What MMO Should you play?

[@bangormc3rd562]

I'm surprised you didn't recommend this channel. It's free-to-play, got hundreds of hours of content, and the cash shop isn't too bad. The story DOES rely on a single character a bit too much, but he's kind of a fan favorite at this point.

[@vizthex]

lmao yup

[@laszlopohl3374]

God damn it, I thought you were really talking about a game.

[@reto]

The story repeats itself a lot in the same chapter. But it's alright for a third monitor game 👻

[@illdeletethismusic]

@JOSHZYYY very cross platform, works on mobile, all desktop operating systems, and even consoles

[@Ektalon]

But it’s got Patreon, so it’s pay to win . . .

[@moosecannibal8224]

I'm only a minute in, and hearing you say "you might actually enjoy them more if you play them in a more casual way" made me very happy.

[@aidensnow5017]

People who expect to grind their life away on a single game have 100% been conditioned to play like that from World of Warcraft, that isn't fun, I left wow to escape that and some people still cling to it like their own gamer version of stockholm syndrome... its sad.

[@VictusPrime]

@@aidensnow5017 Eh, not really. Everquest and RuneScape came out before WoW and they were way grindier than what WoW ever was. WoW was always considered the casual MMO player's game, still is.

[@ok_listen]

@@VictusPrime a casual mmo would have a horizontal progression system like GW2. WoW isn’t casual just because there’s a grinder game around.

[@conniethesconnie]

The problem with grind heavy games like Runescape is that you have players who don't want to grind but want to win so they play with some form of a bot 24-7. Which means they developer has to push the levels up to limits that can not be achieved by those who actually play. I want a game I can play not one where I download a third party hack and log in to see if I advanced any further than anyone else running the same cheat.

[@TheAyanamiRei]

I learned this lesson the hard way playing Genshin Impact. Doing Dailys and Artifact Dungeons just got FAR too tedious. But I didn't want to fall behind, so I pushed myself. But eventually it felt like a job I was NOT getting paid for, and that just killed my love for the game. Got COMPLETELY burnt out. I still have a fondness for the characters, but I just don't have the Time and Energy commitment, much less money to really wanna throw at a game like that.

[@Ellimist000]

"GW2s style aged like a fine wine". Captured it perfectly. Didn't know that it was based on watercolor paintings but it makes sense. Such a beautiful game

[@Chropoles]

The look of the game is actually extensions of their fantastic Concept Art Department. Check out Kekai Kotaki, his works in designing and creating GW2 is massive, among other badass Concept Artists at ANet.

[@CarBENbased]

I remember a video that came out from Anet before the launch with the at the time Art Director talking about the style. I can't find it but I believe the phrase he used was a "painterly style" was what he was going for.

[@MrBluminati]

@@CarBENbased kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIaUe4ithdath7s @0.57 seconds.

[@CarBENbased]

@@MrBluminati That's the one!

[@gamewatcher4417]

I recommend the official artbook. Best purchase I ever made as far as artbooks go

[@chazzney]

I wish that more MMO reviews focused on things other than endgame competitive stuff. It can be hard to find a game when I’m not approaching the game with the desire to spend thousands of hours. Thank you for being a channel that shows the pros and cons of even the early game! It makes it easy to get excited about a game when I know that there’s fun to be had before I hit 100 hours!

[@ChristmasLore]

Just so glad WoW wasn't on that list!

[@Sevastiel]

If I may, this is late, but warframe is honestly fun the whole way through, while there is pvp nobody particularly cares, the paid currency is in game tradeable for REALLY cheap, and the "endgame" is quite literally just being pretty.

[@xdesolateone8564]

@@Sevastieldripframe is endgame 🗣️🔥🔥

[@ItsSvetsi]

You're on point about GW2. I've played it SUPER casually over the course of the past near decade, sometimes not playing for a year or so at a time, but every time I come back there's something to do, I'm not super behind on having to catch up, and it's just so so easy to pop in and out of. Definitely incredible value.

[@ytaiku]

I can't signup an account, any suggestion?

[@gingfreecss3467]

Guild Wars 1 is better pve game and gw2 is better pvp

[@TheMenarch]

same owned it for years and haven't even gotten to heart of thorns yet cause I get distracted making a new character or mapping

[@B00mHal0]

It's full of bots and hackers.

[@Blitzkrieg1605]

Guild Wars 2 is easily my favorite MMO out there by a long shot. I tried ESO over a weekend when it was free. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING. When I want to play an MMO, the very last thing I want is story. I want gameplay. It was 90% story. I heard that FF14 is also quite heavy on the story so I am avoiding it. I played a lot of RuneScape when I was a kid. Loved it. I hate the new look and the huge changes of new RS. I don't feel like starting again from 0 on OSRS. They don't let you transfer from new RS to OSRS. I played Neverwinter for a while. The disgusting p2w model at max level killed it for me. It was fun while it lasted. WOW on private servers is unreliable as they always delete your characters for inactivity. Servers get hijacked. They just give up and shut the servers down. Blizzard feels like going on a power trip every once in a while. I did play a lot of WOW. All of my grind has been deleted. I played a bit of EVE Online. When I realized that there is a lot of open world PVP plus I can level/ buy whatever I want for real money to get an advantage, I stopped. The gameplay was also unbelievably boring with my starter ship. Black Desert Online is a Korean MMO with insane grind and p2w mechanics. I don't play that. Warframe. Not exactly an MMO. It is a 3rd person looter shooter. If Warframe is considered an MMO then so should Borderlands. I did enjoy my time in Warframe. Quite a lot of time. Great fun. So yeah. I can't think of another MMO to play at this moment in time other than Guild Wars 2. No dramatic changes over its lifetime (RS, WOW). Fun varied gameplay. Light story. Your progress doesn't randomly get deleted. Beautiful world to explore. Decent endgame. An insane amount of bang for your buck. Horizontal progression. No disgusting p2w mechanics. If anyone can suggest an MMO similar to Guild Wars 2 that would be great.

[@ushinkou8569]

Guild Wars 2 is brave enough to sponsor you cause they Actually Believe in their Product. Props to them!

[@ejokurirulezz]

At least their belief in their product is justified and certified by many players that is worth it unlike gamigo hahaha

[@RickyTran7788]

Full of people using bot is it still good game then got nothing to say then

[@thangdoan2809]

@@RickyTran7788 bottting is near the brink of extinction in GW2. The developer of the bot announced that they will be departing to mainly FFXIV also so yeah

[@OxOx_XoXo1]

The only con: mounts are locked behind paywall. In 2019 i saw a gw2 ad where it showcased skycale and i got so excited only to be sad and disappointed :(

[@Blaznn]

@@OxOx_XoXo1 skyscale is most def not a paywalled mount. If i remember correctly its a grind for end game players

[@kfk4441]

This guy feels like that mmorpg teacher I'd like to have for some reason, great video

[@BungleBonk]

He’s the MMO teacher a lot of companies need

[@NeguraGhost]

I would take every class, he's teaching.

[@HuriaJoni]

thats also why ive been around. got here when i was playing Neverwinter. Josh had around 13k subs back then. Charismatic guy, the way he explains things. sense of humor. whats there not to like!

[@CaptainJackedPickle]

Josh went to school to become a teacher irl.

[@donvendetta3007]

Nice pfp

[@Georgesbarsukov]

GW2 is definitely my favorite. The sheer fact that I can skip the grind and jump into PVP appeals to me. It's also nice to just journey around that beautiful world.

[@matthill5426]

JSH: "Any hobby comes with a price tag." Also JSH: *looks at WH40K collection and silently weeps*

[@ivanmonahhov2314]

There are certain MMOs which are maintained by community which are completly free : Neocron , Skylords ( ex Battleforge )

[@JLCL01]

Dont forget the expensive Citadel paints :') (I've never bought any citadel paints before. I've mostly just bought Reaper for non-tabletop figures)

[@ownageDan]

same, but luxury cardboard rectangles :O

[@Andres0082]

*Battletech Collector* First time?

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Crack is cheaper than 40K, but it does not have the grimdarkness that I need.

[@00angel4200]

12:22 "Skyrim was apparently Todd Howard's horcrux based on how many times he's re-releasing it" Lungs and tea are not meant to interact

[@Grumpy_old_Boot]

I know, right ? And yet, my tea tries to visit my lungs so very often !

[@ryanm7654]

As someone who now mainly plays Guild Wars 2 after “quitting” WoW … I agree. It is a fantastic game overall.

[@phillipfessenden7705]

It's an amazing game that never got enough credit. I keep it installed and patch and just like he says I pick it up and playing it for like 3 months in 6 months off

[@smoscorpio]

Angry joe to his credit gave it a 10/10 in 2012 lmao

[@OryxAU]

@@phillipfessenden7705 Critically acclaimed when it came out. The problem lies with its marketing, if you want to cringe look at their early attempts before they gave up.

[@artemesaulkov2010]

Its good but i returned to wow eventually

[@Tellaz]

@@artemesaulkov2010 yeah even with how shit blizzard is WOW is still my favorite and mainly only rpg I play. Thinking about expending to some different MMOs rn but ik I'll be right back on wow

[@Darkorb44]

As an MMO virgin, I tried getting into FF14 a year back for the first time with some died hard MMO friends that grew up playing WoW. After seeing that they treated leveling up their character and blasting through ARR like a second job I dropped it almost immediately. Coming back to FF14 a year later and going at it on my own pace, playing it very casually and treating it like a game instead of a second job, I can actually see the appeal now. It might take me several months to beat ARR at my current pace, but if this is the game's low point then I'm incredibly hyped about what comes after it.

[@brendanrisney2449]

Honestly, my exact experience, but I've not gone back yet. Plan to eventually, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth.

[@CyberGenesis1]

FF14 is one of the more "Casual friendly" MMOs in my experience. You can bugger off for months at a time and never feel like you're really behind

[@dowfreak7]

I see people doing that to "starting GW2 for the first time" players. New people streaming, having fun and then you tune in a few days later and they get showered with gold by viewers, dragged through dungeons to level up fast and a week later they play a different game. Diehard fans are probably the worst thing new players can encounter.

[@LennyTheHopeless]

Yeah my friend was disappointed when I didn't like FF14. I was thinking of retrying it tho because they basically lead me with a leash while I was leveling making it as boring as possible. I wanna try it without someone telling me where to go and what buttons to press pls and thank you 🙄

[@TheFrostedfirefly]

Wow, same actually. I tried Final Fantasy 14 ARR ages ago with friends who were already neck deep into Shadowbringers. Unfortunately, due to them being maxed out in level, having their own mounts and knowing what to do, they essentially taxi'd me around the whole map, accepting quests, going with them to the next quest and pushing through the dialogue. Of course I quickly dropped the game because despite having an easy time with progress, I didn't actually learn anything from my time playing it neither did I actually engage myself into what was happening in the story. Occaisionally, I would actually purchase my sub again and try to sneakily play the game on my own to see if I could get to grips with whether I'd actually like it, but then my friends would see that I've logged into the game and instantly find where I was, starting the whole process again of me not really absorbing anything. This was a couple of years ago, I'd tell them I wanted to play solo but truthfully I was scared that'd be a weird thing to say in regards to an MMO in general, I didn't want to push them away from an intended experience so ironically enough I rarely even touched the game in the first place. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago from TODAY, I decided to try a different tactic, once again potentially wasting sub money for an experience I didn't even know I'd like (for some reason, the free return campaigns they had running didn't work for my account despite not having touched the game in months). This time I opened the game and decided to start from scratch, making a new character in the whole process despite not actually NEEDING to on a mechanical level. With my new character, this time I sat back, I was able to focus my attention on the story cutscenes, the context of dialogue boxes, the controls in combat. Everything suddenly became something I could appreciate and sink myself into it because despite wanting to play with my friends when getting the game, it was my friends that railroaded my experience into not actually appreciating the game itself. My new character is now already 10 levels higher than my old character who I paid a total of several months for in subs; a character that I spent over a hundred hours playing, barely progressed through the game because I had no drive to do so, compared to a character only a few weeks old, having blasted through more than half the main story in ARR in under 30 hours because I actually had the chance to get myself invested. I look forward to playing some more this week before renewing my sub (and not feel like I'm wasting money for once).

[@Estraneo]

The worst part about trying all the MMOs is slowly building up the perfect MMO in your head made of all the pieces of other MMOs you loved and knowing that no MMO will ever give you all of it. But on the plus side, it means that you're never bored.

[@andarus2798]

Always love seeing a GW2 plug. Love how stress free it is as an MMO from the purchase side. It's why I'm that much more willing to spend money on the cash shop; I justify my purchases with "it's my way of showing I want this game to thrive and grow so here is how I help.". With subscription service games, you're already doing your part but with one time purchases (when you like it) it rests with you whether you want to pay in extra for extras and how much you want to pay based on how much appreciation you want to show. Guild Wars 2 doesn't try to take your money, it tries to earn your money. I respect that so much I'm more than happy to throw money towards such an end.

