Earlier this week, Standing Stone Games put out information regarding the LOTRO Mordor expansion preorders. Finally, after four long years, it feels great to actually see with my own eyes that an expansion is on the horizon.

I’ve always been a fan of looking at the marketing and promotional output the devs create pre-expansion launch. With Mordor this time around, there’s a different buzz from the community. Perhaps it’s because of the items offered in the bundles, and the asking price for them too. That’s what I’m here to talk about today. Having gone over the three tiers of the preorders, here are my quick thoughts on why the asking price is a little high.

1. Overall Value Of Content And Expansion Size

The first, is pretty obvious. The highest tier, The Ultimate Fan Bundle, goes for a whooping $129.99. That’s very much in the range of a physical collector’s edition for a majority of AAA games. Why is it so expensive? Look at the what’s coming in the bundle. Besides the max level boost, cosmetics, mounts and titles, SSG are also throwing in a month of VIP.

Of course, one of the main attractions of the Mordor expansion is the new race. The High Elves are here, with a brand new starting region to play in. The new race will be playable by a variety of classes, which traditional Elves cannot do. Both the highest and middle tier -which is $79.99 – offers the new race. In addition, the bundle will give players 10 extra shared storage slots, for the new account wide items.

Overall, it’s a beefy offering and while many will feel it isn’t worth it, we have not even talked about the expansion itself! Mordor according to the recent developer streams, will be the biggest expansion since Moria. With that asking price, one can only hope that the quality is significantly increased all round to match the asking price.

2. Chance Thomas

LOTRO’s music and soundtrack has always been a high point, up until the departure of composer Chance Thomas. Most notable for his work early in the game and most recently the Riders of Rohan soundtrack, Chance is back. The announcement was very well received, and it is a signal of intent from SSG that they are stepping up the quality. Not just in terms of content and gameplay, but everywhere else too, including the soundtrack.

Let’s be honest here, Chance is a well known composer within the gaming industry. And with a name like that, it’s going to cost the game money for good music. I think majority of LOTRO players, myself included, will be happy that SSG is coughing up for the soundtrack. More than most MMORPGs, LOTRO is definitely enhanced by the themes to complement the lush environments of the world. Therefore, it is understandable if the high cost and asking price of the expansion is attributed to the rising quality, including in the music department.

3. No More Warner Brothers

Warner Brothers washed their hands clean of LOTRO late last year, and handed over the reigns to Standing Stone Games. SSG is an independent studio, largely consisting of former Turbine devs who already worked on the game.

Some of the challenges of not having a big name publisher to support you can hurt a game. These include injections of funds for production, world wide publishing, access to resources and a lot more. As SSG are indie, they have to do it on their own, with a somewhat smaller publisher, Daybreak. They are not Warner Brothers, but good riddance I say. So if that means that they have to raise the price because of all the work that’s gone into this without previous support, then so be it.

The only thing that matters now is the final product. And if SSG fails to deliver a content-packed Mordor expension that doesn’t satisfy both casuals and end-gamers, then we have a problem.

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Funcom’s Secret World Legends is finally up and running. The game has been welcoming new free players since Monday the 26th, and plenty has changed. The fact that there isn’t a buying entry into this urban fantasy shared RPG world is perhaps the biggest. Everyone can now pick a side – Illuminati, Templar or Dragon – and uncover the mysteries the game offers.

While the changes to the combat system in the form of the reticule is being praised, other aspects of the game are raising eyebrows. In particular, the game’s free to play monetization systems that allow players to purchase advancement. To clarify, with real money, players can buy goodies should they want to. This raises the question: is Secret World Legends then pay to win? Let’s explore further.

Agarthian Caches

To understand where these claims come from, we have to look at what the game offers players who spend money. There are no ordinary loot drops in the game. Loot items such as gear and weapons come from mission reward bags, or through an RNG dungeon chest roll. Landscape mobs can drop an Agarthian Cache however. These are SWL’s version of the cash shop lock box. Players will need a Cache Key to open them, and they cost Aurum, which costs real money. Aurum can also be bought using Marks of Favor – the in-game currency – via the Exchange.

Patrons or subscribers, do get one Cache Key daily. So what’s in these Caches? The best items should you get lucky, are the Anima Touched Weapons. These are powerful Epic Tier weapons, third best in the game. However, even if you do get one, you’ll need to manually labor to invest the crazy amount of Distillates required to level it up. Perhaps the best pro for getting one that you won’t use is selling them on the Auction House for a good sum of MoF.

