Originally posted by johnmatthais

 Eh...free MMO...right...umm...Dungeon Runners might be what you're looking for while it's still running...

Wizard 101...?

Archlord?

Umm...I'm seriously at a loss with that criteria. Not many games offer titles anymore.

EDIT: for cash, I'd seriously recommend Vanguard..

Dungeon Runner was tried, and unfortunately had trouble keeping my attention.

Wizard 101's community was far too young, and the turn based combat drives me insane.

Archlord was indeed fun, but the grinding was awful and the environment was far too empty.

I have indeed tried Runes of Magic already, and I'm currently "kind of" playing it but I have been trying to keep my distance due to the numerous threads in regards to the cash shop and total cost of armor sets at level cap.

Lets make this simple, and quick.

I do not want to pay for an MMO anymore, and so why I no longer play World of Warcraft (if I was going to pay, I'd still be playing it).

I just want a FREE MMORPG with the following:

Enough quests to get from starting level to level cap with no grinding (yes, WoW has spoiled me).

Mounts.

I don't care about the graphics, I'm fine with cutesy games or not.

PvP (arena or field).

PvE Dungeons that reward higher quality armor than available outside of dungeons.

Titles and Achievements are a plus, as well as Housing.

-MUST be WASD movement and a "follow" camera or key turning capabilities (for my mate to play with me).

*DO NOT SUGGEST GAMES NO LONGER BEING UPDATED SUCH AS CHRONICLES OF SPELLBORNE.*

Thank you all for your positive replies, much appreciated.

Originally posted by neKrow

I am very concerned about this from the E3 Q&A:

Q: What influence have games like World of WarCraft have on the development of FFXIV? 
A: As with WoW, we want to aim a bit for the casual user. However, we don't want to make a copy of WoW. We believe we will have things that are unique and will stand out from that game.

From my persective FFXI was very rewarding because it was not dumbed down. So I guess I am asking:

I just don't comprehend since when WoW was viewed as a "casual players'" game.

Originally posted by Spiritof55

Great review and I learned some things about the game I didn't know before but he kept saying "international" which I found annoying. 

Could be directly to the fact that PWI stands for Perfect World International. There is a Malaysia version and International version of PW, and pointing out that difference is within the name title itself.

Could also be related to what these chaps are claiming as using Find and Replace "World of Warcraft" with "Perfect World International".

Originally posted by khameleon

Originally posted by Czanrei

Personally I am a fan of FF on the console, but what I am not a fan of is cheap knockoffs online. I originally tried FF XI right after launch and through the first expansions. The problem I don't like about asian mmog's like FF XI is the type of skin texture they use where every other player looks like their twin because of the limited customization. Limited customization both in character design and styles of armor/weapons. Yes, the graphics look beautiful and polished but  they cut corners on the character designs and use full body skin textures instead of layered polygonal designs like most western style mmog's.

Of course I hope the new sequel to FF XI will prove me wrong but I have yet to see an asian style mmog that does any different with their character textures. It all comes down to alot of nice eye candy with no customization. Not to mention it will probably end up like the grind fest FF XI is. SE claims questing won't be forced grouping like in FF XI either but time will tell. Until they show otherwise, FF IV will probably get over-hyped just like FF XI did before it launched.

 

Aion has the most customization of any MMORPG out right now and it is an Asian game, that proves you wrong already.

FFXI is a very old game, that's why the customization is not great, it was a nice game for its time overall and the only game to have success with running an mmorpg on console/PC at once for many years now.

Most Free to play games have limited customization, that is what you must be talking about, as most are Asian. What do you expect for free?

 

 

Ever heard of Perfect World? Just throwing some enlightenment out there. Considering it completely wrecks any customization for any other "asian mmo".

