Most popular MMORPGs

Rift is definitely the most popular pay to play after WoW. It's very good and offers some unique differences from the King. LOTRO has a couple million subs now that it's F2P. I think Turbine said just over 2 million a month or so ago.
 
Just wait for SWTOR. Rift looks to be suffering from population drops already.
 
At one time I would say EQ2 but Sony has cracked on that game so much I cant say that anymore.
 
Rift only held my attention for a few months. MMORPG market is pretty dry right now it seems like.
 
This is actually a bit tricky to answer generically. Some factors that would cause variations in the answer -

1) What do you consider a MMO? (farmville for instance can be considered a MMO)
2) How are you counting popularity?
a) how are you comparing subscription vs. f2p MMOs, since stats like "subscriber base" will be misleading if directly compared
3) What region?

For instance I think generally Maplestory is considered the second popular MMO if you look at a combination of factors like revenue and user base. But I'm not sure if that the type of MMO you are thinking about here.
 
Rift
Eve
D&D Online (F2P)
Lord of the Ring Online (F2P)
League of Legends (F2P, Not really mmo)
 
I would say that DDO is quite possibly top five for playerbase. It has a huge base since it went free to play. At most times of the day or night there are multiple instances of zones. I've heard that there are 20-30,000 people logged in at any one time, though this is by no means an official number.
 
I've enjoyed the heck out of LoTRO for the last 3+ years. Great community, interesting quest lines (I actually am compelled to read the quest text) and they seem to keep the classes somewhat balanced... not that it matters that much, since PvP isn't a major focus of the game. (It's there if you want it, but it's kept off in its own little corner of the world.)
 
Hildewulf said:
I've enjoyed the heck out of LoTRO for the last 3+ years. Great community, interesting quest lines (I actually am compelled to read the quest text) and they seem to keep the classes somewhat balanced... not that it matters that much, since PvP isn't a major focus of the game. (It's there if you want it, but it's kept off in its own little corner of the world.)
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Going to start playing LoTRO again after a few year hiatus (played in beta). Still going strong I see?
 
Vexerz said:
Just wait for SWTOR. Rift looks to be suffering from population drops already.
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Another vote for SWTOR.

Rift is nothing impressive. It's fine for what it is (mostly a WoW clone), but there's just no character to it. It doesn't have any soul, per say.
 
If you're hard up for an MMO right now, I'd suggest Rift or LOTRO. Both are quality, polished MMOs. If you can wait, wait for GW2. It's going to make SWTOR look amateurish.
 
is Lord of The Rings Online completely free to download and play? or do you have to buy the game?

It looks like you can just download it for free from their website.
 
havokator said:
is Lord of The Rings Online completely free to download and play? or do you have to buy the game?

It looks like you can just download it for free from their website.
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Yes the game client is free too.
 
I've played ROSE Online (1 year +), Rappelz (2 year +), Perfect World ( 1 month +), and Aion (2 week +). I've got to say the more MMOs I try, the less interesting they become. With any of these games, just step out of the game for a week and your character becomes almost irrelevant to the entire population. =/
 
BrunoPuntzJones said:
Infinite AION ;)
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BrunoPuntzJones said:
Infinite solves that issue
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Your posts regarding the private Aion server are a little confusing to someone who's never heard of that before. I had no idea what you were talking about when you said 'Infinite', but I googled it and found it's the most popular private Aion server. I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot though with a buddy. Thanks for the recommendation!
 
