I'm looking to get into an MMO. its been a long time (I stopped playing SWG in 05-06) and I've been hankering for that experience that only an MMO can give.

Thing is:

• I like customization.
• I thrive for a world where roleplayers can unite. I don't feel right playing an MMO if there isn't a group of players acting out their characters (I'm a freak, obviously.)
• I like having some type of social structure in my games (Whether its player cities, or at least a place players can hang out.)
• I like doing things with other players, but I also like to have the ability to solo if I want.
• I HATE medieval/magical fantasy settings.

I've recently started up an EVE online trial account. I haven't played a huge amount yet (maybe 8-10 hours so far) but I have yet to get that "hooked" feeling I usually get with an MMO. It feels like either I'm missing something to "get it" or It's missing something for me to fully enjoy. I'm going to give it a full chance, but I'm less than optimistic at this point.

That being said. STO caught my attention due to the sci-fi setting and the somewhat familiar world. I'm not a huge Trekkie, but I've definitely seen quite a bit (Watched every episode of TNG, own all the movies, watched all of Voyager, never got into DS9 or Enterprise) but I'm not a huge trekkie. Star Wars has also been my huge source of nerdom, but I do like Star trek and know a decent amount about its lore.

Would I like this game? what would it have to offer a player for me?

I've seen a lot of heavy criticism about the game at launch. Is it better off now than it was at launch? What are its major issues? or is it all blown out of proportion (note, I loved SWG. I'm willing to overlook gameplay flaws and bugs.)

DC Universe Online 
 
Is all about customization powers skill appearance best I've seen in a game in general
 
Fun combat game play controls
 
Lots to do whether your a PvP or PvE player
 
The grinding to max level & doing missions is straight forward allowing you to have realistically multiple characters in your life time lol

Your disdain of high fantasy kinda prevents me from being able to recommend anything. I have not played STO but I've not heard good things about it.
 
With all the money and hype going into SWTOR I'd say that it will probably be worth waiting for (assuming there isn't anything that you've seen about the game that's already turned you off).

Thanks for the suggestion.

Thing is, I'm not very big on Superhero's in general, and I especially hate the DC Universe.

@Loose: Yeah my general level of hate for high-fantasy keeps me away from most MMOs lol.

SWTOR looks interesting, but honestly, while I'll play it, and hopefully enjoy it, I feel like I'm tainted by all the good things that SWG had that TOR simply won't. I hate the streamlined, WOW-styled experiences. Not because they are more user friendly (always a plus) but because they strip a lot of customization away from the player. the big thing I hate about TOR is that there are only 8 classes. It feels so limited. If I wanted to be limited, I'd play a single player game.

@Loose: Yeah my general level of hate for high-fantasy keeps me away from most MMOs lol.

SWTOR looks interesting, but honestly, while I'll play it, and hopefully enjoy it, I feel like I'm tainted by all the good things that SWG had that TOR simply won't. I hate the streamlined, WOW-styled experiences. Not because they are more user friendly (always a plus) but because they strip a lot of customization away from the player. the big thing I hate about TOR is that there are only 8 classes. It feels so limited. If I wanted to be limited, I'd play a single player game.

@CL60: Its still 8 classes, just with two vaguely different advanced version of each class. it doesn't give you a lot of room for customization, and for a person who's ideal MMO gives you much malleability, its sad.

@CL60: Its still 8 classes, just with two vaguely different advanced version of each class. it doesn't give you a lot of room for customization, and for a person who's ideal MMO gives you much malleability, its sad.

Well let's look at Jedi Knight. You have Jedi Knight, and their specializations are Guardian and Sentinel. Guardian gets one lightsaber and can tank a little bit (keyword a little bit) better. the Sentinel gets two lightsabers and can attack a little bit (keyword a little bit) better.

That is hardly "completely different." That is the same with minor tweaks. Especially when you compare those 8 main classes + specializations versus the15 + professions in SWG, most completely different in playstyle and content, plus the near limitless combinations of all of those in between.

Well let's look at Jedi Knight. You have Jedi Knight, and their specializations are Guardian and Sentinel. Guardian gets one lightsaber and can tank a little bit (keyword a little bit) better. the Sentinel gets two lightsabers and can attack a little bit (keyword a little bit) better.

That is hardly "completely different." That is the same with minor tweaks. Especially when you compare those 8 main classes + specializations versus the15 + professions in SWG, most completely different in playstyle and content, plus the near limitless combinations of all of those in between.

@CL60: No, I just want more variety than French vanilla versus regular vanilla.

