EQ for 7 years? I think maybe 6. Tried Wow when it came out, but the EQ side was getting more interesting with raiding, so I played Wow for maybe 1 month
EQ2 came out and I tried that, but it didn't seem to have the same feel. I felt badly because I had to leave EQ rather abruptly, never got a chance to tell people good bye.
Played EQ from just after launch till EQ2 came out. Played EQ2 for a few months then went back to EQ. Felt all the instanced zones killed the community vibe of the game. Played EQ till VG came out. Was so hyped for VG but when it came it, it just felt broken and unfinished. I heard it got much better after about 6 months or so but didn't go back. Then I just bounced around from game to game for no longer than a month or 2 cause they just didn't hold my interest. Pantheon is the first thing to really grab my attention in the past 5-6 years.
Longest for me would be VG. That was the game that really got to me and made me want to log in everyday. I played from launch until they closed the doors. Didn't play much in the end, especially after they closed the PvP server; it was just too sad to be in that big, beautiful world mostly alone, but I still logged on sometimes just to fly around...
Before VG, my main game was SWG. I lasted for a bit more than a year, off and on. I also dabbled a bit in EQ (and later EQ2) but that was a busy time in my life, so couldn't ever really get too invested even though I may have wanted to.
After/at the end of VG, Rift held me for about 6 months. SWTOR for only a couple months. I had high hopes for Coprenicus. A bunch of others for a month or two...LotR, DDO, Guild Wars, Elder Scrolls, Wildstar, etc, etc, etc... Also, I made it to lvl 6 in WoW, but I'm not sure that counts. :)
I'm hopeful for Pantheon. Telon pulled me in and made me want to stay. I'm hoping Terminus has the same effect. I've been looking for a new home for a while now.
Everquest 1 from 1999 to I believe it was 2003, the POP expansion... They had trivialized my Wizard by adding fast travel everywhere ruined the game for me (it was a resentment I suppose)
WoW from 2005 to 2010 this time they normalized all the pet's.. first I had worked long and hard at my Wizard Epic Mount, and then they trivialized it and started giving that away. Then for my Hunter I had researched and hunted for weeks to get my "Special" pet's for my Hunter and they then trivialized that (all pets the same just the skin was different). That was the last straw.
It's like destroying all the work I had done.
You can bet the same will happen in Pantheon... Trivialize what I have done so others don't have to do what I did to get it, or make my char "just another DPS".. and it will not be long before I cancel my subscription. Not a threat.. just the whiny little brat that I am, and the way it is.
Most time spent playing an MMO was obviously EQ. I played from 2000 until 2005 and dabbled here and there between 2007-2009. I’ve played P1999 on and off over the past 3 years as well.
I quit EQ because I got irritated with how they kept changing the game, from my perspective, for no reason other than to change it. Using Mercs, heavily instanced, terrible progression curves, bad expansion ideas, evolving items, alternate currencies,etc I could go on but all of that is junk that never should of been added.
I realized after a few years how EQ really was not meant to be expanded to the level it was. The power curve is really out of whack and old content is quickly trivialized.
I also really disliked the way they expanded the game (even when Brad was there). I think they purposely split up player bases by having players leave the old world zones and migrate to new expansions. The new expansions provided everything players needed so the old zones were quickly vacated and abandoned. This really bothered me because I liked grouping in the old zones.
I know Pantheon is going to do better with progression. I just hope that when they add expansion content that the content is adventure zones only and that players will still need to travel to/from the original game even when the expansion is in place.
@bigdogchris
I agree with the expansions. Although I thought Kunark and Velious were great expansions. As you stated, they provided everything players needed and increased xp generation, essentially enticing many players to just stay there, Velious moreso than Kunark.
Hope VR's expansion plans do a better job of adding content without abandoning previous content.
Fulton said:@bigdogchris
I agree with the expansions. Although I thought Kunark and Velious were great expansions. As you stated, they provided everything players needed and increased xp generation, essentially enticing many players to just stay there, Velious moreso than Kunark.
Hope VR's expansion plans do a better job of adding content without abandoning previous content.
This is something that's probably worthy of it's own topic. Not so much the addition of mobs with better exp returns when new content was released, but later in EQ things were often taken a step further to where exp yeilds were actually nerfed in the older content. I never liked the practice.
Longest MMO would be WWIIOL for 7 years from 2001 to 2008 . This game was all about being part of a Squad and subordinating individual goals to Squad and side goals . Dedication, Disciplin , Patience were the most important values. Unfortunately this PVP/strategy game makes only sense when there are several hundreds of players on both sides and a dedicated and intelligent High Command . When the population started to decrease much, I left because the whole Squad/Side team spirit disappeared .
But if the question is only about MMORPG, then it is more difficult .