[@metaomicron72]

True! I spent so little on that game (10euros for the base game in 2015 and 15euros for PoF and HoT) that by when I got my Skyscale I purshased skins on the shop as I wanted them and wanted to throw some money at them

[@HieronymousLex]

Bro even if that game had a subscription fee I would’ve paid for it back in the day. I spent a lot of time playing it and I genuinely loved the radiant quest system. And the way discovery gave you xp so when leveling a character you’re incentivized to keep moving through the map instead of sitting and grinding in one spot (although I do enjoy osrs for some mindless clicking)

[@Jereb343]

In hindsight GW2 was destiny before destiny. A streamlined MMO that leans on amazing combat and high quality cinematic storytelling good writing or not. My days with GW2 are passed but its basically the only mmo ill ever even consider booting up just for the fun of it cuz well its really fun to play. Nothing will ever beat farming 99 CM nightmare every day for the cosmetic shards and ascended chests after abusing tarir and RIBA in silverwastes to get my first ascended set and infusions

[@SkySweeperSyn]

How do you justify the "seasons" stories being locked off from players who joined the game late?

[@AonyjsViolmlar05]

@@SkySweeperSyn Buy its cheap or convert your gold its pretty easy to get gold or wait until its free again? I never bought the season stories i just login whenever its active and i got it for free.

[@taylorkennedy1428]

I wasnt a fan of Gw2 years ago but about 2 weeks ago I decided to gi it a try again. As some one who isnt the biggest fan of the mmo type i found my self loving the story and combat. I am glad i gave it another shot.

[@DanieliusGoriunovas]

Welcome to the game!

[@jonathansoko1085]

Wait till you get to the "end" game gear grind, LOL Yall just listen to people telling you the positives. GG when you realize what you have to do

[@hypnotizm1664]

@@jonathansoko1085 That's how every MMO ever is lol. Don't try to bring down GW2 with something so dumb, game is great.

[@Wintertalent]

@@jonathansoko1085 Yeah, but you don't actually HAVE to do it.

[@ANDELE3025]

@@10cody7 In fact, the VAST majority of things to enjoy in GW2 are before the "end game" (and expos). It does say a lot about the quality gap (and value of the devs that left during beta) when one goes from GW1 level of quality in better engine/technical options, but damn the free trial time/base game is 100% worth 100%ing.

[@VultureSkins]

Man, I’d listen to this guy talk about Anything he has passion for. He could tell me about his favorite kinds of bricks and how he judges them, which brick companies have poor morals, whatever, if he cared about it, I’d sit through a four hour video. It’s the kind of energy I love to see in teachers

[@sebawuba8533]

It's been 6 months so you probably know this, but he actually was a teacher!

[@liquid1292]

You should play "GW2", thanks for sponsoring :D

[@ANDELE3025]

You pressed 2 instead of 1 there.

[@j2theosh6969]

@@ANDELE3025 no he was right

[@fishnchips6627]

Best MMO

[@theeragon8797]

Ahh yes i love me some garden warfare. Genuinely tho if ea didn't crucify those games with pay to win they'd still be my favourite shooters

[@oddzzyy5649]

garden warfare 2? 🤣

[@kalebmantegani5922]

When I gave ESO a second chance, I found that it recaptured my love for the elder scrolls, my favorite fantasy series from my teen years. Every time I boot it back up, it’s like a nostalgia trip. Plus; the ocean of content keeps it fresh.

[@JuicyJenitals]

Hello my friend, during these crazy times I would encourage you to repent of your sins and follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is only one way to avoid destruction and that is through Jesus Christ. Biblical Prophecy is unfolding before our eyes. From Russia, China and Iran to all around unrest. The NWO (New World Order) is coming and it will be controlled by the antichrist. Here are some videos that I recommend watching for more info Russia (Gog and Magog) kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ-TXoV6aNGfepY Antichrist kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXrPlaBnZbetgZo NWO kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXusY3t4gbSbY7s

[@Katriicat]

I'm currently stuck at ESO, too. It took me 3 tries tho. But now I'm at 1100 hours of playtime :D

[@ManicRS]

I liked ESO, however -- having to pay for ESO plus to use the crafting bag to be able to do any time of consumable farming keeps turning me off from it.

[@Petemossfunguy]

I wish I liked ESO. I tried very hard to, I love morrowind and all the mainline tes titles. I was off put by the scaling, and everything feeling very floaty. I didn't like the idea of a "spammable" and I found the builds confusing and strange. I ended up doing the morrowind story and then just... well, giving up and that was it.

[@tenjenk]

Ah man the VA work though. Suddenly hearing Tara Strong, suddenly hearing jennifer hale! the only thing i wish about elder scrolls was that open world world enemies took more than just 2-3 hits each to take down.

[@Anodic]

End of Dragons isn't the last GW2 expansion btw, it's just the end of the current story arc

[@DanieliusGoriunovas]

yeah, strange mistake xD

[@frosthammer917]

@@DanieliusGoriunovas I remember them calling it final at one point. Might not be true anymore but I understand why JSH got the impression

[@Lorddraigo]

@@frosthammer917 FF14 did similarly with EW, saying it's the final expansion for the current story. That's how EoD works too, so saying "final" isn't wrong persay, imo

[@sebastiancintron29]

@@Lorddraigo Why are a lot of MMOs coming out with the whole "End of a story Arc" expansion? First EndWalker. You also have End of Dragons with GW2. And WoW next patch is also supposed to be a finale of sorts. Difference is, FFXIV and GW2 earned their finale. WoW is playing catch up in the most desperate way possible.

[@Lorddraigo]

@@sebastiancintron29 why = all good stories have to end, and you should plan that ending well in advance. Wow = a no plan forever story that, like you said, they decided needed an end cuz it's "cool." Yay WoW...

[@Memlord]

It's crazy how much empathy this man displayed while talking MMOs he likes.

[@lem5093]

​@trashbird8526I think it's a contrast to him ripping into bad games

[@averin5193]

@trashbird8526because he’s normally tearing into MMO’s that have major flaws or what not

[@desel8737]

5:43 guild wars 2 9:09 final fantasy 14 12:15 elder scrolls online 16:15 runescape(s) 19:52 _intermezzo_ and some old and small games and why you should play them all

[@pepi7404]

A real mvp here

[@reggin867]

what game is it in 0:45? the first person one

[@nhyanali8486]

may i ask you what is the name of the game in 0:40

[@LeadAHorseToVodka]

@@nhyanali8486 Late to answer this one but that is Runescape. The modern version of Runescape and not the Old School version.

[@danielender93]

I love GW2 and believe it is the best MMO I have played for some of the reasons you mention. I quit playing ages ago because I didn't have any friends in-game and I feel that is key to being able to stick to any MMO. But even the solo content is so good that one can sink hundreds of hours into this one no matter what.

[@bm8328]

GW2 is still my favorite, I love that it can be played somewhat casually since there isn't a constant gear treadmill.

[@Antherios92]

Until you challenge yourself to have one or several legendaries ... working on my second one after 8 years playing off and on again.

[@Haru-spicy]

one thing about ESO that people often sleep on is the armor sets, which are often interesting and powerful enough to build an entire character around. It's a great bit of horizontal progression that also FEELS like vertical progression simply because it's a piece of optimization that a lot of people completely miss out on. There's an armor set that makes you use mana instead of stamina when blocking/dodging/bashing, a set that makes your shield bashes deal an AoE shockwave, a set that lets you donate your Ultimate points to teammates instead of using it yourself, a set that deals damage and stuns when you dodge-roll into an enemy. They're a lot of fun and are where a lot of interesting gameplay can come from for those people who are into theorycrafting or if you just liked making some silly gimmick build in skyrim and want to do the same thing here.

[@Vaelios3292]

GW2 is more about enjoying the journey than the reward (except for legendary gear maybe). And the community is great at helping other player most of the time. You need a hero point but it's a champion and can't solo it ? Ask for help in map, you always got few people coming helping you. It's not for everyone, but definitely one of the best MMO experience I've ever had.

[@typhir5911]

As someone who plays both Guild Wars 2 and Final Fantasy 14, both games are amazing in their own right. Guild Wars 2 hits all the right notes for me. The fact that it is horizontal progression means I can take long breaks without losing progression. While the story isn't anything to write home about, it is fairly decent for an MMO. It still has one of the most unique mount systems in any game with each mount doing something unique to it. The game is designed for and rewards cooperation. This fosters a good community that helps each other instead of being at one another's throats. Final Fantasy 14 is by far one of the best story driven games I have ever played and it has some of the best writing for a Final Fantasy game. Although A Realm Reborn starts rough, Heavensward is one of the best expansions for an MMO and somehow Shadowbringers tops even that. There is so much to experience in FF14 and the community is some of the friendliest in the genre.

[@doodoofish]

The good thing is that you can play both :)

[@typhir5911]

@@doodoofish Totally agree. As someone who has played many, many MMOs from SWTOR to FF14 to ESO, I can say that I've enjoyed my time with GW2 and FF14 the most. SWTOR definitely gives FF14 a run for its money with its storylines, some of which are so incredibly varied like the Imperial Agent, which is a major credit to Bioware's writing team. Of course everyone's choices differs depending on what they enjoy and what works for me may not work for others. Having options to choose from is more important than choosing and sticking with just one MMO. This goes for any game.

[@Clavitz1]

small question about GW2 I noticed there's aiming in, is there an option to not have to do that? im not a huge fan of 3rd person shooters so a lock on would be nice for my preference if im to play ranged.

[@horusschnopp1882]

The community in 14 is the friendliest? Man. That's bull and you know it. But maybe that's just the American servers; absolutely not friendly community. And American GMs suck too.

[@doodoofish]

@@Clavitz1 By default, GW2 is tab target, much like WoW’s targeting system - tab to select opponents. The action camera is a feature you have to turn on, which made GW2 more like an action combat game, but you don’t have to use it.

[@lorelord2418]

Well, you convinced me to give Guild Wars 2 a try. Sounds like the best parts of RPG games I enjoy, and I've always wanted to find an MMO to enjoy.

[@ROCKNROLL947]

After 1 and a half year and after trying all the most popular MMOs, I can say you that Gw2 is the best one, by far. The combat, the landscaping, the fashion, the lore and the creativity and effort to do a different MMO is just fantastic.

[@michealvincent731]

God I’ve tried to get into GW2 for years and each time I get so mind numbingly bored before level 20

[@Gamearkdotcom]

Recently I started playing guild wars 2 and I'm glad I did. It's an amazing MMO, the game has so many things to do. It's my favorite MMO.

[@ashleyanne2056]

@@michealvincent731 the vanilla story is "not good". So that's understandable. The story from living world season 2 onward is why my partner and I have spent the past 800+ hours of our lives on it.

[@ashleyanne2056]

If you like it, let me know your in game name or "name.####", I'll send you some starter gear (bags, consumables, etc)

[@SDREHXC]

I started playing guild wars 2 this year and as someone who is a “hardcore casual”, as in I’ll spend a lot of time playing the game but often engaging in activities that would be considered pretty casual, it has to be the perfect mmo. It’s so easy to hop in and out, there’s tons of stuff to do, the end game isn’t just solely group content and it’s just fun to play in general.

[@ave4622]

Things I've learnt from playing many MMOs in past few years: 1. Different people enjoy different things. It's fine for other people to not like your favorite game. You can't force people to like it. Just grow up and accept it. 2. Ignore FOMO. They're there to pressure to keep playing it, even when you don't want too. Just play whatever you enjoy the most and move on to new game when you're bored with it. 3. There is no right or wrong way in playing games. Take your time, google the quest, skip all story, do whatever you want as long as it doesn't ruin other people experience. If you don't someone say "you're playing it wrong", they're just an a**hole.

[@Weiswolfe]

this, there isnt a corrent way to play a game, maybe and efficient way but the META way ot thinking ruins the fun, makes the experiences an actual job project that a fun gathering

[@thefunnyaerialman]

The only "wrong" way to play is to actively choose to make other players' experience worse.

[@ElKabong3345]

One thing I learned from playing a lot of MMOs (even classic retro ones) lately: The story _you_ make, even when you don't know the best mechanics yet, is *far* more interesting than following a game meta. Once you start listening to min-maxers, which is 99.9% of the population, you're playing _their_ game... _not_ yours. Their game which they copy-pasted in all other MMOs and definitely NOT your experience anymore.

[@Weiswolfe]

@@ElKabong3345 i can... discribe how much open i have my eyes now thanks to this comment holy waifus, thankyou good sir human person

[@endlessazure2142]

The second and third point should be abreviated to final fantasy 14 community.

[@tuesti7c]

You know he played everquest when he says you stop after PoP. Made me laugh out loud.

[@youareacoward8459]

PoP messed up the economy.

[@Talinthis]

I stopped when the expansion came out raising the level from 65 to 70. I literally logged in, killed one thing in plane of innovation solo on my magician, dinged level 66, logged out and cancelled my subscription. The raiding in PoP was pretty damn fun though.

[@neiloch]

Planes of Power was awesome. After PoP was less awesome.

[@sunsage3754]

same! I snorted soda hearing that.

[@deuzsama]

Lmao

[@aegisnol6644]

I love Gw2 so much. It makes me happy seeing other people enjoy it. I've never been a super hardcore player but its always been my go to game if I want to be able to hop back in without getting stuck behind a huge grind wall before I can actually have fun.

