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Post by MonsterX on Apr 2, 2009 9:20:13 GMT -5
Anyone else a mmo junkie? I’ve reached a point to where I’d rather play a mmo than any other type of game.
I started playing DAOC back in the day and then wow for a good while. After wow I tried out a bunch of mmo’s to keep myself busy until Darkfall. Currently I’m waiting on Darkfall so add some new stuff via patches before I re-subscribe and on the meantime I’m playing City of Villains plus beta testing two different games.
What do you play? Share some screen shots, talk about your adventures and complain about your mmo here.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Apr 3, 2009 21:18:27 GMT -5
Well, I wouldn't call myself a junkie, but I am a *huge* City of Heroes/City of Villains player. I've been leaning towards CoV more lately since I just started a supergroup with a character there (I'm mostly on the Virtue server...yes, I'm one of the RPers, and I'm proud of it!:-P). And I'm so excited about its upcoming Architect feature that'll let us make our own storylines. I've already got my three story slots planned, and then some.
I also have a Guild Wars account that I was given as a gift, but I've never really enjoyed that one as much as I enjoyed City of Heroes.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Apr 3, 2009 22:45:15 GMT -5
I got a dude up to endgame level in WoW for the first expansion. A buddy of mine is a huge 5+ hour/day guy and got me in to it. It helps to speed past a lot of the early grinding with someone who can power level you. It was fun for awhile, but since I apparently don't have the gene that makes me obsess over the need to play the same dungeon for hours on end just so I can get a shin guard that makes me take 3 fewer points of damage, I finally had to back out.
Don't get me wrong, I think they're fascinating. But too often the actual experience, especially if you don't have friends playing with you, is beyond repetitive.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Apr 4, 2009 12:21:40 GMT -5
I never understood power leveling. Admittedly, I've never tried it. But for me, the storytelling aspect is the whole point of a game.
Despite owning CoH for over a year and a half now (I think, I'll need to double check that time table), I've yet to get a character to level 50. I have a level 38 Scrapper heroside and a level 39 Corruptor villainside. And I'm really lovin' the respective stories that they get, plus I love playing with the character creator to see all the sorts of new things that you can get.
I mean, yeah, storytelling needs to take a mandatory backseat to game playing (otherwise, why not just read a book instead?) And I don't deny that I've really enjoyed some awesome gameplay experience (like the Cavern of Transcendence Trial. Just tried it for the first time a while back and loved it, even if it made me lag out all over the place.) But if I'm gonna play through a game, why have someone powerlevel me past a lot of the story? That's where the differences in gameplay and a lot of the really neat aspects show up.
Powerleveling just seems like a way to pay the company for the chance to not to have to play their game.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Apr 4, 2009 14:08:19 GMT -5
I guess my problem with story in most MMO's is that it seems largely tacked on. In WoW, for example, "story" happens almost completely in the text you read when you accept or turn in quests. The rest of the game, no matter what "story" you're playing out, is essentially the same.
Besides, for me, MMO's weren't so much about the mythology of the world created. I'd rather play a regular RPG for that with choreographed cut scenes, etc. In an MMO, the point is the interaction with other people, both allies and enemies. There were very very few instances where the "story" of the world interacted effectively with human players, I thought. And so, instead, MMO's seem more like a sport where the point is to get as good as you can as quickly as you can so you can beat up your friends (or help them beat up big ass monsters).
Thus, power levelling.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Apr 4, 2009 14:30:03 GMT -5
I suppose I can see that point to it, but there aren't always times when other folks I want to interact with are on. (Might also be why City of Heroes has spoiled me. The in-mission clues and dialogue that comes up can really add a lot to certain stories.
That might be another difference for City of Heroes and other MMOs. In CoH, as you level you can go through some drastically different areas with very different enemies. Before level twenty alone you've already got the Cavern of Transcendence Trial in the Hollows (featuring Outcasts, Trolls, Circle of Thorns, and the unique Igneous monsters), Positron's task force (with Circle of Thorns, Dr. Vahzilok's disciples and Clockwork), Synapse's task force (with Clockwork, Clockwork, Clockwork, Clockwork and Clockwork (including a Giant Monster clockwork and an Archvillain Clockwork), the four parts of the Faultline story arc (gotta love the game's first real exposure to Arachnos on heroside, not counting the Lost and Sky Raiders), and maybe even the storyline that lets you fight Dr. Vahzilok (can't remember if that's pre or post level 20.) I mean, I suppose I *could* look at the game in terms of Missions Where I Find Something, Missions Where I Rescue/Kidnap Someone, Missions Where I Beat Everyone In An Area, Missions Where I Defeat A Particularly Strong Enemy, Missions Where I Read A Book, etc. But I think if that's all I did, not even powerlevelling would make it very interesting for me.
I mean, the idea that I could've missed any of that storyline by powerleveling just sorta dissapoints me (especially the Faultline one.) Admittedly, the newly added time travel feature that lets you go back to earlier adventures lets you experience that again, but the gameplay is never exciting when you travel back in time and know that your powers are limited (at least, not for me at any rate.) Sure, I could've powerlevelled past all of that within a day, but actually growing with the heroes you create is why I enjoy it. :-)
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Post by MonsterX on Apr 8, 2009 13:24:54 GMT -5
I believe issue 14 hits today for COX so I’m looking forward to that. I’m also on Venture. Just hit level 14 with my corrupter so I got my travel power “teleport” which sucks. I knew it was supposed to be bad but it fit in with my character concept and I also knew that there would be a free respect with the new patch so I was covered. Maybe I’ll change my guys back-story so I can pick flight.