I've played various MMOs since I was 12. I've had under my belt: Anarchy Online, Ultima Online, World War 2 Online, Runescape,, Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot, Earth and Beyond, and briefly Final Fantasy 11.

I get the concept of how the characters play differently, but they ARE just minor variations. There are no crafting characters, no miners, no deviations from basic tank, healer, dps format that was popularized by WOW. I like more variety than that.

Besides the point, this is derailing the subject. I care about your opinion on SW:TORs class structure as I'm sure you care about mine. I'm asking about what games, based on the traits I'm interested in, that you'd think I'd like.

Runescape!

Hah. I used to play Runescape awhile back when it was all 2.5d. Was pretty neat, but it kinda wore off on me to be honest.

@Marz: That bad?

They've made a lot of improvements to STO since launch and it's really a pretty good game now. The key thing I think you'll probably be into by the sounds of it is they added UGC (user generated content) so now any player can basically create their own missions/episodes and anyone can play them. This means that theoretically there is endless content. It also helps role-players like yourself create their own stories. There's also a fair amount of features that you can use to role play and fill out your characters background. They also completely changed a lot of the graphics and UI and completely changed the way ground combat works so you can either play like a normal mmo of enter "shooter" mode which it basically like an FPS.

From the sounds of it STO will have a lot of the things you're looking for so I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

The Secret World looks like it might be cool, no idea when it's coming out though.

@sharkeh: Wow. user-created missions? How does that work?

Runescape!

They released the mission creation tools to the community. If you want you can check out Jupiterbroudcasting they have a good STO podcast with tons of info and you'll get a good idea about what to expect.

Star Trek Online is alright, especially if you love Star Trek, but not great. The only requirement it doesn't fulfill is the player cities. It has a hub like any other MMO, but that's it.

• I like customization. YES
• I thrive for a world where roleplayers can unite. I don't feel right playing an MMO if there isn't a group of players acting out their characters (I'm a freak, obviously.) YES
• I like having some type of social structure in my games (Whether its player cities, or at least a place players can hang out.) NO
• I like doing things with other players, but I also like to have the ability to solo if I want. YES
• I HATE medieval/magical fantasy settings. YES

@sharkeh: I'm curious. Do you know if the online demo is like a 15 day trial, or just a tutorial segment of the game. I'm thinking of maybe giving it a shot, but I noticed that the website seems to make the trial sound more like just one mission and the tutorial, and that hardly gives me any feel of the game. Its only $10 on steam now. Pricey to just try a game out, but it wouldnt be the first $10 I wasted on steam.

@dagas: I dunno if I LOVE Star Trek, but I definitely have a child-hood fondness for it. I'm not super down with the lore, but I watched enough Star Trek to know my Ferrengi from Klingon.

Second Life.

@allworkandlowpay: You have unlimited playtime I think but you can only play the tutorial and the first mission, basically. You do get a feel of the game from it but I can't remember all the restrictions.

@sharkeh: I may just buy it to try it now then.

I played a bit of STO and as previously stated, the only place it's lacking out of the five you're looking for is the social structure stuff. There are a few space stations where you can just hang out and do whatevs, but with the way the game is broken up into instances it always feels a bit empty even though the chat channels aren't necessarily broken up by instance.

And yeah, the trial thing is basically just the tutorial and first few missions, after which it won't let you move on. That said, if you're gonna try it out and want a wingman to roll with, I've still got a bunch of days left and would love to start over on a fresh character. I used to play it constantly teamed up with another role-playing dude I knew, but when we got to around level 40 he had to stop playing due to some military thing and now the 60-day card I got is just gathering dust.

@allworkandlowpay: It's certainly not a game for everyone but from your first post it seems like you'll enjoy it. My favourite sci-fi MMO ever was Anarchy Online. It had a great in-depth crafting system and really fun gameplay but I don't know if it would hold up if I played it now. I miss being a metaphys though and controlling 3 pets at a time. I wish an MMO would let me do that again.

@Driam: If I do it I'll give you a heads up. I may want to give EVE more time, but as of now its just not hooking me in.

Runescape?

@sharkeh: Watching that almost made me re-install the game, I haven't touched for over a year now, that new shooter mode seems quite different to what I had the contend with in the past. The one thing that stops me going back is lack of community.

So I played through the demo, I actually really liked it. It gave me a SWG feel, with both the good and the bad. I bought the deluxe edition, I'll give it a shot for a month to see how it is.

Anybody that wants to play with me, my Cryptic username is: Captains_Lager