Any indie MMOs similar to EQ?

[Talgurin]

I played one of those free MMOs once, like one of those annoying ones that you see ads for that pop-up everywhere. It had hideous anime graphics, but it was very similar to WoW and the gameplay wasn't *that* bad.

What I'm curious is if there's any indie MMOs that are similar to classic EQ. By that I mean: challenging, death penalties, extremely rare spawns, no instanced crap, and a long time to get to the top.

That would be pretty rad and I'd play it. Any thoughts? I'm guessing probably "no" as only masochistic EQ gamers like us enjoy this type of stuff.

[khanable]

wasn't lineage super brutal?

not exactly indie by any means, but probably as brutal if not more brutal than classic EQ

[lecompte]

I read that Wurm Online is really hard -- I tried to play it but it just chunked horribly, Huzzah for a game designed with java.

[boudicca]

Never played it, but wasn't Ultima Online around about the same time? not all that indie, but maybe it was similar enough.

[khanable]

Never played it, but wasn't Ultima Online around about the same time? not all that indie, but maybe it was similar enough.

UO and EQ are nothing alike

UO is far more sandbox-ish

There are certainly some sweet pimpin' emu servers for it

the second age comes to mind

[Trojanman]

Lineage 2 was super brutal. Had extensive/complex quests and crafting.

Vanguard was pretty similar to EQ. Maybe a balanced mix of EQ1 and 2. I believe its free to play now?

[kotton05]

think there is a free version, havn't tested. in my experience there isnt anything out there with same eq feel... maybe DAoC? is there an emu for classic dark age yet?

[khanable]

think there is a free version, havn't tested. in my experience there isnt anything out there with same eq feel... maybe DAoC? is there an emu for classic dark age yet?

http://uthgard.net/

[kotton05]

haha yes! OP might try that link ^

ty cucumber

[zel]

Darkfall kinda gave me a similar feeling /shrug.

[Crunk]

Minions of Mirth is kind of fun and is very similar to what you're describing. It's like a (very) indie version of EQ, but your character is more godlike. What I mean by that is that the game play and world are eerily EQ-like, but it's got things to make it seem easier like multi-classing. These things don't actually make it much easier, they just change the dynamics of the way your character interacts with the world. It still takes a looooong time to get high level, and there is almost always something that you can't kill. That said, you can solo most of the stuff eventually if you pick the right class combinations and get enough gear. There are lots of different items and armor sets to be found, and there is an in-game encyclopedia to help you find upgrades, zone maps, etc. Unfortunately, there aren't many players anymore, but if you are looking to poke around in something that feels like EQ then check it out! It's free-to-play last I checked, but I think there are some restrictions if you don't pay the one-time $30 fee to buy the full version.

http://www.minionsofmirth.com/

[t0lkien]

There is nothing like classic EQ, which is why we're here.

[trustandfall]

I have quite literally tried almost every MMO to date.. Especially non f2p ones as those are generally just not quite up to my standards of quality, or have far too many microtransaction pay-2-win type of schemes which I loathe.

Uthgard (or any DAOC emulation) is probably the closest thing you'll find to Everquest. It's difficult, doesn't hold your hand, has grouping with a TON of variety to classes/spec's. I have a few level 50's on the uthgard server, and it's fun. The community schedules dragon raids, but thats about the extent of raiding in DAOC on Uthgard aside from Darkness Falls runs and pvp raiding.

If you enjoy pvp, DAOC is second to none with by FAR the best mmopvp imo. Again, personal opinion, but many tend to agree.

Final Fantasy XI would also get a nod from me. Great job(class) system, and a ton of content now. Also definitely does NOT hold your hand and can be difficult until you find a linkshell(guild).

You really, sadly, can't beat classic Everquest/DAOC.

Shadowbane was fun.. but closed its servers a while back.

Here's hoping EQNext bears many similarities to classic EQ, as many of the original devs are working on it! :) Unfortunately, I'm sure it will be a carebear, slay/collect/run questapalooza like nearly every other modern day mmo with some sort of dungeon finding system that will kill all purpose of a community :(

[silkwormxl]

Shadowbane was fun.. but closed its servers a while back.

I never tried Shadowbane when it was out, though I recently checked into private servers. Apparently there is a project (http://shadowbaneemulator.com/). Seems to be regularly updated and maintained, but I haven't tried out the server myself.

[Clark]

I never tried Shadowbane when it was out, though I recently checked into private servers. Apparently there is a project (http://shadowbaneemulator.com/). Seems to be regularly updated and maintained, but I haven't tried out the server myself.

Shadowbane was awesome, played it live and emulator. Unfortunately the new emulator project is incredibly slow. Great game though.

[Mouse]

That shadowbane Emu will be good, but we wont have the full emu for a long time. The core dev team has changed a bunch of times, and it has plateaued and stagnated multiple times in its journey to still-non-completion.

