What MMOs are you all playing?
What MMOs are you all playing?
I played WoW a bit after its initial release through the first couple xpacs. Getting the MMO itch again, but I know the WoW I grew up with doesn't really exist anymore, so now I'm pretty out of touch.
For those of you playing / recently played an MMO, which one? How's the community? How's the lore? Gameplay in pve/pvp/rvr?
FFXIV
I don't PVP so I can't speak to that but the lore and PVE is solid. Gameplay is very classic MMO. The releases continue to be ranked and reviewed higher with each one that comes out. Players are strongly encouraged to help new players (sprouts) via the mentoring program. Community has been so good, very helpful, never seen anyone rage or get angry at a new person, or anyone for that matter. Very LGBTQ+ friendly. TONS of fun stuff to do on the side between chapters like glamour or housing for folks that want a chill experience or you can do savage raids or hunts for the more hardcore game play focused players. Me and a friend love to just run around to all the apartments and houses to check out everyone's place from time to time. Some are really amazing. I'll throw mine and my buddy's apartment in that ring we put a lot of work in and did some really cool tricks to make the space feel bigger and more unique. Some people turn their houses into cafes or dance clubs, some require RPing when you visit some don't. They are pretty fun to go to. From time to time they'll have giveaways for gill or items at the parties.
BONUS: It's totally free up to level 70 so you have plenty of time to figure out if the game is for you.
I'm not playing right now, taking a quick break but I'm in the NA server Sargatanas. The name is Obi-Bun Kenobi, I think I have the address to my place in my Adventurer Plate. I leave the apartment unlocked so people can use it for g-posing or just to have a nice place to hang. Come check it out sometime!
XIV is the WoW that respects your time.
the pvp is pretty fun but suffers from not being a primary focus of the devs or the community and lacking basic things like a duo queue Balance and skills is entirely decoupled from pve which means there's virtually no cross-value to doing both pvp and pve aside from unique cosmetics
This fucked up pay to win one called "Life". Shit is hard as hell and I don't think the devs even care about balance.
Oh my god don't even get me started on this game.
Get this, you know how over time you get fatigue points and can only get rid of them by eating food items you've previously gathered? Well, when doing this one day last week my character nearly fucking died because of some race condition glitch where mid-swallow they tried to breathe for some unknown reason and because the devs, in their infinite fucking wisdom, decided that while there are two completely separate and incompatible systems for food and air, they must accessed via the same hole, but clearly not at the same time!
The mind boggles, I hope someone was fired for that blunder.
I'm sorry but this is actually pretty fucking funny!
Git gud noob
Not that hard: Iddqd, idkfa and you're set
The ones I've been playing on and off over the past few years are Guild Wars 2 and Lord of the Rings Online.
GW2 is a really nice game to just pick up and play without needing huge time investments. It has a fun gameplay loop and well designed zones to explore. Haven't gotten around to playing the new expansion yet, but I hear it's pretty good.
LOTRO is great for that traditional MMO experience. The community is very friendly and surprisingly active. It has a nice atmosphere. They are also frequently giving away the expansion packs, so you get a lot of content for free.
Lotro used to be a fantastic MMO, I gave a big chunk of my life to that game.
I quit playing after Mordor though, game just got too pointlessly difficult, even on landscape, lost all the fun I had with it.
I quit playing after Mordor though, game just got too pointlessly difficult, even on landscape, lost all the fun I had with it.
Pretty sure they significantly balanced the difficulty down at some point after its release.
I second Lotto, as it's really great with the more community-focused aspects of MMOs. On my server, you can always find a endgame raid or dungeon group. With the recently added scaled difficulty landscape settings, you can make the landscape content harder or easier for you. Unfortunately the game is aside from the endgame content most times a single player experience. Lower level content is mostly dead, except in between major expansions, when endgame content is not that much requested as the next expac is coming in soon.
LOTRO would absolutely be my jam but the server performance is absolutely horrendous and the UI desperately needs at least an update for its fonts. It's a real shame.
