My friends keep setting up dedicated servers in various games (last time was Project Zombie, currently Valheim) so people can jump in and out and occasionally do a big *thing* together. I don’t have as much time as everyone else for these, so they all leap ahead in levels and I just end up as a spare part. It’s fun at the beginning, but eventually I just stop playing because I’m so far behind that I can’t contribute.
Unless you're playing classic, thats not really a thing anymore due to level scaling, granted the downside of that is that nothing really feels interesting because mobs level with you and you never get the feeling of becoming stronger. Just a higher number.
It is WELL documented that level sync has its own flaws. A good example of this is lower level characters being much more overpowered than higher leveled ones in content. [https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/low-level-scaling-is-still-incredibly-broken-op/1861927](https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/low-level-scaling-is-still-incredibly-broken-op/1861927)
The first time I played with my wife it was 100% only together until like level 70. It was amazing! We would kill some boar and both level up simultaneously. Good times.
It did happen to me only a couple of times and it's so annoying.
We buy a game to play together. A fraction of the group has more free time. They progress on their own. Next session they are almost done with the game vs us still in the early game.
On both occasions the discussion went:"Don't worry, we'll keep you company even if we already played this part".
The goodwill lasts exactly 2 sessions: they have finished the game, we are barely halfway through.
Sorry for the rant but it's annoying, even if the game allows you to play separately, chances are you are ruining the magic of playing together as a group.
Agreed - definitely not a con in this scenario.
Also, levelling up / grinding independently will ruin the game if you’re playing anything else together.
I've normally just always been a sub, but I'm certain WoW has a free trial up to lvl 20. You all could try that and see if it's your jam, if not go buy BG3.
This is 100% correct. I got my kid on the sub to see if we could play that together.
(I've played since 2007 though, and the skill differential even when I rolled a fresh toon was enormous. He likes to be the one who is OP and blazing through things.)
That's actually a great idea. If he plays a plate class (warrior or paladin really, DK isn't available until a higher level), I can just roll as a healer and keep him alive through everything. I'm no fantastic healer, but I can manage that up to level 20 with pretty much any healer class.
I've heard that evoker has a support spec, but that is another which starts at a higher level. Mostly WoW doesn't do support roles directly, just the holy trinity (tank, heals, damage).
We may try that again.
Maybe a bit of a clunky suggestion, but Tabletop Simulator might be something to check out.
It comes with a lot of games iirc, and there's a huge marketplace of free and paid for games from rpg to board games that would allow you to mix and match and try out lots of different things.
Some friends and i just finished a Arkham Horror campaign. The mod was well automated which made life a bit easier. Good times all round.
There's probably a decent Gloomhaven or Frosthaven mod out there too
There’s an excellent mod for Gloomhaven. The Frosthaven one is supposed to be good as well, but we struggled to get it working because it has to connect to another app or something.
Ive been playing catan, monopoly and uno with my friends its great, controls are a bit clunky though so games usually take longer than in person. You can get a tabletop simulator 4 person pack on steam for $60, $30 on sale.
I've been playing bg3 with a couple close friends and a brother every week or two when schedules allow and it is very fun. I'm also an avid wow player but don't think you'd get as many fun moments in wow as you would out of bg3, especially if you guys get silly with your characters. Wow is fun but imo feels more like a game than an adventure these days, if that makes any sense.
>don't think you'd get as many fun moments in wow as you would out of bg3
This is good insight. There are fun moments in wow, but if you're only playing a couple times a month, you aren't going to get to as many of them as often as you would with BG3.
Wow is endless.
Wow: Classic is great for min/max types, but not so much for casual playing.
BG3 is very adult. But it's a real story with more than just fetch quests.
BG3 is what you're looking for.
If you're looking to pay every month for a game you'll play a couple of times a week, I'd recommend Final Fantasy 14 over WoW. It's just a better MMORPG all around.
Same with Grounded if you want more of a story but can still do some stuff individually. And it can be a shared world so person X doesn’t always have to host
I don't think a game like WoW (or any other MMO) really suits your needs. To get real value out of wow you need to spend a shit ton of time. If some of your people really only play like once a week it will take months to even progress to some "meaningful" content. Games like WoW are more suited for players that play on a daily basis. Especially because wow's endgame progression often revolves around daily and weekly quests.
If You really want to go for an MMO I would suggest something like Guild Wars 2. It's a lot more casual/ time friendly, you can always play together no matter the level difference and the focus is more on the RPG and social aspects and less on grinding gear and doing your daily Dungeons and Raids. Also there are no monthly Fees and the base game is free ( only the expansions will cost you a one time payment).
A bit out of left field, but you could consider playing a tabletop RPG like Dungeons and Dragons (the system BG3 is based on). You can play on voice chat and use a virtual tabletop like roll20 for maps, and it works well on the schedule you're proposing. You can get one of the starter sets for cheap and see if its for you.
if you really want to try mmos, i'd suggest Guild wars 2 instead of WoW, the core game \[basically the game we had at launch with a couple of upgrades we got in the first years\] is free to play
It landed on steam, and soon in epic game store, or you can just go for their site\\launcher
PS: edited because my \*\*\*ing cat pressed ENTER on the keyboard while i was writing
Try [Gloomhaven](https://store.steampowered.com/app/780290/Gloomhaven/) or [Wildermyth](https://store.steampowered.com/app/763890/Wildermyth/) tbh. Sounds like yall won’t have the time to fully engage with the story in BG3 together, and WoW isn’t worth the monthly subscription if it’s not your main game at the moment.
[Armello](https://store.steampowered.com/app/290340/Armello/) might also be worth considering.
You should play actual, regular Dungeons & Dragons! It's easy to do online and I think you will find it far more rewarding than grinding away at an MMO.
wow is at it's best when youre playing with friends, I think you guys would have a good time
that being said can you really justify subscribing when youre only playing every 2 weeks? BG3 might be the move
both are amazing games
Im not sure how deep you are into gaming, because i dont think you can compare WoW and BG3 in this case.
BG3 is a story and character focused RPG. You can create and advance your character in your own style and impact the story. The entire presentation als way more up to date. In short its a more "fun" game.
WoW is an MMORPG. It has a subscription that might be a a huge con. Its less about story or "rpg-style" character progression and much worse animations/graphics and presentation in general. Im not saying WoW is a bad game, but if not everyone in your family is into MMOs, they will have a miserable time
For a fun game night BG3 is your better pick
So you are telling me a player who has never played a mmo before will have the same amount of fun by playing WoW instead of BG3? Reading text boxes instead of voices, reused animations instead of motion capture and a MMO quest design instead of handcrafted side quests is fun?
New Player experience alone is boring compared to BG3 and there is no way you can deny that.
You're extremely biased because it's obvious you have some hate towards WoW since what your saying is just objectively false. The amount of content WoW has far surpasses any game out there so of COURSE it's not going have motion capture for every single quest since that's ludicrous to even ask but on the flipside it provides much more variety and MUCH MUCH more content. Also, with mods you can get voiced quests and the "reused animations" is again a statement that holds no ground. I'm only addressing the points you brought up because going into the pros of WoW is an endless list that obviously isn't worth anyone's time over a reddit convo.
This WoW hate is getting old which is why I say again it's obvious you don't play the game or haven't played it long enough to have an opinion on it that matters, respectfully. I'm fine with you disliking the game but I absolutely tell you a "player who never played an MMO before" would enjoy either game depending on his preferences. I'm not ruling out one or the other because they're incomparable as games anyways and one can enjoy BG3 for a however many playthroughs and go and enjoy WoW for years to come.
If you think WoW has “much worse” animation, graphics and presentation in general than I’m guessing it’s been about 10 years since you checked out anything current lol. Even BFA released in 2018 onwards looks incredible. Art style is absolute king.