[hyper50]

Vanguard was as close of an MMO as I could find to original EQ, but the very small population at launch caused me to quit. I couldn't ever find groups, but it was an awesome game.

[Talgurin]

Thanks for advice, I started playing Lineage 2. I picked an Elven character and kept pressing the gender button trying to switch it to male... until I realized the girl avatar was actually supposed to be male. Oops.

Sort of boring, I may actually check out Vanguard, even if it's a ghostland, might be fun to poke around :-D Or Final Fantasy.

[mwatt]

At one point, about 8 months to a year after launch, VG was very close to EQ 2.5. Prior to that it was too buggy to be allowed to carry the title.

Durying the Halcyon time, it only lacked for proper itemization.

After that, Silly-Ass started wowifying it, until oddly, in the end, he made the best places difficult to play because they got sick hard.

I don't know what has been going on for a long time now, and I was never there during the RMT era.

Still, it is worth checking out. Some of the graphics are astounding... especially the skies. Kudos to the late great Keith Parkinson.

[Treefall]

Vanguard was as close of an MMO as I could find to original EQ, but the very small population at launch caused me to quit. I couldn't ever find groups, but it was an awesome game.

The population wouldn't have been so small if people like me could have actually played the game.

I had a great rig on its release, and running early access/beta on the lowest settings, the game was still so choppy it was unplayable.

Loved the idea of that game. If it wasn't a crap, bug fest initially, it would have been a current, top tier MMO in my opinion...but when a first impression is a major fail, it's almost impossible to come back from that.

I did give it a shot here recently with a buddy, but aside from the bug fixes, it really felt more like EQ2 than EQ now, and. I absolutely hated everything about EQ2. Those casting combos from different classes or solo...I don't know why, but that shit made me want to rip my hair out. If it's in EQN, or if they have those stupid resurrection items for non-priest classes to cast on priests...so help me.

[Barkingturtle]

Wurm is more of a life simulator than a game.

It's brutal, unforgiving, and an utter grind in a way not even EQ can touch.

[Viprous19]

These days they seem to have a private sever for every game, but as for the ones similar to EQ I'd have to suggest:

DAOC (few years old) - http://uthgard.net
Final fantasy XI online (new this year) - http://www.ffxifree.com

[hyper50]

The population wouldn't have been so small if people like me could have actually played the game.

I had a great rig on its release, and running early access/beta on the lowest settings, the game was still so choppy it was unplayable.

Yeah, I had the same issue, but I had a computer that was probably about 5 years old (past it's prime for my taste) and after chugging through beta, I built a new computer.. Not top of the line for sure, but it was able to play Vanguard with no issues at release. I agree though, if it wouldn't have been so demanding on systems, it would have definitely pulled in some big numbers.

[LordSterben]

Might seem a little off-point, but i played pirates of the burning sea for a while. It was unusual enough that it recaptured that "this is an all new experience" feeling. I actually wanted to play it again instead of EQ but my computer won't run it for some reason.

[Kinlain]

Try Wizardry Online, that game is alot harder than EQ. When you die you lose all your items, the game looks exactly like EQ with better graphics, its even published by SoE.

It will take you forever to get max lvl in that game.

[t0lkien]

Try Wizardry Online, that game is alot harder than EQ. When you die you lose all your items, the game looks exactly like EQ with better graphics, its even published by SoE.

It will take you forever to get max lvl in that game.

You have got to be kidding. I loaded up the beta, ran around for 10 minutes, and uninstalled it. It's a complete Asian style MMO with nothing in common with Wizardy. Anyone who loved EQ is going to hate it immediately.

[Wotsirb401]

Aion is super hipster , takes forever to level

[Sithel1988]

asherons call 2 is back but you have to have an asherons 1 account to play the beta. yea you heard right, asherons call 2 is now in beta, even though it was a perfectly fine game that got shut down. they must have lost all the codes or something. but i wish i could play it.

[Vaildez]

I have heard good things about Asherons call... I played AC 2 Beta and it was a bit too strange for me.

[Talgurin]

Vanguard is pretty great. I just started playing it.

I swear it's the same engine as EQ 2, even down to how many of the classes have the exact same abilities, like somebody just copy and pasted EQ 2 code. At first, this turned me off.

Then I started playing and realized it was hard as F, and way better than EQ 2. In the newbie island, I had to team up with a bunch of other players to raid the hobgoblin dungeon, and it took a lot of effort and strategy to pull this off.

This alone makes it worthwhile. EQ 2 was so carebear you could easily solo through the whole game.

[Hateplow]

The Psi from Vanguard is one of my all time fave MMO classes.

Btw, just loaded up DAOC:Uthgard... my god. Just running in that game makes me want to peel my skin off.