General Discussion

What I'm suggesting is the people list there favorite MMOs and list there own pros and cons.  I think when an opinion from someone who actually likes the game especially when they list there cons make a good description and might help some people pick and choose what they want to play.  I'm expecting arguments to break out of this, but what I'm saying is a simple list is all with no conflict so people can review.

Star Wars Galaxies
Pros:
-Open World Concept [Sandbox]
-Multiple Worlds to travel between
-Crafting was pretty good
-Character Customization was pretty decent
-Player properties, including cities
-The incredible IP it’s based on
-Space Combat AND Land Combat
-Graphics are really dated NOW, but were decent at the time.
-GREAT community at one time with fairly strong RP
-Many other things…

Cons:
-SOE/LucasArts’ altering the game in terrible directions
-While there were many great concepts, even in its Pre-CU/NGE stage the game left much to be desired. It wasn’t the best system to begin with.
-Overall, just bad handling of the IP in general unfortunately which left MUCH to be desired from the final product…

Despite all its flaws, this game is still in my eyes the most ambitious MMORPG to date. It’s just too bad it didn’t quite work out.  Here's hoping the BioWare Star Wars MMORPG [If true... for all of you who still doubt it...] will be a tripple AAA title and just because the devs love WoW, it only means they will take the best parts of WoW and build upon it in a large Star Wars Universe sandbox full of toys to play with.  One can hope...

Ill just say it now since someone is going to say it eventually.

World of Warcraft ~

Pros - Large Population

- Large game world

- Responive and generally helpful GM's

- Accesible for almost everyone to play

- Fun PvE

- Frequently updated

- Many mods to customize your gaming experiance 

Cons - Sub-par graphics compared to many of todays MMO's

- The community is a bunch of asshats

- Most of the endgame content is repetition

- PvP is not very balanced

Magic of the Gods:

Pros:

 - F2P (Free to play)

 - The world is not static. It changes all the time. Most of the changes are caused by players. I don't mean they choose from a few limited options. I mean it's completely open-ended and the game devs just change it based on what the players are doing. The amount of open-ended changes players can cause is really quite hard to believe.

 - Significant player actions get recorded in the history of the game world and notable player characters get added to the wiki.

 - You can invent your own magic spells by wriitng them directly using a special scripting language. This will give you spells no one else has.

 - You can invent your own crafts (using the same scripting language as spells) and be able to make items that no one else will know how to make unless you teach them how.

 - There are lots of characters who are played by gamemaster types. That adds a lot more to the game than you might expect. It's like you can go see the Prince of Stondar and he's not a computer-controlled character. He's a real person you can negotiate with and he controls an army of dwarves.

 - The politics of the game world are awesome.

 - You can kill any NPC anywhere anytime and they stay dead forever.

 - Monsters you kill stay dead forever.

 - No character classes

 - No levels

 - No instancing

 - Everyone is on just one server

 - GREAT player community. I mean, like, the best anywhere.

 - Great role playing. Everyone is in character all the time.

 - PvP is enabled everywhere all the time, but nobody is a jerk about it. Not sure how long that can last.

 - When characters die, they drop all their gear and they go to the land of the dead, also called the underworld. The Underworld is a giant dungeon type complex which apparently has no exit. So it's sort of perma-death and sort of not. Dead characters can continue their adventure in the Underworld, but from the point of view of the characters who are still alive, they're pretty much gone. On the other hand, the "gods" can resurrect you. Supposedly mages and clerics could do this as well with enough magic, but I don't know if any have enough magic. (Yes, there are mages and clerics even though there are no character classes. Mages are people who focus on magic. Clerics are priests of one of the in-game religions.)

 - You can have your own house. You can also have your own castle, underground complex or your own island. Or all of the above.

 - There is no level restriction to have a mount. Brand new players can ride a horse if they can get one and that's not all that hard.

 - You can actually discover new lands that no player has ever seen before and then others can come and play there.

 - Getting lots of combat experience doesn't make people invincible so that they can act like jerks to newer players and face no consequences. A few new players can gang up and be able to protect themselves from a lone griefer. Oddly, there are no griefers in the game.

 - Your character can get married and have children. The children are new characters who can be played by other players or you can play them yourself as alternate characters.

 - You can have up to ten characters per account and there's unlimited free accounts.

 - You can start your own guild, religion, army, or country. Yes, you can start your own country in the game. I already did, the Kingdom of Radnaria.

 - You can create new types of weapons and armor.

 - You can use magic to create new creatures and even new playable races. Then you can play as a type of creature you invented.

 - You can own land.

 - Player based economy. It's relatively undeveloped so far, but it mostly needs more players and more crafts (players can invent new crafts). The economy is designed the right way.

 - You can own and command a sailing ship. Probably more than one.

 - Game devs are extremely easy to talk to. They hold extensive conversations with players on the forum.