FFXIV is a fantastic game, with a fantastic free trial that lets you play the entire base game for free (and i think they recently expanded that to the first expansion too), and its beautiful as hell, has a fantastic story, and doesnt require a super computer to run.
They actually just expanded it to the second expansion, so you now get the base game of A Realm Reborn, as well as Heavensward and Stormblood included in the free trial.
It's also releasing for beta on Xbox later this year (currently it's PC and PS4/5) so there's due to be a new influx of players as well, so it's a good time to start playing. That and the new expansion is due out in the new year too.
GW2 for the past 11 years, except for a stretch where I played ESO for a few months.
Community's mostly great. Cooperation between players is strongly fostered by the game's design (no kill or resource stealing, no competing for drops, etc), so players tend to get along in almost every PvE situation.
Lore is good, but not nearly as expanded upon as Warcraft's.
Gameplay is what makes it IMO. Skill effects and some gear skins can be a bit obnoxious, especially when you're in large groups for open world and World vs World, but it's still enjoyable. Don't play normal PvP, so can't comment on that.
Check out FF14. Great free trial option. Community is overwhelmingly good (though none is perfect). PvE is pretty damn good, especially once you get to late/end game. PvP is not the best (IMO) but it is very active if you do like it. Has a couple different modes including a 5v5 push the objective mode and a 24v24v24 objective capture mode. No RvR.
Kinda boring/typical MMO at first, but really picks up. With the free trial can play the base game and first two expansions for free, plus get the jobs (classes) from those (most of the ones in the game) up to level 70. Including crafting/gathering jobs. Can easily spend 1000+ hours just on the free trial if you choose to maximize it, but the expansions and sub are worth it IMO. And unlike WOW you van access all those classes on one character and switch with the press of a few buttons.
And the next expansion is summer of next year, so you do have time to catch up if you decide you want to get into it.
Old School RuneScape, getting in a clean 7 hours a day
It's one of the best! And I feel it really holds up well as a modern game with classic design.
Actually the wow you know does exist, they're called Classic servers and have a huge community.
But I stick to retail servers, wow has come a long way and I think it's the most fun it's ever been nowadays.
To each their own tho.
Season of Discovery for WoW classic also looks really interesting. It was just announced and is starting soon I think!
It actually does look super interesting! Like I said, I'm not really into the classic servers, but that Season just might get me. It looks like it can be really fun with the right crowd.
If the server allows wow tokens then no, the wow op knew doesn't exist anymore. Wow tokens killed guilds and much of the end point of it.
I don’t have time for MMOs, but the only one that didn’t completely feel like a waste of time was FFXIV.
WoW Ascension on the Area 52 server. This server is classless, you can pick any ability and talents you want. Plus there are mystic scrolls you can find in the world which when equipped (you can have 17 equipped at once, 1 legendary, 3 epic, then a bunch of blue or green) and these enchants completely change how abilities work to allow for you to make incredibly cool custom classes.
It's full of fresh ideas, I love it a lot!
Is this a blizz backed server or more akin to what classic was before blizz fucked ‘em over?
It's a separate company, I don't understand how they don't get sued into oblivion, but they update the game all the time, it's feature rich and has so much to explore. The website is ascension.gg. They also have an alpha server which cost money to get access to with 21 brand new classes, none of the old classes, new ability, new talents.
Not sure what you mean. Ascension is a private server, not run by Blizzard.
I went and set this up after seeing this comment. I will say, it's wild and I've had a blast playing it. The community is awesome and I have no idea what I'm doing but that doesn't seem to matter at all.
I'm so happy someone tried out Ascension based on my post! I've been playing around in there for a few months now, nothing hard core, just trying different specs or build ideas. At first it does feel very overwhelming, but they've made changes to the talents to sometimes make them a bit more agnostic or if the talent says "Increases Pet Damage" it'll generally apply to any pet. That combined with the ability to search for any ability or talent based on keywords or phrases like "All Damage" to find talents to increase damage mitgation all combines to allow you to think up interesting specs and try building it your self.
