Ordegar

It's a good thing we have a variety of MMOs to choose from. We all have different things that we like or dislike about the games we play, so being able to choose what fits us best is what it's all about.

Just reading through all the comments people have about those three games shows this. Some of the things people said they loved about their favorite are things that I hated.

What MY favorite game was is irrelevant; and I think that was the point of this article. The question is which did YOU prefer. Think about what you really enjoyed about the games back then; what got you hooked on MMOs. Remeber that when you choose which game(s) to play today.

Personally, I voted EQ since I really didn't care for either of the other ones back then, and EQ is actually what I am playing today 13 years later even with the myriad of choices present today, most of which I have tried.

@Tom in VA

A good point. There are some things to consider though, that make the group dungeon less of a problem than it would in other games, including GW1.

One, there is no requirement for a particular class or classes to be in the group; any combination of classes will work. Though this doesn't eliminate the need for you to find other players to do the dungeon with, it does make it much easier because anyone will do.

Two, "sidekicking" works both ways, so ANYONE can do the dungeon with you no matter what their level is. Again not eliminating the need for other players, but this one opens up the entire server of people to come join your group to do the dungeon with you. Granted, level one players will be less effective at the start because they haven't unlocked abilities yet, but yes they can help you in your level 50 dungeon.

Three, since the goal of this game is to have fun participating in content, and NOT to rush to the "end game", people will be more willing to do dungeons just for the fun of it.

@notinterested

So pay the $15 and subscribe. If you want to play the game it's completely worth that. If you don't want to play it then why are you even talking about it?

I am so sick of people thinking that "Free to play" means "everything for free"; that's just stupid. You can play Everquest without ever paying anything, and you can group with anyone and go in any zone and go all the way up to level 90. Sounds pretty damn free to play to me.

@scfs123

You still have to buy expansions when they come out. Also, before the F2P if you bought the game you got all expansions except the last one. Any expansion you bought also added 90 days to your veteran status whether you subscribed for that time or not.

@Seffrid
Characters that existed prior to F2P are unlocked. The race and/or class is not unlocked, just that character. So if you had an Iksar Monk like I did, you can play him, but you have to pay to unlock Iksar if you want to roll another character with that race. Likewise you would have to pay to unlock Monk if you wanted to roll a Human Monk.

Basically, existing characters are "grandfathered" so you can play them, but you have no account unlocks from that.

@Balraw I think the main reason for an NDA is so that people don't say the game is one way, then the devs change it but everyone thinks it's going to be the old way because it's all over the internet now. With the NDA in place it limits the flow of information about things that are still in flux. Though there will likely still be some changes after the NDA is lifted, most of the major mechanics of the game are already decided.

@jayMad4

Join a good fleet. A good fleet will be multi-player oriented, and the members will often be asking each-other to group, especially for the episode missions and of course the Special Task Force missions. When you talk to the fleet officers about joining, ask them questions about how much their members group and how often they do STF missions and if they will help players new to STFs.

I think today's games are backwards in this regard. It is a massively multiplayer online game, so the content should be multiplayer. The old problem of course was that in the "good old days" that meant standing around waiting for an opening in a group so you could play. Newer games are backwards though, giving you mostly solo content with bits of multiplayer thrown in.

For example, I've been playing Everquest II lately, and that game overflows with solo-able content. It also has a mercenary system so you can have an npc tank or healer or dps so you can duo the more difficult content. Occasionally, you can group with others and do "heroic" group content; and there is raiding at cap level.

I think grouping should be the majority of the content, and solo content should only be a temporary thing you do in between grouping.

I am looking forward to trying Guild Wars 2 for ArenaNet's solution to this issue. Almost all of the content is scalable group content, adjusting to how many or how few people are contributing. It also allows you to participate without joining a formal group or raid, similar to Warhammer's public quests or Rift's err.. rifts. Everyone has their own contribution scale and loot table so you're not competing for the gold loot bag, unlike previous attempts at public content.

So, even if you are a "solo" player and like to keep to yourself you still get to have the fun of playing in a massively multiplayer game without having to basically play a separate solo game within it.

Hiatus from MMOs? I don't comprehend.

When is this coming?