I have been very impressed with Nsoft, their customer service for Guild Wars is outstanding. I would love to see Blade and soul ported to the US with it's full bloody content, it looks like it will be a great game. I just hope it plays as well as it looks.
I have been very impressed with Nsoft, their customer service for Guild Wars is outstanding. I would love to see Blade and soul ported to the US with it's full bloody content, it looks like it will be a great game. I just hope it plays as well as it looks.
I have to agree with you completely. I just reinstalled gw last night to try it again after 3 years of not playing and I was unable to login. I knew the username but the pw did not work and I could not change it due to my email with the acount no longer being active. So I sent a question into the customer service requesting help and they responded back some time while I wa asleep during the night, so within 10 hours. I had to respond back with my cd key and some more info, and 5 minutes after I responded back they sent me a new pass word, and links to how to change my pw and username so I won't have any problems again. This makes their team the best I have seen when it comes to tech support.
Blade and Soul looks amazing, and I can't wait to try out the more fighter styled fighting system. Just looks so fast paced and the combat seems much more skill based then anything out now. I will judge a game when it comes out on its own merits, it doesn't matter where it comes from if it is enjoyable.
I have been very impressed with Nsoft, their customer service for Guild Wars is outstanding. I would love to see Blade and soul ported to the US with it's full bloody content, it looks like it will be a great game. I just hope it plays as well as it looks.
yes ncsoft are probably the best mmorpg company out there
Korean MMO games are all too identical. Their game ideas are ahead of the game but in the end their execution makes them a clone of previous games.
Interface. I don't like being forced to point and click. I don't like having a complex character with 30+ abilities, but being forced to use a specific interface to access all those abilities. I need to keymap and customize.
Graphics / Art Style. Nationwide Korean art is all the same. It is a sudo anime style art that has this perfect mix of western and Japanese to it. Kim Hyung is a perfect example. Sadly when it comes to MMO games, you could take the characters from all the different Korean MMO games and drop them into Lineage 2 and not see a difference. The clothing style is the same. It is typically fetish gear with lots of silve rand gold trim, put together in patches that cover an arm or a leg here and there. It all has a dark gothic ritual look to it.
Rappelz
Requiem
Lineage 2
Sword of the NEw World
Take note how all of them have the same armor style. Even in Sword of the NEw world which takes place in a 1700s time period. Notice how they all have the same posture. They are all point and click too. Compare it to:
WoW
Disclaimer: Yes, this picture glorifies the game art to a level that it really is not!
WAR
LOTR
AOC
Same old looks on characters. While you level up, you get a whopping choice of the same 2 or 3 looking items throughout the game. All of that gear has different stats, but it all looks the same. When you reach endgame, everyone is wearing the same 5 pieces of armor.
Sadly WoW embraced this recently in an attempt to grant access to high end gear to everyone.
Poor content and Dumb AI. Enemies mull around like mindless zombies. you heard them like cattle and kill them quickly in mass. When they fight back they cast 1 spell, then melee the rest of the fight. They don't run in fear, they rarely call for backup. WoW might have been an easy game but the mobs had variety in their attacks. They performed cleaves, stuns, vanished, basically a little of everything as you progress thorugh the game.
Western MMO games have their blaring problems.
Lack of Polish. Everything is rushed because investors are jerks who have no clue what they are investing into or how it really works. so development teams have to rush out pieces of unfinished crap.
Safety in the bandwagon. If one company was successful making one style of game, every company after it will copy that, then introduce their 1 single significant feature that will pull people towards them. even WAR, (which I love to death) really didn't introduce anything too new. They just focused differently on different aspects of gameplay.
Ugly characters. WoW characters are too simple. DAOC characters are ugly. Vanguard characters are ugly. AOC characters are too detailed. There's lot of art to choose from but there is usually some major flaw in the art style also.
$15 subscription. Every American MMO makes it sound as though their subscription fee is or will be different. It is not. It is all $15 dollars a month, ad or take a buck. No matter what the game quality is, you get $15 a month. Even when a game is not popular at all, (dying) the subscription is still.....you guessed it. Can we get a $5 dollar a month game? Perhaps an item mall US MMO game?
