Best MMORPG 2016
The best MMORPG 2016 list – which MMO games are on top this year and what are they doing differently? 2016 will have some of the biggest and most anticipated games in recent memory.
This is going to be a year-long adventure. Before 2016 starts we will list all of the upcoming MMO games that we think are worth watching. When 2016 comes around we will update it every month with newly launched games as well as existing titles that continue to entertain us. Finally, at the end of 2016 we will look back and check how our top recommendations fared.
Below is the table of contents with links for easy navigation.
Best MMORPG 2016 List: Table of Contents
- Free to Play
- Browser-Based MMO
- Buy to Play or No Subscription MMORPG
- Pay to Play (Subscription)
- Upcoming MMORPGs 2016
Best Free to Play MMORPG 2016
Free to play is currently the most popular type of MMO. Since downloading and playing the game is free, it is easy to start playing or even invite others to play with you. This list is always under construction and will, of course, be populated with the newest and best MMORPGs when 2016 comes around (continuously updated). For now, here are a few good MMOs you can play.
Skyforge
Skyforge is one of the best open beta MMORPGs around. It has everything: absolutely breathtaking graphics, unique scifi/fantasy world design, tons of character customization options, and great action combat.
In addition, the Skyforge developers get it: they know players want to look cool and have awesome powers from level one. This game is all fun, no waiting. Right from the start characters get to use some very impressive skills and wear a wide range of costumes, from elegant business suits to magnificent battle armor. This game is one of our top picks because of its topnotch AAA quality design and fun gameplay.
Link: official Skyforge website
TERA
TERA is a game that is well-known for having the best combat system of any MMO. It’s very fun and addicting. In other MMO games, the player can just stand there and trade blows or spells with the enemy. TERA’s innovative action combat system is much more exciting than that. Players have to aim, dodge attacks, chain combos, and time attacks or defense just right. There is currently a promo where players who sign up will receive a free Dragonette pet so now is a great time to start playing TERA.
TERA’s features include: beautiful graphics, seven races, twelve classes, group/solo dungeons, challenging bosses, PvP battlegrounds, and a huge seamless open world with no loading screens.
This game is a must-try if you love combat and want to play an MMORPG with fun features and an active, friendly player community.
Link: official TERA website
Best Browser MMORPG 2016
These are the best MMORPGs that you can play on your browser. You won’t need to download and install a game client for these games.
League of Angels 2
When you first start playing League of Angels 2, prepare to be amazed by its stunning graphics, superb character designs, interesting story quests, and well-crafted dungeons. Even though it can be played on a browser, the amount of content available and the complexity of the game is truly astounding.
League of Angels 2 is the best browser MMORPG of 2016 for the following reasons:
- free to play
- gorgeous visuals
- no install needed, play it on a browser
- tons of content
- active player community and devs
- it’s a lot of fun to play!
Link: League of Angels 2 official website
Naruto Online
Naruto Online is a free to play browser-based MMORPG that is based on the Naruto anime/manga. It’s surprisingly fun and is currently very popular. The game has has cool ninja characters, a single player mode, nine epic story arcs, multiplayer dungeons, bosses, and battlefields. Solo play is good, but if you enjoy playing with others then it’s easy enough to form a ninja group since the player community is very friendly and chill. This is a great choice for social players.
Link: Naruto Online official website
Best Buy to Play MMORPG 2016
Buy to play is a rather new concept in MMORPGs. Generally, MMO games have either been free or subscription-based. Now there is a third option – buy to play – in which players must buy the game to get access to it but there is no subscription needed. In short, there is a one-time fee for unlimited play.
Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 (GW2) is definitely the best buy to play MMORPG around. GW2 has everything an MMO needs to succeed: high-quality graphics, an interesting personalized story, vast maps, awesome quest mechanics and fun combat. That’s why it is the bestselling MMORPG in the world.
Top Features:
- the gameplay encourages player cooperation – kill/loot-stealing is not a problem, resources and exp are shared fairly
- exploration is an enjoyable and a core part of the game
- fun server-vs-server PvP war zones
- races and classes are balanced
- active and large player community
Where to buy: Guild Wars 2 on Amazon
Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
The new Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited MMORPG is now buy to play. No more subscription fee is needed if you buy the game. There are a few Downloadable Content (DLC) packs that you can buy but they are optional.
Features:
- awesome graphics that are AAA quality with a vast, beautiful game world
- ten races, four classes, and three factions
- set 1,000 years before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the game tells an epic story of heroism and war
- quests are truly amazing and interesting – no silly “kill x mobs” quests
- also available on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Where to buy: Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
Which one to pick? GW2 is overall the best game for combat, community, and PvE/PvP. However, if you love the “RPG” part of “MMORPG” then try ESO because it has a better, more memorable story and setting.
Best Pay to Play MMORPG 2016
Subscription or pay to play MMORPGs are those that require a monthly membership fee. This type of MMO has generally been less popular nowadays because there is so much competition from free to play titles. However, there are still quite a lot of people who prefer to one monthly fee instead of having to buy items from a cash shop.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
This is the game that proved that there is still a market for subscription MMORPGs even though there are tons of free to play games around. The fact is, if your game is good enough, people are more than willing to pay a monthly fee to play it. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (FFXIV:ARR) is a game amazing enough that people will pay for it even though there are free options around.
So what makes this game so good? Well, first of all the Final Fantasy franchise is quite popular. Fans trust the developers to produce and maintain an awesome MMO game. Secondly, the quality of the game is topnotch. Everything from the character designs, environments, animations, cutscenes, sound, voice acting, etc. is a joy to see and hear. Thirdly, it is playable on the PC, Mac, Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. That makes the audience for the game bigger. Lastly, the core gameplay is very fluid and smooth, which makes it easy for players to get completely immersed in the game.
Specifically it has the following features:
- a flexible class system that allows players to level up all classes and crafting skills with one character
- the usual fun Final Fantasy content such as materia, Chocobos, airships, Final Fantasy monsters, etc.
- guild-based activities
- Full Active Time Events (FATE) system, dynamic events that randomly appear in the map
- in-depth crafting
- excellent party dungeons
Where to buy: Final Fantasy XIV:Realm Reborn and Heavensward Expansion Bundle on Amazon
Upcoming MMORPG 2016
Here is the list of the best upcoming MMORPG games of 2016. These are are all currently under development but are expected to be released in 2016. However, most release dates are not set in stone so the information given below is a bit more speculative than factual.
Star Citizen
Release Date: end of 2016
Developer: Cloud Imperium Games
Publisher: Cloud Imperium Games
When 2016 comes around, Star Citizen will be a game that has already released several “modules” of content. The single player parts will most likely be finished and playable. The massively multiplayer part of the game is scheduled to be launched in 2016.
So what is Star Citizen? It is a space simulation that seems like it is trying to be all things to all people. If the developers can pull this off then this could very well be the best MMORPG of 2016. The list of the features is eye-poppingly ambitious: customizable ships, real physics, multicrew spaceships, first person space combat (of course!), a player run economy, an MMO persistent universe but with private servers, both single-player and co-op multiplayer campaigns, etc.
Link: Star Citizen official website
Camelot Unchained
Release Date: June 2016
Developer: City State Entertainment
Publisher: City State Entertainment
An MMORPG without PvE? Say it ain’t so! But this is exactly what Camelot Unchained promises: a completely Realm vs Realm (RvsR) MMO experience with absolutely no grinding on mobs. Another crazy thing is that in a game genre where free to play is the norm, this upcoming MMO game is going to be pay to play (with a monthly recurring subscription).
The game will not have instanced PvP, instead the RvsR will play out in a massive open world. The three realms are the Realms of the Tuatha Dé Danann, King Arthur and Vikings.
This is worth keeping an eye on, if only for the revolutionary concept behind the game.
Link: Camelot Unchained official website
Pathfinder Online
Release Date: Early 2016 (open enrollment/open beta)
Developer: Goblinworks
Publisher: Paizo Publishing
A highly anticipated sandbox MMORPG, Pathfinder Online is due for an open beta in 2016. The developers have promised players a world in which they can build structures, harvest resources, craft goods, and sell them in markets. In short,it will have a player-driven economy. Social groups such as parties, companies, settlements, and kingdoms can work together as a social/political unit and war with other social groups. Open world PvP will also be available. It looks really fun. Is it going to be like Eve Online except with a fantasy theme?
Update: Sadly, it seems that Goblinworks doesn’t have enough money to finish developing the game. They do still have some staff that are keeping the game working but the future is uncertain.
Link: official Pathfinder Online website
Crowfall
Release Date: December 2016 (early/alpha version)
Developer: ArtCraft
Publisher: ArtCraft
Crowfall is Kickstarter-funded MMORPG that is being billed as a “Throne War Simulator” or, in other words, a hybrid strategy/MMO game. This high concept game will work as follows: there is an eternal War of the Gods and Immortal Champions (the players) travel in between realms to fight in campaigns that last 1-3 months or until some condition is met.
