4 players- best free MMORPG?

[clok1966]

There are 4 of us who may have the time to play a MMORPG again, and we are trying to figure out which one. I am a long term player, play at least weekly still, and have tried almost all the ones out there. My friends are kinda stuck in the way back machine (when GRIND was king, and worse yet, asian MMORPG GRIND!) and preferred LINAGE II as game of choice.. I tried to play L II a little and while the grind is nothing like it used to be, its much faster game now, I still cant take it. I prefer WoW (but we want free). We are leaning to something NEW so I wont be going through old content, but if some older games are the way to go, so be it..

WOW- nope
Tera- maybe- got a bit boring endgame to me
Alods-maybe- 100% wow clone-way to grindy past 20 (unless its changed in last year)
Rift- maybe- this is one of my top maybes- but I never got past 30 in it
LOTR- maybe- again top contender if i cant find a newer one
Aion- maybe- almost a perfect wow clone, but just lost interest about in the 30's
AD&D- no- great game, but friends will not like
AD&D-NW- eh- played beta, never really got into it.
StarWars- nope with so much NOPE the Free to play is a joke
Vindictus- no- like it but its so so as a group game
AOC- maybe- best Improvement in a game after release ever..
Dragons Nest- cant make it paly on my new PC's- WTF?
RoM- maybe- havent playes since release wow clone-

i left out the shooter and space one's and several lesser known ones (wushu, most the Perfect worlds games) I also left of the EQ stuff (vanguard too) as i have played all to death.

Sorry for wall of text, just looking for some thoughts.. will be 4 of us.. so something we can tackle instances with would be nice (with 4) I know how a few of these work (group wise) but several i just soloed to end then grouped.

Leaning towards: LOTR, RIFT or AOC (PC ability may be an issue) but would like to hear thoughts..

 

[Feneant2]

Guild Wars 2 maybe?

Personally thoguh I 'd pick LOTRO if only because it has a lot of content for a free game. And if you play long enough you can open most of it (they used to say all of it, not sure that's still true)

 

[CU]

I looked at RoM a few days ago. It has changed alot since release when I played it. Some changes I saw: triple class instead of just dual class, three races instead of just humans, some new classes for new races, house maids for your house, pets. I am sure there are more that just what I read and remember. I didn't play any just looked at it, so it may or may not be fun to play.

 

[videogames101]

wildstar?

guildwars 2 is out, 0 endgame

 

[gothamhunter]

LOTRO has great lore (obviously). Rift is also great for a f2p mmorpg.

SWTOR is also amazing when playing in a group for the story.

 

[clok1966]

Guild Wars 2 maybe?

Personally thoguh I 'd pick LOTRO if only because it has a lot of content for a free game. And if you play long enough you can open most of it (they used to say all of it, not sure that's still true)

I enjoyed GW2, but it is a bit lacking in endgame.. as I ahve played EQ, EQ2 and WOW, I'm a bit spoiled for endgame.. I know 95% of the rest have little or no endgame so its not like others will. But GW2 is out for cost.. this is and experiment (so far) and no cost is an objective. I do understand its only like 19$ now days.. and it may happen but again, no cost and one user does not have a High end PC (its about 6 years old on a 6600GT, we are going to uypgrade card some, but its CPU is AMD55FX (i think) so we are limited) and yes i know a better PC can be made for a few bucks.. we are just not going that route at this time.


LOTR looks like the Lead runner atm. I was kinda hoping to hear some I hadn't played.. Wildstar- is it out? I was in beta but didn't think it was out yet.

 

[brandonb]

I'd probably try LOTR if the choice was mine. But as a side note, I don't even try to play MMOs with friends anymore. I can usually get them to try it, but they have a hard time lasting past a single weekend. So if I was going to do this, I'd pick a game I wanted to play and that's it.

 

[Rhezuss]

Guild Wars 2 is the way to go man, best MMO i've played in a while.
Path of Exile maybe? It's more of a Diablo clone but it's well worth the look...and it's completely free.

 

[DigDog]

DAoC

 

[TechBoyJK]

I still play RIFT. I really like it and the art style. The community seems to be getting better too.

 

[clok1966]

DAoC

ah the good old days of pretty decent RvR combat.. till the cry babies and bean counters killed it.. I see you list a freeshard, haven't done that since UOnline and EQ had a few. Some of the best Pvp or RvR combat till Warhammer did it pretty good too. I miss Warhammer too (the PvP battlegrounds) the RvR died a quick death with the exodus after launch that all games have.

