing teamwork, and fun this game offered is second to none. Heres hoping PS2 will be as good or better.

4. EQ2. A stupid amount of content, although top heavy, alot can be accomplished with mercs, before you get there. Excellent game.

5. Rift. For newer games, has to be the best out there, with a great dev team, pumping out content.

I didn t say GW2 because it s not released, and until I play it for more then a few eekends, I can t judge.

Your opinion is your opinion, but judging from your top 5, I cannot take you seriously.

#1 is a game that is 1-2 weeks old?  Has how many subscribers, a couple hundred thousand?  No expansions, beginner content.  To get out of the starter/tutorial area takes for ever.  Combat is tab target.  Graphics are OK, nothing crazy.  Questing is old.  No way.

Guild Wars 2 is not out yet, but if given time, it could become one of, if not the best.  I agree with you on this one

Eve is the only legit contender for greatest of all time.  Its been around longer than any mmo, including WoW, and has the most loyal playerbase. 

I am surprised WoW is not on this list.

and I laughed so hard when you said warhammer..really?  Warhammer?  That EA lagfast crap?

Originally posted by Sinaku

@ OP Why is GW2 on your list when it hasn't even been released yet?

4.Conquer Online 1.0 - This was one of the initial releases of Conquer Online that had an awesome community, great PvP, Guild Wars, and some of the best rivalries I've ever experienced. Once 2.0 hit the game developers catered to a Pay to Win group called "Bulkers" who could buy pieces of the best equipment in the game for real life money to in game item transactions.

God Conquer 1.0 was such an amazing game, Awesome but brutal community, To this day the most skill based pvp I've been apart of, and just overall the most enjoyment I've gotten out of an MMO.  It was my start to the MMO scene and I've been looking for something as good ever since, If it wasn't for TQ getting so god damn greedy it would deffinately be the biggest f2p mmo on the market today in the US, And I would have never quit. Even with how much they fucked it up they still have over 90 servers that are still packed with people (mostly Egy's though)... I wish they at least didn't screw up the classic server which was SLAMMMMMMMMMMED with US players for the first two weeks, then I remember someone winning a 2soc bag in the lotto and half my flist logged off and never came back... Simply incredible game cursed with a retarded developer.

However GW2 deserves to be on the list whether it's released or not.  In all the time trying to find something as appealing to me as conquer, GW2 has finally done it. The game, at least imo is perfect, The PvP - flawless, The Community - Freakin awesome, The cities - "OMG", The build options - More viable possibilities then I've ever seen,  The classes - Balanced (yes I've tried every class extensively in spvp and did great on all but one),  The WvW - Epic, The innovation to this stale genre - FINALLY!  ...It's honestly everything I've been waiting for, Even if I only played One beta weekend I'd be saying the same thing, It doesn't even take 2 days to realize, I don't care if it sounds like I'm fanboying out either... It's just that good.

Originally posted by cesmode8

Eve is the only legit contender for greatest of all time.  Its been around longer than any mmo, including WoW, and has the most loyal playerbase. 

This is actually wrong. The longest around MMORPG (with uninterrupted service) is Ultima Online, and it beats EVE by a good 7 years.

It's all personal opinion anyway.  If you are having fun then play it.  If you aren't then quit.  A thread like this inevitably becomes a "my MMO is better than your MMO" thread.  I have never quite understood the emotional stock that people put into MMO more than any other genre of game.  It's just a game people! 

My top 5, based on how long I played em, how happy I was playing them, and the "awe factor" I experienced playing them. Mind you, I wouldn't play them today, but making my 5 list based on how much I enjoyed them at the time.

Honotable mention. Rift. Enjoyed the leveling up and the novelty of the new things this game offered, until I reached endgame with 2 characters.

5. LOTRO. Was already a huge tolkien fan. So this was a big fit, for a while.

4. SWG. The first few weeks/months, the sandbox feel of this game was simply glorious.

3. WoW. The game that when launched was the next evolution of gaming. The sheer beauty and atmosphere compared to previous games - and the longetivity of the initial good community kept me hooked a long time.

