NationStates Jolt Archive

Do you play an MMORPG? Which ones do you like? Why? What don't you like.

I just picked up Guild Wars. Haven't really tried it yet. I liked WoW, but it got boring. I played LOTRO for a little bit, but it was more of the same.


????

Do you play an MMORPG? Which ones do you like? Why? What don't you like.

I just picked up Guild Wars. Haven't really tried it yet. I liked WoW, but it got boring. I played LOTRO for a little bit, but it was more of the same.


????

Not really sure it counts as a MMORPG (it's more a miniatures battle game like Warhammer) but I play poxnora (http://poxnora.com).

Do you play an MMORPG? Which ones do you like? Why? What don't you like.

I just picked up Guild Wars. Haven't really tried it yet. I liked WoW, but it got boring. I played LOTRO for a little bit, but it was more of the same.


????

Not any more, but I used to play both City of Heroes and it's Villains counterpart.

Not any more, but I used to play both City of Heroes and it's Villains counterpart.

Heh. I should dig that out. My last laptop didn't handle it. This one will though.

I play WoW way too much. 4/6 Sunwell, for those in the know. It consumes me.

I play WoW way too much. 4/6 Sunwell, for those in the know. It consumes me.

It's not like people want to play with you. This really smart hot chick told me you're a total jerk. :p

I didn't know you still float around here.

Heh. I should dig that out. My last laptop didn't handle it. This one will though.

The content for CoH is much better than for CoV, simply because the gameplay is more coherent, and less chaotic. CoH lost me because it just costs too much. Shame really - I've played a lot of MMORPG-type stuff, and nothing has come close to CoH, for me.

The content for CoH is much better than for CoV, simply because the gameplay is more coherent, and less chaotic. CoH lost me because it just costs too much. Shame really - I've played a lot of MMORPG-type stuff, and nothing has come close to CoH, for me.

Guild Wars is free after you buy it. No monthly fees. Take that, WoW.

Of course, I have no idea if it's any fun.

It's not like people want to play with you. This really smart hot chick told me you're a total jerk. :p

I didn't know you still float around here.

What really smart hot chicks do you know?

What really smart hot chicks do you know?

None that like you. Do you play any other games?

None that like you. Do you play any other games?

Nope. Just WoW. All the time. I'm playing right now, even.

City of Heroes/City of Villains FTW!

My 50 WP/DB Tanker and 50 thug/traps Mastermind are Gods and my 36 Sonic/Sonic Defender is a Godmaker! :D

I used to play Planetside, but SOE decided it was too good a game and generally ruined it. I hope someone else decides to make an MMOFPS like it.

I used to play Star Wars Galaxies back in its hey-day. Then the dev's changed EVERYTHING and I decided to leave.

I also tried to play Final Fantasy XI, and I'm sure I would have loved it, had my laptop worked with it whatsoever.

No, I have a life...

http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/images/1008/1008_behold_the_sword.jpg

I used to play Planetside, but SOE decided it was too good a game and generally ruined it. I hope someone else decides to make an MMOFPS like it.

As much as I love sony gaming in their PS3 and PSP (and previously in the PlayStation and PS2), SOE royally blows.

I wanted to play Star Wars: Galaxies.




:(

I did play Star Wars Galaxies. Best MMO ever. Even post-CU pre-NGE, it was better than anything else I've met. Then came NGE and so began the longest wait ever for an MMO Emulator--the Pre-CU SWG Emu projects. I'm still waiting, but progress is being made.

No, I have a life...

http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/images/1008/1008_behold_the_sword.jpg
Hehehe, the sword of a thousand truths!

Are MMOFPS playable lag-wise? I can't really imagine an FPS with 100 players in one area not lag. I used to wait for CoH to come out but ultimately didn't buy it. Is it any good?

The other problem with MMOs is that they are too much time consuming. I prefer good old Battlefield 2

I played EverQuest for awhile. Then my computer fried and I decided it would be better not to play it.

I am contemplating playing Stargate: Worlds, or possibly Star Trek Online, though. (And maybe I'll give Dragon Ball Online a poke just for giggles.)

Hehehe, the sword of a thousand truths!

Are MMOFPS playable lag-wise? I can't really imagine an FPS with 100 players in one area not lag. I used to wait for CoH to come out but ultimately didn't buy it. Is it any good?

The other problem with MMOs is that they are too much time consuming. I prefer good old Battlefield 2

I liked CoH. And you're correct, it was excellently marketed.

I played EverQuest for awhile. Then my computer fried and I decided it would be better not to play it.

I am contemplating playing Stargate: Worlds, or possibly Star Trek Online, though. (And maybe I'll give Dragon Ball Online a poke just for giggles.)

How was EQ, Kyr?

How was EQ, Kyr?

It was kinda fun. It eventually became boring though because it was basically just "Go here, grind for EXP, get better equipment, ect ect" same story the whole freaking game.

That's actually why I'm kinda looking at Stargate: Worlds and Star Trek Online, since they both offer far more than that.

It was kinda fun. It eventually became boring though because it was basically just "Go here, grind for EXP, get better equipment, ect ect" same story the whole freaking game.

That's actually why I'm kinda looking at Stargate: Worlds and Star Trek Online, since they both offer far more than that.

Oh, hmmmmm.... hey, if you do start playing that, let me know.

Oh, hmmmmm.... hey, if you do start playing that, let me know.

Will do.

Has anybody tried the new Age of Conan?

http://age-of-conan.gamebiz.fr/age-of-conan.jpg

It looks good, and I've heard good things about it... Like that it's a real competitor to WoW. Anybody know anything?

Do you play an MMORPG?

I play a forum-based, multiplayer online role-playing game called Nationstates.

I play a forum-based, multiplayer online role-playing game called Nationstates.

Pfft! Nobody plays NatonStates!

>.>

I didn't really have a problem with lag when I played Planetside, and I live in Israel. It's perfectly possible. Though IIRC they limited it so there could be only up to 100 people from each faction on any given planet (map), so 300 per map max. I'd assume each map was its own server or somesuch.

You do realize that the NATIONSTATES forum is a bad place to ask this. I mean we all here play NS, which IS an MMORPG!

City of Heroes/City of Villains FTW!

Never got past the character creation screen. I had too much fun inventing superheroes like Roboclown and the Panty Avenger. Musta made 50 or so toons, never played a one of them :rolleyes:

Never got past the character creation screen. I had too much fun inventing superheroes like Roboclown and the Panty Avenger. Musta made 50 or so toons, never played a one of them :rolleyes:

It has to be said, the CoH character creation system is superior to just about anything on the market. And that was even before the customisable weapons.

It's worth playing the game, though... if just for the inside jokes for sci-fi geeks, etc. The dev team obviously have fun. (There's a whole story arc fior Villains that names the opposition after Red Dwarf principles, for example).

Never got past the character creation screen. I had too much fun inventing superheroes like Roboclown and the Panty Avenger. Musta made 50 or so toons, never played a one of them :rolleyes:

I have 109 of them.

>.>

<.<

I'm a recovering Altaholic. :p

But yeah, the character creation screen of CoH/CoV is better than many games I've played. :)

It has to be said, the CoH character creation system is superior to just about anything on the market. And that was even before the customisable weapons.

It's worth playing the game, though... if just for the inside jokes for sci-fi geeks, etc. The dev team obviously have fun. (There's a whole story arc fior Villains that names the opposition after Red Dwarf principles, for example).

Or rescuing a surgeon named Dr. Stephen Fayte, who is mistaken as a powerful sorcerer, but as they say conspicuously often during the mission, is 'just a talented surgeon and nothing more'.

:p

Nope, I don't have the time or money really.

Or rescuing a surgeon named Dr. Stephen Fayte, who is mistaken as a powerful sorcerer, but as they say conspicuously often during the mission, is 'just a talented surgeon and nothing more'.

:p

:)

I liked the mission centred around a hunt for the machine known as the "P.L.O.T. Device"....

