Your MMO History

Ether Saga Online - They had an in game program that lets you farm items while AFK
NeoSteam - The one MMO RPG I was able to slaughter people in (Had an attack build that dealt damage based on how many buffs you had up, and I usually had about 16 buffs at once)
Fiesta Online
Toontown (One of the best MMOs I've ever played in my life and if you don't agree fite me, cerberus server wolves den) But seriously, I loved the cartoony take on an MMO and the fact it was turn based made me like it even more. Played this first when it came out, and my only RPG experience was stuff like FFX and Paper Mario (Aka other turn based RPGs)
Maplestory (lawl)
FFXI - Got bullied in this game back in 2006 when I played on the PS2 and couldn't look anything up online (One ethernet cable, and it had to be unplugged from the comp and put in PS2), so never played it much
The Secret World - A nice, dark atmospheric MMO RPG, sadly it's free to play now (When I paid $25 for the original game before it became 'Secret World Legends') and if you want to open their loot boxes, you have to save up either special daily currency to buy a key from the shop, get 3 dungeon attempts per day, or buy keys for their boxes with IRL currency
Aura Kingdom - Meeeeeh
Earth Eternal - It was browser based, and eventually you had to have a facebook to log-in
Wizard 101 - Again, I like turn based combat, but the fact you had to either have a subscription, or 'buy' an area to be unlocked sucked.


Though in almost all MMO RPGs I hate having multiple characters. In XIV I can play every class as one character, which I really appreciate (Seeing how each job gets their own storyline mini stuff, I like it even more). Only reason I have a second character (Creamy Grandma), is mostly for an inside joke with friends, so I can make things weird in the FC.

PS Home
Perfect World
Dc Universe Online
Vindictus
Final Fantasy XI
Warframe
Twin Dragons
MAG
...and a lot more that I cant remember the names too

I'm a Final Fantasy fan, they have a good track record of providing the things I like most in a long term game:
-starting from nothing and slowly making myself stronger over time
-a great story giving purpose to the actions im performing
-fun

In no particular order I've played:

Star Wars Galaxies
Saga of Ryzom
Guild Wars 1
Eve Online
Dofus
Black Desert Online
Elder Scrolls Online
World of Warcraft
Runescape
Lord of the Rings Online
Dungeons and Dragons Online
DC Universe Online
Star Wars the Old Republic
Everquest
Everquest II
City of Heroes
Age of Conan
EDIT: Also, before all of these I used to play MUDs (Multi User Dungeons) which while not technically an MMO are essentially the text based version of one. The main one I played being "WoTMUD - Wheel of Time MUD"

So I've played a few MMO's before. Final Fantasy 14 is one of the only ones I've played, quit, then revisited later on. The only thing I can think of that is unique to this game is being able to level and play all classes on a single character. Pretty much everything else is bog standard MMO fare though it's executed very well for the most part. What really draws me in to this game is the story though.

MMOs that I've played for more than three years
- Runescape (2008-2011)
- Shaiya (2011-2013)
- Vindictus (2013-2017)
- and now I'm here

MMOs that I've played here and there but only a few months
- Allods
- Tera
- Guild Wars 2
- Rift
- ArcheAge before it went bad
- Blade N Soul
- Revelation Online
- Dungeon Fighter Online
- Warframe
- Black Desert Online
- I think there's more but can't remember ...

FF14 has cat boys and raids. FF14's grind is not too bad and manageable.
Even though FF14 housing may not be BDO-level ... it will do.

*shamelessly shows off my apartment* \[T]/

https://i.imgur.com/pCBoMLj.jpg

Old Ones:
Maple Story
Digimon Battle Online
Runescape
Some generic fantasy game I don't remember the name of
Some other unknown generic fantasy game, but you had guns for some reason

Current:
FFXIV (obviously)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (whenever a new expansion releases)
The Elder Scrolls Online (I will get around to playing the expansions...eventually)

FFXIV has the best blend of storytelling, gameplay, and updates. Some of these games had no plot that I can remember (Maple Story, Digimon). Some had more basic gameplay (Elder Scrolls) and others had slow/dull endgame content (Runescape, aka GRINDING: THE GAME). Others do not release good content regularly between expansions (Star Wars). FFXIV manages to fill all these holes; it has an epic fantasy-style plot, the gameplay is interactive but not overbearing, endgame content is a bit grindy but variable enough to be entertaining, and SE keeps things fresh with the patches.