The other thing I adore about this system is, in normal WoW, there has always been the meta, if you're a fire mage and you want to raid you better be specced this one certain way or your trash. Well in Ascension, the options are so god damn wide open that no you could very well come up with unique build that is better then anyone has made before. Also people can't see your spec in game, so there just isn't that rigid expectation of choosing the "right" spec.
Also check out prestiging , it's fun to loop back to level 1, level back up and earn rewards. Or prestige , and pick a Ironman challenge, where you get 1 life and need to accomplish a certain goal like, kill hogger before level 10 or you fail. I'm working on an Ironman Challenge called "King of the Jungle" where you get 1 life, and need to kill the final tiger boss in the Stranglethorn Vale big game hunt quest line before level 40!
Over all, it's just a very well thought out and daring approach. On top of Ascension's Area 52 server that I'm on (Free pick classless), there's also the Thrall server which is also classless, but instead if free pick you get a selection of 3 or 4 abilities when you level and you try to assemble your build using those cards. I have some friends that positively love the draft server, but it isn't my cup of tea.
I enjoyed classic wow through TBC but when wotlk dropped I lost interest. I just started on ascension wow area 52 a few days ago and it's a really interesting spin on the classic experience. I'm enjoying it but I don't think I'll play it as seriously as I did for classic wow and classic TBC.
Really curious to try out this season of discovery thing though. I might resubscribe just to try it out.
I was the same way. I quit WoW after WotLK, and started looking into it again about two years ago. Then I saw the bad reviews and how the story tanked. So I looked around at the other big ones, and FFXIV looked interesting. The story is kind of average until you get past level 50 stuff, but it gets really good. Shadowbringers is just a masterpiece. Easily as good as any other FF title you've played. I came for the graphics, and stayed for the lore. Compared to WoW, the graphics are great, that is.
The PvE is good, especially when you consider that you don't need an alt. If you make it to level 60 and find you don't like the class you picked, you can just start with a new job on your same character and continue. So you can pay all classes without going back to the newbie tutorial zones. Plus, you will "level sync" to old content. Making the level 20 dungeon worth running as a level 89. It's not instantly forgotten, dead content.
PvP isn't as good as WoW. It's fun, and I do it daily, but there's no rock paper scissors mechanics or supreme balance like back in the day in WoW.
I don't feel like I'm on a treadmill, and I'm not pressured to log in every day or fall behind. I can play casually, take a break, and not feel like I've lost out. Some people are hardcore raiders, but those days are behind me.
I would never go back to WoW now. I like it better overall than I ever did running Molten Core, or Burning Crusade even. Which was pretty peak WoW, imo.
It's been years since I played but can't recommend GW2 enough if you didn't try it yet. One of the more unique thempark style MMOs with the focus on dynamic events instead of quests - the events branch out into other events, with different branches based on if you succeeded or failed with some dilogue in between (do stick around when events end!). Lore is rich and story is nice (it has ups and downs).
The game had its rough patches and reinvented intelf several times but now it seems its in a nice place.
Also, I figured I would plug [email protected] - it's not much active unfortunately, but seeing as there are somr MMO enjoyers here there could be some activity to be had if you don't yet know it
how does the newest xpac stack up? I'm a longtime player but just lately my interest has waned, but it tends to come and go and it'd be nice to know whether the newest content is worth coming back for. compared to the other xpacs I feel like they did eod dirty with how little time they gave it before releasing another full expansion (hell, path of fire got essentially two full living story releases)
What's out so far is good.
It's split up so that the releases after launch continue the main story of the expansion and are included in the price, so no more buying an expansion then having to be playing at a specific time or pay for the follow-up story.
The next part releases tomorrow, so we'll see how that stacks up.
I did not play it but I heard good things. I recommended it because I played it extensively at launch and up to the first xpac. I fell off a bit after, but still played everything up to Icebrood Saga. It's a great MMO with tons of content just for that.
The game had issues with how they want to do content delivery, they constantly went to reinvent the wheel for ot to bite them at the end each time. From what I heard it is quite simple now - buy xpac once a year, get xpac and living story like updatesfor the year. No logging in to unlock, no buying episodes if you miss them. You basically soft-subscribe for a years worth of content. On the other hand the xpacs will be smaller and without elite specs, but they plan to unlock different existing weapons for the classes.