So while all player characters are persistent, campaign worlds are not. The temporary campaign worlds last for four seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter), progressively getting more and more dangerous. The idea is that at the start of the campaign players will begin with nothing. They need to explore, adapt, and survive in a completely new, deadly world with the “fog of war” in place.
One of the developers innovations is that the worlds are made of voxels (think Minecraft) so that the entire setting is destructible. Sounds exciting! This could be the next big thing.
Source: http://crowfall.com/
Civilization Online
Release Date: currently open beta in Korea
Developer: 2K Games and XLGAMES
According to PCGamer, Civilization Online will be a sandbox MMO game where players must work together to acquire resources, build structures, research new technologies, create cities, and progress their civilization. Every week new land will be opened up and as the new areas become available, the borders of the different civilizations will touch. This is when civilization vs civilization PvP wars will occur.
Sadly, there is no scheduled release date for the English version of the game yet.
Source: http://www.civilizationonline.com/
City of Titans
Release Date: Mid 2016 (beta version)
Developer: Missing Worlds Media
Publisher: Missing Worlds Media
When City of Heroes (CoH) closed, a group of fans and developers decided to create a spiritual successor to their beloved game. City of Titans is an upcoming superhero themed MMORPG full of costumed crimefighters and crooks of every description. The concept is intriguing enough but the game is quite low budget (for an MMORPG) so it would be best if players don’t expect super amazing graphics. A few videos have been released such as this one. Nonetheless, this is one MMO that is worth checking out.
Source: http://cityoftitans.com/
Life is Feudal
Release Date: 2016 (closed beta)
Developer: Bitbox Ltd
Publisher: Bitbox Ltd
Over 200,000 people have already downloaded the early alpha version of Life is Feudal: Your Own (LiF:YO), a niche indie game by Russian developer Bitbox Ltd, according to their press release. Confusingly, there are actually two versions that will be released, the aforementioned (LiF:YO) and the Life is Feudal: Sandbox MMORPG (LiF:MMO) which is scheduled for release in 2016. The concept of both games is the same: a sandbox game in which players can build wherever they want, with a robust crafting system and hardcore full loot PvP.
Crafting in the game will not be limited to items or buildings – players can expect full terraforming capabilities including changing ground levels, digging tunnels, raising hills, building structures, and more. The graphics of the game look quite decent so far, with a reassuringly realistic style. This is another ambitious project that seems like it could be enjoyable to play.
Source: http://lifeisfeudal.com/
R.O.H.A.N. II
Release Date: early 2016 (English version)
Developer: Playwith
Publisher: Playwith
R.O.H.A.N. II is the sequel to the R.O.H.A.N: Blood Feud MMO game. Unlike the original, R.O.H.A.N II will feature MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) and RTS (real time strategy) gameplay elements. The developer’s press release confirms that it will be out for the PC by early 2016. The game looks promising but there is very little information about the game right now but you can visit the Korean language teaser site linked below.
Source: http://www.rohan2.co.kr/ (Korean)
Nebula Online
Release Date: Q2 2016
Developer: Mizar Games (formerly Komar Games)
Publisher: Mizar Games
Nebula Online is an upcoming space MMORPG with old school full loot PvP. It has been in development since 2013 by Komar Games (a Ukrainian studio) which has since been bought by Mizar Games. Apart from the old school hardcore PvP, the game will also feature real-time space battles, a player driven economy, customizable ships, player-built space stations, and three unique races. It looks like much of the early gameplay will be exploring the infinite reaches of outer space where there are aliens, abandoned stations, undiscovered planets, and more. The official website states that Nebula Online will be available for the Windows, Mac, Linux, and various devices such as iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
The game looks very promising right now. Although Komar/Mizar Games is not known for MMO games because they have made only mobile games so far, they have been regularly releasing gameplay videos that show the progress they have made.
Source: http://www.playnebula.com/ and the Kickstarter page
Das Tal
Release Date: TBA but they already had alpha test weekends
Developer: Fairytale Distillery
Publisher: Fairytale Distillery
Das Tal is an upcoming MOBA set in an MMO-style persistent fantasy world. The developers also call this a “PvP Sandbox MMORPG” and are promising a “high adrenaline” experience with open PvP, full loot, a player-controlled economy with all gear crafted by players, skill-based combat, and a large variety of randomly-generated game worlds with unique maps and rules. Game worlds will last for around three months and will end in a large-scale PvP event.
The actual release date is unknown. They have a lot of news, videos and twitch streams that you can find on their Facebook page.
Source: http://www.das-tal-game.com/
That is the end of the list so far. Bookmark this page and visit it later to see which games have launched. We will be updating the list as more information about upcoming games is released.
Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment below if you have something to say.
One game that folks kind of forget, but is worth mentioning now that it has gone F2P, is Wildstar. It has a mobile combat system without the usual targeting of WoW, hard raids, and weirdly intense housing. I forgot about the game after it came out, but came back when it went free to play, and overally haven’t seen a single barrier between those who play and those who don’t.. Plus hey.. space cowboys.
play LOL {League of Legends}
LoL isnt a mmorpg
Want a true sandbox game? Try WURM Online / Wurm Unlimited(Something like life is feudal, but with bigger balls and actually original lol not stolen pile of mechanics)
Looks absolutely terrible.My eyes now have cancer.
… it looks horrible indeed.
Hey anyone check out eso(elder scrolls online for yourself. I try some of the games on the list but I find that the one I have the most fun with.
Ive played Eso for while now its realy good 😀
Its unbelievably good. I was skeptical about the game due to all the complaints of the game a long time ago, I played the beta too and its not all that well done. But they really changed it super well and took away the subscription system.
What an awesome, awesome list! Thank you so much for sharing!
I know this old, anyone try warframe, i know its not your classic medieval era type deal. Not sandbox either. But its free to play everything in the game can be earned by grinding, or you can pay for it. Good community. Also they have live twitch stream once a week showing the spokesman playing through a level or two, and before any major update they stream on twitch and talk about updates and whats to come and answer questions about their game to people on twitch and talk ideas they have and would like to do. So they also have twrrific devs
Second that, Warframe is a great game. Had it on XB1, downloading it now that I’ve finally built my PC. Can be repetitive but in groups it’s fantastic. Like robotic ninjas with bows 😉
Rift is dying, can’t trust the devs, they’re very toxic to the people who speak their minds because they can’t and won’t take criticism from anyone…I played the game for over a year and liked it but the more I played the more I saw how sloppy the devs were getting with content…with the way they treat some of the players I’m not going back
Hey. . can i asked you what MMORG is best this day. . even already release or going to release. ..
Guild Wars 2 is free to play (for like a few months), only the Add-on is buy to play, but GW2 vanilla is f2p.
PS: sry if anyone mentioned it already, had no time to read all comments
No Riders of Icarus? Why?
Because that game is generic garbage. It should go back to 2010 and stay there.
Just like the others in this list. Not everyone thinks as you and the world doesn’t revolve around you either.
nah.. i actually agree with him .. wut he said.. 2010. .stay there.. all the jazz.. right on point
You obviously sucked in ROI so you have to bad mouth it.
oh.. but archeage is okay? seriusly KYS xD and btw i dident like RIO either..
What the MMO world needs is revisions of older games (LOTRO, SWTOR etc) with completely new engines, for updated graphics, a customer understanding that you will need better systems to lay them, and that the subs will be higher to pay for the reduced player base for these games. Maybe even a change in pace, story timelines etc.
The games grow stale because developers have this massive problem of NOT investing in the content, due to GREED. They do not seem to realise that the money will come with continued investment.
I know that there are thousands of players in the older games that long for their worlds to be re-written and improved but for some reason companies WILL NOT listen. They exist on stats of earnings and feed that.
What happened to innovation and faith?
Your post is essentially “REMAKE OLD GAMES PLOX” then at the end “What happened to innovation and faith?” yes…it’s very innovative to rehash old shit.
I agree. Re-making some of the better old games would be a lot better than seeing new games come out that are cookie-cutter, boring games. The movie industry remakes movies all the time… why not games?
do you know why kids arent allowed to play video games anymore…
because people add “innovation” and “new” stuff….
basicly making it look so realistic and adding blood,and if it were simple graphics and not realistic murder… then everyone would be happy,but instaid we have horrible games with death blood and pure genocidal violence…
if it were simple graphics,even pixel art,and didnt have blood every 5 seconds…
than it would be acceptable,but the new games… they are PATHETIC.
Cool, because thats what a lot of the gamers want to play right? pixel art games that lack good gameplay and good graphics. Its an industry, they make money from people who can spend money. Adults. Kids do not have money to spend on games. Sure they can pester parents, but it’s ultimately adults who spend the money. I dont give a **** if games are age appropriate, who cares.