2. DAOC - Launch time with DAOC was awesome. Coming off of a game in which auto-attack prevailed to a game in which mid-combat choices were vital was like moving from chicken mcnuggets to steak at the time. The "openness" of the game, and the tri-pvp game were awesome. I still remember my first frontier pvp kill.

1. EQ - my first mmo was the most addicting, enjoyable, and nostalgic. Getting on waiting lists for highpass hold. Trying to navigate without a durned lightstone. Spending hours atop treetops in KFC. Farming the giants in the expansions. The (at the time) revolutionary bazaar, allowing me to work on crafting, economy, and supply & demand playstyle.

I've played alot more than these, but most of my "glory days" are contained within the top 5 here (especially the top 4). Hoping for future "glory days" in GW2, and if that doesn't work out, I'll try TSW.

1. WOW

2. CoH

3. RIFT

4. TSW

5. LOTRO or WAR

Although at #4 onward my list becomes pretty shaky.  With TSW the jury is still out as to how long it'll remain interesting, and with LOTRO/WAR they were games which barely held me maybe 1 month past the free month.

But the first three are the three MMORPGs to actually min-max their design correctly (ie if combat is the focus, double-down on combat and (a) make it really fun and (b) make it really convenient to get to.)

Coincidentally they're also some of the strongest grouping games I've played.

(Honorable mention: Planetside.  While it's a MMOFPS, not a MMORPG, it's been one of only two MMOs I've played which did PVP correctly.)

You wrote this entire thread just to say you think the secret world is the best mmo ever?  Sort of a lot of work don't you think?

Originally posted by Valua

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

Best MMO is one that was released 2 weeks ago and is so popular that MMORPG.com still has 620 keys available for the free teeshirt?

 

Pretty strong list thru and thru.

 

Popularity doesn't mean somethings good or bad, it just means its popular.

 

Look at Justin Bieber, he's extremely popular, but I think his music is utter trash, even though other love it more than the Beatles. 

 

Popularity means nothing. If something is good or bad it comes down to opinion, not popularity.

Ha, I don't like either one of them!

1. DAOC

2. SWG (before the fall that is)

3. Eve

4. Everquest

5. WoW.

I would have rated Planetside a joint 2nd with SWG tbh, but only the pre-core combat version, i really think the BFR's just messed that game up too much.  and.. planetside 2.. really really hope that for once SOE don't mess up.. crossing all fingers and toes here but it may not be enough

      I swear Funcom pays some of these guys to post here...Played TSW it wasn't very good.....Say what you want but the combat and animations were awful and the cutscenes got old extremely fast (like sick of them by Kingsmouth)......I'm so tired of people listing the MMO flavor of the month as the best MMO ever its not even funny......

Originally posted by Theocritus

      I swear Funcom pays some of these guys to post here...Played TSW it wasn't very good.....Say what you want but the combat and animations were awful and the cutscenes got old extremely fast (like sick of them by Kingsmouth)......I'm so tired of people listing the MMO flavor of the month as the best MMO ever its not even funny......

So, the guy is payed by Funcom for placing a game that's been out for a month, but Anet isn't paying anybody for placing a game 2 months away from release with 1 last BWE before that to place it as number 2? Really?

all time

1 DAOC

2 EVE

3 Planetside

4 COH

5 WOW before they hired all thoos EQ raid dudes

current

1 EVE

2 TSW

3 GW2 beta

4 nothing

5 nothing

I was interested in GW2 but next to TSW it's an absolute turd. Really feels like a F2P in comparison.

Originally posted by Cantorage

I was interested in GW2 but next to TSW it's an absolute turd. Really feels like a F2P in comparison.

Here is your score for the "god" game TSW 72/100.

