Your Top 10 MMOs

[Falconeer]

Inspired by Schild's Top 20 ever, I would be interested in making up a completely useless MMO Top 10.

The rules are so simple:

1) List your Top 10 MMOs ever. ORDER IS CRITICAL. Your #1 is better than your #2 which is better than your #3 and so on. Duh.
2) It doesn't matter why you wrote what you wrote. It can be technical, emotional, professional, based on Potential. Who cares? Just list what you think are the Top 10.
3) Comments to your own list are fine, as long as they don't make the list unreadable.
4) Mocking other lists is ok but don't mix your list with your mockings or things will get messy.
5) Titles not yet released are not allowed in the list (No PotBS, no Warhammer, etc.)
6) Browser based are not allowed. It needs a standalone client to make it into the list.
7) Hybrids are: Hellgate doesn't count. Diablo definitely doesn't count. Guildwars shouldn't count but counts. Phantasy Star Online counts. Why PSO and no Hellgate? Cause the need for multiplayer in Hellgate is, sadly, close to none. Plus, how many votes is Hellgate going to get anyway?
*NEW RULE* 8) To have your list validated you need to name AT LEAST 5 titles. This is not the usual "name your favourite" poll. To work it needs you people give points to more than your dearest one, and I think you all have the knowledge to do that. No one here was ever scared by "not having played it long enough" before casting the usefully cynical commentaries. So please, at least 5 names.
 
On my part, I'll assign a score to every game "voted". #1s will get 10 point down to #10s getting 1 point. Then, based on this scores I will update the overall chart everytime a new list is posted.

Here is the updated chart:

Based on 187 votes.

----- The top 10 -----

1263 pts. - World of Warcraft
758 pts. - Dark Age of Camelot   
722 pts. - City of Heroes/Villains
696 pts. - Ultima Online
614 pts. - EverQuest
589 pts. - Eve Online
539 pts. - EverQuest 2
489 pts. - Star Wars Galaxies
466 pts. - Lord of the Rings Online
318 Pts. - Asheron's Call

----- 11th to 20th -----

288 pts. - Shadowbane
286 pts. - Anarchy Online
269 pts. - Planetside
254 pts. - Guild Wars
145 pts. - A Tale in the Desert
131 pts. - Final Fantasy XI
119 pts. - Puzzle Pirates
98 pts. - Dungeons & Dragons Online   
93 pts. - Lineage 2
89 pts. - Tabula Rasa   

----- 21th to 30th -----

68 pts. - Asheron's Call 2
67 pts. - Vanguard 
65 pts. - WWII Online
56 pts. - Horizons
46 pts. - Toontown
35 pts. - Earth & Beyond
32 pts. - Shadow of Yserbius
32 pts. - Saga of Ryzom
28 pts. - Neocron
26 pts. - Meridian 59 

----- 31th up -----

23 pts. - Air Warrior
20 pts. - 10six
19 pts. - Jumpgate
15 pts. - Runescape     
14 pts. - Auto Assault   
13 pts. - Maple Story
12 pts. - Motor City Online
12 pts. - Subspace
12 pts. - Dungeon Runners
11 pts. - Phantasy Star Universe
9 pts. - Endless Ages
9 pts. - FlyFF   
8 pts. - Neverwinter Nights (AOL)   
8 pts. - Voyage Century Online   
8 pts. - Minions of Mirth
7 pts. - Ashen Empires (was: Dransik)
7 pts. - EverQuest Online Adventures
7 pts. - Shattered Galaxies
7 pts. - Lineage
7 pts. - Rappelz 
7 pts. - Fury
6 pts. - Underlight
6 pts. - Test Drive Unlimited
6 pts. - Fung Wan Online
5 pts. - Mankind
5 pts. - Phantasy Star Online
5 pts. - Furcadia
5 pts. - Astonia
5 pts. - 9Dragons
5 pts. - The Matrix Online
4 pts. - Darnk 'n Light
2 pts. - Legend of Mir 3
2 pts. - Dofus
1 pts. - The 4th Coming
1 pts. - Face of Mankind




I update as soon as I can. The last EDIT is up to Lanc, reply #403.

[Falconeer]

I'll go first so you have something to ridicule if nothing else.

