What will be next best MMORPG?

[IcemanXBOX]

I use to play EQ got rid of it a few months ago alls i do is think about it and wanna play again,it is too late to get back into since everyone has 100aa and great gear etc. What do u think will be the best MMORPG tons coming out ( shadowbane SWG eq2 etc) i know alot of you get to play on the betas so i am just wondering if someone can voice their opinion plz, also any1 hear how Ashren Call 2 is?
thx
Ice Man

[Eomer]

Hard to say, so many of the recently released MMOG's have supposed to have been EQ killers, or at the very least a lot better than EQ, but it seems none of them can capture the same magic EQ has in the past. I give up making predictions, although I am looking forward to Planetside, not really a RPG though.

[Coral]

SWG? Maybe, but I doubt it.

EQ2? More likely.

WoW? Hmmm. I like what I've seen, but it will be 2005 or so given Blizzard.

[Sows McBuff]

each game that has come out has tried to go head to head with EQ's playerbase and failed horribly. remember DAoC? yeah, they got a month or two out of maybe half the EQ players who were getting a little bored in velious, but they trickled back in and while camelot may still have enough players to perpetuate itself, it doesn't boast anywhere near the subscription level of EQ. how about anarchy online? a good and interesting premise, a futuristic world with more individualized experiences; but extremely buggy at release, to the point of being unplayable. if your game isn't even playable to the point where people can at least walk around and interact, players will lose interest fast.

I'm not saying EQ was the epitome of perfect programming when it came out; shit there are still more bugs in it than they know what to do with. the thing is tho, they generally aren't system-crippling, game-killing bugs.

EQ also is based on the fantasy/D&D-style game that appeals to a lot of us...erm, for lack of a better word, geeks while the average player demographics may have changed from when EQ first came out, I'd bet it's safe to say most of the original players were either heavy into computer games (MUDs, FPS, strat games, etc.) already, or friends of people who were.

what will the next big thing be? dunno, i'm not psychic. the thought of starting over in EQ2 doesn't appeal to anyone I know, but there are a lot of people who are interested in the graphics and the storyline. personally I think the lack of portability from EQ is going to be eq2's downfall. I suspect it will have a DAoC-like existence; a big bang, a high subscriber base for the first 3-4 months, and then a fall from grace as people lose interest or as other games come out. will there ever be another game as powerful as everquest? hard to say. that they got so many of us to spend ~$150 US on software per account, plus months and months of subscriber fees (at $10 or $12 a pop) says something about the drawing power of a simple game that lets you play in a fantasy world with hundreds of other people.

[Rezz]

I'm not sure it's right to even classify SWG as a mmorpg anymore >< I heard some interesting stuff about a game called Dragon Empires, but who knows. WoW seems like the next big thing from what I've seen though, and that's probably at least a year and a half away from completion still =/

[Shik_forgotmypass]

yeh pretty much none of these new rpgs can touch eq..whether its just that for me, eq was my first mmorpg so it seems godly all the old memories or what.
AO was interesting..but never took off
Daoc was ok, but no lastability, not worth leaving eq over(when i still played)
E&B i actually didnt mind but definetly didnt get very into
AC2...played for 10mins looked ok, but too plain
in SB beta atm...seems ok, just like eq, but with shit movement, shit camera, shitty graphics..eq is a superior game and 4 years old.

SWG will be hugely successful, cos every star wars fan will play, and verant will make it eqesque so they get hooked
EQ2 will have the whole eq community going for a while but yeh might not last
WoW looks good, and blizzard have a good record but hmm dunno~

also, is it really worth getting addicted to another game, i think thats what keeps my negative about all the new ones i try, knowing what they will do to you.

[Mkai]

Been playing AC2 for almost a month now and I have to say it's a pretty good game. Been out of EQ since I started playing it. I do have to admit that it's missing some stuff to cover the people not interested in xping to 50 asap or not interested in crafting.
But since the game is only a months old and I'm not 50 yet, I'm eagerly waiting to see what they are going to put in it to try to keep interest/addicted in game.

SWG should be good if everything I've seen about it goes live. Guess we will know april 15th.

M.

[Mitsy]

I'm currently in Beta2 for SWG. I can say it will be hugely successful based on the fact they have over 400k+ registered people on their website and about 250k signed up for beta. Even if only the people who signed up for beta played it would still make the biggest start for an online game. Can't say much about the game because of NDA. But it's starwars so will have alot of people buying it for name only. But it's also one character per server so I'm not sure what the life span of an account will be. When the NDA is lifted I'll have to give ya a full review. =)

[Eomer]

For now, a simple "it's good" or "it sucks" will suffice!

[Mitsy]

Can't say yet Eomer. Haven't seen the full game. We only get bits and pieces. =) Don't wanna say more and blow my chance of being 1 of 2000 picked from 250k apps =p