Any MMOS play like Single player RPGs?

buckaroobonzai

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The question is, are there any MMOs that play similar to a progressive single player RPG, meaning there are more things to do then just grind, and craft. Also it should have multiple solution paths (combat or stealth or hacking or dialogue etc.) and somewhat of a compelling story.

As far as MMOS go I have only been interested in the gameplay style of NWN where you can play online but play story mods and have an effect on the gameworld.

Any games worth looking into for someone who desires this type of online game?
 
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Guild wars nightfall is said to have good sp playable campaign. It has npc:s even that you can part with. Other than that lotro perhaps - it has storybased campaign.
 
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Actually; there are none to be honest. The Star Wars MMO that Bioware is working on may be the thing you are looking for though. It should be heavy on the story and character development.
 
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I will definitely check out Guild Wars Nightfall. See what it brings to the table.
Hmm so the KOTOR MMORPG may be the game to look at when its out.

What do you guys think of these:

EVE online
Jumpgate Evolution
Star Trek MMO
Star Gate MMO

Would any of these have some of those qualities I mentioned?

What about MUDS, are they worth playing?
 
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Nothing to do but grind and craft? Errr, all of them could work for you, depending on what 'grind' means to you. To me, 'grinding' means doing quests with virtually no story and little challenge ("go hunt 5000 rats, just cuz"). If you don't care about stories much, or if you've been in a game for a long time and have already seen all the stories, then you're left with just the challenge. But a challenge can take you pretty far as long as it stays challenging. I see a lot of self-inflicted grinding out there where people get fixated on getting the most xp/minute and end up spending weeks boring themselves to death instead of having fun because the fun thing isn't the "optimal" thing.

Hmmm.... maybe it would be better to go about this from the other way around. What DO you like about games? You already mentioned multiple solution paths. What counts as a solution path? Does it need to be as radical as fighting vs dialog vs sneak by them? Or would different battle tactics work?

EVE Online is a very different sort of game. From what I've heard it takes more time than most MMOs and has a nasty learning curve, but it can really reward you if you can get it figured out. FAR more economics than any other MMO.

Jumpgate and Star Trek aren't out yet.

Was Star Gate cancelled? Hard to remember. There are a LOT of MMOs that get announced then never see the light of day.
 
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Eve online doesnt really have a written story. Its a sandbox mmo where you make your own story. Im not sure but I think jumpgate is mostly like sandbox too.

Star trek / star gate - if they are ever released. I thought star gate is allready having problems and is due to be cancelled soon.
 
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EVE Online is the closest to a "singleplayer RPG", if that RPG is Elite. So yes, it's completely sandbox - you can do whatever you want: mine, fight NPCs ("rats"), do missions, trade, fight players (massive fleet engagements? small scale action? pirating and extortion? all possible). It's the one game where you aren't forced to team up ("Oh look, a 40 man raid.. time to find me a guild!") and could make it on your own just doing your thing.

Still, if you're interested in a more classical fantasy experience, Guild Wars is a decent choice (plus there's no subscription), probably Nightfall as mentioned. I've also heard some good stuff about LOTRO, but I wouln't be hopeful - it's still the same old MMO formula.
 
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Believe it or not WoW has been doing a great job recently with changing the world environment of a player to player basis. They initiated a new phasing system which allows for one player to experience different locations than another. It's almost like instancing the game environment.
 
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You can get pretty far playing LOTRO, especially as a Hobbit hunter. They did such an amazing job with the Shire. It was one of my favorite gaming moments. Later in the game you will have to fellow, but there are tons of folks that will help even if you are antisocial. Trust me I know :)
 
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Actually, I think quite a few MMOs cater to single players now. City of Heroes can be solo'd all the way to the level cap if you avoid the story arcs with archvillains/heroes in them. Those would be the best stories, though, and teams are a heck of a lot more interesting to play in, too. Single player action in any MMO gets dull long before you hit the level cap.