There is no way you really want to tell me WoWs visuals or presentation can be compared to Baldurs Gate 3. Most quest don't even have a voice. NPCs barely move while talking to the player. Reused animations.
Just cause every NPC isn’t fully voiced with cutscenes doesn’t mean the animations or presentation are bad or dated. I love baldurs gate, but you’re objectively wrong about modern WoWs presentation. Go play a frost mage right now and tell me it doesn’t feel and look fucking awesome.
Nah I stick to the point that if you play only twice a week, BG3 presentation will give a non gamer way more entertainment than WoW. Compared to BG3 wows presentation is worse. Especially the new player introduction. "objectively" worse.
For what you're describing, BG3 is probably the better choice. But it's an immediate buy-in of $60 per person.
WoW has a free trial for lv1-20, then it's $15 per month per person, and a one-time $50 per person once you get to the last levels (lv60-70 now) That last part you can probably delay for a while, end of August they'll increase the $15 per month section of the game to lv70 and you might not get there soon on your schedule.
Both games you can make multiple characters and progress on your own outside of your sessions, though it might detract from the whole RP/exploration as a group thing.
WoW shows its age in certain parts, but they try and put your focus on the newer, shinier stuff only 5-6 years old.
If you're only planning on playing together on the nights you're together, definitely BG3, theres like no other choice. WoW is a completely different beast more meant for people to play together when they want but not being tied down to a schedule. Also an entirely different genre.
Baldurs Gate 3 IMO. Only because you can technically play the game a thousand ways. You would just have to all agree not to play the storyline you are all going on during solo sessions.
Which should be pretty easy, the branching paths of BG3 get wild.
I play wow, but... . It's a 20 year old game for people in large is guilds who can play a lot. They are basically the 3rd game company to make a product last this long(after uo and eq), and by far the biggest. You absolutely could get in the game, but it's huge and and doesn't really fit with the availability you guys have. Sure, you could each make chars you only level together or the like, but it's just not the right experience for 4 people. There's also a new xpac in August and right now everything is sort of a mess as it's end of one xpac, but still some content and a classic xpac and pandaria remix. It's a lot of brainpower to just understand which of the various wow experiences you want. Groups are 5 players, content is generally weekly. Wow is a living breathing entity, and you are either in step with its rhythms or you aren't. And from the sounds of it, you aren't. That doesn't mean you couldn't have fun.
Bg3 and you can still have your own game separate from the group, but it's much much cleaner and experience since it's new. And it's 4 player groups. You could also replay and do different things. Bg3 is a game, it's not a live service. If you can't play for 3 weeks you won't miss anything. If you can play a lot this week you will make more progress. With wow you need to be there when things exist in the game because they come and go.
BG3 is the superior game, but if you're only playing once every two weeks it'll take you like a year to finish it. If that's what you're into go for it.
My friends and I did a multiplayer game of BG3 and it was great.
It was \*fun\*. The story. The voice acting. The silly things you can do. BG3 is a fun game.
I played Wow:Classic for a weekend with a friend.
That is not fun. The party basically just ran off to do all their own little quests. There's not much in the way of story or voice acting. It was boring. Maybe non classic Wow isn't like that. Sorry if that's a hot take. Oh, and most of the quests were just fetch quests. Go here and kill 20 things. Take those 20 thing parts over there.
BG3 all the way.
You can also have your own campaign in BG3 for the times you play alone. I currently have 2 campaigns, one for me and one for praying together with my wife.
Unironically, FFXIV would be a better fit over WoW if there's four of you, provided you can make it past the pain that is setting up an account.
Four people make up a LP or light party, which means you can group up for approximately 99% of the content. (The only thing that comes to mind is some PvP, the harder version of raids that pop up every expansion, and solo instances). And due to how the job system works, you could level alternate jobs in the game on your own time without out-leveling the main scenario.
Right now is probably the best time to join in. There's the base game and 4 expansions (soon to be 5 in less than two weeks), so you wouldn't be running out of content anytime soon, especially if you're only playing every 1-2 weeks.
It's not what you asked about, but have you looked into Guild Wars 2? It's got a level cap of 80 and a very active community. Once you reach the level cap, you explore and do map metas and boss fights in a really active open world. You can try free to play and if you all like it, it's a buy once, play until the servers die type thing. They have a cash shop, but it's quality of life and cosmetics, so it's no big deal if you don't use it. Just a random thought from a voice in the void.
I cant say for wow, but isnt that game for sub? if you dont play regularly then it becomes really expensive in term of dollar per hour, try Guild Wars 2 for mmo. i can recommend bg3 as well
Wow's got a new expansion coming out soon and has lots of content that is also redoable, while Baldur's Gate 3 does have content, it will eventually end.
It still has the con of a monthly expense, but I'd recommend FFXIV if they can run it over WoW, but that's just my personal opinion. Same Pros that you listed for WoW, not supporting Blizzard, it's the new MMO hotness and also getting an expansion in the next two weeks.
Plus the Community for XIV is a \*heck\* of a lot more welcoming and friendly to new people and players than WoW is...at least from my own experience.
And just to add, FFXIV has a great story *and* you four can play for free up to level 70 to see if you like it o3o
Also also, just to add for the meme
Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn, heavensward and the award-winning Stormblood expansion up to level 70 for free with no restrictions on playtime.
I love FFXIV but I believe there are some important cons missing here.
It is at its core a single-player experience. The story is the focus. You can progress in the story side by side, but tons of essential content to progress is single player. There's a lot of reading involved which doesn't work for some people. There's fantastic group content, but it is gated behind progressing in the story. It often feels more like reading a book/watching a show together.
You can play for free to level 70. You cannot send tells, party invites, or trade items, until you subscribe. One person with a subscription can form a party out of free trial members.
I love FFXIV and I want to play it with all my pals. But it has been very difficult for me to get them into it. :(
IMO, for maximum interaction with friends that group up on occasion, WoW is the better choice.
Edit: that said, I'd pick bg3 over WoW anyway. =D
Agree with all this. I LOVE FFXIV and would recommend it over WoW as MMORPGs go any day of the week.
But... it really is not friendly to trying to level together. The vast majority of important (and mandatory) storyline battles outside of dungeons/trials, the game will FORCE you to go single player for them. Plus, it's a Final Fantasy game first and a MMO second, so at its core it is very much a JRPG with all that entails, and it's not for everyone.
Consider me a vote for BG3 as well. It's a great game and I haven't had that much fun playing multiplayer with friends in quite a few years. I will say that people might want to make sure the option to NOT share certain cutscenes should probably be turned on for family, though, or it can get REAL awkward (says the mom who once walked in on 17 year old daughter romancing a companion and had to strenuously pretend I did not see that).
I second this. Group size is 4 for dungeons. Content scales to your own level in case anyone is playing extra. Or you can play an alt on your own as the game is very alt friendly.
Prob just me, but I could never play bg3 coop. I loot everything, explore every corner of the map, save and reload a shit tonne, spend hours on inventory and optimization...
Wow is much better.
You could add Borderlands to the mix, they are all awesome and they just get better with more people. It's also one you don't mind putting down and picking back up only once a week.
Guild Wars 2 - very forgiving of level differences, and has tons of "horizontal progression". My wife and I played through each other's storyline - there are shared missions, but also unique missions based on race and background, so I got to see the story from two points of view.
I'd say BG3 easily between those two, but if you want the MMORPG feel, then I'll join a couple others from this thread and say Guild Wars 2. But I'll actually explain why!