1) Ultima Online - They had nothing to clone and came up with something unbelievably deep. The wordliest of the virtual worlds. And without levels.
2) Eve Online - Elite meets Ultima Online. Meets Shadowbane. Meet art. Still without levels. Forever Love.
3) EverQuest 2 - The best diku ever to me. Beautiful world, great quests, so much content. It's quite an achievement to be this good BESIDE the dull combat.
4) Lord of the Rings Online - Diku, more of the same but with a gorgeous world and few layers of storyline on it.
5) World of Warcraft - EverQuest 2.01. Less soul than both the EQs but tons of polish to compensate. The overall quality is stunning.
6) Motor City Online - Too good too early. The world wasn't ready for it. Unique. I miss you. Rest in peace.
7) Shadowbane - "If only...". Best PvP concept ever. Period. And it's so obvious. Can't they just re-do it?
8) EverQuest - Some things don't need to be good, or beautiful. They just have enough charisma to change the world.
9) Star Wars Galaxies - It tried too many different things to not give it any credit. For a couple of months, it had so much Potential that it dreamed about being the best.
10) Lineage 2 - Too good looking to ignore it. The only one of the lot where the combat is so "POW!" that it almost makes the grind pleasant. Almost.


EDIT: Comments.

[geldonyetich2]

I hate to dump on you there, fellow "give Vanguard the benefit-of-the-doubt" supporter, but I don't think there's 10 MMOGs good enough to mention.  Right now, my list looks something like this:

1) City of Heroes
2) EverQuest 2
3) EvE
4) Planetside
5) The rest of you can rot.

[BigBlack]

1) Asheron's Call (Darktide)
2) Asheron's Call (All other servers)
3) City of Heroes
4) DDO
5) Puzzle Pirates
6) Planetside

Unless I'm forgetting something, didn't find anything else super appealing.  Bartle is ESK, split evenly 1/3 1/3 1/3.

Edit: Forgot ToonTown.  Stick that in at #7.

[Evildrider]

I'll just list the MMO's that I actually played more then 2 months.

DDO
SWG
CoH/CoV

[WayAbvPar]

1) UO
2) Shadowbane
3) WoW
4) EVE
5) CoH
6) EQ I
7) WWIIOL
8) AO
9) DAOC


I THINK those are the only ones I have played in retail.

Edit- crap- forgot WWIIOL.

[Falconeer]

I'll just list the MMO's that I actually played more then 2 months.

DDO
SWG
CoH/CoV

Are those supposed to be your #1, #2 and #3 respectively?

[Jimbo]

*1.  City of Heros/Villians -- I still have this on subscription and have been since 1st month (42 freaking months!)  I love making characters and beating up on things.  Plus if you play on the 2 popular servers you can find a team very quick @ all levels.
Good:  It is fast and set for combat, not fantasy, you can fly!  Bad:  The grind (allthough it isn't bad...it isn't great either), not enough developed things (pvp, collecting, crafting...those are in but ain't great).

2.  Toontown--  Was fun to play!  I dropped it from our household, since we spend it mostly on CoH, FPS's, single player games, and WoW.  Good:  Easy to play, easy to learn, had tons of features and lots of content.  Bad:  chat system was lame, but necessary.

3.  Planetside--  How I wish they could have gotten this to take off.  I think it is the hit or miss on fun.  Some nights it was a blast, some nights it wasn't.  Plus they needed a way for 1 side to win and restart.  Battlefield, Battlefront, Call of Duty, Tribes, and Team Fortress 2 have all replaced or chipped away at this game.  Good:  Even playing field, in that a newbie can kill a max level  from day one.  Bad:  Poor marketing, leadership, and implementation.  This could have been a great FPS, but it came off as meh.

*4.  World of Warcraft-- Subscribed to it still, it is a fun version of the fantasy genres.  I keep it subscribed to hop in and help my son out.  A couple of his friends from school will play it, so I'll come help out if they need it.  It sucks for them in that there isn't a lot of lower level population and trying to do quests is a bummer.  We actually have an easier time finding groups on CoH, and we play on a populated server.  But it is fun for questing, hunting, exploring, making stuff, buying and trading (damn the 11y.o. figured out buying and selling principales pretty quick).  Good:  Well polished fantasy game.  Bad:  Sucks for low levels.

5.  Asheron's Call--  Once again a great game the didn't take off.  I liked it because I could do stuff solo or do stuff in a group and the rewards seemed decent.  Maybe it was the fact that it was not standard fantasy that people didn't like it.  Good:  Good mix of how a game that you could log in and do stuff for 1 hour, or 12 hours (your choice) solo or grouped.  Bad:  Was very bland and classes out of wack @ start, was great after it had been out a while.

