Similar alternatives to World of Warcraft?

[Kobi]

PVP is in a bad place right now but Zenimax has pledged to fix the lag issues many players are facing. PVP is similar to guild wars and has players from the three factions battling out for control of the keeps of Cyrodiil. Any faction who controls the Keeps around the Imperial City earn the right to declare an emperor, which is a title that goes to the player of that faction with the highest score in the current campaign. Factions dedicated to PVP will often have officers running around in discord channels coordinating strategies to capture certain keeps or cut of enemy resources while another assaults it's walls with ballistas or trebuchets.

Perhaps you don't care much for slaying monsters, questing, or fighting someone else's war, the Mercantilism in this game is great. The economy is player driven and many players make hundreds of thousands of gold everyday flipping items from guild traders (NPCs guilds bid on every week to sell their items). The premium Crowns I mentioned are often sold for gold via Crownstore items.

All in all, I think ESO had something great for everyone and I highly recommend it, especially if you were dissapointed after BFA. ~Cheers, Kobi

[Hadley]

I gotta say, it's a sad time for MMORPGs in the West. WoW has kinda made it impossible for them to succeed over here during the past 10 years or so. I wish I had a suggestion for you, but ESO is the only MMORPG I play these days and, while very good, really isn't mechanically similar to WoW.

[ISP]

Go hard, go Project 1999.

[Tamanous]

Lotro Legendary servers are an option. They are new and full of players. Of course you have to like Lotro and going from vanilla Wow to Lotro took me a bit to enjoy the transition but I'm really starting to get into Lotro again. Sadly it isn't a true legacy effort but merely a limited version of the live game with full cash shop which is annoying but can be avoided.

If transitioning from live Wow, I'd suggest waiting for Classic for a really different version of Wow. Skip private servers at this point due to how close Classic appears to be (next summer). If people like older style mmos then transitioning to Classic will be easier for them than live Wow players with no Classic experience. It is really that different.

[noshpaq]

you guys have any good alternatives that are mechanically similar?

Whatever you do, do not get anywhere near ESO.

The game was pretty much an okay MMO from the start, but now it turned into some kind of a casual grind simulator with co-op. And though it is still quite enjoyable today, the game also even more shallow and unpromising than it was after the launch.

Clockwork City DLC was the first and the last interesting introduction to the game from my standpoint, and without the not-mandatory-at-all subscription ESO basically feels like Oblivion with multiplayer. You will regret the time wasted.

[Ultimate Goose]

Any idea on how the combat system will be changing? Iv been interested in FFXIV for quite a while, but i couldn't get around the same ol' same ol' feeling combat (tho i dont know how it feels later in the game).

I haven't researched it much yet, all I've heard is that the TP and MP bar are going to be melded into 1 bar on the hud, since one of them is usually a useless stat, like mp for monk.

Combat is repetitive sure but I think most MMOs are like that, the duty finder, quests, main quest, leves, guildhests, instanced raids, most of the fun is at end game with many high level raids and alliance raids (3 teams of 8), the social interaction is good too, hud customisability is exceptional, and the game runs really well. Player houses, chocobo raising, gardening, fun games, exploration, a lot to choose from!

Though it isn't the only MMO, best go for what suits you, I played ESO and its a good game too.

[Damian Cunliffe]

I was never able to find a suitable alternative to WoW, but then when I quit in 2009 during WotLK I was looking for a suitable alternative to how WoW used to be in Burning Crusade and Classic - a challenging, community based MMO instead of an instant gratification "I want epic gear immediately" MMO.

Lord of the Rings Online kept me satisfied for a while - it was community based and it was challenging, but over time they made the game easier and easier until eventually you could kill mobs 5 levels higher than you without taking any damage. I tried it again a few months ago and it's just so easy it's not even worth playing. Also it lacked any world PvP at all.

I tried Guild Wars 2 and... I just didn't like it. No world PvP, not community based at all, everything can be done alone pretty much.

I tried Star Wars: The Old Republic and had some fun but that wasn't it.

EVE Online is where I had the most success in finding an alternative to WoW. Totally community driven, dangerous world, really good progression... about a year ago though they introduced pay2win mechanics. You can buy skill injectors to instantly give yourself skills that would take months or even years to learn before. You can also buy money to spend in game. Didn't like this at all.

I dunno what to tell you. Wait a few months for Classic WoW to release and play that maybe?

