What MMO/s do you play?

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Champions Online, which can be completely F2P - you can play all the way to top level without ever giving them a dime.

Tuesday, I'll probably expand to their sister game, Star Trek Online, which will be F2P as of then.

Star Wars The Old Republic and World of Warcraft

I've played WoW on and off for years, but this latest tier of content was poorly designed and lazily implemented :/

None, I always felt awkward playing MMOs, so any MMO I've tried (maplestory is about it?) I've quit in like 5 minutes after feeling weird, you know, all the other people there interrupting my video game experience.

I played WoW pretty solidly since patch 2.4.3 (half way through The Burning Crusade Expansion), for about 3 1/2 years, taking it as far as multiboxing 5 accounts. I cancelled them all shortly after the first patch for Cataclysm was released, but I made another US account to help support a 'guild' of players once the first 20 levels became free to play. That paid account got cancelled too, and will run out some time in February. I really don't see myself going back to WoW.

The main reason for quitting was that Blizzard, the developers of WoW, just seem completely up themselves about their ability to make a game, when they quite honestly, aren't developing anything, just churning out more content that is little more than reskinned armor and weapons, and recycled boss mechanics.

They also focus almost entirely on endgame raiding, leaving problems anywhere else in the game completely ignored. As a PvP player (both at endgame and at lower levels in several 'twink' brackets), hope that they might actually bother to fix problems eventually turned into frustration, as their complete lack of care became apparent, when with each new patch they actually managed to make things worse, buffing classes that were already OP, while making others completely unusable in PvP, simply because they couldn't be bothered to take into consideration the effect balancing the different character classes for raid content would have (where the encounters themselves could be modified instead), upon PvP class balance.

They also blanket applied class tuning to all levels, so changes that were needed at engame to improve a class, actually made classes that were the most overpowered at lower levels even more overpowered. Instead they could have buffed those classes for higher levels only, through high level talents, or abilities that only become available at higher levels.

What is worse is that they had made statements on their forums to the effect that they cared about low level class balance, and intended to improve upon it.

The final straw was when a thread was started on the EU forums titled "Blizzard's complete disregard for PvP". That continued with a further 5 full threads of support (a single thread is limited to 26 pages on the WoW forums, so it was continued in additional threads), and the only comment that has ever been given in response by Blizzard is "We have read this".

Blizzard are ignorant, unncommunicative, and when they do communicate they are perfectly happy to lie. They certainly do not care about their customers, beyond what they are willing to pay for the game (probably because with over 11 million, they think they can always get more customers if some aren't happy).



I'm now Playing EVE Online instead (I started around a year ago, and kept my subscription running while playing WoW), and the contrast between Blizzard, the developers of WoW, and the developers of EVE, CCP is like night and day.

CCP have organised the yearly formation of a 'Council of Stellar Management' (CSM), a group of 9 players, elected by all of the other players of the game, to voice the concerns of players to the developers, so they can develop the game according to the wishes of the players.

Last year there was a lot of player disatisfaction about the how the previous expansion was focussed to much on a new feature that none of the players really wanted, as well as the introduction of microtransactions to the game (there was a lot of worry that 'pay to win' would be introduced to the game). CCP seemed to be becoming a bit like Blizzard (up themselves, and ignoring their customers). When they gave the impression that they were no longer taking the advice of the CSM, players responded en-masse by protesting in the game, as well as by cancelling their subscriptions.

The result? An apology from the CEO of CCP, much better communication between the devs and CSM, the latest patch being focussed almost entirely on fixing problems from the list that had been submitted by players to the CSM, and voted upon as to their priority for fixing (what the devs call '10,000 papercuts' lots of little things that individually don't seem like much so are likely to be ignored by developers in favor of adding new features, but are easy to fix, adding up to making the game much more enjoyable for the players).

The devs gave the players what they want, and the players gave the devcs what they want, by resubscribing in even larger numbers.

