It's like I enjoy grinding in single-player games. When a single player RPG devolves into a grind-fest, it loses my interest just as an MMO would. Lords of Xulima is a great example- I enjoyed the hell out of it for it's old school gameplay and exploration and some puzzles, but in the end I hit a wall where the only way forward was to grind and I realised the game is designed so that I can't actually avoid any combat if I am to finish the whole thing. I have to even track down every possible random encounter, spend hours just walking around the same area untill all encounters are spent. And at that point I gave up on it and went on to seek greener pastures..

Poor choice of word, but I couldn't come up with a better one and was in a hurry. But all I mean is that it's silly to expect someone to devote more time to searching for a better side of a genre they don't enjoy, when other games from genres I love are literally piling up.

http://camelotunchained.com/v3/

not yet out
monthly subscription

but it will be the best of all time IF it can surpass DAoC (real possibility)

I tried playing it once years ago, when it was still buy only but had a brief free weekend. I didn't last more than an hour though.

Soon enough I was fighting a deer in the woods who posed no threat to me, and I just stood there using the 2 or 3 skills I had, and waiting for them to come off cooldown to use them again. It felt pretty rote and mindless.

The reason I made an exception with XCX is that I think it did cross the line into something more involved. Positioning was a constant concern to trigger the added effects on your skills, as well as the order in which you performed them to trigger combos, and trigger your AI teammates' abilities, without which you're gonna get your ass kicked.

I know the assessment of a newbie who's only made it to level 3 or so is bound to be lacking, but my point is that my first impression was that the gameplay was no different from the one that kept me away from playing MMORPGs in the past. I'd be happy to be mistaken here, but it's an uphill battle to undo a first impression.


EDIT: I might give Warframe a try. It's more action oriented, and it is multiplayer. From what I know it is lacking on the huge world and interesting lore department, things I was really hoping to immerse myself into. Does anyone have some opinions to share on it?

My MMO experience consists of playing Runescape over the course of one morning . I just fooled around without understanding what I was doing, and in the end I went back to single player games. Maybe if I had stayed I would have eventually enjoyed it... but this kind of game requires a dedication that I just can't afford anymore.

You could also try to find yourself a Persistent World and some people to play with and then play Neverwinter Nights as an MMO. The advantages are that the combat will not be quite as action-oriented and hectic as in real MMOs (it's real-time, but still "turn-based" and comparatively slow), there will be no cooldowns, and chances are you already own the game since it was given away for free on GOG one time. And you will probably meet less jerks - although also a lot less people in general, so you can scratch the "Massive" from MMO. Shouldn't be too much of a problem though if you can find a couple of nice people online. No guarantees though, it's been a couple of years since I last tried it, so I don't know how much has changed in the meantime.

I've played,

Meridian 59, Everquest, Starwars online, Startrek online, EVE and Starforge "before they changed it".

From my experience. If you have a family you may want to avoid MMO's. They're fun and addictive. Depending on how invested your into the game may affect how your family handles missing you. I've been in guilds, alliances and fleets from 10s to 100s to 1000s of players. Talking in teamspeak or mumble can be wonderful experience but also a pain in the arse. I've invested too much in EVE once and almost lost my family. So becareful and don't let the game overwhelm ya.

If your single then go for it. You can meet some amazing people. Build relationships and have shit ton of fun.

Just don't loose site of reality.

Good huntings

I think I did fight one of those giant bosses with multiple players too. The first one that showed up on the map, probably meant for people just starting out. If I remember correctly I kept pressing buttons and the boss' health kept going down really fast but I had no fucking clue what I was doing or what was going on.

That might be the sort of thing that experience and access to more skills could remedy though.

(copy of another post of mine elsewhere)

I've never played MMOs too.

What stopped me so far has always been:

- time (the investment is massive, more than SP titles. No pausing).
- expensive subscription price (WoW) or F2P's "hidden" price (microtransactions and such).
- connection (more in the past, but fatal lag can still happen).
- grinding and luck chances (they have to suck, due to multiplayer balancing\economy and to force real $ purchases).
- time-limited or "optional" items that you frankly have to buy (my "OCD" would kill me).
- unwanted game alterations (nerfs, removed features, more casual mechanics for new players, etc).
- knowing that the servers will shut down at some point and so all your investment will suddenly disappear forever. :(
- possible DRM? (no idea if they use it)

Btw, the only MMORPG that interested me in these years is Path of Evil.
But the mentioned problems prevent me from even trying it.
I wish it were SP..

Well they all have account systems. Not sure it should count as DRM, but I guess it's close enough.

With MMOs, the bigger problem tends to be third-party "anti-cheat" systems that run locally on the players PC. They never quite work right and they tend to behave like malware. Some of them are pretty much keyloggers. Avoid any MMO that use those things like the plague.

You tend to see them on western adaptation of Korean MMOs.

Anti-cheat measures should really be implemented server-side anyway. Can never trust anything coming from the client, no matter how much crappy anti-cheat malware you put the users machine. Actual cheaters are just going to circumvent it.

The game plays just like any other Diablo-like, except for the always online requirement (which holds for Diablo 3 as well, I guess?). The only time you see other players is in the town area, unless you've formed a party. You can solo it. It was made with that in mind. Although the boundaries of "MMORPG" are pretty stretched, I don't think PoE fits. Microtransactions are supposed to be purely cosmetical, but I don't have enough experience with it to know for sure - I found the game boring and stopped playing 7-8 hours in. I suppose if you really had to have snazzy suits of amor or weapons, and would spend real money on them, it's wise for you to stay away. Otherwise, go for it.

I've only ever played Stendhal RPG, an open source MMO.

<---MMO whore

hai

RIFT, WoW, Rider of Icarus, ESO, Destiny, Guild Wars 2

MMO-lite
ARK

I still need to try out: Black Death, Black Dessert

I'm ok with accounts for MP-only games, but I'd surely like to avoid Securom-like DRM, too invasive anticheat software or keyloggers.

I'd probably resist, but I would be perma-annoyed about missing cool items.

I.. didn't expect that term lol.

Btw, I read that some girls offer to play multiplayer with boys for money.. XD

I need to look into doing this