Looking for an MMORPg with an actualy MMORPG.
Not a wow-cloned level-fest, but something with story, and players that aren't obsessed with just getting money or the best gear/items. Something that's got RP elements in to it.
I wanna play an MMO that I at least care enough to read the quest I have for a reason beyond knowing where to go.
I played EQ back in the day, in like 2000, back before blizzard turned the MMO genre from RP into a giant cash-grab.
I guess I sort of want to recapture that feeling. Back when you were grouping with people because of who they were, not their gear-score. When if someone was an asshole to guildies, they were kicked, even if they were the main tank for raids.
I remember, when I played EQ, it was a HUGE BITCH to travel great distances. No instant-teleport for cheap. You either paid out yer ass for a mage's guild teleport.
You know what choices I used to have when I played everquest to get to cross-world?
1. You walked.
This took 2 in-game days (bout a half hour), and if you were leaving free-point for say... qeynos, you'd pretty much spend the first night either trying to reach Rivervale for the night, or hugging a tree praying that the night-mobs wouldn't rape you. Cause during the day, the level was 10-15 of the mobs. At night? 47. And they were all undead RAPISTS. The second day was less dangerous.
Oh, before i continue, did I mention that when you died you respawned at your soul-bind... WITHOUT YOUR EQUIPMENT? You had 24 hours to get your body before it went from "Only u loot" to "whoever" loot.
2. You took your mount
Easily done in one day if you started at dawn and ran like a motherfucker. But oh wait, those were multiple plat and had a minimum level of 40ish. So you were probably not doing this
3. You took the free boat.
Probably the safest, BUT, it moved slightly faster than walking in the opposite direction. Typically 24 in-game hours (roughly 15 minutes) to get there. Just hope you didn't get knocked off the boat by random mobs, or PKed. Cause if you did, yer body fell into the oceans. Oh, protip: swimming consumes stamina, and you can't recharge stamina while swimming so yea... Yer pretty boned if u want that equipment back. Not to mention, the boats only came by every 15 minutes. Luckily, the first expansion gave a below deck, which made it much safer to travel by boat, but if you crashed or DC's youd be stuck in the middle of the ocean.
Oh, and I remember communicating. You wanna party up with that dark elf? Hope you speak his langauge, cause it randomized the characters into gobbilygook for anyone who didn't know your language. There was a "common" for the non-RP servers, but on the RP servers, you only spoke languages you knew. How do you learn a language? Someone teachs you. In pretty much real-time. (you have a 50% chance to gain a point in a language with each sentence you hear). But, the higher the rank, the more letters decoded.
Oh and questing, you wanna quest? Talk to an NPc (like, with the chat-bar). Hope you have a notbook handy, cause you get information on the quests by talking with them, and replying intelligently with key-words. No click them once, accept the quest. You had to work.
Sure, older MMO's were commonly a giant kick in the testicles for noobs, but they were more about the experience, and immersion than they were about power-leveling to 85 for raids. There were hours of content for all the level brackets. There were no optimum specs, everyone played how they wanted to play. And the PVP system was probably one of the best i'd ever seen (before they changes). Basically, anyone could attack anyone at any time. In town, in the bar, while they crossed a bridge. Whenever. But, in a town, guards came running to get whoever attacked, same with a bar. Players who commonly Pked became actually known by players and would be hunted.
Anyway, sorry about the rant, but basically, I'm triyng to find a game with a good playerbase and a bit more of an RPG feel than a cookie-cutter MMO feel. Even RIFT felt a bit to cookie-cutter in the end and i left. Right now, the only MMOs I have subs to are Star-trek online (I'm a trekkie and got a life-time at launch), and DC online (won a life-time from a forum contest (green lantern trivia)). I don't play DC though, and STO is occasionally. I want a fantasy game I can bring my friends into (they want an RPG experience in an MMO as well).
Suggestions?
TL;DR
I want an MMO that isn't a wow-clone.