The minutes (Adobe Acrobat format) of the last meeting between the CSM and CCP have recently been released, and they really inspire a lot of confidence in CCP as MMO game developers, something that sets them far apart from many of the others, who seem to be in it, like Blizzard, entirely for the money.



As for EVE the game?

Compared to other MMOs it's complicated, very complicated. This is how complicated:


It takes a lot of learning to be able to handle the basics in the game, which in the opinion of it's players is a very good thing, as it keeps a lot of the trash out, leaving only people who care about it enough to learn to play (you could say it's a very 'adult' game). A lot of the game can be considered very boring (it's often refered to as 'spreadsheets in space', given the complexity), and there are professions that are very grindy (although mining is a lot less player intensive than in say WoW, so you could read a book or watch films while doing it), but that is all about making money. Once you have money the fun begins, and you can engage in PvP, where the game really shines.

Battles involving thousands of players have happened. Combat is possible between the highest level players in the most expensive ships, and week old newcomers in the cheapest of ships (in much larger numbers of course). What's possible in EVE would be equivalent in WoW to taking a bunch of level 20 something characters, and killing the most geared level 85 you could find (and it would actually be possible too). As a result they would drop all their gear, you could loot it (and sell it), and they would have to collect it all again.

The extent of security in EVE is the differentiation between hi-sec, low-sec and null-sec areas of space.

In hi-sec (space rated 0.5 to 1.0 for security) any act of aggression that isn't part of a war* between corporations will result in the aggressor's ship being destroyed by CONCORD NPC security forces, the strongest in the game (although they might have time to destroy their target before CONCORD show up, so they can 'suicide gank' other players for their loot, at the expense of losing their own ship), and their security rating being reduced. If it drops to -2 the local police (less powerful than CONCORD, but still a significant threat) in systems rated 1.0 will fire on them on sight any time they enter that space in a ship (they can pass through in their capsule, but that is more like an escape pod). As it continues to drop they will be fired upon by police in the lower security rated areas of hi-sec, until at -4.5 they will be shot by police in every system rated 0.5 and up. At -5 even players will be able to fire on them without any penalties form CONCORD or the police, as -5s are considered outlaws.

Low-sec (0.1-0.4) is home to the pirates in the game, as they can't go into hi-sec without getting their ships destroyed by the NPC police. They can however improve their security rating (which will allow them access to higher security rated levels of hi-sec as it rises), by shooting NPC pirate ships in the asteroid belts throughout lowsec. Agressing someone who isn't an outlaw in low-sec will still reduce your security rating, but there are no police forces here, just the sentry guns around stations and jump gates, which only fire on players for a few minutes after aggression. The biggest threat is the other players, who have far more freedom to steal from each other than in hi-sec, so long as they don't intend to go there. In low sec players are able to use much bigger capital ships, that aren't allowed entry to hi-sec. These can jump into systems from a distance of several systems away, using a beacon dropped by another ship at the destination, and can bring entire fleets with them.

Null-sec (0.0) is completely lawless space. Players are free to destroy anyone, anywhere, without any effect on their security ratings, and there are no station or gate guns, just the defenses on the player built structures. This area is home to the biggest corporations in the game, and the even bigger alliances of many corporations, as it provided the greatest sources of income. The alliances fight constantly to take over and control territory, which they defend against any intruders. Additional risks in null-sec are warp bubbles, which players may set up around gates, or on travel paths, which pull a ship warping across the system out of warp, so that it has to travel through the bubble at normal speed, where it can be attacked. Normally ships can warp to zero distance from gates and stations, so that they can immediately jump or dock. They do have slightly more risk undocking or warping away from a jump gate they just jumped to, as they have to align their ship to the next gate or station before they warp, but that risk is nothing compared to having to move through a bubble, as it gives anyone at the bubble time to get a target lock, and 'tackle' them, preventing them from warping even if they were to get out of the bubble. Also in null-sec stealth bomber ships are able to use bomb launchers (in addition to the torpedo launchers they can use in hi and low sec).