And that is not even mentioning the fantastic community that FFXIV has. I still remember being in one of the main towns on Runescape the day Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out and some dude was running around screaming, "Snape kills Dumbledore!" with a mob of angry players following him. Screw that guy.

I started in 2002 thanks to Ragnarok Online, it was pretty much the only MMO I played until 2012-ish (but I did try a plethora of KMMOs, many of which I don't remember, there was MU and RAN Online I think, never got to end game);

then I got tired of the P2W aspect of the RO server in my country, and fortunately some friends in college invited me to join them in LotRO in 2012, then around 2013-ish they invited me to play Neverwinter, while we're also still quite active in LotRO;
also around 2013 I've seen reviews of GW2, so I thought of building a PC for it, bought the game but never really got to end game because the college friends didn't play it regularly either. still have the game installed but I'm waaay behind content;

then in 2014 I started playing FFXIV because an old RO guildmate invited us but I stayed in Behemoth instead of Tonberry where they play on and off, been active since;
also sometime in 2014 I have stopped playing Neverwinter, tried ESO but also pretty much quit after 3 months, tried RO2 with the old RO guild, but we didn't make it to end game either, quit after a few months;

2015 was just FFXIV (sometimes logged in to LotRO or GW2 but never really progressed)

2016 came Tree of Savior, and again my old RO guild decided to try it out, even bought founder's packs, but we pretty much disappeared after a few months;

2017 was some FFXIV at the start and end of the year, in the middle was RO Renewal with the old RO guild. we kinda made it to WoE like the old times for a few months, sadly the ranks thinned down so...

2018 old RO guild decided to try Dragon's Nest mobile, my nearly obsolete iPad can't play it, so nope, sticking with FFXIV and my FC xD

TLDR;
- I started playing certain MMOs since 2002 because of 2 groups of friends: the college gamer friends, and old RO guild
- still playing FFXIV because of the FC <3

basically, you'll find me playing an MMO because of people

Phantasy Star Universe (Bring PSO2 to the West, you jerks).
Perfect World
Dynasty Warriors Online
DC Universe Online (Still playing after a 1+ year break).

Ones I been in for the long haul:

World of Warcraft
Everquest 1
Everquest 2
Blade and Soul

Ones I've played for around a year or longer and stopped but still visit from time to time:

Tera
Guildwars 2
Wildstar
Final Fantasy XIV
SWTOR

Ones I've tried just to see but long since abandoned since they didn't click to me:

Tree of Savior
Final Fantasy XI
Rift
Neverwinter Online
Elderscrolls Online
Revelations Online
Skyforge.
AION
Lineage 2

Realms of Kaos (Does a text game count?)
Knight Online
Rappelz
Star Wars Galaxies
Star Wars: The Old Republic (PvP Server)

This is my first MMO where killing someone else in the open field is not a thing.

I played way more strategy games than MMOs.

Started with:
Ragnarok Online

Poked at, but didn't really stick with:
Lord of the Rings Online
Revelation
so many Aeria Games stuff (Aura Kingdom, Shaiya, etc)
Ragnarok Online 2
Tree of Savior
Devilian
ArcheAge
Rift
Skyforge (system settings refused to cooperate, so it was a no go after only 10 minutes lmao)
WoW
Blade and Soul
Neverwinter
Other various F2P games because FFXIV eats my wallet.

Play on occasion:
TERA
Guild Wars 2

No longer play:
Aion
Dragon Nest
SW:TOR (played during sub, stopped after a month because a friend couldn't resub due to constant errors cropping up when trying)

No longer accessible:
Dragona Online (at least, NA side)
Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE (played it when Aeria had it, didn't continue after Atlus/Marvelous took over)
Dynasty Warriors Online (NA side)

There's probably others, but trying to find a list of every MMO would take forever. But I can say that XIV has been the one MMO I've stuck with after leaving my past long term games like RO, Aion, TERA, and GW2. I'm never bored if soloing, and even if I am, I either find something to do or just log off until I feel like playing again. It also doesn't feel like I need to play every day.

