So there may be a post about this already and if there is I'll just close this one if possible but I wanted to see what you guys are currently playing online. Personally I am looking for an MMO game that doesn't take too much time to have some fun since I can only afford around 1 hour a day and that it plays more like an action game so any recommendation is appreciated. Thanks and take care.

World of Warcraft or City of Heroes. Any other MMO I've ever played has either been crap or a lesser version of one of those two. Granted there's a lot I haven't played, but whatever...

I'd have to say WoW or CoH as well, perhaps Hellgate London if you're looking for some quick MMO style MP. It seems to be getting better with each new patch as well.

You could try Pirates of the Burning Sea, or wait for Conan...however, those are unknown quantities as of yet.

Okay, I don't actually play this one but I've heard great things about it, and it sounds like it'd be up your alley.

Guild Wars is an MMO, but without the usual monthly cost. You buy the game like any other, and then you can play without the typical fee. I believe there are some micro-transactions to help pay costs along with expansions to buy.

Or you might try Dungeon Runners another MMO by NCsoft. It's also free to try, and if you decide to become a member, it only costs US$4.99 a month. I'm thinking about loading that one up and seeing what it's about.

Steely: I used to play Guild Wars, it wasn't bad. Doesn't have the open world feel of WoW ... which can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you like to interact with people. So yeah, it's a good recommendation.

I actually used to play Guild Wars, but for some reason I never finished it. The graphics though were pretty awesome and it did not have high specs, of all MMO's I've played definitely my fav. I heard there is a free trial on City of Heroes, I guess I just have to check if my computer can run it.

I will also say World of Warcraft or City of Heroes. They are both good. It really depends on what genre you like.

WoW is a fantasy genre, of course, with a cartoony style--and the newest patch lets you ding in about an hour or so, depending on what level you are. (Questing gets you xp much faster than grinding).

Pros:
-beautiful graphics
-easily soloable, if you spec right
-lots of people running around to help you

Cons:
-lots of people running around to bug you
-kids being assholes
-spam messages & /whispers
-"collection" quests can get pretty annoying

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CoH is comic-book genre and I played it mostly when it first came out, so I know they've come out with cooler things now, like capes & swords. I didn't like the "wash, rinse, repeat" style of gameplay (go to trainer, get mission, find a group, complete mission, go back to trainer, level up), but it's still a nice MMO.

Pros:
-highly detailed character customization
-wide array of emotes
-wide choice of powers

Cons:
-open-ended gameplay (not much of a story)
-wash, rinse, repeat style of gameplay
-kids being assholes

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...I'm gonna put a big red NO stamp on Pirates of the Burning Sea. Anything done by Sony Online has been doomed to the fiery pits of crappiness, a la Star Wars Galaxies and Matrix Online.

Isnt that with ANY online game? lol

Anyway,if its your first mmo, i would suggest CoH. From what ive experienced, it has much nicer players, and it tends to be a lot easier than WoW.

You can also fly(or have super speed) without a mount, which is always awesome.

Not so much with Guild Wars. Every time you leave a town (even just to venture into open countryside) you effectively enter an instance, so that the only people there are you and (if you're part of one) your party.

In fact, you don't even have to have other players in your party if you don't want to. You can recruit bots instead. An end to having to suffer "kids being assholes" as we know it (Well, almost!)

Well like everyone is saying already, WoW and CoH are the rave nowadays. There's a game similar to WoW called Dungeons & Dragons online (DDO) that follows D&D rules. Also if you want more sci-fi then you can play EVE online or Star Wars Galaxies but both games are becoming quite old. Since you mentioned that you only want to play an hour or so then I personally recommend EVE. It's a space ship simulator where you fly along the stars. I played that game myself a while ago. It features skill learning system instead of level up system and even if you're not online your character keeps studying the skill you've assigned him to. I had good times and I've been told that it's still being updated allot. The last big patch which came out in December, contained a new graphics engine for example. Eventually they are gonna add more gameplay features where you can exit the ships in space stations and eventually fly to the surface of planets.

I my self am not much of a MMO player due to time consumption which is why I stopped playing. I know few people who are die hard WoW, DDO and/or EVE fans and I've heard good stuff from all three.

Enough blabbering. Pictures and more info here...

EVE


DDO

I'm going to mention right now: do not get Star Wars Galaxies. Of all the MMOS I've played, it is easily the worst.

I just started a character in Dungeon Runners and my first impressions aren't bad.

It has good, colorful graphics, a tutorial on the onset which gives you everything you'll need to play the game, and has instanced dungeons, which is a huge plus to me. Most of it's played for laughs and humor value, so it's not a serious RPG. The skills seem typical and you only have three classes to choose from, but I don't think that'll hurt it too much.

The biggest issues with me were the in-game advertising with the free version (which I'm trying right now), and the sign-up you have to do with NCsoft. I just dislike giving them more information than they need, and a phone number and street address just seem to be a bit much for me.

