MMORPG gaming history, part 1

I noticed via Twitter that some MMORPG players were tweeting lists of the games in the genre they had “ever played (even for just for like a day)”. Belghast has done a blog post on the same topic, with a link to the source Tweet, if you’re interested. Such a list is likely to be rather long for myself – I’ve tried a lot of MMORPGs over the years since I started in the genre. I’ll try and add a list of all the games I’ve played, it gets easier to identify the order of them after 2011 as I’ll have almost inevitably written about each one that I played at least once…

It’s something I’ve touched on before, but not in quite this much detail:

Mankind, 1999

I was bugged constantly by a work colleague to get this back when Internet access was expensive and oh so slow. The game had terrible graphics even by contemporary standards and was heavily PVP / ‘clan’ focused in gameplay. I never got past the first few months as it sounded like a second job, one that would interrupt my free time with calls to action.

Star Wars Galaxies, 2004 (?)

I registered a Station.com account back in Autumn 2003, ready for the “upcoming multiplayer Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided” game. I bought it, still have the original case on my shelf above my PC, but I only played the free month that came with the game box purchase – the directionless gameplay wasn’t for me.

World of Warcraft, 2007

We jumped into the mega-hit just after Burning Crusade launched in Europe. Typical timing as we were grinding slowly through the original game while most in our guild were wowing about the new content and (eventually) flying in chat. This was pre XP-curve nerfs, it took months to level up to 60 even.

Warhammer Online, 2008

The first game that I “cheated” on WoW with, albeit briefly. There was so much hype around this! I loved the public quest system and the class mechanics, but the heavy emphasis on PVP turned me off the game long before the bugs and other development issues drove away the masses.

Dungeons & Dragons Online, 2009

This was a busy year for discovering new games. I joined DDO back in the Spring 2009 before the free-to-play relaunch. It held me captivated for a while, and I had a lot of fun with my old guild in that game, notably in an all ranger group.

I have no 2009 screenshots of the Ranger group to share

Runes of Magic, 2009

Spring 2005 saw our gaming trio try Runes of Magic one weekend, for whatever reason we couldn’t play WoW, perhaps Moonglade was down? So we downloaded and tried the Runes of Magic game, though we didn’t get much past the second settlement. Up until this point it was just me trying other MMOs solo, this was the first game I encouraged friends to try as well – mainly because back then free to play games with a downloadable client were still a rarity.

Guild Wars, 2009

I almost forgot about when I started Guild Wars 1, I must have played it a bit back in 2009, but really got into it in the build up to Guild Wars 2‘s launch much later, when husband and I played through the various expansions to unlock the tie-in rewards for the latter game.

Lord of the Rings Online, 2010

I fell deeply in love with this game when I started it. The world was (and remains) such a lovingly detailed and eminently explorable aspect to the game. When I joined Mirkwood was out, or about to be, so the starter zones were very low population, something that I really lamented at the time.

Bree Fields circa 2009

Allods Online, 2010

If ever there was a free to play game that had wasted potential, it was Allods. The game had style to spare, and was great fun to play. If only they provided more opt-out for the PVP (both on ground and on ship)! I see via Massively they are still producing patches. That’s a game I should revisit, the gibberling ‘race’ were so well animated!

Three cute characters for the price of one!

Star Trek Online 2010

I could not have said I’d tried STO back in 2010, but I have the welcome email from back in the Autumn of that year. Perhaps I just pre-registered? Not a game I played until later after its free to play relaunch.

Everquest 2 (Extended), 2010

When the free to play EQ2 launched in late 2010, I was there for Freeport’s grand opening, though I didn’t start this blog until the following February, so I have no post to commemorate when I started in the game.

Final Fantasy XIV, 2011

Yes, I tried the 1.0 version of Final Fantasy that summer, and it was a very different beast. Not good enough to keep me subbed, but I could see the potential of what the game would become.

Rift, 2011

The first of two heavy-hitting MMOs in my gaming history, I joined Rift soon after its launch back in the spring of 2011. I’d learned from coming late to other MMOs that being there for launch is important!

Star Wars the Old Republic, 2011

I joined the game in beta just before launch, and was heavily invested in the game by the time servers opened for real. It forms part of a smaller core of MMOs that I will always happily return to to level a new alt or play new storylines.

Tera, 2012

I wonder if 2012 was the ‘peak MMO release’ year? I have a lot of entries for this year. I tried Tera for the first time in January of this year. I was impressed by the games combat and Big Ass Monster fights. I ended up playing some with my niece, and my husband over the years, we even joined a guild for a while.

Aion, 2012

I tried Aion free to play this spring, liked the gameplay but knew that it wasn’t the game for me when I saw how grindy the crafting was to level.

2012 To be continued…

End of part 1.

As with Belghast’s post, I’m going to split this topic here, roughly half way in years through my MMO gaming history. There’s been a surprising amount of research on wikis and digging through emails needed for this part. I reserve the right to make some edits after writing the sequel as I may have forgotten some games. Part 2 will carry on through the second half of 2012, and on to the present!