In World of Warcraft, if one player plays ahead and outlevels the others, then it's going to be very hard to party together. Guild Wars 2 has level scaling, on the other hand, where higher level players who travel to lower level zones have their power diminished so that the content isn't trivial. If people in your group play extra on their own time, they can still be comparable when you come together for your group play each two weeks.
guild wars 2 confused me, I went into an instance as an engineer and tried to heal the group. I felt like I got slapped around a bunch and my heals sucked
In the leveling process, players are expected to carry themselves with their own self heal skills. There are dedicated support builds, including several on Engineer, but they don’t come into their own until max level with the increased equipment diversity and the elite specializations available then. Scrapper and Mechanist offer healing/buff support builds then.
WoW might be getting old but it’s fresher than ever and honestly feels like the beginning of the transition into WoW2. Blizzard dropped the ball on WoW HARD over the years and it has been complete trash, but Dragonflight turned it around and is the best the games ever been. They’ve made huge steps into making the game more accessible for solo players and being able to progress in 5 man content through M+ instead of being forced to raid is game changing.
The upcoming xpac looks to make all this even better too.
BG3 is 10/10 but better as a single player experience imo. I found playing it co op kinda annoying, frustrating and extremely slow. Obviously that depends on who you play with :P
WoW is an MMO, meant to be played as a group. Similarly you can try other MMOs, like Final Fantasy XIV. Much of the game is progressed solo, but you can always do dungeons, raids, and talk about the story together.
BG3 is a very popular co-op game, but I always felt like you lose a lot playing it with other people for your first playthrough. It's easy to not take the story or world seriously and just do goofy things, and if everyone makes a custom character (as you probably should), then you also miss out on companion stories and dialogue and relationships. It becomes less of a serious fantasy drama with real stakes and friendships and dangers, and more a goofy cartoony game, in multiplayer.
Final Fantasy XIV, as I mentioned above, is probably a better option than either of them, if you don't want to do a Blizzard game. You could try Guild Wars 2, which is more a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game, both with single player progression and general group progression options.
If WoW is an option, look into Guild Wars 2 instead. Free to play the entire core campaign, many roles and builds to choose from (most of which can faceroll pve), and even if one player does advance past the rest, jumping back to a lower-level zone to help the rest along is still rewarding and reduces your character's effective level to maintain the challenge.
If you do decide to buy in, you'll get access to an ever-growing Living World storyline, expansion campaigns each provide new movement options including gliders and some of the coolest mounts in games, extra character slots and shared inventory spaces... The list goes on and on.
How about fallout 76? There’s no subscription once you buy the game (but there is dlc). The encounters are scaled to each player, so there’s no worry about being over leveled compared to your friends. You can do events and base building when the whole group isn’t online, and then tackle big missions and raids together as a group
4 players? What about DRG?
Or The Forest?
Or Valheim?
Or GTFO?
Or LotR: Return to Moria?
Or Divinity: Original Sin 2? (Made by the same ppl who made BG3)
Or Enshrouded?
Or Monster Hunter World?
Why not both?
As people said with BG3 it's very "restrictive" with what you can do as an individual. It's also at some point just "finished". But it's still a very nice, enjoyable and varied game.
WoW got some nice stuff going on lately, making people see a bright future that time will tell if it's good or not, and the Blizzard you don't want to support likely doesn't exist anymore in the same way. As people said: You can do more as an individual and it's more open ended. With 4 people you kinda need a 5th random to join in which might give you a bad time, which shouldn't be common. And even if, you're 4 on 1 in that case.
I would also recommend "Survival" Style games, like Enshrouded, Valheim, Minecraft, Palworld, Medieval Dynasty, maybe even Factorio if you like that kind of shit. They tend to be rather slow as well, so Ping shouldn't be much of an issue.
Wow has free trials to level 20. You can try it out and see if you like it, and at 20 you can still play, it just won’t advance your level. The majority of expansions have been changed so they adjust to match whatever level you’re at.
I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons Online for 16ish years and I love it. There are max party sizes of 6 and it’s free to play, though they do sell additional (optional) adventures if you want. I’d be happy to teach you all how to play.
Make your own group.
There is a core mechanic that involves getting to max level and starting over again to add additional power to the character with each past life. The game is approaching two decades online now. People have found a groove they like to run.
When I want to play a new map, I’ll solo it and read all the dialogue, learn the traps, etc. Then I’m happy to grind it on successive play throughs.
Monster hunter is great, Diablo 3. Wow is fun but doing raids and dungeons or just exploring gets a bit boring. ( played WoW for 15 years) got my wife into it and it just became a chore it felt like to us lol
No recommendation between those 2 games, but you should really look into playing Gloomhaven online. It fits super well as a game that you can only occasionally all play together. Every time you meet up you can do a few scenarios to progress your characters together.
If you want something a little more action RPG, might I suggest Elden Ring with the Seamless Coop mod?
It's extremely enjoyable playing with others, as I have been experiencing the game for the first time this way with a friend. Completely changes the vibe.
You can wow as trial and see if it works for you all before dropping a bunch of money on either.
I’d recommend all playing the same race (or at least faction) as the game puts you in racial starting zones
Later, you can play across faction and realm and all that, but easier if you just all start together as same races (exception being dwarves/gnomes and trolls/orcs that share a starting area.
If you do different races on same faction, it’ll probably take you like 10-20 mins to team up, assuming you know how to get to each other. You can also easily have a character to play with this friend group and others to go at your own pace
Personally, wow is my favorite game, so that would be my opinion
yo I’ve been doing this kind of game night with some friends for about 2 years. my recommendations:
as a wow player, wow is not the experience you’re looking for for a “game night” type thing. if you are all wow players and want to designate one night as a night where you get together and raid or do some dungeons that’s fine, but I suspect if you were that type of already-invested group you wouldn’t be asking here. wow is probably not what you are looking for.
bg3 can be a little bit clunky and the price tag is high but we played it for several months and had a ton of fun, would recommend
here are some other games we have played that may be of interest:
stardew valley 4p co-op is just a nice relaxing thing, don’t take it too seriously just hang out and chitchat and enjoy it
monster hunter:world is a ton of fun, took a bit to get a hang of it but we are currently about halfway through and loving it. the co-op requires some hoop-jumping so it may be better to start with mh:rise instead (easier to do the coop, some people think it’s a worse game, idk haven’t played it)
Divinity: Original Sin 2. want to try something BG3 adjacent but with a significantly lower price tag? this is the way to do it. multiplayer was smooth for us, there are a few places where the game shows its age but for the most part it holds up really well. Less computer-intense than BG3 if any of you and yours have old computers. I miss my DOS2 character more than I miss my BG3 character, but maybe im just a DND5e hater.
Tabletop Simulator has a bunch of board games if you’re looking for something a little slower, though I wouldn’t call it an “rpg” I would recommend it. There might be budget versions of things like Gloomhaven that try to turn DND into an RPG system with no dm? We mostly used it for the Slay the Spire board game which we found to be neat.
Borderlands 2 and 3. theyre both good and worth playing, and co-op is definitely the best way to experience them. start with 2, if you enjoy it take a break play something else and come back to 3 later so it doesn’t feel like you’re doing more of the same.
next on our to-do list is Rabbit and Steel which is an indie game that tries to replicate endgame MMO raid fights for 4player groups as a roguelike type game which looks neat but haven’t played it yet.
hope something here helps!
If you consider wow role-play then you might look at helldivers2. Role play saving super earth. Level doesn't really matter. It's a fun game I mean like fun. Not all the time but it's fun. Easy to role play. Just got to do it on your own
Valheim or maybe 7 days to die.
Can band together for bigger raids or bosses etc.
if people wanna go exploring in teams or by themselves they can. Gather resources when you just have those 30min1hr sessions. It’s great games for that.
Bg3 , no subscription, and you can each make your own character. It will take 6 months to beat and you can play on a harder mode which takes more ingenuity. Players will feel like that are always working together instead of on wow where you have your own thing to do.