[@theogannon9826]

Yep I’ve just started playing it recently and am loving it

[@TheDoS3]

Horizontal progression instead of gear treadmill is a casual gamers dream.

[@syro2412]

I started playing that the other day...It's so good. Soule's music is superb in the game.

[@mixes1228]

Game sucks, boring Casual asf everyone that plays it is annoying and recommends other people play it all the time.

[@syro2412]

@@mixes1228 Good thing you're staying out of the game with your toxicity then.

[@C64SX]

My favourite part of any MMO I jump on is world exploring. I run around all over the maps, getting stuck in places you were not supposed to reach, and just enjoying all the new sights. Repetition is what kills a game for me, so when I reach a point where the grind gets too overwhelming I quit and go to the next game. Two games that stand out the most to me when it comes to exploration are Lord of the Rings Online and Guild Wars 2. So if you're an explorer like me, give both of them a go. There are so many wonderful and nicely crafted environments in those games you'll sometimes forget you are on a quest and instead spend hours just exploring every little nook and cranny.

[@apex403]

I remember playing ESO at launch and my wife hearing Michael Gambons voice when she walked past my office. She asked if I was watching Harry Potter without her . Game is phenomenal if you want to just go into a world and explore.

[@CrowCoded]

That's exactly what I'm doing and I adore the experience. It's very immersive if you let yourself be drawn in by it without thinking of the usual grindy stuff.

[@carbonstar9091]

A ton of content in ESO. Combat is a little boring imo. But that's an issue in many MMOs.

[@gabrielroque6664]

​@@carbonstar9091 It's a matter of opinion. I really like the combat, being able to move around, dodge, defend yourself from attacks, having basic attacks with staff like lightning, fireballs, or iceballs. Healing is a very cool experience, you need to aim your allies and heal, it's very funny.

[@HekimaPlays]

I recently started Guild Wars 2 again after quitting in HOT, and I haven't regretted it. It's so fun.

[@Thelaretus]

Not sure what 'HOT' means, but I'm glad you're having fun. I've watched a lot of GW2 recently and it seems fun, maybe I'll try it out if I ever get bored of 'RS3'.

[@HekimaPlays]

@@Thelaretus Heart of Thorns, back when it released in like 2014 :D It's the first expansion for GW2

[@Thelaretus]

@@HekimaPlays Thanks!

[@EsotericDrifter]

I quit GW2 at HoT and just never came back

[@mangoman93]

I love Guild Wars 2 because I can play it for an hour a day and still make actual progress. No increasing level and gear cap means all content in the game and all progress I make stays relevant. I can just pick the content I like, be it map exploration, story, achievements, fashion, endgame group content, jumping puzzles, mount races, or whatever, do it at my own pace for as long as I like and never fear that I'm falling behind some arbitrary power curve. Could I grind my face off for thousands of hours to completely fill out my legendary armory and be the shiniest hero in all the land? Sure, but I don't have to, if I don't want to or don't have the time. And most importantly I don't need to in order to stay relevant in any part of the game.

[@gabbyb9418]

I do love how they included HoT mastery stuff in the new living world zones. Although it is a bit silly to have a bounding mushroom in the snowy mountains 😂 Encourages but doesn't FORCE me to go back to HoT zones. Ofc I still have all my mounts, springer and dragon included, so bounding mushroom mastery isnt necessary, but, occasionally, the mushroom is faster 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@curumon]

what i dont like is that he got paid for it and only tells the positive stuff about the game because ... he is not allowed to say bad things. what about the forced PvP in this game, where a guild can declare war for absolutely no reason on a way weaker guild and the weaker guild has ofcourse no chance and they getting PvP farmed EVERYWHERE! why is he not telling the bad aspects of the game? well the answer is easy... he got paid. i have overall nothing against GW2 but getting paid to say only the good things and not mentitioning bad aspects of the game is horrible. edit; he did that with FF14 too, he said the free trial is up to level 60 not restricted. that is NOT true. your max gil is restricted to 200k, you cant add friends, you cant join free companys and you cant create a party. you can only get invited to a party in the free trial ... and that says a FF14 player which has according to steam 2400+ hours in it. he didnt told a few things on elder scrolls online either but meh ... the biggest thing which disturbs me is the paid thing on GW2 ...

[@jsalemiva]

@@curumon What are you talking about? There is NO forced PvP in GW2 at all. I think you're confusing it with another game (New World maybe?). The PvP in GW2 is entirely optional, and separate from the main part of the game -- you have to actively join it to participate.

[@KaseyWynne]

@@curumon What the hell are you talking about? In pve, no guild can declare war on you. There's WvW, which is required for legendary gear, but is completely and totally seperate from PVE. There's is *NO* open world pvp. The closet to it is WvW, and that's a completely seperate game mode, and maps that you have to consiously choose to enter.

[@vcdonovan5943]

Fashion Wars is the best meta I've ever seen in an MMO XD

[@joedinwitch2952]

I got incredibly happy when you mentioned Ultima Online. I’ve been playing it on and off for 20 years and I love that they keep my characters from when I was 13. Thanks for the videos, I’m hooked!

[@Kyosika]

5:50 - HOLD UP! This is not the FINAL expansion! They mentioned this on a recent livestream :o

[@DanieliusGoriunovas]

yeah, it's just newest upcoming! Can't wait for it :D

[@Lucyller]

And it's not the only youtuber saying "final". Anet is really trying to say something, or isn't checking the video they pay for. xd

[@WeinerTouchy]

@@Lucyller They just kinda send mixed messages. Probably not the best wording to say "This is the end of the dragon cycle" on their main web page. It sounds like it's the final expansion of GW2.

[@Thelaretus]

@@WeinerTouchy RuneScape with the Elder God Wars Dungeon, FFXIV with Endwalker, WoW with Eternity's End, and GW2 with End of Dragons are all ending their story arcs currently. I'm pretty sure everyone knows it isn't the end of the game.

[@Konpekikaminari]

@@WeinerTouchy in 9 days the story of ffxiv ends, and Yoshi P. stated the 1st update after is the start of a whole new story Good chance Gw2 will do the same (Gw2 will not "end" any time soon, the devs are effectively players with access to the code)

[@scottballentine1846]

I think Star Wars The Old Republic and Lord of the Rings Online both deserve consideration if you are interested in the content. The gameplay is somewhat dated but still enjoyable. And then of course there is Eve online - it is still extremely unique.

[@kazielbonn]

Yep played both at their launch, great games. LOTRO though, great world/imersion and what an awesome community that game had. SWTOR, loved my hybrid Jedi Guardian and the PvP.

[@tannershuford6459]

@@kazielbonn Do people even play Lotro anymore? I know SWTOR is still played.

[@snakebite6x6x6]

I love SWTOR, I still play from time to time when I need my Star Wars fix.

[@jasoncarto]

@@tannershuford6459 many still do but they copy so much of blizzards strategy that it's off putting. You can buy gear practically.

[@CharterForGaming]

@@tannershuford6459 I still play it during the seasonal events. And every now and then in between

[@labdG]

I've tried a bunch of MMOs and had fun with them but I've only gotten really invested in GW2. I love that game so much. Sometimes I get really into it and play it alot. Sometimes I take a break from it. But I always come back to it. Of course it does have issues though. One of the biggest problems in my opinion is that the game can be confusing for new players. Both MMO veterans and noobs have so much to learn and the game doesn't really explain it all. Like just the idea of what you should be doing after reaching max level. The fact is that you can do pretty much whatever you want and there are tons of things you can do. It's one of the best things about GW2, but noobs and players of other MMOs may have a hard time adjusting to the horisontal progression where you just explore what you can do and do what is fun to you. GW2 requires a certain mindset compared to other MMOs. If you can get into that mindset there is SO much to enjoy.

[@MoxHex]

I loved everything about Wildstar, from the humor to the gameplay. The housing was second to none, and hanging out in a train station made by a player was surreal. If I had the money I'd invest in trying to resurrect it.

[@pkre707]

After years of trying MMOs and getting bored around lvl 20-30, I’ve realized they just aren’t my thing. But this channel? This channel is my thing. I feel that I can experience the best any MMO has to offer through your thoughtful and comedic content.

[@unironicallydel7527]

You need to play an mmo that doesnt force grinding upon you. Doesnt force you to go through some bland story that spans countless thousands of hours just to unlock content. Unfortunately that would be most peoples first impression of mmos given how those types are always the first to be thrust upon people. There are, albeit only a few, casual mmo's out there, that actually let you play your way. That dont force anything upon you, nor force you to keep playing for fear of missing out. You need to play something, if not an mmo, just something, that doesnt constantly demand your attention. Its easy to get burnt out on an mmo if that mmo insist you keep playing for daily rewards or the like. I've been there. But I have found enjoyment in ones that doont do that. That let yu play how you want to play. I hope you find something you can enjoy. If not an mmo, just something, you can enjoy either by yourself or with your friends.

[@MMOStein]

No no, you are likely into mmos. Its just *literally* all of them nowadays are dogshit. If you played in the 2000-2012 era, you would have at least had a chance to play a few actual good ones. Sadly GW2 was probably the last objectively good mmo to launch...ever. Literally everything else after has been straight up DoA (Bless/Elyon), Killed itself (Archeage/Wildstar), a Scam (literally all kickstarter mmos), or is extremely niche (BDO). Genre is dead.

[@pkre707]

@@MMOStein I played WoW in 2005. Lost interest at about level 40. Felt like a virtual homework to me. And I had enough homework as it was. It’s the fundamental get 15 of this, kill 40 of that, run this dungeon 20 times gameplay that is inherent to all MMOs that bores me. That and the bogged down lore that I couldn’t care less about. Lost a few friends to the game as well. When they started playing, they stopped hanging out or doing anything else. I tried hard to get into it with them. But I couldn’t really comprehend the appeal. I like games that require immediate attention and reflexes, that do not take homework to get to the challenge. And that do not require complete devotion to get anywhere. Just not hardcore like that.

[@unironicallydel7527]

@@pkre707 its not inherent to all mmo's. Just most of them. Theres a small handful of niche casual mmo's that are quite brilliant but dont get the love or support they need bc they are burried underneath mountains of bullshit. The only reason FFXIV is big, at all is because it has a AAA studio behind it. These others do not and therefore are just generally cast aside. FFXIV is a great game. And it deserves all the love and support it gets. But so are these other niche titles that almost no one knows exist. Hell, if FFXIV wasnt tied to a jrpg franchise spanning decades I doubt anyone would even know about it. save for a niche crowd of gamers. Mabinogi, is a great example. Amazing mmo out of Korea. You can do anything, and be anything on one character. it has a fantastic story, tons of customizations. And its a pretty casual mmo overall. But not many people actually know about it save for a niche audience. Its burried under you're BDO's, your Grand Fantasias, your generally shitty mmo's because they have perhaps the biggest marketing. Casual mmo's. casual games in general, dont really have a voice when a majority of gamers are the hardcore gamers who look down on people who play the more laid back titles. But they do exist. You just have to dig for them.

[@loudamir7390]

@@pkre707 you might wanna give GW2 a try then you get xp for literally everything you do in that game, explore new area? XP kill a monster XP craft a thing XP + you get loads of so called tomes of knowledge that give one level to your character instantly chances are your third character can be leveled to full just by using those, most major events consist of bunch of smaller ones each granting you XP meaning you can sometimes get multiple levels just from participating in one of those

[@sebytro]

As someone who grinded his way through Lineage 2 and then WOW, my heart now belongs to ESO. The relaxing journey, the amazing community and really fun quests and dungeons, it's all like a breath of fresh air. Appreciate that you covered it and you underlined the best parts of the game.

[@pixel1302]

One of my favourite things in ESO was when they had a community event that encouraged you to visit other megaservers and explore summerset (for the big mansion). It was great fun guiding around all the 'tourists' to get them the necessary achievements or being guided around yourself when visiting the other megaserver and just chatting.

[@chriswickster]

How long ago did u start? I just got level 13 I’m a Templar and I’ve played wow for over half my life but even on classic it’s humdrum is killing me. My girl just got a master race PC 😂. I’m making her play wow cuz it is fun, but if I can make serious is it worth it to make ESO the main game?

[@realBeltalowda]

@@chriswickster you should watch this video

[@yohaneswi4935]

@@chriswickster ESO is great. i ve had thousand of hours plus there. ex wow player here. since vanilla , stopped when BFA came out. I miss the world in wow (sceneries is beautiful). but content wise, ESO is killing it. it’s also a Horizontal progression like GW2.

[@heroicskeleton1566]

@@chriswickster The best thing about ESO is the amount of freedom you have. Every class can use any weapon, and play any role. It is a true sandbox mmo, where you can just pick a random direction and you will always find something to do. Right from the beginning you can do just about anything. Wanna get right into the latest expansion content? Sure, why not? Previous expansion like Summerset or Morrowind caught your eye? No problem! Maybe you instead want to start from the beginning with the original story and/ or zone quests. It's all up to you!