Each to their own on what they want to play, your welcome to your pixel art but you are the minority. The MMO’s these day’s suck in the sense that they are hollow, same **** different day. Im still waiting for an awesome skill based MMO, but not with pixel art.
I agree with the new engines. I also am bored of MMORPG’S having the same combat system that WOW made popular. It’s time to forget the auto-lock your target and push 123456789.
Wow did not make that play style popular EQ, DAOC and others done it first WOW just followed suit.
Exactly, but just like he said, WoW made that system popular. It didn’t create the system, but it made it popular because of how famous WoW was / is. EQ was popular, but never reached the height WoW did.
Let’s just remember that many people didn’t even have computers and/or the internet when EQ came out in 1999. I bought my first computer so that I could play it!
If we take into account the fact that the vast majority of people in developed countries have access to computers now (and at the time WoW came out in 2004), and the fact that the original EQ is STILL running with a decent player base, I think it becomes apparent that EQ shits all over WoW and every other MMO since.
IMO, the issue we have with MMO’s today (and I have tried many of them), is that they are just too damn easy! You should genuinely need to strategise and work together to overcome obstacles, and not just in a raid setting. If you can get to max level in a week, no one will appreciate the process.
When SoE launched EQ2, they made it into a weird clone of WoW and it failed miserably because people got bored. I suspect if they had not tried so hard to force their play style into click – click – win, they might still own the franchise instead of DBG!
Life is not a sequence of instant gratification scenario’s, it’s hard! Games should be too!
I’m honestly surprised that World of Warcraft was nowhere in the list. 🙂 Especially with the huge Legion expansion coming out soon!
I’ve been thinking of adding it.
Trust your instincts. Leave it off. As someone who has played this game for 10 years, and been able to adjust to wild changes, this upcoming expansion left me disgusted enough to cancel my subscription with what they have done.
Blizzard has made a good move by choosing to hide subscription numbers going forward. Expect them to decline sharply.
World of Warcraft should be on this list (IMO)
Removing sub numbers has Nothing to do with the actual game,if so most of these games would be well behind wow even now when it is widely believed wow’s glory days are gone….I’m not going to lie I am expecting good things from Legion but hey I may be wrong,good list nevertheless !
WoW WoD was a f******, one of the worst expansions ever made.
Legion is amazing. Period. I quit when MoP came out, thought I’d try Legion just to see if it could live up to the hype, and it has. Check out the youtube reviews, forums, whatever you want. WoW is still the biggest MMORPG out there and its not hard to see why. And the guy below talking about handing out gear.. Rares don’t drop epic gear in Legion, and the best gear is still only obtainable through Raiding/PvP. People complaining about WoW don’t realise that Blizzard are trying to cater to a wider audience whilst still pleasing their hardcore fanbase. And they’re doing so incredibly well with this expack.
I’ve played WoW since Vanilla, and I was extremely excited for Legion for the entire year before it launched. I couldn’t wait. Then it launched, I played it a few hours a day for about 2 weeks and then got extremely bored. I don’t know why, but I just completely stopped caring about it. Whatever I liked about WoW just completely went away with Legion. I played the Nostalrius Vanilla private server (which is coming back!) and I love that and will play it again when it is back. Legion just doesn’t feel like WoW to me anymore or something.
I played wow 4 months after it came out. only 2200 pvp skill. I like raiding but past few xpacs it started to suck. Legion sucks and wont be playing it. seems to many ppl complain about not killing rares and now they just hand them out to ppl. back in BC epic gear meant you knew how to play and now they just hand them out.. the game takes no skill to play.
any sugestion now good anime like mmorpg?
Final Fantasy XIV: A Real Reborn has a touch of anime too it. Less than other FFs, but has its elements of its cuteness, coolness, humour and other parts. Besides being the most complete MMO.
dragon nest , anime looking + action combat + fun dongon .
cons not really an oppen world .
A good anime style game would be Blade and soul.
Crowfall just announced Travian Games as their European partner. Travian will be distributing game in Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Brasil.
Thanks for letting us know.
You are welcome =)
ASTA is open pvp after lvl 40 just FYI for anyone wondering. The only areas to lvl from 40-50 exist inside open pvp areas.
Seriously. No one knows jack until you make your Plat by buffing SOW or SELOS runs across Quenos. Give me a break noobs
Corpse run ftw
WTB necro corpse summon
Pantheon:Rise of the Fallen
train to zone!!
(keep laughing at ppl talking about wow as a good game)
Ragefire camps and Chardok pipe camps for epics that were truly epic. I miss these days so much.
… First it’s Qeynos, not Quenos. (It’s “Sony EQ” backwards if you need a reminder) And why would you need a run buff to run through a city?
Have you even played the game?
Unless it’s a tip, most SoW is given freely… not a big money maker. I can see making pp off of ports or resurrection services though.
Stop calling people noobs when you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Qeynos*
WoW has lost many people, but everyone should know it still takes the spot and has like x4 the number of subscribers FFXIV has, minimum. I love FFXIV and other MMOs as well, but honestly, when you take a good look at every single detail and aspect of the game, WoW still beats every other one out there and deserves its place as god of MMORPGS.
And just how does WoW beat every other MMO out there?
Even just FFXIV beats WoW in :
-Music
-Graphics
-Gameplay diversity: (profs are classes/housing/maxlv campaigns etc)
-Lore: The entire game is based on the story and it´s progress
-Combat: As fluid as WoW´s combat is, its simple and outdated
-Community: From the lodestone to guild housing/ships to more
-Updates: FFXIV gets updates almost monthly, WoW stagnates for 6+m a time
I could go on and on but come on!
dude, no way FFXIV has more lore than wow. just the s–t the game offers by quests have more detail, not including numerous side quests and lore that dosent even have to do with the expansion or quests you can do for that matter.
As someone who has played FFXIV since beta, it isn’t as fun as people are making it out to be.
If you really like pvp, this is probably not the game for you. There is no world pvp, and there is pretty limited instanced pvp as well. They came out with more pvp with the most recent patch, but this is almost 2 years later and they are finally adding decent pvp.
As for the pve factor… there are only 4 end game bosses at a time. Yes, they can be challenging but for a group of elite people, they are done quite easily. For a group of people who are only so-so at raiding, it is almost impossible to kill those 4 bosses before the next content comes out. There is no good medium.
They are also only 8 man raids, which for some is good, others not so much.
They do have an easier mode, but it is cleared within the first day of release by most people. Which isn’t very rewarding. They do have 24man raids but those are also expected to be cleared the first day of release, and just farmed for gear after that.
The game has a lot of things to do if you are just starting, but for someone who has been playing for a while, it loses its interest very fast.
The worst part about it is, it followed the exact same format from the first expansion. It felt like the same exact game with the same exact classes. Wasn’t much of anything added.
My biggest complaint is, that the end game raid has very little to do with the main story. The entire story is about the dragon conflict, and you do not fight a single dragon in the end game raids.
What? there are plenty of dragons in the Heavensward 50-60 level endgame raids. Even as flying mounts and now as primal/trial.
And if you want harder content, do the savage or extreme runs, or coils 6-13 “synced”.
There’s quite a difference in the in many level 50 to level 60 classes/rotations.
No other MMO has so much to do in the endgame (alt classes, crafting, housing, relic / anima weapons, hunts, dailies, weeklies, fates, 24 man raids, leves, tribes etc…), even WoW: Legion is being inspired by FFXIV.
I’ve got over 3000 hours into FFXIV, and you’re full of it. First, there’s a huge difference between lore and narrative. WoW has a VAST advantage over FFXIV when it comes to lore. FF doesn’t even come close. The NARRATIVE of FF may be more in your face, but it’s largely trite anime-trope-riddled garbage, with the exception of possibly 2 patch updates.
Second, gameplay diversity? The entire game is on rails. All the mechanics are recycled from previous patches, there are two forms of vertical progression, and only two, and the it all boils down to the same thing every other mmo does: Raid, Glamour farm, or gtfo.
Third, monthly updates? WTF are you smoking? Decent sized patches, which are roughly a third the size of a WoW patch, come every 3.5 months. The off patches that may occur in between introduce a moronic new mini game that no one asked for or balance updates.
Fourth, combat difference? The only difference I see is FF’s much slower 2.5 sec global cool down.
I could go on and on but come on!