Finally there is wormhole space, which, while it has the same rules as nullsec, has the added danger over all the other areas of not having 'local' intel available. 'Local' is a list of all the players in the system, provided by the jump gate system. Something that would otherwise tell you if there are hostiles in the same system as you, who could scan you down and come and attack you (so you can see when a fleet jumps into your system). Also the wormholes that join wormhole systems to normal space as well as other wormhole systems, can collapse after a certain mass of ships has passed through them, so the location of wormhole systems in relation to other parts of space changes unpredicably. One day a system might have a wormhole leading into hi-sec, the next it might lead into null-sec.

*Hi-sec wars are authorised by effectively bribing the security forces to turn a blind eye, although they are only possible between player made corporations, and aren't within the budget of most players, only the most established ones, or corporations of several people. Players can avoid wars by staying in the NPC corps they start out in (or get put into when they leave a player corporation), but they do pay a higher tax on their income in those.



Overall, while EVE does have it's share of action and combat (and shiny graphics), I couldn't really recommend it to someone who doesn't have the patience needed to learn even the basics, as it does take a considerable investment of time to start getting anything out of it. It would probably more suit players of traditional tabletop wargames, and pen and paper RPGs, than people who like the faster pace and lower time investment of video games. This is the kind of game you could probably appreciate, if you do tabletop/P&P campaigns, and spend time planning out a saturday night's gaming over the course of the week.

The game is subscription, but can be played as free to play once you are earning enough in game that you have enough spare to buy 'PLEX' (pilot license extension) every month (The way it works is, if you are short of in game currency, you can buy PLEX outside the game with real world money, to either sell to another player in game, or apply to your own account). You can even trade characters with other players for in game currency (the seller pays a transfer fee). This isn't seen as pay to win, because you still need to invest a lot of time learning to play before you can make effective use of a bought character, that can fly a wide range of advanced ships, and no assets can be traded along with a character. Character sale isn't particularly common, as there are much better ways to make in game currency than levelling alts.

Levelling your character in EVE does not take anywhere near the in-game time investment it does in other games. All that's needed from a player to level is time subscribed, a little time spent adding skills to the training queue, and time spent earning the currency to buy the skill books, and a fair bit of patience, then your skills gradually train up, even when you're not logged in. Higher levels of a skill take longer to train than the lower levels, and they also unlock access to additional skills, like you need frigates at 4 to be able to start training for cruisers, and you'd need cruisers at 3 to fly some of the basic cruiser size ships (for the better tech 2 cruisers you'd need the cruiser skill at it's highest level, 5, which takes about 20 days to train from level 4, as well as a level in an additional skill, such as Heavy Assault Cruisers. That's the kind of ship used in alliance wars in null-sec). It's said that to train all the skills in the game would take about 25 years of real world time. Of course you could be flying around low-sec space in a frigate, picking on haulers, in little more than a week, but to get into a capital ship you would need to train for every size of ship inbetween, which would probably take over a year.

Equiping your ship is done with modules, each class of which you need to train skills to use. This allows for a huge diversity in ship fittings, making combat unpredictable, as you never know the exact capabilities of your targets. The slots are divided into high, medium and lows, with modules fitting one of the types, and ships having verying numbers of each type of slot available. High slots are for weapons, mining lasers, salvaging equipment, remote repairers (that alow ships to 'heal' each other), energy neutralizers (that steal or reduce the capacitor charge a target needs to run some of their modules) as well as probe launchers and cloaks (which can only be used effectively on a few very specialised ships). Mid slots are used for shield based defenses, EWAR (including 'tackling' modules that disable other ship's ability to warp or move), and propulsion upgrades like afterburners. Low slots are used for armor based defenses, and modules that boost the performance of weapons, or other fitted modules.