[@4922jack]

I used to play GW2 a little some time back when I was on the hunt for THE MMO. I liked it but not enough to continue it. I realize now that I was going in with the wrong mindset. I was searching for the ULTIMATE MMO that has everything I wanted instead of looking at what the game has that I would enjoy. It also didn't help that at the time I just didn't enjoy tab targeting combat. Since then I've played A BUNCH of FFXIV, completed shadow bringers and really enjoyed the game ALOT. That made me change my view on how I should approach games (I used to skip stories in ARR because i wasn't a reading dialogue guy) and set my expectations. This video makes me wanna go back to GW2 with my new mindset and a fresh experience to try it out again.

[@physe8052]

GW2 without question. Off the top of my head I have played, for varying lengths of time: 1. WoW 2. Aion 3. SkyForge 4. Wizard 101 5. SWTOR 6. OSRS 7. Secret World Legends 8. Tera 9. Elsword 10. Warframe 11. AQ Worlds 12. Guild Wars 2 Of those dozen, and arguably a few more, only SWTOR and GW2 have me continue to come back. SWTOR I can't recommend though because the only reason I'm coming back to it is for the story, and I'm a Star Wars fan. GW2, on the other hand, is worth your time and money and then some! Leveling is fun, exploring the world is fun, world events are fun, crafting is fun, fun fun and more fun! This, and the fact that it respects your time and money, has earned my loyalty several times over. I can safely drop the game for months if not years, and have done so, and returned to the game without missing a beat. I could gush out an entire master's thesis on why I believe GW2 is such a wonderful gem of an MMO, but to summarize and oversimplify I will argue that is, without question, the best jack-of-all trades mmo on the market. It does everything any other mmo you can find does. Perhaps it doesn't do them quite as well, but virtually any system or mechanic you can find in any other mmo you can find in GW2, and executed unquestionably competently. Not only that, but all of these myriad activities are valid avenues to progression, e.g. all reward experience. I brought my main from level 40 to max level (80) just by maxing out a crafting discipline! In almost every other MMO on that list I wrote, in my opinion they all tend to specialize. WoW prioritized its end-game, SWTOR and Secret World Legends prioritize their stories and over-arching narratives, OSRS prioritizes its economy and quests, Elsword, Tera, and Warframe prioritize their combat, etc. GW2, if it could be said to have a specialty, would specialize in the MMO as an art form.

[@spook_dad]

the mmo i put most time into was The Secret World, got totally engrossed in the story, was with it from pre launch and enjoyed the out of game ARG elements. The modern day setting was also a breath of fresh air.

[@BryonAutry]

Man... I remember taking part in the pre-launch social media events on facebook, constantly checking for updates on the website and such and getting super hyped for TSW. As a fan of the World Of Darkness and Chronicles Of Darkness tabletop RPGs, the concept excited me to no end. Admittedly when the game released I was a bit disappointed in the clunky combat and stopped playing fairly quickly since none of my friends played it with me, but I always think about going back one day for the story.

[@spook_dad]

@@BryonAutry I was lucky i had a friend playing and we went through the full game together. Solo it was a bit tough but there was quite a good player base when I played and you could usually find someone to team up with. I've still yet to find a game with such an immense story with all the characters voicing their full dialogue. I'm sure it was Brian Glover (Alein3) narrating in one of the dungeons, although he had died a year or so before the game launched. I 'd played LOTR and SWG, GW1 and didn't find the combat system too bad and that was even using the mouse instead of the keyboard as my fat fingers kept hitting the wrong buttons. The missions were great as well, I had to record the morse code with audacity then slow it down to transcribe it, The feeling of satisfaction has never been equalled, I know of no other game since that required this level of dedication. I might get some mates together and revisit.

[@BryonAutry]

@@spook_dad Hopefully one day I can get someone to play through with me, I really wanted to love it when it came out. I know it is a shadow of its former self, but at least most of the story is still intact. Honestly, when it comes to fully (and almost fully) voiced stories in MMOs, I found that in Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars The Old Republic. Guild Wars 2 is my main MMO, but I am also a fairly casual and story driven player and Guild Wars 1 was my very first online RPG, so I have always been a little biased toward Tyria.

[@lilith8024]

Oh yeah TSW I still remember that game I played it for like a year or something but it had so many bugs and other issues that I eventually left the game. Now it's a mere shadow of the story it once held sad because I had alot of fun playing that game back in the day. Despite the bugs and stuff it was still fun having to figure stuff out,

[@Gingerbread22]

I always have that on my list of MMOs to play. I just really really love the Investigation quests. That was so cool of them to do the quests that require actual outside game knowledge, research and skills like noticing things in game to having to download audacity, recording the morse code, then translating it to find the secret message. So nuts I still want to finish it.

[@TomasOlivaMusic]

GW2 100%! The game is just amazing with so many different layers to enjoy. I tried pretty much every major MMO out there + a lot of smaller ones and GW2, in my opinion, is the most complete MMO on the market as of now. The fact that it doesn't use the prehistoric subscription model is a nice bonus :)

[@Grumpypu]

I quit WoW a few months ago, probably dont have to say why. I found my home in Lost Ark, the game has literally everything I want from an MMO, I know some people dont like the camera angle, but what this game is capable of showing because of that is truly special, especially in the raids. GW2 is also one that I come back to every now and then, the fact that I dont have to do anything at all and I can just PvP from lvl 2 or something is wonderful for me.

[@Giliver]

I could deal with the camera angel if I didn't have to use my mouse to move constantly. Legit the only thing holding me back from that masterclass of a game.

[@sebastiancintron29]

I really want to play that game. I wish I had a pc strong enough to play Lost Ark. It legit looks awesome.

[@ferretrayn1903]

Is that game out already? I was under the assumption that they've only been doing closed tests

[@sebastiancintron29]

@@ferretrayn1903 it's on closed beta for NA and Western servers. It'd been out in S. Korea for a couple of years now.

[@doodoofish]

GW2 is designed to be played along with other games, although the developer didn't officially say that, but we know ;) I see many people play GW2 with FF14, GW2 with ESO, even GW2 with Genshin Impact.

[@jeffhe1701]

you hit the nail on the head when people play for obsession. That's why I enjoyed games more 15 years ago. I remember logging on maplestory to get my mmo side scroller fix, then ragnarok for the 3d open world fix and cs and cf for fps fix. Never once had I thought to min max my gear or level or skill to be the best. People kind of forget the definition of fun when you chase rankings. And eventually it turns into grinding and daily quest grind, which frankly makes the game turn into a chore rather than fun

[@Doddleran]

Guild wars 2 and FF14 are my current games I spend time with. But I've been trying every mmo I could get my hands on since 2006 haha.

[@Percopius]

Ditto. I tried to like ESO, but I could not get past the animations. FFXIV is a masterpiece, and GW2 is not far behind, if at all.

[@Simpaiii]

same for me. Love how both games complement each other. love FFXIV for its instanced content while GW2 still has the best open world content to date.

[@jonathansoko1085]

I hate gw2 progression, i hate hte lack of questing as in other games, i hate its ridiculous legendary and ascended gear grind (dont even tell me its not long and bad, it is once you are in it) and its a shame its called guild wars 2, since 1 is that much better and 2 is nothing like it. Oh and the way they release content is literal aids.

[@qwertymonsta]

GW2 has way too much god damned bloom and gives me a headache.

[@Thelaretus]

Have you tried RuneScape proper (unofficially 'RS3')?

[@arivana10]

I recently left WoW and have started playing GW2 again. I tried it a few years back but couldn't quite get into it, but that's not the games fault. That's my fault because I was so hardcore into WoW that nothing else at the time could compare. I'm trying to get out of that mentality and having a different approach to GW2 since I know it's not a typical mmo. But I'm having a lot of fun with it and am going through LW4 right now (I just finished the Path of Fire main story).

[@DanieliusGoriunovas]

Welcome to the game!

[@arivana10]

@@DanieliusGoriunovas thank you so much. It really is a great game to play.

[@LoganFreund]

Same exact situation here! Once I stopped thinking of all the ways GW2 wasn't like WoW, I enjoyed all the ways it was its own unique and fun thing. The moment to moment gameplay and storylines are just so much fun to experience, and the pricing model is unmatched. Glad to see more newbies like me lol

[@arivana10]

@@LoganFreund I'm glad I'm not the only one. I love the fact that with GW2 in order to get legendary sets and mounts you have either quest lines to do or achievements and not just paying gold for it all. It's definitely a game that will keep you busy.

[@TheDisturbed0Angel]

@@LoganFreund welcome to you both! As you both alluded, and as I have told many friends that see how much I love GW2 and want to try it, is it almost becomes a mantra for me that GW2 is not WoW, and does just about everything differntly. If you spend time trying to 'find the equlivant' from WoW, you are going to waste a lot of time not really getting it. 😅

[@masha8770]

One thing I feel that needs to be pointed out: Josh talks about the importance of not committing to an MMO to seriously, avoid making it your job... however a major aspect of MMOs are guilds, free companies, clans, whatever. And running a guild in an MMO either as Leader or Officer can take some serious commitment, be it organising raid schedules or social events or even just making sure every member is vetted properly and potential drama is resolved (for even vetted people can start drama). 1:20 Josh talks about loving the idea of playing with other people. But the way communities build nowadays, unless you have less than a dozen people to maintain (and even then... some of my d&d groups... smh), it takes commitment... and it's often a thankless role. So if you play an MMO, and join a community... give the people running them your thanks. If you really find yourself loving an MMO and your community, get involved. Sharing the burden makes it less (for the lack of a better word) work for everyone, allowing everyone to have more leisure to enjoy the game that brings you together.

[@Langenbacher]

I knew a guy who had several accounts of the same game with every character slot filled. He did the same thing day after day for years. I've lost contact but I am wondering if he's still going...

[@balanceofjudgement4282]

He's not saying "dont commit"... he's saying "dont go full retard". There is a difference. The later leads to obsession and quite an unhealthy view on trying new things. I had friends who dedicated all they were to one game and they were not fun people to be around. Eventually their world crashed around them when they either stopped being good at that game or the game itself became shit...going so far as to evaluate their own worth based solely on their performance in that one game. You are right in saying that a lot of things in MMOs are not done without commitment of various degrees...and commiting to that degree is more than fine, >as long as you enjoy it

[@exodore2000]

I have quit about every mmo I ever joined a guild in. I don't know why it's weird as soon as I join a guild I'm done.

[@tekua19]

I've never actually thought of approaching mmorpg's like this. Just sampling them and sticking with them as long as they're fun, and playing another one when it gets boring. Makes sense when you compared mmo's to other media. Thanks!

[@michaelcowan2853]

Guild wars 2 has a feature that no other MMO can even come close to touching: traversal. It is so much more fun to explore the GW2 world than any other mmo world I can think of.

[@Konpekikaminari]

The mount system is _unmatched_

[@scarocci7333]

The only one that come close in Sword of legends, with the triple jump and water-running making you feel like in a xianxia movie. The fluidity is incredible, jumping from roof to another

[@AgentM3tallion]

I have resisted the Guild Wars 2 since 2012, and it seems your comment here has finally done it @Michael Cowan Installing now. I will find you if you're wrong. Some how. Some way. I will find you. ;-p

[@ViktorTheMusician]

I mean it in the best way possible that exploring and collecting Vistas and such in GW2 feels like playing a PS2 platformer.

[@michaelcowan2853]

@@AgentM3tallion haha just take it slow and learn the systems one at a time. If you buy level boost, you should boost a character you may want to play one day, start the path of fire story and play it until you get the raptor mount. Then you create the character you actually want to play and you get the mount on that new lvl 1 character immediately. Play through the world the first time, if you boost immediately you will be super lost.

[@keitheyer9812]

As someone who literally grew up with both GW2 and FF14 and with characters at both nearing a decade old I can’t express how lucky i am seeing these two games grow. I can’t wait for endwalker in a week and you can count me in EoD first day as well.

[@UnforgivenVagabond]

End message is what I needed to hear. I think I'm going to be much less hesitant about trying new games, now that I realize I was the audience this video was targeted at (asking the wrong questions). Thanks Josh, and thanks to my wife for introducing me to your channel.

[@TheAyanamiRei]

He's right though. There's a number of factors that will influence your decision. Not the least of which, a game you find boring, may be one that someone else LOVES! For me, I found FF14 boring, and Warframe to be VERY exciting and engaging. Even something like being into Genres like Sci-Fi vs Fantasy can significantly change your opinion of a Game.

[@VoiceoftheRings]

I loved your intro! my Channel focuses on Tolkien and a lot in the MMO LOTRO where I do Voice overs and Guides. also, LOTRO is a Great game with a wonderful community and so much more. I also love the games you showed! I have played them all so Awesome! but again, Each person is going to like different MMO's Your intro to this video was so well done. It already made me like your channel! Wonderful to see another MMO player who just loves all MMO's! I have played a good chunk of other MMO's too. I agree you got to find something fun in each one! Look at the Goods and the bad. So many focus on just what is bad. I think it's a bad mindset really. find a game you love and play it! look for the good in games too! :D keep it up! I agree with you! Also, Looking at it as a Hobby Vs Job. loved that made me laugh and agree. also, I agree there is no perfect MMO. your Ending was fantastic too.