Originally posted by Czanrei

Personally I am a fan of FF on the console, but what I am not a fan of is cheap knockoffs online. I originally tried FF XI right after launch and through the first expansions. The problem I don't like about asian mmog's like FF XI is the type of skin texture they use where every other player looks like their twin because of the limited customization. Limited customization both in character design and styles of armor/weapons. Yes, the graphics look beautiful and polished but  they cut corners on the character designs and use full body skin textures instead of layered polygonal designs like most western style mmog's.

Of course I hope the new sequel to FF XI will prove me wrong but I have yet to see an asian style mmog that does any different with their character textures. It all comes down to alot of nice eye candy with no customization. Not to mention it will probably end up like the grind fest FF XI is. SE claims questing won't be forced grouping like in FF XI either but time will tell. Until they show otherwise, FF IV will probably get over-hyped just like FF XI did before it launched.

The whole first paragraph can be answered with this, the style of art that Final Fantasy and any other "anime-theme" revolves itself around is the idea of perfection. Perfect large eyes with two perfectly place glints of light, perfect busts, perfect jaw lines, perfect triangle shape layered "chopped" hair, and those thin lips you can't resist. There is no way that ANY games in this genre are going to stretch past that limit because then they would be in ANOTHER genre of art style. Maybe I'm not responding to your concern correctly due to my own idiocy but it seems like you're complaining about the traditional "Oh pretty anime people" style wether the textures used to display it or the actual characteristics.

Maybe if you kept track of the updates that have been implemented into FF11 you'd understand why so many previous fans that they scared off (Myself included) are even semi-excited about this game. The fact is SE has been taking huge steps to take in what customers are suggesting, for once, and no matter what changes they make to FF11 it won't ever completely pull it out of where the past few years of rooted it. Instead, people like me who have seen the changes made are giving Square the benefit of the doubt hoping that they're serious about taking all the suggestions from FF11, implementing these changes into FF14, and then giving us the game everyone hoped for the first time.

Heck, Atlantica (which is a free game) does a better job of a FF Online representation than FF11 ever did.

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth 

You say this as if they have changed nothing for this relaunch.

 

Did you see the part where i said it was deemed not worth a subscription? I would be one of those people, and with the new F2P model, i will be playing again.

 

Nope, your to occupied trolling, just like you do on the LOTRO forums here too.

 

 

Yes, both of them are speculating and doomsayig because they misunderstood something along the way and made up their own reality. This all hurt their feelings, as will seeing DDO having much more players than ever before...

Not constructive discussion. No one from Turbine lied to me. Or post a link, anyone.

 

Sarr to be honest todays announcement puts the lie to every time you came here saying DDO was growing. This change signals the fact that DDO was in a bad way and needed a desperate change to try and grow its playerbase and its bottom line. You seem to not understand facts at all.

It would be understandable for Turbine to choose F2P with an item shop over Subs either way, most F2P games make a large amount of money fairly easily. Take RoM - it costs about 260.00USD just for a capped level vanity set (And yes, people buy them).

Originally posted by Electriceye

Sorry all, but Wikipedia wins yet again :

 

A grind is the process of engaging in repetitive and/or non-entertaining gameplay in order to gain access to other features within the game.

 

 EDIT: Doing quests is a grind IMO, a quest grind, and killing mobs over and over is also a grind, a mob grind. So yea there's always some sort of grind, here's where the devs show their ability and hide it as much as they can.

Wikipedia is just a more organized version of this site. Opinion based information to be worded into what looks like facts. Even though yes, that is what most people associate the term with BUT.. just thought I'd warn you, Wikepedia is not a valid source for research or proving things.

My direct post to regards to the original posting:

I remember playing D&D right at the release and I never thought it was a bad game. The graphics were decent, very reminiscent of Everquest to me. I really did enjoy the way the dungeons were organized throughout the game. The only reason I never played this game longer was because of the payment requirement. There are games that are good, UNLESS you have to play a monthly subscription for them because then of course you check the file cabinet in your head of other games you could be paying the same price for.

