I got into BDO a couple days ago but am now starting to see its ugly side. The way it tries to trigger FOMO through energy and various login mechanics to get you to think and run the game at all times. I was wondering though. Is there good group content or things that require player collaboration? It feels overwhelmingly solo-minded.
Additionally, I wonder what are good MMOs like that that exist and aren't FFXIV and WoW in the Fantasy genre.
There is absolutely no group content (or even solo content) if you talk PVE. This whole aspect is utterly worthless and only exists for you to grind mobs. And admittedly, the gameplay is fun, but you can only go so far bashing groups of mobs that do nothing...
Now there is PVP, on the more solo side and larger groups if you like it, but then you'll face people that have the time (and especially
had the time) to grind more stats and you will be physically incapable of ever reaching their level, even playing 24/7 for months on end.
All of those Eastern PVP grinders rely heavily on you liking being a casual gamer being semi-useful fodder.
Or just to be a whale and start another game, because other whales got here first and you can't catch up even if you dump a million dollars on it.
And as far as fantasy MMOs go... the usual old and moldy games that are all a decade old (slightly less for ESO but...). The genre has been deader than dead since 2014...
In other news, Swords of Legends online is releasing soon in the West, I think the demo is still available. It's a B2P wuxia MMO with a focus on PVE (and some open world PVP that gts you nothing but trouble, so why is the option here if nobody uses it? Giving griefers a way to have fun for 5 minutes before going to jail?).
And it plays... fine. Feels quite a bit like Guild Wars 2, decent mix of action and a bit of tab target. Looks alright, has lots of voice acting too. And it's in the same universe as the Gujian series on Steam.
Also, it's P2P in China, so I can't see it becoming P2W or having lootboxes here, since, you know, it has neither of those to begin with.
But damn is it bland-ass wuxia stuff that we know very little about, and all the cool cosmetics are in the shop - though you can easily transmog what you've unlocked, not even having a choice beside light skinned Asian with dark brown hair and very light skinned Asian with black hair? Yeeeah...
It's okay I guess, probably on the better side of playable, but meh.
Oh and performance is shit, but that's to be expected I guess.