[@DireConsenquences]

One thing I would also point out about GW2 is that they have pretty much the most immersive, realistic feeling mount system out there/ All of the mounts have purposes and things that they are good at/ not good at. The models move very organically and feel like real creatures. They are also customizable. With the base skin having 1 dye channel, and cash shop skins with 4 dye channels, you can make your mounts literally whatever colours you want. Also, you don't even need to spend real money on the game aside from the expansions. In GW2, you can transform in game gold to cash shop currency using in game conversion.

[@zeehero7280]

Not a fan of the mount gimmicks, one of the worst things about the game. Sure it makes it interesting but it gets annoying very quickly when every zone is designed around them.

[@dhoelath6648]

@@zeehero7280 Zones that got introduced after Path of Fire are all designed with the mounts in mind. Anything before that though, doesn't need them for anything at all because at the time of release, mounts didn't exist.

[@Gerpar_]

I started playing Eve Online earlier this year. I ended up joining into a random Corp / Alliance that I thought looks fun and didn't know that they were taking part in a huge war (PAPI vs The Imperium.) Being completely new to the game only having played for 1 month, and then being shoved right into the frontlines of one of the biggest wars in the game's history, it was still some of the most fun I've had playing an MMO, even if the side I was on did lose :P

[@Sohelanthropus]

What's the game about and is it on PS5?

[@fatrat92]

@@Sohelanthropus Eve does have lore and it's not bad, but it doesn't matter, it's a true sandbox it's whatever you want it to be about. No, it's PC only, but you can run eve on almost anything.

[@Gerpar_]

@@Sohelanthropus EVE Online is a sci-fi ship combat MMO, there's loads of different roles for players to find their part in for the game, anything from blowing up other player's ships in PvP, to doing industry and producing ammo, modules, and ships. It's only for PC though, but runs on pretty much anything. If you want a good summary of the game, look up the video "This is EVE" it gives a pretty good idea of what the game's about.

[@ЕвгенийШ-ц5б]

Eve Online is the most cruel, mean and sadistic MMO experience you can get. I love it so much.

[@inthewoods999]

Praise Bob

[@SilverKnight16]

Things I've liked about all the MMOs I've ever played, let's go: Final Fantasy XI - Great story, great music, PS2 visuals that have aged remarkably well, and has a very unique gameplay style to it (skillchains/magic bursts FTW). World of Warcraft - Still one of the largest, most immersive online worlds to have ever existed. Has some of the best art design and most responsive UI/tab targeting combat you're likely to find. Aion - Interesting combat system, pretty world, AMAZING MUSIC. Warhammer Online - RVR is super fucking fun (and I'm not really big into PVP), and it paints a pretty good picture of the dark fantasy that Warhammer fantasy lives in. Guild Wars 1 - Immersive world, gorgeous music, insane build options, pay once and you have forever. Rift - Awesome class/spec system, cool visuals (though somewhat dated by this point), and the ability to literally jump into raid encounters at level like 10 to level is actually pretty awesome. Allods Online - Colorful and stylized graphics, interesting class system, has some incredible music, and the Astral may be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in an MMO. TERA - Great visuals, fun and fluid combat, has some truly breathtaking zone and dungeon design. Star Wars: the Old Republic - Incredible story with great player choice, fun combat, Star Wars lore out the wazoo. Elder Scrolls Online - Beautiful, incredible music, fun (if somewhat janky) combat, class/weapon system is super interesting, the world feels immersive, with tons of lore and good story to be had. Lord of the Rings Online - One of the most truly chill, relaxing, and immersive games I've ever played. The world feels large. The music and sound design adds to said immersion. Guild Wars 2 - Immersive, great music, fun combat, gorgeous high fantasy world design, very relaxing in a "play whatever you want, don't worry about it" kind of way. Final Fantasy XIV - INCREDIBLE STORY HOLY SHIT, beautiful world and character design, amazing music, class system is very player-friendly, dev team clearly put a lot of love into their game. Blade 'n Soul - Fun action combat, gorgeous visuals, has a surprisingly competent story (was honestly not expecting that, being truthful with you). You gain skills and movement abilities in a way that feels meaningful. ArcheAge - Gorgeous world, immersive grind that could feel really meaningful. Black Desert Online - FUCKING GORGEOUS, really fucking fun combat, good music to vibe to. DC Universe Online - Awesome combat in the vein of an action/fighting game, cool character design options, low level cap, so you reach the 'end-game' pretty fast. Has some really good music, and Kevin Conroy/Mark Hamill are in there! EverQuest - One of the largest worlds in MMO history, and some of the most iconic visuals out there. Alganon - God love it, it tried. Had an interesting skilling system. Runes of Magic - Stylized graphics, pretty intuitive combat system, had some good music. It's a WoW clone in the best possible way. Vanguard - Had an insanely huge world, with hidden dungeons inside of other hidden dungeons, and had a truly unique diplomacy system. I think there are more MMOs I've played that I can't remember, but this is the general gist. Even shitty MMOs usually have something of value, something that had love and care put into it, even if they were good ideas that just didn't get executed very well.

[@ravenn1508]

aion is kinda death WoW and Guild Wars 2 and also star wars are the best games I didnt try Elder scrolls but It looks great and tera and final fantasy are a shit especially tera with gender classes lock I hate that style

[@chukyuniqul]

It makes me so sad that bdo isn't focused on an actual difficulty curve. I love the moveset of the striker, but the fact the game is so easy and lacks a style meter literally gives me no reason to play it. I do not want to invest all the time to get to the challenging parts while only spam right-clicking and it's a shame because it would be an amazing game, let alone mmo, otherwise.

[@jamesdavis4018]

Vanguard was a lot of fun. It ended too soon to become what I think the developers had intended it to be. Rather a rough start to that one

[@osteophagus]

Mabinogi was my first MMO and I played back when it was still new to North America in like 2008-2010. I was one of the top players on the North American servers just because I loved it so much I played all the time. And even when I had reached end game and there was nothing really new to do before the new continent was released, I still loved playing so much I ran around finding newbies who needed help or people who needed party members for quests, dungeons didn't get stale no matter how many times I ran them because difficulty changed depending on the item you dropped to enter, they were somewhat randomized for which mobs you got, and the quest versions were always interesting. I'd legit sit at the entrance stone for a single dungeon all day just going in and out with various groups that needed another party member. Then life got in the way and I fell off it. I tried going back to it a few years ago but it had changed a lot. I don't think it's a bad MMO now or anything it just wasn't what I wanted anymore and there was the frustration of all the bits I loved from the old days being changed in a way I no longer enjoyed. All the difficulties got moved around, so the dungeons that in my day were something only the top players could get through solo and even then it was a real challenge were now like, newbie dungeons. Becoming a Paladin or Dark Knight which was more end game and something you wore as a badge of honor was like, almost immediately available to do. Champions (Maxed Paladin) and Infra Blacks (Maxed Dark Knights) were so rare because it took a lot of time and skill to get there. I hit Infra Black and it was entirely possible for me to play all day on a packed server and *maybe* see one or two others. There were just tutorials telling you the best way to kill every enemy and then let you practice it so you never had to learn in any actual danger. Part of the fun for me was figuring things out for myself or from learning from other players when I went questing with them. Be it combos, which blacksmiths were the best, which tailors to go to for which clothing items, etc. Now I just take some tutorials in the beginner village and I've got it all laid out for me. If someone wants a more casual MMO with lovely graphics that (even at the time I tried to go back at least) was free to play and did not try to force feed the cash shop to you or lock any aspect away behind paywalls, and doesn't have the nostalgia factor coming into play I think they'd enjoy it but I chose to quit and will keep Old Mabinogi in my heart

[@BrawlKat141]

Another thing that's pretty great about Final Fantasy XIV is that it allows you to play old content (dungeons, trials, raids, etc) at any level. You will simply be scaled down to the content's intended level. This way, dungeons and raids from past expansions don't die out.

[@aburii123]

gw2 is also like this but for all content in the game thanks to horizontal progression

[@Outmind01]

I remember reading somewhere that vanilla FF14 had some sort of ultimate weapons, each with huge quest lines. Is that true, and would it be worth experiencing the quest lines today?

[@jelloz7316]

GW2 does the exact same thing + the game is designed with a full horizontal progression system. This ensure that NO content (even from vanilla) is lost in time. All content is repeatable and still makes it worth your while.

[@benjaminford5043]

@@Outmind01 That would be the relic weapons. They do them every expansion with the final stage being the absolute best weapon you can get in the expansion (same ilevel as the last tier of savage weapons, but you can customise the stats to your liking so it edges over the savage ones), but there's typically a long grind to do it. The ARR ones are probably the clunkiest because they have several stages based on RNG, in particular the infamous books stage that requires you to complete specific FATEs and leves, but nowadays the only reason to do it (and the HW, StB and soon ShB relics) is if you want them for glamour purposes. If you want an impressive shiny weapon, then definitely, otherwise the questlines themselves don't really tend to have much special to them (the exception to this is doing Bozja for the ShB relics because the Bozja story is written by Matsuno of FF Tactics/FFXII fame and it's a pretty good story).

[@Candy_McK]

​@@Outmind01 It's not just a huge questline, it's always a huge grinding. The first one (lvl50) - no - I wouldn't recommend that. The second - just if you desperately want the pet you'll get at the end. Eureka (lvl70) and the current one - Bozja - are different because you can grab a lot of stuff on your way. Pets, mounts, hairstyles, emotes etc.

[@Sedona_FD3S]

GW2 is the only MMO I started then immediately binged the main quest line. I skipped all dialog and I had so much fun. Getting a griffon was so damn satisfying.

[@Konpekikaminari]

Once you unlock the griffon it's basically "how did I live without this?!"

[@waking00one]

Makes sense since the writing is dire

[@SuttonSantiniPaulo]

U get a griffon just from playing the story?

[@elvesrus]

@@SuttonSantiniPaulo No, but finishing the Path of Fire story is the first step to unlocking it. There is also a 250 gold investment to complete the collections.

[@mikoto7693]

Heh, I felt that when I unlocked my chocobo mount in FF14.

[@fett4478]

Every time I try to play a new MMO, I’m reminded just how great of an MMO that GW2 actually is. I really enjoy SWTOR too though. They’re both such great games. GW2 will scratch that open world Zerg, world boss, large scale group pve content that’s missing from so many MMO’s. SWTOR is still, in my opinion, the best story driven MMO out there. Each class has their own individually catered story that is completely voice acted all the way through

[@Briansgate]

YES! Swtor! the amazing multiple story lines and immense voice acting alone make it awesome.!

[@aburii123]

I know what you mean whenever other mmos add "new" types of content I always think to myself gw2 has had this forever.

[@Viper999DC]

SWTOR is the one that does story the best from a party perspective. Most other story-based ones will have you solo talking to NPCs during quests/cutscenes, and might even lead to you choosing different paths than your party members (happens often in ESO). But SWTOR's party chat / roll system really makes it feel like you're playing together. I wish other story-based MMOs would copy that feature.

[@Luna-Starfrost]

"I didn't even break a sweat."

[@gabbyb9418]

YEH GW2 GIT DAT DRAGON

[@Mayhemzz]

ESO gets my vote for MMO you should play. It has so much content and you can choose to do any of it whenever you want. The casual experience is incredible and it does have a challenging endgame if you want it. The biggest downside is most endgame builds need a lot of grinding the secondary guilds to unlock skills, which usually boils down to downloading an addon to tell you where all the lore books are.

[@shadominx3696]

What exactly is endgame in ESO? I see it referenced or brought up a lot.. I've started playing recently and have no idea what it is. I've tried asking a few guildies but they can't seem to tell me or explain it. Google is no help, either.

[@jasoncarto]

_"it implies you can only play one at a time"_ People with lives and jobs: well, yea..

[@Vaikisspwnz]

u cant have life and play mmos chose one or another

[@Langenbacher]

I keep coming back to GW2 with every expansion. You walk around and there are dynamic events all over the place and there is always something that draws me in. Gathering, events, map completion, PVP, story etc. The developers also listened to the players after the betas of the new expansion and have just released a huge update they did because of all the feedback. There is another beta (I believe it's November 30) coming up before the release next year.

[@diewowlatenight4047]

Guild Wars 2 can really be fun, especially if you approach it from a mindset of a "new adventure". I play GW2 a couple weeks after launch and I had ton of fun + a couple of friends joined in afterwards. I wasn't trying to rush to max lvl/endgame since my goal was to "enjoy" the adventure before me, and I think GW2 did a pretty decent job at that.

[@slipknotpurity00]

If you have a completionist streak in you, GW2 can be dangerous. Getting those 100% map completions in every zones ticks certain boxes. You know the ones I'm talking about.

[@diewowlatenight4047]

@@slipknotpurity00 Oh yeah 100% Map completion...phew...that can get out of controll lol

[@jaixiong1763]

That last sentence had me dying. I wasn't trying to reach max lvl or endgame stuff either, only trying to enjoy the adventure. Sadly, I maxed lvl so fast that the adventure didn't even start until after. All those people complaining about how they lvled so slowly had me cringing as I was trying NOT to lvl up so fast even though I was only casually playing it. In the end, I had to stop and think about what build I wanted to play for my character instead. Even now I can go on and find that there is still an adventure to be had. It isn't complete up to the game to make an adventure fun and exciting, it is the people you go on those adventures with that makes it an adventure.

