In Pictures: 20 MMORPG Realms You Should Explore

[exfileme]

Massively-multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games offer an experience single-player titles just can't match. Many of us here at Tom's have been sucked into several of these picks. We take a look at 20 virtual worlds that pulled us in and wouldn't let go.

In Pictures: 20 MMORPG Realms You Should Explore : Read more

 

[haze4peace]

As an avid MMORPG player I am really excited about late 2010/2011. There are multiple AAA mmorpgs being released. If you are interested in experiencing a new world, do some research on the upcoming games. Guild Wars 2, SW:TOR, Rift: Planes of Talara, Vindictus, TERA and more. Things are looking good for mmorpg players.

 

[asty234]

you guys have DAOC labeled as launched in oct 2009..it was 2001

 

[tstng]

I would have expected Aion to be in the list as well.

 

[Firehead2k]

Concerning GuildWars:
"quests and encounters were endured locally on the gamer's PC"
Wat?
All non-town areas are instanced, meaning you won't run into other players that are not in your party. The player still plays online, nothing is done "locally".

"Servers also played matchmaker for players wanting to quest in co-op mode"
Not true. Only Random Arena (pvp) and the factions battles (also pvp) (from Factions) is where people are randomly paired. Other than that, people can take NPC heros or group with people (or solo) to go kill stuff.


Additionaly worth mentioning is that GW has no grind. Level cap is low (20) and usually reached within a week. There is no 'uber-leet-gear', all gear performs essentially the same, depending on what one needs. Once items have the maximum stats, they only differ by their looks.

 

[mathiasschnell]

Am I the only one who doesn't see a title to each picture and has the whole article off to the side and getting cut-off a bit?

I'm using Chrome BTW and zoomed in a bit, but even zoomed out I think it does this.

 

[Judguh]

I find it interesting the picture for the article on the homepage is of Final Fantasy Tactics for Playstation when the article is all about PC MMORPGS's....

 

[haplo602]

no EVE Online ?

 

[kkiddu]

The interface of these picture stories isn't very user-friendly. I'd suggest TomsHardware to rework on this section, and add a 'View All' button so that all the pictures can be viewed on a single page.

There's a lot of treasure [Especially WD HDD Factory Tour and Samsung Tour] that's difficult to access owing to the flawed interface of Picture Stories.

 

[Fokissed]

Anarchy Online has been free to play for the entire 6 years that I have played it. The "until Feb 20XX" has been around for as long as I can remember and its always extended before the freeness expires.

DAOC came out in 2001, not 2009.

 

[Guest]

Unbelievable, Ultima Online is missing...

 

[Guest]

You forgot EVE online - One of the biggest and most innovate games of all time

 

[maurbeast]

eve and ultima, i believe deserved a place in there!

 

[kd0frg]

didnt even mention Shaiya!?

 

[decode]

What about Crowns of Power and Silk Road Online???

 

[killerclick]

I don't like multiplayer games and MMORPGs in particular. It's just laziness on the part of the developers to let the users provide characters, AI and content to the game. How can you have a great game when instead of a tight plot and professional voice actors you have these dumb kids running around calling each other n00b and complaining about lag? I want KOTOR 3!

 

[jamesedgeuk2000]

"Everquest started it all" Too young to have played Ultima Online then? or have you never played a MMORPG and just googled your research? UO was the MMORPG that kicked it off without which we wouldn't have had Everquest and wouldn't have WoW today, it was the trailblazer that proved the concept would work.

Also you should have had Matrix Online (and the story of its death) as a bonus 21 as its worth hearing about

 

[Darkerson]

Ive been playing on the EverQuest II Extended server, and while some of the limitations are annoying, like restricted classes and whatnot, the amount of content they give you is staggering, and its been a very fun experience overall.

 

[Azimuth01]

No Ultima Online on your list? The game's been around since muds were mainstream. Every other game on your list has it's roots in UO, and it does not even get an honorable mention?

Darkfall is missing as well, but that game never had a box on a shelf, and only available for digital download, so I'm not surprised.

 

[bpeglow]

FFXI, EVE, Aion, etc.

 

[Onus]

Guild Wars has been my only MMO, because of its free-to-play model. I will not pay a subscription to play a game I've already bought, unless it is no more than the cost of a monthly magazine (i.e. $4-$7). I am really looking forward to Guild Wars 2. I just hope they can reduce or even eliminate the nerfs, particularly in PvE; especially those that make no sense in the game world (e.g. Ranger pets no longer leaving a corpse; an animal leaves a corpse, but if a Ranger charms it first, no corpse??????)

 

[Guest]

This list is lacking Final Fantasy XI which I believe was the heavy hitter just before WoW came out.

 

[zachary k]

i played STO and didn't like it for one reason, bugs! the game just didn't feel finished. instead of fixing all these bugs, they just keep on adding more content. bad priorities.
also, missing eve online.

 

[LegendaryFrog]

EvE Online is one of the most popular MMOs going right now and offers a hugely different and unique experience. How did it not make this list?

 

[theholylancer]

EvE Online is one of the most popular MMOs going right now and offers a hugely different and unique experience. How did it not make this list?


unfortunately, wow takes that title... i really wish swtor comes in at full force and they either remake wow into wow 2.0 500 years later and revamp the whole system than cata that tries to do so and seems to be meeting large roadblocks or just make another mmo since wow is just getting ridiculous with it's story. that said, eve online should be on there, ffs rapplelez made it on there and it was a hell of a bone grinder when i played it in beta...

also, what happened to jumpgate and the upcoming jumpgate evolution?


Also, to the guy that wants a one page picture story, this is toms, where every click of yours serves up fresh ads, they are not going to do that for their idiot grabbing stories (because clearly this is not a comprehensive story like the SBM or what nots and is filled with colourful pictures) and thus just install ad block plus