6.  Ultima Online--  Got me started on this internet gaming.  Was fun, but hectic, started in Feb '98, so has so many nutty stuff happen.  Plus there is so many things that happened in UO it was fun ride.  Good:  1st MMO's for me, wild ride.  Bad:  Way to many changes.

7.  WWII Online--  Another FPS that I was hoping would be fun.  I waited a year before trying it, and it was fun.  It was a great idea, but shitty implementation.  Good:  Massive battles with true combined forces, one side could win and reset the game.  Bad:  OMG!  The design people were idiots, they forgot to do the KISS method and made it some crap that took alot to figure out.

8.  DAoC-- I would say it was good because it had a good launch and not a lot of bugs.  I hate the grind, I wanted to go fight other people, not bash on monster.  Don't pitch a game being based on RvR then tell me it is going to take months before I'm on an even playing ground.  Good:  Neat classes, good launch.  Bad:  GRIND!  Fuck you Lum and Tweety and the rest of you assholes @ mythic. 

9.  Everquest-- I started playing this at launch, and I guess since I played a rogue, figher, and shaman I didn't care for it.  The class balance, dev teams vision bullshit,  and the grind tooks its toll.  Good:  Neat classes and world.  Bad:  Class balance, dev team vision, grind.

10.  Shadowbane--  I waited till it had been out a while (a year or two I think) and it still had problems.  Good:  Good idea of Guild vs Guild, neat classes.  Bad:  Class imbalance, no WASD movement,  seemed to be hard to get established if you weren't in a big guild.

*currently subscribed and have been since I bought the games

Do Diablo II LoD and Hellgate: London count?  They have a persistance world, but smaller instances.  

Edited:  I forgot about playing DAoC, it was fun and had a good launch, but turned into the grind fest.  The bottom three I listed but should put them at negative numbers, DAoC for promising to have fun but making you grind at it, Everquest for making you a psychology experiment, and Shadowbane for just having a shitty game (no WASD movement, grind, and poor class balance), I have no love for any of those games, but listed them since I have only played those 10.

[Evildrider]

I'll just list the MMO's that I actually played more then 2 months.

DDO
SWG
CoH/CoV

Are those supposed to be your #1, #2 and #3 respectively?

Oops, yep that works.

[Ratman_tf]

Do Diablo II LoD and Hellgate: London count?  They have a persistance world, but smaller instances.  

It might be the only way for some of us to get to 10. 

[Falconeer]

I don't think Hellgate counts. Diablo definitely doesn't count. Guildwars shouldn't count but counts. Phantasy Star Online counts. Why PSO and no Hellgate? Cause the need for multiplayer in Hellgate is, sadly, close to none. Plus, how many votes is Hellgate going to get anyway?

[sam, an eggplant]

This is a tough list. There's an enormous gulf in quality between #1 and #2.

I suggest we all include a rough guess as to our /played in the list too.

1) WoW (15 days /played. Burnt-out from EQ.)
2) UO (4 days, in the alpha/beta only. Tried to find the Ultima, and failed.)
3) LOTRO (2 days. alpha/beta only. Polished diku, not as polished as WoW.)
4) DAoC (4 days, beta only. Got my paladin to level 14!)
5) CoH (2 days, bought in a fit of boredom and quit 2 weeks later)
6) EQ2 (2 days, EoF free trial)
7) DDO (2 days in the beta-- and I got to lvl 10!)
8) Planetside (1 day, free trial)
9) AC1 (1 day, in the beta)
10) EQ1 (60 days? Somewhere around there.)

Edit: I didn't count guildwars or D2.

[Nebu]

1. DAoC
2. ATitD
3. WoW
4. EQ2
5. CoH/CoV
6. EQ
7. UO
8. Shadowbane
9. Asheron's Call
10. Anarchy Online

Yes, I played them all for at least 3 months.  I need a life.

[Flood]

1. Asheron's Call
2. EQ1
3. Anarchy Online
4. Shadowbane
5. WOW
6. Auto Assault  - lol no, I kid, I kid.

"Best" in my list based on what I had the most fun playing, as an overall experience.  Not based on refined gameplay, bugginess, graphics, etc.  

[Khaldun]

1) Asheron's Call 1
2) World of Warcraft
3) City of Heroes/Villains
4) EVE
5) Ultima Online
6) Toontown
7) DAOC
8) Puzzle Pirates

These are all distinct in my mind, each with something to recommend it. Past that point, my list changes to "MMOs that had something that made them not entirely the equivalent of stabbing rusty nails in my eyes". "Best" wouldn't cover it. In fact, even with my "bests", it's mostly a very qualified judgement. (DAOC: sort of fun except for the grind and travel times early, and then exceptionally unfun after Trials of Atlantis, for example).