Buying Aurum

The game’s premium currency is the Aurum. These are used for almost everything, especially unlocks that you’ll be familiar with free to play MMOs. More guild bank space being one of them, for example. As you progress further, you’ll find that Aurum can be used for a variety of interesting things. You could for instance, upgrade weapons and talismans to higher tiers through imbuement. This will cost you around 19.99 Euros or more. While you can get Aurum without shelling out real money, the Exchange is largely dictated by supply and demand.

It’s also important to note that there isn’t a fancy in-game store anymore. Now, there’s just a green plus sign with a simple UI to buy Aurum. What a difference from The Secret World. The cheapest Aurum package is 500 for 4.99 Euros. At the other end, 99.99 Euros buys you 12,000 Aurum. That’s a lot of money for in-game premium currency. Then again, you can do a lot more with it then just upgrade weapons and gear. See below.

Buying AP/SP

If you follow The Secret World, you’ll know what Action Points and Skill Points do. These are points gained from earning experience through playing the game. Players can use these to buy active and passive skills for their weapons. What’s different in Secret World Legends is that you can now purchase minor stat bonuses on the passive skill pages as well. These will eventually add up, regardless of which weapons you purchased them for.

Because of how progression works now, you’ll need to unlock all skills earlier in the tree in order to get the ones in the middle or end. And some of the beefier stats lie exactly there. So now that you can again, buy AP/SP using Aurum, this further fuels the pay to win argument. That is, a player who buys all their weapon skills will be more effective faster than the average player in PvE and PvP.

Conclusion

Is the P2W chants justified? It really depends on what you want to achieve in Secret World Legends. Long-time players and fans of the game will know why the relaunch was needed. This is a primarily story-driven MMO and for the story to continue into Season 2 beyond Tokyo, a relaunch and more money was needed. And through this new model and monetization systems, Funcom might have a chance of keeping the IP alive for a while.

When one looks at what the current trends are for F2P MMOs, they’ll see that there are many similarities. Paying a premium to progress faster will always leave a sour taste in the mouth for those who don’t like the idea. But in a story heavy MMO, will that hurt? As mentioned, players always had the option to buy AP/SP Injections in The Secret World. Now that it’s back in SWL, why the extra pitch forks? As for buying your way through the weapon skill pages, that will probably rub people the wrong way, especially PvPers. PvP and the solitary Shambala map will feel impossible when you’re up against players with fully decked out Anima weapons and stats. To soften the blow, losers still get PvP reward bags, but I feel that the current monetization system will hurt PvPers the most, because there’s nothing to win in PvE, except if you’re hunting ‘World First’ achievements.

There will continue to be MMO purists and Funcom naysayers that will have their arms up in the air about this for months to come. They will  be calling for a rework of the monetization systems again. Most would prefer to see the game make money through a full subscription model or buy to play. Well, they tried that, remember?

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#5 DC Universe Online

At number five, is DC Universe Online. Despite being a widely known IP and garnering good reviews from critics at launch, DC Universe Online continues to fly under the PC playerbase radar. For an MMORPG, DCUO doesn’t do a whole lot wrong in our opinion. It’s a free to play game that’s based of superheroes and villains from the DC comic universe. And for the most part, the game revolves around these characters through plot and story lines, without players actually playing as them.

At release, DCUO was a great alternative to the much beloved City of Heroes, which was the more popular of the two before it got shut down. DCUO is known for it’s pretty in-depth player character creator, allowing you to build the perfect hero – from costumes and outfits, to powers like flying, and finally, you’re able to choose a mentor type figure such as Superman or Batman, who will be the one handing you missions and stuff.

From a game play stand point, DCUO is action-combat based, with players using a smaller pool of skills compared to other MMOs to battle. The regions are authentic and let’s you visit authentic locations such as Gotham City and Metropolis. There are a bunch of quests to do, but the majority of your time will be spent in the main story line, with dungeons thrown in. It’s got a decent recipe for an MMORPG, so why do people still think it’s underrated? Well, we think that the dip in the PC playerbase for DCUO is very much down to the fact that the game released on the Xbox and Playstation in recent years. The gameplay feels a lot better with a controller for consoles than it does for the PC. So what must DCUO do the recapture it’s faltering PC player numbers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

#4 Star Trek Online

At number four, is Star Trek Online. STUO is another big IP on the list, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by Atari, before Cryptic shipped it off to Perfect World Entertainment in 2011. STO is as you’d expect, a pretty faithful MMORPG interpretation of the Star Trek Universe, set in the universe timeline of 2409, thirty years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis.