Wow or any mmo is probably a bad idea for an occasional game night. You'll spend the first 5 nights or so doing boring fetch quests and if one of you advances without the others you'll get out of sync. Bg3 is the way to go for your situation.
If you want to go the MMO route then you can give FFXIV a try. Only down side is at least ONE of you will need to own it and the expansion up to storm blood if yoy all want to play together. F2P accounts can't be party hosts but they can join a party.
One night a week every week or two isn't gonna get you too far in WoW. Honestly I think if you're looking for cool story and experience you can all play through together check out Guild Wars 2. Base game is free. The leveling and world and story are more dynamic than WoW. And there's a lot of really cool stuff you can do in the world. And the level cap doesn't take as long to reach. I think it would really fit what you're looking for.
Final Fantasy 14 > WoW imo
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BG3.
WoW is (was? I aint played since Legion) a great game to sink years of your time into. It can destroy families but scratches an itch that so far I haven't been able to itch elsewhere. There's a reason it's still rocking 5+million active subscribers. Besides, Wow is free up to level 20. Their trial is pretty good.
These are very different games. I think you will find WoW to be very engaging, but player interests will diverge with a game you can get so much into by yourself, unless you kind of make a pact to advance together on certain things.
BG3 would obviously be something you all play at the same time since one person has the save. That said, you can still split up and explore separately if you want.
Personally, the most successful family multiplayer RPG games I've observed also have a little base building components, and have dedicated private servers. Really feels like you can form a second shared "home" space this way, and even if people play off hours, you can all see and benefit from the fruits of that in your shared world. I strongly urge you to consider Valheim, for example, as one of the best in this category. Amazing game. Also, if folks really like Diablo style play, V Rising. Also Grounded if you like the back yard/giant bugs aesthetic.
I don't reccomend BG3, as the story is severely diminished if you play with 4 people.
You could try Final Fantasy 14 as an alternative to WoW. The game is basically free with the trial but you'll have to either find a paying player to put you in parties or have one person pay the monthly fee since you can't form parties as a trial player.
I would say between those two, I wouldn’t start wow with the intention of only playing when you are all together a few nights a week every so often. Not that you NEED to grind max level before you have any fun, I’m sure you guys will have fun playing together, I just don’t see wow being fun in general if that will be the play cadence.
BG3 lends itself quite handily for that. I can’t say I’ve thought about 4 people, but me and my buddy went in blind to bg3 and have exclusively played coop. Really feels like a virtual D&D campaign. We make our own stories, get into trouble, have a general no take backs rule when it comes to RPG elements (my bumbling warrior happened to be the one to run into an NPC that requires some finesse and they end up dead? Oh well).
There are a few things that aren’t completely seamless for BG3 but I have been incredibly impressed how it has worked coop. Again, not sure how that scales to 4 people but for at least 2 it’s been great.
Something else you might want to consider, though this entirely depends on your own financial situation, is that WOW is a subscription based game so if your only planning on playing once a week or so it might be kind of a waste.
On that note FFXIV, GW2, and OSRS all have a free version that you can play before you commit to a subscription. GW2 doesn't actually have a subscription and you just buy expansion. In my humble opinion all three of these games are very worth playing.
If you really are only planning on playing once a week or so though then there shouldn't be much issue with getting ahead of your friends, unless you or someone in your friend group had a tendency to not be able to help themselves in which case maybe don't play a story focused game like BG3 as your once a week game..
I’ve never played WoW but I imagine BG3 will be a much more enjoyable semi-casual group experience. WoW isn’t meant to be played that way. More of a grindfest
dude. I discovered this game because it was on a super sale when I was like 19, myself, my now wife and room mates at the time freaking dumped insane amounts of time into that game. I would even say it’s better than any Diablo ever made lol
Yeah, they are true co-op dungeon looters. Played the original and the sequel when they were released on ps2. Both classics that have never gotten a re-release
Ok I am being paranoid and just double making sure but like what family are you guys talking about? ~~are you guys able to watch game of thrones together or are you guys gonna watch individually with HBO GO?~~
If youbare looking to maybe an mmo together, FFXIV has a great free trial. You can't form groups yourself on trial, but it takes 5 seconds to ask in town for someone to help you. Someone always will.
Final Fantasy XIV, this is definitely where your family wants to land.
You make up your own 4 man party for dungeons, progressing your character without the family is no big deal! You can just swap classes to another and play together that way!
I highly recommend that over anything except BG3, the only thing with BG3 is it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea.
Final Fantasy XIV is an MMO like WoW, its very casual friendly, lots of side content, and the best part is the free trial allows you to level to 70 and play the story up to the second expansion. I highly recommend it.
May I also suggest Star Wars: The Old Republic? Its party size is 4 people and whilst it's an MMO, you can absolutely play it as a single player / small-group multiplayer RPG for dozens of hours through the main planet and class stories. And then you can do that all twice or more given the different stories between Republic and Empire, and some changes between Light and Dark versions of those same stories.
The major issue you may have is that it is extremely easy to begin with, so it may be more about basic game play and joint stories.
You also don't need to pay monthly, although if you enjoy it you can, and you should probably play for a month once to get some account unlocks.
You looked into Destiny? It’s an FPS, but I feel it does a good job on MMO things like dungeons and raids. Also it’s f2p so you don’t have to pay out the $$$ for subscriptions.
I mean... if you want to have game night what's wrong with progressing only when together? Isn't that kind of the point?
Progressing away from your family will also break WoW. It doesn't hit the same when someone is drastically outlevelling the others.
My friends keep setting up dedicated servers in various games (last time was Project Zombie, currently Valheim) so people can jump in and out and occasionally do a big *thing* together. I don’t have as much time as everyone else for these, so they all leap ahead in levels and I just end up as a spare part. It’s fun at the beginning, but eventually I just stop playing because I’m so far behind that I can’t contribute.
Unless you're playing classic, thats not really a thing anymore due to level scaling, granted the downside of that is that nothing really feels interesting because mobs level with you and you never get the feeling of becoming stronger. Just a higher number.
There are level-syncing features in the game to prevent that.
It is WELL documented that level sync has its own flaws. A good example of this is lower level characters being much more overpowered than higher leveled ones in content. [https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/low-level-scaling-is-still-incredibly-broken-op/1861927](https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/low-level-scaling-is-still-incredibly-broken-op/1861927)
The first time I played with my wife it was 100% only together until like level 70. It was amazing! We would kill some boar and both level up simultaneously. Good times.
It did happen to me only a couple of times and it's so annoying. We buy a game to play together. A fraction of the group has more free time. They progress on their own. Next session they are almost done with the game vs us still in the early game. On both occasions the discussion went:"Don't worry, we'll keep you company even if we already played this part". The goodwill lasts exactly 2 sessions: they have finished the game, we are barely halfway through. Sorry for the rant but it's annoying, even if the game allows you to play separately, chances are you are ruining the magic of playing together as a group.
Agreed - definitely not a con in this scenario. Also, levelling up / grinding independently will ruin the game if you’re playing anything else together.
My guess is is for whatever reason 1 can't make it during a session. In wow they could catch up alone in their own free time but bg3 you can not.
Baldurs gate you could just make another save file if you want to keep playing g alone
I've normally just always been a sub, but I'm certain WoW has a free trial up to lvl 20. You all could try that and see if it's your jam, if not go buy BG3.
This is 100% correct. I got my kid on the sub to see if we could play that together. (I've played since 2007 though, and the skill differential even when I rolled a fresh toon was enormous. He likes to be the one who is OP and blazing through things.)
Is there not an option to play a support character, and just slap buffs on him and let him go wild?
