MMORPG Virgin requests advice

[Chesto]

Have never, EVER, played games online. Would like to have a go at MATURE-ish MMO. Not cyber-sex, though if offered would probably not say no. Not Space. Not WW2 , or any other modern, or futuristic wars. Like ancient, fantasy, oriental, etc.. Don't mind a bit of grinding. Don't want to get ripped off, too often, by other players, or the developers. Don't want to waste time with flamers. Don't want to have to break my brain trying to figure out how to get 'hooked up'.

Conan, not out yet, looks good. Warhammer? Eyecandy appreciated, if only for aesthetic reasons.( Yuh. Raiiiight!)

 

Anyone care to offer advice, suggestions. Some elaboration on suggestions would be appreciated. Lists not much use.

Thanks in advance. Be gentle with me.

 

Oh yeah... haven't got hours and hours to play so....

[samroski]

Chesto, your expectations are too high. There are about 10 negatives in your post above. One of these aspects is likely to appear in the MMORPG whether you like it or not (most likely you'll get ripped off or offered sex or both)

 

Having said that I am a MMORPG noob myself- started one game - but lost the link, forgot the name pf the game!!! and as the experience was not great- am not dying to try it again.

 

Am downloading (1.16GB) EVE online at the moment - which promises to be great (me being a great fan of Elite in the 80s) - so will update you as soon as I get into it (though you do not want space... and do not have hours and hours....)

 

(why don't you quit while you are ahead?)

[Chesto]

Salut samroski!

 

Expect you're right about the expectations. I thought that I would get all the limitations out there first, then work back through them, caving in as I go.

 

Even though it's space, EVE does look rather intriquing. Have been reading some of the posts about it elsewhere on this site. Seems rather like a lot of hard work, though. I get enough of that in real life.

 

But... will be interested to hear what you have to say about it.

 

Cheers, mate.

[Marxist ßastard]

Guild Wars. Used to play, ran out of time for it.

 

MATURE

Not too sure what you mean by this.

 

Not cyber-sex

In towns and mission staging areas, things are strictly business. In PvE, virtually all other contact with players is with those in your guild or (if in a mission) party. You can get invited to or leave a guild at any time, and you can party up with anyone you want.

 

Not Space. Not WW2 , or any other modern, or futuristic wars.

Check.

 

Like ancient, fantasy, oriental, etc..

It's all sword and staff.

 

Don't mind a bit of grinding.

For each of the three campaigns, things are timed such that just through playing the missions and some miscellaneous quests, you'll max out your level when less than halfway through. All character enhancement after that (aside from armor, weapons, &c.) is done by buying a skill or else finding a unique, high-level creature and assassinating it to learn its skill; skills are a general term for special weapon attacks, spells, and all that nonsense. If you're really desperate to work on levelling something by the "kill stuff" route, you can always try to max out the level of an NPC party member or a tamed animal or something.

 

Don't want to get ripped off, too often, by other players

Some of the prices are weird, but the cities where most trade happens are packed, so you'll probably get multiple offers for common stuff. The last time I played, the developers were trying to implement a system where NPC merchants would adjust their prices according to what's happening in player-to-player trade; I don't know how far that's gotten now. As a last resort, you can always just ask for a price check on an item or look online.

 

Don't want to waste time with flamers.

See above. Overall, the players are pretty nice, though. Whenever I needed some income, I just did I running service and asked for whatever the clients thought was fair; I always managed to make the going rate or a bit more, and had a lot of people ask for more runs in addition to that and even get their guildmates in. The missions can get frustrating, though, which in some cases leads to misplaced aggression or outright apathy when you join a party with random people---but you can always make up a party with your guildmates or use NPCs.

 

Don't want to have to break my brain trying to figure out how to get 'hooked up'.

Don't really know what you mean by this, either.

 

Eyecandy appreciated

No shortage of that. Since you max out your level so early, the devs have put in lots of "status symbols" that are difficult to obtain.

 

Oh yeah... haven't got hours and hours to play so....

There aren't any monthly fees, so you aren't really making a commitment to get your money out of it every month. It's pretty easy to approach it casually and take a few weeks (months?) off at a time if need be. Just as long as you can find a new guild, I mean.

[Chesto]

Marxist... many thanks for taking the time to reply, and so comprehensively.

