Innovative MMO's

So, I'm a very experienced gamer, especially with MMO's. I've played everything from WoWcrack to nethack. I don't mind paying for MMO's but what we seem to be getting lately is rehashed junk mostly based off WoW. There have been some really neat features lately but nothing "truly innovative".

Let me clarify that point in particular. Most games now run off a targeted system with hot-keys or similar. I know some people are probably going, "well duh! How else are you supposed to play?" If you look back at Ultima Online for example, it was different in every way.

Targeting: the game had a click to target system, but once you got into the macro's you could set up macros for remembering your last target etc. You could also go much deeper than that and create full on targeted combo macros.

Skills: the skill system in UO was truly unique, the more you use your skill the better you get. Each skill was % IE you had 75% magery, you could cast most spells up to about 5th circle (out of 8!). This concept was, and still is an awesome way to handle your skills.

Spells: so WoW has like what maybe 30 or so spells per caster class? UO had 64 in Magery when it launched, and many of the skills were also "useable" IE STEALING! (You could actually steal other players stuff!) Lineage has over 70 spells available as well.

Story: While the storyline is important in some cases the whole point of online play is having fun with friends. When games are written to adhere to a strict story they lose some flexibility. Using UO (again, I know...) as an example, the storyline in UO was in place and affected the whole worlds setting. However it didn't restrict you from doing things, in fact the GM's were given insane amounts of Leeway with the story and used it to their advantage. There were constant events going that were loosely tied, but in the end had no true impact on the entirety of the story.

Basically what I'm after is this:
I'm looking for new MMO's that are being innovative, no WoW rehashes. The idea is to have fun, so I was hoping we could create a list of MMO's that are fun for different reasons rather than similar ones.

there has been much innovation in MMO's. The problem is, the WOW formula works, and works well. ANYONE can play it, from a few minutes a week social players to the basement-nerds that are on 48 hours a day, 8 days a week.

The 'innovative' MMO's deviate from this, and thus fail to capture an audiance. There is no comfort level for their players.

WoW was my first MMO, played in open beta and bought it on day 1, and have been playing since. So my MMO experience doesn't go as far back as UO, but I know what you mean about the WoWclone feel. I'll try just about every MMO that comes out for fun, but most feel like WoW with a twist.

The only "different" feeling MMO's I've tried, were EVE, FFXIV, and just recently Vindictus. None of them really kept my interest, because at the end of the day, I like the WoW formula. But those are the only 3 I've played that deviate from norm.

I am looking forward to The old republic, Biowares MMO that is on its way, I am guess that will follow more of a style similar to kotr/Mass effect/Dragon age. And hopefully be different enough from WoW.

Also an MMO called Jumpgate evolution is in development (seriosly delayed though) which is a space combat mmo - more action oriented than eve.

I am like you, wow clones get boring fast, if I want wow I play wow!

Tera Online and maybe Blade & Soul... are actually a decent amount different than the WoW formula. Not sure about B&S, but Tera Online has no 'tab target lockon' feature.. it's free-aiming from what I've seen, except for healing spells I think. You can also perform dodges (like in Unreal Tournament) to dodge enemy attacks if timed properly.

Vindictus Online is also different, it's action-based like Tera but with faster gameplay. It seems to get old too fast though.. not nearly enough moves/skills and 3 characters to choose from. It's a free game so don't expect much.

I've played DoAC, WoW, WAR, EQ2, EVE and LOTRO.

Out of all of those, the only one I've come back to after leaving was EVE. Though downside its a time sink... huge one at that IMO. Benefits is while its a pay service you could theretically in time buy cards ingame to pay for service, so no real cash involved. When I could play every night uninterupped this was a game I enjoyed alot. But to do anything you need skills which is a time issue, not playing, but real time.

I've recently gotten into LOTRO. Since its free im really enjoying it and doesn't feel like i need to be on nightly to get anywhere with it. Always a huge plus in my book. Since I never have left this game (unless you call not signing up after beta).


You where saying skills leveling by actually using them. NOW if of anything that makes sense that does! Its at least like Dungeon Siege (Single and MP game) that I remember that with. Obviously you should get better with something the more you use it, makes obvious sense. In some MMO's they even do this partially, at least with crafting the more you make of X class, the better stuff you can make of it before you advance further in the Y class.

I've been playing Fallen Earth since launch October 2009 and I really like it. I never played WoW and am not really into fantasy RPG stuff so Fallen Earth's post apocolyptic setting appealed to me. You have guns, melee, and mutations (spells). They have a free trial too. I can forward you one if you like (helps me to of course ). I'm in a guild now but I played for most of my time just me and a friend or two at first. The crafting is very good IMHO but you can just buy stuff too. Combat is real time first person shooter style with no auto tartgeting. I like it but I'm not a macro kinda guy. No paladin face rolling for me!

Wow is for window lickers now. You can find a lot of great mmo's with healty populations. Maybe not 10 mil, but a million or several hundred thousands.

I think I'll be trying LOTRO soon.

Twigglish said:

I think I'll be trying LOTRO soon.

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Tried it for a few days, but there wasn't anything special keeping me. It was A LOT of running for several minutes to get anywhere. Even though I came across people, they too...were just running around. Almost no chat going on. No parties forming. The initial abilities and combat also seemed unimpressive.

