Looking for good MMORPG without micro-transactions

[jasong]

I've been playing Runescape since around the middle of 2008 and have loved it up until now. But recently they have added a new aspect of it involving a Roulette-type wheel(not bad in and of itself) and the ability to buy extra spins with your credit card.

It's debatable how much damage this will do, but it's certainly not a good update, unless you're Runescape people and want extra money.

Anyway, depending on how the next month or so pans out with the update, I might be looking for a new game to spend time in. I believe there are a few in beta right now, and some already out that look kind of cool. Star Wars:The Old Republic looks cool and I might be willing to try WoW now that Runescape has become hypocritical.

Any advice on good games to try?

Oh, and btw, cosmetic upgrades are micro-transactions that I don't mind and also purchasing programs to track in-game occurrences is okay to. My problem is with stuff that gives you an in-game advantage for nothing more than paying with a card. Buying gold is an obvious one, as well as buying xp, but also things like weapons boosts that last a week or so.

Optimally, I'd like to see a game that has a good combat system but reasonable reflexes and a good strategy tend to help in the game. I have lousy reflexes so a game that requires quick combos isn't my thing. That's one of the reasons I prefer MASSIVELY multiplayer games, because lag time of a tenth of a second or more are just considered normal.

[firejuggler]

WoW and SW:ToR are indead good choice, monthly fee and cosmetic 'mount'/pet for WoW.
Let me add ' Rift' to that, Perpetuum-online, Ryzom (very interesting craft system and stanza), Eve-online(spreadsheet in space!).

[bcp19]

WoW is ok, but with all the LUA coding over the years, if you are interested in end-game raiding you have to have a fair number of addons as the game designers seem to have taken these into account. I remember one raid where the healer did not have Decursive and we wiped more times than I can remember, he was talked into installing Decursive and it became a walk in the park. I believe all $ bought items are purely cosmetic. Their queue system is awesome though, whatever level you are, you can queue for multi player instances and usually within 10-30 minutes you are grouped up and running. Unlike other games, their queue if cross-server and you have 4-6 servers tied together for queuing making the wait times quite reasonable. I levelled one character just by running instances over and over. Also, if you level multiple characters, you have many choices available and don't feel like you are in a rut. PvP zones can be a bit insane, as most of the hard core players have full sets of top tier PvP gear, which would take a newcomer several months of getting pwned to acquire.

Aion is an interesting game, with the added element of flying for limited amounts of time. It has some very good graphics and is fairly easy to play (except PvP which can get wild). Downside (at least for me)is that they did not have a solid quest base when I was there and you spent a LOT of time grinding to level. I am not completely sure, but it seems they have some minor healing items that can be bought with $ that the botters exploited until they figured out how to catch them and ban them. That was another part of the grind, the need to sit and rest after virtually every fight once you hit level 30+. For those who like more than 1 character, it has a definite rut feeling to it. Pvp has no real limitations, around lvl 25 you end up in a pvp zone to continue levelling unless you favor the grind, and tons of lvl 50's seem to think it's funny to 1 shot you.

Rift is a well laid out game that is fairly easy to level in solo. The instances are tough though, even at low levels, you need a full group of experienced people or 1 very overlevel person to get you through them. The end game instances are complicated, and if you cannot walk, chew gum, rub your stomach and pat your head at the same time, forget it. Also, if you like multiple characters, then I hope you like doing the same things over and over as there is only 1 real questline to level from. PvP is similar to WoW, but the warfronts are broken down by levels 10-19, 20-29, etc. Gear becomes a must.

Lord of the Rings Online recently went free to play, and has those little items you can buy to increase experience or make you more powerful for an hour at a time. It started reminding me of the first MMO I played, Last Chaos, where you had no hope of keeping up unless you were spending $50-100 a month on the store.

Star Wars has been a lot of fun so far, it has a new interactive storyline where you make 1 of 3 choices to conversations, that can either be funny or possibly change the outcome. Each of the 4 classes have multiple storyline quests which makes levelling more than 1 character more enjoyable than most. The end game stuff is challenging and is a bit more gear intensive than some of the other games, but it doesn't have the feeling of other games where you feel completely out of your league. The biggest problem is usually damage, which means gear, as there are timers and the boss gets a 200% buff after x amount of time. Downsides: some of the hidden items in the game are a major pain. Getting datacrons is like playing mario brothers, jumping, hopping, skipping and one misstep puts you at the beginning. I've spent over an hour to master getting to one datacron in some places. Server density is also a minor pain if you PVP. The server I am on has at least a 7:1 ratio of Empire vs Republic players. So as republic you have relatively low queue times, but as empire, unless you like the one instance that allows you to play same side players, you can be waiting a long time.

[davieddy]

This forum gets less comprehensible by the the minute.

[firejuggler]

just to be noted : Aion got Free 2 play recently and therefore may not meet the criteriaof jasong

[Dubslow]

Originally Posted by davieddy

This forum gets less comprehensible by the the minute.

You're one to talk.

[bcp19]

Originally Posted by firejuggler

just to be noted : Aion got Free 2 play recently and therefore may not meet the criteriaof jasong

I have not played it in over a year, didn't realize they changed.

[sonjohan]

I play Lunia, which does have microtransactions.
The thing is they've made the game interesting only for L70+, and after some time, even that becomes a grinding effort.

Skyrim V: The Elder Scrolls looks amazing, but haven't played it yet.

[ATH]

I'm enjoying Rift and there is no micro transactions, well there was one small package you could buy with a new mount and a personal banker that you can spawn every 2hours. But it's cosmetic/utility not affecting leveling, platinum or combat.

The most unique thing about rift is the class system. You choose to be one of the 4 standard archtypes Warrior/Rogue/Cleric/mage but then you have 8 subclasses or "souls" to play around with. You choose 3 subclasses of the 8 (56 combinations) and then you distribute 66 talent points (at lvl 50) between your 3 chosen souls (many combinations). This you can "save" as a "spec", and you can have up to 6 saved specs you can switch between any time you are out of combat.

So a mage can be single target dps, AE dps, healer or a support with buffs and/or mez, or some wierd combination you come up with yourself. Clerics can be healers, dps, AE dps and even tanks. Rogues can be melee dps, ranged dps, bard (support healing) and tanks. Warriors can be tanks and various kinds of dps. You can see skills here in the soul builder by choosing subclasses for the trees and adding points:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0z___

[davieddy]

Originally Posted by Dubslow

You're one to talk.

Any more of this gay banter and my cabbage crate will prang in the briny.

David

PS (again)

[firejuggler]

MMO-RPG
either Many men online Role-playing girl or Massivelly multiplayer online role-playing game