Aside from World of Warcraft...

[Corrupt Rose]

... Are there any really good MMORPGs floating around out there? I'm a little bit bored of Warcraft now, as it's a bit simplistic. I bought the game because people told me it would be quests all the way, and no grinding - but it turns out that virtually every quest involves going out and killing x number of monsters for something they have about their person.

The drop rates from quests are absolutely horrible. I hate having to kill 10-20 boars to find one that actually has some skin/intestines/brain/other thing that they must blatently have.

Last couple of nights, I've found myself as a level 14 Priest spending my days sitting in the auction house, making money by buying things cheap and selling them on at a higher rate, then using the money I make to sponsor people going into notoriously 'hard to start' professions like Enchanting or to a lesser extent, engineering.

So basically, if I'm going into a MMORPG to be a trader and a marketeer, I think I'd prefer to have a game with a little more complexity to it. The Auction House is fantastic, but I have no way to chart market trends or the history of item prices.

Is there a game out there for a boring arsehole like myself?

[Stuart Smith]

I've been out of the MMORPG life for a fair while now (tho Episode III has got me rather keen to retry Galaxies), but for what you're after, I've read the EVE Online could be the answer, with its intriguing simulated economy.

[FreelancePolice]

guild wars is meant to be good (i have it but my pc is away at the moment so can't play it) and no fees is always a bonus

i think they've completely restructured the combat system in galaxies if i remember rightly

[VR46]

I was going to suggest Guild Wars also (www.guildwars.com) no fees as already posted so must be worth a punt.

[Nijo]

I don't think GuildWars is what he's after - GW is like a WoW lite.
Even though I only played the beta, I'd second the nomination for Eve Online. Final Fantasy is also an option if you like grinding .

[Daragon]

Yes indeedy, if you want your MMORPG to have challenge and longevity to it, then I would go with final fantasy online.

[Darwock]

Just a note, levelling up only ever becomes grinding if you only care about being high level. I have a friend who's still only level 25 after 9 months of FFXI, and this doesnt bother him. If he felt any compulsion to max out all his skills and be better than everyone else, then he'd have to do a crapload of levelling and then it would no doubt become 'a grind'. But he doesn't. And neither do I, to a lesser extent lol.

[leathermashie]

Guild Wars may not tick every box for you, but it's definitely worth a go.

?17.99 from Amazon and no ongoing fees. Have a look at the NTSC thread to get a flavour of what it's all about.

[AlonzoUK]

They are after a heavier type of MMORPG not a 'lite' version like Guild Wars.

If you like the role playing aspects of World of Warcraft then have you ever thought about the likes of Ultima Online (years old now) or even Everquest....they tend to have more depth than WoW.

[Valken]

If you like the whole trader thing then Starwars Galaxies is the way to go I reckon. It's not my cup of tea but it's supposed to be pretty decent these days with a decent economy and rewarding professions.

A lot of people who started WoW with me have gone back to it.

[PeteJ]

Though Guild Wars lacks the 'grind' of other MMOPRG's, it completely avoids any sort of trading or monitary satisfaction. Very quickly you'll have more money than you need.

Lord of the Rings MMORPG is out later this year (I think), which has the potential.

[Corrupt Rose]

I'll probably have a look at a couple of these, actually. I've noticed that EVE Online around for the dirt cheap price of ?5 (and that includes a months subscription). I spoke to an friend of mine who played EVE and awful lot, and he said that it's really quite an 'empty' feeling game, where you're lucky to see another player much of the time...

... but the idea of a player driven economy really appeals.

I guess the problem with WoW is that it's fallen exactly in the centre of my expectations, and has really satisfied none of them. I can see easily how it's a fantastic game, and I think it's beautiful in places, but it's just not my cup of tea.

If I want to grind (and there's a lot of grinding, looking for badgers toenails and that sort of thing), then I'd prefer to play something like Diablo, which is more 'arcade' and involves me more directly with enemy 'drops'. In some ways WoW seems like Diablo in slow motion. Like when we moved from Doom (frenetic, loads on enemies on screen) to Quake (one guy, but he took ages to kill).

Conversely, I enjoy the trading aspects of games, and WoW only really has the barest of nods toward this. There are no facts and figures, and because there's only one auction house (effectively, as the one in Rachet is unusable on the Deathwing server due to the constant fighting there), there are never any inter-market prices for me to play with.

Hmmmm.

I've been looking at Everquest 2, but I see nothing but people complaining about the performance of the Engine, and how you'll be lucky to navigate inside of the cities... Apparently there's a demo, so maybe I'll download that and see what it's like.

Thanks for the recommendations!