I'd recommend watching Josh Strife Heyes videos on MMOs, but if you want an overview, the biggest ones are WoW, FFXIV, and Guild Wars 2. I'd recommend the latter.
I still play EVE online, having a lot of fun in faction warfare these days.
A video came out on the history of the game recently, just a cool 6 hour deep dive. https://youtu.be/BCSeISYcoyI?si=1sKdXt8oPRUTbzs1
I've also gotten into Guild Wars 2 recently and I'm a little addicted. The game just feels great: nice community, events are engaging, so much stuff to do but at the same time not demanding like games can be sometimes.
Guild Wars 2 is great!
I'm biased because I've been playing it since launch, but I've also dabbled in the others and simply couldn't justify a sub fee when
a) there are so many other games I'd like to play simultaneously and not feel guilty doing so b) there's no gear treadmill! It really sucks in games like WoW where I want to check out the older content to get up to speed and just the zones were dead. Conversely, I'm doing map completion with my wife in GW2 and even the core maps had a bunch of people running around doing dynamic events and world bosses. The game feels so much more alive!
GW2 is my mmo home world. I started with wow but things changed when I realized Blizzard was always playing catch up with arenanet. There were a few months where blizzard made dragon riding easily accessible but once you hit max level the world content wasn't as good and the retail community became more toxic and elitist than ever, so I switched back.
I dislike MMOs that require friends, working together, joining other people. I'm not knocking it. It's just not for me.
So the closest things to MMOs that I like are more single player but with people. Kinda like people who go to coffee shops with a laptop.
The list:
Fallout 76. I jump back in every few months to check out my house and then leave. I played for about 350 hours before I felt like I did everything.
New World. It got pretty good! Honestly I just like chopping wood. Maybe 100 hours?
Elder Scrolls Online. The combat is so "floaty". But if you can get passed it, the story is really really really good. Maybe 400 hours?
Old School RuneScape is a mostly solo MMO. Essentially single player with people, like you described wanting.
I usually play Guild Wars 2, but at the moment I’m trying out World of Warcraft: Classic Hardcore. It’s quite fun and challenging.
WoW: Seasons of Discovery has also
peakedpiqued my interest. I hope it has potential to become WoW: Classic+.I keep going back to Star Trek Online for some star ship pew pew. I usually get a month or two in going back over the story arcs and participating in events until the constant event schedule makes me realize I'm trapped in the grind and not playing any other games. So I drop it to break free and play the rest of my game library. The community isn't something I really interact with as pretty much all of the game content is playable solo or antisocial (the team content is easy enough you can just random queue and don't really have to talk or strategize with them). It is overwhelmingly PvE (though PvP is technically in the game) and it has some fun lore if you are a Star Trek fan.
I recently got the urge to play WoW again, so I figured I'd cash in on the 'free play til level 20' thing and play on a Classic server. Except those are pay only. Decided I'd try retail since it was free and quit within an hour. I've been really loving Turtle WoW, however.
Oh man I just discovered and joined turtle yesterday! Haven't had a chance to play, but did confirm it ran without any additional setup on PopOS.
Awesome! All the advice I saw on the net was to try and run it via Steam (which ended up causing weird graphical glitches) but it ran great for me with just regular wine.
Already found a fun guild while I was running WC...let me know if you're looking for one!
Even though I don't play many MMOs anymore, I still boot up Old School Runescape every now and then. It's still a good time.
I've also heard good stuff about STAR WARS: The Old Republic, but have yet to try it myself
SWTOR has one of the most balefully hateful f2p systems I have ever seen in a mmo. Which was enough to make me not subscribe to the game while I was testing it out.
You can play Classic (Vanilla) WoW officially and you can play Wrath of the Lich King. Next will be Cataclysm. So the old WoW still exist in some way.
My girlfriend and I play Elder Scrolls Online, and I'll boot up the Dark Age of Camelot private server Eden from time to time.
