Is there such a thing as a good alternative to WoW?

[Essenar]

My friend wants to pick up an MMO, because of how much depth regular PC games and console games lack. You know, the improvement sensation. Doing this or that, to get better at that and this.

I told him, man... I've been through that already. (Level 75 Dark Knight, 75 Bard on FFXI, fully geared. Level 60 Warlock through AQ40 pre-BC with GM gear, 5 other level 60's pre-BC)

But he insists we pick up a game with "depth". I told him, okay, but not WoW and FFXI is dead, so that leaves it to the universe beyond.

Problem is, the only galaxy beyond said universe that I've traveled to is Guild Wars, and I had a very unhappy vacation there and vowed to never visit again, much the less permanently live there.

So that leaves us with:
Everquest - If we hate leveling in WoW/FFXI, Everquest would be a nightmare. This includes part 2 and expansions. To me, EQ is EQ.

Age of Conan - A very premature game and supposedly lacks a lot of content past a certain level, which is very discouraging to the whole "depth"/development desire.

EVE - Supposedly a very deep and good MMO, but it's also not a traditional action MMO in the hack and slash aspect. I like my swords and dragons, but maybe there's something to be desired in space with spaceships.

Free MMO's - Let's just eliminate those altogether. The click-to-move and Korean-centric grinding is NOT very fun to me. Yes I tried Granado Espada and Silk Road.

Maple Story - Just. No.

Those aside, what else is there? Is there some diamond in the rough I haven't seen or played yet?

[Shiggity]

I have to suggest WoW heh.

I've tried AOC - exactly what you said, lack of content at the high end, imbalanced pvp.

Everquest 2 - takes too long to level and the raid content is a joke compared to WoW

Guild Wars - good game but too old for me

Eve - I haven't tried it but I'd try this first over everything else you said.


WOTLK just went into beta, so it'll be released within a short time (6-9 months me thinks).

I would try Eve until that, then pickup wrath of the lich king together. My 2 cents.

[=ACID RAIN=]

Given what most wow players I know look like (due to hygiene decline), I would say take up anything over wow :eh?:

I'd take up sheer boredom over wow, personally.

[thideras]

Given what most wow players I know look like (due to hygiene decline), I would say take up anything over wow :eh?:Right, everyone does. Give me a break :rolleyes:

OP: I've played a lot of them, I've left WoW about 8 times now and have yet to find a game as good as WoW. There just isn't if it is an MMO.

[Essenar]

So if I don't like WoW, well I pretty much shouldn't look for an MMO?

Because I'm done with WoW, forever.

[=ACID RAIN=]

Right, everyone does. Give me a break :rolleyes:

Strike a nerve? I said most, not all ;)

[TempliNocturnus]

Get into FPS games.

[deRusett]

I really enjoyed Ultima Online,

It might be worth a try the gameplay was lots of fun for me.

[nightelph]

The only MMO I've fallen for is WoW. However, when my friend finally stopped (and he made my usage look pathetic), he picked up EVE and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thats where I would go if I ever go back...

Edit: If your friend wants depth, why not a massive single player game such as Oblivion? Thats what had me hooked before WoW. Graphics are super, too.

[chop_wood]

haha, ya.. im in a similar boat. was really hoping more out of conan. maybe we get lucky with a bethseda mmo, and get a 24hr fitness membership in the meantime.. sorry but u gonna have to re-roll on wow

[ziggo0]

Silkroad is no more of a grind than WoW...I find leveling in it quite easy...just takes a bit...as any MMO.

[JonSimonzi]

I played AoC for about a month after playing WoW seriously for a long time. Not quite the same =\

[Red_Hot_Poker]

Quit wow and wait for Aion to come out.

[Sneaker]

WoW really is the best MMO our there right now. But for me its "look" and content is beginning to wear.

I'm hoping the next Star Wars MMO being developed by Bioware will be the WoW killer for me.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarstheoldrepublic/index.html

[Essenar]

Why do people keep saying WoW like if they mention it enough, we'll actually play it? lol

I mean, if it's WoW, we'll just play something else. I'd rather play Shaq-Fu than WoW. I'd rather play the Nightmare on Elm Street games than WoW. I'd rather watch Da Vinci Code than play WoW. I'd rather play Street Fighter: The Movie game than play WoW.

I guess there's no MMO. He's going to be disappointed but I made it bluntly clear to him; I have no intention of returning to WoW.

[BossBorot]

fire up diablo 2 again in anticipation of the new game. D2 never disappoints everytime I give it another go for old times sake

Also unlike mmos its more flexable with your time. You can play as little or as much as you want and best of all its like $5 to buy a new cd key for the origional and expansion together.

[Adragontattoo]

So if I don't like WoW, well I pretty much shouldn't look for an MMO?

Because I'm done with WoW, forever.

Right, everyone does. Give me a break :rolleyes:

OP: I've played a lot of them, I've left WoW about 8 times now and have yet to find a game as good as WoW. There just isn't if it is an MMO.

