I'm sure a lot of you are very sick of this question. Like me, you've probably remained on the hunt for that perfect mmo experience for 10+ years. I'm not sure if there's anything else for me to find I haven't looked into, but I still really want to hear from the lemmy community on this. I'm not just looking for reccomendations for me, but also just wanting to know what you like. I'm expecting this to go about the same as the reddit threads asking the same thing, but I think the conversation is still worth having!
As for what I like, I was a classic runescape player before moving onto guid wars 2, but my all time favorite is dungeons and dragons online. I value character expression above almost everything else, and ddo is pretty good about giving you the same freedoms you would have in pen and paper did. Despite its shortcomings, this alone is why I keep going back to ddo over things like gw2 or elder scrolls online. With eso, and most others, I feel like my character is the same as everyone else's. Ddo makes my roll as a Rouge or cleric feel much more rewarding, and I still feel like I'm playing an individual custom character.
Honorable mentions would go to Black desert online for its amazing graphics and game play, and Albion online for being one of the most unique and interesting mmo experiences I've had in a while.
I don't think there is currently anything out that will be 100% what I like, but anything new to explore is welcome. Of course the goal here isn't really to find anything new, I just want to hear your thoughts on some of your favorites.
I'm bad with acronyms so I would appreciate it if you said the games real name at least once. Throw whatever you want at me even if it's way off topic. Upcoming or in development games are fine too!
As an ex-Turbinite, nice to hear DDO praise these days. LOTRO is still around too.
I've been playing Star Citizen lately: actually a game now, and not a scam. Obviously sci-fi and not fantasy, but it's pretty great, especially with non-combat activities.
I've been avoiding everything with star as the first word because I can't remember which is which anymore. I usually skip on the sci-fi ones, but I'll look into star citizen tonight just because of your reccomendation.
Ddo is still very active and surprisingly social. I love my guild. Every now and then you can grab all the dlc and most of the other stuff for free or extremely cheap, so I'm playing the expansions I always wanted but couldn't afford. I'm close to unlocking artificer and I can't wait for that to be my first reincarnation. Combat feels familiar and functional, dare I say fun at times. The challenge is there, and so is the need for a good party. Easy enough to solo, but you'll want to take on those more challenging quests eventually. Exploration is still a 10/10 in this game, in my humble opinion. Korthos island still feels like home. The dragon in the tutorial is still just as awesome. Love love love this game and love that it's still so great.
I just want the mmo experience books and anime promised me. Someone isekai me.
Commenting to add that I do currently have lost ark, phantasy star new genesis, and rift installed, while nothing has grabbed me yet, i am looking forward to playing a bit more of them.
Oh, and the terrible digimon mmo. Maybe I'll like it this time.
Last MMO I enjoyed was New World. It has its issues but it can be enjoyable if you take your time with it. No idea how's the expansion as I didn't feel like it warrants the price tag but once it's discounted I'm back in!
Otherwise I tried most of the big ones and nothing really holds me as it used to anymore. I hope something new comes around that'd grab me again but unfortunately nothing on the horizon particularly excites me. Blue Protocol seems nice, but I don't watch it too closely. Sure looks pretty though.
I tend to only like big RvR open pvp, as this always generates new content. Then I am also after something cheap and not pay to win, so it has to be f2p of some form. I also want full 3D, as I like relaxing scenery. Only a few mmos match this, so in the end I found Champions of Regnum.
DayZ managed to suck me in for a good 1800 hours. I made the switch to Linux full time so the anti-cheat stuff for DayZ did not work, so i have not been back in a good while. I am unsure as to the state of the world there.
What I liked about it is its openness and freedom to do what you like. you start with nothing and build your character as you wander about. most RP happens when interacting with people; some are being themselves, others invent interesting characters, and some are just D-bags.
New world seems like it's really turning itself around. I'll pick it up eventually, it looks like it has some awesome potential.
Day z interests me a lot. I guess I had kind of assumed it would have failed by now and forgot to keep looking. I may check it out when I get home.
I'm totally desperate to pick xiv up, but I'm pretty sure I've used my free trial and the subscription fee isn't something I can do right now. I think this is as close as a perfect mmo will get for me depending on how the community and group play is. I have no recollection of the free trial, so I think I signed up and forgot and it won't let me use it again lol. I probably didn't have a computer that could actually handle it and forgot. I'm going to look into it more tonight, I keep deciding this one needs to be played, maybe I can sign up for a new trial with a different email and card?
I've been playing Albion Online and enjoying it as a chill game to play while consuming other media.
It certainly attracts a certain type of g*mer given it's pitch and mechanics.
I really loved the idea of it, but never got super into it. It had a lot of the things I loved about runescape, a lot of new things to love, but wasn't for me. Maybe I'll try again at some point
Go gather and craft, tend to the farm, blow through a dungeon maybe.
Not as chill if you're in the pvp zones, but then you get that thrill