Warhammer Online. Killed by faction imbalance because most of the player base rightly found the Destruction classes better looking and more fun to play. The devs tried to make the Order versions of each class stronger to compensate and the whole thing went sideways. I miss the pvp though, when you found two reasonably even sized forces the battles would last hours.
Pirates of the Burning Sea: Three factions vie for control of the Caribbean, while one āfaction,ā the Pirates, just goes around doing piratey stuff. Landside missions are the usual MMO fare, but the open sea is where itās at. The ocean is PVP (reasonably easy to avoid), and thereās a nifty competition mechanic where factions can try to undermine each other - eventually resulting in an open battle over control of a port city. When one faction dominates, the āgame boardā resets.
I regret not playing it more. Fun tactical ship combat, and a nifty ocean map where the prevailing winds actually affect your shipās speed. Would love to see more strategic/tactical features like that in MMOs.
Plenty of people have already mentioned City of Heroes, my first pay-to-play MMO, so I wonāt say more about it except that Iāve been playing City of Heroes: Homecoming (a āprivateā but open server) for well over a year now.
DCUO: Loved the separation of superpowers, weapon combat, and travel powers, and the weapon animations were top-notch. I have yet to see a game that animates quarterstaff fighting so theatrically. But if a filthy casual like me can get to max level in 2 weeks, then you know itās all about the end-game grind. Plus, any illusion of choice has steadily been eliminated from the game. I still have a certain fondness for it, but I also know Iāll never play it again.
SWTOR: During beta, when I heard the lead devs in an interview gushing about raids using all-WoW jargon, I knew that for all the money, and all the hype, it was doomed to have āalso ranā status. You donāt beat Number One by trying to imitate Number One, especially when you already have two classic Star Wars games in your portfolio. I played for a bit, loved the Dark Side stories, but just couldnāt get over the whole WoW with lightsabers vibe.
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