P.S. Don’t get me wrong, i’ve enjoy FF for what it is, but I keep a clear mind about it. Don’t delude yourself into thinking FF will ever reach the depth a game like WoW, which has been around for 4 times the amount of time FF has and also has 4 times the budget. ARR was built around the idea of creating a theme park atmosphere with no competition that the people that couldn’t hack it in WoW could seek refuge in.
agree with you 100%
archeage has like 100x the graphics as wow its a dying game now but WoW is definitely not the best there is like 0 pvp in WoW so no way they take that category no player housing unless you count garrisons as that
What are you rambling about? Learn to use punctuation and comma in your sentences. And you don’t know what you’re talking about.
yeay
an archeage lover
I can see it in ur salt
for the love of God people don’t feed the troll…
Lineage 2 > WoW since 2003
WoW is continuing to lose subscribers. I have actually gone in and tried both factions, to level 100, 1 char each faction, and the community absolutely horrible. In comparison, ffxiv has older (yes, actually older, and not children lying or 30 year old man-boys raging) and kinder community. Oh, and also FFXIV is reaching 6 million subs soon. Because the trial people all convert to at least standard sub (the cheaper version of sub). Even my fc (guild) is experiencing population influx. I would say that right now the activity level is about equal. If you’re gonna get mad, just know that I did enjoy WoW’s content when I was there to evaluate it…just based on my few months of experience I can’t think of too many real new players who would want to stay in a toxic community like that, hostile and prejudiced against “newbs”. Very un-nurturing and suspicious guilds requiring new people to prove they’re new. Or at the first sign of the newb having knowledge, immediately accuse of being fake-new. Something is wrong with WoW community and this will keep driving the new players away (and some old players away too)
I wonder what server you played on. Not that it matters really. Noobs are not hated on. I know tons of guilds really only exist to give new players a leg up with basic gear and bags. Yet there are still the annoying players that constantly barrage trade chat begging for gold.
I do find Wow a Bit boring lately, but mostly because I don’t raid, do pvp or group much. So it’s mostly my fault. But don’t knock the communities…we like fresh meat.
So you bought the game, all expansions,a sub and tried two characters (probably on the same server) and you can now state that the community sucks and whatever garbage you mention? Somehow I don’t believe you and think you are only trying to trash talk WoW since you know nothing about it.
AION is beautiful, recently uodated, and awesome to play with 5 classes with 2 subdivisions each. Not to mention the two different races (Elyos or Asmodian) but the storyline and leveling is excellent. Why is it not on this list? Not liked or just not heard of?
Because AION came out in 2009. This is a 2016 list.
Hi, me and a few of my old guild mates are looking to get back in to an MMO together, we met playing Star Wars: The Old Republic and have gone on to play Final Fantasy XIV together. Between us we’ve all played the usual, WoW, LOTRO, and so on.
In a perfect world we’d get something as close to SW:TOR as we could, proper end-game raids, a good UI, decent PVP, with good group levelling. And I mean a proper MMORPG, not any Destiny or Division crap.
I’ve tried Black Desert, Guild Wars 2, Archeage, amongst others, but nothing’s grabbing me.
Any suggestions?
I used to play Ryzom in the day and really loved it. Don’t know where it’s at now though. Was an excellent MMO for groups and PvP. Awesome raids too.
Try mabinogi or blade & soul
how far have you gotten in FFXIV? it starts slow, so dont be deceived.
Skyforge, give it a shot.
Try Tera as well. Very active game that is always adding new things. People are friendly and always able to help if needed.
Thanks for the suggestion, i’m giving Tera a try right now.
How do you like Tera?
You went to play Final Fantasy XIV or your friends? If you’ve gotten far enough in Final Fantasy XIV (level 50+) or didn’t start with a tank, black mage or lancer job, those 3 jobs start slow, then Final Fantasy XIV could or should have been the MMO your looking for. Or your mostly into PvP?
Final Fantasy XIV is the most complete MMO, even a decent pvp now since patch 3.2. But it strength remains in its PvE endraids and class rotations, especially the more demanding endraids.
Tera & Skyforge are just like Black Desert & Archeage… mostly much of the same style. Great looking graphics but nothing unique to stand out. Ive tried all 4 of em and none of them held my interest for more than a few days.
The comment about Ryzom is good, its a very unique and interesting game, its main flaw being very underpopulated.
In case you didn’t know there is the original Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG you can play for free at swgemu.com. If you like a challenging and true sandbox hardcore MMO you cant go far past this one, or perhaps Anarchy Online if you like sci-fi games.
If you want to play new, to me the only truely unique (and hard) mmo now is The Secret World.
I will never understand how WoW is not the most complete mmo. It has been polished to perfection. tons of lore, plenty of pvp in different formats and styles and world pvp through zones or the entire server for those who enjoy that. end game content in each expansion suited for those who enjoy that, and even enjoyable by casual raiders. PvP trophies, PvE drops and catalogues of just fun loot to grab, which theres tons of. many mounts to collect, achievements, plenty of classes and races. It has been polished and updated continuously since i was in middle school and its still #1 declining or not. you cant beat that level of polish. whoa the visuals are not guild wars 2 or lineage level but thats the art style from the “warcraft” franchise that came before. And it is represented perfectly. it doesnt have “decent pvp” its wonderful compared to almost any mmo. the only one that comes close to as enjoyable is gw2, has plenty of different battlegrounds and arenas and rewards to match. titles to collect and easter eggs and secrets hidden all over. my favorite being the hypnocroak cause i love futurama. for people who say they had a bad experience with the community must not have engaged the community warmly. ive always been treated nicely and could find assistance around every corner. an explanation from passerby if i needed it.
I’m not a “pro” player.
I used to play with one of my friends 2/3 nights a week 4/5 hours al time.
We tried on its first appearence and when reached level 60 instead of being cool we cannot find anyone to raid with. It was only go there kill or grab them return. PVP is out of discussion. We’ve been killed or kicked tons in a couple of minutes.
We gave it a second shot after expansion hitted 80’s and then same thing. Boring!
My personal best are from the big past.
Ultima Online and NWN2.
Looking for a D&D style MMO where i can level alone or in couple where i can explore large world and not being so repetitive!
Man oh man! cant wait for camelot unchained, pathfinder and crowfall!!! They look great, sound great and have awesome trailers.
Camelot unchained is crap.
Pathfinder isn’t coming out, bud. They’ve all but officially announced that production has been halted on that game.
Pathfinder has a free trail on their webpage so how is it not coming out?
Rumor is they found a buyer to save Pathfinder. Buyer is changing a few things but ultimately wanted the same feel as the original designers.
well at 40 years of age i have played more than my fair share of mmo’s and find it increasingly difficult to find anything to play for more than a month or 2. I did get addicted to a few games over the years as i am a pvp lover RYL( Risk Your Life) was one that combined flagging for pvp but it was a 24hour thing flag yourself for pvp and you are unable to unflag for 24 hours. Had pvp levels than meant allot higher pvp level more dmg you do. I also loved AOC (Age Of Conan) for the sheer brutality nudity and vulgarity it was a mature age MMO for good reason and i have many fond memories of decapitating people and tearing heads off as well as some awesome and fun PVE raid mechanics that really took some hard work to beat. DAOC was another fav for the pvp but also lineage2 i had allot of fun with pvp also back in the olden days.
Fast forward to current affairs i got The Division played thru beta and upto now been waiting years for it and now DELETED. Was such a fun game in beta pvp was fun and going rogue was insanely fun with proximity chat meaning trash talk was just a button press away. Now its a broken pile of shit plagued by hackers one shotting you through 4 walls from 300 meters away and remote looting your drops its PURE S–T.
Please if anyone has some suggestions on a decent pvp and pve game tried all the shit out currently its all CRAP.
While the End-game for the mostly new MMO Blade and Soul, is, to me, absolute CRAP because it turns into “get a literal ton of gold. Upgrade weapon a tiny bit. Now I need even more gold”, the PVP is extremely, extremely fun and satisfying. Essetially, you can do 3v3 or 1v1, and you fight in a circular, flat, empty circle, so it’s just you, and them. 3v3 is tag in tag out style, still 1v1, but allies can help for a couple seconds at a time.
Combat is extremely fluid, and all stats are equalized, except Skills, but that’s ok, just means you have to play through thr story and get to max level first. Don’t worry easy. That unlocks free all your Abilties as you level up. Once you do, you can fight those Adrenaline fueled fights at max potential 🙂
I feel your pain brother. I was a wow, swtor, gw2, dc, and a tera player and now lost interest in the same grind and especially lack of communication in games and just wondering around to try and find a good group and waiting 2 hours to do a raid. I have tried and tried to search for something special……….but nothing. Help!!, my brain needs a challenge and most of all fun with good banter with players.
Try wot then, it’s a mmo but not rpg game and you don’t have to wait long time to find a group. It’s very flexible, 15 mins a battle.
Try PROJECT GORGON, its still in development and pvp its not confirmed yet, but overall its an amazing game. Permanent curses (you can get turned into a cow permanently and have skills, how awesome is that, pigs, werewolf which can be transformed only in real life full moon, deer, spider, vampires to come and others, and other curses), hardcore mode, lots of hidden and secret things (hidden npc/objects arround the world which give you classes, items, skills and so on), lots of thinking when fighting (energy system, the more you fight the less energy you have, better fight in a group). I got addicted quite fast of that game. The game will come out in december on steam and it will be buy to play, but you can play it now for free.