It's a game that actually respects it's players, doesn't mind having a little bit of fun with them, but considers them smart enough to interact with. I've played a few MMORPGs, but nothing else that came close.

I also enjoyed CoH/CoV quite a bit, though MMORPGs generally don't have much holding power on me. I have this problem, where not only do I feel inclined to make an alt once I reach around a 3rd of the way to the end-game, I also feel inclined to have only one character at any time. So when I make an alt, I almost always automatically delete the character I had before.

The reason this didn't happen with Planetside was that you didn't gain levels/skills, but certificates and implants, which you could fool around with about once a day or somesuch. So you could pilot a bomber one day, then be a cloaker or medic (heck, not unheard of to "see" medic cloakers) the next.

Do you play an MMORPG? Which ones do you like? Why? What don't you like.

I just picked up Guild Wars. Haven't really tried it yet. I liked WoW, but it got boring. I played LOTRO for a little bit, but it was more of the same.


????


I am a die hard EverQuest player. Paladins ftw! :D

It is the only game I have ever played so I can't really compare. But I have no desire to play another, EverCrack keeps me plenty busy and is never boring to me. My hubby is a guild leader and we have wonderful friends in guild. Probably the only thing I don't like is that I let it eat up way too much of my time. :p

I play guildwars for the sole reason that I can start and stop playing whenever I choose, So I can play 20 hours in a week, or only 3 in a month.

IT'S FREE!!!!

I'm a WoW girl, though I haven't played much recently.

I play an MMO called Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

me and like...4 other people.

I play an MMO called Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

me and like...4 other people.


Do you like it? It is the only one I almost tried....

(I couldn't bear to be unfaithful to my EQ...but Vanguard was soooo tempting.)

Do you like it? It is the only one I almost tried....

(I couldn't bear to be unfaithful to my EQ...but Vanguard was soooo tempting.)

Vanguard is actually very good, I enjoy it a lot. It had a rough start but is improving.

I play guild wars now and then

Has anybody tried the new Age of Conan?

It looks good, and I've heard good things about it... Like that it's a real competitor to WoW. Anybody know anything?

it looks good but it requires 25 gigs of hard drive space and specs my computer can't meet. :(

Do you play an MMORPG? Which ones do you like? Why? What don't you like.

I just picked up Guild Wars. Haven't really tried it yet. I liked WoW, but it got boring. I played LOTRO for a little bit, but it was more of the same.


????

I can help you out there, Jocabia. I've been playing Guild Wars for almost 3 years now. I know the ropes and in fact, I'm in the middle of playing right now.

If you want, I can set you up with my guild (which is all adults), and I can help you out.

Just add: Kyrilliki Lightfoot to your friends list and message me when you get on. I'll join you in any pre-searing area.

As for me, I generaly run my nation on NationStates. But The Serene Republic of Shimokorihi is a peacfull, non-violent country...

But that doesn't mean that our citizens can't defend themselves. :mp5:

Still, other MMORPGs I play are MapleStory and Mabinogi (at time of posting; mostly Mabinogi). Guess I'm an oddball on this thread. :eek:

As for me, I generaly run my nation on NationStates. But The Serene Republic of Shimokorihi is a peacfull, non-violent country...

But that doesn't mean that our citizens can't defend themselves. :mp5:

Still, other MMORPGs I play are MapleStory and Mabinogi (at time of posting; mostly Mabinogi). Guess I'm an oddball on this thread. :eek:

you certainly are. you play maplestory.

Click Stand;13718818']I play guildwars for the sole reason that I can start and stop playing whenever I choose, So I can play 20 hours in a week, or only 3 in a month.

IT'S FREE!!!!

...

What?

...

What?

No subscription cost

No subscription cost

...

WHAT?!

...

WHAT?!

You didn't know that? Guild wars is one-time pay. I wish more MMOs did it that way, but I understand why they often can't. Don't really know how Guild Wars survives--though I'm sure the typical monthly charges are way more than /necessary/.

...

WHAT?!
Did I stutter?
You didn't know that? Guild wars is one-time pay. I wish more MMOs did it that way, but I understand why they often can't. Don't really know how Guild Wars survives--though I'm sure the typical monthly charges are way more than /necessary/.
Expansions every 6 months is part of it.

Also, seeing that it's not an MMOG, it makes it easier to not require any monthly fees usually associated with the good ones.

EVE online ftw.

Also CoH.

You didn't know that? Guild wars is one-time pay. I wish more MMOs did it that way, but I understand why they often can't. Don't really know how Guild Wars survives--though I'm sure the typical monthly charges are way more than /necessary/.

Arenanet/NCSoft has more than just Guild Wars. Guild Wars is the exception to the rule. It survives because more people keep buying it and the expansions. Plus the game has an online store where one can purchase additional items to enhance game play.

Also, seeing that it's not an MMOG, it makes it easier to not require any monthly fees usually associated with the good ones.

:confused:

:confused:

Just saying, that since Guild Wars isn't an MMOG, that helps explain the lack of monthly fees.

The towns (where you can only have up to a hundred people in each instance) are like Battle.net rooms, only with extra features, and the missions/etc' (where you can only have up to... I think it was 64 people? Maybe 128?) are like matches. It's not massively multiplayer.

Arenanet/NCSoft has more than just Guild Wars. Guild Wars is the exception to the rule. It survives because more people keep buying it and the expansions. Plus the game has an online store where one can purchase additional items to enhance game play.
Actually Guild Was is all Arena Net has. Arena Net sold themselves out to the Korean MMO god NCSoft to put the game out and it has really been going relatively downhill for a couple years because of that IMO.

Guild Wars is about to die when they put out Guild Wars 2. I give it 10 to 1 odds that the original servers are shutdown within a year or less of Guild Wars 2 release.

I can't get into MMORPGs. For me it (all computer RPGs, not just MMOs) takes all the things I like about RPGs out and accentuates all the things I don't like. Charts, hording, clicking through menus, none of this excites me. Most of the MMORPGs I've seen (and I'll say I haven't seen many, just the big ones) really boil down to little more than safaris. "On Tuesday this creature is here and if enough of us gather we can all click through menus or hot keys and then it will fall over and we'll get stuff we can spend the other 4/5ths of our time playing the game selling or combining with other stuff to sell." Collecting stuff and getting the special hat or whatever, it's just not engaging to me. Which is fine, not everything is for everyone-most people think my favorite video games are boring and even more pointless...different strokes

Actually Guild Was is all Arena Net has. Arena Net sold themselves out to the Korean MMO god NCSoft to put the game out and it has really been going relatively downhill for a couple years because of that IMO.

Guild Wars is about to die when they put out Guild Wars 2. I give it 10 to 1 odds that the original servers are shutdown within a year or less of Guild Wars 2 release.

Well, techincally speaking, they did say they are going to keep the servers open.

Of course, I'd have a hard time believing they'd keep it open for all of 20 people that will still be playing it when GW2 comes out.

I can help you out there, Jocabia. I've been playing Guild Wars for almost 3 years now. I know the ropes and in fact, I'm in the middle of playing right now.

If you want, I can set you up with my guild (which is all adults), and I can help you out.

Just add: Kyrilliki Lightfoot to your friends list and message me when you get on. I'll join you in any pre-searing area.

I added you. All of my characters have the last name Swiftaer. The one I'm using now is Knochen Swiftaer.

I'm interested in hearing about other games as well. How is EQ?

How is EQ?

EQ is a broken legacy long past its prime.

Ditto for WoW. I wish people would stop playing it and just follow me from game to game.

Ditto for WoW. I wish people would stop playing it and just follow me from game to game.

Now, while I'll agree that WoW is a shell of its former self, you can't really say it's past its prime when it just keeps adding on subscriptions and no real competitors have emerged in 18 months (judgement on AoC still reserved).

Now, while I'll agree that WoW is a shell of its former self, you can't really say it's past its prime when it just keeps adding on subscriptions and no real competitors have emerged in 18 months (judgement on AoC still reserved).