A lot of players flocked to Star Trek Online because of what it offered – a solid MMO story based on a beloved franchise, and space combat with ships that every player, will get as a captain. There was so much potential, and remember, this was released in 2010, a full year before Star Wars the Old Republic was released, so as you can imagine, space opera fans only had STO and EVE Online to sink their teeth into.

Seven years on, STO is still around, but it hasn’t really recaptured the magic and hype it generated outside of loyal Star Trek fans. New updates in the past few years have not really brought in new players, which is a worrying sign for any MMORPG. The graphics may seem dated today, but STO still has a lot to offer and that’s why it’s on our list of most underrated MMORPGs.

#3 Secret World Legends

At number three, is The Secret World aka, Secret World Legends. The story of how this game is still relatively unknown among the broad MMORPG player base should be studied and archived for all MMO developers and studios to reference in the future. When Funcom first announced The Secret World, there was a mixed buzz within the MMO community – no one knew what to make it of it. The game is set in a modern world with secret societies such as the Illuminati and Templars all vying for power. Myths and legends such as vampires, mummies and Cthulhu all exist, and formed the main narrative of the game.

When TSW finally got a launch date, it picked perhaps the worst time imaginable – between Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2, and sadly, not a lot of marketing and promotions could save it no matter how hard it tried. The game has a quite a large loyal fanbase due to it’s excellent story telling and in particular, its fresh approach to MMO questing with investigation missions, requiring players to solve puzzles, use an in-game browser to research and even deciphering Morse code – at the time, that was unheard of in MMOs.

But ultimately, the game never got it’s population very high and had to drop it’s subscription status for a buy to play model. Today, The Secret World is relaunching as Secret World Legends and will be completely free to play. We can only hope that the relaunch will bring a much needed wave of new players to the game, because this is one underrated MMORPG that deserves its second chance. The relaunch has fixed old issues with the game, such as overhauling the combat system and much more.

#2 Wildstar

At number two, is Wildstar. I think anyone can make a few cases for Wildstar – is it the most overhypped MMORPG in recent times or the most underrated? For it to be on this list, you pretty much know the answer. So let’s examine why.

Carbine Studios, made up of former WoW devs, created Wildstar, a sci-fi fantasy MMORPG that was apparently, going to challenge the big guns. It had an attitude, and it reverberated throughout every piece of news article and video content the game published prior to release. It was really confident – perhaps to confident – and even launched as a subscription only MMORPG, which fewer and fewer games do these days thanks to the dominance of World of Warcraft. Known for it’s incredibly challenging dungeons, interesting PVP telegraphic combat and quirky stories, Wildstar was a hit – for a bout a year before the players begin returning back to whatever MMO they came from.

Wildstar eventually went free to play, and popped up on Steam last year. So what went wrong for this so called WoW killer? Lack of content updates, long running bugs, exploits, botting issues, class balances and so much more – on top of that, add regular staff layoffs and management changes and the result is pretty obvious. It’s a real shame because beneath the surface, Wildstar is actually a really good MMORPG that offers everything a modern MMORPG should offer – and they give it to players for absolutely no charge. It’s a wonder why the game hasn’t attracted a bigger audience since becoming F2P, which is why it will continue to be underrated for some time to come.

#1 TERA

At number one, is TERA. By now, 3 out 5 people watching this would have heard of or played TERA before. The problem is, that even being free to play and out for almost five years now, TERA is still in the wilderness when it comes to picking a list of the top MMORPGs.

At release, TERA was pretty much nailed by majority of critics for being boring and uninspiring with the game’s characters, lore and story. Most will not give a crap about anyone or anything in-game, and the lasting appeal was relatively poor, and most who hit the level cap will never stay around for the grind and move on. Valid reasons, but the one thing everyone universally agreed with at the time was that the combat system was way ahead of any other MMORPG out in the market today – and keep in mind this was before Guild Wars 2 was released.

Today, TERA’s combat still holds up and it’s that action packed flexibility that makes it incredibly fun – it’s even coming to consoles. The sad part is, the game has improved over the years since release, but due to the very early criticisms, that side of the game was never reported on as much which is why TERA continues to be left out of the MMORPG conversation these days. Had it been released way back in 2004 before World of Warcraft, than I’ll have to agree with IGN saying that it could have been the poster child for how MMO combat could have been defined. It’s still going though, and is undoubtedly one of the most underrated MMORPGs in the modern era. You can get started on TERA right now for absolutely free. Check it out!