N°1 would be EQ, some 5 years from 99 to 2003 (LDoN) . Actually my interest started to crash down with Luclin . The game post Luclin (Luclin included) looked less and less like EQ - factions became irrelevant, the story became irrelevant , the travel became irrelevant , the dicovery became irrelevant . Even classes started to be almost irrelevant .
On top almost all popular zones started to become ghost towns so that the game was actually restricted to a handful of zones where bored people farmed stuff or ground AA . For those who have known Norrath full of life in every zone 99-2001 this gave a sad, dead and empty feeling that I couldn't bear so I left .
To those 5 years my returns everytime EQ started a Time Locked Progression Server added some 1-2 years - first Fippy then Ragefire . On both I always had much fun untill about Velious and left after that . Unfortunately the raiding guilds decide about the life and death on these servers so the expansions were unlocked much too fast . This had again for result that the large majority of players who were like me, left at about the same time so that broadly after PoP the servers became ghost towns with only raiding guilds left . Talk about reigning over a desert :)
N°2 would be LotRO for some 5-6 years after 2007. This was the game I have been always coming back to when I felt like playing an MMORPG . The game play is not exceptional but the immersion and the feel of Middle Earth is . Angmar and Moria for instance are truer than nature . The epic quest is very good . The player basis is mature and helpful . The graphics (water, sky , architecture) are excellent for a game 9 years old . Unfortunately a story driven game like Lotro has a problem when one arrives to Gondor because there is not much more beyond . Actually the epic stops after the battle of Minas Tirith so that there is not much to do for a player (and there is a big potential problem for the game itself) .
N°3 would be UOL for some 2 years 98-99 and Vanguard for some 2 years around 2010 . Even if I enjoyed UOL, especially because it was like if the single player Ultima RPGs (surely the best RPG series in history) suddenly became interactive, it could not last . It was impossible to play 2 MMORPG at the same time and as EQ was consuming my time available for playing I had to leave UOL . All my friends on UOL went to EQ anyway so that I was left alone on the Trinsic bank's roof :)
As for Vanguard, when I discovered it around 2010, it was already a ghost town . I liked the EQ feel and I LOVED the starting towns (which became irrelevant with the Isle of Dawn). However having to solo through an empty world can't be interesting for a long time . The one thing I remember is that the player basis was polite and helpful . And everybody on max level :)
There is no N°4 but a long series of horrible failures that I tried looking to rediscover the EQ 99 enthousiasm and finishing fast disappointed .
WoW , AOL, Age of Conan, DAOC (less than 1 year), AION (a few months), SWTOR (1 month), TESO (2 months) and I certainly forget a dozen of other attempts where I didn't go beyond the first (generally free) month ;
EQ from 2000 till 2005, I blame my brothers for getting me into it. Horribly addicting and fun, played for hours as most did. EQ2 from 2005 to 2009 officially, then got an ultimatum from my wife so I quit, (at least while I was at home, I continued to play while at work and on trips). At that time catching me with another woman would have been less of a betrayal than being caught playing "that game." Good times. Tried Rift when it came out, till it went FTP and they began giving everyone what they wanted.
~ 12 years with EQ2 (summer of '04 until present day) with a few months off here and there. Presently enjoying the re-release of RoK on the time-locked expansion server (Stormhold, and it requires a sub to join, if any are curious.)
Dabbled with others: WoW, LOTR, Rift, TSW primarily.
VG, GW, GW2, AoC, SWTOR, and more I am likely forgetting - to far lesser degrees.
As years have gone on I've returned to single player games but I am patiently waiting for the old magic to return to MMORPGs ... ;)
First MMO was EQ (really never stopped playing it), played hard core up through the PoP expansion and then on and off through Omens of war. Tried to come back again to discover mercs were in. Being my main was a cleric I was looking to get into groups and get up to speed again, only to be told by somone that they didn't want a real cleric to take their loot away when they had a Merc that could do the job for free. So I logged out and never went back. Since then I've logged in once or twice for no more than an hour because I just couldn't stand the state of the game.
So I went to P99 where I found that feeling I was looking for again. Though I am ready for a new shiny MMO that hits the spirit of EQ/P99.
In between there I beta'd many games:
SWG (3 years) - Left because of NGE
Vanguard (3 years) - Left due to loss of interest, though I did come back several times. To be honest I was really stoked to play it up through beta and then on release something got tweaked in the easy mode direction and it just didn't feel the same after that though I and several friends did have a very good time for several years.
EQ2 (4 Years) left because I was tired of my raid gear being obsolete and usless compared to trash drops every expansion
Age of Conan (2 years) - left becuase all the stuff our guild raided so hard to get showed up on the shiny new cash shop
Others: Rift, LoTR, SWTOR, Blade and Soul briefly, PlanetSide2 (MMO?) still play some and I'm sure a few I'm forgetting.
MMO is my favorite genre and mainly because of early EQ/P99 style of game play. But outside of that only Vanguard came the closest to bringing that feeling back.