I think it's self-perpetuating. People keep joining or going back to it because everyone plays it. Isn't that why you play? If as many people got into some other game, let's say, LOTRO, wouldn't you be willing to switch over?

They put out an expansion I was ecstatic over, but in the end, it didn't change anything. It was still the same three quests. Go kill guy X. Collect this many things. Or go kill this many creatures. All of which made the popularity of WoW a hindrance.

I've tried a few but I've been playing CoH for the last two and a half years and don't have any plans to stop soon. I play on the EU Union server and would be interesting to see if there are other Unionites here. Main toons are Flakjacket (was called Yellowjacket until I feel foul of the copyrighted - which it actually isn't - naming restriction), Kyresh and most recently Sandpiper (which I dinged 50 on last night :D).

More generally, I've also played WoW (but got bored with it), GW (also got bored with it), Hellgate London (not played for a while but decent fun as an occasional diversion), Anarchy Online (yeuch), Eve (I like but subscription has lapsed though I'll renew it at some point) and Tabula Rasa (which despite the bad reviews I actually really like and have a current subscription for).

CoH remains the best IMO though because it encourage teaming with other players more than any other I've played, has a fantastic character designer and is easy to pick up and play though there's enough going on to keep the number crunchers happy.

Right, I've off to be a superhero :D

Once I'm done with college I might give LOTRO a try. That's the one with the feature where you can take control of a monster and fight players, isn't it?

Eve Online. Play it. EVVVEEEE

Eve Online. Play it. EVVVEEEE

And play Minmatar. FOR THE REPUBLIC!

Anyway, EVE is not only one of the more unique games out there (the only successful sci-fi MMO), but it's incredibly well-designed. We have a great rapport with the devs, who regularly post in the forums. Also, the coming expansion, Empyrean Age, features factional warfare - fighting between NPC factions which players can shape.

I gave EVE a try a while ago, and didn't like it unfortunately. Having to wait hours/days for skills to be taught to my character just wasn't my style.

I gave EVE a try a while ago, and didn't like it unfortunately. Having to wait hours/days for skills to be taught to my character just wasn't my style.

I kind of liked that bit, actually.

I currently play Tales of Pirates and Trickster Online, and I used to play Priston Tale and Maple Story.

ALWAYS as a caster.

I gave EVE a try a while ago, and didn't like it unfortunately. Having to wait hours/days for skills to be taught to my character just wasn't my style.

Strange, I found it better than grinding.

And to the mim player, damn you and your nano vagabonds.

Strange, I found it better than grinding.

And to the mim player, damn you and your nano vagabonds.

If I liked grinding, I'd be playing some other MMORPG right now instead of wishing that Planetside hadn't become so unplayable for me. For me EVE felt just like a big grind-fest, just away from the game. I might as well have played Progress Quest (at least then I'd see results).

Heck, with the problem I have with MMORPGs, EVE would be impossible to play. Deleting my character every who-knows-when as I decide to make an alt would be even more annoying than normally. Of course, as with the rest, it's just personal preference, but hey, no game is fit for everybody.

I'm just hoping to find something varied enough to last me until the next MMOFPS worth playing comes out (if that ever happens).

I'm just hoping to find something varied enough to last me until the next MMOFPS worth playing comes out (if that ever happens).

Huxley.

Huxley.

An MMOFPS it might be, but whether it'll be worth playing remains to be seen. I sure hope it will be though. Actually, thanks for reminding me. Maybe it fell under the radar for the moment, or maybe I just haven't followed the game industry closely enough lately, but I almost forgot about it.

Has anybody tried the new Age of Conan?

http://age-of-conan.gamebiz.fr/age-of-conan.jpg

It looks good, and I've heard good things about it... Like that it's a real competitor to WoW. Anybody know anything?
I've been getting their newletter for months. I'm not sure how deep the game is - it looks fairly simple.

I gave EVE a try a while ago, and didn't like it unfortunately. Having to wait hours/days for skills to be taught to my character just wasn't my style.
EVE is easily the best MMORPG I've played (I played EQ for about a year and a half in 1999-2000, EQ2 for perhaps 9 months, and I beta-tested both SWG and Anarchy Online for about 4 months each). Though, EVE does have a really steep learning curve, and that does keep people from getting into it. That probably improves the quality of player, but it makes it hard to recommend to people.

EVE is easily the best MMORPG I've played (I played EQ for about a year and a half in 1999-2000, EQ2 for perhaps 9 months, and I beta-tested both SWG and Anarchy Online for about 4 months each). Though, EVE does have a really steep learning curve, and that does keep people from getting into it. That probably improves the quality of player, but it makes it hard to recommend to people.

This is true, but it has improved drastically in recent months.

EVE is easily the best MMORPG I've played (I played EQ for about a year and a half in 1999-2000, EQ2 for perhaps 9 months, and I beta-tested both SWG and Anarchy Online for about 4 months each). Though, EVE does have a really steep learning curve, and that does keep people from getting into it. That probably improves the quality of player, but it makes it hard to recommend to people.

I didn't find it too hard to learn. I just didn't really have that much fun. Maybe I just didn't find a group of friends to play with. I'll admit that having a group of people you like to play with helps A LOT.

This is true, but it has improved drastically in recent months.
Really?

That's kind of unfortunate. Having the really dedicated player-base was one of the best features.

I didn't find it too hard to learn. I just didn't really have that much fun. Maybe I just didn't find a group of friends to play with. I'll admit that having a group of people you like to play with helps A LOT.
I actually soloed all the time. I'm a really anti-social gamer. I spent hours alone mining asteroids.

Really?

That's kind of unfortunate. Having the really dedicated player-base was one of the best features.

They've upped the number of skills you get when creating a character, for example, if you pick carefully you can get Level 5 in drones, for example, or other things. It's still a difficult game, but at least now you don't have to spend as much time training before jumping into the game.

I didn't find it too hard to learn. I just didn't really have that much fun. Maybe I just didn't find a group of friends to play with. I'll admit that having a group of people you like to play with helps A LOT.

That was my big problem with EVE - even though I knew a few people that played it - and thus, wasn't thrown in completely alone at the deep-end - the established players were just really unfriendly to noobs. There were a couple of okay players, but - for the most part - I got treated like an inconvenience... like my existing was ruining the game for someone.

Add to that, not so much the learnign curve, per se, but how hard it is for a noob to do anything. For a game let loose in 3 dimensions, EVE is awfully linear.

For EVE, you really have to join a good corp. I've been with my corp for over a year now, and only factional warfare has a chance of drawing me away. And it's the corp that makes it fun. I've soloed before, and it gets boring. Having people to talk to while you blast NPC ships into wreckage is really nice.

I can understand that some players don't want to string along noobs. However, the corps I've joined probably do. My first corp gave me a 2 million ISK grant right off the bat, so I got to dive right into combat missions. I never had to mine to pay the bills.

There's also the backstory. It's incredible, and almost completely original (and what isn't original is drawn from RL).

Finally, there are the 0.0 alliances. This is something that, as far as I know, is unique to EVE Online. The majority of the systems are not controlled by NPC factions, but by player-run alliances. Here, mighty fleets clash on a regular basis, and it's all controlled by the players. Other games have a mix of PvP and PvE, but EVE is the only one with this level of pure PvP that I know of.

That was my big problem with EVE - even though I knew a few people that played it - and thus, wasn't thrown in completely alone at the deep-end - the established players were just really unfriendly to noobs. There were a couple of okay players, but - for the most part - I got treated like an inconvenience... like my existing was ruining the game for someone.

I've only played the EVE trial (damn you, computer, and your non-Intelibility), but I found that to be far less of a problem in EVE than other MMOs. Although DAoC strikes me as having been better in that regard.

The only thing people seemed to get annoyed at in EVE (myself included, and I was one of the newbs) were people who had obviously skipped the tutorial asking really dumb questions.