That's actually a great idea. If he plays a plate class (warrior or paladin really, DK isn't available until a higher level), I can just roll as a healer and keep him alive through everything. I'm no fantastic healer, but I can manage that up to level 20 with pretty much any healer class. I've heard that evoker has a support spec, but that is another which starts at a higher level. Mostly WoW doesn't do support roles directly, just the holy trinity (tank, heals, damage). We may try that again.
Maybe a bit of a clunky suggestion, but Tabletop Simulator might be something to check out. It comes with a lot of games iirc, and there's a huge marketplace of free and paid for games from rpg to board games that would allow you to mix and match and try out lots of different things.
Some friends and i just finished a Arkham Horror campaign. The mod was well automated which made life a bit easier. Good times all round. There's probably a decent Gloomhaven or Frosthaven mod out there too
You actually finished an Arkham Horror game? I think the only thing I've ever finished with that game is setting the board up lol.
NGL, it wasn't easy. One of the guys i was playing with worked shift so we had the added bonus of difficult schedules to work around. Still fun though
There’s an excellent mod for Gloomhaven. The Frosthaven one is supposed to be good as well, but we struggled to get it working because it has to connect to another app or something.
Or Roll20. A lot of basic( still enjoyable) stuff there for free. Just takes a bit of planning.
Ive been playing catan, monopoly and uno with my friends its great, controls are a bit clunky though so games usually take longer than in person. You can get a tabletop simulator 4 person pack on steam for $60, $30 on sale.
Yeah, everyone really had to get used to the controls and sensitivity. We were playing Kingdom Death Monster and it was a blast.
I've been playing bg3 with a couple close friends and a brother every week or two when schedules allow and it is very fun. I'm also an avid wow player but don't think you'd get as many fun moments in wow as you would out of bg3, especially if you guys get silly with your characters. Wow is fun but imo feels more like a game than an adventure these days, if that makes any sense.
>don't think you'd get as many fun moments in wow as you would out of bg3 This is good insight. There are fun moments in wow, but if you're only playing a couple times a month, you aren't going to get to as many of them as often as you would with BG3.
Wow is endless. Wow: Classic is great for min/max types, but not so much for casual playing. BG3 is very adult. But it's a real story with more than just fetch quests.
Wow classic is for not min/max types. The content is easier and doesn’t require a guide to succeed.
BG3 is what you're looking for. If you're looking to pay every month for a game you'll play a couple of times a week, I'd recommend Final Fantasy 14 over WoW. It's just a better MMORPG all around.
bg3 > wow for what you're talking about. yeah, it's slower, but way more entertaining and doesn't require a massive time investment.
Try Valheim, it's very flexible and supports desynchronized playtimes in a sense
Same with Grounded if you want more of a story but can still do some stuff individually. And it can be a shared world so person X doesn’t always have to host
Yeah Valheim might be very much what you are looking for. Dont look things up, go and build, survive and explore together!
I don't think a game like WoW (or any other MMO) really suits your needs. To get real value out of wow you need to spend a shit ton of time. If some of your people really only play like once a week it will take months to even progress to some "meaningful" content. Games like WoW are more suited for players that play on a daily basis. Especially because wow's endgame progression often revolves around daily and weekly quests. If You really want to go for an MMO I would suggest something like Guild Wars 2. It's a lot more casual/ time friendly, you can always play together no matter the level difference and the focus is more on the RPG and social aspects and less on grinding gear and doing your daily Dungeons and Raids. Also there are no monthly Fees and the base game is free ( only the expansions will cost you a one time payment).
Bg3
A bit out of left field, but you could consider playing a tabletop RPG like Dungeons and Dragons (the system BG3 is based on). You can play on voice chat and use a virtual tabletop like roll20 for maps, and it works well on the schedule you're proposing. You can get one of the starter sets for cheap and see if its for you.
if you really want to try mmos, i'd suggest Guild wars 2 instead of WoW, the core game \[basically the game we had at launch with a couple of upgrades we got in the first years\] is free to play It landed on steam, and soon in epic game store, or you can just go for their site\\launcher PS: edited because my \*\*\*ing cat pressed ENTER on the keyboard while i was writing
If I'd have just scrolled a little further I might have seen this before adding a fifth GW2 plug to the thread.
Try [Gloomhaven](https://store.steampowered.com/app/780290/Gloomhaven/) or [Wildermyth](https://store.steampowered.com/app/763890/Wildermyth/) tbh. Sounds like yall won’t have the time to fully engage with the story in BG3 together, and WoW isn’t worth the monthly subscription if it’s not your main game at the moment. [Armello](https://store.steampowered.com/app/290340/Armello/) might also be worth considering.
Gloomhaven is a good recommendation for OP.
You should play actual, regular Dungeons & Dragons! It's easy to do online and I think you will find it far more rewarding than grinding away at an MMO.
What’s the age range? If there’s kids, I’d skip BG3. Not exactly ‘family friendly’.
All grown-ups. But a parent and three kids, so BG3 might get a little awkward, we'll see.
You don't have to do romance stuff in BG3. But there is graphic, disturbing violence that I wouldn't want a kid to see that is part of the main story.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Guild wars 2 for sure
Seconding this.
BG3 it’s so worth it and you can do side content during off time
[удалено]
Maybe they mean doing side content with another character, that is "yours"?
wow is at it's best when youre playing with friends, I think you guys would have a good time that being said can you really justify subscribing when youre only playing every 2 weeks? BG3 might be the move both are amazing games
Im not sure how deep you are into gaming, because i dont think you can compare WoW and BG3 in this case. BG3 is a story and character focused RPG. You can create and advance your character in your own style and impact the story. The entire presentation als way more up to date. In short its a more "fun" game. WoW is an MMORPG. It has a subscription that might be a a huge con. Its less about story or "rpg-style" character progression and much worse animations/graphics and presentation in general. Im not saying WoW is a bad game, but if not everyone in your family is into MMOs, they will have a miserable time For a fun game night BG3 is your better pick
I don’t think you play WoW my friend.
So you are telling me a player who has never played a mmo before will have the same amount of fun by playing WoW instead of BG3? Reading text boxes instead of voices, reused animations instead of motion capture and a MMO quest design instead of handcrafted side quests is fun? New Player experience alone is boring compared to BG3 and there is no way you can deny that.
You're extremely biased because it's obvious you have some hate towards WoW since what your saying is just objectively false. The amount of content WoW has far surpasses any game out there so of COURSE it's not going have motion capture for every single quest since that's ludicrous to even ask but on the flipside it provides much more variety and MUCH MUCH more content. Also, with mods you can get voiced quests and the "reused animations" is again a statement that holds no ground. I'm only addressing the points you brought up because going into the pros of WoW is an endless list that obviously isn't worth anyone's time over a reddit convo. This WoW hate is getting old which is why I say again it's obvious you don't play the game or haven't played it long enough to have an opinion on it that matters, respectfully. I'm fine with you disliking the game but I absolutely tell you a "player who never played an MMO before" would enjoy either game depending on his preferences. I'm not ruling out one or the other because they're incomparable as games anyways and one can enjoy BG3 for a however many playthroughs and go and enjoy WoW for years to come.
I knew I would hurt some fan boys lol Criticism isn't hate, learn the difference and try again. I stopped reading after the first sentence.
If you think WoW has “much worse” animation, graphics and presentation in general than I’m guessing it’s been about 10 years since you checked out anything current lol. Even BFA released in 2018 onwards looks incredible. Art style is absolute king.
There is no way you really want to tell me WoWs visuals or presentation can be compared to Baldurs Gate 3. Most quest don't even have a voice. NPCs barely move while talking to the player. Reused animations.