Ultima Online - Only it was too late for me, and RMTs already overruled the shards (servers) to the point where the limited enjoyment levels were essentially gone.
FFXI - I still have the PTSD over those days *Glares at Eureka*
City of Heroes/Villains - NCSoft's shutdown was a crime against humanity
Guild Wars
World of Warcraft
Champions Online
DC Universe Online
PS Home - only if you can count it; also "PSN's Microtransactions Online" basically, which I didn't care for.
FFXIV
WoW - again, for a few short months, before I got bored during leveling in Legion


I also sort of wish I could say that I played City of Titans, but, at this point after so many years in alleged development, that's basically a site with a news link and forum, and also concept art and 3D renderings of how the game might maybe look, one day. I'd joke that Kingdom Hearts 3 and a Final Fantasy VII remake were likely to come out sooner, but... *Peers over at SE's horizon*

Hrm...
Ultima Online
Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast era)
World Of Warcraft Beta and Early Launch before it went to hell.
Auto Assault
FFXI
CoH
Lego Universe
DC Universe
Star Trek Online
Starwars TOR
Aion
Rift
FFXIV
Probably more and I am not counting the lil games like Terraworld Online or so.

- Aion
- World of Warcraft (Cataclysm -> Legion)
- Rift
- Tera Online
- Black Desert Online
- Archeage
- Guild Wars 2
- Guild Wars
- Tree of Savior for a bit
- Neverwinter
- Blade and Soul
- Wildstar
- Some Elderscrolls Online
- Revelation Online


Of these games, I find XIV to have more than them in terms of what I like in most facets. The only thing I'd like XIV to be improved upon with would be:

- Server latency, and not using a player's connection to another player to apply things like shields and healing.

- More options in the character creator (mixing and matching the face preset options would be nice)

- More freedom when it comes to furnishing your home.

- PvP that isn't basically a flaming heap of "meh" would also be more welcomed. It's still the dullest PvP I've played in a MMO.

WoW from around 2005 until about 2013.
Aion for a few years on and off.
Lord of the Rings Online for years.
City of Heroes for maybe a year or two.
This game for maybe 3 years, give or take.

LotRO had the best community I've ever seen. People were very nice and mature. I think it's cause the average player age was higher than most games. Aion has THE BEST character creation I've ever seen. Almost everything had a full color wheel AND you could input hex codes for specific colors. That's one thing I wish this game had.

Not certain I'm going to get this in correct chronological order, but here they are in the sequence I began playing them. At any given time I might have been jumping around between them for various reasons.
Ultima Online
Nexus TK
Phantasy Star Online
Dark Age of Camelot
Ragnarok Online
FFXI
WoW
Maple Story
EVE Online
FFXIV
Wildstar
Tree of Savior

And then there are a bunch of games scattered through that I played the beta and very early launch of, but no more than that.
Cabal
Flyff
Trickster Online
Champions Online
Ultima Online should probably be here, but I think of it as being notable since it was the first I tried.
Lots more I can't recall off the top of my head, but mostly Korean grindfests.

There are some games I actually bought which I never installed because either I needed to upgrade my computer but didn't until a couple years later, I was too wrapped up in other games, or work was demanding so much of my time I forgot completely:
Guild Wars
City of Heroes
Lord of the Rings Online
Probably a couple more I've forgotten.

Do we want to count ARPGs with a strong/mandatory online component?
Diablo II
Path of Exile

I would really like to play PSO2, but I'm too embarrassed to try since I can't speak Japanese(despite there being majority EN hangouts), and have a certain degree of paranoia that I'll be in just the wrong place at the wrong time and get banned for playing from outside the approved region.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Limecat

I would really like to play PSO2, but I'm too embarrassed to try since I can't speak Japanese(despite there being majority EN hangouts), and have a certain degree of paranoia that I'll be in just the wrong place at the wrong time and get banned for playing from outside the approved region.

---

People tend to be silent for the most part (The sole exception being single party quests) and the devs are aware of the western fanbase, so they really don't uphold the whole "ban for playing outside of approved region" thing.

I got bored of it for largely the same reason I start getting bored of XIV, though, which is a stale content cycle. The new content is mostly fashion and event quests that reuse existing assets and fighting the RNG for good gear is seldom satisfying with how quickly it tends to get rendered obsolete by new releases. You get genuinely new content about as often as XIV does, but it seldom lasts long.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GetFoesReqd

Well, the first "MMO" I played was not really an MMO, but it was a big MUD called GemStone 3. This was around the time Ultima Online was big.