I've been playing AoC for a few days now and am really enjoying it. Funcom have got a lot of things right, the game is gorgeous and very playable. Character development is more player defined and the classes are interesting, especially after playing WoW where class roles are fairly rigid. My (still low level) priest class kicks out good spell damage, mediocre healing, reasonable melee damage and can use ranged weapons.

There are a number of bugs and performance issues with it at the moment, but that's expected at launch. Having said that, I'm getting acceptable fps from my below-recommended-spec machine and haven't encountered any bugs that I'd call worse than irritating. I'm currently waiting for the second patch since launch to download and I am optimistic that Funcom are responding to feedback and providing fixes.

I haven't quit WoW yet, but I might...

For EVE, you really have to join a good corp. I've been with my corp for over a year now, and only factional warfare has a chance of drawing me away. And it's the corp that makes it fun. I've soloed before, and it gets boring. Having people to talk to while you blast NPC ships into wreckage is really nice.

I can understand that some players don't want to string along noobs. However, the corps I've joined probably do. My first corp gave me a 2 million ISK grant right off the bat, so I got to dive right into combat missions. I never had to mine to pay the bills.

There's also the backstory. It's incredible, and almost completely original (and what isn't original is drawn from RL).

Finally, there are the 0.0 alliances. This is something that, as far as I know, is unique to EVE Online. The majority of the systems are not controlled by NPC factions, but by player-run alliances. Here, mighty fleets clash on a regular basis, and it's all controlled by the players. Other games have a mix of PvP and PvE, but EVE is the only one with this level of pure PvP that I know of.

My problem with EVE was that most 0.0 corps have quite a high min SP requirement, and after grinding npc mission for 3 months i still wasnt even close to that target. I quit because 3 more months of exactly the same just wasnt what i wanted to do.
At least in WoW the scenery changes when your repeating the kill x monsters quest for the umpteeth time...

The backstory of EVE is incredible though, i'm setting up a pen and paper story for my wednesday nights group set in that universe.

To provide some more evidence for my Planetside fanboy-ism, one of the things I liked most about it was how natural it made grouping and joining outfits (the game's version of guilds/clans/corps). Usually when I played an MMORPG it felt really difficult for me to join groups (and after joining, staying for a length of time) and guilds. I'd usually play alone.

But in Planetside, I had no such problem. You logged in, brought up the squad list, and joined whichever open squad you wanted to (most of them were open for everybody on the faction). Then you'd ask the Squad Leader what's happening, and where, and you'd transport yourself to the right place, and fight along side the squad in 5 minutes usually.

Joining an Outfit was also very easy, though I had to look around a bit to make sure I didn't join a zerg Outfit (one that just recruits a million people to be big and strong, you probably know the type).

While there are other games where joining a squad/party/group can be as quick, in Planetside it felt to me like a 'why not?' thing instead of a 'must do' thing. Technically there wasn't really a downside to not being in a squad, as you could just follow the main zerg (in this case I'm talking about the main body of online faction-mates, not zerg Outfits, since by the time I joined Planetside it was already declining, so usually factions would only hit one or two planets simultaneously at most) and do well as is even if you're "solo", but it was much more fun to join them, even for an a-social person such as myself.

Benevulon, out of curiousity, which part of Israel are you in? Are you a college student?

I play Urbandead, a free*, PvP text-based MMORPG. It's simple and has a vibrant community.

* there is a 160 IP hit limit per day, each character using 50 IP hits per day. Paying $5 lifts the IP restriction.

Benevulon, out of curiousity, which part of Israel are you in? Are you a college student?

Right now I'm near Kfar Sabba for college, so the center? I mostly lived in Eilat, so to me the rest of the country is "the north".

My problem with EVE was that most 0.0 corps have quite a high min SP requirement, and after grinding npc mission for 3 months i still wasnt even close to that target.


Sp requirements are normally there to stop hostile alliances from infiltrating their organisation with spies (or at least make it harder). There's nothing nastier than having every battle plan and starbase shield passwords leaked and starbase defences offlined just before hostile fleet enters system.

So I have a question. When it comes to free (no cost to start, no sub) MMOs, what are some of the better ones?

I'm currently looking at starting RF Online or Anarchy online with my friends. Anyone got some recommendations?

Personally, I don't really like any of the free MMOGs around. They're a lot more grind-oriented than the pay-to-play types generally (except maybe Anarchy Online, you may want to give it a try).

By the way, I suggest you don't try out RF Online, unless you really like grinding. No matter what class you pick you'll have to, almost every level, kill monsters with melee weapons, ranged weapons, and if you're not one of the robot/cyborg thingies, magic as well. You'll also be forced to make sure monsters attack you and hit you a lot. This is to raise your melee, ranged, magic attack ratings, defense rating, and shield-block rating, because that's how you raise your stats. And if you reach too high a level without making sure to level those things up, you'll be stuck since you'll have to fight monsters around your level with very sub-par equipment to raise ranks on those abilities.

And you also need to use skills way too much to raise their levels as well. It's basically grinding taken to the extreme.

Sp requirements are normally there to stop hostile alliances from infiltrating their organisation with spies (or at least make it harder). There's nothing nastier than having every battle plan and starbase shield passwords leaked and starbase defences offlined just before hostile fleet enters system.

Ofcourse, would be terribly annoying to have your POS raided through espionage.
Unfortunatly, they also *force* new players into 6-8 months of drudgery before they get to the good part of the game. That was too long for me, so i quit.

EverQuest II. I've tried a bunch of others, including DDO, WoW, Rappelz, and the old EQ and nothing comes close.

I used to play Star Wars Galaxies back in its hey-day. Then the dev's changed EVERYTHING and I decided to leave.


Right there with you. I started that game a few months after the servers went up and began to work on a Bounty Hunter. (Of course, I wasn't a BH at first, was a scout.) A period of unemployment gave me the time I needed to grind all that godawful survival skill to become a Bounty Hunter. 3 days later they removed the Survival skill requirement.

AAAAGGGGGHHHH

But at least I was still able to go out on missions with my friends, despite their characters being much more uber than mine. But when SWG came out with the leveling system.... bah. It killed it. Suddenly anybody could be a BH from level 1... or a Jedi for that matter. When everybody's a Jedi, being one suddenly becomes far less cool.

Who I really feel bad for is the friend I have who became a Jedi the hard way, finishing up just about a month before the change...

I am a die hard EverQuest player. Paladins ftw! :D

It is the only game I have ever played so I can't really compare. But I have no desire to play another, EverCrack keeps me plenty busy and is never boring to me. My hubby is a guild leader and we have wonderful friends in guild. Probably the only thing I don't like is that I let it eat up way too much of my time. :p

YAY Paladins! My main is a Pally. (EQ2 version, of course)

I can't get into MMORPGs. For me it (all computer RPGs, not just MMOs) takes all the things I like about RPGs out and accentuates all the things I don't like. Charts, hording, clicking through menus, none of this excites me. Most of the MMORPGs I've seen (and I'll say I haven't seen many, just the big ones) really boil down to little more than safaris. "On Tuesday this creature is here and if enough of us gather we can all click through menus or hot keys and then it will fall over and we'll get stuff we can spend the other 4/5ths of our time playing the game selling or combining with other stuff to sell." Collecting stuff and getting the special hat or whatever, it's just not engaging to me. Which is fine, not everything is for everyone-most people think my favorite video games are boring and even more pointless...different strokes

I saw a show on G4 once where they made an interesting point about the difference between MMORPGs and tabletop RPGs... You'll never have an MMO that's a perfect simulation of a tabletop because in a tabletop RPG your character, along with the ot her members of your party, are heroes in a world of average people being preyed upon by villains. In an MMORPG, you are expected to accept a world where EVERYBODY is a hero, and you're just one of them. Rather than being part of a team that goes out to slay the ancient dragon that's been menacing the city for decades, you now go out to slay the same dragon that's been slain a thousand times before, loot it, then get out of the way so someone else can do it too... or come back and do it AGAIN for more loot.

EQ is a broken legacy long past its prime.

I'd have thought so too, especially after EQ2 came out... but it's still going strong...

