Craving an MMO all of a sudden...

With Dan's recent venture into WoW, I've suddenly gotten an itch to start playing an MMO myself. I'm a bit inexperienced with the genre, in that the only "MMO" I played for any long amount of time was Runescape 8-9 years ago.

There seem to be quite a few of these games out there, so I'm not sure where I should invest my time/money. Obviously WoW is one of the most popular games in the genre, but I've also heard some good things about Wildstar, Guild Wars 2, and [albeit to a lesser extent] FFXIV. Where would be the best place for a duder like myself to start?

Guild Wars 2 doesn't have a monthly fee, which is probably a good way to start until you know if you'll actually play games in the genre long enough to warrant paying $15 a month for them. Out of the ones you listed I've enjoyed FFXIV the most. WOW never grabbed me and Wildstar haven't looked appealing at all to me.

You could always try the free to play games on Steam too, I really like EverQuest II and enjoyed my time with Star Trek Online.

I seem to recall hearing good things about the Ragnarok Online games, as well as Rift and Dungeons & Dragons Online too. There's also the D&D based Neverwinter, which I couldn't get into though.

But, yeah, if there's not a particular MMO with monthly fees you're interested in, I think you're best off starting with free to play or pay-once games.

Maybe a F2P MMO? Like Marvel Heroes 2015?

Problem with Marvel Heroes is its just really Diablo online and nothing like standard MMO's. so it depends what your looking for, if its just the fact there are lots of people running about then yeah go nuts with Marvel, if its the gameplay of something like WoW then i think you should start there with a free trial.

Guild Wars 2 is great and there's no sub.

Depending on what type of mmo you want there are different choices. For a pretty standard one WoW is a pretty good choice, you can even try out the starter thing up to level 20 for free. Wildstar feels like WoW with a more involved combat system, which isn't always a good thing. Also supposedly you can buy your monthly sub with ingame money if you earn enough. FFXIV is the one i'm currently playing right now, while it's somewhat of a standard hotkey style mmo it does have a pretty strong focus on story, which is a very classic FF story, so if you like FF that's something to keep in mind. Oh right, there's also a free trial available, or if you want one of the people in the guild right now can refer you as a friend for a trial.

Also whatever you decide to play you may want to check if there're GB guilds. FFXIV currently has a pretty active guild and i believe some people are restarting the WoW ones recently, couldn't tell you about the other mmos though.

I am playing Marvel Heroes 2015 now and like it a lot. It's a Diablo game, but it's scratches that MMO itch enough for me. I played with the one free character you get to start up to level 18 then dropped $10 to get another. Considering I've put 27 hours in so far, I think that's a more than fair trade. They are giving away a lot of free stuff and introducing new items right now because of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and other goings-on in the Marvel U.

If you want something a bit more traditional, I really enjoyed Star Wars the Old Republic when I played it. It's free but with restrictions. I had a good time with the F2P version for a week or so before spending $40 for a three month subscription. The restrictions don't bother you too early, but once you actually want to start playing seriously, they can be real annoying. I spent a lot of time playing that game for a while.

WoW seems to have re-ignited some interest around these parts with Dan probably closing up his 30 day trial of the game on server Aerie Peak. I can't say I'm not tempted myself to peek inside that hellhole once again. I looked up my old main character and saw I hadn't logged in since 2008. Searching through my emails for the old login data, I also saw that at some point Blizzard was investigating the sale of my account. Looks like someone hacked it and decided to sell it. I kind of want to see if I can recover it but at the same time, I really don't ever expect to be as committed to WoW as I was six years ago.

DC Universe Online is a great MMO if you still have a work to worry about. I go on and off on that due to work getting in the way or just having my fill but I always have fun playing that.

@monkeyman04: @penguindust: It's hard for me to consider Marvel Heroes [which i have played] a classic MMORPG when it feels more like Diablo with a lot of Marvel Characters running around.

I think i'm going to go with Guild Wars 2, it's on sale right now for $25 and with no sub fee that sounds like a pretty good way to go. I'll also try the WoW starter edition.