I'd call Guild Wars superior in all of those so far. But at least it won't cost you anything to try.

SteveLord said:

Tried it for a few days, but there wasn't anything special keeping me. It was A LOT of running for several minutes to get anywhere. Even though I came across people, they too...were just running around. Almost no chat going on. No parties forming. The initial abilities and combat also seemed unimpressive.

I'd call Guild Wars superior in all of those so far. But at least it won't cost you anything to try.

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I just fired up GW again and it looks fantastic for its age. I lack the first one though. I want to load it up for my wife and start new toons and run through all three. I never grouped with anyone though when I played but it is an amazing game and great concept.

Getting sick of tab targeting was the final straw that made me leave WoW. I tried non tab target games like Darkfall, Fallen Earth and some others but just cant get back into mmo's. I think WoW burnt me out for good.

I have heard great things about Aion. I knew some people in college that swore by FFXI too.

Pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies was great. There's a group of people making a server/client to play the game the way it was meant to be played (as long as you don't have an nVidia card, because if you do, and you're using it for games instead of folding, you suck ).

See http://www.swgemu.com/

Played Aion, SWG, FFXI, War, EQ, EQ2, DAOC and so many others. How many times do I freaking have to fetch Timmy from the well, or deliver the beer, or kill x amount of y for z to turn in to take the wondrous bucket of BS to Timmy....

Basic "questing" is killing MMO's today, less grind more find.

Peeved Kitten said:

Basic "questing" is killing MMO's today, less grind more find.

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Nobody has yet found the balance between WoW (grind-grind-grind) and Second Life (wtf-am-I-supposed-to-be-doing-there's-no-goal!?).

petteyg359 said:

Nobody has yet found the balance between WoW (grind-grind-grind) and Second Life (wtf-am-I-supposed-to-be-doing-there's-no-goal!?).

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I found UO did a good job of that, but that's the only one. Honestly I think the only reason UO did well was that back then it was mainly adults that played. You could have intelligent conversations without the f bomb every 3 words. No offense to younger readers/players, I was like 10 when I started playing UO.

There are a few smaller games, One of my favorites is called Clanlord, which has been around since 98 and I still play. It used to be Mac only but now it has a pc client. It was 10$ a month for about 12 yrs but it's a 10$ one time fee now. It had no real "point" at it's peak I would say it was 500ish players, but the world wasn't huge and the community was very close knit.

The best way I can describe it is a chat room on steroids. It's sadly fallen to a 100-200 player core, but many of them have been my lifelong friends including my wife, who I just married. We met on the game, became friends and fell in love. Everything else (distance, and nay-sayers) was just a pain in the neck.

I am worried that the grind grind grind is beginning to strip online play of it's "community" which is the whole point of online play. I admit I'm biased in that regard as my "preference" leans to having friends/forming bonds. Honestly though, I barely talk to my WoW buddies anymore. I still have best friends from Lineage, Clanlord and Ultima all over the US and abroad, that I talk to daily that have been a huge part of my life for many years.

In my opinion that's worth a lot more than purple shoulders.

Not a slant or a jab at anyone. (Just a rant from someone working back to back graveyard/early morning shifts!)

I did not see anyone mention Guild Wars 2 yet. From the videos ive seen and the dev reports, it seems like it WILL be an innovative MMO. Whether they make good on the promise is another story but I am excited for the game and really hope its as good as they are making it out to be.
This might be what you are looking for
Check it

Peeved Kitten said:

I found UO did a good job of that, but that's the only one. Honestly I think the only reason UO did well was that back then it was mainly adults that played. You could have intelligent conversations without the f bomb every 3 words. No offense to younger readers/players, I was like 10 when I started playing UO.

There are a few smaller games, One of my favorites is called Clanlord, which has been around since 98 and I still play. It used to be Mac only but now it has a pc client. It was 10$ a month for about 12 yrs but it's a 10$ one time fee now. It had no real "point" at it's peak I would say it was 500ish players, but the world wasn't huge and the community was very close knit.

The best way I can describe it is a chat room on steroids. It's sadly fallen to a 100-200 player core, but many of them have been my lifelong friends including my wife, who I just married. We met on the game, became friends and fell in love. Everything else (distance, and nay-sayers) was just a pain in the neck.

I am worried that the grind grind grind is beginning to strip online play of it's "community" which is the whole point of online play. I admit I'm biased in that regard as my "preference" leans to having friends/forming bonds. Honestly though, I barely talk to my WoW buddies anymore. I still have best friends from Lineage, Clanlord and Ultima all over the US and abroad, that I talk to daily that have been a huge part of my life for many years.

In my opinion that's worth a lot more than purple shoulders.

Not a slant or a jab at anyone. (Just a rant from someone working back to back graveyard/early morning shifts!)

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Some real good points man. The whole community thing specifically. That's the whole reason I played CS for about 6 years. Not because the game was THAT good, it was the community we had on our server.

Twigglish said:

Some real good points man. The whole community thing specifically. That's the whole reason I played CS for about 6 years. Not because the game was THAT good, it was the community we had on our server.

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That's why I still play Day of Defeat. Several years ago, I used to play UT99 for the same reason. The UT clan (UMX) is long gone, the website is just an ad-parking page now The first time I joined the server, they weren't even really playing a match, it was just a couple of people teaching some trans-locater flag grabbing techniques for various maps.