FFXIV is great and free to play until level 60
this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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70 by the time most people who start now get to Storm bloods content
WoW (Private Servers)
GW2 (Personal fave out of these)
FFXIV
ESO
I also hear New World has vastly improved since launch but I've not played it since beta so I can't really say.
I could've swear I wrote this... Only thing I'd say is to pick your WoW server well. If you like the story pick a server than has good scripting. Imo the one that has the best scripting is TauriWoW but they are still on Pandaria. If you want something more modern try Felsong. Still alright scripting bit naturally, the closer you get to retail on Xpacks the less polished they are on private servers.
Also, FFXIV trial is a bit limiting. If you're playing alone you might be alright but with friends on trial it's not so fun... You can't start parties. You can't PM/DM people... To play together with my SO, the workaround we found was to go to limsa to beg someone to create a party for us and then they leave the party, leaving just the 2 of us there.
Also, but not least important. Unlike WoWs trial, on FFXIV if you ever pay for the sub/buy the game, there's no going back to free trial. This is actually why I don't play ffxiv that much...
(sorry the text got this big, didn't mean to :( )
For an ex-Wow addict from vanilla through WoD, would you mind eli5 what's the deal with private servers and how the work?
Sorta what they sound like. They're privately owned and hosted by third party people. You have to download their own launcher to play but most are pretty much free.
Check out ascension. It's wow but classless, you have a couple servers, one where you choose from 3 random abilities when you level up and another where you get more leeway in the abilities you chose. It's a really interesting way to play wow.
I thought Blizz went all in to shut down private servers, and that's how Classic was born?
I played New World through beta to launch and didn’t touch it after release. I just bought it and started last night. Really enjoying it so far.
not so much a drought as people getting burnt out on cash shop and gamble box shenanigans
out of the top tier, it’s been pretty much status quo for awhile now
- thanks to Blizzard, World of Warcraft really shouldn’t be an option
- Final Fantasy XIV
- Guild Wars 2
- Elder Scrolls Online
- Lord of the Rings Online
Massively agree with gw2.
Overall good costumer practices (not perfect). Buy to play, no worries that time is running out and you need to grind like a maniac for the next days...
Great community and story.
WOW is algo a good option, if you're going to a private server. Those seem more fun honestly and less bullshit
Aren't WoW private servers free too?
Based on your other interests, Guild Wars 2
If you want to try something different, there's an MMO called "Secret World Legends" that is super unique in a lot of ways. Also super niche, so don't worry if you decide you don't like it; but if you do, it'll become one of your favorites.
Is legends as good as the original? The original was truly a game you had to try out. Loved all the puzzles in that game.
It's the same game, just with a load of QoL improvements, and iirc a few of the expansion chapters come free. Biggest change is combat and targeting... idk if I can explain it well without making it sound like trash, but instead of click-to-target, you have to aim your character at the thing you're fighting, which sounds clunky, but you get used to it in a hurry - it makes combat much more fluid. Also all the currencies from various factions you could acquire in the base game, 90% of which were obsolete, have been consolidated back down a more reasonable number.
I started on TSW back in the day; switched to SWL. If I ever get the itch to dive back in, it will 100% be for SWL.
I’m personally looking to get into “Palia”, it’s going into open beta in on the 10th. I’ve seen reviews that say it’s “the love child of WOW and animal crossing” so going to get my family in on some cozy gaming.
It is so much an "Animal Crossing, the MMO" type of game. I've been having a blast in the closed beta. The house building aspect is surely what op is looking for. So many little details one can build out!
Same here, love these chill games without combat, like Animal Crossing, Disney Dreamlight and etc, so a MMO version of this is all I wanted.
Been in since alpha and love it.
FFXIV now (next patch) offers over half of the entire Main Story for free.
You can't go wrong and the community is the best around.
But can you play pvp as a f2p? Whwn I played it was "temporarily" disabled ...
I see, PvP you say, not often we see players wanting to play PvP haha, well for PvP it's not really available for Free Trial.
GW2 seems to be the answer. I played it briefly when I had more time and it was fun af.
Can't believe no one has suggested BDO ( Black Desert Online) it's f2p now and not only is it probably still one of the better looking MMOs out there, the depth it has is insane. It's got basically everything you are asking for.
If you like houses and decoration Elderscrolls Online is pretty awesome for that. Combat is pretty fun and there's tons of variety between the classes.
Star Trek Online
Second Life RPG groups
Have you ever checked out Ark? Not quite a true MMO, but it's the closest I've ever gotten to feeling that "brand new to EverQuest" feeling. The worlds are massive, full of a massive amount of different dinosaurs, and the base-building is robust. Highly, highly recommend.
To add to the above, there is also an absolutely massive modding scene for Ark, that can add anything from hundreds of new dinosaurs, to NPC's, to new structures and mechanics.
A lot of fun to be had with Ark, doubly so if you can convince some friends to give it a go with you.
It also good on sale for cheap relativity often. My bud picked it up for 5 bucks a couple weeks ago.
If you also like online TCGs, try Wizard101
If you'd like a bullet hell combat system, try Spiral Knights (now F2P)
If you want something on the EQ2 end of the spectrum give Horizon XI a try. It is a private server for FFXI, square's first mmo. The amount of work put into it is incredible for a private server. Lots of devs and is very polished.
Final Fantasy seems the one for you to be honest.
The player base is quite chill and overall enjoy playing casually, doing RP, decorating the house, etc. Crafting is actually interesting instead of just seeing a bar fill up!
I would not recommend ESO as it's very very very choke full of microtransactions and you actually will have a bad experience playing without ESO Plus (restricted space in bags, most content locked).
The same can be said for GW2 really and on top of that, it's way less polished than FF.
Just try FF, I couldn't stomach the classic oriental style cinematic and the quests until lvl 60 can get really frustrating (fetch quests) but overall it has the better potential considering your taste IMHO.
I've dabbled in the FF world years ago and several have suggested the newest one. I thibk I just might give that a shot. I don't mind some fetch / grinding quests as long g as it's not the entire focus. Part of why aion lost a bit of luster for me... got pretty grindy especially near end game when you're gearing up for pvp