Try EvE online
Civilization Online needs to come North America ASAP!!!! I really hope we get it, fingers crossed.
FFXIV has the best and most rewarding end-raid pve gameplay. And now finally with patch 3.2, its pvp is starting to evolve on a similar level.
Hi search a game like Rift a huge personalization of spell and ability like the Rift soul three !
With a nice population. Brief i want a other rift game not WOW please !
I dont know what game choose it have too much game plz help me
I just want to say that this is the first time I have enjoyed and benefitted from reading a “Best MMO’s” webpage. Good descriptions! I look forward to trying some of the aforementioned games. I used to play LOTRO (I’m a huge LOTR fan), and I am looking to play something similar. When I joined LOTRO, the game was already quite old. There were still quite a few people, but not as many as I would have liked. The most important thing for me is having beautiful scenery, an interesting story, and lots of people to play with (I enjoy the social aspect of online games). I would love more than anything to start a big game when it launches. Based on those preferences, could someone please recommend a game for me?
Big Thanks!!!
FFXIV has some great main and class story parts and cutscene elements when reaching the endgame. But has a some stretched and medicore pieces between too.
FFXIV is gorgeous, but after playing for 1000+hours, you might get overdosed. But when flying with a new mount over the glacier landscapes of west Coerthas or between the forest trees of the forelands, even after 1000+h it can stil feel gorgeous again.
Just be warned, If you start it, it starts very slow and can deceive. While the deep end game raids gameplay are fast and furious.
And FFXIV has a very big community. If your serious and reach the real end game raids, you’ll have to form a static group with other 7 players (8 in total, 2 tanks, 2 healers and 4 dps), and raid 2-3x a week at set time for 2-3hours each, using Teams/Chat speak too).
Has anyone of you played RF Online?? Rising Force Online is the only and best MMO game I have ever played.. But unforunately as far as I know there are no good servers anymore to play it on. Its both PvP and PvE. Just really love that game and miss it. I came across this website to find a new game to play but they all look so crap compared to RF Online.. Anyone sharing my opinion or have some sort of advice ..?
I started playing RF a long time ago. I agree RF is really good. But it need a good update, better graphics and new engine.
if its the only and best youve played, how on earth can it be best when theres nothing you have to compare it to? best is a relative term lol
i still have the chase here but i dont like it.was poor game and world content. like tabula rasa or runes of magic or aion.
try everquest or ffix. or lotro. they are bigger and better.
I somebody know a mmo game very very simlar as RIFT ? with his amazing soul tree !
**** I hate WOW
I search i new game like RIft because Rift is pretty dead so ahahh yeah
Hey all,
I have been a gamer all of my life, clear back to the original Atari and playing chess via email. Haha. I used to love console games from the PS1 / PS2 era. I’ve also done betas for several games. Aion, Rift, Warhammer Online and continued to play well after beta.
I started WoW in 2007, leaving behind Planetside as there were less and less people playing Planetside. I still play WoW. So, I will use WoW as the example since I have played for so long but what I am going to say, holds truth for any MMO.
PEOPLE: Back in the day, while leveling, you could holler out in trade chat for help with some mini boss or quest you were soloing. You would get 50 people in trade, arguing over who was going to come and help you. Then they would all show up and kill it. It was hilarious.
I played Horde and we would raid Southshore. I would have so many people in my Vent from both factions and we would end up starting a world pvp event. I would laugh so hard I would have tears rolling down my cheeks. No one got bent out of shape or angry. We weren’t mean to each other. It was all good fun.
I would power level people a lot. Give them mats to help with their professions so they could make better gear or show them where to farm for things easier. I would patiently answer all of their questions and give them links to helpful sites for mat farming, leveling a profession, gear enchants, addons and the like. In turn, that person would end up in one of my pug groups in some raid. It was a win win situation. Now, in trade chat all you see is hostility. That same person I helped extensively is now an elitist jerk, calling some new player a retard for asking a question. I call them out on their nastiness and remind them who helped them back in the day. Then I message the person that needed help and help them in hopes they stay in the game and are not turned off by the nastiness.
It takes nothing to be kind to people and it’s not like you can pay your mortgage with in game gold. Help others and it benefits everyone. This awful behavior is one of the biggest reasons that gamers get such a bad rep from people in general.
APPRECIATE:
Whatever game you play, learn to appreciate the time and effort the devs have put into it. Everything from graphics to terrain and all else in between. Don’t like the gear? Get an art program and create some new looks and show them off to the devs. They may even hire you and you can stop a possible dead end job you are in, IRL and work for the company you have been paying to play their game.
LEARN:
It takes a lot to create a game and years. Time, effort, deadlines, money…lots of money. Servers are not cheap to obtain and not cheap to keep up maintenance on. Battling code on a daily basis is draining. There are free classes online to learn code from A to Z. Want to know how difficult it gets…do one of those classes in spare time. Then you will understand how hard it really is and why patches take time to come out.
People from WoW will get so angry and talk about all the money that Blizzard / Activision makes per year. Yes, it truly is a lot of money. However, they have companies all over the world. Huge buildings they still have to pay air conditioning on in those offices and server rooms. Water, electric and the like. Not to mention their employees wages. 24/7 jobs for people. They still find it in their hearts to give to charities like, Make A Wish. They create in game pets and sell them for 10.00 with much of that going toward charity. I always buy several pets for people just because of that donation. Let’s face it…10.00 is that meal from McDonalds that you would have purchased.
A lot of these game companies do similar things.
So let’s give these devs from whatever game you play, a break. They are trying to create something beautiful that we can escape to from our daily lives. We all need escape sometimes, right? Why bring your daily grind of life into a world you go to, to escape?
Peace and prosperity to all.
Blessed Be.
Xephire – World of Warcraft: Lightninghoof server. Hope to see some of you there sometime. 🙂
I do believe i know you. My name on the game was Rekkud or Vielonos i was a horde on Lightninghoof server too. Played a Warlock and a mage. If your looking for a game that is outstanding like WoW used to be in the vanilla days give FFXIV A realm reborn a try. Players are always friendly on that game and always willing to give a helping hand 🙂
imo FFXIV is the “new WOW” (even WoW is starting to get inspired by some of of its elements.., while FFXIV was clearly in inspired by WOW, now the roles are starting to switch)..
(pve) end content and end -class gameplay is just epical…
if you ever need a new or another mmo, can recommend FFXIV
(btw started games with atari 2600 too, space invaders)
Really?? End game is actually fun? (Been turned off by Blade and Soul, basically turns the game into a gold farming simulator
FFXIV endgame is very challenging and rewarding. Sure there are a few farm and daily instances, but some of the “peak” pve end raids are though (not for casual players), but there are enough stuff for casuals too. Those hard end raids get nerft, when new hard raids come out. So there stuff for all tastes (hardcore, semi-hardcore, casual).
The “farming” parts are redoing raids for good item drops (or for glamour gear) or some special gil (gold), but there a lot too do in the end game:
easy raids for new class practice, B/ A / S hunts, extreme primals (for weapons or cool mounts), void/cystal tower big raids (gear or glamour), fates (exp or Relic weapon), hard peak end raids (best gear), epic comedy Hildibrand quest line, etc, etc, etc.
When it comes to content, FFXIV is the best (only WoW has more content, but FFXIV is better balanced, can use one character for all classes and looks way more gorgeous and is over more rewarding, besides having a great and usefull crafter system… and with time, FFXIV will catch up, FFXIV getting new content ever few months;.. there’s a reason why many call FFXIV “the new WOW”)
cant really compare B&S with FFXIV pve end raid content(FFXIV is on another league)..
Lmfao challenging? It’s an entire memory game.
There’s nothing challenging about FFXIV raid content at all. It’s more things to memorize, more things to dodge and activate and more damage to get f—d by. You also need lots of decent skilled players otherwise you’ll have a hard time. A primary school dropout could learn that stuff in a day.
I played wow from launch till the release of cataclysm. I can tell you what changed in that game that caused peoples attitudes to change.
It was the dungeon finder, was it a pain in the butt to look for a group for dungeons and raids prior to the dungeon and raid finder? Yes. However because it was such a pain, people behaved because they wanted to make friends that would run the dungeons with them again and again. Being as i played a Priest i would log in, find my favorite tank, wrangle up a few dps and we’d spend the rest of the night running every instance we could. Post dungeon finder, people no longer had to cultivate relationships to run instances and such, if people didn’t like your attitude so what, re queue. That single innovation is what destroyed the community in that game.
As far as people complaining about blizzard making money. Yes, they absolutely have a right to do so.. Blizzard got greedy as a subscription based game it should never have a cash shop, i.e. those little pets and mounts that you buy for $10 and yes i can remember some of them being far more pricey. No game should have both a subscription plan and sell expansions, then try to get extra cash from selling in game items. In game item sales are for a free to play type game where there is no subscription, no initial purchase, and no purchase of expansion packs… This is blizzard being downright greedy.