---

I was wondering, what we'd be allowed to count as a MMO :)

My first was the original Neverwinter Nights, back when AOL was still pay-by-the hour.

Gemstone III (good ol' Wehnimer's Landing!)

Ultima Online for a bit (got frustrated at all the disconnects and quit)

DragonRealms

Hercules and Xena for a bit (another Simutronics title)

Runescape - only dabbled.

City of Heroes (Alas... :( )

Star Wars: The Old Republic (loved the stories, think they made it too easy in later patches)

EVE Online (hated the spaceflight physics model so much, couldn't stay)

Black Desert Online (couldn't stand the grating "voice" of the spirit)

Blade & Soul (didn't like the realtime combat actions and combo mechanics)

Wildstar (hate hate hate jump puzzles)(but soooo beautiful - and the swimming and water physics... so nice)

Dungeons & Dragons Online (the graphics... ugh)

Dabbled in WoW, never went past L20 (can't take all the eye-searing colors and cartoony toons)

aaaaand FFXIV.

And I am a SQUEE fan from way back, as to why I'm here.

My parents were very strict with the internet. My first online game.. In 2006, Maple Story. I've been 16 years by then.
Now I am 27 years "old" and I often thank my parents that they slowly increased the dose of daily internet instead of going: "Now you're 13, here is your computer, here is your flatrate, don't bother us".

Since I do love video games but only play ones that I TRULY enjoy, my library is still very small yet dominated by games where I felt really good and cozy.
About MMORPGs, it's pretty simple:

https://i.imgur.com/5Ea4jeH.jpg

MapleStory was my first MMO ever on my old, 2 GHz Acer laptop.
I liked the look of it (being 2D) and all, but NEXON, oh my god. Never again.

https://i.imgur.com/VoXRvdV.jpg
Yet another game with a different graphics: 3D in a weird side-scrolling world. It was button-mashing and I really liked it. Quitted mid-way through but was still kinda sad when they shut the servers down and all the cash stuff was for free to "celebrate" the game.

https://i.imgur.com/WlKR9Lz.jpg
There we go. I've finally stepped out of traineeship and could afford a real "gaming rig". Not sure what game to buy, my cousin, a FF franchise fan, suggested we both play it. He quitted after the credits of ARR, and I kept playing but lost more and more the fun.

I quitted upon Heavensward release because I got tired of running Brayflox HM for my iLevel 100 stuff while people who haven't been playing got stuff for free. I totally hated that and it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

https://i.imgur.com/alnpGF2.jpg
GW2 is an incredibly good game. It takes a few weeks to really get used to, but it's really great, a good, stable lore (unlike FF which switches from AWESOME Moogle-Viera-Old-School-FF that I like to friggin spoiled-Teens-JPOP-driving kids with more styling gel in the hairs than brain that I hate) and many good approaches, especially voice acting.

Bought it at the very Heavensward Release day - and would still be there. But then they ruined my profession (Engineer with Scrapper). Okay, made a thief, liked it, loved the Deadeye - which has been ruined 11 days ago by an unwanted, unneeded, bugged rework that was also a blatant nerf. Ranted on their forums a lot, received 12% of my lifetime upvotes in that one day (so I was not alone with my salt ^^) and never came back...

https://i.imgur.com/yQGZAQd.jpg
Like a time capsule: My Blackmage since almost exactly 3 years!

During the GW2 days, I really felt the urge to play my Lalafell Blackmage again. But of course, due to the subscription, I never did. The day arenaNet nerfed/ruined my profession, I immediately jumped onto the idea of going back to FF14. Shelled out 52€ and the sole idea of being a Lalafell Blackmage let me overcome a lot of my anger and "sadness" that aNet basically quitted GW2 for me. I never really quitted FF14 because it "totally sucked", it was just many small problems combined to a huge N O P E, so in both ways, it was a bad situation when it comes to choose who's in my MMORPG slot (I only play one MMO at once for obvious sanity reasons).

However, GW2 taught me something and my view on video games have changed: I do not want to be at the current hotspots. I will go at my own pace. While GW2 is getting stale due to no gear treadmill, it also kept me calm this way. And now I am going to be same in FF14: All the gear and equipment I need is not something I will get addicted about; I just play at my own pace. I love my current evenstar set and my Atma stardust's look and will try to understand glamour, so I can keep the look as much as possible while upgrading my iLevel and such.