Still, it's free to play (although if you subscribe you get a bank to store your items and the ability to use all rare and unique items instead of 25% of them) and great for short periods of time.

Well... that I didn't know. I just remembered when that game came first out and I thought it was cool you could hang around on the surface of a planet or get a ship and go cruising through space. I never actually played it.

The only reason I mentioned it was because so many MMOs use fantasy settings and for those who want variety, adding sci-fi games to the bunch seemed helpful.

I agree. CoH was my first MMO, and it was easy on the ass.


I wasn't impressed with DDO. They could have done a much better job. Character/monster interaction is terrible, and you can't customize your costume at all. The only thing I liked about it was the "narrator" who made it sound like a DM was talking to you as you entered a sewer, dungeon, etc. That was pretty cool.

I always enjoyed Dark Age of Camelot, but I played it seven years ago before the EA/Mythic merger, so things might have changed since then. The Realm-vs-Realm part of the game, New Frontiers, with destroyable castles & seige weapons, was incredible. ...Blizzard is trying to copy this aspect in their upcoming expansion.

I play CoH off and on (read when I'm not doing comics or playing poker.) I like it muchly, and for the following reasons:

It doesn't wholly consume your life when you play it like WoW does or EverQuest did. You can sign on and play for 30 minutes polish off a mission or two and just shut it off, which is great for someone who doesn't want to start scheduling their life around an MMO. Plus you can leave it for three months and come back to it without feeling like you've fallen behind, and there are free releases with new content every few months so theres always something new to do.

And it's way more action packed than something like WoW. WoW has a greater focus on buying and selling loot, and buffing your character, whereas in CoH the standard abilities INCLUDE buffs, that you can then enhance. I find this aspect of WoW to be pretty tedious. Plus in WoW if you can fight off two or three guys, you're lucky. I don't know how many times I've watched my friends running away from a fight swearing because they aggro'ed a second dude. CoH you're taking on mobs and mobs or guys at once. It's not out of the ordinary for my one guy to be facing off against six. The greater action os definately a plus for me, besides it makes me feel more like a superhero. You gotta be able to take care of a mob of henchmen to be worth your salt.

Yeah, I agree with you on that stuff. I also like it mostly because the character customization is freakin' awesome. I could spend all day on making a character.

Two cents:
Ragnarok online is my favorite game on the face of the PLANET.
But...if you're looking for something you'd rather not pay for, Rappelz is the best free-to-play I've ever played. It's the quality of a pay-to-play, without the cost. Full 3-D, custom characters, very nice music and sound effects, and all. The gameplay is nothing new, but it's got a quest-based system from the moment you begin play (that is, you can do a lot of quests as a lower level, whereas in most other MMOs you have to be level 50-60+ before you can do ANYTHING) that keeps you from the tedium of just leveling up on nothing you care about forever and a day. That's +50 points to it already, IMO.

Yeah, that's one point about most MMOs that I really dislike.

That's something I have to admit puts me off a lot of MMOs. I hear in Conan that the first 20 levels are all singleplayer story related or something. Then you get to go out into the big wide world, that might be decent.

none of you guys play Maple Story, man that is a fun game

Pros: easy to understand
easy to play
any computer can handle it
free

pro/con: it's 2D
after lvl 27 it takes a long time to lvl
anime like graphics

cons: if you start a 2nd chariter on the same account you have to go though the tatoreal again.

Has anyone played Eve Online? My husband thinks it looks good. He's trying the 14-day trial right now. ...I think playing a ship and not even being able to see the character flying the ship would be incredibly frustrating.

I am devastated that no one has mentioned oblivion. it has pretty good graphics, a good fighting style, and leveling isn't super hard. the ability to run through a city and completely devastate the city guard has to be something good.

I know some people will say it's not an mmo, but that's what the back of the box told me, and I don't think they would lie about something like that.

That's wierd, the back of my box clearly stated it was a single player game.

it did say single player, but it also said, "best mmorpg of the year" so don't tell me anything.

You must have a different box than I do, then.

You've played the game, right ILZ?

Because there is no online component at all.

And it needs that to be an MMORPG.

RPG! Not MMORPG! Theres a big difference. If its single player then it cant be a mmo.
MMO=MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER online game.
Duh.

Although, to support ILZ's claim, I have heard that Bethesda is working on an Elder Scrolls MMORPG, or something along those lines. I forget where I heard that; it was a few months back. If you Google "Elder Scrolls MMO" you'll get a bunch of results, though.

There was a rumor about Bethesda working on an Elder Scrolls MMO based on them dumping a bunch of money into one of their development teams and buying the web address for elderscrollsonline.com. Problem is, Bethesda outright denied the claims that they were working on an MMO, claiming the money was to be spread out over a number of different projects. Also, the website elderscrollsonline.com could just as easily be a web hub for information on the existing or a future Elder Scrolls game and have absolutely nothing to do with an actual online game.

I've redone this twice, and I still can't think of a way to say it that's not going to get me banned. JUST STOP TALKING TO ME!!!