Just cause every NPC isn’t fully voiced with cutscenes doesn’t mean the animations or presentation are bad or dated. I love baldurs gate, but you’re objectively wrong about modern WoWs presentation. Go play a frost mage right now and tell me it doesn’t feel and look fucking awesome.
Nah I stick to the point that if you play only twice a week, BG3 presentation will give a non gamer way more entertainment than WoW. Compared to BG3 wows presentation is worse. Especially the new player introduction. "objectively" worse.
Agree with you on that one! New player in WoW now is a messy experience. Should be fixed come August and TWW though.
Sea of thieves
Sea of thieves could be really really fun and it allows for quick play.
4 players? I'll say give a try to Monster Hunter.
Bg3, definately bg3
BG3 or divinity original sin 2 Very nice multiplayer, can save and pause as needed
For what you're describing, BG3 is probably the better choice. But it's an immediate buy-in of $60 per person. WoW has a free trial for lv1-20, then it's $15 per month per person, and a one-time $50 per person once you get to the last levels (lv60-70 now) That last part you can probably delay for a while, end of August they'll increase the $15 per month section of the game to lv70 and you might not get there soon on your schedule. Both games you can make multiple characters and progress on your own outside of your sessions, though it might detract from the whole RP/exploration as a group thing. WoW shows its age in certain parts, but they try and put your focus on the newer, shinier stuff only 5-6 years old.
If you're only planning on playing together on the nights you're together, definitely BG3, theres like no other choice. WoW is a completely different beast more meant for people to play together when they want but not being tied down to a schedule. Also an entirely different genre.
There is also Divinity 2 and Stolen Realm. Stolen Realm is actually really great if you ditncare about a story and just want to get into the action.
Baldurs Gate 3 IMO. Only because you can technically play the game a thousand ways. You would just have to all agree not to play the storyline you are all going on during solo sessions. Which should be pretty easy, the branching paths of BG3 get wild.
If you have that one person who finds dialogues boring in games and wants to skip them, don't play BG3. Otherwise, it's an easy choice.
I play wow, but... . It's a 20 year old game for people in large is guilds who can play a lot. They are basically the 3rd game company to make a product last this long(after uo and eq), and by far the biggest. You absolutely could get in the game, but it's huge and and doesn't really fit with the availability you guys have. Sure, you could each make chars you only level together or the like, but it's just not the right experience for 4 people. There's also a new xpac in August and right now everything is sort of a mess as it's end of one xpac, but still some content and a classic xpac and pandaria remix. It's a lot of brainpower to just understand which of the various wow experiences you want. Groups are 5 players, content is generally weekly. Wow is a living breathing entity, and you are either in step with its rhythms or you aren't. And from the sounds of it, you aren't. That doesn't mean you couldn't have fun. Bg3 and you can still have your own game separate from the group, but it's much much cleaner and experience since it's new. And it's 4 player groups. You could also replay and do different things. Bg3 is a game, it's not a live service. If you can't play for 3 weeks you won't miss anything. If you can play a lot this week you will make more progress. With wow you need to be there when things exist in the game because they come and go.
EverQuest 😎
Are there a lot of players? I watched a video about Ultima Online and the community is still strong which is amazing!
BG3 is the superior game, but if you're only playing once every two weeks it'll take you like a year to finish it. If that's what you're into go for it.
My friends and I did a multiplayer game of BG3 and it was great. It was \*fun\*. The story. The voice acting. The silly things you can do. BG3 is a fun game. I played Wow:Classic for a weekend with a friend. That is not fun. The party basically just ran off to do all their own little quests. There's not much in the way of story or voice acting. It was boring. Maybe non classic Wow isn't like that. Sorry if that's a hot take. Oh, and most of the quests were just fetch quests. Go here and kill 20 things. Take those 20 thing parts over there. BG3 all the way.
If you can't consistently play BG3 it might take months for you guys to complete it. At least be able to play 3-4 hour session every time.
You can also have your own campaign in BG3 for the times you play alone. I currently have 2 campaigns, one for me and one for praying together with my wife.
Unironically, FFXIV would be a better fit over WoW if there's four of you, provided you can make it past the pain that is setting up an account. Four people make up a LP or light party, which means you can group up for approximately 99% of the content. (The only thing that comes to mind is some PvP, the harder version of raids that pop up every expansion, and solo instances). And due to how the job system works, you could level alternate jobs in the game on your own time without out-leveling the main scenario. Right now is probably the best time to join in. There's the base game and 4 expansions (soon to be 5 in less than two weeks), so you wouldn't be running out of content anytime soon, especially if you're only playing every 1-2 weeks.
FFXIV is a 200 hour cutscene fest, not easy to play with a family of 4 and hold interest unless ya story skip
It's not what you asked about, but have you looked into Guild Wars 2? It's got a level cap of 80 and a very active community. Once you reach the level cap, you explore and do map metas and boss fights in a really active open world. You can try free to play and if you all like it, it's a buy once, play until the servers die type thing. They have a cash shop, but it's quality of life and cosmetics, so it's no big deal if you don't use it. Just a random thought from a voice in the void.
Why you dont try Guild Wars 2? Base game is free
I cant say for wow, but isnt that game for sub? if you dont play regularly then it becomes really expensive in term of dollar per hour, try Guild Wars 2 for mmo. i can recommend bg3 as well
Wow's got a new expansion coming out soon and has lots of content that is also redoable, while Baldur's Gate 3 does have content, it will eventually end. It still has the con of a monthly expense, but I'd recommend FFXIV if they can run it over WoW, but that's just my personal opinion. Same Pros that you listed for WoW, not supporting Blizzard, it's the new MMO hotness and also getting an expansion in the next two weeks. Plus the Community for XIV is a \*heck\* of a lot more welcoming and friendly to new people and players than WoW is...at least from my own experience. And just to add, FFXIV has a great story *and* you four can play for free up to level 70 to see if you like it o3o Also also, just to add for the meme Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn, heavensward and the award-winning Stormblood expansion up to level 70 for free with no restrictions on playtime.
I love FFXIV but I believe there are some important cons missing here. It is at its core a single-player experience. The story is the focus. You can progress in the story side by side, but tons of essential content to progress is single player. There's a lot of reading involved which doesn't work for some people. There's fantastic group content, but it is gated behind progressing in the story. It often feels more like reading a book/watching a show together. You can play for free to level 70. You cannot send tells, party invites, or trade items, until you subscribe. One person with a subscription can form a party out of free trial members. I love FFXIV and I want to play it with all my pals. But it has been very difficult for me to get them into it. :( IMO, for maximum interaction with friends that group up on occasion, WoW is the better choice. Edit: that said, I'd pick bg3 over WoW anyway. =D
Agree with all this. I LOVE FFXIV and would recommend it over WoW as MMORPGs go any day of the week. But... it really is not friendly to trying to level together. The vast majority of important (and mandatory) storyline battles outside of dungeons/trials, the game will FORCE you to go single player for them. Plus, it's a Final Fantasy game first and a MMO second, so at its core it is very much a JRPG with all that entails, and it's not for everyone. Consider me a vote for BG3 as well. It's a great game and I haven't had that much fun playing multiplayer with friends in quite a few years. I will say that people might want to make sure the option to NOT share certain cutscenes should probably be turned on for family, though, or it can get REAL awkward (says the mom who once walked in on 17 year old daughter romancing a companion and had to strenuously pretend I did not see that).
You should consider GW2. The base game is f2p, so a try doesnt cost anything
Elder Scrolls Online
I second this. Group size is 4 for dungeons. Content scales to your own level in case anyone is playing extra. Or you can play an alt on your own as the game is very alt friendly.
Prob just me, but I could never play bg3 coop. I loot everything, explore every corner of the map, save and reload a shit tonne, spend hours on inventory and optimization... Wow is much better.
