MMORPGs - Maple Story especially

[ElricJC]

Maybe I'm suffering some kind of brain damage, but I have recently gotten the urge to start playing an MMORPG again.  I mean, I really don't have oodles of free time, but on the occasional weekend when I have little to do and I am stuck at home, I remember my days almost 8 years ago when I played Ultima Online: Renaissance and had hours of fun, usually playing my craftsman more than my warrior.  And now I'm feeling a little nostalgic.

But UO, while it is still standing, looks to be little more than a shadow of its former self, though I like the fact that you can still play the game and never have to kill anything if you don't want to.  Sometimes I'd go on an run my little shop and just talk up the people, help the n00bs along, and occasionally participate in battle when I felt like it.  But if I am going to play so infrequently, the $12.95 a month UO charges is a little steep.

Then there is the ever present WoW, but my friends never thought much of it and I heard its a little stagnant - but I don't know if I could support my non-combat desires with WoW.

And then there is Maple Story.  I hear it's free, but I am leery of anything claiming to be free.  It also seems a little weird, a 2D side-scrolling MMORPG, and I also wonder if the content is safe to download.  I've been hit by numerous viruses lately and have repelled all of them, but I don't want to do anything to invite more to try.

So, to all of you here, what do you think?  I have heard Maple Story mentioned here a few times so it sounds like there are a few players.

So, what is the verdict on Maple Story by you folks?  Is it worth it?  Is it safe?  And is it really free?

EDIT:  Stewpid me, I just realized I posted this in General when I meant to put it in Games.  If any of our Mods feel like moving this, feel free.

[Foggle]

Eh, I'm not big on MMOs.  I play Guild Wars occasionally, since there are no monthly fees.  Still around $30 to buy, though.

Maple Story is, indeed, free, and contains no viruses.  It does, however, suck major ass.

[Necrominion]

I play maple-story for the fact it is free.  Although it is sub-standard it somehow still manages to drain hours of your life away.
  The only reason i play maplestory is that i have Guildwars but my PC is having problems with it.  I can play the game, but when it comes to changing equipment of selling crap that you usually pick up for dead monsters, it seems to crash  

[ElricJC]

I know of Guild Wars, a friend of mine played it a lot for a while, and it was ok. 

I've been reading reviews of Maple Story and they're almost universally poor, especially when it comes to the community.  And I know WoW has a reputation for having an ass holish community.  That led me back to Ultima, which once upon a time had a great community, I really loved it, I didn't care if its graphics engine wasn't as sharp as many of the newer games, the community was terrific.  But I also read that as its popularity base has shifted down sharply (only 250,000 registered users anymore), that has sort of gone to the crapper, but I like how it still has a place for non-combat characters in the world.  But I also hear land is limited for building, and that was my favorite thing to do - buy a building, set up my vendors, and just hang out with people.  And then the jerks drove me off the game.

Oh well...

[Necrominion]

Yeah, the community on Maplestory is about as much fun as a kick in the nuts.  When they arn't blasting you with abuse they are busy stealing your kills.  Quite frankly give it a miss.....

[ChazFox]

Hmm, there's actually a few free MMOs out there which are pretty good, though I probably wouldn't call them RPGs. Space Cowboy, for example is an MMORPG crossed with a combat flight game. It's actually pretty fun when you get used to it ^^

P.S. Couldn't help but notice this was in General and not Games. Was this intended? ^^;
P.P.S. ElricJC, a little off topic but is that a Magic The Gathering themed signature image I see? ^^

[ElricJC]

P.S. Couldn't help but notice this was in General and not Games. Was this intended? ^^;

I mentioned this at the end of my first post.

P.P.S. ElricJC, a little off topic but is that a Magic The Gathering themed signature image I see? ^^

Yes it is.

