Why did you pick this MMORPG?

[Oz]

The multiclassing is what brought me to the game, but the community is what kept me. Never met a group of people so willing to help one another instead of try and get ahead and leave anyone else to fend for themself. I can't even say its most of the community, the ENTIRE community is commited to helping each other.

[Dragonboy]

Its my very first MMORPG and the real reason I started to play 9-10 months ago is because I discovered the retailbox for a reasonable discount and I read I could play a dragon...

I left 1 time for over a month to play Knights of the Old Republic: the sith lords only after completing it 3 times in a short time it got boring so I returned...

And now I devide my playing time between Horizons and Master of Orion 3 mostly depending on my mood...

[Carinde]

I joined during beta, and met some wonderful friends. The temptation of the grand spells caught my eye during that time, though I had only witnessed them in a teaser trailer.

The people are what makes Istaria great, plain and simple. There are a few nice things to do, but if it weren't for the the crazy residents...well, my attention would have gone elsewhere.

So cheers to Istaria's people, you are what makes this world great!

[Aamer Khan]

I had been playing FPS for along time. I had become very tired leet attitudes and the lack of maturity. Even in the few mmorpg's I tried, these same problems existed. If a game had PVP, then I was not interested. If the graphics were lacking, I moved on.

I followed Horizions for a long time before release. Never tried to get into beta. But once it went live signed up.

What captured my attention the most was the cooperative nature of the community and game world. A community could band together and make a visable and lasting impact on the world for the better. Very little leet attitudes to be seen, and what did show up was quickly put down by the community's reaction. Crafting was virtually only limited by your willingness to work for it. The same for adventuring. The graphics were some of the best seen in any game of this type, and the fact that there was no zoning, made for a smooth and beautiful gaming experience. It had the feel of a real world that anyone could be a part of and make a name for themselves, not by what exploit they knew, but by their actions. You could also become infamous, and community reaction often caused a wayward player to adjust their play style to a more friendly style.

This is what got me here, and the community has been what kept me here. We just need more things to do AS a community to keep it all alive.

[imported_Frith-Rae]

Dragons

Dragons

Dragons

Community

Dragons

Played Wow - its not even close to the community - reptitive grinding, with PVP at the end. Still play it, but it won't last six months.

Dragons

Never cared for a single MMO ever until I got the Dragon. Rarely look at any other MMO that isn't offering the same. And well - none are. Cept for Trials of Ascension - but that's a couple years off ;).

So...here I be and here I stay.

[kengar]

Well, it all dates back to the first time Rubies of Eventide, the first, and at that point, only MMORPG I had ever played was going to shut down.

I took a look around at what was out and what was coming out soon. I'm not into PVP, I'm just not the right type of competitive to consider it anything but a nusiance, let alone content. RoE was also rather unlike other MMORPGs in character advancement. Level didn't mean much, and your class really only indicated what you could learn easily. Imagine Horizons where no skills and almost no stats increase as you level, but you get a ton of training points to spend per level, though your race and your class determine how many TP raising skills/stats costs. Yeah, to me, Horizons almost feels like restricted multiclassing [:D].

I tried DAoC for a while on the cooperative server, but it never enthralled me. Then I heard about Horizons about a month before release, and it sounded interesting. Some multiclassing, crafting more interesting and possibly self-supportive compared to DAoC, no PVP. So I preordered.

RoE has come and gone and come again since then, but the community was gone, so it never felt right again.

Horizons, on the other hand, nailed things that RoE and DAoC both got wrong, or didn't get at all.

Dragons as players: I still think of my dragon as my main, even though I barely play him now that he's 100/100. I'll never forget the thrill I felt when we saw the RoP trailer, and the dragon in it took flight for the first time. Not something that appeals to everyone, but it hits something fundamental in my being.

Player housing: RoE didn't have it, and DAoC had it, but it didn't provide nearly the draw to me that Horizons housing does. In just about every game I've seen or heard of, housing was just a matter of spending money to have someplace to put stuff (including crafting machines, in many cases, so I'm not saying it's just for storage).

Crafting: In some respects I liked RoE crafting better, especially once you could start gathering your own materials, rather than being forced to buy them ala DAoC. Still, Hz crafting is more varied and interesting. RoE did have more distinction between items crafted by different players.

Multiclassing: Beats DAoC hands down, I felt like I had almost no control over my character beyond his class and level, about the same as a single-classed Hz character. Not as nice as RoE where you had to decide what skill/stat to raise every time you got more training points, and if you didn't spend them, there wasn't much of a reason to level.

Every once in a while, I'll loose focus either because the things I want to do in game at that time are too much of a grind, I find a good series of books to read, or something like that. It never lasts long.

[Blue Hasia]

My reason you say I play?