[@The-Lost-Librarian]

Found your channel recently, you do a great job in your vids :D I've gotten burnt out on World of Warcraft recently. Thanks to this one and others, I've been giving Guild Wars 2 a shot, and have been enjoying it greatly. Just leveling is fun, going around and doing content doesn't feel grindy.

[@Beremor]

I haven't played Guild Wars 2 in years and despite my lack of recent experience, I fully agree with your assessment of it. It's an excellent game to just play and have fun with, emphasis on the word "game". I'm especially a fan of the world vs. world combat, where three servers are lumped into several huge maps filled with PvP objectives. Running around in a train of 50+ players and attacking and defending keeps and castles is great fun to me. It's casual PvP done exceptionally well. Good on ArenaNet sponsoring this video, I might just give it another go.

[@doulike7thchords]

I took a huge break for a while as well after Heart of thorns. But I’ve been back at it and enjoying it so much, simply because I’m getting into WVW. It feels like the perfect endgame for me since I love pve and pvp

[@xinsanex7]

@@InconnuGlitterBoy you can still pvp flipping camps killing defenders (usually 2-4 ppl)/killing whoever is scorting "yaks" (npcs who delivers supplies to the obecjtives) , or enemy scouts, but yeah, is mostly zerging because it's the "open pvp" mode, but there's also a pvp lobby, your level gets ajusted to the max for everyone to be "equal"

[@FeintToParry]

@@InconnuGlitterBoy clearly you haven’t played an organized zerg vs zerg with a commander on each side

[@frankthedsigner558]

New Expansion, End of Dragons is releasing in Feb 2022 and there are exciting new things on the horizon. Just in the last couple of months an influx of players have joined and it honestly feel very active with everyone joining in on the various content.

[@DanieliusGoriunovas]

@@InconnuGlitterBoy you can also roam solo, it's perfectly viable. One player is enough to change the outcome of the siege - even if that person is just scouting what enemies do :)

[@doodoofish]

GW2 -- the best value for sure. Over the years, GW2 accumulated so many content. Even if you just play the solo content, it will still be worthy to get the game. The core game is free. No sub. Expansion is coming next Feb. Best time to pick it up now.

[@waking00one]

What content exactly? Thing has been underwhelming from day one

[@doodoofish]

@@waking00one Two expansions and several seasons of living stories introduced a lot of new content even if you play solo. For group-content players, raids, strike missions, fractals, open-world bosses are also introduced over these years. For build tinkers, you have 9 classes with 18 elite specializations (think them as sub classes), and 27 when the new expansion comes out Feb 2022. A lot of build varieties for theorycrafters. And did I mention mounts? One of the best mount systems in MMOs. And a very friendly community. All those for a relatively low price. I can't complain.

[@TheRockMouse]

As a GW1 player, I preordered it and played day 1. It was fun for a short while, but I inevitably got bored with it very quickly.

[@doodoofish]

@@TheRockMouse It is certainly not for everyone. I also played GW1, but it is GW2 that hooked me after trying Rift, Wildstar, and FF14. The good thing now is that players can try the GW2 core game for free, and draw their own conclusions. I'd say GW2's early leveling is a bit slow. I constantly switch to different maps to make things more interesting. Yes, you can change your starting map very early in this game.

[@TheRockMouse]

@@doodoofish I know that bit. I got pretty far early on. I know that a lot of the GW2 players hold a different sentiment than myself, but I greatly missed the pvp of GW1, which was the absolute best part of it for me. Without it? I was initially interested in the lore only for the story to go downhill. The way they handle mounts is interesting at least, and I can appreciate the sheer amount of jump puzzles. Though, when I watched some GW2 youtubers, they said raiding was not so easy to get into, which was unfortunate. Overall, I have this love hate feeling towards the game. It's something I was greatly interested in, but was clearly not made for me.

[@BigIronJaime]

I've been playing Damascus on Steam for over a year now. It's a small Runescape like, point and clicker game and recently I've even maxed my stats in Damascus. It has a pretty small playerbase, but it's super tight knit and fun to be around. The developers listen to what the playerbase has to say, listens to their suggestions and make the game a better place each update. It's honestly awesome!

[@hardgoremick2474]

You made a very good point in this video, really appreciate this man

[@tht2savage]

Your closing statement is exactly what I've been needing to hear lately. Finding your channel reignited my love for MMO's and now that I'm an adult I spend the money I never could as a kid in all these different MMOs. I do find myself jumping from RuneScape, classic and 3, to FF14. Sometimes I wonder if its what I should be doing, if I'm getting my moneys worth out of each game, and the answer is absolutely. There's no harm in jumping games well before you're finished just play what you feel at the time once you feel you've gotten your moneys worth out of the the subscription for the month or however you feel. I appreciate you validating some of my feelings on it actually as I'm typing this I am downloading Guild Wars 2 because I haven't felt like playing ESO, RS or FF14 lately. might as well check out another one for the time being. Now I just need some friends who wont mind if I jump games and subs once in a while, I would say that's my biggest issue, friends made MMOs for me as a kid but now none of my old friends play them and I have a hard time finding new ones it seems, idk if its because I've changed as a player or what it is.

[@raquetdude]

Thoughts on the combat of GW2 and the explorative direction of the game along with how it’s quest (hearts) function in comparison to other games you have played?? (Aware it’s content from nearly a decade ago but it’s still definitely different from the other big mmos)

[@tht2savage]

@@raquetdudethe exploration is fun IMO definitely different but the way I play Skyrim and ESO compliments that well. I’m the type to set a goal for a mission but stop at everything along the way and complete the stuff as I go. The hearts so far are a small part so far. I’m not very far into it yet. The combat is definitely dated but still ok. It’s nothing super special but it does it’s part. I need to see where it goes as I get further.

[@derpherp2360]

@@raquetdude played from the start but havent in a couple of years, that said the combat can feel arcadey but once ya start understanding how your own skills combo in addition to how you can pull of combos from other players skills can change that outlook. you really dont start the game until youve maxed out your lvl and gear grind isnt as bad as in other games. once ya hit ascended gear which isnt hard at all your are basically at that cap save for some minor tweaking with infusions/glyphs or if you are dead set on legendary gear which is more of a convenience as the hard stats are the same between those 2 grades. wvw is a wild ride though..

[@JRileyD]

If you continue to jump around titles you won't form networks of relationships

[@MagusFlorren]

I’d like to think that this entire video was made specifically to NOT recommend World of Warcraft. And I loved it

[@benyed1636]

He'd literally sooner recommend Mortal Online 2.

[@Thelaretus]

WoW is an amazing game I, as an 'RS3' player, really admire, but it's definitely not something you should be getting into right now. Maybe after a couple expansions.

[@BeepBoop335]

Lmao yea, noticed that too. It doesn't deserve to be on the list in it's current state. I feel like he maybe could have mentioned that WoW (even now) has the best raid content, but the only way you are allowed to partake is if you make the game a second job.

[@Pilvenuga]

wow, it took your comment to remind me that WoW exists

[@jonathansoko1085]

If you like wow, just play it, wow at its core is still a decent game regardless of how emotional people are about other things. Especially tbc and classic, therse alot of fun to be had and the fact is, its still a good game and i dont care about how you emotionally feel about the company im just talking the game

[@riktorGaming]

Surprised you didn't mention SWTOR, by far the strongest single player experience I had on a multi-player game, the power fantasy is awesome, the progression and titles you acquire as you progress through the story missions, and the arc based on your class and factions is just amazing, you could just play this game for the story and be very satisfied with it.

[@Schweegerable]

Agreed! SWTOR was my favorite MMO by far. Even the monetization (at least when I played) was well implemented. It allows the people that enjoyed the RP element of Star Wars to purchase themed outfits but left the integrity of the gear progression through raiding in place. Star Wars is a universe that most people who even play MMOs is likely very familiar with, so it's a great game to recommend as a starter MMO imo. And the storylines are incredibly well written as you said. It gets very repetitive at the end game which is why I haven't played in a few years. But as a casual game, you can't go wrong.

[@KristalBlut]

I take SWTOR above FF14 any time, any day. SWTOR has actually a good story and character progression unlike FF14 that is just straight out boring.

[@Faery69]

@@KristalBlut early ff14 is a bit dog water i agree but it eventually gets better

[@thechugg4372]

@@KristalBlut If you consider ff 14 boring, can I even trust this guy with knowing what a good story is?

[@e.corellius4495]

yeah, for real. treat swotor like a single player rpg and just ignore everyone and its absolutely fantastic. ive been playing off and on since launch though so im a bit biased lol.

[@MrOrthodox13]

3:48 Fuck me, video games haven't even started to showcase and I already got my time's worth.

[@zenith110]

I am very much a GW2 main, but I am playing FFXIV in my downtime. I just finished Stormblood and have to go back through the crystal tower quest since it wasnt mandatory before. I love GW2, I think its combat, customization, mounts, and general mobility. FFXIV does have a better told story and has it's own suite of customization options and feels like a more complete RPG experience, mostly due to the simple breadth of things to do outside of combat. I played many thousands of hours of GW1 as well, and I would still recommend it as a wonderful experience. I've tried many other MMOs DCUO, Perfect World, Neverwinter, ESO, Runescape, and more, but I generally favor GW2 and have been playing FFXIV with a friend to cover the time between expantions for both games. I'm excited for End of Dragons- the next GW2 expansion coming in February, and my friend is super giddy for Endwalker (FFXIV). Fun coincidence about the whole "end" thing...

[@ROCKNROLL947]

The only thing that FF 14 makes better than GW2 is the marketing. In the rest , that game is pure and overrated crap

[@NewbieGeek123]

@@ROCKNROLL947 the crafting and non combat activities are nice

[@alialkhalifa]

Star Wars The Old Republic is worth mentioning - has excellent stuff 👌

[@Cyberghost2461]

Currently reinstalling this after MANy years of hiatus. Pretty excited lol. I know its changed a lot, but with all the Bounty Hunter themed Star Wars stuff coming out, I wanna jump back in 😊

[@zzzzzz1039]

Youll be bored quick

[@meowdaleekittenpaw9443]

I like swtor, sunk many hours into this game, more than i ever did on any other game, hopefully legacy of the sith will be good.

[@Aggrovious]

Swtor is one of the best MMO's for its story alone. I have yet to try LOTRO yet but recently was discouraged when the steam link didn't work. ESO has been amazing for me recently, but I will need to have free hard drive space for these MMOs. SWTOR was huge that I had to delete it :/

[@deeliriyum]

I recently started playing GW1 after almost a decade of playing GW2. What an excellent game! I deserves far more attention than it's getting. If after this video there are some brave souls willing to try it out I promise you you will not regret it.

[@JV-hn2zb]

Definitely, best MMO imo. Been playing on/off since launch

[@JRileyD]

Yeah it's not overlooked Guild Wars 1 was one of the most played MMOs out there you are late to the ballgame

[@bigj6576]

Easily my favourite game of all time, been going since launch and i dont see myself stopping anytime soon

[@guillercuastico]

My 2 brothers and I agree in one thing. Gw1 is the best mmo ever done, hands down. Gw2 is very good, but pvp and skill customization in gw1 is second to none. There is not even a contest there. WoW was much more popular back in the day though, despite having worse gameplay and story. Warcraft 3 really help it get ahead, since everyone knew the franchise already. I love warcraft too, and there are great characters i love which does not happen often in guild wars lore such as Jaina or Thrall. Everything has pros and cons.

Late to the party, but I recently logged back in to Star Trek Online. While me and my friends used to joke about it being a terrible game on so many levels, we had lots of fun both following the well-structured story content as well as doing duel-style PvP and grinding marks in PvE. Might get back to playing it regularly, actually. Heck, with the ability to visit the interior of your ship I even briefly yielded to the allure of role playing with friends. It definitely captured a lot of the charm of the shows up to 2001 and they somewhat competently cater to fans of the new stuff as well. Although the ground combat is about as interesting as TNG phaser shootouts, I'd say the space counterpart is quite engaging, with weapons having different tradeoffs (eg. more damage = narrower firing arc, so you need to keep your ship properly oriented to the enemies, broadsiding with beam arrays and keeping enemies front and center with cannons) and end-game skill usage requiring pianist-tier mastery of your keyboard. STO does sometimes toss a bunch of skills at you (not quite like AION, but stuff will appear sometimes randomly on your hot-bars or just on your skill list, forcing you to read it, think about giving it a place in your current routine and so on). On the subject of hot-bars, they should make double- or tripple-line one a default, seeing as there are already hotkeys for that and the default 10 slots will fill up too quickly. Big thumbs up for monetization not being overly on the nose, although prices of the premium currency (when exchanging another in-game, grindable currency) have been maxed out for months, if not years. Top tier builds do require items (ships/weapons/upgrades/etc) only available in the premium shop, limited-time events or guild-accessible shops but once again - the premium currency is available to grind and they recently introduced a system allowing the purchase of items from past events (where previously even recurring events yielded unique grand rewards every time, so skipping meant missing out). Right now Steam player count seems to orbit 1300, so I'd say it's doing well for itself.