I think im chasing a dream, the old days of groups and instances.. Those massive groups (and planning and waiting and cuzzing) to kill stuff in EQ, when a instance in WOW took more then 15 minutes to run.. some took hours! Eh, still trying to recapture that feeling with an old group who did that stuff in the past. I doubt i can, but maybe capture small part of it

 

[Zenoth]

I would recommend RIFT and Guild Wars 2. Also, DC Universe Online isn't bad at all, or if you like something lighthearted you might want to try Spiral Knights. One thing I do know for sure, however, is that you should stay away from Allods Online at all costs, do not touch that scam (but the soundtrack is great).

 

[mikelish]

Everquest on the test server

 

[Griffinhart]

I enjoyed GW2, but it is a bit lacking in endgame.. as I ahve played EQ, EQ2 and WOW, I'm a bit spoiled for endgame.. I know 95% of the rest have little or no endgame so its not like others will. But GW2 is out for cost.. this is and experiment (so far) and no cost is an objective. I do understand its only like 19$ now days.. and it may happen but again, no cost and one user does not have a High end PC (its about 6 years old on a 6600GT, we are going to uypgrade card some, but its CPU is AMD55FX (i think) so we are limited) and yes i know a better PC can be made for a few bucks.. we are just not going that route at this time.


LOTR looks like the Lead runner atm. I was kinda hoping to hear some I hadn't played.. Wildstar- is it out? I was in beta but didn't think it was out yet.

How long ago did you play EQ2? If it's been a while you may want to take a look again. A few months ago they opened up more access to the game with free accounts.

Your existing characters should still be there. The current 100% free cap is level 92 with 300 AA. That gets you access to all zones but the last two expansions, which are level 95 anyway. Most of the annoying free to play restrictions are gone. There are no caps on spell upgrades, loot quality, how much cash you can have, bank slots, etc. There are some restrictions on broker access, but it's not a big deal. The terms are generous enough where a number of paying customers have decided to go F2P. Enough so where they are trying a few different promotions to gold members to encourage paying accounts.

If you later purchase the newest expansion you get full access to all zones, abilities, levels and loot, but are still F2P. There is also an in game item called Krono that people buy from SOE with real cash and sell to players for Plat. They are 30 day full subscriptions. I know several people that play the game at "gold" level for no real cash. They buy krono and fund their accounts with what they earn in game rather than spend real money.

They also have some Paid for extras you can get should you decide to pay money. Some features have been added from feature packs as alacart options. Mercenaries for example, but if you are grouping with friends you won't need them. They also have an option to roll a level 85 character if you wish to skip all the bottom end content rather than grind it all over. $35 for the instant 86, but you can try a free one and play to 86. They aren't required though. You can start at level 1 for free, or pick up where you left off last time you had an account.

 

[AdamantC]

If you want something different you might want to check out Champions Online and Star Trek Online.

 

[TechAZ]

Have you looked into The Secret World? It's actually B2P and not a true F2P.

It's pretty fun for a while, definitely something you can sink a few months into.

 

[v8envy]

It's tough to find f2p (often synonymous with pay2win) games that require less than $15/month to be enjoyable.

SWTOR is definitely not one -- if you treat it as a multiplayer KOTOR it's a decent enough time waster, but harbor no delusions about any endgame unless you're a subscriber. Finish a class storyline for each faction, hit 50 and know it's time to move on. Level cap for f2p is lower than subscriber, unless you fork over $20 for the expansion. It takes a beastly machine to run this game without constant hitching (my old i7 920@3.6 + 5830x2 was nowhere close to enough). But looks like you already realize this.

LOTRO and DDO -- these guys really get f2p. It's a very old game that'll run on complete crap hardware. Things go a bit slow and grindy unless you fork over, but you can seamlessly transition from f2p to $10/month and back easily enough. And whether you pay or not you can team up and not feel like the pay account is "carrying" the f2p gimp as seen elsewhere (SWTOR, e.g.). Definitely worth starting here. You'll run out of content well before endgame, but by that point having to decide grind-or-buy won't feel so onerous.

Star Trek Online -- this felt very much pay2win to me. Not in the same sense as you MUST pay to enjoy, as seen in SWTOR. But more as in "I'm grinding for 25c an hour or so, this is pointless."