But honorable mentions in the not-entirely-runny-diarhhea category:

Shadowbane (for the idea, and for the fun of the scout v. thief minigame)
LOTRO (for not entirely fucking up the integration of play into the narrative of LOTR)
Everquest 1 (for being what it was when it was)
Everquest 2 (for having potential fun buried somewhere deep inside the cold, flinty, misguided hearts of its creators)
SWG (for being the most interesting trainwreck I have ever studied or played, and for brief moments of great beauty)
Guild Wars (for a few interesting things and a good revenue model)

Past that, it's all flavors of suck.

[naum]

1. WoW
2. Shadowbane
3. ATitD
4. EQ
5. DAoC
6. M59
7. AO
8. SWG

[Drogo]

1. WoW
2. EQ
3. UO
4. DAOC
5. LoTRO
6. SB
7. Eve
8. AO
9. Lineage 2

I only played my top two for more than three months the rest were anywhere from the free trial to a month or two. I played SWG, but disliked it too much to be able to put it on the list.

[Velorath]

1) Dark Age of Camelot
2) World of Warcraft
3) Everquest 2
4) City of Heroes
5) Final Fantasy XI

More or less ordered by how much time I actually spent playing those games.  DAOC and WoW are the only two where I've ever gotten characters to max level.  City of Heroes had promise, but turned into a grind within a few days every time I ever resubbed to it.

Edit:  Edited to add FFXI, which I though was a bit crap other than the world design and job system, but I guess it at least had those bright spots.

[Modern Angel]

1)WoW - Look, I've played for three straight years. Even if other games do things better this would get the default number one
2)Pirates of the Burning Sea - Haha! It's not even out of beta, though this is so close to a release version I'm counting it, and it's already captured my imagination like no other since WoW.
3)Guild Wars - Opportunity squandered, perhaps, and not nearly as fun with all the pve crap layered on top of it as it was at release but for that brief, shining moment...
4)EQ2 - The game that pulls me back in two month spurts from time to time. I love the world and so much content. I'd be there if I could get a damned guild.
5)WWIIOL - It was shit but it was the only one that I stayed subbed to for more than a couple weeks at the time. Again, potential squandered.
6)LotRO - A prettier WoW but how pretty it is...
7)CoX - I never got a character past fifteen but 1-15 is a blast. If they would only make the rest of the game as fun
8)UO - Not my style but the progenitor
9)DAoC - Loved the pvp in my brief stay. Too fucking grindy by a factor of a hojillion but the gritty Arthur is the Arthur I want and they got that part right
10)Shadowbane - I give you props for aspiring for more.

[Montague]

1.   World of Warcraft
2.   City of Heroes
3.   Everquest
4.   Lord Of The Rings Online
5.   EvE Online
6.   Dungeons & Dragons Online
7.   DAOC
8.   SWG

Not enough experience to list 10 MMO's for me, I'm afraid.

[Krakrok]

1) UO
2) Planetside
3) Guild Wars
4) EVE
5) EQ I
6) DAOC
7) WWIIOL
8) ATITD
9) SWG
10) AC1

[Venkman]

UO
WoW
SWG
EQ1
Eve
Planetside

I've played most everything else, but only these six do I consider "top" anything for me.

[Nevermore]

1) City of Heroes
2) Eve Online
3) World of Warcraft
4) Guild Wars
5) Dark Age of Camelot
6) Phantasy Star Online

Top 10 is a bit of a stretch.  Should have just gone for top 5.

[Hoax]

01)10six
02)EVE
03)Shadowbane
04)WoW
05)FFXI
06)Planetside
07)CoX
08)AO
09)EQ1
10)Face of Mankind

===== below here didn't make a top10 MMO vote (lol) =====

Guildwars
LineageII
DAOC
Neocron
Puzzle Pirates

[schild]

HOLY 10SIX BATMAN

[Merusk]

Hrm..  Based on "fun had" and "time played"

1)  WoW
2)  Eve
3)  Planetside
3)  EQ
4)  CoH
5)  DDO
6)  Shadowbane
7)  SWG
8)  DaoC
9)  AO
10)FFXI

[Morfiend]

1) Ultima Online: Pre Trammel (This is important)
2) World of Warcraft
3) DAoC
4) City of Heroes
5) Anarchy Online
6) Everquest 2
7) EVE
8) DDO
9) Star Wars Galaxies
10) Neocron

[Nerf]

1) Asheron's Call (darktide)
2) Daoc
3) Lineage 2
4) DDO
5) SWG JTL
6) WoW

I've played most every MMO out there, but there aren't 10 good ones to make the list.