 

None of my posts would be complete without self-generated, vague ambiguities. Can ambiquity be other than vague? :

 

Mature= non-kiddy; all the blood and gore plus nekid wimmin... occasionally, but not necessary. See: Eye Candy.

 

Don't want to break my brain= ease of download, interface, etc., etc..

 

Again, thanks. Will check it out, STAT.

[Marxist ßastard]

Kiddy stuff definetly comes out in full force for holiday events. In Prophecies, there's a sort of prelude where things are a bit light, but then everything gets burninated and it all changes to decapitations, ritual murder of native peoples, hunting down races of demigods, &c. Bikini armor and swords as big as houses are both checks.

 

Interface... Well, that I don't really know about. From what I recall, it's been prety much streamlined so that hardcore PvPers can just let their muscle memory take over.

 

EDIT: I just downloaded the client again, and logged in for the first time in what I think is a year. My characters are still there. So yeah, just skipping out for months at a time and coming back like nothing happened is a definite possibility. Maybe I'll get a back into the game a bit before my coursework starts to get heavy again.

 

EDIT 2: gw.exe -image: 111860 files remaining. If you Google and find some way for people to send invites, I'll send one your way.

[TheTerminator2004]

I strongly recommend you try eve online. You may well not like it, as it most certainly is not for everyone, but it has by far the maturest player base I have ever seen, and unlike most traditional MMOs, you do not have to be playing the game to improve your character; your skills train even when you're offline (even when your subscription has expired, though that has limited use except for casual players who are waiting for really long ones to train), so it can be as much or as little work as you like. As for the not wanting to get ripped off too often by other players... the entire economy is player-controlled, so as a rule things are pretty fair, you just need to be careful not to buy really high orders which people may have put up in an attempt to manipulate the market.

 

I highly recommend you try the 14-day trial (or 21-day if you get it through steam), and if you decide to carry on playing, I can point you to a few corporations dedicated to helping newer players get the hang of things.

[Chesto]

Marxist... have looked at the Guild site. Rings all the bells! Googled as per.... Broke brain. Presuming that you are extending an Invite to join a/your Guild should I ever get going. Thanks. My reading of helpful site bumpf suggests that Invitations can take place in game, and by someone with enough experience/reputation, whatever, so.... Shall seriously think about popping down the shops, when the holiday closing is over, to buy disk(s). Are updates/addons required to play? Many thanks for your help and advice.

 

The_T... Am going to have a more comprehensive 'look' at EVE. Even though 'Space', it looks v. good, and you make it sound inviting. Many thanks to you, too, for your interest.

 

Nothing, other than aforementioned time constraints... and basic inbuilt incompetence, that should prevent me from playing both!

[Marxist ßastard]

Things are sort of complicated as far as updates go. The original Guild Wars you'll find in stores has been rebranded "Guild Wars Prophecies" (see: "Star Wars IV: A New Hope") and since then an expansion pack for it has come out. I think you may be able to find both the original game and the expansion in one retail box under the name "Guild Wars Platinum." Between those two releases, two stand-alone campaigns were released---Factions and Nightfall. Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall all work together, and the game servers will support any combination of the three; however, the expansion pack must be used with Prophecies.

 

Content in each of the three campaigns and the expansion is subject to continuous updates, to the point where you'll practically have to re-download the entire game if you buy Prophecies retail. Having any one of the campaigns gives you access to a set of core content (the engine, PvP, &c.), which is also continuously updated. Events and so on affect all three campaigns, with some exceptions---IE, as far as I know, there is only minimal observance of the Chinese New Year in the North African-oriented Nightfall campaign.

 

As far as a guild goes, you're on your own. I was talking about sending you one of those x weeks/y hours trial passes, but it looks like those are only for betas. PM me, though, and I'll give you my character name; it gets almost impossible to find a monk once you get really late into the Prophecies campaign.

[Dark0ne]

I played Guild Wars back in beta and after release so can't vouch for it now, but I got bored before completeling it. It played to me like a cross between Neverwinter Nights and Hellgate:London. Lots of instancing with the MMO elements only coming from towns and cities where you trade and look for groups to do said instances. Bored me silly.

 

Seriously, I'd just go for World of Warcraft and get it over with!