I've been playing AoC for a few days now and am really enjoying it. Funcom have got a lot of things right, the game is gorgeous and very playable. Character development is more player defined and the classes are interesting, especially after playing WoW where class roles are fairly rigid. My (still low level) priest class kicks out good spell damage, mediocre healing, reasonable melee damage and can use ranged weapons.

There are a number of bugs and performance issues with it at the moment, but that's expected at launch. Having said that, I'm getting acceptable fps from my below-recommended-spec machine and haven't encountered any bugs that I'd call worse than irritating. I'm currently waiting for the second patch since launch to download and I am optimistic that Funcom are responding to feedback and providing fixes.

I haven't quit WoW yet, but I might...

Please keep us posted... I've been thinking about trying that one myself.

The thing that I like about EQ2 over most other games is that you can truly customize your character's look at a level that most other games can't match. SWG comes close, but graphics in EQ2 are better. In WoW especially, you select a very limited combination of physical traits for a very limited selection of races and a very limited selection of classes... in EQ2 the variety is limitless in setting appearance, because you control the size and shape of virtually every single facial feature, hair.skin/eye color, size, even markings in some cases... You choose from something like 14 different races, 5 possible starting cities (staring city and alignment are limited by race, but you can change that later in game) and 20 different classes.

That makes the RP aspect much smoother because you can truly make a character your own.

Sp requirements are normally there to stop hostile alliances from infiltrating their organisation with spies (or at least make it harder). There's nothing nastier than having every battle plan and starbase shield passwords leaked and starbase defences offlined just before hostile fleet enters system.

The problem is - those things really happen. The idea of wars beign turned by '5th columns' is hardly new or unknown.

Of course - anyone wants to prevent 5th Columnists in their own organisation, but the art is in how you do it. Some arbitrary (and hard to reach) requirement is one way, possibly the easiest way - but it certainly isn't the best. As others have pointed out, all it does is kill the scenario for noobs.

Right now I'm near Kfar Sabba for college, so the center? I mostly lived in Eilat, so to me the rest of the country is "the north".

Ah.

I'm posting this from the computer room at the Tel-Aviv University.

Ah.

I'm posting this from the computer room at the Tel-Aviv University.

Oh.... I thought the location on your profile was just a silly joke. :eek:

But seriously, that's pretty cool, I don't usually see a lot of Israelites on the net (and usually when I do, half of what they write is 'חחחחחחחחחחחחחח', which gets really annoying. I think it's sad that I'd rather see someone type out 'lololololol' rather than the above).

But back to the topic, while I used to play self-sufficient characters in MMORPGs before, after playing Planetside and CoH/V I'm more interested in group-oriented characters, in group-oriented games (though in the 'grouping is fun!' style, not the 'group or die!' style).
As such once I finish with college, and if I have free time while trying to build up a portfolio, I'll probably either return to CoV and make a Dominator (I like to debuff), or look around at MMORPGs I haven't tried yet, like LOTRO.

Do you play an MMORPG? Which ones do you like? Why? What don't you like.

I just picked up Guild Wars. Haven't really tried it yet. I liked WoW, but it got boring. I played LOTRO for a little bit, but it was more of the same.


????

Guild Wars is great, and has the nice bonus of not jabbing your wallet every month. Eve Online was fun for a while but I eventually felt it was not worth $15 per month. The Disney Pirates of the Caribbean Online game is disturbingly fun, and can be free or subscription.

So I have a question. When it comes to free (no cost to start, no sub) MMOs, what are some of the better ones?

I'm currently looking at starting RF Online or Anarchy online with my friends. Anyone got some recommendations?

Hellgate London is free to play, although you can subscribe for to get better equipment and access to extra content. I've tried to get into anarchy Online a couple of times but I just can't. It looks really dated and I just didn't like the way it played. To date none of the free to play MMOs I've tried have kept me as interested for as long as fee paying ones.

Has anybody out there had extensive experience with both a free subscription game like GuildWars AND with a fee based subscription game like WoW or EQ2?

I ask because I've always felt the subscription fee was worth it if you're getting constant new content and relatively quick response to bugs or tweaks to the game. Thus far, I've been satisfied with SOE's handling of EQ2.

But is GuildWars just as good in that area?

Has anybody out there had extensive experience with both a free subscription game like GuildWars AND with a fee based subscription game like WoW or EQ2?

I ask because I've always felt the subscription fee was worth it if you're getting constant new content and relatively quick response to bugs or tweaks to the game. Thus far, I've been satisfied with SOE's handling of EQ2.

But is GuildWars just as good in that area?

Fee-based games I've played: The Realm, EQ, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Earth & Beyond, WoW, Planetside, City of Heroes/Villains, and uh... Maybe some more that I don't recall. (I'm not including games I've only checked the trial, like Vanguard, EQ2, EVE Online)

(also not including PSO for the Gamecube, because although it had a monthly fee, it wasn't an MMOG, and they pretty much ripped their players off. Imagine paying $9 a month to play Diablo 2 on Battle.net)

Free/"free" games I've played: Maple Story, RF Online, Ragnarok Online, Trickster Online, Pirates Online, Puzzle Pirates, Conquer Online, Way-Too-Many-That-I-Forget Online.

Generally I enjoyed fee-based games a lot more. And again, Guild Wars isn't an MMOG, so it's not really fair to compare it considering the differences in server costs and the like. But it is a great online game.

My problem with EVE was that most 0.0 corps have quite a high min SP requirement, and after grinding npc mission for 3 months i still wasnt even close to that target. I quit because 3 more months of exactly the same just wasnt what i wanted to do.
At least in WoW the scenery changes when your repeating the kill x monsters quest for the umpteeth time...

The backstory of EVE is incredible though, i'm setting up a pen and paper story for my wednesday nights group set in that universe.

Then don't join on of them. I'm in a corp that doesn't have a minimal sp requirement and we get PVP all the time, including 0.0 pvp.

Also, eve is boring as hell if you're not in a decent corp, unless of course you like pew pewing asteroids, which I personally could never understand but I know quite a few people like it so whatever lol.

Personally I also want to try Age of Conan, but I'm not shelling out the cash without playing a trial, first.

Hellgate London is free to play, although you can subscribe for to get better equipment and access to extra content. I've tried to get into anarchy Online a couple of times but I just can't. It looks really dated and I just didn't like the way it played. To date none of the free to play MMOs I've tried have kept me as interested for as long as fee paying ones.

I really liked Hellgate London as well.

They've upped the number of skills you get when creating a character, for example, if you pick carefully you can get Level 5 in drones, for example, or other things. It's still a difficult game, but at least now you don't have to spend as much time training before jumping into the game.
I liked spending the first couple of weeks doing nothing but training learning skills...

yeah, maybe this is better.

Fee-based games I've played: The Realm, EQ, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Earth & Beyond, WoW, Planetside, City of Heroes/Villains, and uh... Maybe some more that I don't recall. (I'm not including games I've only checked the trial, like Vanguard, EQ2, EVE Online)

(also not including PSO for the Gamecube, because although it had a monthly fee, it wasn't an MMOG, and they pretty much ripped their players off. Imagine paying $9 a month to play Diablo 2 on Battle.net)

Free/"free" games I've played: Maple Story, RF Online, Ragnarok Online, Trickster Online, Pirates Online, Puzzle Pirates, Conquer Online, Way-Too-Many-That-I-Forget Online.

Generally I enjoyed fee-based games a lot more. And again, Guild Wars isn't an MMOG, so it's not really fair to compare it considering the differences in server costs and the like. But it is a great online game.

Benevulon, what was your opinion of RF Online?

Benevulon, what was your opinion of RF Online?

It was the biggest grind-fest I've ever played. You need to grind to raise your skills, stats, and pretty much everything, and you can't raise everything at the same time, since different stats and skills require the use of different weapons.

I actually soloed all the time. I'm a really anti-social gamer. I spent hours alone mining asteroids.

