Especially if you do not want to spend much money.

   You have 2 GREAT story mmo's in TSW and SWTOR. TSW gives you great graphics, story , cut scenes, production, mystery, puzzles. Combine this with SWTOR which gives you GREAT story, production, cut scenes, combat, and good PvP. These are the two best story MMO's ever made!

   Love SWTOR but do not like their space game, then just download Star Trek Online, This game has improved massively in the last 2 years and offers a really fun space game and and average but functional ground game, if you switch back and forth from this to SWTOR than you have the best of both worlds.

     Want a traditional MMO with a little extra? Than just download Vanguard, it is a little creaky under the hood, but this baby has it all including Diplomacy a fun card game. There are not to many Worlds as open as this.   Want something even more traditional eq is now going F2P from what I have read

    Dont like the slightly creaky combat of Vanguard or TSW--------Big News---Tera with its great combat is going F2P.  Dont get me wrong the stories in TSW and SWTOR are Great but like anything else it can burn you out. If you want to come home and just KILL< KILL< KILL than tera is your game and the Pvp aint bad either.

     Hey how bout a traditional game with great story, graphics, Lore and exploring with good crafting ----Yup LOTRO. I am not sure but Lotro may be one of the Grand daddys of F2P and they keep churning out quality content to this day.

   Love the theme park but want it modern with very good Pvp- Just get Gw2, beautifull colors and great exploring, pretty good combat and plenty of PvP make this a game that is really fun, me being an oldie I like GW1 slightly better as I like its PvP a bit more but both games are fun

Tired of these darn themeparks and just want to play an Sandobox, than just download Xyson. You will find yourself in the middle of nowhere and you know what that means Sandbox Heaven, explore! the world is huge

     These are just some of the games that offer either F2P or just pay a little  he,he ,he. On my computer i have all these games and more on my hd and play them all plus eq2, aoc and aion, Of these 3 Aion gives you the best bang for your buck as eq2 and aoc while fine games have really bad F2P options

I shall now debunk this post, MMO at a time.

SWTOR - Broken F2P model, the worst end game I have ever laid eyes on. Right now I couldn't recommend this to anyone. 300 million to create this? All the money spent on voice overs and well acted cut scenes. I love good story, but save it for my single player games, if I wanted to be sucked in I would play Farcry 3, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy.

TSW - This game is better than SWTOR, it's puzzles are somewhat engaging, and its classless progression is nice. However it suffers from broken unbalanced pvp, no raids, terrible hardcore mode 5 man dungeons. I could suggest this to someone however, so  not so far off the mark on this one.

Vanguard - Ohh this game could of had it all, but I could never suggest to someone a game that has not had a significant update in about five years. It lacks polish in so many areas, I love what Vanguard could and should be, and perhaps supporting it is a way to get it to that place, but see it for what its free to play model is please, a cash grab. in a dying game.

Tera - No complaints on this suggestion, great game, but do not play down its pvp which is by far its most entertaining element. If you don't like pvp, then I would in all honesty suggest something like Final Fantasy XI, but in this list you are only suggesting F2P games, so EQ2.

GW2 - No opinion on this one, I haven't played it. Don't like its feature list, leveling up to access new zones and armor skins doesn't sound very appealing to me, and its pvp isn't FFA or Full loot and doesn't hold a candle to Tera.

Xyson - How dare you recommend this game to anyone. As far as sandoxes go, why not recommend Mortal Online while you are at it. Simple fact, you cannot recommend a single sandbox game right now for free, the best sandbox at the moment is Eve Online which can be free if you play like a boss, but don't go selling Xyson to anyone.

On your last few suggestions I'll do these in quick fire.

Aion - Very Grindy, very much dying - play at your own peril, this one's days are numbered folks.

AoC - Pay to win nightmare, you can subscribe to this mess, and still have to pay for items off the shop to compete, this one is a dud, a mess of a game that held so much potential.

EQ2 - you need to put money down for this game, otherwise the limitations are just to great, if you get lucky and the class you want to play with the race you want to play is on offer then fantastic, I have an SOE all acess pass, so I play it right now but I find the constant immersion breaking mounts, and cosmetic items to be ruining my fun.

Istaria is one of the best sandbox games out there and can be played for free.  Your restricted to human and cannot own a plot but can learn every skill and class in the game - free.

As far as Aion's days being numbered, not likely.  It's still played by several million people in the east.

what are the immersion breaking mounts in EQ2?  Everything I've seen so far fits pretty much with the world

Recent MMOs have been really disappointing.  I keep hoping and hoping for one to come along that measures up to the great ones of the past, but it hasn't happend in a long time.

Not "age"....maybe "shower"?

Soooo... doesn't anyone feel offended by the quests in TERA? Kill 6, bring 7 (as in kill 7), go to the next camp.

That's kinda what that game is based on.

And crafting sux as far as I've seen it, costs too much (had to buy 90% at vendor for 1st BS quest, etc.).

Don't get me wrong, I love the combat in that game (tho I don't like having class specific weapon types, all the greatswords look the same for me since 16 levels).

