MMORPGs - before the flood

"I think it might rain," said Noah ...

We're on the verge of quite a few new MMORPGs coming out over the next few months. Neocron (cyberpunk post apoc) is coming out this week, and Earth & Beyond (space trading) came out recently. Star Wars is slated for December.

Is anyone considering playing any of them? I'm pretty sure I'll be giving the Star Wars one a go, but I'm not sure whether to try Neocron out. I'm a big cyberpunk fan, but I dunno ...

 

Is Earth and beyond out already? I was hoping to get that, as it looked really good.

 

Amazon UK are selling it

I don't think I'll go for Earth and Beyond. I don't think the spaceship thing will work all that well for massive online play. You know there is no simulation aspect, right? The combat isn't like Wing Commander or anything.

I looked at Neocron, but it isn't out for a week and I wasn't too sure anyway. I had a peep at Mimesis, and might try it out but for now, guess what? I'm going to give Anarchy Online a go. They're doing this desperate-for-players deal where you can download the game free and get a week free trial. I don't expect to play after my week is up, but it should be a little bit of fun for free.

 

I've been reading about the Earth and Beyond MMORPG and you're right - it doesn't sound as good as I thought it would be.

However, I've decided to download that AO trial you posted, to see what that's like, as apart from TDZK, I've never played a MMORPG before.

 

I've just finished downloading it (it's massive). Lysa and I will create accounts tonight, after reading up on races and professions. Maybe we'll see you in the game

 

How do you people find enough time to play esp mmorpg games? Now that I'm back at uni I have hardly enough time to scratch my ass not to mention posting.

 

I'd love to try a MMORPG, but I don't have the Internet connection to do so. Nor do I have a credit card as yet.

Anyway, based on my sometimes voracious appetite for reading up on such stuff occasionally, here's a basic breakdown of some MMORPG's...

E&B - Looks okay, apparently fun, but I won't be trying it. 3 races and 3 professions just isn't enough, although some of the scenarios do sound pretty cool. I guess a graphical TDZK would be a close analogy, but possibly not.

Neocron - Cyberpunk game that plays like an FPS. Been out in Germany for a while. There's also a 1.1 gb single player demo to download to check out the game offline, but you'll have to buy it to play online. Sounds pretty cool, with combat in the wastes having the potential to be heaps of fun.

Star Wars Galaxies - Star Wars. Enough said. Although, it's Star Wars. Every man and his dog are going to try this out, and while I would love to, because a shitload of people are going to be playing it, a shitload more have a chance to make it not fun. Could also suffer from overcrowding and shit like that.

World of Warcraft - Not coming out for quite a while yet, but I'm already having doubts. Not sure if there will actually be roleplaying involved, or whether Blizzard will be going for Diablo-esque mass market appeal. Also might suffer from same problems as I think Star Wars will (i.e. influx of idiots with daddy's credit card and a whole bunch of whiney teenage angst to unload on others).

Horizons - Looks fucking sweet. Like Star Wars in that you can change your profession any time without the loss of skill points, and you have to be certain professions at a certain level before you can get to others. Combat is apparently really cool, with characters reacting realistically and whatnot. If I was going to play a fantasy MMORPG, this would be it.

Shadowbane - Very heavily community/PvP oriented game. Joining or forming a guild is necessary for survival, as it's the only way you'll be able to build a city, or ally with another guild to build one. If you literally want to rule an empire with thousands of minions being real people, this is the game. Lots of potential for great politics and shit like that, but also potential for people to be fuckwits.

City of Heroes - Be a superhero. What more needs to be said? Not out yet, but there are several different origins (their version of races) to choose from, which decides how many and how powerful your powers can be. Kind of like Morrowind in skill advancement, except that every skill you get is harder to increase than the one before it. Also sounds like it has a really good guild system, with the ability to build bases and stuff for your superhero faction. Will have extensive anti-PK systems in place as well, so that's another bonus. This is the one I'm most likely to get and play (at this stage).

 

Its times like this I wish I had money :nod:

 

They are not all coming out, yet. Some of them are still about a year away.

Jar, you missed Project Entropia out of the ones that sound pretty good.

 

I'm looking forward to Warhammer Online. But as it won't be coming out for another 18 months, I'd best give it a miss as I'll have reached a certain age by then...

 

Well, Jar, almost in all MMORPGs some people can be and are "fuckwits"