Why do people keep saying WoW like if they mention it enough, we'll actually play it? lol

I mean, if it's WoW, we'll just play something else. I'd rather play Shaq-Fu than WoW. I'd rather play the Nightmare on Elm Street games than WoW. I'd rather watch Da Vinci Code than play WoW. I'd rather play Street Fighter: The Movie game than play WoW.

I guess there's no MMO. He's going to be disappointed but I made it bluntly clear to him; I have no intention of returning to WoW.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2335016192_6003c39c4c.jpg

[DomoRawks]

I dont think EVE's learning curve is steep enough on that graph

[John G]

EVE is probably your best bet if you can get into it...sounds like not, though.

WoW is probably the real answer, except that you don't want to play it anymore. Although it sounds like you haven't played WoW since old-world level 60 days...the game has been very much re-molded since then. Mechanics are different, classes are very different, PvP is different, Raiding is different...just about everything is significantly different now for end-game play. Generally speaking, I say for the better as well. And, from the rumors I am hearing about WotLC expansion coming, things are going to be drastically remolded again. As far as grinding up to get past 60 and start seeing new stuff...leveling pre-60 has been sped up significantly with bigger exp rewards and less exp required per level.

Lord of the Rings Online might be worth an attempt.

Other than that...probably nothing in the MMORPG world. Maybe try becoming Neverwinter Nights roleplaying junkies or something.

[Shiggity]

In retrospect, the answer to the original question is clearly no.

Get into FPS or RTS if you hate all of these suggestions.

[Az00123]

Like others have said, get into FPS games, get used to them and join a few leagues. I find playing matches with a close team in source is much better than anything any mmorpg offers (a few numbers on a screen and a huge clan). You could also count progressing in skill individually and as a team (as in getting to better leagues) will fulfill the whole depth part.

[OldSkool]

If there is a better more in-depth, all consuming mmo.......I've yet to find it.

[Mortis03]

I'd rather watch Da Vinci Code than play WoW.


Ouch man... I guess you really don't want to play wow anymore, :D I understand though if you really had all that you said pre BC, would burn me out too.

As far as the original question goes: I think you're about out of luck. You listed most of the ones I would have suggested. Sorry man

[4GHZ_or_bust]

I'm inclined to go with WOW. Add in Quest Helper and you could solo your way to 70 in a few days without once having to look up something on web site. WOW is very easy to get started, very easy to find group and guild, and can be lots of fun if you like jumping on enemy players on PVP servers.

If you want content, Everquest has multiple expansions and if you get the latest compilation disc, you should get everything in one install for about $30. Then you can spend the next 24 months and still not explore every single zones. It's a huge world, one magazine described EQ world being about 1/3 the size of Connicuit back when GoD expansion came out. Figure by now it'd be 2/3 the size or bigger if EQ world were measured in real world size.

EQ is however very old, very few players at low level and hard to find group if you aren't level 80, the xp curve is a bit steeper at the end and takes longer to reach 80 then some 600+ AA to make your toon decent. Plus the learning curve is a lot steeper than WOW, and numberous oddities and unresolved bugs can make EQ a bit frustrating for first time players.

[deRusett]

I can't believe some of you said try FPS games, FPS games are Crap compared to a good RPG,
I like RTS, RPG, MMORPG, then way down the line would I want FPS, they just seem so blah

and if the OP is looking for depth of game play, what FPS actually has depth of gameplay? I've played some Co op Delta Force back in the day that kinda had some depth to complete missions but really I have not seen a FPS that had game depth, they are mostly Shoot item/person X with Gun Y, no skill building, no story lines, I'll admit sometimes games involve developing a strategy but that has been the minority rather then majority from my experience

[Daleon]

Ahem, Dues Ex, Bioshock, System Shock 2, Stalker, etc..etc.. Your saying HL2and Fear have no depth? But Delta Force did? Good one :)

For MMO's... I think you can play Planetside for free now, with some restrictions. Not extremely indepth, but fun for a while.

Fileplanet has beta spots for subscribers for something called Atlantica Online. Never really heard of it, but downloading it now. Screenshots looked decent.

Otherwise, its kind of the waiting game. Should be a few more out to choose from over the next 6-12 months.

[InThrees]

So I just learned that it's likely that playing a deathknight in WoW WotLK will require you to go through the entire "break free from the lich king's control" quest line.

Rather than just playing whatever you want.

Booooo.

[SolidxSnake]

Guild Wars has one of my friends hooked.

Cabal is a decent free-RPG. Try something like Ragnarok Online. Play on private servers.

[vixro]

Guild Wars 2. :D

[nightelph]

I really wish URU: Online wasn't canceled.

[Malpine Walis]

Well, guildwars is sort of all right. Apart from the lame missions that you draw at some times and the impossible ones that you draw at other times. Also, I had to drop the guild that I was in because the other people were so much more active that they were all running with all slots filled with level 20 characters and that is apparently a bad thing when your character is not on par with them. But then of course, you have to solo the whole world and what becomes the point to that?

Eve online is probably the one that I like the best but I can't really do more than a month in game, so I frequently suspend my characters.