Most of the hate, as is also evident by this thread, comes from ignorance and easy stereotype. mmorpg.com is sadly not the best place to talk about games from the far east. The vocal majority here has only played a handfull of them and then decides to stereotype 400 games based on the few they actually played for 20 minutes.
Yeah I focused on the 3d fantasy games for this arguement. basically the most popular and well known games. It was my error to miss out on Ragnarok Online, and Maple Story. They are significant Korean MMO games.
However just look at the adds on this site. There are a bunch of 2D MMO games, and most are Korean. But really how well known are these titles. My arguement is focused on the big titles that were aiming to be AAA. I'm sure there are a ton of little odd ball American MMos hovering about also.
In the end, when over 50% of your products have the same features, people will stereotype you. China is suffering form this stereotype today. Nobody thinks of Chinese products as high quality. But there are high quality Chinese companies.
For me with alot of them is the click to move. Simply hate click to move. Other than that I think many Korean MMOs ahave really good graphics, game systems, and storylines, but click to move drives me away from most.
When we get back from where we are going, we will return to where we were. I know people there!
Im suprised you even asked this question, you might be new to korean mmorpgs but these are the main reasons, forced to pay more money to get ahead then you would pay in a normal 15 dollar a month mmorpg.
Second its not the art style trust me I loved jade empire its a single player game but it was just beautiful, and the storyline is excellent, but the issue with korean style mmorpgs is there all flash and no depth, point and click, point and click, or its another wow fps style skill spammer, so in reality its fun at first but gets boring very quickly.
Third reason is there fp2 which means you are going to have an 80 percent chane that atleast 70 percent of the population are jerks espically if it has pvp.
Fourth reason grind grind grind, most quests in korean mmorpgs are very cookie cutter and boring, now some may be creative but usually there only rare quests in the game and every korean mmorpg ive heard of stops questing towards level 30 or so or only has quests every 5 levels or something. If your going to make a grind atleast make it into a freaken sandbox like ryzom geesh.
Fifth reason, they all seem to add only one good feature if you would put all the korean mmorpgs together you would probably have one of the best mmorpgs ever made, but one good feature is not enough to justify anyones time or effort to play it through, and you also have lack of content.
Sixth reason, almost all those companys make promises and never do what they promise to there playerbase there liars and scammers.
Im suprised you even asked this question, you might be new to korean mmorpgs but these are the main reasons, forced to pay more money to get ahead then you would pay in a normal 15 dollar a month mmorpg. Second its not the art style trust me I loved jade empire its a single player game but it was just beautiful, and the storyline is excellent, but the issue with korean style mmorpgs is there all flash and no depth, point and click, point and click, or its another wow fps style skill spammer, so in reality its fun at first but gets boring very quickly. Third reason is there fp2 which means you are going to have an 80 percent chane that atleast 70 percent of the population are jerks espically if it has pvp. Fourth reason grind grind grind, most quests in korean mmorpgs are very cookie cutter and boring, now some may be creative but usually there only rare quests in the game and every korean mmorpg ive heard of stops questing towards level 30 or so or only has quests every 5 levels or something. If your going to make a grind atleast make it into a freaken sandbox like ryzom geesh. Fifth reason, they all seem to add only one good feature if you would put all the korean mmorpgs together you would probably have one of the best mmorpgs ever made, but one good feature is not enough to justify anyones time or effort to play it through, and you also have lack of content. Sixth reason, almost all those companys make promises and never do what they promise to there playerbase there liars and scammers.
I don't get how Korean Companies Make MMOs where it's all grind. Is it like a conspiricy to make people buy item malls to make them level faster. Or is it just cheaper? Is there a signle f2p mmo out that isn't a grindfest? (Ryzom is free atm but will be p2p)
I don't get how Korean Companies Make MMOs where it's all grind. Is it like a conspiricy to make people buy item malls to make them level faster. Or is it just cheaper? Is there a signle f2p mmo out that isn't a grindfest? (Ryzom is free atm but will be p2p)
Nope, it is not a conspiracy. It is because Asian players are workaholics; even in their games. Work hard and play hard.
What you htink is hardcore in US and Europe is nothing compared to a hardcore Asian player. In an 8 hour day they will get 3 times as much stuff done than the average US player. It would take the content of 3 World of Warcrafts games to keep these guys busy for half a year.