(Kinda what you would expect, really. How many single player video games do you play for 400 hours?)
 
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I think Zloth has made few good points there. Typically, in Wow at least, there are quests with stories. However, those stories do not develop your character's persona; reputation (with other players); or overal philisophical thoughts/psychology. There are no moralistic decisions to be made, and no party members to develop. In short, character development is grossly limited. Your end game character is more or less developed by his guild and gear. NPCs are dispondent. Clearly these are general. If you are looking for a multiplayer roleplaying game then I would look into RPGs that you can play over lan with a friend.

I would check out bioware games which offer LAN multiplayer usually. Diablo has some, and even a still popular and active battlenet population which may interest you.

Good luck.
 
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I think Zloth has made few good points there. Typically, in Wow at least, there are quests with stories. However, those stories do not develop your character's persona; reputation (with other players); or overal philisophical thoughts/psychology. There are no moralistic decisions to be made, and no party members to develop.

Newer mmos like Age of Conan, LOTRO and guild wars do have som of that all. They all have main stories. Also just yesterday I refused to do few quests in AoC because i didnt like what I was asked to do. And before that one NPC was disappointed of my actions in another quest. Also guild wars does have developable party members.

The new bioware mmo might have all that extended to a new factor.

If you want more rp and story you can also join an active rp guild on rp server. In example the roleplaying pvp guild Im with is offering roleplayed levelling aka levelling will be tied to player generated story. Thats just one part of it though. I have nice lot of rp in uo even - all player generated.
 
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That's surprising, but good. I think I would def. like to see a move towards more MMOs having those personal, developmental quests. Ha, thinking of when I played on a Wow rp server... didn't really work out =)
 
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!!!! A roleplaying PvP guild? What's this guild called? Oil'n'Water? ;)
 
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!!!! A roleplaying PvP guild? What's this guild called? Oil'n'Water? ;)
Huh? Most rp guilds are PVP-RP. Roleplaying needs as much freedom as possible so open pvp is needed.

Note that PVP-RP means that the PVP is done in character.

If you want som names then i.e Guardsman Militia of Yew is famous from all the way from UO. Also there were several guilds that roleplayed orcs and goblins but I dont remember their orcish names.

That's surprising, but good. I think I would def. like to see a move towards more MMOs having those personal, developmental quests. Ha, thinking of when I played on a Wow rp server... didn't really work out =)
I tried wows pvp-rp server too and I found it severely lacking. Perhaps the game simply wasnt suited for it. Most RP-PVP fancy more pvp oriented games like AoC, UO, Shadowbane or Darkfall.

If you look at this political map of Darkfall you notice the yellow nation of Hyperion has rp guilds like Duchy of Wessex or Hyperion Royal Court lands:
http://members.sd-pk.de/DFPoliticalMap.jpg
 
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Lately I've played Age of Conan and it played well as singleplayer too. Actually there's a lot of quests that you can do only alone (and these are in main story). You could try trial version and check yourself if you like it or not.
 
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Sounds like you are looking for a good sandbox mmo...Ultima Online is an old mmo but you can do just about anything you want. A newer version of this is DarkFall Online where you can be a crafter, adventurer, pker, etc...
 
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Having played DarkFall Online, I wouldn't recommend it as a good single player MMO, because you really need a guild/clan (and good guildmates) to get anywhere in it. Sure you can solo in DFO if you want, but it will be difficult and most likely frustrating, as lone wanderers invite PKs like bees to honey.

Also, as the OP mentioned wanting to have a somewhat compelling story (plus dialogue to go with it), I'd caution that there is precious little story, quests or NPC dialogue in DFO. It is a sandbox MMO and the story (if you can call it that) is mainly created by the players themselves and by the interactions of different guilds/clans. I'd wager, this wasn't what the OP had in mind regarding stories and MMOs that play like single player RPGs.
 
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