So did I in the early days. I had charts on asteroid respawn rates, bookmarks to favored mining spots, the works. Ore thieves were a pain in the ass, but a fact of life although they could be avoided in the 0.6 and 0.7 zones so long as you had drones to protect your mining barge. It took some getting used to, but after a while, I worked out a good multi-tasking set that allowed me to mine, defend, get actual work done and a whole host of other things. Paid pretty well for scordite, and the multi-tasking helped keep the mind numbing experience to a minimum.

Ice mining on the other hand, so long as you had a fixed contact, was an extremely steady job. It didn't have the draw of Mercoxit mining, but it paid well for it's time. About 80 million ISK per week to the dedicated miner.

Although as I understand it, contracting out research jobs is where the money's at these days for the small and single owner enterprise.

I've been playing Eve Online for about half a year now, and I quite enjoy it. I think it has to do with the fact that your presence actually matters in the game. 90% of all the items in the game are manufactured by the players. I got to get in on that. Sometimes it does get a bit dull, but it's designed to be a slow game.

I play NationStates...........

I play NationStates...........

Holy crap. Me too!!!

Yeah, now miners have a tougher time because there's a lot more of them out in barges and exhumer's and theirs a ton of macrominers.

Yeah, now miners have a tougher time because there's a lot more of them out in barges and exhumer's and theirs a ton of macrominers.

The only real profitable places left for human players to mine are alliance held territories deep in 0.0

You need exhumers though, specced for tanking, or at least a proper tank to guard the barges.

On the off side, playing shoot and scoot with stealth bombers in 0.0 does help bring in the ISK for some risk, although a Raven could do the job as well. Balancing out the missile consumption though, is a little tricky.

Ice mining on the other hand, so long as you had a fixed contact, was an extremely steady job. It didn't have the draw of Mercoxit mining, but it paid well for it's time. About 80 million ISK per week to the dedicated miner.

Although as I understand it, contracting out research jobs is where the money's at these days for the small and single owner enterprise.
I've been thinking about getting into ice mining, but I don't know anyone who has any experience in that field.

The only real profitable places left for human players to mine are alliance held territories deep in 0.0

You need exhumers though, specced for tanking, or at least a proper tank to guard the barges.


Yes, a bit of a shame that is, especially for starter miners. I remember when miners could make quite a bit more than fighters, but now you can make more ISK/hour doing missions or even ratting. BTW, if you want to hit me up in game to chat or whatever, TG me for my name.

I've been thinking about getting into ice mining, but I don't know anyone who has any experience in that field.

It's one of the minerals where you can still make good money, but its all in low-sec so you'll need access to that.

Guild Wars player here, got a couple of the expansions as well but not been on in a few months... (possibly should start again, is one of four games I actually own these days)

Do you play an MMORPG? Which ones do you like? Why? What don't you like.

I just picked up Guild Wars. Haven't really tried it yet. I liked WoW, but it got boring. I played LOTRO for a little bit, but it was more of the same.


????

I play EVE. The fact that the PVP is not consensual (that is, you have no right to abstain from combat, short of staying docked in a station for eternity) makes the game very, very exciting.

The mods also permit a very wide playstyle, involving things like scamming other players, etc. The game is far, far more complex in play than other MMORPGs.

But most people who like WoW hate EVE, precisely because they don't have the "I AVOID COMBAT" button and the "I WIN" button.

Someone had a better argument on why you should play EVE, and not WoW or other WoW-like games...

http://dukestreet.org/archives/004156.html

EVE vs WoW: A Comparison

EVE Online and World of Warcraft, even though they're both MMOs, are about as different as you can get. You start with the actual mechanics of characters - skill-based versus level-based, and go from there.

The most fundamental difference in gameplay, I think, is where the horizon is. In WoW, you start out with hundreds of things you can do, and narrow down to raiding and PvP. In EVE, you start with a few things you can do (mining, missions, and low-scale trading) and expand upwards into hundreds. I'm completely bored with WoW's endgame now, and am really only keeping my account active between now and the expansion because there are a few RP events I want to go to, and some plotlines that might get off the ground. EVE's endgame, on the other hand, is nearly impossible to get bored of.

Then there's the player influence on the setting. In WoW, there isn't any, except via the roundabout route of trying to influence the developers - which, judging by the expansion, isn't all that effective. Besides, even if you could have some effect on the world, it would only be on your server. The only people who are famous throughout the WoW fanbase are people who've got there by doing things outside the game - Leeroy Jenkins being the prime example. Whereas, if you're really good (or really nasty), setting-wide fame can be yours in EVE. And at less exalted levels, you can participate in wars that actually change the setting, build stations, and engage in politics. There are constantly changing maps of the galaxy, detailing what factions and alliances control what areas, pin-pointing no-go systems, and illustrating where wars are in progress.

Character choices are another major area of difference. In WoW, if you create a character, you know from the first second in the starting area what they're going to do. If you're a mage or warlock, it's DPS all the way, with a secondary role as a food vending machine or a transporter beam. In EVE, what your character can do is limited only by what skills they have, and what ships you have access to. If you have the skills and ships, you can go from hauling huge amounts of cargo to being a DPS-monster in seconds.

Then there are the skills. In WoW, you grind, you do quests, you go up levels, and that's it. In EVE, you buy the basic skills, and you learn them better over time - and that's also it. You can go on as many missions as you like, and while you'll get more cash, you won't get more skills. It makes EVE characters nearly impossible to twink or power-level - unless someone's got a way to literally give you more time. On the other hand, it means that at the start of the game, your options on what to do actually are limited, and no amount of effort will change that; you have to wait.

Finally, there's a matter of player skills. In WoW, there's a very definite feeling that time spent on something (especially in the end-game, in PvP and raiding) should equal reward. In EVE, skills and cleverness are what's valued. You can grind and grind and grind at your mining or trade route, but someone can sneak in with a better ship configuration, or a better trade route, and blow you out of space. Indeed, in lower-security areas, they can literally blow you up and take your stuff, unless you've been intelligent with your defenses.

So... to conclude, according to the way I'm looking at things at the moment, WoW has a limited lifespan as regards interest, going from really interesting in the beginning to just dull at the end, and EVE goes from pretty dull to really interesting, and doesn't seem to have limits.

I play EVE. The fact that the PVP is not consensual (that is, you have no right to abstain from combat, short of staying docked in a station for eternity) makes the game very, very exciting.

The mods also permit a very wide playstyle, involving things like scamming other players, etc. The game is far, far more complex in play than other MMORPGs.

But most people who like WoW hate EVE, precisely because they don't have the "I AVOID COMBAT" button and the "I WIN" button.

I thought all the 'I WIN' buttons in WoW were broken. Or did they find out how to make working ones?

I thought all the 'I WIN' buttons in WoW were broken. Or did they find out how to make working ones?

It's kind of lame that you can permanently avoid PVP. That, in and of itself, is an "I WIN" button.

Grind long enough, and you'll get to the end game of WoW. That's an "I WIN" button.

There is no end game in EVE. You can't avoid PVP, other than hiding in a station forever (which negates nearly all game play).

It's kind of lame that you can permanently avoid PVP. That, in and of itself, is an "I WIN" button.

Grind long enough, and you'll get to the end game of WoW. That's an "I WIN" button.

There is no end game in EVE. You can't avoid PVP, other than hiding in a station forever (which negates nearly all game play).

I'm not sure how not participating in PvP makes someone win anything, and I can't really say anything about the end-game, as I've never seen the end-game of either game. But reaching the end-game isn't an 'I win' situation either. Heck, I'm not really sure if it's possible to always stay away from PvP in WoW. Aren't you forced to enter contested areas to continue at some point, even in non-PvP servers?

I'm not sure how not participating in PvP makes someone win anything, and I can't really say anything about the end-game, as I've never seen the end-game of either game. But reaching the end-game isn't an 'I win' situation either. Heck, I'm not really sure if it's possible to always stay away from PvP in WoW. Aren't you forced to enter contested areas to continue at some point, even in non-PvP servers?