1. EQ1  Best pve and community of all time.  I played from just after launch for about two years.

2.  DAoC Best RvR of all time.  Quit EQ for this and played for about two years.

3. WoW (vanilla) Best combination of pve and pvp in one game. 

4. UO The launch was a disaster, the skill balance was terrible, buggy, pks, griefers, server crashes, roll backs, but it started it all.

These four games are the true greats for the reasons listed, number 5 hasn't been invented yet, and it will be the next truly fresh game that changes the genre.  Doesn't appear to be anywhere on the horizon unfortunately.

If I had to pick a number 5, it would be LOTRO, WAR, or maybe EVE (never played EVE other than 10 minutes of the tutorial, but I recognize the quality, originality, and devotion of  its fan base...wasn't for me though).  Hopefully Vanguard relaunch will be something really special.

Originally posted by UnleadedRev

Here are what I feel are the 5 best MMOs and why:

1) The Secret World

Based on my experiences in the released version, open BETA and closed BETA:

Its different, and not a WoW clone. A "thinking persons" MMO

If it was a thinking peron's MMO there wouldn't be glowing arrows for everything telling you where to go.

And has the genre fallen this far, really, that we consider games like TSW NOT WoW clones, just because they have a few gimmicks that are slightly different?

You lose a lot of credibility when listing MMOs that aren't even out, some that are just bad knock offs like AoC.

Anyway, here's my list.

1. Ultima Online - Umatched to this day in level of activities for a player to take part in.

2. Dark Age of Camelot - Perfected the balanced between freedom and directed gameplay, PvE and PvP. Has the best, most innovative PvP system to date. It also boasts some of the hardest raids in MMO history. There has never been an MMO that suits every playstyle quite like DAoC, there's even a FFA PvP server.

3. Eve Online - The be all end all space sandbox. I'm not too fond of it due to its removed nature (realistic I know, but I still want to dogfight) but the sheer level of complexity and things to do is astounding. A true MMO with freedom and social experiences at its core.

4. Vanguard - Open world, no zoning, no loading, no instances. Classes with lots of fluff, lots of social features, the only AAA MMO to innovate in the last 8 years with its diplomacy, crafting, and dungeons. The best dungeon design in MMO history. (EverQuest gets an honorable mention here. But both EQ and VG are built on a flawed design that encourages raid elitism.

5.  Star Wars Galaxies - For all its horrendous flaws and bad code, it had amazing ideas. The Jedi system was terrible, but its balanced out by how amazing the Jump to Lightspeed Expansion was.

Originally posted by Cantorage

I was interested in GW2 but next to TSW it's an absolute turd. Really feels like a F2P in comparison.

Everyone has an opinion. But this one kinda insults GW2 and all its of community. If GW2, which is one of the best reviewd games and it is only in beta, feels like turd when putting it against TSW, and then I really wodner why they haven´t given TSW any '' Oscar '' so far. 

Of course, when days come and reviewing sites will be putting ahead GW2 of TSW,that if GW2 proved when launched that it is a great game, I doun´t have any doubt that ppl will say '' Anet has given all these sites money '' etc. This is the problem with the fanbois, when they like a game, they will never change their opinion and what´s more annoying that they spam every thread, having the joy to insult all other games coming out.

I am not even a GW2 fan nd I am already sick of all TSW fanbois spamming the whole forum how GW2 is shit. Not to mention how GW2 fanbois are spammin the whole internet whit how amazing their game is and how childish other games in comparsion. Guys .. just relax and have fun.

Originally posted by nGumbei

Originally posted by Cantorage

I was interested in GW2 but next to TSW it's an absolute turd. Really feels like a F2P in comparison.

 

 If GW2, which is one of the best reviewd games and it is only in beta

That doesn't mean anything, all big profile games get great reviews. Age of Conan got 9s, then Funcom went bankrupt because the game was awful.

Originally posted by ShakyMo

5 WOW before they hired all thoos EQ raid dudes

 

Those EQ raid dudes are the ones who made the game to begin with. Why do you think it has all the flaws of EQ?