Finally, while the game is very deep and exceedingly complex there is a player run corporation called EVE-University, that exists entirely to train up new players and get them past the hardest bit of the learning curve. It can take some time to get in as the application process has to keep people out who would like to take advantage of new players (while in a player corporation, you can attack anyone else in the corporation, so they only want genuine newcomers who are happy to follow the rules), and they get a lot of applicants, but they do accept any newcomer (join the E-Uni chat channel in game as soon as possible, as it's full of people who can answer questions, and point you at the best resources to learn about the game). Being in E-Uni is a great way to make friends in the game, and take part in a lot of group activites (there's a permanent camp in lowsec near the University's base, so newcomers can get plenty of combat experience, with reasonable safety in numbers. The Uni also replaces basic ships lost in combat). Once you have been in the corporation for a while, you are far more likely to be accepted into other player corps in the game. Some of the best and most respected players in the game do guest lectures, covering absolutely everything there is to do.

I'm in EVE Uni, almost have my Graduate title, and will hopefully be mentoring new players soon.

I play Runescape.

I very briefly tried WOW and Mabinogi but didn't like them.

Well,
I started Runescape at 9 years old. still play it
World of Tanks
Need For Speed online
World of Warcraft
and on Tuesday i start StarWars The Old Republic.

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ADHD, AS, PTS, and lastly but pointlessly. Asthma

world of tanks for me as well as the occasional play of battlestar galactica online

Mabinogi and Vindictus

I've played World of Warcraft since Jan. '08. Recently gave SWTOR a try but didn't really like it (I might try it again sometime though - who knows?). I used to raid hardcore back in Wrath and BC but I really haven't been too impressed with the Cataclysm expansion and content in general so I'm more of a casual player now.

Currently Wakfu and The Secret World. Need to get around to trying out Ryzom and Star Trek Online, but I doubt I'd stick with the latter. Might get into Age of Conan and/or Fallen Earth again, but no promises. Wanting to get back into Wurm Online, but not sure if I want to spend money on it.

None, I tried Maplestory for like 5-10 minutes in like middle school, didn't like it, and no MMOs ever since. My friends tell me to play, but I don't really want to mix socializing and video games really. When I had Xbox Live, I'd play Forza 2 and 3 online, but that's about it, even then players online were either dicks who'd crash/run me off the road, or vastly better than me, so it wasn't too fun.

WoW, starting as complete noob at 1.4/AQ patch, ending up hardcore raider at 2.3 (Zul'Aman iirc). At the WoTLK release I participated in all the even play for like a week straight then cancelled. Went to private servers playing 2.4.3/3.1.3/3.3.5 patches with increased XP rates (usually between 2x and 7x, more is... absurd).

Fallout... too many bugs. I prefer Mass Effect. Played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare for a few months (hardcore/Crossfire). Tried Star Wars the Old Republic and loved the immersion. Bioware just makes awsome games. But a complete lack of features (crappy interface, worst of any MMO I've played) too many nasty bugs, interface lag was the worst of em. I might go back there if they fix the game.

So no MMO for me now (occasional Arena/Battleground on an instant-80 private WoW:WoTLK server) but just Mass Effect, Maybe I'll start up Civilization II or Jagged Alliance 2 again. Can't afford new online games ATM.

I've been playing Star Wars The Old Republic lately.

It's basically KOTOR 3 with much more content and a monthly fee. I often switch to the non-chat tab and run around and quest classic RPG-style. Other players run around but it all works out.

I had never tried WOW (except the beta briefly) and bought all the expansions including the latest on a whim. I got to level 65 in a week or two and found some of the quests quite clever and fun.. but the game just started to get boring at that point. I guess I was into the first or second expansion at that point, and the content just didn't seem that interesting somehow. Also, flying mounts, while neat at first, simply make the game way too easy. I can see how WOW is so popular, though.. it takes all the basic MMOGiness and presents it in a very slick well done package. And the way they implemented combat feedback and cooldowns makes for a very involving experience.. which I suppose is why virtually everyone copies it nowadays.

I played DAOC for a while but even then it seemed a bit archaic and now it seems almost unplayable.. fun basic idea for a game, though.

wow.