Dungeon finder killed guilds too, with the same consequence: lost socializing and friendliness. Whole rest of the web world was working triple time to create social outlets. Bliz had one and killed it.
Dungeon finder helps in FFXIV, but you still raid best content 2-4x a week with “static” groups and still hang out with your FC (and housing). With DF, you just go with you FC members. At least in FFXIV it DF and Party Finder work well, but still have statics and FC fully working.
completely and utterly agree on the dungeon finder thing
I found that a lot of “quality of life” improvements took the game downhill. Dungeon finder is the main one, but also cross-realm zones, heirloom gear, removing elites from leveling quests, introduction of gear score, and now Legion introduced multi-tap so now there’s even less of a reason to group up. The community is basically dead unless you’re either lucky enough or try hard enough to get into a good guild. There’s no reason to make friends leveling so trying to even talk to people is usually fruitless. WoW isn’t hard anymore except for the top-tier raids and dungeons. My favorite part of the game was leveling because I loved the world so much, but now leveling is terrible because it’s so solitary and easy.
You are totaly Right! Gamer now adays are unhelpfull game destroying 15 year old screaming and being annoying!
C’mon Game Community
I finally quit GW2 after the Scarlet Briar story and the new area opened. I was fed up with an NPC party carrying the plot instead of my player character, plus the gratuitous political correctness of that NPC party. I had three maxed characters with two more on the way and all I did was grind for elite armor, not event the heroic stuff. It was taking forever.
I think the game I’ve spent the most total time in is The Secret World, far more than any of the 15 to 20 other titles I have tried. Even when I left I would come back after 3 to 6 months of something else. The story is unlike any other game I’ve seen, combat could be a bit better, but it’s more than adequate, and there is a lot of good top-end material, with more coming out every few months.
I am currently playing Skyforge. It is quite playable for many reasons similar to Defiant, but by that same token I am not likely to last much past 6 months. They have tried to smooth over the incessant grind by gradually introducing new areas of the game based on your progression, but since it is in perpetual open Beta, there just are not enough players to really make the squad finder system work. It has nice combat, and great presentation, but it feels constrained when you do the same 5 to 10 instances of the 30 or so available instances every day.
I have to agree about GW2, I got really bored with it, I finally gave up and decided it wasn’t going to get any better.
GW2 sucks!
I can agree with most of this, but I don’t really mind not being the most important thing on the planet when I play an MMO. In fact, that’s how most MMO’s have been, even WoW. You’re just some guy who’s really good at getting stuff done with others.
Its amazing that so many mmos are so bad instead of going up with the graphics they’re going down and lots of useless mmos just terrible
Graphics do not make a good game. If graphics are your basis of what is good then Order 1886 is the best game ever made.
It wasn’t, it was utter crap but it looked pretty.
Terra had the best graphics out of any mmorpg
I don’t think he was implying graphics solely make a game good. I think he meant that as time goes on, games should look better while also expanding on older ideas or creating entirely new ideas to make better games.
There’s a surge of 8-16bit games, due to programs that allow anyone to make a game on their own computer, cheaply, and then sell their junk on Steam. I played 8 and 16 bit games from the 70’s through the late 80’s. It’s 2016. I understand nostalgia, but games progression shouldn’t be moving backwards… ever. Playing a (new)low graphic or 2D game in 2016 is like going to a Guns N Roses concert. The nostalgia wears off as soon as Axel opens his mouth and you’ve realize you made a terrible fucking mistake.
dsad,
Let’s look at that for a minute. Graphics are not easy. The programs are 1. Expensive..into hundreds of dollars for ONE license on ONE system. Xfrog, Maya Lightwave, Poser, and you would want to have the PRO versions of them which is even more expensive. 2. They have huge learning curves to them. A lot of game companies who are just starting out are on a tight budget as is.
A lot of gamers are kids and teen-agers. Who are not in the working class yet. Not many parents are going to buy a computer that has a huge processor and state of the art graphics card, just so their child can play a video game. If they raise graphics, these kids would not be able to play and that company is going to fall from subscription loss. Same with consoles..they are hundreds of dollars in cost when they are introduced.
Even in World of Warcraft, the characters were just recently upgraded in graphics with new skins. However, some players had to revert to the use of the old skins because it causes them too much lag or they have to play on the lowest settings possible which…is not a good thing because then you cannot see things on the ground you need to avoid standing in or see far distances. Not being able to see what’s going on around you or bad lag, is not going to keep someone playing. I have seen people lagging so badly because they try to play on highest settings. They fall through the floor or teleport through a wall. Or get stuck and can’t move at all. You can only tweak a system so much.
You can’t blame the devs for people not having high end systems but wanting to keep their subscriptions up so they can continue to provide people with solid entertainment. 🙂
It is amazing the amount of new mmorpgs that are going to released in 2016. But I could not help to notice that almost all of them are PvP based. Don’t get me wrong, I love PvP, but do all these developers really think PvPers are the majority of the player base? *boggled*
Most mmorpg players, or the ones that usually throw some serious cash down are the PvE / Casuals. There is almost nothing new for them in 2016. We can always say frack the carebears, but the truth is, we need them as much as they need us. It’s about a healthy economy, cash for game devolpment, PvE content for us PvPers when we just want to take a break. Most PvPers I would say like to do PvE as well.
Personally, I think it’s to much PvP and in the end these games will either fail, or be happy with a very small niche player base. They certainly won’t attract the majority of the market.
I think a big part of that is that when you focus on pvp it is cheaper and takes a lot less development time, but I completely agree with you. If they really want to game to be a successes then PVE needs to be the focus. I think a lot of these guys just don’t want to put the time and money into what it would take make solid quests and other pve systems and are just hoping to make a quick buck.
It is also the case that PvP focused players are seemingly always looking for a new game. I don’t know why that is but it probably has to do with the lack of current great PvP games, that PvP can grow stale more quickly than PvE in general, that PvP is notoriously hard to balance, and that PvP players are often just pickier in general due to the increased competitive nature.
On the other hand, there are a lot of great PvE focused games available already for PvE focused players looking for something new. Additionally, PvE focused players seem far more likely to stick with games for much longer periods, meaning less of them are available to move to new game and so the market can simply not bear as many PvE focused titles.
At a certain point, everybody in pvp oriented games reaches the same level, same gear and ability. Then you have thousands of other players just like you, using the same strategy and everything taking longer than it used to. People completely miss the point of pvp.
In the division, you have ganking parties looking for smaller and more undergeared players to kill. That same party of gankers will come across another 4 man party who display high end gear and they’ll run by without a shot fired.
Pvp used to be fun. You would have players who were highly geared, hunting down other highly geared players for an epic battle. Hell, I used to play games like Perfect World in their beginning and you’d constantly get world messages and whispers telling you that “Such and such player from Goonsquad is having a duel with such and such person from WAR. Get over here quick!” When you showed up there would be a massive crowd waiting for the fight to start. Then you’d witness a 30 minute long battle that was fun and exciting. People would even place bets.
Pvp is definitely not fun anymore. It seems devs leave the pvping open ended and lower lvl or undergeared people are taking the grief for it. You also have to take into account that some people can be totally boss at pve and suck horribly bad at pvp. People liken pve and pvp to one another, but it’s far from the same. Non-pvpers and non-pvp elitest get tired of failing at a game over and over. Making mostly pvp games or games where entering into pvp saturated environments to get the best gear will eventually turn off the flow of players. Not everyone likes to have to pvp to be the best. Some people just want to have fun on their own and don’t like playing games that force you to have to go co-op. Which is another problem with games today. Forced co-op sucks.
Stony, I know you posted this a while ago, but I wanted to say, that you are right. People who are hard core pvp based game players seem to be very high strung. My fiance is one of those people. I play WoW on a rp/pvp server and even in the pve, it gets frustrating when I am on my cloth wearing priest and try to kill some mob that a plate wearer at my same item level can 3 shot, while I die to it. Warlords of Draenor expansion changed a lot of the issues where you had to have two sets of gear, one for raiding and one for pve and Legion is going to expand on that as well. No more different gear sets. They have been trying to find a way to balance it more for both types of players and I think the progress is amazing.
I agree with Stony. Pvp is just not fun anymore. Unless they bring some life to it.
Prefer PvE too. And good PvE is by no means simple. It can get very intense, especially when wiping at 1% a few times, before finally getting the first kill.
FFXIV has small-ish groups of mostly 8-4 (some are max 24). But due to the small-ish sized PvE, there is more pressure and responsibility on each player, making it all the more rewarding and intense.
It doesn’t matter what’s the majority of the player base! Especially on Camelot Unchained the successor of DAOC the devs have stated over and over again that they are making the game for their loyal audience of players and not for the general public. It was exactly that loyal audience that backed and still backs the games development up to this day and guess what they are almost all of them pvpers.