[@TheCrossFTW]

I think most people commit to 1 MMO for a few reasons: 1) Only have a few hours a week to play. I fall into this category the most. If I only have limited time to play, I'm only going to play 1 maybe 2 games at a time because if I shifted games every other day/week/month, I wouldn't make much progress in 1. MMOs are all about progress. Progress for your character, the story, your gear, etc is primary motivation to play for most. 2) Have been playing it for years and playing something else feels wrong or weird. People like the same things for comfort and not needing to re-learn things. Not to mention needing to "grind back up to endgame", especially if they are coming from a certain Warcraft game. Fear of starting over in a new community can also be scary too, especially if your friends in one game don't want to play the other. 3)There's a certain mindset for games nowadays that MMOs kinda started in my opinion. MMO's by their nature are Live Service games (probably the original) in that they typically receive content updates regularly and you are meant to play them for awhile. Most popular games nowadays are Live Service. Warzone, Fortnite, Minecraft, R6S, etc all get updates and span years. Players *expect* games to be this way now. They want a game they can stick with for years so they feel like they are getting their moneys worth. If you've made it this far, here is my impressions of all the MMOs that I've played (that you still can play, RIP Vanguard) World of Warcraft: My first *real* MMO. Yeah, I played crappy F2P games on my laptop before WoW, but this was really my first MMO and probably the first game in my young adult life I stuck with for a while. I played it for about 3 years and did all levels of content. I has very responsive combat and the single most refined combat system (for most of the classes). The king of the hill in terms of tab-target combat. Most of the time, it doesn't even feel like tab-target, especially when playing a melee class. Content wise, its struggling now more than ever. Its biggest problem is that you're never really playing "WoW" you're playing "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Patch 9.1". They shove everything that actually matters to player progression into the current patch. Often times, old progression systems are completely removed or invalidated at the end of the patch/expansion. They are completely tossed out and all progress made is moot. Great if you're a new player, but it can be tiring if you've played for awhile. The only reason to run old content is appearances for your gear. And unless there is a special event going on, there's no way to run old content "as it was" with a group. Pretty much you're only option is to play the current raid/dungeons if you want to have any form of actual gameplay. This game takes "Best Overall Combat" for me. Classes are varied and fun to play at max level. It feels fast, fluid and impactful, even when playing casters. Final Fantasy 14: My current MMO. I jumped over here in mid-July following the Blizz lawsuit. Easily on par with WoW combat-wise once you get the hang of it. It can feel a little slower or clunkier compared to WoW, but its for a good reason and once you have all your buttons, the classes play wonderfully. Not needing to always metagame your classes (they are all extremely well balanced) is great and the ability to play everything on one character is probably my favorite thing in any MMO. Leveling alt classes instead of alt characters is perfect for an altoholic like me because all my achievements, money, gear, progress is all on 1 character. No mailing or replaying the same story stuff needed. Another great feature is that the whole game feels relevant. I can run old raids/dungeons "at level" with no hassle and get challenge out of old content without needing to wait for an event or anything special. The gear that you get from it may not scale up, but you can easily run it without level syncing if you're just after appearances for items. The simple fact that I don't need to just play the current patch, combined with the lack of extra systems and being able to run everything on 1 toon gets this game the "Best Time Respect" from me. They let you do what you want, when you want it without needing you to jump through hoops or level a necklace or some other thing. The only thing that gates content is story progression, and it has the best story out of all MMOs (definitely one of the best in video games overall) I'll be sticking around Eorzea for awhile. Guild Wars 2: I agree with Josh's assessment of "Best Value MMO" because its the only one outside of ESO without a subscription (and ESO's is "optional" with the loosest interpretation of that word). Pick it up, play it for a bit, leave when you get bored, come back and you're character is pretty much in the same spot. I think I heard its progression system best described as "Grind for convenience, not for power." The progression in this game is very much not gear based. Yes you can get better and better items. But Legendary items aren't that much better than the tier below. Their main draw is that you can equip them on any character, and you can change their stats whenever you want. The reason you get them isn't because they are so much better than other gear. Its so you don't need to carry gear sets around for different builds. Everything is convenience based. Grind your mount so it can run faster, jump higher, do its special thing better. Great for people who don't want to feel like they have to play because they will fall behind. New expansions don't mean a higher level cap and more of a gear gap. Its been the same Lvl 80 and same gear gap since 2012. Elder Scrolls Online: I admit to this game not being the one I have the most experience with. Its okay. That's about the most I can say about it. Its combat feels floaty, but being able to create a wide variety of builds for 1 character is pretty fun. I think its art style is the most bland of all of the games I've talked about, but that's the Elder Scrolls style. Its a much more grounded fantasy game in its appearances. No crazy flashy spells or effects really. Its pretty straight forward and probably has the "Best Questing Experience" from all the games. The overall main story is bland, but the side quests are entertaining and surprisingly deep. If you have any questions about any of the games, feel free to ask me! I will happily talk about the aspects of any of them for people who want to know more!.

[@jkfsh9582]

Amazing post. I can only speak on wow and eso. I was introduced to vanilla wow after being a Diablo 2 player. Played it off and on for years. Pretty sad but predictable what wow is today. Hopped on eso from playing previous elder scrolls games. I freaking love this game. - it's playable on console, I can play with my friends who won't play pc -casual friendly. You can literally do whatever you want to reach max level -i can farm/craft gear solo that is totally viable for most content -the community is so helpful. You can join five guilds that are account wide. I made so many friends that love to talk about eso strategy -the lore and quests are amazing. I read every quest -combat mechanics are great on controller. Swing and block with the triggers. Easy weapon swapping with front and back bar -diversity of builds. Unless you're doing raid content where the numbers really matter, you can do whatever the hell you want -looking for dungeon is great -big one! Max item level is 120. I took a year off and my gear is still relevant coming back. I can't stand games like wow and destiny where everything you've just spent months on is unusable with the new patch and higher item level -beautiful!! game. I stop all the time to soak in all the details in each zone -great for someone with little free time. You can hop on for an hour or so and you can feel like you've accomplished something as far as progression on your character. -love the item system. So many different sets to acquire with unique stats and procs -guild trader auction vendors are very convenient -very fast paced and engaging combat! You'll always be on your toes moving around smashing buttons -you get houses that you can furnish!! It's on the Xbox game pass. Great way to check it out without purchasing

[@TheAyanamiRei]

What makes FF14 so good? Like....I played Black Mage and I couldn't get into it at all. Coming from Warframe and Genshin Impact....it just felt dated. Boring. Graphics were boring too. Quests were very uninteresting, ESPECIALLY without all the razzle dazzle of Voice Acting. Is there a class that's better for someone who just wants to be excited during my first 20 minutes of play? Like for me, Warframe and Genshin hooked me in within 20 minutes.

[@TheCrossFTW]

@@TheAyanamiRei Happy to answer! The truth of the matter is the beginning hours are a slow burn. There's no sugar coating it. FF14 plays closer to a traditional FF/RPG game than an MMO, especially in the early game. It can be a bit slow, but both its gameplay and its story ramp up around 10ish hours in and really take off around lvl 50 and it just doesn't slow down. No class is going to be cracked out and super engaging within 20 minutes of booting up the game. Now a class at Lvl 90? I currently have been playing Bard and there is absolutely 0 downtime and it feels amazing to play, weaving abilities between each other constantly. But Archer (Bard's starting class) isn't exactly the pinnacle of fun at lvl 5 If you really want to try a class that might be a bit more engaging earlier on, I would suggest maybe Arcanist. One of its advanced jobs (Summoner) was overhauled for Endwalker and its changes trickled down to earlier levels. Plus you get a cute carbuncle (a fox/cat like familiar) to summon, so that's pretty neat. Don't feel bad if you don't like FF14. No game is for everyone. But if you stick around to experience its truly amazing story and endgame progression that doesn't cost IRL money to progress (or an absurd amount of grinding), than you're in for a real treat!

[@ReverendLeRoux]

I'd go as far to say that having multiple alts on ffxiv is a painful experience because I remember spending whole fucking months getting through the main story content of the various core stories back when I worked multiple jobs.

[@ReverendLeRoux]

@@TheAyanamiRei also that FFXIV is a game that starts pretty low and then progressively gets better and better as time goes on. The first 30 levels of content are mediocre at best but then within the next twenty everything picks up and Heavensward is where FFXIV comes into itself very quickly. And even then, compared to Endwalker, Heavensward is middling, because as I said before the game genuinely does nothing but improve over time. It has yet to take a step back in terms of quality, which for an MMO is shocking.

[@blakestormcrow6275]

The first 3 games recommended are the 3 I have installed on my computer. Currently focusing on FF14 and loving it

[@jemm113]

I only have FFXIV at the moment (Lego Universe died rip my childhood, and ArchAge has aged like milk left out in Texas summer) but I have to say that his GW2 and especially the ESO pitches got my curiosity piqued! But Endwalker literally comes out in less than a week so I literally cannot physically give a shit about literally anything else right now so they’ll have to wait for later and hope to survive me backtracking to SMTV and the oncoming Elden Ring hype as well 🙃

[@blakestormcrow6275]

@@jemm113 ArcheAge is the 4th MMO I have installed, purely to see how it goes with another publisher, who will most likely grind it into nothing. It's a brilliant game in theory, that has been mismanaged more than almost any other (Rift, another Trion game takes that trophy for me). ESO, the game I played before FF14 has a lot of positives - the main quest narrative, full voice acting and story, really makes it feel like Skyrim Online for a while. The community is generally great, the crafting is immersive (but really needs a subscription for the endless Crafting bag), and the PvP can be fun(albeit ruined constantly with Ill thought-out changes). The PvE ranges from way too easy (overland/questing content) to seriously challenging, without much of an inbetween. Finding a good guild to train you in the latter makes a huge difference. Likewise, I'm waiting for Endwalker (pre-ordered) even though I'm still a noob in FF14 :)

[@blakestormcrow6275]

@@jemm113 oh and Elden Ring looks amazing, but please, George R R Martin - please finish your novels and stop taking on side projects!!

[@belquerst]

GW2 is my answer for this question. Awesome for casual but hardcore players too. Awesome price, awesome world, quests, story, exploration, WvW, etc. etc

[@BirthrightGaming]

This is an awesome perspective! This is the first of your videos that I've seen, and I can tell as a fellow MMO fan you truly get it. Like the different foods we eat, and other entertainment we enjoy, the most beautiful thing about MMOs are the variety they offer. Thank you for this video

[@waterbottle3860]

I would definitely recommend GuildWars 2 to anyone wanting to get into MMOs, the game is amazing and it gives you freedom to choose the content you want to progress with. You make gold by literally doing any content and even if you decide to take a break and comeback after a month or two, you will NEVER be behind.

[@Zerot2009]

The ascended gear grind tho, the timegates... do not even start me on the Skyscale grind...

[@daniel89andersson]

I agree, great game. Got a good 1500 hours out of GW2 before i kinda burned out grinding legendaries (my fault, not the games). And it only cost me 30 euros, money well spent imo

[@epicfail5473]

@@Zerot2009 Those are genuinely not that bad.. You can get full sets of ascended gear in all game modes and can buy ascended trinkets with laurels (which are a daily log in reward). This is even faster with maxed crafting, which doesn't take to long if you follow a guide I'll admit the Skyscale does take a while but I was doing WvW and PvP in the downtime, were I couldn't mount it anyways xD

[@DanieliusGoriunovas]

@@Zerot2009 What are you talking about? Ascended is only 5% better than gear you can literaly buy off auction house in couple hours... And ascended doesnt even have timegates... Ascended gear is not even needed for the 90% of the game - you can perrfectly even raid withtout it... :)

[@xzygy]

​@@Zerot2009 The beauty in this design is that you don't need Ascended gear because it's only marginally better than Exotic, which is very easy to obtain. Skyscale is a bigger quality of life increase, but there isn't much you can't do without it. These are long term goals that we work on and feel like we're improving our characters. And the investment of time feels worth it, because there's no item level increase to make that work obsolete, which means you only ever have to grind it once and you're set forever. They release new stat combos now and then, and if you need one of those for a build, you can stat swap your ascended pieces fairly inexpensively. Or it can be a new long term goal to work on.

[@akemiknowsbest3671]

I think most people's biggest mistake when it comes to MMO's is going to hardcore into them. They try to get as much content out of them AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, and it gets EXHAUSTING. I've been casually playing PSO2 since it first came out in the West, and I've been having a great time. I shoved 80s hours of FF14 in in about a month and a half, and I've had to take a break for months haha.

[@queenbean7071]

The thing with ff14 i find is that the game improved and expanded almost every part of the game every update and patch. Newer players (like me lol) keep thinking we are near the end only to discover how much more content there is Like a carrot on a stick

[@ShiroCh_ID]

im here foing some casualgameplay on Pso2Ngs

[@enmasblade]

If game is actually good and you actually enjoy it you will do hardcore without considering it being hardcore. But cos you dont really enjoy it more off let me kill time it is like chore instead of fun and you try to switch playstiles so different games. Funny how ppl dont realise this is actually what they are saying

[@poligrant5152]

@@enmasblade Yeah kinda true, i playedd 300 hours of final fantasy 14 in about 1,5 months (yes i was hooked up on the game) but now i didnt play it for a good while, maybe almost a year, i think about coming back but i think about starting over.