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#2 Rocket League

At number two, is Rocket League. What can we possibly say about one of the greatest vehicle games ever made in recent times? Well we can say that it’s still a damn good game a couple of years after release. Rocket League is about playing a game of soccer or football, using cars.

Two teams of 8 players go against each other using a variety of cars, each with different stats and powers and the objective is to score goals and win the match. It’s an incredibly creative idea that results in an addictive experience. Even for non sport fans, the game has the potential to get you hooked, because gameplay is easy and progression isn’t too hard. It’s really seamless to pick up and play, but hard to master, which is the hallmark of a great multiplayer online game.

While you will have to buy the game to play, it’s definitely worth it, and it’s one of those family and friends games that can keep you lot occupied for hours, trying to one-up each other on who can score the best or the most goals in a match. Good stuff.

#1 World of Tanks + War Thunder

At number one, and really, will come to no surprise to anyone, is World of Tanks, and alternatively, War Thunder. Both these games have a lot in common – and the one thing that both do well is all out tank warfare.

This multiplayer tank battle game is the pioneer of War Gaming.Net, the developers who created World of Tanks. You can pick any number of light, medium, heavy, tank destroyers or artillery vehicles from a few factions in different decades to brawl it out in some pretty fun game modes. The idea is to knock out opposing vehicles, and both games are very realistic which war fans will definitely appreciate.

War Thunder is pretty similar to World of Tanks, but does include fighter air planes in it’s game modes, whereas World of Tanks doesn’t – but it has it’s own separate air warfare game called world of warplanes.

Both games are cornerstones of the genre, with quick battles, long progression tiers to get the best tanks, and huge potential for some awesome WTF moments with friends. The best part, it’s free to play and you can get started right now.

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Today, storytelling in MMORPGs have become a big thing, as more and more MMOs offer players a narrative driven, theme park gaming experience with lots of lore and NPC characters bundled in a setting, either original or using a popular IP.

Therefore, if you’re wondering which are the best story driven MMORPGs on the market together, look no further. We’ve put together a solid list of some of the best story driven MMOs.

The list is based on multiple factors, such as story immersiveness, quality of cut scenes, dialogues, lore and more. Before we begin dont forget to hit that like button, and subscribe to the channel for more mmorpg top 5s.

#5 Guild Wars 2

Starting off the list at the number 5 position is Arena Net’s Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 has made our previous lists, being one of the best MMOs around in terms of accessibility, thanks to it’s very generous buy to play model. But we have not talked about is the game’s PVE offering, especially it’s narrative driven Personal Stories.

Personal Stories are the game’s main story quest chain, and is character based. They are unlocked every few levels, and will differ based on some of the character creation options that players picked at the beginning. What’s great about the stories are that it takes place in unique dialogue cut scenes, with fully voiced characters and animations. To top it off, the actual story isn’t too shabby for a fantasy MMO. Spoiler alert, you’re discovering things about yourself, and find out that a dragon is becoming a threat to the world, and must spend the later levels uniting the various races of Tyria to fight as one. It may seem cliché, but the story really builds up and it’s hard not to get invested in it, thanks to the world and character building.

But in recent times, Guild Wars 2 has taken it’s story telling content to greater heights. The Heart of Thorns expansion in 2015 raised the bar with it’s narrative, and changed the way how plot is delivered to the player. Cut scenes and dialogue now take place in the actual game world, and is more immersive than ever. The story has also gotten better, and now carries over into the Living World Season stories, which serves as a massive continuation of the game’s main story campaign.

Outside the actual main story, the world itself does a lot of cohesive story telling through world events that ties into the zones that it takes place in. Some of the Personal Stories in the base game will even reflect in changes to the later zones, which is really cool. Overall, if you’re looking for a good MMO with a decent story to play through, look no further than Guild Wars 2.

#4 The Lord of the Rings Online

Up next and at number 4 is Standing Stone Game’s The Lord of the Rings Online. Finally, we get to an MMORPG that’s based on an official licensed IP, and in this case, Tolkien’s world renowned Middle Earth, and Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Make no mistake, the entire game is centered around Frodo’s quest to destroy the one ring. Lotro offers a solid main quest chain called epic quests, that has humble beginnings in the shire, Bree and Ered Luin. Spanning over 10 years worth or main story quests, the adventure takes players around Middle Earth to play a big part behind the scenes in the fellowship’s quest to destroy the ring and foil the dark lord Sauron’s plans.

To their credit, the developers have chosen authenticity over anything else when it comes to the story. It’s very lore appropriate, and if you’re a tolkien fan, you will appreciate the narrative story telling here. There are lots of things in the books and the appendices that Tolkien doesn’t elaborate on, and in most cases, the game takes the opportunity to expand upon it.

