The Daily Grind: How do you choose your MMOs?

Easy: weight each MMO for what it features, for the control system, the pvp/pve system, the skill system, the kind of gamers it attracts and ABOVE ALL the innovation factor. The one that scores higher wins.

Nothing more, nothing less.

I just roll my 100 sided die and see what mmo I will play this month..

Nothing more, nothing less. :P

Well of course the first thing you have to look at, most obviously, is which genre is the game most trying to be like. If you're not into FPS's, then you probably don't want to play an FPS-MMO. But once you get past the obvious, "okay I see what kind of game is, and I think I might enjoy it", then you should really spend some time listening to the people playing it.

MMO's gather different kinds of crowds, and appeal to different kinds of players. Spend some time on the forums, read comments from news bits about the game, and think about who the game is being targeted at -- what kind of player are they trying to draw, and the consider whether or not you think you're that kind of player.

Here are some examples of the types of players drawn to certain kinds of MMO's, in my humble opinion.

Eve Online - a ruthless kill or be killed gameworld, controlled by massive player-run corporations, get in with the right group and you'll have a blast, try to solo it and you'll quickly learn it's not a game for the individual.
EQ II - Also sandbox players, strongly community focused, with more of a lean towards crafting and creation, as well as just combat. EQ II wanted to be just like WoW, but the EQ players like it just fine as more like EQ.
CoH - Much more casual, less number crunchy kinds of players (although there are plenty of those as well), equally solo friendly and group friendly
WoW - WoW is so big you have jsut about every kind of player, and they all find somethign to do in the game. But in general, WoW is characterized by a largely solo levelling game, where no one wants to group, then switched over to a completely group-focused endgame, where everyone has to group.

In decided whether or not an MMO is a place I want to stay, I try to look at the people playing it, and decide whether or not they are the kinds of people I want to play with.

Dlangar
http://ofcourseillplayit.com

MMOs get points in my book for...

--price
--accessibility (for casual players like me)
--combat
--good story/character progression
--soloability (the more group content that is "optional", the better, imo)
--extra features -- fast travel, housing, crafting, etc.

Right now, my MMO du jour is LotRO, but I am guessing SWTOR or STO (or GW2, if that game ever gets made) will displace LotRO in a heartbeat once any of these games is available.

If it doesn't have a sub fee, I give it a chance. Which means the only one I have ever played is Guild Wars and that I have tried all the craptastic Korean free games in existence.

Yeah, guess what honchos, there's a market out there for people who would like to buy games, not pay rent on them every month.

I join my MMO's for the IP. I'm not ready to spend my hours playing in a universe I don't find interesting. However, I will leave if the game is not fun.

I joined FFXI becuase I liked Final fantasy a lot at the time and felt I owed something to the franchise that got me involved in RPG's in the first place. I left becuase the game was a punsihing grind-fest.

I'm now playing WoW becuase the setting is great, continuing right where WC3 left off and referencing the older games as well. I'm staying becuase it's fun, accesible, and feels lieka game rather than one of final fantasy's "jobs".

I'll buy a box or download a trial - play until trial/free playtime runs out and consider subbing - most of the time it comes down to "did I see anything new?" and unfortunately most of the time the answer is "well a feature a, b or c was nice but it was mostly about the same old, same old" - and then I end up going back to EVE - IMHO, it's still the only "modern" MMO that is significantly different from the other MMO games and I really like that.

Every now and then I'll go back and re-try games (mostly because Massively reports a new patch/feature is out) - I'm feeling like it's soon time to give WoW another go, last time (around Wrath's release) I managed a week before I got bored, hoping to get full month worth of gameplay together this time.

I like my MMO's player driven, discouraging solo play, promoting grouping and playing with others - meaningful (harsh) PvP is a bonus (as it kinda promotes the grouping aspects). I've found EVE to be a perfect match for this.

The game mechanics and polish in Wow are unbeatable but it's so focused on being accessible it doesn't exactly promote group play (until late in the end-game).

"That looks fun" usually starts it. Then, I go to various websites and read as many "Recent subscriber" reviews as I can (while trying to ignore trolling attempts) or posts by current subscribers.

After that, buy & play. Most MMOs I buy are several months after release, and I figure ownership of the game and 1 month of play for like $20-$30 is cool. Then, I can always go back if I choose too.

I joined my first MMO 5 years ago and it was because some friends where playing it, (nothing more nothing less lol)

5 Years on i had tried others but always kept my orginal Lineage 2 account going and still play it more than anything else. (everyone should give it a try)

I try to go for 75% comfort zone and 25% out of it. So, as a former WoW player, WAR had enough that was familiar, in terms of general quest based, action bar gameplay, and just enough new and shiny stuff- the rvr focus to make it worth a switch. EVE would be quite a big jump- more like 25% comfort zone!