[@GuildMM]

Love seeing Guild Wars 2 getting recognition, it has a lot to offer than some might think. Imo the best combat system and implementation of mounts each with unique skills. A decent story and plenty of open world content. The community really loves to engage creating contests, initiatives and is very welcoming to helping new players out

[@Olivet_]

I needed to hear this. I play Old School Runescape and I absolutely love the grind. Reaching a certain level in one skill to unlock another training method for that skill is so exciting to me! But that doesn't mean the grind doesn't get heavy sometimes. There are some grinds (like the ironman crafting grind) that can be VERY mind numbing, and I literally needed to be told that it was okay to take a break from OSRS and play something else. I kept looking for other games, just not MMO's because it honestly scared me that I might be pulled away from OSRS and never go back...but I know deep down that I'll always be back. I love the grind too much. I'm gonna go try FF14 now. Thanks for saving my love for MMORPG's, Josh. Really.

[@SATAN-x7i]

OSRS and even RS3 to some extent are definitely the types of MMOs for people who enjoy number oriented progression and specifically actually enjoy the process of grinding, even to a more extreme degree. It also scratches that crafting system itch that some people like me have in a really good way, because nearly everything in the game is based around crafting and having good enough skills overall to make the item. And while I personally can't play F2P on OSRS anymore because I'm too used to having all the conveniences and content access that P2P provides, it's actually genuinely one of the most customer friendly content rich free experiences you can find in an MMO. It also only costs a flat monthly fee for membership, and that's the only thing paid in the game besides bonds (OSRS anyway), which are also just 14 day membership packages that you can actually buy with in game gold as well, and can be traded with players. And if you like playing an MMO experience with other people, but prefer to still do most of the content solo, OSRS is also fantastic for that. I'd say about 75-85% of the game is actually doable alone and the other 25-15% requires other players.

[@nc8186]

IM MAXED ON RUNESCAPE BABY

[@BanControl]

If you like that aspect of osrs you'd probably like eve online 😊

[@Salubrious388]

Well after watching this I’m planning to get my arse into gear and try Guild Wars 2, as I’ve been meaning to for far to long!! I love your content. It feels at last we can have a grown up discussion online. Thanks for your continued efforts. :)

[@eduardomachado7837]

For a long time I've been testing every MMO I could get my hands on and eventually dropping them at lvl 20~40 (depending on how fast the levelling is, but its generally at the same point). There were only 3 mmo's which I've ever played for over 1K hours: - Ragnarok Online (I still think it's one of a kind and I'm never tired of it although its blatant flaws) - Tree of Savior, which I dropped when I reached the endgame and it wasn't that fun to grind, plus they made a whole lot of overhauls that completely messed up some parts of the game - Final Fantasy XIV, it's the one I'm still playing and was one hell of a surprise since I couldn't believe a MMO could host such a great story, great community and content for all tastes :)

[@15ShadowDude]

Forgot I owned GW2. The casual mindset really made me want to dive into the game again, and I'm doing just that right now. Thanks Josh!

[@Butcher899]

Yeah, after raiding mythic and doing high level dungeons in WoW, looking at mmos with the casual lens really makes a difference

[@mixes1228]

Casual game for casual bots

[@timm8998]

To me wow is also a casual mmo though. Which is funny. Wow was the game that hauled in so many casual gamers. Before that the image was that MMO's were for the hardcore/nerdy types of gamers only.

[@LaramasBee]

I spent so much time playing Guild Wars 2 over the years. When Heart of Thorns dropped I came back, played a bunch of the new content, and eventually stepped back again after scratching that itch. Might be time to check out the final expansion.

[@katarh]

From a current XIV player: Due to the crushing popularity of the new expansion, the free trial is more or less unplayable for now. Free players are lowest priority in the queue when the servers are at max capacity, so won't be able to log on during prime time. If you do want to try XIV, right now between the hours of midnight and 8AM your local time are the only chance you have of logging in while on free trial. If you were considering purchasing the game, I strongly recommend waiting until February, which is the absolute earliest we might get more servers to alleviate the pressure (planned release of the OCE data center.)

[@thechugg4372]

I'm playing free trial right now with no problems, also playing all day, so maybe it's just a region issue.

[@Clout_Strife]

Yeah I'm probably not gonna hop into FFXIV until February

[@Baplar]

Update: now that a few months passed since the release of Endwalker, each data center now has at least a few servers which never have any significant login queues. In other words, the free trial is now viable again, and it should stay that way at least outside the release window of new patches.

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

@@Baplar quite honestly, The servers, at least on the Crystal Data Center, were cleared up enough for reasonable queue-lengths maybe 9-10 days after Endwalker officially released. It wasnt nearly as bad as I thought, though I still play with a friend on a JP server weekly (we created them to play when we couldnt log into Balmung)

[@Nostromo2144]

Completely fabricated garbage & pure greed! They used Covid and supply chain shortages (guffaw!) as an excuse for piss-poor capacity planning and to justify gouging new players into a sub, therefore the 'free' trial was a total lie and trap. Hard pass.

[@princenoobsauce]

i played dungeons and dragons online for many years and started at launch. it could use an entire graphics overhaul but otherwise it still has some of the most unique mechanics found in the genre.

[@exodore2000]

Good game enjoyed my time with it as well. Liked it more than Neverwinter.

[@zippydipity42]

Me and two friends decided to play DDO not too long ago and it's honestly really good even to this day. Don't get me wrong, it's clunky as hell, but the quests were unique and fun, and the character progression felt really good.

[@JediEngineer]

I love making my way back to Star Wars: The Old Republic. It has it's faults but I fall in love with the story content every time I boot up.

[@ZeroFighter]

Old Republic was a game with no identity. Try Galaxies. You have to do a bit of leg work, but it's truly a game of freedom, albeit, ugly as sin thanks to age. I made a Twi'lek entertainer a few years ago, and chose to completely ignore anything resembling missions. I just roamed around from world to world, dancing in cantinas, and occasionally being entertainment for some adventuring parties. They escorted me through the dangerous areas, I danced in-game, and played music for them over the mic. It got EXP just for following along, and credits for dancing and being an entertainer, along with easy, cheap loot that nobody wanted which I could sell for more money. Again though, it's ugly as sin by comparison, and it's mechanically somewhat obsolete, though if you like Old Republic, you'll probably master Galaxies in about an hour with how identically they play.

[@JediEngineer]

@@ZeroFighter I enjoy SWTOR in it's current state and can't wait for 7.0 to drop.

[@ZeroFighter]

@@JediEngineer Not what I was getting at, but whatever. If you're able to enjoy it, more power to you.

[@fusrosandvich3738]

@@ZeroFighter If you can elaborate, i'd like to ask what "no identity" means. I will at least say it was extremely easy to get lost when I played (which turned me off from playing it when I tried, same happened for Old School Runescape but was resolved by Runescape 3.)

[@ZeroFighter]

@@fusrosandvich3738 It's trying to be KOTOR 3 which is what people actually wanted, but uses the interface and voiced protagonist approach that was used for Mass Effect. It tries to be narrative-focused, but it suffers the typical story-driven MMO problem of the main character waiting in line for the first dozen or two other main characters to clear out so that they can turn in their quests as the only person who can do the thing... before a dozen more main characters in the exact same story turn in the same exact quest behind your main character. It's got all the usual MMO mechanics, but still pretends to be KOTOR 3, all while straddling the line between maintaining its status as an EU / Legends game, and trying to fit in with the new Disney canon at the same time. Nobody knows what it's supposed to be, not even if it's supposed to be F2P or not. It started off with a subscription, but soon went F2P, though it still walls off content to players who don't pay, such as locking certain races or gear behind real-money paywalls with no means of unlocking through gameplay. It has no identity.

[@CreepyBlackDude]

I've tried 4 MMOs, and these are my thoughts about all of them: 1. EVE Online - The first one, off a recommendation from a friend. I was drawn in by the gorgeous graphics and space odyssey feel. The rules were defined, but the world was very open: Stay here and be safe, go out there and be merciless. I never opened spreadsheets, never got into production or selling...I just wanted to build ships and do exploration. I lasted a decade in that game, and had some of my greatest experiences in any MMO, and realized that emergent gameplay was something that could keep me hooked. 2. Final Fantasy 14 - I tried this one a few times over the years, but failed to get past level 20. I tried again during the pandemic (like half the gaming world did), but the difference was that I had a group of friends who were all into it. Now I'm having a good time, and it's probably my main MMO currently. The thing I noticed about FF14 is that I treat it like a game: Unlike EVE, I log in to play through the story. I don't live in the world, I play through it. That being said, the story is phenomenal (past ARR), the combat is satisfying, and I'm having an incredible time playing. But once I discovered the difference.... 3. Elder Scrolls Online - ...I wanted a world I could get lost in. With FF14, I recognized that I was playing a game, not living in the world. I wanted the experience like EVE where I felt that I was a member of a shared universe writing my own story, not playing through another. So while I enjoy FF14 as a game and still play it often. I started looking for a world I could "live in." I went to Elder Scrolls because I love the lore. The quests were amazing and the lands were vast...but I already had a questing MMO. I wanted something a bit different--basically high-fantasy EVE. That doesn't exist, but the closest I came to it was... 4. Black Desert Online - An incredible fantasy world--one large, seamless map that you traverse by horseback, many of the buildings are ones you can enter and look around in which makes the towns feel real and not just aesthetic, varied biomes, phenomenal graphics, all in a sandbox that allows you to choose how you want to play the game and find your own way to enjoy it. This scratches the itch left by EVE Online in a good way. It can get mindless and repetitive if you let it, but there are many ways to play the game, and I find enough variety to keep coming back. It helps that the combat is among the best in the genre; it doesn't help that the main story quest which introduces you to the lore is still mainly text and isn't that engaging at all. But I'm having fun with it either way. So now I play FF14 as my main MMO with friends and regard it as a game...and I play BDO mainly by myself as a world I can live in.

[@Bambingobongo]

nobody asked

[@iHelderScrolls]

Quite sad for not seeing Star Wars: The Old Republic on the list, but def one hell of a game with some of the best stories fully voice acted on the SW Universe :) Awesome content Josh!

[@NateTheScot]

Yeah i really enjoyed my time with SWTOR due to the character/story based questing. It felt like KoToR Online, which was awesome. I always meant to go back and do more of the stories but i got distracted by other stuff and these days i'm focusing on catching up on single player games i've missed during my MMO grinds.

[@FNCMontragor]

I think swtor is a Great game bit its a bad mmorpg. I liked playing it but it's more of a single player game. The online part isn't really its strong side.

[@ragingcyclone369]

@@FNCMontragor When was the last time you played it? nearly 40 flashpoints (dungeons), 12 operations (raids) and two forms of pvp (player character and galactic starfighter), and that's not counting the incursions (mini-dungeons). So I don't think you realize just how much MMO content it actually has.

[@FNCMontragor]

@@ragingcyclone369 That's what I said the flashpoints and Raids weren't fun there are games with better raids.

[@machinech183]

In all fairness, the bar for "best stories" in SW Universe is abysmally low. Bit like being the fastest sprinter a double amputee 100 yrd dash. It is better than it once was, it's loads better that its predecessors, but as a game standing on its own... well there's a very good reason its population is where it is.

[@iSeeSoundsShow]

Mad respect for GW2 for probably having to accept our boy josh' requirements for a sponsorship (aka being able to say whatever he wants about the game). I would say I'm going to give the game a try if I wasn't already approaching my 3000th hour in the game

[@DirtyBobBojangles]

You need to approach 1 hour inside a girl next

[@iSeeSoundsShow]

@@DirtyBobBojangles hah, right

[@koneko791]

The only MMO i've ever really played for a long time was Star Wars: The Old Republic because I really love Star Wars and I've played all 8 stories multiple times and still love them

[@tomasz9429]

I played several others, WoW of course, but even before WoW there were Everquest and Ultima Online. SWTOR is my comfy MMORPG, I go there for a few months each year. New update coming next month, good time to resubscribe and take one of my 28 characters for a spin. Or rather make a 29th.

[@captainstinkyvonpoopberg4925]

SWTOR is suspiciously missing from all of his videos. I wonder if there is a story there or if it just never came to his attention.

[@tomasz9429]

@@captainstinkyvonpoopberg4925 Maybe he's salty about SW: Galaxies being shut down to make room for SWTOR? I was, very much so, but came to terms with it. Or he just despises Star Wars, which is also fine. I used to be a big SW fan, now I don't care about it at all, and SWTOR is the game I play because it's fun, not because it's SW.

[@MyNameIsGhost]

@@captainstinkyvonpoopberg4925 he's been asked multiple times and he's said he jut hasn't gotten around to it. I'm not sure he's that big of star wars fan

[@Shaunymac10]

I love star wars but i find that game insanely boring

[@knirpslyn2107]

Something has been missing in the dozens of videos I've watched...that one final hook that could push me past 'I think I have a crush'. Then you held a fox mug. And now I'm in love.