But I do that very slowly. Look, 10 days, and I am still Level 50 with 0 EXP. But getting used to Blackmage (don't move while casting) coming from a dodge-based game, ugh, that's hard. But I feel so much more cozy in FF14, and with my changed attitude towards this game, I might overcome the problems I once quitted FF14 for.

So, let's see :-)

Games I played more than a week or Two:
Earth & Beyond
Anarchy Online
Granado Espada
WoW
Aion
Rift
FFXIV

Tera, Blade & Soul and Elder Scrolls Online are probably the biggest ones I tried and dropped quickly.

I start Runescape from 2004, WoW 2007, FFXIV 2013, Blade and Soul 2015
All these listed games I have played over 3 years

I have tried GW, Aion and Tera, but dropped those almost instantly and can not really say what endgame is in these games.

I m currently playing Sea of Thieves as well, but I dont know if it count as mmo.

What? No MMO virgins here? Come on.

Dark Age of Camelot
Star Wars Galaxies
Runescape
Perfect World
FF11
Dark Age of Camelot x2
FFXIV

I love MMO's. Dark Age of Camelot is probably the best one I have played ever and its still alive today. Even though I think only 2 servers are still going now? I also plan on testing out Bless when its out too. I have been playing FFXIV for almost 5 years now and have also been with the same FC all through out the years.

My first and only MMO. I like the social aspect, but honestly, I'd lie if I said the actual battles were fun. I have only finished the ARR scenario so far.

I'll leave out the MMOs that I only played for a couple of days as it'd end up being a true wall.

The MMOs I played:

• Dragonica (from launch until closure)
• Guild Wars
• Guild Wars 2
• Aura Kingdom
• World of Warcraft (only during MoP)
• Dungeon Fighter Online
• Mabinogi
• Elsword
• Trove

Online games that I used to play but aren't MMOs (I think they do deserver a honerable mention as I loved 'em):

• Lost Saga
• Dungeon Defenders
• Dungeon Defenders II

As for the games that I still play:

• World of Warcraft (Legion brought me back)
• Trove

And as for the grey-area games as they're online as well:

• For the King
• Armello
• Divinity: Original Sin 2

Only one post mentioning EQOA? I can't believe more of us aren't around.

I played EQOA from the first beta until the servers shut down for the final time. I was the first toon to traverse the continent from Qeynos in the west all the way to Freeport. Started out with a huge group of beta testers to run with us, was down to 5 people by the time we made it to [ the equivalent of ] East Karana, and down to just me after the group was wiped out in Runnyeye. I made the trek from there solo the rest of the way at Level 12, and scared to hell. You know what I'm talking about, where you were up until 2AM after starting much earlier int he night, carefully dodging and running from reds (high aggro mobs) and sweating bullets due to the pressure and lack of sleep.

While I wish I could have picked up ffxi and a hard drive and played that as well, I'm still glad I had the time I did with EQOA (and Frontiers). It was an epic game that I wish people could still experience.

I've tried a lot of MMOs, but they were never really my thing. The only mmo, outside of this one, with more than 100 hours into it, was LOTRO. I loved that game before they completely changed it (dumbed it down). Now I have around 1k hours into this game, but it also doesn't hold my attention constantly. I just came back from not playing for 3 years.

MMO's I've played:

1. FFXI
2. WoW
3. SWTOR
4. Warhammer Age of Reckoning
5. Age of Conan
6. Neverwinter
7. TERA
8. Guild Wars 2
9. Blade and Soul
10. Wildstar
11. Everquest 2
12. Elder Scrolls Online
13. FFXIV
14. Allods Online
15. Skyforge
16. Rift
17. Firefall
18. Dragon's Nest
19. Revelation Online
20. Dauntless (the beta).
21. Destiny 2

Not in that particular order, I just listed the names as I remembered them. Now, FFXIV doesn't have anything I particularly enjoy over them, but it does have things from various games that work together in just the right combination that I really enjoy and makes this game more compelling than the others.

I love the emphasis on strong class archetypes and very clearly defined roles, I love the races and aesthetics, the combat in this game does it's job but isn't particularly compelling. I also appreciate how much depth the systems in this game have if you really go in to them. Crafting and gathering are very involved, the gold saucer is a good way to waste some time, the PVP is alright, and the FC I've made has a lot of really awesome people that mean the world to me and I've formed a stronger social bond with them than in any other game I've played.