I'm going to open a can of worms but saying WoW is the god of MMOs is like saying that Halo3 is the best fps. Truth is, they arnt. IMO I think WoW is far from the best MMO to date, cause its nothing but grinding. I wont explain why cause it will take a while to explain it. If asked I can try to explain. As with Halo, sure its a great game, I enjoy playing Halo, but given a choice of say BF2142 to Halo, BF would win. The reason these games are so popular is because of fanboys and fangirls. They are good but hyped FAR beyond what they should be.

In all actuality from what I learned while playing WoW it's all quest based, which was boring... As for the MMO points, no one ever talked to me, and no one ever partied... It was lame. (FFXI was better and even that sucked, waiting hours on end to get a party together) Finding the glitches was fun though :P

FFXI, WoW, DAoC, Graal, Ragnarok (both pay and a few pirate servers), Ragnarok 2, Zero Online, Silk Road Online, Maple Story, Some other random free ones, and this doesn't include non MMO online games like Diablo.

Last one I was playing was Zero, giant robots in space ftw. It was fun but basically the same story as any MMO (at least it's free). I've kinda given up for the time being, but when something quality new comes out I'm willing to try it.


Edit: I'm actually designing an MMO. Mainly because whats out there all feels half assed and not worth the money being put in. It's all just made to get your money. It should feel as if you've entered another world, fighting being a part of it but not the whole game.

Let me know how it goes, I would love to test it for ya, I've always been a big fan of smaller groups and people making games vs say blizzard. They have messed up enough already, they dont need any more incentive, Lol. Next thing we know there is gonna be a World of Starcraft....

I would like to see a game implement multiple instanced worlds and disappearing/reappearing NPCs. Once you have completed a quest and the NPC has supposedly left...you should no longer be able to see or interact with the NPC. Once some big change is supposed to have happened in the game world (due to a quest you have finished), the world should be different. Have stacks of the zones, one for each stage of the games progression. This interfers with static end game content, but workarounds can be devised. Did you just wipe out the cave of dragons? A tribe of Ogres has moved into the caves. etc etc etc Eventually, the quest would wrap back around, but it would guarantee more realism and make the world much more dynamic.

You can see the issue with this I hope. Such a thing might work for a linear rpg but for an mmo? Your character would then have to be separated from people who haven't completed said quest, How would it work if you entered the cave but for you, you fight ogres and they fight dragons? Paradox much? This I think would take away from the mmo qualities. I understand what your getting at, but layering the game like that would be insane lol.

Guild Wars....WoW is just a big cartoon.

EQ2, GuildWars, Pirates of the Carribean and others allow players to cross instances (or servers in some cases) to play with friends. If a friend is trying to finish a quest that you have already finished, you could move back to their version of the world to complete the quest. No problem really. If they see Dragons, you see dragons. If the quest giver is standing on a hill for them, the quest giver is there for you too. What this would allow would be for high level players to get more use out of the world. Zones could level up, so that Newbie zones could be invaded by mobs of a similar level to the PC, without slaughtering all the little newbies.

Seriously, what were they thinking using the Warcraft 3 Engine? Warcraft 2 was the best in that series. I've been meaning to try Guild Wars, how does it compare to everything else out there?

Not well. Graphics are pretty good, but the gameplay is lame. I guess they have upgraded the NPC groups functionality, but there is still the problem with pathing. Players are only able to walk on paths. A slight slope is an insurmountable hurdle.

Well I will be testing Guild Wars soon, guess taking something like that into account wouldn't be a bad idea. Would it just make you zone to the area with like monsters while the people still on the easier form would be a layer below you so say if your on quest version 2 you wouldn't see people on quest version 1?

I haven't given it too much thought, but I mentioned the idea to a friend and he suggested that servers dedicated to certain parts of the game would be nice. If you follow EQ, then you know that the progression worked a certain way for a long time. You had to do Arena, before you could do TOV. You had to do TOV before you could start raiding in Kunark. Etc. These limitations were based on equipment, but it would easily have forced that certain quests be completed before moving on. With the right story, I could see one (or more) server being newbie zones only. As the Characters progress, they move to another server, where everyone is working on the same quests. I guess implementation really comes down to hardware / software requirements for the servers, server load, etc.

I'll give you an example. I finished a quest one time and the quest giver says "Meet me in the Desert of XYZ". I go to the Desert of XYZ and hes there. Later I go back to the first zone...and he's there too! I get into a raid and we kill Rallos Zek, the god of war. But three days later, there is a Rallos Zek raid...WE JUST KILLED HIM! What's the deal? I think it would be great to see accomplishments actually mean something. Instead of guilds farming gods for equipment, it should be that players can only get experiance / equipment from the first time they kill a boss. Randomize bosses to some degree. Make killing a god actually mean something. So Rallos Zek drops two items? Should the god of war have...I don't know...an ARMORY? Everybody should get something for that kill and then NO MORE. None of this "We kill Rallos Zek (sorry, using that dude as an example) every Sunday, make sure you are online by 8:00 PM ET". Humans breed, supposedly monsters do too. Monsters also fight each other. Once you wipe out a cave full of monsters, something else should move in. Make the world dynamic. Make it possible for a raid to move in to kill a bunch of dragons to find out that they are currently at war with giants, then maybe the raid can work with the giants or dragons or maybe the raid causes the giants and dragons to unite against them to wipe the raid out. Make it interesting. I am sick of how a guild can learn an encounter and farm it for months. Okay, I'm ranting, so I'll go.

I've played WoW, FFXI, EQ2, Matrix Online, EQ, and now Pirates of the Burning Sea. I would have to say out of those my current favorites are probably WoW, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and FFXI. Theres supposed to be Warhammer Online coming soon that game looks complex and fun, thats another I'll probably try out.

as of right now i 'play' WoW (my account is inactive, but i plan on returning soon), i enjoyed a brief stint on EVE Online, and played Ultima Online a few years ago. right now i'm waiting both for WotLK and WAR, both of which i really hope don't suck.

i have never been impressed with an MMO.

What, no UO vets here? I mean really, what could be more fun that leaving a trapped, poisoned chest on the road to Trinsic and then hiding in a bush waiting for a n00b to come along and open it? Or flagging gray, opening a low level poisoned chest and running to the bank in Britannia yelling "save me" so someone cures your poison and gets guard whacked? Or camping out all night waiting for that IDOC castle in Fel to drop so you can get that bear rug you could never afford? Good times. Good times!