Hell, there many reports of Asians gamers literally dying in front of their computers because they are soo friggin hardcore that they go almost a week without sleep, and eat extremely unhealthy food or live in darkness. You need sunlight for vitamin D. Some of these guys die form lack of vitamin D. Others die fdrom exhaustion, because, you may not realize this, but the brain uses up a lot of energy when it is working constantly. That is probably why you need sleep. You can exhaust yourself from thinking too hard for too long.
The best way to make sure these guys play a game for a long time is to make the leveling grind long and difficult. Since it takes so long to level, the developers just can't create enough quest to keep the player busy, continueously, from start to finish. So the only thing they can do is make grind spots while they add more expansions and end game content.
Adding mid game content is worthless because these guys level so fast. so developers focus a lot on end game and next expansion content.
That is why Asian MMO games have the horrendous grinds.
I don't get how Korean Companies Make MMOs where it's all grind. Is it like a conspiricy to make people buy item malls to make them level faster. Or is it just cheaper? Is there a signle f2p mmo out that isn't a grindfest? (Ryzom is free atm but will be p2p)
Nope, it is not a conspiracy. It is because Asian players are workaholics; even in their games. Work hard and play hard.
What you htink is hardcore in US and Europe is nothing compared to a hardcore Asian player. In an 8 hour day they will get 3 times as much stuff done than the average US player. It would take the content of 3 World of Warcrafts games to keep these guys busy for half a year.
Hell, there many reports of Asians gamers literally dying in front of their computers because they are soo friggin hardcore that they go almost a week without sleep, and eat extremely unhealthy food or live in darkness. You need sunlight for vitamin D. Some of these guys die form lack of vitamin D. Others die fdrom exhaustion, because, you may not realize this, but the brain uses up a lot of energy when it is working constantly. That is probably why you need sleep. You can exhaust yourself from thinking too hard for too long.
The best way to make sure these guys play a game for a long time is to make the leveling grind long and difficult. Since it takes so long to level, the developers just can't create enough quest to keep the player busy, continueously, from start to finish. So the only thing they can do is make grind spots while they add more expansions and end game content.
Adding mid game content is worthless because these guys level so fast. so developers focus a lot on end game and next expansion content.
That is why Asian MMO games have the horrendous grinds.
Because as everyone knows, there are no western players who ever had issues, such as death when playing western MMORPG's...EVER, right?
You're just fooling yourself. Some of the most popular MMORPG's in the west, such as Everquest and Final Fantasy XI, have a long enough grind to rival hardcore asian mmo's. If it would take 3 WoW games to keep them busy, then why is WoW one of the most popular MMORPG's in asia? (WoW' is more popular in Asia than the US/EU)
You're looking for differences that simply aren't there. Western MMO gamers are often just as hardcore as asian ones.
I admit that I haven't played EVERY game that's ever come out, console or online MMO, but I have played a very large amount of them both western and Asian, p2p and f2p. I can't think of a single one that doesn't have some level of grindage, repeated themes, same old gameplay or major disappointments whether they be Western or Asian. The biggest difference for me is always the Cash Shop/Item Mall when differentiating between the two hemispheres of origination.
It's been said a thousand times in these forums and in every other website related to online gaming that Cash Shop/Item Mall games create an unfair advantage for those who spend the big bucks and it's been argued that you can just buy those same items from other players if you want them badly enough. Somehow that's supposed to "balance" everything out and make it fair for everyone so there can be no room for complaint, but, they forget how much extra time has to be spent grinding away to come up with so much more in-game coin to buy those items. Meanwhile, the CS/IM buyers are way ahead and well equipped and free to PK those toiling in the fields or dungeons without remorse.
I'm not arguing for either side here. I'm not condeming anyone or whining the same old whine so don't troll me too bad, lol. It's simply that we take the term "F2P" far to literally in the west and most Asian games love to go that route since it's lucrative as hell in the EU/US markets. We all flock to play the latest game with our wallets wide open from the first day ready to pay whatever it takes to save ourselves the major grindage and have a real shot at major Uberdom if we just learn/play/spend fast enough. All the while the poorer or more restrained and literal believers in the "F2P" definition grind away until their eyes bleed and ultimately quit the game due to complete frustration and boredom attempting to compete with their wealthier and less restrained counterparts.
