re: MMO that you have played and your opinion of them

All of the ones I've tried?

Everquest - a classic, first of its kind.
EQ2 - WoW on hard mode
WoW - EQ2 on easy mode
LOTRO - Was pretty fun, but DPS outpaces most everything else
GW2 - Fun, but crafting is bloody heck near useless
SWTOR - A lot of fun, great solo play and fun story line
Star Trek - It's okay, the storylines are more fun. End-level battles are dang near impossible.
Star Wars Galaxies - Was amazing before they screwed with the class system
City of Heroes - Was okay, had fun in it
DC Universe Online - Not enough selection in powers
EVE Online - F&*^ No.

This post is going to take a while lol!

The Original Neverwinter Nights on AOL - This was the game I broke my MMO cherry on waaay back in 1996 just prior to AOL going to a per-month fee for internet access. It was a 2D, 8-bit graphics, turn-based game that was more text than graphics. At this time in MMOs the vast majority of players had been fans of pen & paper D&D at some point so RP'ing was pretty big.



--PVP was a chess game in that you had to decide what spells to have ready (some had the same graphics and messages as others) and when to use them.
--People that tried ganking you in PVP areas were referred to as "jumpers" because they would come into the combat screen once some computer-controlled encounter began.
--AOL had stopped updating the game so bugs weren't fixed. One fun one was "necro'ing" people that came into your combat cloud. You could have a max of 6 players in combat and if one died and someone else jumped into the combat to take their place you could cast on the other player's corpse and the new player would take the effect.
--The only time you saw your character was in combat or if you were changing their gear/colors.



Meridian 59 - As I forayed out into the wider internet world I happened on Meridian 59. I don't think I ever figured out how to leave the newbie area



The Realm Online - As NWN was shuttered (to make way for AOL's games that weren't covered by the flat monthly fee) most of my guild went to The Realms. It was another 2D job, but with far better graphics and lots of customization. You could create names for pretty much anything (I would buy jugs of alcohol and name them Bardweiser then hand them out to random folks).



--At the time the game had an unlimited ceiling on levels. This would play a big role in PVP.

--This was my first gaming experience where your character could have their own home.

--Combat clouds in this game were visualized from the outside by literal combat clouds...



This game is still running. [link=(www.realmserver.com)]LINK[/link]

Ultima Online - Another game my guild had a large presence in post-NWN. I played for a bit, but it was mainly a hold-over for this new game coming up called EverQuest that was supposed to be insanely good.

--The game was fun but I started a bit behind the curve of power-players and never could catch up, especially since this was around the time PK'ing was becoming an art form thus any newbie like myself was going to die not long after leaving the safety of town. A high0end guildmate had a foot locker he kept the skulls of PK'rs he encountered.

--The game was very deep with how far your could take crafting or what sorts of activities you could engage in. I went into a tavern one night and another player challenged me to a game of chess, so we spent all night playing chess within UO



Everquest - This was the big mack-daddy of MMO's for North America. It wasn't the first but due to its timing it quickly became the most widely played and thus taught people a lot of lessons about themselves. People got divorced because of the game, people got married because of the game, at least one guy committed suicide, people learned the fine art of hacking game files so they could set up mapping tools, see what new content was coming, exploit various mechanics the devs hadn't thought through, people were busted having cyber sex, people were busted having cyber sex with someone they only thought was a female, and on and on.

--The game itself was a huge fricking time-sink. Aside from the first handful of levels, it took most players months to reach just mid-game. IIRC the first level 50 didn't happen until at least 6 months after release. This was due to the ever-expanding amount of experience one needed to get to the next level and how lower-level content would quickly offer NO experience.

--The death penalty likewise became more harsh as one leveled. Because of this it wasn't uncommon to see people run for the zone line rather than die. This in turn created interesting issues in certain zones...





Anarchy Online - At some point I ventured from the medieval fantasy genre and went futuristic with AO. The game was fun and had its quirks (I also had a high-level friend who decked me out with awesome gear), but eventually I drifted back to EQ and all my old gaming friends. Eventually we would all leave EQ for other pursuits.

EQ2 - This was supposed to be the updated "EQ of the future". It had a much more entertaining and robust crafting system, far superior graphics and it had voice-overs (which added a whole new depth to the game). Unlike the original you had actual facial customization (which I am a big fan of) but in the end it still came down to hack-n-slash with a little more "bring me x amount of y pelts".


City of Heroes - Once again I became disenchanted with the EQ franchise so this time I ventured into the superhero genre with City of Heroes.

--Being a big fan of character customization, this game hit the right spot with me. I (as well as many others) could (and did) spend hours in the character customization system. Capes, lightning sparking from eyes, glowing hands, changeable colors on ever costume piece... it was great!

--The storylines were fun and interactive for their time.

--The powersets were fun and all had their pros and cons. Playing a "Super Strength" character really had that super-strength feel, moreso than any other game of the genre.

--Bases could be as unique as you could imagine.

--The new content was usually really fun and the graphics were always top-notch.

--Base costs were far more than an average player could afford and the game lacked any real endgame content other than chasing badges and mods. Ultimately the latter is what caused me to drift away from the game.



Champions Online - The game was a lot of fun in the beginning levels, especially with all the Easter Eggs. Eventually though it suffered from being too deep. Anyone could access any power so instead of knowing a lot about a few things you felt like you only knew a little about a lot of things and that ended up getting you killed. A lot.



Star Trek Online- This was before it became a huge cash grab. The worlds you explored were amazingly devoid of life other than the enemies you were sent to defeat. The space battles though... putting it on a large television with surround sound looked and felt like a movie. Still, that wasn't enough to keep my attention for long.

I've played plenty but Dark Age of Camelot was leagues ahead of everything else for me. The PVP was amazing and there was plenty of shite talking on the forums.
Here's a video of my old guild Meiva on Hib/Guin for any oldtimers that might be interested.
Meiva