The new mission architect feature is pretty ground breaking. I think that over time all mmo’s will have something like this.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Apr 16, 2009 15:58:33 GMT -5
I've been mindlessly immersing myself in this Mission Architect thing since it came out. I finally forced my way away from it yesterday so that I don't miss the game's actual story. (I've even published a story under my user name of @cyber Sunset called What's In A Name?)
And hey, the Magic booster came out yesterday. I need to buy this one. Those costume change animations look amazing (and FINALLY a witch hat for bad guys.)
Incidentally: why don't people seem to like Teleportation? I use that for my main, and I've always thought it was fun. (Maybe his auto endurance recovery powers make up for it? Not sure.)
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Post by MonsterX on Apr 20, 2009 14:54:27 GMT -5
I’m still a newb so I’m not allowing myself to get distracted by the mission architect yet, but I already have two H.P. Lovecraft inspired stories arcs that I’m slowly piecing together in my head.
I got teleportation before issue 14 hit and it just didn’t feel fun to me like the other travel powers do. (My character on Virtue is only level 16 but I had a 20 something on Freedom and I respected him a couple times.)
I used my free respect to get flight and then I luckily got a rare costume drop, so now I have some bad-ass shadowy demon wings. Rar.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Apr 20, 2009 15:26:06 GMT -5
Gotta love the demon wings. One of the problems people have with Teleportation might be the amount of work involved for it, constantly aiming and recasting the power. I can technically cover more ground faster than most super speedster runners with my main hero's teleportation power, but I do admit that as far as fun goes, it's hard to beat the first time that you activate super speed and just start zippin' through the streets. So what if teleportation is faster, I can actually feel the speed with that one. Regardless, I do admit that while I enjoy it, Teleportation isn't one of the most awesome ways to travel about (though the Tsoo sorcerers seem to get more usage out of it than any PC ever did...)
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Post by MonsterX on Apr 20, 2009 15:54:30 GMT -5
Gotta love the demon wings. For the purposes of my character they are just made of shadow, but the “charred wings” that I got work well for creating the image and they even smolder which looks awesome. Yeah, the teleport is a bit unwieldy (at least it was for my newb ass) but I imagine it gets a lot easier with practice.
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Post by Fred Burroughs on Jul 17, 2009 17:53:36 GMT -5
I guess my problem with story in most MMO's is that it seems largely tacked on. In WoW, for example, "story" happens almost completely in the text you read when you accept or turn in quests. The rest of the game, no matter what "story" you're playing out, is essentially the same. Besides, for me, MMO's weren't so much about the mythology of the world created. I'd rather play a regular RPG for that with choreographed cut scenes, etc. In an MMO, the point is the interaction with other people, both allies and enemies. There were very very few instances where the "story" of the world interacted effectively with human players, I thought. And so, instead, MMO's seem more like a sport where the point is to get as good as you can as quickly as you can so you can beat up your friends (or help them beat up big ass monsters). Thus, power levelling. I take it you've never played the original Warcraft games because WoW actually has a very indepth story that plays out in the little things in WoW. There's a lot of references and side stories that tie into the whole storyline started back in the original Warcraft. That's one of the reasons I get into WoW more than other MMORPG's because I recognize the storyline bits and can appreciate the little things where as in other mmorpg's it just seems tacked on like you said. Sadly though I haven't been able to play WoW in almost a year because I just don't have the time anymore.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Jul 17, 2009 23:25:30 GMT -5
I guess my problem with story in most MMO's is that it seems largely tacked on. In WoW, for example, "story" happens almost completely in the text you read when you accept or turn in quests. The rest of the game, no matter what "story" you're playing out, is essentially the same. Besides, for me, MMO's weren't so much about the mythology of the world created. I'd rather play a regular RPG for that with choreographed cut scenes, etc. In an MMO, the point is the interaction with other people, both allies and enemies. There were very very few instances where the "story" of the world interacted effectively with human players, I thought. And so, instead, MMO's seem more like a sport where the point is to get as good as you can as quickly as you can so you can beat up your friends (or help them beat up big ass monsters). Thus, power levelling. I take it you've never played the original Warcraft games because WoW actually has a very indepth story that plays out in the little things in WoW. There's a lot of references and side stories that tie into the whole storyline started back in the original Warcraft. That's one of the reasons I get into WoW more than other MMORPG's because I recognize the storyline bits and can appreciate the little things where as in other mmorpg's it just seems tacked on like you said. Sadly though I haven't been able to play WoW in almost a year because I just don't have the time anymore. No, I played them. And I've read some of the novels, too. I think the "lore" for Warcraft that Blizzard has is a pretty fun take on a bunch of standard fantasy stuff. I mean, if you're just going to have orcs, elves, humans, dwarves, etc., they've got an interesting way of tying it all together. My point was that the story doesn't really affect the actual way you play most MMOs, unless you're on an rpg server. You can be an endgame badass with the best raid gear and highest arena ranking without ever reading a single quest description. They haven't really figured out a way to make narrative integral to the actual MMO gameplay yet.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Jul 23, 2009 0:04:51 GMT -5
You know, from what little I played of Guild Wars, I really enjoyed the story aspect of it. It actually surprised me at first, as I went from having City of Heroes' free roaming, go-anywhere-you-want scenario, to having Guild Wars' more controlled, story driven progression.
Strangely? The gameplay actually detracted from my enjoyment. That might technically make me a hypocrite. :-P
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Post by Wide_Awake_Nightmare on Sept 1, 2012 12:10:28 GMT -5
I was huge into Runescape for a few years. Everyone else was playing WOW, not me. I'm not a member anymore but my character is still there with over a million dollars in his inventory!
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