Endgame and group content?

[Hussar]

I've been playing MMOs for a bit of time now, mainly LOTRO and SWTOR but some Guild Wars 2 and Secret World too (basicly all of them apart from Warcraft). What I liked the most is good endgame raiding and dungeons with a party of 4-16 players, its always fun when you get a good group working together. Neverwinter looks like it could be good for this kind of gameplay with a bit more of a focus on dungeons and instances.

I've just started Neverwinter and I was wondering what the endgame and group content is like? Can all dungeons scale from solo to group? Are there any big raid like challenges? Is it a big solo grind for gear or can you jump right it? is it easy to find groups?

Thanks.

[Baron Von Boom]

If your looking for endgame & dungeons this isnt the game for you im afraid.
Im not saying it doenst have any but the dungeons are pure grinds with HP balloon mobs & extremely linear mechanics. That said the majority of them have also been removed at this time for reworking so gear grinding is about all you'll get upto at endgame unless your into pvp.

For really good dungeons/raids I would suggest many of what youve already played, Funcoms other main MMO Age Of Conan has some of the best raids out there imo & without teamwork you'll end up toast. Wildstar is also going F2P in August & thats was designed for endgame raiding & delving so may also be worth a look. I found it enjoyable but not worth the subscription so am looking forward to it myself.

Im not knocking Neverwinter, Ive played it on an off since beta a few years back, but mob mechanics & tactics are not its strong point. The devs have a tendency to just inflate mobs HP as a way of increasing difficulty so it always feels more of a chore than a challenge. Its good fun for what it is & one of the better action orientated MMO's out there.

[Hussar]

Thanks I had a go at Age Of Conan a long time ago, forgot that was still running, I found levelling in that game a bit of a grind but I may have a look at it again. I was hopping to join a game near the start of its life however and I get the impression the AoC is losing population and gets few updates, I could be wrong however.

SWTOR has some very nice end game raids, and I have enjoyed the game hugely, it has been my number 1 MMO for years now, but they recently said they would not be releasing and new group content with the new expansion coming out later this year and are not in-fact working on any at the moment (an MMO focusing on single player?!?). So it will be over a year till we get new group content and a lot of the experienced raiders like myself are starting to look around at what else is about. Thing is there is not that much, after years of MMOs flooding the market they have dried up a bit of late.

I was hoping to find a good group based game that is not a grind to level. After the stories and quests I've gotten used to playing I just can't be doing with the old MMO grind that you find in some games.

Thanks for the info, Ill give Neverwinter a go but keep looking too.

[Baron Von Boom]

Postat inițial de RCMW:

Thanks I had a go at Age Of Conan a long time ago, forgot that was still running, I found levelling in that game a bit of a grind but I may have a look at it again. I was hopping to join a game near the start of its life however and I get the impression the AoC is losing population and gets few updates, I could be wrong however.

SWTOR has some very nice end game raids, and I have enjoyed the game hugely, it has been my number 1 MMO for years now, but they recently said they would not be releasing and new group content with the new expansion coming out later this year and are not in-fact working on any at the moment (an MMO focusing on single player?!?). So it will be over a year till we get new group content and a lot of the experienced raiders like myself are starting to look around at what else is about. Thing is there is not that much, after years of MMOs flooding the market they have dried up a bit of late.

I was hoping to find a good group based game that is not a grind to level. After the stories and quests I've gotten used to playing I just can't be doing with the old MMO grind that you find in some games.

Thanks for the info, Ill give Neverwinter a go but keep looking too.

Yeah Age Of Conan is still going strong:)
Med-Low pop but stable for now at least, on a bit of a break from it myself at the moment.

Im gonna slap myself in the face for missing the obvious BUT the next module being released for Neverwinter is Strongholds on August 11th, which as you can guess primarily focuses on guild strongholds & group questing, so it may have more to offer for you:)

You wanting to get into a game near its birth sounds similar to what im looking for to be honest, im not pinning all my hopes on Wildstar but considering it was designed as a sub based game & being converted to F2P it shouldnt be half as bad as some F2P titles out there. Its a real MMO if you get what I mean & with the switch hopefully a nice population kick. Apart from that I still keep searching for my next home.