I am a mighty dragon HOrizon is the only game that will give my wings the space they need to soar free in the sky and watch the little ants run glued to the ground...*circles over a plump looking gnome*

[Goriax]

1. Playable dragons
2. Things to do besides killing stuff.
3. Practically everything in the game is craftable.
4. Attntion to things like offline consigners from the get go. It's kind of nice to log on and see I have more money then when I logged.
5. Playable dragons.
6 Soloability.
7. No PvP
8. FLYING playable dragons
9. The beginning of a feeling like my dragon is actually part of a dragon community with a history.
10. Did I mention playable dragons?
11. The dev team is TRYING to move beyond a group of people going out to kill stuff. Not everything works but the point is they're trying, which counts for a lot.
12. And last but not least. Playable dragons.

[Velat]

I chose this game because I was looking for something different than playing Xbox all the time. Dont get me wrong, I love Xbox, but you buy a game, you beat it, you buy another game. It gets boring and I find myself playing games over again because I really enjoyed them, but they ended, nothing left to do. Especially Panzer Dragoon Orta, Im sure you can guess why.
Then I heard about MMORPGs.
Whats that?
Oh its a game you play online with people all over the world.
How do you beat it?
You dont, you just keep playing?
Really?
And there are dragons in this one.
REALLY!?!?!? Hot diggity!!!

So the rest is history. I love it so far, but Im sure my Xboxhates it. Poor thing, sitting there collecting dust...well not really. My boyfriend has brought it back to life since I dont have my own computer and use his. But he enjoys playing Xbox Live with Halo2. I am working on him to play Horizons after I buy myself a computer though. Now that we have a hub that runs the computer and the Xbox we can then run two computers and he can run around with me, hehe.

But anyway, I am here and I dont plan on leaving anytime soon!

Keep up the good work all you Developers, Techs, Big heads, and David Bowman! [:$][:D][;)] This dragon has found a home and is NOT leaving! Rawr! [li]

[Lascivious Goat]

Decided to try the 7-day trial after leaving Asheron's Call after 6 years. I had not heard much about Horizons other than that it was a game with a small gathering. So I had no pre-conceptions about Horizons when I signed up for the trial.

Graphically, the world looks so much clearer and realistic. What made me decide to go to a full subscription was most probably the crafting system and the idea that you could purchase a plot of land and build whatever you want on it. Other pluses are the ability to multi-class, which I am begin to experiment with, and the Dragon class, which I have not yet explored.

[Tzaphnil]

Well, I was on FFXI until I got to the point that I did not have the time to get up before work, or have the time after work, in order to find a party (which in it self could take hours), spend an hour or two getting to the location for the group, and then have the group disband after maybe an hour.

I moved to HZ for a few reasons, first and foremost is the fact that my signifigant other recomended it to me because she had beenon itfor several months before I even got into FFXI. Secondly, the fact that you do not Have to Have a group in order to do most things [Y][Y]. Next was the fact that you can play a dragon, that was a very big thing to me [Y][Y][:D][Y][Y]. After that, the uniqueness of the crafting system [G]. Finnaly, something I had heard about from her but did not really believe until I got online in the game, the Community. People here are some of the nicest that I have met in any MMO, and the Community isa great support for them game but something that you can not really understand until you have gotten into the game and found out exactly how much a part of the game it really is.

[Nisse]

I held out on other MMORPGs simply because of the dragon-slaying. Cliche, boring. This one lets me be a dragon every day, anytime I want. Without PvP. I do not want to be killed.

[Dagda]

community community community community...

oh. and i was in the beta and emmigrated from neocron with a bunch of friends (all but one of whom are now moved on to other things).

Also, I stay around because it's the only game I can play a drtagon in, and I met my fiancée here :D

[Tribunal]

This is my first MMORPG, I got it until WoW came out... but as everyone on Chaos can see... and hear I am still around.

[Carsia Wolfsong]

I chose this game because this is the only game where you get to be a Dragon and actually control your flight. Unlike most MMORPGs I've played, This game is like home.. People do care about you and its always in game. RPing is fun acting like your that dragon with others around. I personally like it because of this reason.

Community
Dragons
Guilds
Family
Home

Carsia Wolfsong

[Justa Mirage]

I started out on UO and after that "upgrade" (I forget its name, renegade or some such) that game nose dived for me...I am a "Day 1 Retail" kinda person, if I know about it and I like what I see. but my beginning experience with UO was...

Chop chop wood chop chop wood whittle whittle bow whittle whittle nothing whittle whittle nothing chop chop nothing.... and my inventory would get full and I would try to get to town... you are too fatigued to move... you are too fatigued to move... a rat attacks you and you die... you get into town to sell your bows for cash and then ... "you are hungry" so all my money went to buy apples and foods to keep my character from dying LOL. After a while I got armor and a sword, but it just didn't have that 3D feel that FPS had.

I chose AC over Everquest only because of friends. They didn't like EQ and tried AC. So I played AC for 5 years... and still do. Then I joined the "DoooOoOOOom" squad when AC2 came out, thinking everyone would jump ship and go with the joneses and leave AC1. Boy was I wrong! I went to AC2, beautiful graphics, interesting character animations and detail, and all the Lore from AC1 to siphon from, but with a broken chat system, forced character reconstruction due to power changes (see CoH respec, but forced on you) and the lack of players when they exploited the hell out of it and left because it was boring, another AC clan member said, "Hey, check this link out!" for Horizons.