WOW? I played that for my free two weeks but never really found anything worth paying for. Left it when it came time to pony up the cash.

For free games, I have tried most of them and they usually leave me flat after a while. The last one that I played was Requim and it is not too bad apart from the continuous grind that you will be in. But it does seem to have a bug in it that you have to do certain things in certain orders or you will lock your character out of what he/she needs to do for further advancement eventually.

Silk Road is not too bad of a game but the whole “server full” of paying players gets to be too much after a while.

Knight online had really cartoony graphics but it was not too bad. Until you get to the mission that gets you off the starting island. There were lots of high level characters standing on that one making it essentially impossible to get the kills to go any further. Normally, I would wait an hour or a day for them to lose interest in the lulz but I kept coming back in for like 4 to 5 days at different times and there were always a bunch of people who had that key mission locked down.

Anarchy online, I played that for like a month and never found anyone else to play with. Like guildwars with no guild, it just becomes a case of run around and do stuff. I don't need online play for that.

Basically, I would have to say that you pick the annoyance that you can deal with and see where you go from there.

[Morvak]

Lord of the Rings Online. Buy it now already what are you waiting for !?

1 word: Hobbits.

But seriously...

IMO, it's the ultimate MMO & the WOW killer - at least, it killed WOW for me. And EVE online, and has kept me away from AoC.

It has the mature, friendly player base. The best lore, period (that's a given). Takes the grind out of thhe grind with fun and meaningful quests. The best graphics/sounds/character models and environs. The best adventuring I've experienced in a long, long time.

And the PvMP is the best PvP I've encountered in an MMO. Nothing like playing a spider, or Orc, or Warg and more (i've just started dabbling in it). Too much fun!

Nothing beats Pie Running though! ; )

[TheGreySpectre]

I'm just going to go with no.

[John G]

So I just learned that it's likely that playing a deathknight in WoW WotLK will require you to go through the entire "break free from the lich king's control" quest line.

Rather than just playing whatever you want.

Booooo.

I'm not quite sure what you're meaning or complaining about...


My understanding of it is that it will work like this:

If you have a level 70 character on any server, you have access to make Deathknight class characters. New Deathknight characters begin at level 50 in a floating citadel over Easther Plaguelands. The floating citadel is essentially a special noob area designed to teach people how to play their deathknight character and gear them up with some appropriate gear. Obviously, this would involve some sort of easy quest line. Story wise, breaking free of the Lich King's control somehow would make sense. After a certain point, they may leave the citadel and continue on with normal play.

[OldSkool]

I'm a bit lost, wth is a deathknight? I've never heard of the classes you guys are talking about........such as deathknight and bard :confused:

[Mortis03]

I'm a bit lost, wth is a deathknight? I've never heard of the classes you guys are talking about........such as deathknight and bard :confused:

I'm pretty sure they weren't referring to wow when mentioning the bard class. With wow's new expansion, you'll have the option to make a deathknight. I think you have to have at least a level 55 toon already. Not sure if it'll replace the toon's class or it'll like unlock a new way to create a toon though.

[Shiggity]

Bard is a support class from Everquest, not related to WoW.

You'll also be able to make a deathknight of any race, yessss gnomes :D

+1 to trying LOTRO though

[John G]

In the old Warcraft RTS games, Death Knight was one of the main unit types for the Horde side. It was the evil equivalent of the Paladin units...undead knight with death based magic. Actually...in WC2 it was the opposite equivalent of Mage caster units with lots of magic, Ogre-Magi were more the paladin equivalent. Anyway... the Death Knight wasn't one of WoW's classes and was somewhat of a missing element until the next expansion is released.

In the new expansion, they are going to be the first of what they are calling "Hero Classes." They're not supposed to be more powerful than other classes, but they are going to start at a fairly high level when made and will only be available to players who already have a max level character.

In WoW, they will be most similar to Warriors and Paladins, but with evil types of magic more akin to a Warlock. They will use a Rune system for their magic that isn't used by any other class. (Versus Mana, Rage, Energy, Combo Points, etc. that other classes use.)


Bards are musical performers - frequently travelers. In D&D, they were a class that had minor use of mage spells, moderate physical prowess, ability to play music with magical effects that usually buffs party members, and generally strong people skills. Normally, few people want to actually BE a Bard, because they are typically not powerful themselves...but everyone generally wants a Bard with them, because they make the people around them better and are helpful.

Several other games use the Bard class in somewhat similar forms... Final Fantasy games have used them on occasion.

[Morvak]

+1 to trying LOTRO though

Yup, and with Mines of Moria coming out this fall with 2 new classes and expanded crafting, level cap to 60, not to mention existing PLAYER HOUSING....

Just go grab the trial -> http://www.lotro.com

[Colton H]

WAR should be out around January and looks like a very in depth game. It's been delayed several times so that must mean it should be quite good, or does that mean its come across difficulties? Who knows. But WAR looks good haha.

www.warhammeralliance.com is a great fansite that you could browse around and get a look at the game. :)