I’ll toss in another plug for D&D Online. It’s quite a bit different from the WoW formula, but myself and a few friends have been addicted to it lately. Definitely worth a try.
Call me crazy but I enjoy playing Runescape. It is browser based, and free, so it can run anywhere with no client software to load. The graphics are a bit unsophisticated when compared to a game like WoW but they grow on you. I find the quests to be a lot more fun and puzzle-like than WoW; combat/magic/loot are kind of simplistic. Once you’ve gotten a ways into it you can pay a $5 monthly fee to open up more quests, skills and areas but there is lots of play available in the free area.
I’ve also played Runes of Magic when it first came out and found it to be quite good. The language was odd and hard to follow sometimes (for me) so that I wasn’t sure how to do some quests or whether I was doing the same stuff over and over and I’m not sure I followed the story-line well. Nice interface though and very pretty. I’m going to have to fire it up again.
My first go with DDO - just now - was not impressive: there were frequent stalls. And, um… is there a manual? And it really doesn’t like left-handed newbies. Still, the graphics are decent. And I wonder if I can use trackball + joystick?
I’ve been trying D&D and finding out how things work is not easy to track down. The graphics haven’t been jerky for me. I installed it on two operating systems and when I logged into my account from the second OS I didn’t have the first OS character available. I couldn’t figure out how to get that character to the second OS and started a new one. I’m running the the game on it’s own partition now as suggested by the site to avoid stutter and delay.
It wasn’t stutters: the connection to the server went for 10s of seconds at a time. I could turn around and jump, but I could not actually move.
I don’t know about the stutters; the server seems fine on my side. Hopefully it was a temporary thing. FWIW, I’m playing on a netbook with integrated graphics and it lags graphically like crazy but I still manage to enjoy it.
Basically, DDO is mostly based on the D&D 3.5ed rules, which can be somewhat arcane for beginners. DDO is also a very build-based game, requiring you to pre-plan your character from 1-20 for best effect… but I think the in-game “Paths” you can choose do the same thing for you automatically. Between the paths, the tutorial, and the in-game tooltips, a lot of the basic rules should be explained, but if not…
There IS a manual:
“C:\Program Files\Turbine\Dungeons and Dragons Online - Eberron Unlimited\en\DDO User Manual.pdf” or online here.
There are also two very helpful resources once you get past the very basics:
DDOWiki and the official DDO Compendium.
In-game, the advice channel (/advice or /a) usually gets answered pretty quick. And if you happened to go on the Thelanis server, send me (Ouch or Zv) a tell and I’ll be glad to answer any questions you might have.
The key mapping is very configurable; just go into the options to change it to better suit yourself. I play with a PS3 controller and didn’t have any problems with the mappings, so a joystick will probably work. As would a trackball, since it’s just a mouse.
I hope this thread isn’t too much of a necro post…
Anyway, Dofus is a fun free game, I highly recommend it.
Any of gpotatos games (FlyFF for instance) can be pretty fun, but rather limited IMO. Still, for a casual gamer like me, it is a good alternative.
Anarchy online is free, though I’ve never played it.
there are free WoW servers online if you search for them.
they use older or up to date patches. Require you to change the “realmlist” file that you change using a text editor like notepad.
That’s if you want to play WoW with super fast leveling and reputation gains and have donators have uber gear over your regular gear.
I’m not too sure on the legality of these servers with blizzard but there are plenty of them to choose from.
Those WoW servers are known as private servers and they big-time violate the Terms of Service agreement with WoW. In other words, they ain’t legal, play at your own risk, and don’t try to migrate your characters back to legitimate WoW. But if none of that bothers you, go right ahead.
Silkroad Online is a free-to-play MMO that I quite enjoyed. It’s single-player friendly and has a much different aesthetic from most of the WoW wannabes. Only downside is that it’s usually pretty busy.
technically, Eve Online is a subscription-based game; however, you can pay for your monthly subscription with in-game money - if you spent your first month (or two, depending on how many hours you’re available each week) focused on the task, you can become self-sufficient and never have to pay real money to play the game ever again.
I’ve been playing Runescape for a while now as a freebie and I enjoy it but I’m gonna check out DDO and a couple other suggestions here.
It’s funny, but since my original foray into DDO, I’ve had no time to play!