I'll happily check out D&D once this release is all ready to go, not like I'm paying anything. :o)

Thanks for the heads up!

Originally posted by dstar.

All MMOs have a grind of some sort.  What you have to find is the grind you enjoy.  Some people find different grinds enjoyable.  Some grinds are less in your face than others but again it's all about what you personally enjoy.  Not everyone is going to like what you like, I know, shocking but that's how it is.

I very much agree with your statement. While my brother and I enjoy many of the same MMO's, he is much more prone to camping out at one spot and killing the same things over and over. I am more about doing quests, even if it is a quest like Ether Saga where it goes like this:

"We need to kill the jaguars for their pelts" Go do, complete.

"Now we need their claws, kill thirty more." Go do, complete.

"Now we need their whiskers, go kill thirty more." Go do, complete.

That really is what Ether Saga is like yet I can till bring myself to play it. ><

The term "grind" is actually used in the gaming community as a means of describing a game in which killing a ridiculous number of mobs your level over and over (usually for a few hours). You'll know a grind when you see one, versus quest leveling.

Fast Pace PvP is all I want.

I have looked up and down every single "Game List" I can find, I've tried all the top paying games like LotR, EQI and EQII. I've tried literally dozens and dozens of free MMO's.

I hate to admit it, simply because I hate the game now, but World of Wacraft was the only game that had PvP fast based and action filled enough for me. While I'm also a raider in all the games I play, it would be great to find a game like WoW that also has PvE raiding where "Boss" loot dominates every other non-boss loot you can find as far as gear and weapons goes.

Sadly, looks like WoW is the only game I'm describing yet I can't bring myself to touch that game anymore.

Chances are that if you are looking for a game that has "beautiful spell animations" then the caster you are playing is probably going to be required to cast said spells quite often. I'm talking about the fact that most games with casters are the ones where spells are your only attacks and so no matter how "pretty" you're basically going to get bored of the "pretty" fast.

EQII does have some beautiful spell animations.

You might actually be desiring something "flashy" and glowy. You may be confusing the desire for beautiful animations with just flashy crap all over the place - suggestion from another player, a game with "combos".

It's too bad you didn't like Atlantica, simply because the community is great. I dislike how much time is needed for the game though, considering the turn-based combat. I too am a "casual gamer" after all my hardcore games like EQ and WoW. I could suggest a few games, but I really don't know about the graphics card requirements on them so I'll just give my completely personal opinion on the ones I still have installed to this day. One thing to remember, all of these are very "cartoony" and "cutesey" graphics, because as of right now that is what is dominating the free games world. Unfortunately all the people playing free games are going to be young because they have no money, so I really don't think escaping that will ever be possible - even in payed games (take a look at WoW).

Ether Saga Online:

This game is the one I find myself playing most. I adore the graphics cheesily enough, and the concept of always having a pet makes it very "Pokemon-esque". I know there is a PvP, but I can't even tell you if it's based on being in Arenas or if it's open world - so your wife may not like that idea. There is marriage in game, but other than that the best features are transformation and pets really. The community is nice, but young of course.

Free Realms:

I absolutely love this game for what it is. It is basically an arcade where you play a 3D avatar. PvP, I have no idea but there are mini-games you can play with OTHER people. The approach to this game is unlike any others you will see, it is PURELY for casual gamers that want to take a thirty  minute to one hour break every now and then to do something fun and colorful. I know a lot of parents play this game with their children as well, while others discourage the ideas of children plopped in front of computers for hours. I really love the idea of my cousin playing this game versus any other. The crafting in this game is AMAZING. There are TONS of jobs for you and your wife to choose from to level up. You have to see it to believe it, and customization is top notch! Though there is no "end game content" really, as I said.. this is a purely casual game.

Fiesta Online:

Another cute graphics game, I just really love the dungeon challenges. Join a que, get thrown into a dungeon with a number of others players and destroy everything. Customization is limited, crafting is limited. Marriage features. I truly think the dungeons is the only thing that has kept with this game, haha.