This post spurred me to see if Rift were still a thing; apparently it is! I got in quite early when it was still unfinished and played it well after launch. They ended up doing a pretty big overhaul at some point and that's roughly when I got out as I didn't want to have to figure things out again. I may pick it back up. I have no idea what the playerbase (or the actual game these days) is like, though.
World of Warcraft Retail ... still.
Like every day or casual? Shadowlands was pretty much the nail in the coffin for me retail-wise. Have had some fun with classic the last couple years though.
For me it's every day for new seasons for about 2 months and then I start going casual and just raid log.
As a disclaimer, I am very casual with my game play, but I do love me some MMOs.
I was playing New World pretty much since it's release and I've loved every minute. Good graphics, ok story line, cool combat, no subscription (which is a big factor for me since I'm so casual). Pvp, pve, raids are relatively new, good community from what I've seen.
From my understanding is that if you play a bunch of hours everyday and grind, grind, grind, you'll quickly be bored since there's lack of end game content, but I haven't been bored at my pace.
I've recently downloaded and have been playing Starfield, so I haven't been playing NW since, but I do miss NW.
I wish that they would add real controller support to NW. I started playing at launch but I really prefer the recliner gaming of consoles and the new wave of pc handhelds like the steam deck. I sit at a desk all day for work, I don’t want to game there too.
You can rig steam up to play NW with a controller kind of but it does get annoying with the trade offs.
It's still in pre-alpha, but I've been playing a lot of Veloren.
Currently winning at EVE Online.
@theKalash hehe, same. Also EVE Echos.
If you watch the blizzcon talk where hozzikostas talks about the new features coming out in the next xpac, you'll want to reinstall GW2 too.
WoW, but with short and longer breaks. It’s a massive time sink, and I simply do not have the time that WoW demands in order to accomplish most of the things.
It can be an enjoyment, can be fun, can also cause you to burnt out so fast.
I get up to the current heroic raids, then its impossible to progress though heroic gear in PUGs, then I lose all interest for a few months.
City of Heroes
So what if WoW isn't the same? It's still a good game, and a new one at that. I don't get the apprehension, unless you want to scratch the nostalgia itch, but I think it's a waste of time, although WoW Classic is a thing. FFXIV is also pretty good if you can stomach anime designs and weird Japanese fantasy, personally I find it too unrelatable.
Yeah I played classic and I played retail and I prefer retail every day. Would I have called it a good mmo during legion/bfa/shadowlands? Fuck no, but with Dragonflight they've really pulled their shit together and made a very good experience and I am definitely looking forward to the Worldsoul Saga
I started with MMOs back in the MUD days, both on dial up BBSs and (eventually) on university servers. I will always remember the sysop who walked me through signing up for his BBS MUD while I was giving responses like “y” and “go north” because I thought he was just an infocom game and not an actual person. Twelve year old me was so embarrassed that I never went back. If you’re out there, sysop, or if you’re just someone who has tried their best to support online communities despite the best intentions of absolute idiots, I salute you.
I played EverQuest since it came out, stupidly choosing a ranger and studying fletching all very badly because I didn’t know about gaming the game mechanics and had read too many fantasy novels. I played a lot, mostly by myself, and didn’t get too far. I also tried EQ2 when it came out, and when Diablo 2 released I decided to experiment with gaming the trading market.
I was an early WoW adopter. I played through the level caps two or three times. I joined a more serious raiding guild when I hit 60 (instead of my old rpg guild) and cornered the market on cotton a couple of weeks in a row here and there. I eventually fell out of it - end game content turned into feeling like a job, where you had to study and rehearse in order to get past bosses, your loot dropping was like a 1 in 20 chance, and if you screwed up a single person could cause a group wipe. Honestly, it just got boring compared to being a level 8 warlock wandering around.
What is keeping me from trying new ones is that there’s a massive disadvantage in starting an MMO that’s already been going on for years and years. You can fire up Skyrim for the very first time this afternoon, and have the exact same experience (honestly, a much improved one) as if you fired it up on launch day. I can launch Baldur or Disco or Stray and just not have to worry about getting ganked other than what was already intended by the devs. There was a time in EverQuest where another player challenged me to 1v1 and finally talked me into trying it, then proceeded to beat the living shit out of me but then bandage me right before I died. He kept on doing it until I disconnected. As funny as that was in retrospect, it’s also a problem with MMOs in general.
