Updated: 09.23.24
MMOs tend to fall into a genre of game play that I don’t particularly have time for these days. It’s a genre I want to love, but that want comes from things that are simply too hard to meet up to the expectations for me personally. The draw for me mostly came from the rather large group of friends that we adventured with back in those days, and as the test of time has blown those sands astray, it is a difficult process indeed for us to get the ‘gang’ back together and to ride under that banner with the same schedule. We still make attempts every now and then, but ultimately, the days of the past seem to remain ‘days of the past’. My favorite genre of games evolved some time ago, and I much prefer survival games and game play on games that have a definitive end. All that said, I’d never rule out that possibility that some MMO might catch my attention again for some time. It’s always a grand adventure to make the attempts to relive those long lost days after all.
EverQuest
Website: EQ
Current Status: No Ending
For so many of us, this is the game that started it all in terms of MMOs. It was ahead of its time and paved the way for many more of the popular MMOs around today. EverQuest will always hold a special place in my heart. We played it for quite an extended period of time, and have visited it several times through out the years, including at least a few times to an emulation project called Project 1999. The community that was drawn to EverQuest has yet to be rivaled in any other game I’ve played to date. To my knowledge, many people that were apart of those vast communities are still there even today. Many of our group, friends, and family still set aside time to visit the vast lands of Norrath every now and then. Like many other gaming options out there, the community made it what it is, and I know it would have never been the same without them. The game was given a nickname by its loving community, and I can’t help but smile and flood with memories every time I hear someone even whisper the name: “EverCrack”.
Dark Age of Camelot
Website: DAoC
Current Status: No Ending
While the majority of our DAoC adventures were ultimately short lived, there were certainly some adventures to be told during our play through of this wonderful game. It sadly, is another title that didn’t hold our attention long, but certainly held some potential. One of my favorite memories in DAoC was an ambush attack in Realm vs Realm combat. At the time we were playing Hibernia, which turned out to be one of the weaker realms. There was word of Midgard sneaking in to attack us, and a MASSIVE amount of players gathered and started heading out to meet them on the battlefield! As it turned out, our information was either wrong, or we were setup. We came over a hill to an incredible sized Midgard army. The sheer number of players on each side was staggering, and I’m fairly sure my PC fell to it’s knees begging for mercy. While our side did not come out victory, we all charged in and faced the visions of fate! It was such a grand time! Ironically, with all the fun Falken and I had in DAoC, there have only been a few rare occasions where we made attempts to revisit those distant lands. In truth, I should have already made mention of the game along side these other great MMOs, but I failed to include it on the start of the site, and felt the need to come back and give it a place among the other great titles we’ve visited over the years.
World of Warcraft
Website: WoW
Current Status: No Ending
2004, marked the dawn of a new era for MMOs. World of Warcraft shattered records with its launch. Countless adventures, raids, and fun was had at the helm of one of the games that shook up the MMO market. We have all made occasional visits to the vast lands of Azeroth, the Outlands, and expansion to follow. The Classic server certainly allowed a number of us to relive the difficulty of the way WoW used to be. The game has evolved and changed so much over the years, that it is hardly the game we played so many years ago. There is certainly still fun to be had, on those rare occasions when we fire this gem back up.
Age of Conan
Website: Funcom
Current Status: No Ending
Our group’s initial take on Age of Conan upon release was Absence of Content (AoC). We all gave it a try in it’s earlier stages, but it just didn’t hold many of us at the time. Now I’ll be the first to admit that we probably didn’t give it a fair chance. We were likely playing another MMO at the time, and took a break to see what it was about. Typically when our group does that, the game doesn’t really stand much of a chance for falling into the ‘love’ category of our list. Kilen and I did visit the lands of Hyboria a few times over the years, and I managed to get a max Guardian character after some time of playing. There are certainly aspects about AoC that I wish other MMOs would at least attempt to duplicate. The combat system is very engaging, and the lore turned out to be rather interesting to me, especially in the earlier game with Tortage. The ‘night’ based solo quests were an interesting take for a MMO and unlike anything else I’ve seen much of even to date. While Funcom certainly has made its mistakes over the years, one noble thing they do typically have at least, is they hold onto their aspirations when they create a game. Many of the titles, including AoC have been up long past any time frame the majority of game publishers would allow. My take on that has always been, if the game is still profitable, why not let it live? AoC is still active at the time of this update to the MMOs page (09.23.24), and several of our group actually paid it a visit and had some rather interesting adventures!
Rift
Website: TrionWorlds
Current Status: No Ending
Quite a few of us have traversed the lands of Telara, although only a few of us stuck around it for any decent amount of time. It was a very nice change of pace from the typical MMOs that ruled the market at the time. Rift eventually followed suite to the free-to-play model that most other MMOs have moved too, but even still offered incredible amounts of enjoyment for those of us that did call it home for awhile.
New World
Website: Amazon Games
Current Status: No Ending
I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that you can change your class, by simply swapping out your current weapon and/or set of weapons. I realize New World is not the first game to make use of that mechanic, however it is the first game our group has tried like it to my knowledge at least. When our group tried New World it was still relatively new. I know in earnest, we didn’t give it a fair shot, but I find so much difficulty in dedicating time to a MMO, and the attempt we made turned out to be a relatively short one.