I agree Scott. Open world PVP is becoming very popular, but people usually either love it or hate it. I’m in the hate it crowd and would much rather see open world exploration, not unlike some of the survival games (7 Days to Die), but more MMO like. Features that are described such as “great graphics”, “good gameplay” have completely different meanings depending on your style and interests. Fallout 4 might have very detailed, modern graphics but I would prefer games with vegetation and color. Skyfall was a disaster for me due to it’s lack of color, whereas I loved Oblivion.
Likewise, “gameplay” often means interesting weapons and flashy combat moves to some, but I remember some of the best “gameplay” coming from the older LOTRO or Age of Conan games, where PVP was optional and open world exploration was easily possible.
Open world exploration, open world PVP (or optional PVP), graphics based on a green growing world vs. burned out, dark worlds, … those the the things that categorize games for me. Even sci-fi vs medieval settings and things like that are less important compared to the former.
Hi mein Favorit ist momentan
blade and soul
Der Grund ist das gamplay und die Story ist einfach nur genial und die nebenquests sind an der Story angeknüpft
Pvp und PvE sind recht einzigartig da kommen durch die skil vielfältig keit
Nichts ran Grade skil ketten so wie hier gab es noch nirgends
Die Grafik ist ebenfalls nicht zu verachten da es ne richtige 3d Funktion hat
Würde von mir 4/5 Sterne bekommen,
Grund der stor ist noch sehr teuer
Keine Ahnung, warum du auf einer englischen Seite Deutsch schreibst …
Dark Ages of Camelot had one of the BEST pvp system ever created, never again has there been a pvp experience as great as that game, WoW doesn’t even come close to what DAOC had, it’s a shame no one could ever bring something like that back.
Even Asheron’s Call 2 did pvp better than WoW.
Love AC and AC2.
Winn knows what he’s talking about. DAOC WAS the BEST PVP system ever created. Alas, all great things must come to and end.
I am not a PvPer, am a PVEer through and through. I have never played PvP on a consistent basis, with one big exception – DAOC. I agree with Winn and Rob. I loved it.
It was a long time ago now, but IIRC I was taken into a realm battle with a high level player when I was only level 7, which apparently was supposed to be too low. Couldn’t wait to go back when I was the right level for RvR (DAOC’s version of PvP).
when Lotro first came out I bought the lifetime sub just to play the Ettinmoores that was a fun pvp system for a little while till they made all the monsters wimps.
DAOC is still going strong. Lots of returning players, me included. A lot of zerging and 8-mans 30v30v30 up to 100+v100+v100+. It’s still the best pvp experience out there and proves that graphics do not make the game. DAOC came out in 2001 and its graphics are dated, but what a fun game. Don’t know how it would be to start as a level 1, but if you have higher level toons give it a try!! I think leveling can be very fast now – like 1 to 50 in a couple of hard days.
RIFT is an amazing game and has an amazing PVP system … that was until it went F2P and i quit! F*** F2P MMOS!
Check out Camelot unchained. Its by the same guy that did DAoC and Warhammer Online.
Which means it will play like shit?
War hammer online was a big flop unfortunately
Thanks for mentioning DAOC. What you are saying is so true, so true. I will spend the rest of my life looking for similiar experience.
FFXIV has the best and most rewarding end raids, classe system & loot. That’s what MMOS are about.
I don’t believe GW2 deserves to be on this list, I personally played GW2 since it came out. You have no idea how many angry older players this game has with its bad policies and no customer services.
That’s quite a stretch. I’ve played from headstart release, and the game has developed very well in the last three years. I believe it to be the best Buy to Play (no subscription) MMO on the market today. Many of my guildmates, who have also played since the beginning, agree with me. If anyone is curious, you can give it a shot – they have a Free to Play model with non-game-breaking limitations (mostly in an attempt to prevent gold sellers and spammers). If at any point you are interested in purchasing the full game w/ expansion, you can buy it through the in-game gem store or through their website.
No, it isn’t. The game is just like Emily describes. I am sorry you are a fan boy and do not choose to see the bs.
Unfortunately Emily is kind of right.
Although flawed, the initial game showed lots of promise and at the time the devs were making all sorts of promises to keep our hype up… but as time went on ANet’s poor decision making and tight schedules turned this game into a complete, chaotic mess. Heart of Thorns was their chance to make things right and they blew it… (though they did try to rectify the “DPS-centric religion” and give more power to other builds, which was a good thing IMO.)
Instead of fixing what needed to be fixed to make a good, solid base for what would come after, they decided it was a good idea to rush content out of the door and lay even more “foundations” for future content and features. This didn’t solve anything, it actually added even more problems to the pile.
They also alienated the old and loyal player-base they had by trying to cater to everyone possible AND selling Heart of Thorns in a nifty “2-in-1 package” that included the core game. A great deal for new players but what about those who had already bought the core game all those months/years ago? It was complete BS and ANet didn’t give a damn because all they wanted was more players, even if that meant taking a sh*t over the old ones.
One of the reasons why I left GW2 was because the game had become stale for me. I didn’t care for PvP, PvE and RP were my main focus and, unfortunately, I got to a point where I had everything I wanted and couldn’t be bothered with leveling more alts.
Once you reach that point where you’re comfortable with what you have and have done, you’ll start noticing just how lacking this game is on the end-game department. The last 3 months before I left, I did nothing more than karma/bag trains. LITERALLY. It was a grind-fest in its purest form. Dungeons were out of the equation too because Anet nerfed the rewards/gold so bad, nobody wanted to do them anymore. I was struggling for reasons to keep at it… and it also affected my will to RP with other people, to point I just got up and left.
You may not notice it in the first months, maybe even year of gameplay because the game feels “new” to you – your rose-tinted shades don’t let you see its flaws, not immediately, but once that feeling is over the flaws that looked little will now look like immense gaps. From my experience, this is what happens to the people who decided to play GW2.
played since CBT 1 have 13 legendaries since the game was released nothing much has changed same old **** different character the expansion was fun for a bit but feels samey already.
Played since beta and I can assure you that not all older players are complaining. They attempted to rectify the situation of expansion by giving those who already had the base game an extra character slot($10 value). It’s not much, but it’s something. On top of it IvoryOwl completely overlooked the fact that end-game is now Raids. PvE exists. Why just mention dungeons? Why not mention the fact that Fractals go to 100 now? Like I said Raids are what we asked for for a long time, and we finally have them. I can assure you it’s not all “DPS-centric religion” anymore.
Older player? Lots of folks like you talk about being older player beta? are you talking testing phases of early gw you played through the proph, factiona, nightfall, eotn? because even that was a better model of gw than gw2 ever was. If you compare the first to the second and have played the second since beta. you’ll truly see how little it’s developed and how even gw2 debut was a step back. the new action and dynamic combat was great but that’s nearly the only thing that was an improvement
Lol, GW2 is trash, and so are the developers.
Another example of kids thinking anyone who doesn’t share their opinion is wrong. What some people like in a game others don’t.
That is why it is an opinion not a fact.
I have tried some MMOs that others love and I hated them, not my style, move on. No point crying about it. I probably like some games you hate. This means to most of the kids commenting on this thread that i am “wrong” rather than having a diiffereing opinion. It is the curse of internet comments that children ( or those that act like them ) refuse to beleive two people can hold differing opinions without one being wrong
Been a fan of GW since I played GW1 beta and did ofc GW2 from beta as well, and damn the man who spoke ill about Anet (not really a fanboy, but damn close at the time).
Today I couldn’t care less about Anet or GW2.
You are so right Emily, sad to see a great mmo series go down the drain as guildwars did due to bad management.
I actually rather play GW1 as it is, at least that game still have a soul.
Apparently im one of those ‘angry older players’. GW1 was a much better game in most aspects, especially PvP. I GW2 for about a year before moving on saying farewell to a franchise that went down the drain. Sad really.
Hello everyone!
Big lover of MMORPGs here! I am constantly looking for emersive and polished games. Curently I am following Crowfall (medieval-fantasy game) and I highly suggest to take a sniff. There is also another good space-oddity on the way! It is called Star Citizen (upgraded EVE). I dont’t know much about this title but I know it will be damn big. This game will offer exploration of planets (in realistic sizes) and offcourse you will be able to name newly discoverd creatures! SC offers a lot! Best to check it out yourself.
Sorry for bad english! I am not a native speaker…
So medieval-fantasy lovers check out Crowfall(it is a practicaly mix of everything you ever played and offers a lot of freshnes)
And for scfi lovers you must try Star Citizen
Thats it! I am out!
Star Citizen will never come out and it’s currently the Nigerian Prince scam of gaming. If you put money into it you’re an idiot and deserve what you’re gonna get.
dude, they JUST released an updated alpha 2.0 and they an installment game scheduled for this year called squadron 46.
star citizen is garbage, i played it.