Luna Online:

Great community of people. Marriage system. The combat is alright, I believe there is PvP (not that I've taken any part in it). I love the costumes idea for it. I think I'm only still playing this game because I don't play it very often, so it keeps the "shiny new game feel" for me.

Runes of Magic:

Ok, I actually don't have this game installed anymore I just can't remember why? Either way, Runes of Magic is a pretty alright game for being free. The graphics are the same old "Anime" look and feel, but they're superb for a free game. A lot of people say this game is the "WoW" of free games. The only issues I had was that if you wanted a nice looking avatar, you will literally spend about 200.00USD for a timed costume. The combat is great, there is crafting in the game that is pretty "on top".

Of all the games I'm playing right now, Ether Saga and Free Realms are the two that just "grab me". Your opinions may be completely different, you may not like a single one of my games. I just wanted to give my two cents, since you and I seem to have the same criteria we need met for our gaming lives. Oh, I know that "Trickster" is another free game (2D) that a lot of people are still very fond of.. I always loved the first couple of minutes then remembered the awful grind and would delete it again.

Good luck on your search!

Originally posted by brostyn

Its a MMO, right? Chances are its going to suck. This genre is toast.

Wow.... wow.. wow wow wow. Have you even taken five seconds to read the name of the site you spend your time posting on?

That aside, yes 2029 is a bloody awful game. However, just thought I'd suggest you posting this sort of thing inside the forum suitable for said game (considering the very little effort put together a constructive post about it).

I had this game the day it came out, and was at Level cap in just a few weeks. The first city was literally the only good part in the whole game, because it actually had structure. The rest of the game seems like they just didn't have enough money to keep working on the content in the end of the game (which, I think there was an article about something along those lines).

The fact is, the game was released way before it was ready to have been. The content is limited beyond imagination. They just didn't do enough testing on the content that they would add before adding it, which resulted in all sorts of crazy stuff that people were taking advantage of.

I won't say I did not enjoy the game, but I think the best part was sadly leveling up. Once I hit level cap as a Dark Templar, there was really nothing else to do.

It's impossible to please everyone in life due to personality and likes or dislikes from their prior experiences.

One game may be wonderful to person A while it may be awful to person B - and vice versa.

What may be considered balanced to some, will not be to others. Inbalanced (to me) is balanced, because nothing in life is perfectly aligned.

It's ridiculous all the ranting and paragraphs of useless babble that are used to defend an explanation behind something that is so simple.

Originally posted by teknician

Originally posted by farfanugon

i got a beta key the day befor open beta so i get a e-mail free realms is now open beta log in to claim you limited editon hat

well i i wanted to see this hat "its a plan baseball cap"  i ran round for a few mins the graphic are great very lil lag but really very lil point also

i mean great graphic and game play woohooo wonderful but unless you are 12 years old u need some content and in this game there is none its just all over the place

 

Might it be that the target audience IS 12 year olds?

Ding ding ding, we have a winner.

It's obviously like Steam with a 3D avatar interface that goes through all the mini-games.

There isn't really a "point" to ANY of the mmo's that we as gamers spend our time on. Either it's level > raid or play - to play. I play Free Realms when I just want fifteen minutes to do something that will help me get away from thinking about life. I think it's a fabulous collection of mini games and quite a new look to a "virtual arcade" in its simplest.

 I don't actually have any mains right now. I just dropped AoC after hitting 80. I was a "hard core'" raider in World of Warcraft for over two and a half years. As of right now:

Main: Rohan.

Alt 1: WoW for now, just because my sub isn't completely inactive yet.

 I don't really have any good suggestions for you, because you are looking for something that isn't going to be easy to find. You can never guarantee a whole server having a good economy, let alone a whole game. Economies in games are ever-changing (even on a daily basis) and it's the players that create or destroy this economy.

Either way, good luck finding what you're in search of.