Oh and Wow attempts like 4 times at the request of friends but never for more than 1 week. Just couldn't get into that one.
Almost 19 years?
Started in 96 in the UO alpha, jumped to EQ1 in 98 when that beta invite came in, jumped to VG when that beta invite arrived - then the world ended. Helped on the VGO project. Now - gameless.
I would moonlight in many other MMOs as well, never leaving the core though. DaoC, AoC, Aion, AC2, SWG, SWTOR, EQ2, DaoC, ESO, L1, L2, MO, DDO, GW, RIFT, even wow for a few minutes (so bad).
Well I guess technically not all one game, but they have started to blend together for me as the years rolled by.
Longest run was EQ from 2000 to 2008. Although I have played many MMOs, typically for less than 6 months each. At times I would be playing more than one.
I think big dog chris said it well:
bigdogchris said:
I quit EQ because I got irritated with how they kept changing the game, from my perspective, for no reason other than to change it. Using Mercs, heavily instanced, terrible progression curves, bad expansion ideas, evolving items, alternate currencies,etc I could go on but all of that is junk that never should of been added.I realized after a few years how EQ really was not meant to be expanded to the level it was. The power curve is really out of whack and old content is quickly trivialized.
I also really disliked the way they expanded the game (even when Brad was there). I think they purposely split up player bases by having players leave the old world zones and migrate to new expansions. The new expansions provided everything players needed so the old zones were quickly vacated and abandoned. This really bothered me because I liked grouping in the old zones.
I left because I felt left behind. There were so many things I still wanted to do in Velious and PoP way after PoP was ancient history. My guild raided, but not hardcore by anyones standards. No matter how hard I tried, I was never even able to see the elemental zones in PoP, much less Time. Later, strange things came out, like evolving cloaks, tributes, mercs, ect... the list goes on. I couldn't keep up. I left because the game and the community left me in the dust. At 67th level I had to farm special items to trade in for my spells. But there was no one else left in the zones to help me farm them.
tehtawd said: Honestly, I can't remember how many times I quit world of Warcraft only to come back for the sake of friends. I'm sure I played from 2004 to 2009 with maybe a 6 month break. Wrath of the lich king was great but that's when, for me, things just got worse and worse. Since then I only play wow for about 3 to 8 months before I quit again. Just lvl to max. Do raid content. Then done. And even then it's still not the same. Sent via mobile -Todd
starting to think i may be your mirror universe doppleganger lol
for sure WoW held most of my time. i made some good friends there, people i by chance ran into in other games (old WoW guild leader started a guild in wildstar, we had lost contact but it was awesome to see the guild name, message him, and catchup). a very friendly RIFT guild that, that moved to swrtor, to GW2, which i believe has since disbanded, no longer plays any games. FFXIV where i met some kindred spirits, a lover, an enemy, friends that i can contact out of nowhere and its like the time never passed. i wouldnt have it any other way, i want attachment to the people i play with.
I only had just shy of 3 years on EQ if you count beta - Velious was the last expansion I purchased before quitting and leaving for DAOC!
Maybe a bit longer on DAOC because the PVP was super fun through the first three tiers and the group of us played through all three realms through all three tiers - never got past the first expansion (can't even remember if that was a purchased expansion or a free one). Super fun when the ownership of that one dungeon changed realms and you happened to be inside it. Choices were to get the heck out before the new realm horde invaded or lay in wait and fight to the death as the invading force materialized - not going to go down without a fight. And it was super fun in reverse.
Then WOW came out and on a subscription basis did it for 6 years. However, in those 6 years I don't think I actually had playtime accumulated to what I had put in with EQ. Only played until Wrath of the Lich King and nothing past that.
So, on one hand the longest subscription was WOW - based on who I played with combined with no other alternative. Eventually I quit because my other alternative was marriage and kids.
On the other hand I don`t think I put in as much accumulated time as I did in EQ. So, from that perspective EQ wins on the basis of time spent. I think Kunark was a well released expansion. But, for me, EQ became a failure after release of Velious. It seemed to me the content was anathema to the spirit of what was EQ. It ceased to be an adventure (a la D&D) and became a game to spend time.
By the time WOW was released the magic of RPG and MMORPG was way in the background and a game for friends to play together for limited periods of time was the rule of the day.
I so look forward to the next adventure-focus RPG reminiscent of the gathering around the table playing D&D and adventuring with friends and strangers, alike. MMORPG sure could use a boost with the return to that style of organization, adventure, play, and time spent.
See everyone in Pantheon.
Lifetime subscriber to LOTRO. Still playing, its Middle Earth.
8 years in Eve Online. Changes made to the industry, mining, research lost my insterest in continuing to play. Removing complexity from the game basic reason.
VG was my favorite MMO would have played the whole time but left when Sony took over removing certain unique features of the game. Removing complexity from the game basic reason.