[Count Nerfedalot]

Hmm, where to rank some is hard.  EQ2 now vs EQ1 at release when the only other option was UO is hard enough to judge, but SWG at release vs after CU vs after NGE vs now is at least three or four different games!  Just for sake of argument, I'm going to judge each of them as it exists today, with what it currently offers vs the others.  It's unfair to the older ones, I know, as (some) newer games built on the successes and learned from the mistakes of the older, but oh well.  I tried to rank them according to how they existed 6 months after release, but ran out of places to put second, third and fourth. 

     1) WoW - polished, playable, fun, and with complete and essentially bug-free content out the wazoo.
     2) EQ2 - the exception to the rule that you can't polish a turd.
     3) LoTRO - almost great in so many ways, yet just a bit short in too many ways, particularly the delayed-action combat.
     4) CoH - probably the most MMO fun I've had over short time frames, but hitting that damn wall around 30 was so painful I just couldn't face the prospect a fourth time. (slow learner!)
     5) AO - it's got its shortcomings, but it's still playable (far more so than at release!) and is still the best option for some pew pew fun.
     6) AC1 - severely tarnished by nerfing PvE to balance PvP and by increasing mob density to the point where exploration became impossible.  But still, how many MMO worlds truly change with the seasons, have had whole towns wiped off the map, etc?
     7) EQ1 - Should probably rank higher, as it's a huge world and many many of its biggest flaws have been corrected.  But too much past history for me to go back, even though my wife is playing it as I type.
     8) FFXI - Did everyone else forget about this one?  It wasn't THAT bad, other than the forced grouping and too-long grind.
     9) DAoC - Strangely enough, I think it could have truly been an EQ killer in it's day had all their resources gone into providing content balance and polish for a single realm PvE game.  They chose a different path than I was interested in, but I'll still give them props for what they achieved in RvR.
     10) Eve - the only one on my list that I haven't played, but I still enjoy reading about and toy off and on with trying - if only I wasn't faced with a 3+ year training handicap.

Dishonorable mentions:
     Horizons - wasn't actually as bad as people made it out to be, but it WAS pretty tedious, especially the crafting which could have been great if resources were either vastly more available or significantly fewer required to actually build anything.
     SWG - which version again?
     EnB - Another game that was better than the general buzz admitted, but 5 levels of content and 45 levels (or however many more there were to the cap) of empty space do not a persistent world make.  Plus it's shuttered, dead and gone.

[MrHat]

1. WoW
2. EQ2
3. DAoC
4. CoH
5. Shadowbane
6. AC1
7. FFXI

[eldaec]

1) DAoC
2) CoX
3) PS
4) ATitD
5) EVE
6) EQ2
7) Puzzle Pirates

There's nothing else I can stand to give points to.

[Evil Elvis]

These games were actually good:
1) World of Warcraft
2) Ultima Online
3) Asheron's Call 1
4) Guild Wars

These were mediocre at best:
5) Planetside
6) Lord of the Rings: Online
7) City of Heroes
8) Dark Age of Camelot
9) Anarchy Online
10) EveryQuest

[Hoax]

HOLY 10SIX BATMAN

Did you actually play it???!???  If so what corp?

[BigBlack]

Reading these lists, it almost seems like we're playing different genres with a bit of cross-over here and there.  You've got DIKU players (WoW, EQ, EQ2, DAoC, LoTRO, AO), and non-Diku, with a bit of overlap here and there.  United under the common banner of 'MMO', but seeking very different things.

[Rasix]

1) WoW
2) UO
3) EvE
4) EQ2
4) ATiTD
5) SWG (pre CU/NGE)

The rest I may have fun at times, but I don't hold in highany esteem anymore.  Filling this out to 10 with garbage would be pointless.

Reading these lists, it almost seems like we're playing different genres with a bit of cross-over here and there.  You've got DIKU players (WoW, EQ, EQ2, DAoC, LoTRO, AO), and non-Diku, with a bit of overlap here and there.  United under the common banner of 'MMO', but seeking very different things.

Shut up.