As a result, as a Lord of the Rings fan, the stories in LOTRO are hugely satisfying. What the game makes up for it’s lack of cinematics and voiced dialogue, is in it’s authentic writing. Not to mention the feel of the world is great, supported by rich music and themes that just belongs in Middle Earth.

Outside of the main story quests, zone quests also offers a ton of story telling on a platter. Each region in Middle Earth contains a zone story told through a fun quest hub crawl, and more often than not, you’ll learn and experience something that an authentic piece of lore within the books.

So if you’re a hardcore Tolkien fan, LOTRO is a great game to soak your time into for it’s massive storytelling quests that does the lore a great service.

#3 Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

At number three on our list is square enix’s final fantasy 14, a realm reborn. This Japanese MMORPG has a lot going for it, especially considering it’s disastrous start to life under it’s previous iteration, now known as the 1.0 version.

Essentially, Final Fantasy 14 is a story heavy game. The entire MMO design revolves around players needing to progress the main story. Doing so will offer lucrative amounts of experience points. The main story also is required to unlock a majority of the dungeons and other in-game activities. Not a lot of MMORPGs out there actually do this – lock content behind the main story.

While that may seem draconian and traditional, is the story worth playing through at all? The answer is yes. The main quest chains in A Realm Reborn has all the hallmarks of a Final Fantasy game. It has a powerful narrative, featuring likeable characters and a plot that’s worthy of an offline RPG game. On top of that, a lot of the main story quests features long and elaborate cinematic cutscenes that Final Fantasy players are familiar with. It’s almost non MMO in style, but it’s a pure joy if you enjoy a good story.

The writing is decent and while dialogue can be a hit or miss due to translations, it still offers something for everyone. Outside of the main stories, there are class stories for every profession in game too. These can be picked up every five levels and features a lot of backstory on why the class you’ve chosen matters. Overall, there’s a lot of good story locked away in Final Fantasy behind that monthly subscription, if you can afford it.

#2 Star Wars the Old Republic

At number two, we go to a galaxy far, far away with Bioware’s Star Wars the Old Republic. SWTOR may have garnered a reputation for being one of the most restrictive free to play mmos, but it does do one thing very right. And boy do they get their story telling right. SWTOR is an immersive narrative driven game, and right from the get go, players will be sucked in to one of the class stories that lasts all the way to level 50, for absolutely free.

The writing is top notch and typical Bioware. Expect to see loads of cutscenes, and that’s not just for the main class stories. In fact, every side quests large or small has it’s own cutscene and is 100% fully voiced by some of the best in the industry.

What’s great about the game’s use of story in the main class quests is that there are decisions that absolutely matter. Evil choices gain you alignment to the Dark side, while Good hearted decisions do the same for the Light side. The game’s companion system is also fantastic, allowing you to develop relationships with the companions that follow you around.

It’s in the post level 50 class stories that SWTOR truly shines in these days. The latest expansions for example, is chock full of cinematic cutscenes that absolutely brings out the best of Bioware’s storytelling. While you’ll need a subscription to play these, the older class quests are free for all and still excellent. So if you need a star was game fix that has great narratives and plot, then jump into to Star Wars the Old Republic.

#1 The Secret World/Secret World Legends

At number one, is a game you probably didn’t expect. Say hello to Funcom’s The Secret World, or, it’s upcoming free to play Secret World Legends, which is essentially the same game.

This MMORPG is absolutely unique, and it’s entire existence revolves around the game’s immense story telling. The Secret World is set in today’s world. Modern day, contemporary, and what makes it special is that in it, all conspiracy theories, myth and urban legends are true. Players select from one of three secret society factions, the Illuminati, Templars or Dragon.

And right from the beginning, the game pulls no punches in throwing mind bending narratives right at you. The writing is excellent, questioning all that you know regarding the world and what is real and fiction. The dead walk the earth, Cuthulu is alive and well, mummies are cropping up, and somewhere in Europe, Transylvania is a real place. It’s a hot pot of mixed narratives that are combined and delivered in immersive ways. All quest givers engage you in a long cinematic dialogues, and for the most part, say witty things and make references to today’s pop culture.

It’s a unique take on MMOs and it’s a shame that the original game never reached its full potential. However, with the relaunch coming very soon, Secret World Legends will be offering it’s epic story telling for free. If you’ve never heard of played this one, mark your calendars on June 26^th. This is one story driven MMORPG you do not want to miss.

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