@ottoman673: Final Fantasy XVI is amazing and there is an active and as of late growing Free Company. You should check it out.

@ottoman673: Can't go wrong with WoW. There's so much in that game you'll very likely find something you enjoy doing even without getting into the raiding progression.

GW2 has no stat progression in the traditional sense. Think TF2 hats but an MMORPG. Not much variety in terms of quests and endgame, but the seasonal events and constant updates make the experience worthwhile.

WoW is still the best one out there. I'd suggest trying a free account to level 20 and buy it if you enjoy it. It has the advantage of a decade of polish, iteration, and a wealth of content. Blizzard has really made an effort to make the early game super assessable for new players. You're not going to feel as intimidated starting out as other MMOs.

In October patch 6.0 should come out, it will update the character models and rework the class skills a month before the release of the new expansion. If you decide to buy you can boost a character to 90 and experience the new content.

WoW is probably still the best mmo in my opinion.

For things without subscriptions both Neverwinter and DDO are fantastic. Neverwinter has a decent story and really enjoyable combat for most classes. It's also probably the least scummy F2P game in my opinion in that you have access to all standard DnD races from the start and all classes, even the new ones. DDO is simulator but requires more grinding and is instance based. I had a good time with it though.

Guild Wars 2 I would actually stay away from. It's still lacking any major end game content. Sure it has fractals and pvp but it doesn't look like the game will ever get any raid esqe content or even new dungeons for that matter. Also leveling is pretty awful. In my opinion it's way more grindy. It's basically WoW without the quest text which I actually quite like to read. Also the combat system was unique at the time but both Wildstar and Neverwinter improve on it greatly. Also the story is just bad. Like. Diablo 3 bad. Which is a shame because Tyria is a pretty good world with decent lore.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Look no further than Giantbomb's Officially Unofficial EVE Online Space Trucking Empire.

Here's a more recent video:

Kite Co. is here for duders, by duders. (SCREW YOU BRAD SHOEMAKER NO SPREADSHEETS IN HERE GET DUNKED)

SWTOR has the best leveling content I've played in an MMO. It's held my interest over three toons this summer, all taken to the level cap. It's got end game raids and flashpoints, continuous updates, and there's a new expansion coming with the 3.0 update.

Sure, the F2P implementation blows, but by level 20 you'll know if you want to spend the sub money or not. To me, it's entirely worth it, and with fully voiced dialogue and cutscenes, it means you'll actually pay attention to what's going on instead of just skimming the highlighted text like any other MMO.

Also, it has class stories. Your own saga where you're the hero of the adventure, as opposed to some developer's favourite NPC who kills the dungeon boss and you're just his helper buddy.

@irvandus: Guild Wars 2 has plenty of endgame content, just not in the traditional sense. If you're looking for number crunching and large scale raids, it doesn't have much to offer, but it more than makes up for that by having a leveling system that isn't just focused around getting to the top and grinding, plus the free bi-weekly content updates typically add a fair amount of new story content. It's not a game for everyone, but it's insanely good value for money and perfect if you're someone who can't afford to spend hours playing a single game every day.

@ottoman673: Guild Wars 2 is fantastic. And no sub fees!

For rotational WoW-style gameplay, look no further than Final Fantasy XIV. One of the few recent games thats managed to do that well.

I recommend FFXIV, good fun especially if you like(d) old final fantasy.

Some upcoming ones that look interesting are everquest next, and archeage, both sandboxes. If the idea of living in an online world that you can dick around in sounds fun, and you don't want to play eve online, then these would be good.

Someone mentioned ragnarok online; it's a classic but feels very dated now. There's an upcoming one from the same devs, a spiritual successor called tree of savior.

If you have never experienced WoW before, I'd say that is your best bet. There is a ton of content in that game, and there's something for everyone. Aside from that, you could try Guild Wars 2 or Final Fantasy XIV.

If those 3 are not doing it for you, MMOs are probably not your cup of tea.