AoC -- the first 20 levels are still the best. After that it's meh, not worth grinding or paying for IMO.

In all MMOs I've tried there's a common theme -- the early levels are more suited to solo play, grouping is forced only for endgame content. Which you typically don't get without extreme grinding in f2p MMOs.

My recommendation is not for an MMO, but rather for an action RPG. http://pathofexile.com/ This is a modern clone of diablo2, and captures a lot of that games feel while adding a lot of expected modern conveniences. And it runs at higher than 640x480 graphics. =)

 

[DigDog]

ah the good old days of pretty decent RvR combat.. till the cry babies and bean counters killed it.. I see you list a freeshard, haven't done that since UOnline and EQ had a few. Some of the best Pvp or RvR combat till Warhammer did it pretty good too. I miss Warhammer too (the PvP battlegrounds) the RvR died a quick death with the exodus after launch that all games have.

I think im chasing a dream, the old days of groups and instances.. Those massive groups (and planning and waiting and cuzzing) to kill stuff in EQ, when a instance in WOW took more then 15 minutes to run.. some took hours! Eh, still trying to recapture that feeling with an old group who did that stuff in the past. I doubt i can, but maybe capture small part of it

uthgard is the real deal. no ToA bullsh*t; no portals, super-regeneration, all-capped armour, vampires, minotaurs or anything retarded like that.

classic, Darkness Falls-era Daoc. rvr like its nobody's business.

 

[Thebobo]

I still play RIFT. I really like it and the art style. The community seems to be getting better too.

Ditto

 

[M0RPH]

Take a look at Age of Wushu, for something completely different. It's a martial arts mmo where you are immersed in a world of ancient China. If you liked Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and those types of movies, you will like this. It's a bit pay2win, but if you're not too serious about trying to 'win' then you can have a lot of fun with it.

 

[Elcs]

Rift...

Free to play. No pay to win. Really decent MMO for free entry and worth a little splash of cash imo ($15 max I think unlocks most niceties)

 

[chihlidog]

DAoC

Classic! I'm in. I didnt realize this existed. Is it well populated?? DAoC was, IMO the single best game in history of any genre. I logged in a year or two ago and stood in Goth for a while. Very, very sad to see it so deserted.

Such fond memories.

 

[rstrohkirch]

AO?

It's been my favorite at least

 

[swchoi89]

Archeage?

BTW, I played Aion and Talesweaver (owned by Nexon). Aion is getting so boring (I'm all geared up and nothing to do) and Talesweaver... there isn't any American server.

 

[clok1966]

Some great stuff.

Alods- agree, its to bad its a damn nice looking game, I liked it till about 20, then the CRUSHING need to pay to do ANYTHING became crystal clear.

Wushu- Im not sure what im missing here, most love this game, I just felt like i was playing Rogue from early WoW days (build points to use new moves), im just not feeling the love this game has from users

Star trek- i like this game (and have played to endgame) I agree its a bit grindy without cash, but again, not one I will get friends to play- no sci fi for them.

Secret World- Also like this game and currently get a few hours a week into it, but Sci-FI, and (not that i have tried it) my guess it will be a bit crushing on our slow machine person.

Champions- I prefer the now gone COH, but still a good suggestion (and good looking game) but again, I know I didnt really specify, sword and board, elves and orcs! is where we are going.

POExile- love the game, play it on hardcore all the time! but while it might be the most like Lineage II (the last game most in my group are used to) its not what we are looking for.

EQ II- hmm I last played this with My ex (she loved it) about 3 years ago and I must say I enjoyed it too, I wonder how this will run on a so- so machine? I miss my rat

again thanks for all the input.. if nothing else it reminds me of some good times in the old games. I am fighting a slight uphill battle on this as I say they are all LINEAGE II players from release (who for anybody who played it will understand) who are max level and are having a tough time letting go of all that time and work on characters.. an I wont play it.. its much less grindy then it used to be, but its still (to me) way to boring a game.

I installed LOTR again last night and still have a Premium account ( was that a one time purchase at some point?) I know Im not paying monthly, all i remember was paying to unlock some classes at one point and buying a bag and horse maybe? Played till about 9th level and quit.. not grabbing me as much as I hoped, but not to bad a game.

Now i am interested in EQ II again also.. I remember it took a machine to run it in the past.

keep any ideas coming, or just remissness about an old game..