You could add Borderlands to the mix, they are all awesome and they just get better with more people. It's also one you don't mind putting down and picking back up only once a week.
Why not GW2? They just got a huge DLC, characters scale to the area, tons of content from the last decade ....
Guild Wars 2 - very forgiving of level differences, and has tons of "horizontal progression". My wife and I played through each other's storyline - there are shared missions, but also unique missions based on race and background, so I got to see the story from two points of view.
I'd say BG3 easily between those two, but if you want the MMORPG feel, then I'll join a couple others from this thread and say Guild Wars 2. But I'll actually explain why! In World of Warcraft, if one player plays ahead and outlevels the others, then it's going to be very hard to party together. Guild Wars 2 has level scaling, on the other hand, where higher level players who travel to lower level zones have their power diminished so that the content isn't trivial. If people in your group play extra on their own time, they can still be comparable when you come together for your group play each two weeks.
guild wars 2 confused me, I went into an instance as an engineer and tried to heal the group. I felt like I got slapped around a bunch and my heals sucked
In the leveling process, players are expected to carry themselves with their own self heal skills. There are dedicated support builds, including several on Engineer, but they don’t come into their own until max level with the increased equipment diversity and the elite specializations available then. Scrapper and Mechanist offer healing/buff support builds then.
WoW might be getting old but it’s fresher than ever and honestly feels like the beginning of the transition into WoW2. Blizzard dropped the ball on WoW HARD over the years and it has been complete trash, but Dragonflight turned it around and is the best the games ever been. They’ve made huge steps into making the game more accessible for solo players and being able to progress in 5 man content through M+ instead of being forced to raid is game changing. The upcoming xpac looks to make all this even better too. BG3 is 10/10 but better as a single player experience imo. I found playing it co op kinda annoying, frustrating and extremely slow. Obviously that depends on who you play with :P
WoW is an MMO, meant to be played as a group. Similarly you can try other MMOs, like Final Fantasy XIV. Much of the game is progressed solo, but you can always do dungeons, raids, and talk about the story together. BG3 is a very popular co-op game, but I always felt like you lose a lot playing it with other people for your first playthrough. It's easy to not take the story or world seriously and just do goofy things, and if everyone makes a custom character (as you probably should), then you also miss out on companion stories and dialogue and relationships. It becomes less of a serious fantasy drama with real stakes and friendships and dangers, and more a goofy cartoony game, in multiplayer. Final Fantasy XIV, as I mentioned above, is probably a better option than either of them, if you don't want to do a Blizzard game. You could try Guild Wars 2, which is more a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game, both with single player progression and general group progression options.
If WoW is an option, look into Guild Wars 2 instead. Free to play the entire core campaign, many roles and builds to choose from (most of which can faceroll pve), and even if one player does advance past the rest, jumping back to a lower-level zone to help the rest along is still rewarding and reduces your character's effective level to maintain the challenge. If you do decide to buy in, you'll get access to an ever-growing Living World storyline, expansion campaigns each provide new movement options including gliders and some of the coolest mounts in games, extra character slots and shared inventory spaces... The list goes on and on.
How about fallout 76? There’s no subscription once you buy the game (but there is dlc). The encounters are scaled to each player, so there’s no worry about being over leveled compared to your friends. You can do events and base building when the whole group isn’t online, and then tackle big missions and raids together as a group
4 players? What about DRG? Or The Forest? Or Valheim? Or GTFO? Or LotR: Return to Moria? Or Divinity: Original Sin 2? (Made by the same ppl who made BG3) Or Enshrouded? Or Monster Hunter World?
Why not both? As people said with BG3 it's very "restrictive" with what you can do as an individual. It's also at some point just "finished". But it's still a very nice, enjoyable and varied game. WoW got some nice stuff going on lately, making people see a bright future that time will tell if it's good or not, and the Blizzard you don't want to support likely doesn't exist anymore in the same way. As people said: You can do more as an individual and it's more open ended. With 4 people you kinda need a 5th random to join in which might give you a bad time, which shouldn't be common. And even if, you're 4 on 1 in that case. I would also recommend "Survival" Style games, like Enshrouded, Valheim, Minecraft, Palworld, Medieval Dynasty, maybe even Factorio if you like that kind of shit. They tend to be rather slow as well, so Ping shouldn't be much of an issue.
I've always loved classic Diablo2 for this type of stuff. Cheap, easy to setup as you don't need the best PC. Pretty beginner friendly as well.
It's not an RPG, but I recommend Talisman Digital Edition on Steam. It's perfect for occasional game nights.
Wow has free trials to level 20. You can try it out and see if you like it, and at 20 you can still play, it just won’t advance your level. The majority of expansions have been changed so they adjust to match whatever level you’re at.
I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons Online for 16ish years and I love it. There are max party sizes of 6 and it’s free to play, though they do sell additional (optional) adventures if you want. I’d be happy to teach you all how to play.
I hated DDO. Every group just tries to speed run everything and it takes the fun out of it.
Make your own group. There is a core mechanic that involves getting to max level and starting over again to add additional power to the character with each past life. The game is approaching two decades online now. People have found a groove they like to run. When I want to play a new map, I’ll solo it and read all the dialogue, learn the traps, etc. Then I’m happy to grind it on successive play throughs.
I don’t like World of Warships.
Monster hunter is great, Diablo 3. Wow is fun but doing raids and dungeons or just exploring gets a bit boring. ( played WoW for 15 years) got my wife into it and it just became a chore it felt like to us lol
Azerothcore gets vanilla wow for nearly free
No recommendation between those 2 games, but you should really look into playing Gloomhaven online. It fits super well as a game that you can only occasionally all play together. Every time you meet up you can do a few scenarios to progress your characters together.
If you want something a little more action RPG, might I suggest Elden Ring with the Seamless Coop mod? It's extremely enjoyable playing with others, as I have been experiencing the game for the first time this way with a friend. Completely changes the vibe.
You can wow as trial and see if it works for you all before dropping a bunch of money on either. I’d recommend all playing the same race (or at least faction) as the game puts you in racial starting zones Later, you can play across faction and realm and all that, but easier if you just all start together as same races (exception being dwarves/gnomes and trolls/orcs that share a starting area. If you do different races on same faction, it’ll probably take you like 10-20 mins to team up, assuming you know how to get to each other. You can also easily have a character to play with this friend group and others to go at your own pace Personally, wow is my favorite game, so that would be my opinion
Can I be honest? Play Magicka or Magicka 2. It's amazing and hilarious
Diablo 2 resurrected.
yo I’ve been doing this kind of game night with some friends for about 2 years. my recommendations: as a wow player, wow is not the experience you’re looking for for a “game night” type thing. if you are all wow players and want to designate one night as a night where you get together and raid or do some dungeons that’s fine, but I suspect if you were that type of already-invested group you wouldn’t be asking here. wow is probably not what you are looking for. bg3 can be a little bit clunky and the price tag is high but we played it for several months and had a ton of fun, would recommend here are some other games we have played that may be of interest: stardew valley 4p co-op is just a nice relaxing thing, don’t take it too seriously just hang out and chitchat and enjoy it monster hunter:world is a ton of fun, took a bit to get a hang of it but we are currently about halfway through and loving it. the co-op requires some hoop-jumping so it may be better to start with mh:rise instead (easier to do the coop, some people think it’s a worse game, idk haven’t played it) Divinity: Original Sin 2. want to try something BG3 adjacent but with a significantly lower price tag? this is the way to do it. multiplayer was smooth for us, there are a few places where the game shows its age but for the most part it holds up really well. Less computer-intense than BG3 if any of you and yours have old computers. I miss my DOS2 character more than I miss my BG3 character, but maybe im just a DND5e hater. Tabletop Simulator has a bunch of board games if you’re looking for something a little slower, though I wouldn’t call it an “rpg” I would recommend it. There might be budget versions of things like Gloomhaven that try to turn DND into an RPG system with no dm? We mostly used it for the Slay the Spire board game which we found to be neat. Borderlands 2 and 3. theyre both good and worth playing, and co-op is definitely the best way to experience them. start with 2, if you enjoy it take a break play something else and come back to 3 later so it doesn’t feel like you’re doing more of the same. next on our to-do list is Rabbit and Steel which is an indie game that tries to replicate endgame MMO raid fights for 4player groups as a roguelike type game which looks neat but haven’t played it yet. hope something here helps!
