I must admit that I find myself in somewhat of a MMOG lull right now. After letting my Age of Conan subscription expire I have found myself for the first time in over 10 years without a current subscription to a game. I don't know what to do with myself, it's like I'm not right if I don't have an MMOG to play. With that said, I have little interest in playing any of the current games out there. There is just nothing that inspires me enough right now to take the time and fire it back up. So that got me thinking about what some of the MMOGs out there would have to do in order to get me to give them another try.

I have come up with a list of 5 games I would pay to play right now if they added certain features or expansions. Without these I see little chance of me returning to the games.

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Where is the third faction?

1. Third Faction for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

In my opinion Mythic made many mistakes with WAR. From the debacle that tier 3 was, to the god awful ways that city sieges and keeps worked, WAR has a lot to try and fix before many gamers would be willing to give them another shot. To their credit Mythic has been trying to address many of these issues over the last year. However they still have not addressed or even acknowledged their greatest mistake, the lack of a third faction. These are the same people who got it so right with Dark Age of Camelot, still possibly the best PvP MMOG out there. They understood the trinity of three factions. How it helped offset one faction dominating another on a server. Whoever the strongest was would normally find themselves fighting off two separate armies. I still remember when I asked Jeff Hickman early in development about the problem with only 2 factions. He claimed he didn't think it would be a problem. When I pushed for more information about how they would keep one side from constantly overwhelming the other on certain servers, he said they had ways to help with that. Well I am still waiting to see these ways. Mythic needs to understand while all these little fixes to crowd control and city sieges are needed, they are band-aids and not a fix. In order to pull off the success they had with DAOC, they need to follow that system more closely. Give me a third faction, and Ill buy the expansion and sign up for 3 months without even looking.

2. Rohan for Lord of The Rings Online

This seems like the logical next step for LOTRO. With the Mines of Moria behind us, I can't think of anywhere else I would rather see in Middle Earth. Give us the battle for Helm's Deep, in all of its bloody glory! Introduce the Rohirrim, and bring mounted combat into the game. I could easily see a new class introduced with the Riders of Rohan. I believe this would excite current players, as well as bring in more new blood (or old returning blood) than anything else Turbine could announce for the game. Give me the expansion and I would heed the call and ride to defend the gates at Helm's Deep.

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Does Blizzard know how to make a bad game?

3. Cataclysm for World of Warcraft

I am the first to admit that I have never been a huge fan of WoW. I admit they have an extremely popular and well polished game, but I was always one of those that said, "been there, done that." Because there is no denying that WoW was never very innovative. They took what had been done before, and polished the hell out of it. There is nothing wrong with that, it just never really grabbed me as something I had to play for long. With that said, I have to admit that Cataclysm has really grabbed my attention. I mean this is still Blizzard we are talking about here. While I can't say there was much innovation in WoW, I can say that I still believe Blizzard has never put out a bad game. With their pedigree, almost endless budget, and millions of players eagerly awaiting this expansion, it is hard not to get wrapped up in the frenzy. If you are an MMOG gamer, how can you resist at least trying this.

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I want to be one of the cool kids!

4. EVE Online: Incarna

EVE is another game that I always had a hard time really sinking my teeth into. I want to love the game. It has so many things that I would like to see in an MMOG. I love the fact that its not a typical fantasy setting, and their come back story is truly remarkable. I mean we all want to pull for the underdog. The way EVE has been able to defy the odds and grow from a fledging failure of a game, to one of the true success stories in the genre is just remarkable. I want to like EVE, I want to give them my money in support and play their game, but the game has always been just a little too hardcore for me. And that is saying something! For the most part I consider myself a pretty hardcore player, putting in 5 to 8 hours a night when I find a game fun, more when I get obsessed. I don't hold a candle to EVE players though. I am hoping that changes with their Incarna expansion. With the ability to run around space stations, and adding the land game, I will have to give EVE another shot. The fact that CCP says that the expansion will smooth out the learning curve doesn't hurt either.

5. Dark age of Camelot  Graphics Update

An oldie but goodie, I still say DAOC is the best PvP MMOG out there to date. This game held me for years until the Trial of Atlantis expansion came out. The game really shows its age now with both the graphics and the PvE experience which was never a high point for DAOC.  I would love to see a graphics overhaul and a new expansion for the game. I would gladly grab my minstrel and give those damn Hibs another ass kicking. This is one of the best MMOGs ever made, give me a reason to come back and give it another go. I realize this is most likely a pipe dream. Mythic has put all their eggs in the WAR basket. I also seriously doubt if EA would give them the funding to try and bring the game back to its former glory, not with the failure of WAR. One can still hope though.

I know some of these are going to be coming before too long, others there are chance of seeing, and the last is not likely to ever happen. However one can always hope, and until I see one of these things happen, I guess I'll have to play a couple of single player games, and wait eagerly for Star War: The Old Republic.

Is there an MMOG that you would play again if they released a new feature or expansion for? If so, share it with us in our forums.