I still play the following MMOs:
  • Final Fantasy XI since 2004
    • Pretty decent community. Some friends have quit, others have returned.
    • It has its faults but it is still enjoyable especially when you're around good people.
    • It's definitely has kept my attention far longer than any other MMO so far.
    • Game got hit with the "make-it-as-easy-as-WoW" bug a few updates back. Or, as my Linkshell mate told me: "SE made everything easy except those areas outside Abyssea." However, the game seems to be easier for new players to get into and start now compared to how it was in 2004.
  • EVE Online since 2007
    • I play this because I am a space nut. I love anything about astronomy or related to it, and I'm big fan of science fiction.
    • The sandbox aspect of the game has its faults and benefits, but at this time, this seems to be the most dynamic MMO out there... (probably until ArcheAge is released.)
    • I can't wait to see what Incarna brings to the game. I'm looking forward to that and DUST 514.
The following MMOs are still active but haven't played in a while:
  • Rift since launch
    • I haven't played since launch mostly due to my time occupied with real life and the other two MMOs I mentioned above. Not sure how people can play three or more MMOs at a time...
    • It's a good MMO, better than WoW even if it is the same. Think of the two as fraternal twins except one twin got all the better genes while the other twin got the rut of the litter.
  • Final Fantasy XIV since launch
    • Launch version was bad. Beta version was bad.
    • Game suffers from performance issues. Standard settings don't help the performance unless you drop below that, and that's with my current system specs. Cities drop to the low teens frame per second when near bazaars and or in the marketplace.
    • No small towns. The world feels empty in the large spaces between Limsa Lominsa, Uldah, and Gridania. Supposedly they'll add "hamlets" in an upcoming update.
    • Square-Enix is still carrying over their programming incompetence to the game from FFXI. You cannot set FFXIV to a second monitor unless it's in fullscreen mode. You cannot effectively Alt-Tab while in fullscreen mode. Game will still suffer the same fullscreen error while in fullscreen mode.... and so on...
    • Crafting is overly complicated. SE basically took the Synergy system of Final Fantasy XI and altered it slightly.
    • I could go on but it's slowly, SLOWLY improving. I'll try it again at the one-year anniversary of the game this September.
MMOs that I currently have deactivated and no longer play:
  • World of Warcraft
    • It was fun... for a while.
    • It's "too easy" and there isn't a sense of challenge in this game. After Cataclysm, and restarting my character, I was able to get to level 25 faster than I did before Cataclysm.
    • It lacks variety. It's either quest-grinding or grinding or raids.
  • AION
    • The plasticy look of the characters reminded me more of Barbie dolls in 3D turned me off.
    • The grind. God, Koreans have a thing about grinding.
MMOs I can't wait to try out:
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic
    • Definitely on my must-try list. The trailers really clinched it for me.
    • Also, the amount of story being implemented for the quests and missions is incredible.
  • ArcheAge if it comes to the US
    • Think EVE Online's sandbox feel set during a fantasy medieval setting with Crytek 3 engine behind it.
  • TERA
    • It looks like it's worth a shot given all that I've read about it on Massively.com.
    • The graphics look great and the combat system is unique.
  • Guild Wars 2
    • I played the first and definitely looking forward to the sequel.
  • Blade & Soul
    • Other than the graphics, it's the combat system and fighting style that has my interest piqued. However, it's a Korean-based MMO but I'm hoping they won't kill it with excessive grinding.
Free-to-play MMOs I've played/tried:
  • Mabinogi (played since closed beta)
    • Quirky, cute looking F2P with a lot of grinding and Nexon's pretty bad marketplace. A lot of items on the cash shop are temp only including transportation-- 30 days. You can end up paying more per month on Mabinogi than on any other pay-to-play MMO.
    • New storyline missions are only available if you pay for Premium. Older storyline missions become free after a set time.
  • ROSE Online (played since closed beta, stopped a year after launch)
    • It was fun for a while but it eventually was a drag later on especially with all the hacks and cheaters in the game. I don't know how it is now since it's changed companies.
  • Vindictus
    • Very fun, Source-engined F2P action MMORPG, but suffers from Nexon's poor cash shop.
  • All Points Bulletin
    • Put it this way: If you can't afford to buy a good gun, consider yourself dead at every encounter. And, typically the best guns are in the cash shop. And, it doesn't even matter how good of a shooter you are.
    • Driving physics is GTA-inspired so basically clunky to control (but improved a bit since Realtime Worlds died off).
    • I suspect there are aim-botters in this game.
    • Also, a lot of the players' attitudes are like those I see in a typical CS:Source game-- jerks, creeps, a**holes, cheaters.
    • I still play but hard to do missions when you're still using the free gun against someone willing to pay real cash with a better gun.
    • Combat system and encounter system is rather imbalanced. I'm not sure if one of the updates fixed that.
  • Allods Online
    • Think of this as the F2P WoW MMO with a different look, feel and features.
    • Cash shop and death penalty system pretty much killed my interest in it. You can read the complaints on various forums or Massively.com.
Games that do deserve a try:
  • Lord of the Rings Online
  • Everquest 2
  • Runes of Magic
  • Dungeons & Dragons Online
 
Jon55 said:
Rift is nothing impressive. It's fine for what it is (mostly a WoW clone), but there's just no character to it. It doesn't have any soul, per say.
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It has 8 souls

Vexerz said:
Just wait for SWTOR. Rift looks to be suffering from population drops already.
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What MMO never had population drops soon after release? Every one of them do this, people flood from game to game all of the time. The populations fine. I guarantee you that your beloved SWTOR will do the same.
 
Just cancelled my subscription to Rift. I've played it nonstop since beta. I got many friends to play and was a firm believer in it for a long time.

I can attest to it losing any "soul" it had at launch. Feels no different from a WoW grind after awhile. The boring itemization, pvp, and lack of any challenging non-20 man content made me lose interest.
 
Exce said:
It has 8 souls



What MMO never had population drops soon after release? Every one of them do this, people flood from game to game all of the time. The populations fine. I guarantee you that your beloved SWTOR will do the same.
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Games that had pop increase soon after release: Guilld Wars, warhammer (lol) then a nosedive, WoW of course, DAOC, Everquest, EvE, Lotr
In contrast, games that went down after the honeymoon release let's see. your beloved Rift, , Aion, Aoc (lol), hellgate london.

To be fair Rift is a couple notches in quality over AoC,, hellgate, and warhammer.

I guarantee you that your beloved SWTOR will do the same
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Furthermore, will you be willing to put your money up to back this statement up? Just a friendly wager?
 
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Guild Wars 2 and Old Republic both coming out soon, The Secret World also hopefully soon but who know. Seems like a decent time to wait a few months before getting too into an mmo.
 
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