Those are only MY opinions on those games, take input from multiple points of view.

EverQuest 1 :  Very classic, everyone's in end-game pretty much. Last time I leveled a character up to level 51 (last year) on a normal server, if it wasn't for my friends who started playing again with me and my gear... I would have never been able to get there. There's just no low to mid level players anymore. The progression server looked fun (it was a server where people started from the original game and unlocked expansions by doing stuff) but as of February 2008, they completed everything.

LOTRO : Very WoW'ish game, the only thing I don't personally like about it is the fact that Turbine made it. It's just weird sometimes and the classes, being very different all have the same playstyle maybe except for Loremaster... the only "caster that's not a caster in the lore". Overall it's a fun game that you could enjoy if you get hooked. It's newer too so there's plenty of lower levels.

Lineage 2 : Korean MMO Grind Fest... and when I say Grind Fest... it's really all you do. The thing I really hated about this game is that it gets very slow from level 15 UNLESS you have lots of cash and can get "SoulShots" which makes you crit every time you swing if you use them before each melee attack... I never got far as I was utterly bored of killing the same spiders for 5 levels...

DnD Online : Very group based game, like the actual DnD. There's a sweet voice that tells you what's happening (like a DM in a DnD Game) and what's funny is that the same voice does the voices for most male characters that you encounter in the dungeons lol... you really have to hear to understand. The game's nice, but I didn't find the game very user/noob friendly.

Hope this helps you out. I'm just pointing out some of the stuff the game has to offer / what's bad about it that any generic review might not say. Everything else can be found in the game's threads.

Seriously man, before playing WoW I was a huge fan of the EverQuest franchise. And after so long playing WoW I was kinda "WoWized" as in "became lazy and wanted everything given to me".

If you want an MMO that you will be able to solo in with an incredible amount of content and good systems. I say give EverQuest 2 a try, at least the trial.

In EQ2 you can solo up to the later levels in the game, it is quite long past 35 I must say... but the graphics and the "Achievement" system makes up for that. You pretty much have 2 Experience bars, one for adventuring (your actual level) and one for achievements (exploring places, finishing quests, killing named bosses). See achievements as talents... that you can grow yourself and at the pace you want. I was an "AA" grinder in EQ2, as achievements make your character so much stronger... you actually see a difference when you have lots of achievements.

Side Note: The crafting system is very interactive and deep... but gets rather annoying.

Those are just my thoughts, I'm an experienced MMO player and I usually like the ones that give me all I could ever want. If you want more details about the game, see the EQ2 thread here, has lots of valuable information.

FFXI is not deserted, it won't die trust me. Because of the class system, there's always lower level people since only your race is permanent, you can change class anytime and people have to level up specific classes to have a good main/sub class combo.

Now the problem with your post is that, you won't relax in your bed while playing this. Let me tell you that from level 13-15 and up, you absolutely NEED to group. The reason why you won't relax... is that this MMO is the hardest of them all,  a level 12 group in Valkrum Dunes seems like a raid in WoW. Because in this leveling is so slow, you need to kill MUCH harder mobs... and no starting class has a "kick back and relax" role.

Hope this enlightened you. Give it a try, but don't get too hyped... you did play WoW for 2 years and you are used to this kind of MMO. FFXI is the complete opposite.

 

I understand what you mean and you are right. For instance in WoW there IS storyline it just doesn't feel important at all as all the story quests are no different than the ones you have done ten thousand times.

I REALLY enjoyed LOTRO's quest system though as all those grind-quest, usual bring me this amount of that and ill give you some gloves, are sidelines.... other things to do. And then theres this one main quest with better loot and that is harder to complete that you do throughout the whole game... it's like one big endless quest chain with story elements.

They can't do better than this.... or else it makes no sense because of the lack of sense MMOs have (respawns of bosses and such like goblins kidnapping little girls.... the goblins would COOK then EAT the girl... they don't think maybe humans will give us gold for her!)

Anyway that's my 2 cents on this... as previously mentionned... you want story?!?! MASS EFFECT.

Quote from knowbrainer :

Maybe Sigil should have went to Blizzard to have them publish the game (and later buyout Sigil)?

Well yeah they should've done that, then World of Starcraft would be delayed by a couple decades... AND WE DO NOT WANT THAT!

Sooooo, the only word that comes to my mind when I read this is simply : .................AGAIN ?!

Yep, Sigil sold out and well it can only be good for Vanguard.... as I think with time spent playing WoW, Sigil forgot how to code and totally made this game possible by using the fact they were the ones who made EQ.

So to conclude : How to win in 3 steps :

1 - Make an awesome game.

2 - Sell out and be remembered as the good guys.

3 - Make a crappy game and tell people "Remember... we made (step 1 game)!!!"

You can add a loop to that if you want, cause that's what's happening.

Hi, My name's Michael, Kirzan as fictionnal name for games. I've played a LOT of MMO's since I was 13. And I must say Mr.Garrett, that you are totally right and I agree at 100% with you. The grind... the "Spam 1 2 3 4 or 5 keys" to kill monsters over and over, the endless raids to get new gear to get to do harder raids... and back to the beginning of the cycle. It's all what MMORPGs are about these days. I'm currently playing Dark Age of Camelot, and I must say that in every MMO I played, this game gave me alllll the PvP I ever needed/wanted. If you're not a graphic *****, try it out . Back to the subject. I recently talked about this to my ventrilo friends... an idea for a new interactive MMO system. You've played The Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion right?! (every RPG fan played that) Why not put the First person view combat... INTO AN MMO! That's right, instead of clicking your hotkeys use your mouse to slash'n'shield block or use your incredible FPS talents to shoot bows over walls and cross-bows directly at people. Why not make a class specialized in Siege Weapons?! able to create these and use them. Put a first person view combat MMO in any world you want... Medieval, Sci-Fi, heck both! How about an All-PvP Game?!?! Where instead of having 3 PvP servers and 20 PvE ones, you have 20 PvP servers and 3 PvE ones?! People could level and gain experience off Player kills and keep different PvP zones for a small level range so you can't get ganked by a level 60 tier 2 epic geared Undead Rogue while leveling in your 18-25 zone. These are just ideas, and I personally like them, comment if you want but I doubt I'll check this thread regularly. So send your comments to kirzan@gmail.com ! Have a nice day MMOGamers.


P.S.: If any Blizzard executive or developper reads this : Try to go talk to your boss up there in the next building and tell him that he should think about these things : First, Cancel Starcraft Ghost. Second, Make an MMOFPS with Starcraft. Man that would make me spend some more money for you guys!