To get me to check out your game
A free 10-14 day trial, preferably included on a game/p.c. magazine dvd. If it takes me more than 4 hours to download the initial client I pass unless the game meets the following.
A) Released for 6 months or more and extremely good reviews.
B) PVE centric
C) Learning curve of hours not weeks. If It has no tutorial or starting zone it was just deleted
D) Story and gameplay mechanics before graphics. Graphics are nice but all the whiz and bang is useless if the goals and rewards are not there.
E) If Sony, SOE or any subsidiary is even remotely linked to your game I pass.
To keep me playing, and I might add PAYING for the game you need the following
A) Emmersion and a FUN community.
B) Seamless transition from zones
C) Forums owned and moderated by the dev's
D) PVE avd PVP rulesets. I think its near impossible to "balance" both.
E) No ingame adds, UNLESS it is seemless and works with the story.

Also, I play alot of games. I have alot of time to play games and I enjoy multiboxing, IF the games mechanics make that easier then thats a big bonus.

I start with how the game looks - is it a world I want to be in? Is it beautiful? Then I look at gameplay, which of course is important. I also look at games either recommended by my online community, or games some of them are currently playing. I am what I call a casual long term player. If I like a world I'll stay in it for a long time, but I won't play a lot. Being able to solo comfortably is important to me, as well as having a good experience in game, and an easy ability to group and socialize when I want to. I'm one of the new types of MMO players in the sense that I need to have a good experience in a short amount of time, or I won't play. I'm a PvE person and I also don't like people hassling me. Price is also important to me. Since I don't play that much, sometimes I think I'm paying not to play!

I bought Guild Wars when it first came out, but never played until this summer. I don't know why I waited - for me it's a fantastic game, and it's great to be in a good guild and group of guilds (Alliance). I like not having to pay a subscription fee. I've also played WoW for a little bit. It's a good game, but I just didn't get into it. I have a lifetime subscription to LOTRO. I like the world, and how it's set up, but for some reason I don't play it - I think it's because I know the story.

The other game I'm thinking about is Everquest2 - it appeals to me. I need to see how easy it is to play casually and to solo, at least to start. I like how it looks, and I like the newer features like housing. I'll have to figure out if I want to pay a subscription price after my 30 day trial is over.

I like to choose mmorpgs set in high fantasy enviorments. Then I look at the basic armor designs and the races that will exist within the world. Afterwards I look for jobs/professions/class I would be intrested in playing. Samurai happens to be my favorite class so if its in there that's a big boost in intrest. I'm not a big PvP fan so I lean towards PvE focused games.

My first MMORPG was Ragnarok Online, on a private server. It was a brutal grind fest, the only thing that kept me going was my friends and some pretty good PVP from the War of Emperiums, used to log in at about 11pm and would last for 2 hours after that we would lounge inside our castle chatting and doing dead branch parties. It was my first MMO, it hardened my skin because compared to modern RPGs its horrible. That was a good 6 years ago.

Played WAR next got a group of army WoW loyalist into it. They liked it, but they preferred the PVE and decided to go after WoW again when WotL launched ( Sgt. 1st class Cabral approved!). Played with them for a few months, I got tired after 4 months of gaming it, the end game wasn't my cup of tea.

Returned to WAR with the whole 10 days returning thing, liked it allot, was about to sub for it again. But then some friendly member of Gamefaqs gave me a 21 day buddy trial for EVE. I cancelled my WAR and WoW accounts 3 days into my EVE trial.

It felt so different, yet refined, like a fine aged wine. PVE isn't good at all in 0.0 but the occasional pirate trying to kill you gets my heart pounding as I hold him off while my corp mates scramble off to protect me. Or even afking while reading some news online and all of the sudden hearing the mates in the TS telling us that reds are inside local. Closing all windows and taking my ship off the POS, joinng fleet and warping to location and starting to bash some ships.

EVE is my new bar for MMORPGs. The current swarm of MMOs must at the very least give me some of what EVE is giving me:

A sense of real danger when doing events. ( One of my first experiences in EVE was jumping to my new home station 40 jumps into 0.0 )

A sense of accomplishment when doing something right. (Getting there safe and sound, even without backup, trough a few gate spams felt amazing)

A sense of camaraderie when banding up, of protecting your mates even if you might get blowed to bits. (Was hunting some rats when a 4yo EVE veteran came in a vagabond and starting to scramble me, my corpies banded up for support, even if some of them got their ships wrecked, they where happy I got trough, now I dont think it twice when one of them needs help, I jump into my battle cruiser and go straight to help them)

I hope AION , KoTOR and Jumpgate meet some of my reqs when they come out. Really looking forward to it!