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[Pasta la Vista]

Anyway... In OG Everquest every area you got to visit was interesting because there was intense danger involved. At one point I got lost alone in South Karana without a clue where I was. That's scary as hell as I wouldn't have any idea of how to retrieve my corpse and gear if I died.

Games today mollycoddle the user and have neat avoidable playpens with monsters and detailed maps, plugins and lots of websites explaining everything.
In EQ it was an adventure to make the trip from Kelethin to Qeynos.

For real though. People think of games like Dark Souls today as being these really punishing games, but they are really nothing compared to some old school MMOs.

 

[Shadowstar39]

Conan hyborean adventures it had a cool world, fun combat, pvp, and curvy hot top less ladies. Hard to imagine it was made by the same woke devs that butchered dreamfall.

Vanguard, it wasn't complete but it had a ton of races and classes. All from distinct regions and a otherworldly feel. I was diapointed it wasn't finished and launched with half the world not done.

Everquest 2 was fun, too bad I wasn't playing mmos when Everquest 1 was out as I bet it was even better.

 

[Thabass]

I'd say Guild Wars 2, but I'm biased.

I'm a FFXIV shill, but even I say Guild Wars. Both of them in fact. So much to find and explore.

 

[Hideous Snake]

Going with either WoW or Guild Wars 2. Top class!

 

[Freeman76]

GW2 or BDO

 

[KiteGr]

The one each one plays. Nobody plays more than one MMO.

From all I've tried, I'll say Guild Wars 2

 

[Rush2112]

You need 'incentive' for exploration? I always thought it was out of personal interest. FFXIV has some of the most beautiful zones I've seen in any mmo. If you dont conseider that an incentive, then it is your loss, OP.

 

[Mondai]

You need 'incentive' for exploration? I always thought it was out of personal interest. FFXIV has some of the most beautiful zones I've seen in any mmo. If you dont conseider that an incentive, then it is your loss, OP.

I like the zones in FFXIV, doesn't mean the world is overall good , just feels like a bunch of zones instead of a real connected world (certainly doesn't have the wonder of games like FFXI or WoW).

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

World of Warcraft still.

 

[Ozzie666]

Old-school EverQuest for sure. Steep death penalty and extremely limited fast travel (two classes out of 14 could teleport) made traveling a serious undertaking.

Only correct response.

That boat ride to free port was dangerous as hell and took 30 minutes if I recall. The sense of wonder was never matched.

 

[Sharius]

older MMO actually has better world exploration than modern MMO, as player has to scout every corner of the map to search for good grind spot, modern MMO rely too much on questing that make world exploration become optional

 

[Hudo]

WoW and FFXI for different reasons.

I have not played enough EverQuest 1 to be able to say anything about it. But from what I gather, the sense of "danger" was something that it did/does really well.

 

[MrRibeye]

Lord of the Rings Online let's you walk the same path that Frodo took:
The Shire > Bree > Weathertop > Rivendell > Moria > Lothlorien > Amon Hel > Emyn Muil > Dead Marshes > Ithilien > Minas Morgul > Cirith Ungol > Mordor.

Within an open world that let's you go anywhere. Wander off into a random forest and you might stumble over the petrified trolls that attacked Bilbo. Reading the books alongside playing the game breathes a lot of life into the world.

 

[Hayriko]

I've played many MMO's but WoW for the short amount of time I played. It gave me the sense of wonder and the world invited me to go explore. Never experienced that with any other mmo since

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

Quality exploration in an mmo doesn't exist. Singleplayer titles reward you with unique and sometimes OP items. This cannot be done in an mmo because the whole community would easily get em, and fuckup the balance of the game and possibly the economy.

 

[Hudo]

Quality exploration in an mmo doesn't exist. Singleplayer titles reward you with unique and sometimes OP items. This cannot be done in an mmo because the whole community would easily get em, and fuckup the balance of the game and possibly the economy.

Quality exploration in an MMO is finding people ERPing and just joining in.

 

[RoboFu]

EverQuest : pre spoiler internet.. had to trigger key words by typing questions during npc chats to get quests and clues.. hard as balls mobs made exploring more full filling. Had no filler / areas were unique.

 

[The_Mike]

ESO has without a doubt the best open world out there, but I always tend to play it for like a month every second expansion, only to leave again because of the horrible combat.

 

[killatopak]

pre spoiler internet

any game in this era was better in the exploration aspect.

Finding stuff out was actually noteworthy.

 

[The Cockatrice]

No mmo has surpassed WoW and I dont even play it anymore.