First thing I saw, "You can play a dragon" (Which I didn't at first) and... "You can shape the world by constructing towns and buy your own land to build on"

I was sold! That is what I love about AC, you could own a house and put things in it and own virtual property. Make your mark on the game by owning a virtual part of it.

And I still enjoy Horizons, right along with CoH and AC1 as even though AC1 is aging, it's still fun. CoH is great for eye candy blow them up action and no need for micromanaging an inventory or needing to know "what do I get" at level <xx>

I only wish Horizons would give you a choice as to what "abilities" you get on your even levels instead of having it pre-prescribed for you.... there are a couple of abilities I would love to drop. I love the crafting, the music, and now that my dragon can fly after pulling him out of mothballs after they fixed the armor per level on them, can fly now, and that is a kick in itself.

[Aamer Khan]

Why did I pick Horizons?

A few reasons really, the biggest factor being the cooperation aspect of the game.

Coming from a long line of FPS games, and having tried the AC, and EQ styles of play, I was longing for a game where working together would mean something to the game world. Horizons was exactly what I was looking for. No PvP, Very little potential for griefing, no easy way to hack the client to cheat. AND, it let you build your own house!

To me, it was a perfect combo. On top of all that, the graphics were very crisp, and not cartoony. The character models were some of the best looking in any game out there, and even the crafting animations were spot on.

After being here for 2 years, I stay because it continues to get better.

[Pharcellus]

I had been watching it for many years as the first real MMO that had a cool, exotic race (Dragons) to play, as I am always into playing exotics anyway.

I wanted to get into a Fantasy MMO, because I passed over UO, EQ, and AC, mainly because I don't care much for big company attitudes towards customers (even though I ended up getting the same ol' crap here, too, but I didn't expect it at the time).

I got a chance to play in the beta, and even though it was horrrible (I and my friends must've put in several hundred tickets all together), it did have a lot of potential, especially for Dragons.

So, basically, it boils down to:

1) Unique, exotic race to play.
2) Small company.
3) Potential.
4) Technology.

While the community/people aspect is also very important to me, it is more a reason why I stayed than why I picked the game in the first place.

[Bulgrim StoneCleaver]

Hmm - why didI pick Horizons?

Well, being an MMO vet (EQ1, E&B, DAoC, Shadowbane, Eve-Online - played. Beta'd WoW, and Lineage 2 and a couple others.), I wanted something different and something that had an Open-ended aspect. I wanted something where "I" could effect storylines and I had control of the development of my character.

Seems that most of the MMO's I have been involved with in the past, I always ended up chosing a neglected class or one with far too much power potential so they ended up being "nerfed" by not being further developed. EQ Mages come to mind (sucked post 50 while I played). DAoC Theurgists are another (Siege Masters my A$$). Eve-Online was the first game where you had a pretty good ability to design the class you were going to play - only problems for me were the imbalanced PvP system and the fact that I'm a bigger Fantasy fan.

Horizons having Multiclassing intrigued me. If I chose a class that ended up getting nerfed or one that was incredibly under powered, I knew I could take up another class to compensate. I tend to be a "1 character" kinda guy - so this worked for me and sold me on the game.

I'll list some reasons that didn't effect my decisionto take up the game but I consider a bonus and are some of the reasons for why I stay:

1. Crafting - My first experience with crafting was in EvE (I liked crafting) but it wasn't whyI chose Horizons. I had previously been a "pure adventurer player" but as I aged some, I wanted to be able to "make a difference" or effect an MMO world as well. Horizons offered a pretty incredible crafting system and plot construction ability.

2. PvP had gotten stale for me - I think the "l33t" crowd probably did that to me. After playing DAoC and Eve - it seemed that "dirty tricks"and exploiting lag and the client were the norm rather than skill. Horizons was a forced break from that for me - because PvP didn't exist in the game.

3. Community - older, more experienced for the most part, makes for a much better game in IMHO.

4. Potential and Developer Interaction - Horizons has always had potential but the Dev interaction really sucked at first. Fortunately, I'm forgiving and knew I was playing a game run by some "first timers". That did scare me some (remembers the Verant days of EQ), but knowing I could "fix" my class myself thru multiclassing kept me entertained and "safe" from Developer meddling. I would say that in the last 9 months or so, the developer interaction in Horizons is what I would considerexpected IMHO. Many other games make me feel like I'm tapping that microphone saying, "Is this thing on?" I don't feel that way with Horizons atm.Some may disagree but I'm talking about the over-all communication/interaction -not whetherthey listen (that'sthe community'snext step in Developer training).

There's my reasons why I chose and CHOOSE this game.

Bulgrim

[Ogun Nagoura]

I have played WoW and EQ1. Why did you people choose this game over others and what keeps you here?

Ha I rezzed my own thread. Does anyone still play now?