[Nabeshin_1040]

I play maple-story for the fact it is free.  Although it is sub-standard it somehow still manages to drain hours of your life away.
  The only reason i play maplestory is that i have Guildwars but my PC is having problems with it.  I can play the game, but when it comes to changing equipment of selling crap that you usually pick up for dead monsters, it seems to crash  

stop having a pc, that may help lol

srsly should i get guild wars? i love rpgs and it has nice graphics.

[Necrominion]

Well if you like RPG's, and you want the ability to go on, and complete quests with friends or random people, then seriously get Guildwars.  Although it hasn't got as big a cult following as WoW, it is completely free, just buy the game in the shop and that is it no subscription fee's what-so-ever .

[ElricJC]

Guild Wars does sound like the better choice for me right now - I really don't want to have to pay any monthly subscription fees or anything if I can avoid it. 

Since it is free (except for buying the game itself), what's the drawback?  Is the server really slow and laggy, like Battle.net?  I used to play Diablo II with a bunch of friends, and sometimes it would be fine, but at others when we had a group of four or more the game would lag so bad and start kicking everyone out, often while we were engaged in a fight with something nasty.

[Necrominion]

No the servers are brilliant, and the content is always updating, but your only limited to 20 levels, and the choice of class you can take is also limited.  Although there are options to travel and battle with friends, nine times out of ten (mainly me not sure about anyone else), you will be doing quests on your own.

[ElricJC]

Kinda sounds like Star Wars:  Knight of the Old Republic level wise (being limited to 20, which seems a little odd), and I was reading up on it some.  It seems to have a lot  in common with Diablo II - run around, with a group or without, beat the critters, get the treasure, and very little socializing goes on.  And one review says that "if you are looking for the kind of game where you can socialize with a lot of people and start a trade, this isn't for you."

I'm not really looking for a hack n' slash really.  I thought with the 'Guild' thing there might be room for tradesmen, but the reviews I saw said there really wasn't a market for secondary trade like that, due to how character make equipment that can only be used by them.

Again I will say that's why I liked Ultima Online - while the graphics were never brilliant, and some found it a hard game to get into (especially if you wanted to be a mage), there was a lot more to do in it for players who didn't just want to "Take Weapon A, stick into monster B, and collect treasure C."

Although there are options to travel and battle with friends, nine times out of ten (mainly me not sure about anyone else), you will be doing quests on your own.

This was repeated by several reviews as well.  Eh, if I just want to play by myself and thump stuff, I'll just pop Champions of Norrath or Baldur's Gate in and play at home.

Looks like if I want to sate my MMORPG urges, I'll need to pony up $12.95/month for UO.  Just seems damn steep.  If anyone has another idea for a good MMO where there is a community feel and room for a non-combat player, tell me.

[HA1L ILPALLAZZO]

I have WoW and to be honest I don't really think it's for your tastes.  you can either fight creatures and NPCs for xp or do the quests and also the option to play from 8 races (10 with the expansion) each with a selection of classes to choose from and a selection of professions for him to learn (My Undead Mage is a good tailor  ) however there are drawbacks. first off it can get tedious trying to get XP to level up, If you have PvP on you'll most likely be killed a number of times as high level players with nought to do attack smaller level players, although relatively cheap you still do have to pay (I pay £10 a month which compared to City of Heroes for example is pretty cheap) and to be honest you do need both the game and expansion to get somewhere. but hey it's social, most players are helpful and with a new expansion coming out and the game being around £8 ($16 maybe less) it is worth a look in. 

[FullmetalExcel]

I play never winter nights 2. And its the best!!!

Its played like 3rd edition D&D. The guilds in it are awesome. real close knit like UO and real friendly like. You have alot to choose from by class and race too. The games are big and there is a long list of monster there. or you can simply run the clothing store down the way. every server is different. you can make your own worlds and have other people play in them.

its the best. you have to buy the game and its expansion. but its free

[ElricJC]

Hey, that sounds pretty neat, I didn't realize there was a non-combat role in NWN 2.  I have ignored the MMO urge this semester, but this summer I may look at that, thanks FullmetalExcel.