So what were/are the best aspects of all the MMORPGs you have played Tay?

Ultima Online(pre-EA)- The standard to which all pvp experiences are held. Your first mmorpg game is the equivalent of your first love. It's hard to leave them, and everyone else has to match up to their good qualities. I still remember my first day in Ultima Online. I also remember downloading the beta with my slow internet connection (it took several days). The very first thing I did was walk around town and get myself killed by guards... I tried to steal some items from one of the shops. lol
After that, I wanted to see if you could kill anyone anywhere. So I pked someone...it was all downhill from there. One of the best things about UO was the fact that you could kill anyone, anywhere. Sure, you may get whacked by guards, but you could still assassinate people in town. (Someone even assassinated Lord British in Beta)Although many people thought it was a world full of pks and griefers, there was a natural balance. Many of the people on the good side would band together to fight the player killers. Here are a few good things about Ultima Online (Pre-Ea/Trammel).
- Looting corpses completely
- Skill based, not level based
- Being able to steal things from people
- Easily obtained items
- Large user base with people from all walks of life: roleplayers, traders, pks, etc.
- Player Housing (You need a place to put all of your stolen loot!)
- Chopping up corpses - lol
- A pvp system that was strategic in certain areas
Dark Age of Camelot(Andred PVP Server)- Dark Age was the first game that I played with a castle siege system. You could siege a castle at any time of the day. There wasn't a set time for sieges. This made things a little more realistic. Many people complained about the "ninja ganking" of the castles, but it didn't happen very often. The very best aspect of the pvp servers was the completely open system. You could kill people anywhere except the major cities. You also gained experience from killing other people. There was also a system put in place so that you wouldn't gain anything (realm points or experience) from killing extremely low level players. It looks like World Of Warcraft adopted this color coded system as well.
Star Wars Galaxies- The game with the best, most recognized story. A game which is BASED on an inter-galactic war. You should be able to find pvp anywhere, anytime...right? Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. The pvp system in SWG was flawed from the beginning. There is a covert/overt system in place. If you don't want to fight atthe moment, then you change to covert status. No problem right? Well, if you choose to be covert, there should be something to stop you from going overt at any moment. This problem created the group-TEF(Temporary enemy flag) issue. I still don't think this has been solved. Here is how it works. You have one overt person in a full group of coverts. The overt member of the party runs into town and grabs the attention of an overt member of the opposing faction. Once the member of the opposing faction attacks the overt member of the group, the rest of the covert members can attack the opposing faction member(instant gank). Usually I don't have a problem with ganking, but this is the only type of pvp that took place for the longest time. The good things about the game have nothing to do with pvp. I thought the crafting system in SWG was pretty good. It is very similar to the UO system. The bank/trading system in SWG is excellent. SWG has(had?) the largest maps I have ever seen in an MMORPG. It took forever to reach one side of a planet to the next....and there were several planets to explore. The player housing in SWG is one of the best.
The jedi system is a joke. How can there be 345,786 jedi walking around during a time that the jedi were in hiding? Many people predicted that the pvp would be focused on jedi in the future. Which means....grinding x100. Let's not forget the insane amount of BS you have to do to unlock your jedi slot.
The customer support from SOE(Sony Online Entertainment) was/is the WORST I have ever experienced. It is so bad that I have promised myself to NEVER play another game created by SOE. Many of the most important issues in the game are constantly ignored. SOE created a forum system that allowed members of the community to bring up issues that effect their profession directly to the developers. Bounty Hunting was one of the most screwed up professions. You know things are bad when the designated voice of your profession quits his position after being ignored for months. Shameful!
Lineage 2 The game which personifies a love-hate relationship. The grind is ridiculous, gaining adena isn't easy until you learn all the tricks, pvp system is flawed...but, it's one of the most addicting games ever. In Lineage 2, character interaction gets personal. Unless you are botting, you would be pretty agitated if someone pked you and stole the 30 minutes to an hour it took for you to obtain that experience, wouldn't you(unless you are a veteran of course)? The graphics in Lineage 2 are the best that I have seen. The castle siege system is convenient for people in the U.S., but Lineage 2 is one of the most diverse games I have ever played. Many people have to wake up at odd hours of the night to participate in sieges. Sure, there is the European server, but who the hell wants to reroll and leave all of their friends behind?
Lineage 2 creates the most emotion of any massively multiplayer online roleplaying game that I have ever played. A lot of people take things personally in this game. This only makes it more fun to kill them. Unfortunately, Lineage 2 is 90% grind, 10% pvp. Anyone who tries to deny that is either botting, has no desire to hit 75, or just defending their addiction.
World of Warcraft The best aspects of WoW are:
- Plenty of pvp
- More skill involved in pvp
- Easy to level - Gives you more time to kill others, explore, gain items, etc.
- Decent graphics - The particle effects in WoW are the best that I have seen. The graphics are pretty damn good; most screenshots don't represent the game properly. The bright colors and tacky armor is nauseating at times, but it's just like Warcraft 3.
World of Warcraft doesn't have the same emotion attached to it like Lineage 2. WoW doesn't make me want to keep up with the news (Who controls Aden? Which clan is at war with this clan? OMG, so and so was pked off the server?) The clan versus clan conflict is watered down. If there are a few clans of idiots on my side of the war, I can't kill them freely. I'm not allowed to declare war on them or anything. If you have two equally skilled opponents duel each other, the player with the best gear will win. Common sense? Well, of course it is. But, sometimes the fights are so lopsided because the better equipped player has "uber" gear. It's not really an issue since you can obtain the gear with the right amount of effort, but its effort that is almost required to compete at the elite level.

Well, that about sums it up. Stay tuned for the conclusion of this multi-part article. Until next time, keep grinding, keep killing and don't murder yourself over a video game. If you get killed, write down the name and seek revenge in the future.

Best MMORPG - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4