MMO's for a noob

[The Saltman]

So I know TOR is almost 6 months away but I honestly haven't the slightest clue about MMO's. Do you play with a group of people and what if you don't have the time to play when they want to play and vice versa. Do they basically just kick you out of the group and you have to play solo? How does it all work?

Teach me.

[PanthersFanNY]

Every MMO:

Grind to level up.

Grind to get to end game.

Grind to get better gear (repeat forever).

But no, the situation you said never happens in an MMO. You don't play with the same players each time you log in.

[The Saltman]

awesome thanx

[Zaximus]

Well, I play WoW so I can really only speak on that right now.

There's a lot of ways to play it though. You could be really casual and just level up, do dungeons at max level for gear, or just start a new character and work on a lot of "alt" characters. You could also do some PVP when you want.

If you wanted to be a bit more serious you could level your guy up, get geared the best you can, then do raids (10 or 25 man modes) to kill bosses. Some guilds raid 3-5 nights a week and are really hardcore. I raid like 2 nights a week with the guys I play with (and have been playing with off and on since WoW came out 6 years ago). Some people play WoW strictly for PVP. You can get really hardcore in pvp too and do arenas and BG's to get high rating and gear.

It's really a time sink and a place to just spend your time. If my friends stopped playing I'd probably quit too. They've made a game like WoW more casual over the years because that is where the money is.

[cookinwithgas]

Been playing LOTRO for over 3 years and still enjoy it. My current toon I mostly solo unless I really need something I can't get alone. My friend from work switched from WoW and has 5 characters that all do different crafting stuff and he's leveling them all at the same time.

[Captroop]

If you're just getting into the Genre, may I humbly suggest Silkroad Online? It's a free MMO that's actually very playable. It's easy to get into, rewarding to play over the long run, and since it's free it's not all or nothing. you don't feel like you have to play all the time to make it worth your money. You play when it meets your schedule. I'll stop playing for months, (and once even for a whole year) and I can come back, my character is still in the system, and I can pick up right where I left off. Also, since it's free and users come and go, you can get in a guild and they don't expect you to be on every night. Only time I got kicked out was when I left for a year.

[The Saltman]

Sounds good. I doubt Ill have time to be in a guild but just wanted to make sure when I play the people playing with me will be in the same level. Is that what happens you are randomly put in a group with the same level characters?

[Captroop]

Sounds good. I doubt Ill have time to be in a guild but just wanted to make sure when I play the people playing with me will be in the same level. Is that what happens you are randomly put in a group with the same level characters?

I can't speak for other games, but in Silkroad you can do a party search that tells you all the parties that have been formed, a description of the mission they want to go on, and the levels of the members in the party. So you can filter down the group you want to party with. You send a message asking for a party invite, and if you get accepted an icon shows you where on the map your party is, so you can go meet them.

Or you put a group together yourself. You'll never get dropped into a random group. And I think that functionality is pretty consistent throughout the MMO genre.

[Darth Urious]

I was playing LOTRO for a while, but haven't in months...

I enjoy playing solo, but having a couple good friends to call on if I need help with something, which is rare if you look into your character build and play style to fine tune it to what you want to accomplish...

Basically, it is a way to kill time when you are bored...

[cookinwithgas]

DU was a leveling freak. I created a toon on his server to play and he was already like 10 levels above me.

[Darth Urious]

DU was a leveling freak. I created a toon on his server to play and he was already like 10 levels above me.

lol I think you caught me and passed me though... I crapped out about 46 or 47 I think... I got bored of the grind...

[cookinwithgas]

haha no way I left that toon at like 17 or 20 and got back on the old server. My rune keeper there is a 35 now, he's been rolling along pretty good.

As you get into the 50s you start getting into Moria, that place is really huge, like a whole other game really.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

MMOs have become a glorified social network.

[blackcatgrowl]

MMOs have become a glorified social network.

Truth.

Hell, Blizzard has tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to turn Battle.net into competition for Facebook.

But they are successful in a way I guess... because as far as the "Game" itself goes... only a handful of people really plays WoW because they like the "game" aspect of it. Most play it for bragging rights of who has the most uber equipment, or unique character model modifications.