[Hussar]

Honestly I think it will come down to if I find a new game before SWTOR sorts its new content out. With the new films coming out later in the year they are going all out to get new players in, moving all the old content up to top level hard modes giving 9-12 16man operation and 26 4man group flashpoints. They are good quality with tricky and fun mechanics and its awesome for new players to have that amount of endgame group content, but for us old timers we want new something new to learn and play, so I'm looking at other games.

In-fact if you have not played SWTOR I'd recommend you give it a go, its a good time for new players, and Ill go download Age of Conan. :)

[Baron Von Boom]

hehe:)
I finally got round to playing SWTOR last year actually & got really into it just before the Revan exp, grabbed that but my sub lapsed around that time. I found the unlocks on the F2P side a little confusing as to whats what, legacy unlocks etc there was a ton if it. I liked it tbh, its a really solid title theres just so many MMO's to play lol.

On a side note im gonna commit a sin, Im an avid AoC fan but dont download it, by the time youve leveled a toon you'll be on your way again, It does have great raids but thats so far away im not sure if its worth it in your position.

Maybe Rift? Pretty solid F2P now, all access & quite easy to pick up whenever you feel like it. Instant adventures that scale, world events & not the mammoth 40GB download that Conan is.

Will defo look at getting back into SWTOR when the movies release, always great to see a game buzzing with players.

[GiUsPiO]

yes

[Funken]

I know a lot of people hate WoW these days; but i think it would be a good shot to at least try. I have played a pretty good amount of MMOrpgs(star wars galaxies, Swtor, lotro, DCo, GW 1 and 2, CoH/CoV, Champions, Fallen Earth, lotro, star trek online, and more, jeez i used to play way too many MMOs lol) and WoW is certainly the most polished and overall well made. The end game raids have a lot of difficulty settings so you can do them in bad groups pretty easily or you can up the settings to make them from "difficult" to "WHY SO HARD!!! OMIGAWD!!!!"

In the past I wouldn't recommend WoW to someone looking for a F2P game; but now wow lets you buy subscription with in game cash. This means that after you hit max level as long as you are pretty good at budgeting in game currency and playing the market you can infinitely play forever.

That’s what i do now. I haven’t payed a cent on wow this entire year; and i don't feel like a second hand citizen for being F2P like in pretty much every other MMO. Really this change, as long as you enjoy the lore and combat WoW offers, has made it the best MMO available by a pretty wide margin.

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It can be F2P and you get ALL of the benefits of someone paying with cash for a sub.
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Beyond this the game is so huge and profitable that it will continue to get content updates for years and years to come. Heck they are throwing millions of dollars into a movie; what other MMO is stable enough to do that. (star wars excluded for obvious reasons) WoW isn’t going anywhere.

Also the game has more players than any other MMO; and Blizzard has done a lot over the last couple years to make finding groups for literally ANYTHING a breeze. Their new-ish group finding /cross realm group system is probably the greatest feature they have added in a long time.

I'll probably get called a wow or blizzard fan boy, because its "hip" and "cool" in a lot of places to hate wow these days "just because"; but i have spent way too much time playing too many MMO's; and this is my educated opinion.

[Wolverine]

If you want something else beside NWO, give Rift a chance.

Trion Worlds is really working hard on Rift, and they deliver updates and patches on a constant base. ArcheAge is only published by them, so whatever crap goes on there, it's not coming directly from them...
You don't have to subscripe for Rift, but if you enjoy the game, you can gain a lot with just buying a cheap Rift Game Box or Basic Game Code online, and upgrading your F2P account with it.

Overall, TW delivers a lot in Rift for a F2P game, and the F2P itself is very decent and fair in Rift too.