I would love for there to be a new WoW - something that restored the magic of the game when you could solo or group up and both explore the world and feel progress. I’m still waiting.
I agree about WoW. For me too much time focusing on dailies and then not enough time to play the game.
I've gone to playing Project 1999, an OG EverQuest emulator server.
It's only up to velious and it's as close to how the game was back then as you can get.
I don't recommend it to people who never played EQ back in the day - games have changed far too much for this ancient game to be fun for most people who don't have nostalgia for that era of gaming.
But sounds like you might, so I thought I'd suggest it to you.
Seconding Project 1999. I have played on and off (mostly off) since near the beginning. I wish I had more time to play it. It takes so long to make decent progress that it’s just not for me these days. I’ve thought about rolling a cleric so that I could maybe/hopefully get groups quickly and maybe then in 10 years I’ll be max level
I'm having the mmo itch but the thought of the riot mmo coming out in 3 to 5 years has me at bay for now. I did do a little ff with my girlfriend and enjoyed it but trial accounts are a bit too limited for my liking.
WoW was my introduction to MMOs, and ive never really replaced it, despite trying out ff and eso. That voids still unfilled, but I have picked up Warframe, which i suppose might technically count, but its not quite the same - third person mission based sci fantasy shooter doesnt quite scratch the same itch, but it is an mmo.
Great quests, i really enjoy them when they come in.
Labyrinthine progression system, im currently building a new class so that i can generate an Impact weapon and then i'll throw the class into the dumpster, absorb its power blue-mage style, slap it on a different class, and use an upgrade from another part of the game to turn that impact weapon into an energy generator, slap the ability on another class i like, and use the impact energy generator fueled ability to set up a whip attack that needs enemies affected by the blue maged impact energy weapon fueled ability to farm another - ok ill stop, but its this kind of game.
The space hats are good and pretty to look at. most important part imo.
All of them. If it exists I'm on there.
Currently I try to decide between New World and Guild Wars 2. Can't play both but not sure which to pick ....
If you're mainly interested in PVP or resource gathering, New World.
If you want better PVE, more interesting storylines and better more varied world design, Guild Wars 2.
Personally, I quit New World as a mainly PVE player after playing for around 30 hours. It was just too mind-numbing killing the same 5 mob types over and over even after getting to a new area. Even reading all the quest texts, I never got very interested in the world or (barely existant) storyline.
Started festia online and I really like it! But I'm new and I'm lost.
I was playing to Elder Scrolls but they revamped the interface and since it's horrible.
I just never found it to be fun, at all.
- Star Wars Galaxies, A New Hope launched in July and doesn't have any of the BS restrictions in place like SWGEMU does. Play on multiple toons, use of macros and scripts, ultimate fun.
HorizonXI. It's a classic Final Fantasy XI server.
I grew up playing XI and wanted to get back into it, but the retail server is a solo experience these days. Horizon has been incredible to relive my childhood on Horizon, and the community is amazing. It's certainly not for everyone but I'm so glad to have it in my life.
I was lucky in that the ffxi US beta was my first dive into an MMO. And I think it's one of the best games ever, but the harsh reality is that it's hard and tedious, especially for folks who only have experience with super hand holdy MMOs like they mostly are today. If you can get into it, it can be like crack, but I really feel like most people won't have the patience for it these days.
This isn't me saying don't try it. Try it for sure. Just be ready for a huge time sink. It doesn't help you at all.
I absolutely agree. XI is hard and a huge time sync. I don't think most gamers would enjoy it at all, and most of my enjoyment comes from nostalgia and the sense of community.
I was playing Wrath Classic when it came but the wow token and GDKPs absolutely killed the experience. Wow itself has had some good changes and announcements lately, it might be worth revisiting that a little to see if you might be interested again.
Another option is Hardcore, which does somewhat feel interesting and old school again.