[Zaiven]

Currently I'm just waiting for some of the new MMO's on the horizon to release. I'm one of those people who like to RP and that just makes things 10 times harder outside WoW, especially if you also want a decent game. Sadly I'm reaching the point where I'm considering if WoW just turns mediocre and my former guild get together, I'll probably return. LotRO worked for awhile and so did GW2, but I just couldn't return to them after a hiatus.

[Favaro]

I hope Classic brings back the nostalgia of the old gaming. I can't seem to get a good feeling while playing the new expansions. I miss the good old days of WoW, and have tried looking for another game but can't seem to find one where you have some nice end game content.
Only concern for the Classic WoW is that we have already played that, we know the story, and we know the zones and quests it still won't bring you the feel of exploring a new world or having a different questing experience for those that have played the game a lot.

[PyroAmos]

MMO scene has been in a sad place for a long time. Personally, I prefer korean style grinder, no factions, siege based MMOs. Unfortunately the main company that brought that style to the west (NC Soft) went F2P with P2W in full effect and none of their NA releases are worth playing anymore. Their latest attempt at re-releasing Lineage 2 classic.... should check it out if you want to see what a crash and burn looks like, trying to re-release a subscription based game as a micro-transaction game was a bad look from the start, but their handling of it.... comically bad. Pearl abyss's Black desert came pretty close, but it is pretty expensive. When I played it you had to buy the game, then there was a monthly pseudo-sub and around $60~80 in MTX costumes per char (costumes are not purely cosmetics there, the costume stat bonuses are pretty much required). If you have a fat wallet, it does supply that eastern MMO feel I like.

As for western MMOs... the only one I've really spent a lot of time on other than WoW was SWToR, which was so close to being exactly like WoW it almost just a reskin. The major difference (when it came out) was the really good story line, but that kind of made it feel like a single player game, since there was virtually no reason to party for any of it. The battle-grounds and stuff felt very WoW like. Been a couple years since I played it, but all in all, it was ok when I was playing it.

For the most part, Lord of the rings, elder scrolls, FFXI, FFXIV, EverQuest, EQ2, EQ classic, GuildWars and GW2, are the main competition in western MMORPGs, none of which have looked good enough for me to invest the kind of time I invest when I play an MMO.

Kind of sad, my guild community (the core of which been together over 10 years, since back in lineage 1 days where we met) is looking to break off of black desert (most of us quit a while ago, and just hang out in the discord to play shitty steam games, LoL or PoE together), but there isn't a good MMO out right now. BDO got so stale after we accomplished our main goals (taking every castle in the game at least once, being a major player in siege politics, ect), we actually dropped out of hardcore siege scene and is basically just a casual guild looking for a game to jump to now. We were hoping Bless would be it, about 20 of us preordered that dumpster... probably the last time I'll ever preorder a game. QQ

[Fexel]

ESO is maybe an option, though the game lost it's charm for me since it just feels like a diluted form of a regular elder scrolls game

[Teratus]

I tried to get into GW2 about 2 years ago as well, and I loved how natural world events felt but the class system seemed a bit overly complicated and I'm not sure if I was just doing it wrong, but the only end-game content people wanted to do was transmog runs.

The game has changed a little in the last 2 years, not as drastically as it has in the last 4 though.
Overall the story has greatly improved some of the best chapters been added in the last several months.
I'm pretty good with the trait system in Gw2.. although admittedly each class has it's own learning curve as their traits and playstyles are very different.
Ranger and Necromancer are my specific preferences ^^

[ryvrdrgn14]

I had a lot of fun doing dungeons in Tera Online. If you want a PVE change of pace you can give Warframe a go. It's a totally different experience, but it can also be refreshing, even if you just play it for a bit.

[I'[email protected]]

FFXIV is in my opinion better than WoW. If you are able to get through the story, it gets more and more interesting. Plus endgame is really most fun, It ain't as strong in PVP but still I will definitly start playing again with the new expansion coming out.

[Bella Desiare]

I've been a long time Lotro player so I'd say that's an option. Tera was okay, but didn't keep my attention for more than a couple of months.

[QUOTE=Tamanous;n6572]Lotro Legendary servers are an option. They are new and full of players. Of course you have to like Lotro and going from vanilla Wow to Lotro took me a bit to enjoy the transition but I'm really starting to get into Lotro again. Sadly it isn't a true legacy effort but merely a limited version of the live game with full cash shop which is annoying but can be avoided.

I heard about the Legendary servers. Are they really worth a look, considering they're just capped versions of the regular servers?