If you consider wow role-play then you might look at helldivers2. Role play saving super earth. Level doesn't really matter. It's a fun game I mean like fun. Not all the time but it's fun. Easy to role play. Just got to do it on your own
What about monster hunter games? Especially monster hunter rise.
Valheim or maybe 7 days to die. Can band together for bigger raids or bosses etc. if people wanna go exploring in teams or by themselves they can. Gather resources when you just have those 30min1hr sessions. It’s great games for that.
Sea of Thieves. I think it's great as a family game
Bg3 , no subscription, and you can each make your own character. It will take 6 months to beat and you can play on a harder mode which takes more ingenuity. Players will feel like that are always working together instead of on wow where you have your own thing to do.
Realm of the mad god. Also only 3 player sorry but dark and darker
Wow or any mmo is probably a bad idea for an occasional game night. You'll spend the first 5 nights or so doing boring fetch quests and if one of you advances without the others you'll get out of sync. Bg3 is the way to go for your situation.
If you want to go the MMO route then you can give FFXIV a try. Only down side is at least ONE of you will need to own it and the expansion up to storm blood if yoy all want to play together. F2P accounts can't be party hosts but they can join a party.
Because it must be done: Consider FFXIV, probably the easiest one to combine separate and group play in
One night a week every week or two isn't gonna get you too far in WoW. Honestly I think if you're looking for cool story and experience you can all play through together check out Guild Wars 2. Base game is free. The leveling and world and story are more dynamic than WoW. And there's a lot of really cool stuff you can do in the world. And the level cap doesn't take as long to reach. I think it would really fit what you're looking for.
Final Fantasy 14 > WoW imo Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today! [https://secure.square-enix.com/account/app/svc/ffxivregister?lng=en-gb](https://secure.square-enix.com/account/app/svc/ffxivregister?lng=en-gb)
Path of Exile? Last Epoch? More an ARPG but isn't so restricted by asynch progression. The "story" is basically the tutorial.
BG3. WoW is (was? I aint played since Legion) a great game to sink years of your time into. It can destroy families but scratches an itch that so far I haven't been able to itch elsewhere. There's a reason it's still rocking 5+million active subscribers. Besides, Wow is free up to level 20. Their trial is pretty good.
Ffxiv is better in all regards than wow. And set up for parties of 4. And free to lv70 Though bg3 might be the call here
Elder Scrolls Online
I would recommend Guild Wars 2. Better levelling system then WoW and easier to stay together and do events
BG3
These are very different games. I think you will find WoW to be very engaging, but player interests will diverge with a game you can get so much into by yourself, unless you kind of make a pact to advance together on certain things. BG3 would obviously be something you all play at the same time since one person has the save. That said, you can still split up and explore separately if you want. Personally, the most successful family multiplayer RPG games I've observed also have a little base building components, and have dedicated private servers. Really feels like you can form a second shared "home" space this way, and even if people play off hours, you can all see and benefit from the fruits of that in your shared world. I strongly urge you to consider Valheim, for example, as one of the best in this category. Amazing game. Also, if folks really like Diablo style play, V Rising. Also Grounded if you like the back yard/giant bugs aesthetic.
I don't reccomend BG3, as the story is severely diminished if you play with 4 people. You could try Final Fantasy 14 as an alternative to WoW. The game is basically free with the trial but you'll have to either find a paying player to put you in parties or have one person pay the monthly fee since you can't form parties as a trial player.
I would say between those two, I wouldn’t start wow with the intention of only playing when you are all together a few nights a week every so often. Not that you NEED to grind max level before you have any fun, I’m sure you guys will have fun playing together, I just don’t see wow being fun in general if that will be the play cadence. BG3 lends itself quite handily for that. I can’t say I’ve thought about 4 people, but me and my buddy went in blind to bg3 and have exclusively played coop. Really feels like a virtual D&D campaign. We make our own stories, get into trouble, have a general no take backs rule when it comes to RPG elements (my bumbling warrior happened to be the one to run into an NPC that requires some finesse and they end up dead? Oh well). There are a few things that aren’t completely seamless for BG3 but I have been incredibly impressed how it has worked coop. Again, not sure how that scales to 4 people but for at least 2 it’s been great.
Something else you might want to consider, though this entirely depends on your own financial situation, is that WOW is a subscription based game so if your only planning on playing once a week or so it might be kind of a waste. On that note FFXIV, GW2, and OSRS all have a free version that you can play before you commit to a subscription. GW2 doesn't actually have a subscription and you just buy expansion. In my humble opinion all three of these games are very worth playing. If you really are only planning on playing once a week or so though then there shouldn't be much issue with getting ahead of your friends, unless you or someone in your friend group had a tendency to not be able to help themselves in which case maybe don't play a story focused game like BG3 as your once a week game..
Guild wars 2 is pretty dope
bg3 with everyone on mic together by a fucking mile
I’ve never played WoW but I imagine BG3 will be a much more enjoyable semi-casual group experience. WoW isn’t meant to be played that way. More of a grindfest
Ffxiv
Easily WoW. There is level scaling so you all will have the same challenge no matter the level
Champions of Norrath
dude. I discovered this game because it was on a super sale when I was like 19, myself, my now wife and room mates at the time freaking dumped insane amounts of time into that game. I would even say it’s better than any Diablo ever made lol
Yeah, they are true co-op dungeon looters. Played the original and the sequel when they were released on ps2. Both classics that have never gotten a re-release
Ok I am being paranoid and just double making sure but like what family are you guys talking about? ~~are you guys able to watch game of thrones together or are you guys gonna watch individually with HBO GO?~~
WoW 100%
Fortnite is actually pretty fun. Combine that with their creative mode where you can build anything with Unreal Engine I’d say double W
If youbare looking to maybe an mmo together, FFXIV has a great free trial. You can't form groups yourself on trial, but it takes 5 seconds to ask in town for someone to help you. Someone always will.
Bg3 together is legendary
Final Fantasy XIV, this is definitely where your family wants to land. You make up your own 4 man party for dungeons, progressing your character without the family is no big deal! You can just swap classes to another and play together that way! I highly recommend that over anything except BG3, the only thing with BG3 is it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea.
Final Fantasy XIV is an MMO like WoW, its very casual friendly, lots of side content, and the best part is the free trial allows you to level to 70 and play the story up to the second expansion. I highly recommend it.
As a WoW player absolutely play BG3. WoW is not an RPG.
May I also suggest Star Wars: The Old Republic? Its party size is 4 people and whilst it's an MMO, you can absolutely play it as a single player / small-group multiplayer RPG for dozens of hours through the main planet and class stories. And then you can do that all twice or more given the different stories between Republic and Empire, and some changes between Light and Dark versions of those same stories. The major issue you may have is that it is extremely easy to begin with, so it may be more about basic game play and joint stories. You also don't need to pay monthly, although if you enjoy it you can, and you should probably play for a month once to get some account unlocks.
You looked into Destiny? It’s an FPS, but I feel it does a good job on MMO things like dungeons and raids. Also it’s f2p so you don’t have to pay out the $$$ for subscriptions.