Furcadia
Honestly, the only game that’s scratched that old MMO itch for me is Old School Runescape.
But, by and large… it’s not an MMO. Give this video a watch!
Star Citizen is my guilty pleasure. Get online with a group of friends and do some missions, emersion style, role play hijinks. The space elevator of death will forever be in our hearts.
Got that itch again recently too and after looking through what's currently popular decided to give EVE Online and Black Desert (on private server) a try
I like open world survival crafting games (loved Valheim) and prefer to play with others so am hoping these will work out
Also played some GW2 few months back for a while and I host a Minetest server for our kiddos where I dabble as well
Idk if Warframe counts as an MMO, but it's the closest thing to an MMO that I play.
The lore is really cool, though it's mostly for the people who care about it as it is really easy to skip/miss.
The community is mostly super friendly and a big part of the game (yk, trading in-game items for in-game currency, clans, etc...).
The PvE of Warframe imo is top notch, fluent movement, satisfying weapons, time or characters, abilities, strategies and weapons to choose from and reach one can be upgraded individually.
The PvP however... It exists and that's all I can say about it, it's kinda just bad and no one plays it.
Idk what RvR means lol.
Oh, and the game is completely free with no forced pay walls and it'll run on pretty much anything.
Though it's not perfect, it's a grind (yk it's a looter shooter) and there is an annoying mechanic of items taking a while to craft
I've never really paid any attention to Warframe, but just youtubed it. Kinda intrigued. How's the co-op? One of the reasons I wanted an MMO is that a friend of mine is in the same boat looking for something new. We tried Elden Ring hearing that it was co-op, but ER's co-op is little temporary instances of pulling another player into your world - you can't actually progress together. The content I've seen so far on Warframe looks very single-player oriented, and ER has given me trust issues with things like that, lol.
RvR is realm vs realm. Sometimes it's called WvW for World vs World. Basically it's large scale siege style combat - you and like 50 other players from your server are attacking or defending objectives sought by another server, so you get 100+ players clashing in pure chaos. It's a good time when it's done right.
Warframe is designed as a Co-op experience, it's the correct way to play the game, only parts of the main story is single player, cinematic experience and all, 90% of the game is supposed to be played co-op or in a team of randoms... RvR isn't technically a thing the way you describe it, but there are huge hordes of enemies, so you can think of it as PvR... kinda.
The only mmo's I ever really spent any significant time with were FFXI (on dial up for most of the time I spent with it so my experience wasn't great) and GW2. not mentioning eve... we dont talk about that..
There was a free MMORPG called Planeshift (I played quite a lot in 2005 or so, it's still around and being actively worked on) that was very elder scrolls inspired, I put a lot of time into in the past too but being a small free amateur project it didn't have a lot of players.
I just don't have the time or motivation to give modern MMOs the attention they really need to make progress, and I was very much a solo player at the time so progress was slow and hard.
I think if I was to pick up a new one it would be FF14, it has a balance of open gameplay and story which a lot of mmos ignore, it seems like a good community but as with all mmos they really dont want you to just drop in a play a couple of hours every second weekend, they want you to get in daily and stick to a routine, which I just cant commit to these days.
FF14 is actually a lot more forgiving of that more casual gameplay style. It's very easy to gear up after a break for anything outside of Savage and Ultimate raiding (and even then, you can buy or craft the week 1 gear if you want to get into Savage), the dungeon roulette system makes it so it's generally always possible to find people to complete content with, even if it's older, and unless you want to get into housing there's not really any penalty for say subbing for one month, taking a break afterwards and then coming back when you have time to play, outside of missing out on seasonal events (and generally any exclusives you get from those events get put on the cash shop the following year).
Also, FFXI player here as well, the ability for that game to run on low speed connections was frankly impressive for the time. I remember playing it using an infrared GPRS data connection on my laptop 😂 Sure it lagged a bit in city areas but the fact that it was still playable was a feat.
Anymore, occasionally, I'll hop back into Wakfu or I'll play Dofus Touch on my phone. Otherwise I don't play MMOs at all.
I’m holding off until the League of Legends MMO comes out.