No, you're not forced to.

You should never be able to avoid PvP. Additionally, most of the content in EvE is player created - markets are true markets, politics are player based, wars are fought by players, and everything from scamming other players to what in WoW would be considered griefing is allowed.

It's dangerous - risky - exciting. Because you can lose everything at any time because you made the wrong decision - even if that meant picking the wrong "friends" to fly with. And nothing will save you.

In WoW - I could grind forever on a non-PvP server, and get to level 70. I've seen it done.

No, you're not forced to.

You should never be able to avoid PvP. Additionally, most of the content in EvE is player created - markets are true markets, politics are player based, wars are fought by players, and everything from scamming other players to what in WoW would be considered griefing is allowed.

It's dangerous - risky - exciting. Because you can lose everything at any time because you made the wrong decision - even if that meant picking the wrong "friends" to fly with. And nothing will save you.

In WoW - I could grind forever on a non-PvP server, and get to level 70. I've seen it done.

If you say so. Before I discovered how fun PvP was, I played MMORPGs to play with people, not against them. Different people play games for different reasons. For instance, a person like me doesn't like a game where you need to wait around for hours, days, weeks, to learn a new skill. It didn't have anything to do with being forced to PvP, or not having an end-game, or whatever. But I know that different people have different tastes, which is why I don't call other people lame for playing games for reasons that I personally don't find fit for me.

I've been thinking about getting into ice mining, but I don't know anyone who has any experience in that field.

There are a few upsides to ice mining. Stable prices, good demand if you know the right people (quartermasters for alliances), huge size restricting ore thieves to those with big cargo ships, and a near infinite supply. You could mine a single ice asteroid for a year and never make it pop.

The downsides are its huge size meaning you better own a freighter or know ice dealers who have it because there's no way you'll be able to ship any decent amount of unrefined ice in an indy. The only way around it is spending time on skills that will max your ice refinery skills. There's also the long cycle time per yield. If you intend to make ice mining a cash generating business, I cannot stress enough the importance of barges and maxed ice harvesting skills. Based on my last calculations, a starter ice miner in a same class barge would draw ice at nearly twice the time it would take for one specced for it, and would be nowhere as time profitable as vesper mining.

It takes a bit of looking around, but you can find a few ice fields in relatively high security zones. 0.8, maybe 0.9 if I remember correctly. But even the 0.6-0.7 systems are safe enough if you just slap on a few drones onto your barge.

Yes, a bit of a shame that is, especially for starter miners. I remember when miners could make quite a bit more than fighters, but now you can make more ISK/hour doing missions or even ratting. BTW, if you want to hit me up in game to chat or whatever, TG me for my name.

I was there during the heydays of mining. Even in the secure zones, a dedicated miner could with a retriever, if there were established channels, make a healthy 20 million ISK a week.

Although as I understand it, 0.0 mining has become a very profitable thing for alliances now that the Rorqual (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RgGQtG3aeg&feature=related), a mobile capital class mining coordinator/transport/compactor, is available.

But it's been a long time since I played EVE though. During the last months, I was part of a complex raiding team, but found that I just simply couldn't find the time to stick with them given how restricted the net access I had was. I ended up discontinuing the account. Sad though. Two years of skills, and over a billion ISK in assets and cash.

I suppose this would be a good spot to ask.

In EVE Online, I understand that there's cloaking ships. Now, I really like stealth-action in MMOGs, and would like to know how useful those ships are. If they're worth using enough, and are fun enough, I might consider braving the "evils" of time-based skill-ups to give those a shot.

I suppose this would be a good spot to ask.

In EVE Online, I understand that there's cloaking ships. Now, I really like stealth-action in MMOGs, and would like to know how useful those ships are. If they're worth using enough, and are fun enough, I might consider braving the "evils" of time-based skill-ups to give those a shot.

There are three types of ships built for cloaking. Covert op frigates, force recon cruisers and stealth bombers. Any ship can equip the cloaking module, but unless they are of the aforementioned types, prepare for a massive speed reduction when using it.

Covert op frigates are the stealthiest model. They can enter warp while cloaked and are commonly used to track the movements of enemy fleets, do deep scouting and similar jobs.

Force recon cruisers on the other hand, are almost the same, but with one notable exception. They can use cynosural fields generators AKA jump beacons. This means that a force recon cruiser can open up a jump beacon deep inside enemy territory for allied capital ships like dreadnoughts and motherships or to jump in from well outside the normal jumpgate network. Or for that matter, the humongous titan to open up a jump portal and bring not only itself, but every friendly ship escorting it, to that beacon.

I'm not sure if they have patched it out or not, but if I remember correctly, a Titan could also fire its doomsday weapon (huge AOE weapon, will instantly kill anything short of a capital ship) through a jump portal.

Lastly, the stealth bomber. Stealth bombers are essentially frigates that actually move faster when cloaked and can usually carry a compliment of two or three, depending on the ship version, battleship class cruise missile launchers. These are very fragile ships, and if locked on (which disables cloaking), are easily destroyed, but compensate with their high cloaked speed, as well as cruiser crippling firepower. Against any ship that lacks fast locking targeting systems (usually cruisers and battleships), a canny stealth bomber pilot is practically untouchable, while able to perform hit and hide tactics.

A fun tactic to using these ships is loading them with sensor boosters to facilitate fast locking while decloaking to fire a full salvo and then recloaking. So long as you are within a 30km radius of the target when you fired them, the missiles do not need you to stay uncloaked while maintaining a target lock.

Alone however, a stealth bomber is a poor PVP tool. In wolf packs, however, they can be very deadly.

There are three types of ships built for cloaking. Covert op frigates, force recon cruisers and stealth bombers. Any ship can equip the cloaking module, but unless they are of the aforementioned types, prepare for a massive speed reduction when using it.

Covert op frigates are the stealthiest model. They can enter warp while cloaked and are commonly used to track the movements of enemy fleets, do deep scouting and similar jobs.

Force recon cruisers on the other hand, are almost the same, but with one notable exception. They can use cynosural fields generators AKA jump beacons. This means that a force recon cruiser can open up a jump beacon deep inside enemy territory for allied capital ships like dreadnoughts and motherships or to jump in from well outside the normal jumpgate network. Or for that matter, the humongous titan to open up a jump portal and bring not only itself, but every friendly ship escorting it, to that beacon.

I'm not sure if they have patched it out or not, but if I remember correctly, a Titan could also fire its doomsday weapon (huge AOE weapon, will instantly kill anything short of a capital ship) through a jump portal.

Lastly, the stealth bomber. Stealth bombers are essentially frigates that actually move faster when cloaked and can usually carry a compliment of two or three, depending on the ship version, battleship class cruise missile launchers. These are very fragile ships, and if locked on (which disables cloaking), are easily destroyed, but compensate with their high cloaked speed, as well as cruiser crippling firepower. Against any ship that lacks fast locking targeting systems (usually cruisers and battleships), a canny stealth bomber pilot is practically untouchable, while able to perform hit and hide tactics.

A fun tactic to using these ships is loading them with sensor boosters to facilitate fast locking while decloaking to fire a full salvo and then recloaking. So long as you are within a 30km radius of the target when you fired them, the missiles do not need you to stay uncloaked while maintaining a target lock.

Alone however, a stealth bomber is a poor PVP tool. In wolf packs, however, they can be very deadly.

All three options sound like real fun, especially since they are all group-oriented roles. I think they might make the trek worth it, so I'll keep the game in mind as an option. Thank you.

An update on cloaked ships:

First, all stealth bombers now can carry three launchers. They can also carry bomb launchers. Bombs have giant blast radii, but can only be used in 0.0.

Second, there is a fourth class of ship that uses a cloaking device: black ops battleships. These ships can create covert cynosural fields, which are only useable by stealth ships. They're designed for ambushes, mostly - black ops battleships aren't quite as tough as conventional ones, but they can hold their own.

I play Pardus (http://pardus.at), which I guess is a lot like EVE, except free.