 - If you don' t like something about the game, even the rules, you can actually get it changed. I don't just mean you can beg the game devs to change it and hope you get lucky. I mean you can change the rules in-game. This is because part of the storyline is that the world is controlled by "gods" who can change anything. There are ways to influence the gods in-game such as with powerful magic or by having control of a large in-game religion, even one that you started by yourself.

  - Ecosystems that make sense and respond to player actions. if you kill some animals, there will be less of that type of animal in that area for a while. If players kill too many predators, the creatures they prey upon increase in population. If you kill too many of the prey, the predators die off.

 - You can ask the gods for miracles and sometimes get them. Especially if you are a priest.

Cons:

 - Graphics are about like EQ1, but they say they are working on improving them.

 - Small player population so far

 - Not big enough world, though they are adding to it.

 - New combat system sounds great but isn't implemented yet. Old one isn' t the best.

 - Still in alpha/beta testing and there are sometimes server crashes or other errors

  - May not always be free to play.

 - The update system usually requires you to do a lot of downloads

 - The game server isn't online all the time. Instead, they are only online briefly and that's the only time you can play. They will add new sessions if you request them, but still. Currently the sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 pm US Pacific Time.

Shadow of Legend:
Pros:
1. A vast and splendid world that is well depicted
2. Convenient teleport system facilitating travel across maps
3. Imaginatively created and funny NPCs and monsters
4. Several interweaving threads of quests help to tell the story
5. Unique economic system including the diamond currency and Item Mall, Bank, Auction house and Traders, etc.
6. Dazzling array of weapons and dresses
7. Swift leveling in the initial period thanks to user-friendly interface and helpful instant message instructions
8. All kinds a bonus and gift package rewarding effort
9. Regular intriguing events like mushroom planting, turtle sunbathe and so on.
10. Well-designed dungeon instances
11. A multi-channel chat system for gamers over the world, camp mates, guild members and even for strangers happening to be at the same place
12. A highly post system that could virtually match the real life one, which means you can deliver words, make a report, send and get presents, etc.
13. A more and more powerful PvP system at all levels, camp, guild or individuals.
14. 3 job shifts make it possible to diversify your career and gaming experience.
15. A pupil-master system that is mutual beneficial
16. A moral standard is addressed in the way of a reputation system
17. A group of specialized crafting and manufacturing masters or advisors are always there to be helpful
18. Responsive GMs on line and on the forum, ready to tackle any problems.
19. A community that is basically friendly and civilized.
20. Regular update every week, either for improvement or debugging

Cons;
1. 2D game, though it’s going 2.5D days later
2. Vaguely written background story which is not well referred to as the game goes on
3. tend to be a little bit radical in adjustment
4. not enough advertised and failure to protect from bias and attack
5. As PvP aspiring game, there’s still some to be desired in this course
6. GMs not always available 24 hours a day
 

There is one big CON to every MMO .The biggest Con is that ALL developers try to aim for as big an audience as they can get.This makes for quantity over quality.It is getting even worse with developers now,as they strive to meet the demands of ALL the public,witch we all know is impossible to do.Even if a game is designed into a very narrow storyline,it doesn't take long for many of the players top start complaining about different areas that don't meet there criteria or time lines.We have seen crafting pretty much dumbed down to where it seems like it's on the way out.We have seen many aspects of MMORPG gaming go down the tubes in favour of the new demands>>>>PVP/player customization.

PVP is the worst area to be putting effort into MMO's IMO anyhow.It used to be first person shooters were the mainstay for PVP skills.There was the many players who can not compete in a skill environment,so they now are trying to force time=reward PVP into MMO's,making for less skill.Now jonny or tommy who couldn't compete in a first person shooter,merely has to log onto his favourite MMO and put many hours in to gain the upper hand over other players.Even worse is that they are demanding massive players in the PVP making for total chaos,so any noob has a chance of getting in a lick somewhere.

The biggest PRO a game can have is it's COMBAT system.No matter what MMO you wil be playing,it will always come down to combat that decides your advancement.This will become a players most important part of gaming.FFXI has developed the top of the line combat system that all other games will try to imitate or even copy.There combat system is not perfect of course,far from it but is quite in depth in many aspects of it.The dual class system is by far the most unique idea ,that is VERY hard to outdo in any game.Some developers may copy this idea outright,but it looks kind of lame when you can't come up with your own ideas and just copy others.The problem is that there dual class system is so good and well thought out[limited to level 75]that it will be hard to think of something better.Allowing players to be everything is by far the lamest idea and ruins any class definition players and games have.

EvE Online:

Pros:

-Sandbox

-Great pvp

-Conquerable Territory

-Tactics and Strategy mean more than Lvs (in this case SP)

-No classes, just ships with different roles

-Player run economy

-Helpful Community

Cons:

-Fleet warfare is a pain (lag!!!) though in all fairness that will never be fixed cuz as soon ass you raise the bar players will topple it.

-PvE content is in many ways dull

-Influx of morons from other games who cant seem to see the game for what it is and compare it to games they have played before. (seriously stop that cuz theres no other game that shares commonality with EvE atm).