You played a pre alpha, idiot
You played pre alpha, it isn’t out yet.
Most pre alpha games are garbage, there is hardly anything going on. It’s used for gradual inclusion of things.
Although, personally, I think you’re lying.
Camelot unchained will fail, no pve means no players.
people may think they want to PvP endlessly but trust me, they don’t.
If the combat is good and there’s more than just one or two map types people can and will PvP endlessly. Some people play PvE only games or choose to PvE exclusively. Considering that PvP in general (competition) is the more widely embraced game mode people will play it as long as it’s good.=
I’ve been playing MMO’s since their creation and I can tell you if it’s kept fresh then yes they will play it. Not every game has to be logged in 24/7 to be a success. However if it’s anything like Warhammer Online was, people will flock to this game in droves because a very large player base miss that game. The only reason it failed is because of bad changes to the game. So that crowd alone will come to this game.
A game similar to this came out years ago. I forget the name. I think it was fury, or fury unleashed. Something along those lines. I was pumped to play it, as I’m a huge pvp fan. The idea to level off of only pvp was right up my alley. Unfortunately the game failed because of new players not able to advance very far with current players. Needless to say the very purpose of the game was also it’s downfall.
Yes, you are right.. noone wants to just PvP… thats why games like Lol and Dota, etc always fail… (sarcasm).
LOL typical MOBA f–k wit
MOBA’s and MMO’s are two entirely different things.
To try and compare the two genre’s is laughable.
It’s hard for a game to try and balance PvE and PvP in order to cater to both. I deal with jerks and buttholes daily, so I don’t really want to deal with it in a game. One could have a dozen games that are designed around PvP, but let one game be designed around PvE’ers and you’ll still hear bitching from the PvP folks. A game with ‘hardcore’ pvp? You can keep it. I’ll go play somewhere I can escape reality for awhile without having an asshat get his/her jollies by ruining my limited game time.
Well said and very very true. There have been several hardcore pvp games and they are just havens for griefers and trolls. Lets face it, like it or not the reason games like WoW and Guild wars have done so well is the PVE system.
I felt wow and gw were 2 fail pve games. I quit both within a year. One of the more successful pve/pvp blends that have out of date gfx was Dark Age of Camelot. When you died no one could steal your gear and you knew the specific zones that had pvp/pve risk/rewards. The cheating and the devs unwillingness to balance the classes they played ran off a good amount of players.
I don’t remember any particular problem with cheating in DaoC.
Of course there was a cheater once in a while, but they were rare.
Considered all realms had completely different classes with advantages/disadvantages the class balance was quite good too.
Especially how they balanced CC, area damage and the interupt mechanic. You could have group vs group fights that lasted 10-20 minutes if both groups were evenly matched but you could also win against a zerg/raid of 5-10 groups that didn’t know what they were doing.
You pampered pve player. Mobas are dominating right now because of constant pvp. Not everyone likes playing PvE. Oh look guys, a mob attacks right, then left, then up every time. Make sure your prepared…. Go watch a video on how to do it so we can just blast through it. OMFG, we are so accomplished….. PvP is fun. You never know what the person your going against will do.
As I just said to someone else, MOBA’s and MMO’s are completely different.
A large portion of MMO players have no interest in MOBA’s, quite a lot of people aren’t interested in PvP.
Personally I find it boring.
The genre is irrelevant, he’s right. The problem is no company has approached PvP in MMOs in the same manner as Riot have in LoL.
Call of duty….I rest my case
Trust me we do. We couldn’t care less about pvetards. For as long as there are at least 150 active players on each faction active at a time pvp is perfectly fine. And yes we only care about doing pvp 24/7 and nothing else.
oh my
ur such a game dev
IS that WHY dota2 is still alive
um…. BLACK DESSERT ANYONE?
Looks like just another Korean MMO. I could also mention Bless but most of these Korean games are pretty but grindy. The real question is what about Wildstar? 😛
Thank you!
Although i’m not super excited about Wildstar either, i keep hearing all this random hype about Black Desert when it’s obviously yet another pretty looking grind fest. According to their own FAQ “There is no level cap, but after level 50 players may find it very hard to level up” and by god as long as there’s a possibility some no-life will have the free time to hit lvl 100 and destroy everybody else because there’s also PvP. Not to mention that the majority of experience comes from monsters. They might as well have just named it “open world grind fest”
I mean, unless the levels aren’t going to be important enough to matter or they’re going to somehow cap you, but then that begs the question why even include levels, or levels after a certian point if it doesn’t do anything.
To be honest u not missing allot in Black Desert..i Played the russian version and yes the graphics is good..but at the end i got bored after 1 month of playing. theres alot grinding. and there is no dungeons in the game…fighting system is good. u need to buy houses to be able to craft. fishing is nice in the game. And did i mention the grinding….but its not a bad game. its worth trying
Wildstar could’ve been great but the gameplay is AWFUL
that’s why it had to go free to play. now you need to pay to achieve anything. Even those of us who paid full price for the game now get nothing, so it was easy to walk away. and dont get me started on archeage or sky forge, talk about dumb games.
Black Desert is not about standing in the main city’s queuing waiting for dungeon and raid queues. Its not a themepark MMO, its a true sandbox MMO where you can literally do whatever you want. The grind is part of the game, and the combat makes it fun. Build boats, go fishing, siege castles, in depth crafting, amazing combat, insane graphics. Its easily the most in depth and fun MMO i’ve played in 10 years. Its not for people who give up after an hour and need their hands held every step of the way.
I’ve played BDO since beta and I don’t play it anymore.
PVP is gear only, level and skills are irrelevant. Who has the best gear wins simple.
Where do you see pvp? Why, when you are trying to grind ofc! Someone comes to PK you and unloads their ultimate then instantly turns off pvp…fun.
Cheats? Rife with them although DAUM announced a wave of bans, all that got was spam posts on the forums.
Crafting? No, that’s not accurate. You collect materials (yourself or worker) then get a worker to make something. It’s really, really basic.
The bottom line is getting as many blackstones as you can to try and improve your gear which you can have since day 1. IF the God of RNG allows you will eventually improve your gear.
The essential point is this game requires endless hours to achieve anything!
A lot of it you do while you’re afk!
Horse breeding? Get horse to lvl 30…turn on auto-loop. Check next day to fill up carrots. Leave for another day.
Fishing? Click to drop trash. AFK fishing. Come back next day and use new rod. Go away again.
The basic mechanics are: Make it take a long time, use RNG a LOT, make ppl pk eachother as pvp.
Great graphics, crap game.
I read this before and I meant to comment but I forgot. About Pathfinder Online, they ran out of funding which is very sad. I know you have the link up there and you did mention that but I would like to add that even if they don’t have money now, the game is still playable. They have a live server which was updated last month.
So does this mean they are actually continuing with development?
Soo…no mention of Blade and Soul, due for release January 16th, 2016. One of the most highly anticipated games of the year. Your list appears to be incomplete.
lol right?!?!
B&S has been anticipated for so many years that it’s now on par with flops like Johnny Romero’s Daikatana. Whatever NCSoft can pull out of their hat, it won’t be enough to make up for all the delays. Ultimately, B&S is going to be a game built on outdated engine with outdated game mechanics..
Blade and Soul?! I’m relieved that I bought the lowest package. Played Beta, and after a couple hours… I looked at my screen… Knowing I’ve played Arch Age for Months, along other games like Wildstar; Skyforge; all FF online… anyway… BoS will go down the drain… Sure I will play tom 10 PST… only bc it’s the week end… or I may load it.. stare at screen, and close the window.
I just uninstalled blade n soul. Its just another Kor grinder with no real pvp. You have to flag and the person you want to fight has to flag. It looks like and runs smooth but lacks to much for me.
BnS lasted 2 weeks and then began losing mass amounts of players. I post today as I just logged out for the last time. Too much of a hurried cash grab, trying to make up for what they lost with Wildstar. The game could have been great if they took some time and polished it before release. It’s almost as if the people that paid for premium benefits, got screwed more than the F2Pers because of all the bugs revolving around the cash shop/premium fluff. Check out the Blade and Soul reddit for more info if needed.
As for Black Desert, that’s another short-lived game. I don’t understand why these companies even bother putting years of work into games that last a few months.
u just change cloth for pvp . i like that traits . but im a pveers . i stop bns(na)for now just to play diablo 3 again . XD
Thank man for you’r work ! I love you and you’r website !
So good !
The UI’s need to be astounding, like futuristic, where it seems like it is all holographic, it has to be as if you’re piloting a life inside the game, more so console like, if pc games had a console in them, games would turn out more realistic and energetic. There has to be truth behind it, that way the game will prosper!
I don’t know what you tried to say just there but consoles are shit and without the PC, gaming as we know it would be dead. PC gaming is and always has been the future.
Drugs are back