Also do Nexus War (http://www.nexuswar.com), which has become pretty involving with the Straylight update. Used to be much simpler and more like Urban Dead. Still similar though.

But it's been a long time since I played EVE though. During the last months, I was part of a complex raiding team, but found that I just simply couldn't find the time to stick with them given how restricted the net access I had was. I ended up discontinuing the account. Sad though. Two years of skills, and over a billion ISK in assets and cash.

Heh, I can always put a GTC on it for you :p.

On the subject of cloaking ships, they are always in pretty high demand for all kinds. Force Recon, at least the Caldari Rook version are also pretty good at EWAR which is extremely helpful. They might have their uber 1200dps Federation Navy Issue Megathron with Tech II and officer modules, but that baby is doing nothing if its perma-jammed.

Eve looks nice. It seems like you can actually have an impact on the game world. The same goes for guild wars?

I play Pardus (http://pardus.at), which I guess is a lot like EVE, except free.

Also do Nexus War (http://www.nexuswar.com), which has become pretty involving with the Straylight update. Used to be much simpler and more like Urban Dead. Still similar though.

I'm looking into this Nexus War game, and it looks interesting. I started a character, and am thinking of becoming a Seraph (which can be seen by how I now have -5 morality). Anywho, I'm thinking that my best bet would be to go to a church and search for some holy books or somesuch. Got any other suggestions?

Although as I understand it, 0.0 mining has become a very profitable thing for alliances now that the Rorqual (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RgGQtG3aeg&feature=related), a mobile capital class mining coordinator/transport/compactor, is available.



My understanding of the Rorqual is that it's not nearly as useful as they're made out to be.

I'm looking into this Nexus War game, and it looks interesting. I started a character, and am thinking of becoming a Seraph (which can be seen by how I now have -5 morality). Anywho, I'm thinking that my best bet would be to go to a church and search for some holy books or somesuch. Got any other suggestions?

There are many ways to get XP. For your average Seraph, the main ways are killing evil beings, or healing people.

You could also get into door repairing and book reading - they both grant XP, and if you do it enough you get other goodies later on. But they're pretty boring after a while. You'd find more books in a Library.

Probably the most advantageous thing to do is join a faction. It's nice having a stronghold, especially if you get access to the safe and don't have to search for things on your own as much. Some factions are better than others. Acta Sanctorum was a good one, but my Seraph got automatically booted cuz, uh, I accidentally killed a Good character. (Wasn't really paying attention and was really eager to try my Incendia Conico out!)

I suppose this would be a good spot to ask.

In EVE Online, I understand that there's cloaking ships. Now, I really like stealth-action in MMOGs, and would like to know how useful those ships are. If they're worth using enough, and are fun enough, I might consider braving the "evils" of time-based skill-ups to give those a shot.

[First, no i dont think titans can fire through jump portals any more, now that some alliances have 8 titans it was getting a bit crazy]

On top of the dedicated stealth ships, which [apart from the black ops which is prohibitively expensive] are relatively poorly armoured, any ship can fit a cloaking module should they wish. And they have their tactical uses. But as with anything in eve who you fly with dictates what you can and cannot do.

As for the Rorqual, it certainly has its niche, in which it is useful. Its just not a very big niche at all.

There are many ways to get XP. For your average Seraph, the main ways are killing evil beings, or healing people.

You could also get into door repairing and book reading - they both grant XP, and if you do it enough you get other goodies later on. But they're pretty boring after a while. You'd find more books in a Library.

Probably the most advantageous thing to do is join a faction. It's nice having a stronghold, especially if you get access to the safe and don't have to search for things on your own as much. Some factions are better than others. Acta Sanctorum was a good one, but my Seraph got automatically booted cuz, uh, I accidentally killed a Good character. (Wasn't really paying attention and was really eager to try my Incendia Conico out!)

Okay, thank you. I think for the moment I'll go with book-reading, or maybe move to healing if I see that's too slow, until I level up a bit and gain some combat skills. As for factions... Well, I'll see what happens there.

By the way, if I make a second character, I thought of making a Lich. How cool is their ability to have infinite pets? Is there some big catch, except for them being really stupid?

Okay, thank you. I think for the moment I'll go with book-reading, or maybe move to healing if I see that's too slow, until I level up a bit and gain some combat skills. As for factions... Well, I'll see what happens there.

By the way, if I make a second character, I thought of making a Lich. How cool is their ability to have infinite pets? Is there some big catch, except for them being really stupid?

I rather like the ability, especially in Nifleheim where you don't need corpses or cemetaries. You're generally limited by two things: how much MP you can use at any given time, and how long it takes before someone finds and kills you. Which usually isn't too long. I think the most pets I've ever had at one time was 13.

Also, they need rejuvenation or replacement once they're used - they run out of AP, they de-spawn. So just moving around with a horde can hurt it.

I rather like the ability, especially in Nifleheim where you don't need corpses or cemetaries. You're generally limited by two things: how much MP you can use at any given time, and how long it takes before someone finds and kills you. Which usually isn't too long. I think the most pets I've ever had at one time was 13.

Also, they need rejuvenation or replacement once they're used - they run out of AP, they de-spawn. So just moving around with a horde can hurt it.

Haha, I guess if I do make a lich it'll be my secondary character then.

Heh, I can always put a GTC on it for you :p.

Well, there's this little thing about having given access to the account to someone else for quite some time. Although at this point of time, it seems to be suspended, although they were running it until a few weeks back, and I accidentally reset the account password (he didn't change the email and I couldn't remember what my original password was).

So even if I reclaimed the account, there's no telling what's been happening in all this time. For all I know, if I reactivate the account, I could log in and find myself public enemy #1 in the middle of hostile space with nothing but a pod.

I'm surprised nobody has shown up to say "lol u guys suck i play (insert other MMO here)".

So did I in the early days. I had charts on asteroid respawn rates, bookmarks to favored mining spots, the works. Ore thieves were a pain in the ass, but a fact of life although they could be avoided in the 0.6 and 0.7 zones so long as you had drones to protect your mining barge. It took some getting used to, but after a while, I worked out a good multi-tasking set that allowed me to mine, defend, get actual work done and a whole host of other things. Paid pretty well for scordite, and the multi-tasking helped keep the mind numbing experience to a minimum.

Ice mining on the other hand, so long as you had a fixed contact, was an extremely steady job. It didn't have the draw of Mercoxit mining, but it paid well for it's time. About 80 million ISK per week to the dedicated miner.

Although as I understand it, contracting out research jobs is where the money's at these days for the small and single owner enterprise.
I built a giant database of all the tradeable goods at all of the bases in high-sec space, and I could query it for maxmum profit/jump based on where I was and what the capacity of my ship was.

If you needed some mindless flying and eask ISK, it was a beautiful tool.

I built a giant database of all the tradeable goods at all of the bases in high-sec space, and I could query it for maxmum profit/jump based on where I was and what the capacity of my ship was.

If you needed some mindless flying and eask ISK, it was a beautiful tool.

I tried trading for a while, but couldn't make much of a go of it. And it was just so damn slow. Do you have any idea how much a Charon freighter lumbers just getting from one jumpgate to another? Heck, at 0.6c in warp, you could make the round trip trice in a shuttle and still come ahead of it. I honestly felt I could make the thing go faster if I just got out and pushed it.

The damn thing was a white elephant for me.

It doesn't matter much anymore anyway. I'm off MMORPGs for an unknown amount of time. The local service provider here is run by hicks with liars for customer support who can't tell the difference between p2p traffic and QOS tagged server packets. The end result? 200k to 850k ms ping. Or 3 to 14 minute lag. And of course, they're adding more users without expanding capacity, so everything is slowing down. And they say the usual "best effort" rubbish.

The worst part is that it's a government (read: inefficient, unhelpful, near worthless) run monopoly, and other providers are having a tough time of it expanding anywhere, much less my area. The only alternative in my area is a highly bandwith restricted wireless provider, so that's not possible either.