Originally posted by rguilbert
 

Not "age"....maybe "shower"?

*grin*  Better to get pissed off than... oh nevermind.

There is little question that the best time for MMORPGs was early 2004

EQ was still in its prime

DAoC/UO/AC were all still options

EvE was growing

FFXI

SWG was still a sandbox

You can even stretch it to that moment that WoW and EQ2 launched and the other games were still thriving.  But by the end of 2005 even though Vanilla WoW was a great, great game and EQ2 was starting to become one, the early game's population was declining fast and SWG was getting NGE'd.

Originally posted by VengeSunsoar

what are the immersion breaking mounts in EQ2?  Everything I've seen so far fits pretty much with the world

the leaping raptors are pretty ridiculous.  Although I think he was going for the aesthetics of the mounts not the mechanics.  But seeing as how EQ2 is a high fantasy game i dont see a big issue. I think its worse in EQ1 actually.

  Unfortunately I had to go pick up a pizza and could not complete my essay but this really is the Goldan Age for people who do not want to pay a sub but still want to play quality MMO games.  As one poster said there are not to many sand boxes with the exception of Xyson but certainly mine craft could be considered and Ryzom while not free offers 150 levels before you have to pay.

    I left out one game which is quite good and that is Fallen Earth-part sand box, part theme park.  What ever some of you think of some of these games most can agree that as far a s F2P or very little to play this is the Golden Age of MMO's

    Now I understand that for some hard core posters who have these nostalgic dreams of SWG making a come back or who sit and relive the days of EQ (dont sit start playing it is free now) it is a sad day for them, but for the rest of us it is manna from heaven. This is what my MMO game folder looks like

1. Tsw

2.  SWTOR

3. Vanguard

4. Guildwars 2

5. Guild wars 1 and of course all expansions

6. STO

7. Fallen Earth

8. Ryzom

9. Tera (will be downloading to play again on Jan 16)

10. AOC--terrible F2P option but I love the combat

11. LOTRO- edited in, a true leader in F2P

12. Uncharterd Waters- a little known but a gem of a sailing sandbox

Originally posted by Onomas
Story is trivial in a great mmo. Story u talk about so much last a few weeks to months then boredom. Need much more than a story for a mmorpg lol. Golden age? More like the dark age. And I'm waiting for the enlightened age.

boredom? Why would you continue to play if the content is done? If you are bored, you should move on to the next game.

Gaming is never boring. It is silly to play a game if you are bored. And there is never a lack of new games to try.

Yeah, it is pretty good time. Lots of choices of games, unlike in UO/EQ time. The MMOs are also better games. I have little complaints.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Onomas
Story is trivial in a great mmo. Story u talk about so much last a few weeks to months then boredom. Need much more than a story for a mmorpg lol. Golden age? More like the dark age. And I'm waiting for the enlightened age.

boredom? Why would you continue to play if the content is done? If you are bored, you should move on to the next game.

Gaming is never boring. It is silly to play a game if you are bored. And there is never a lack of new games to try.

Yeah, it is pretty good time. Lots of choices of games, unlike in UO/EQ time. The MMOs are also better games. I have little complaints.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
I like what 2nd poster had to say

I second that second poster contention.

Originally posted by Onomas
Story is trivial in a great mmo. Story u talk about so much last a few weeks to months then boredom. Need much more than a story for a mmorpg lol. Golden age? More like the dark age. And I'm waiting for the enlightened age.

   Thanks to TSW and TOR and in a more limited sense Lotro and STO story has made MMO's much more satisfying to play, no longer will I have to go through a very boring grind to reach the so called mana of end game

Originally posted by Onomas

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Onomas
Story is trivial in a great mmo. Story u talk about so much last a few weeks to months then boredom. Need much more than a story for a mmorpg lol. Golden age? More like the dark age. And I'm waiting for the enlightened age.

boredom? Why would you continue to play if the content is done? If you are bored, you should move on to the next game.

Gaming is never boring. It is silly to play a game if you are bored. And there is never a lack of new games to try.

Yeah, it is pretty good time. Lots of choices of games, unlike in UO/EQ time. The MMOs are also better games. I have little complaints.

 

I think you missed the point

Nope. I think i disagree with the point. I disagree with the notion that a game need to last and last and last. Everything comes to an end. Everything will eventually become old. Hanging on to a GAME like it is the only reality .. is just sad.

And if you cannot enjoy a short but fun gaming experience, it is your loss.

Originally posted by strangiato2112

There is little question that the best time for MMORPGs was early 2004

EQ was still in its prime

DAoC/UO/AC were all still options

EvE was growing

FFXI

SWG was still a sandbox

 

You can even stretch it to that moment that WoW and EQ2 launched and the other games were still thriving.  But by the end of 2005 even though Vanilla WoW was a great, great game and EQ2 was starting to become one, the early game's population was declining fast and SWG was getting NGE'd.

 

I will totally agree with the first half of our post.  I think up until 2004 was the golden age.  WOW/EQ2 and everything since have been MMOs on easy mode.  Just my opinion though.