Need a New MMO

So Blizzard has succeeded where nothing else has in breaking my WoW addiction with this whole Real ID nonsense (thanks guys!). I haven't canceled my account yet, but I've stopped playing until Blizzard announces one way or another whether they're going continue making a mockery of their own privacy agreements at the expense of their fanbase.

In the meantime, though, there's a gaping hole in my schedule where level-grinding used to be and I need a new game to fill it up. I'm in the middle of trying out City of Heroes but the camera and movement controls are already getting on my nerves after only a few hours of play. WoW is the only MMO experience I have, and I'm looking to expand my horizons without having to wait around until FF XIV or The Old Republic go live. Any suggestions?

I'm recommending this without actually personally liking it, but you should try Eve Online. It's pretty much the opposite of WoW in so much as you set levels to train on their own and then go and do stuff in the meantime, but that's simplifying it a fair bit. You get to pew pew things in PvP and PvE space combat, pimp your ship, run missions, farm resources if you fancy...the best thing about it is the realistic economy (note: you can also legally buy and sell time codes for real + in game money) and corporations, with different alliances of corps actually controlling sections of space in the game, and members of corps spying on others to steal stuff, leak info and occasionally bring down an entire alliance.

I don't much like it because of the time you have to invest to get good, and the very rigorous and soul-absorbing corp system that has you running fleet operations all the damn time. It is, however, a very good and very pretty game.

Whoa, what are those blizfags up to this time (i.e., if you'd be so kind as to elaborate on this for me)?

The new Battle.net forum system they're switching to on the 27th requires all posters to use their real names, and those names are plainly visible on the forums for anyone to see, not just people with accounts. Ostensibly this is Blizzard's attempt at cutting down on the massive amounts of trolling that take place on the WoW forums because the old system allows people to switch their names around just by switching characters; the issue is that trolls and your other garden-variety faggots are making level 1 alt characters and using them to spew shit all over the forums without jeopardizing the reputations of their main characters.

The problem, of course, is that your name is all anyone needs in order to find out tons of personal shit about you via the almighty Google. That Blizzard is forcing people to put their real names on their forum shit (so far the only opt-out option they have in place is a parental control that stops you from posting on the forums at all) and releasing private information without the explicit permission of the players has kicked off an epic shitstorm the like of which has never been seen in this fanbase. A little more than 26 hours after the announcement was made, the thread had already gotten over 25,000 responses, the overwhelming majority of them negative. In fact, pretty much the only ones who don't seem to care are the trolls posting from their level 1 alts.

Personally it doesn't affect me much because I've used the old forums a grand total of two times, but I'm outraged that Blizzard would betray the privacy of its clients like this. Apparently someone in the upper management has forgotten that they answer to us, not the other way around, because WE are where they get their money from. And unless they backpedal and pull the plug on this plan REALLY FUCKING QUICKLY a good chunk of their most loyal fans are going to take their money somewhere else.

Aion, LoL! Asian-related games are serious grind-fests though. Moreso then WoW.

While I don't play it anymore myself, Everquest 2 has a pretty decent playerbase. I've tried Warhammer Online recently but they only have about 4 servers left and the population is rapidly dwindling. Eve Online is pretty fun, but the game requires a lot of time to catch up to the advanced players.

I have yet to try the star wars and star trek mmo's but friends have told me they were pretty decent (however, they no longer play them so I don't know what that really tells me LOL). Final Fantasy XI really lacked endgame content (I never played the expansions), but it can occupy you for a time.

I still subscribe to WoW even though I haven't logged in since January, 2009. That Real ID thing sounds terrible. Makes me regret pre-ordering Starcraft II: WoL.

Aion is on my to-try list but I'm having problems finding any free trial versions. I don't want to buy anything before I've tried it because my only local sources for games don't do returns on PC titles. I don't suppose you'd know where to look?

theres a pretty decent one called cabal out there. Its free and the graphics and gameplay is pretty nice, the music and story also kick ass. The game play is a little repatative and basic but I still got plenty of play time out of it so give it a shot.

Hmm, Dungeon Fighter Online, Mabinogi, Maplestory, 3 I can think of. None of them are much like any of the MMO's out these days.

Also, Vindictus, but you'll have to apply on the Nexon site for the closed beta test.

inb4 Nexonfanboy

I don't really see much of a problem here. It's not like your the only one with that name. I've even met people with the same first and last name here where I live.
I've put my whole name here and there. Go ahead and try to pinpoint me I'd say.

Best choice would be Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic III.

i'm not sure if you're interested but here is a couple of games popular on my country:




Softnyx Rakion


or S4 league:



S4 league

Yeah, I cancelled my SC2 pre-order. I'm also not gonna bother with Diablo III.

One of the most awesome game designers in history getting corrupted by tapping too much into the evil that is making money.

Not mentioned so far is Atlantica Online, it's a koreagrinder with a rather unique (In this genre.) turn-based, strategical combat system.

The difficulty is highly above your average grindfest. Even your regular low-level "Kill 40 xzy" quest might leave you looking for a group.

The item mall system is a double edged sword. It contains status boosting gears and such, but everything is tradable. Item mall gear is highly accessable to everyone who knows how to effectively farm money at higher levels, but server-wide notifications and pop-ups regarding the item mall never cease to irritate the crap out of you.

Giving EVE a shot ATM. Will report back with initial impressions in a few hours.

If you know anyone on Aion at all they can throw you a Refer-a-friend which gives you a little playtime.

Take your time an be patient, EVE is damn fun and rewarding for those who have patience.

The only thing I dislike is how, with the skill system, it takes years of continuous play to get to a decent standard. If your mates start before you, you pretty much get phased out, just because you literally can't catch up (skilled or otherwise).

I started EVE with people that have been playing for years already. It doesn't take long until you can fulfill a role on a decent level, skill-wise. The difference is just limitation - I kick ass with battlecruiser & battleship sizes alone, my friends can fly literally everything, including offrace ships.

Nevertheless, if you want to catch up it is very important to plan your schedule accordingly, and invest into learnings and implants early on. Although I've heard things about the devs removing the learning skills soon (As it worsens the new player experience.), and grant you the skillpoints for other things.

Your protest is no longer necessary, Blizzard listens to it's community and has decided to remove the Real Name function, it won't happen. Blue post has confirmed it, you can go back to playing WoW bro.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25968837163&sid=3000

Exactly. Honestly though, canceling accounts and boycotting Blizzard seems a little extreme for an announcement that had no effect on the games at all and is completely up to you if you use any of it's features... even those it does provide in-game.

Anyways, to be more on topic, the Atlus MMO was a decent game back when I played it back when it first came out. I'd like to to think it's improved more since then XD

http://neosteam.atlusonline.com/

There is also the Shin Megami Tensei MMO, but I never got the chance to play it my self. It looked promising though and it's hard to go wrong with Megaten =P

http://megaten.aeriagames.com/

Well if you decided to play Mabinogi, or Dungeon Fighter i can give you some help.