Before cash shops and item malls it was all about time, dedication and intelligence in choices and perhaps some skill at button mashing. Now it's all about who has the capital and who has to work in the mines and buy the day old bread... too much like real life social status and it can be pretty depressing to mine all day knowing it will take a looooong, looooong time to get the same armor that the guy (who started 6 months AFTER you did) just bought after selling a ton of CS/IM goodies to the people who started 6 months BEFORE you did!
So there you have my reason for ("hating" is such a strong word) not being overly enthused with Asian games...CS/IM advantages. It's not wrong to make money from a game. That is, after all is said and done, why they exist in the first place. I can equate item malls to car racing though... one guy takes his free time, hard work and saved up cash to build a nice rod for the street and another guy just goes and has one built by a pro-shop and destroys the first guy when they meet on the strip. Who deserved to win? Who would you rather be? How much pride is there for either side of that race? And how much defeat can the first guy take before he realizes he just can't beat the rich kid without an act of God and then heads to the nearest gaming forum to complain about why Asian games suck?
Yeah I hate 'em. Love 'em too. It's all about the fun anyway, right? Have fun while you can and when it stops being fun... dig the fork out your eye and go play something else! Nobody says you HAVE to play what sucks to you! (*thanks whatever power controls the universe!*)
the american mmos all seem to try to gather steam by having a famous name, warhammer, lord of the rings etc etc or some famous game creator... when all these games basically are the same shit, combat that never evolved at least koreans have millions of types for everyone, even tho there are millions of crappy lineage wanna bes, they do try to innovate.. look at sun, huxley, evven mabinogi battle system is pretty fun and inovative.. and the new mabinogi heroes looks insane, pretty much covers every genre of gaming.... even 2d mmo's look at the west. the most highly atticipated game, warhammer.. yet still has ancient gamplay.. click kill... give me a break. and yes korean mmo grinding sucks, im just sayin give them some credit
I don't like that playstyle based on grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding... and grinding.
Also click to move is a lame and game breaking control type.
Because as everyone knows, there are no western players who ever had issues, such as death when playing western MMORPG's...EVER, right? You're just fooling yourself. Some of the most popular MMORPG's in the west, such as Everquest and Final Fantasy XI, have a long enough grind to rival hardcore asian mmo's. If it would take 3 WoW games to keep them busy, then why is WoW one of the most popular MMORPG's in asia? (WoW' is more popular in Asia than the US/EU) You're looking for differences that simply aren't there. Western MMO gamers are often just as hardcore as asian ones.
I haven't seen any news article about American boys found dead in front of their PC from over playing WoW or any MMO. I've ready one about a kid that became week and sick. A few about kids fainting. Nothing about Americans dying in front of the machine though. Out here we read about kids killing each other over MMO activity.
There have been laws passed in China and Korea limiting teens playtime in cyber cafes. There are warning everywhere telling kids to "take a break". Korean games even have timers that tell you how long you have been playing and some games even post suggestions in the chat window advising the player to take a break now.
WoW is famous in Asian because it si form Blizzard. That is why. Plus it is easy to make money off of the game due to its humungous needy playerbase. Diablo 2 was famaous in Asia. Starcraft is famous in Asia also. As a matter of fact Korea was the place that Starcraft 2 was first announced.
Final Fantasy 11 is a Japanese game.
Everquest is really the only true western MMO grind fest. Everquest was also the pioneer game that introduced the grind in the first place. Everquest 2 lowered the grind dramatically which shows that SOE was not really liking it either.
Because as everyone knows, there are no western players who ever had issues, such as death when playing western MMORPG's...EVER, right? You're just fooling yourself. Some of the most popular MMORPG's in the west, such as Everquest and Final Fantasy XI, have a long enough grind to rival hardcore asian mmo's. If it would take 3 WoW games to keep them busy, then why is WoW one of the most popular MMORPG's in asia? (WoW' is more popular in Asia than the US/EU) You're looking for differences that simply aren't there. Western MMO gamers are often just as hardcore as asian ones.
I haven't seen any news article about American boys found dead in front of their PC from over playing WoW or any MMO. I've ready one about a kid that became week and sick. A few about kids fainting. Nothing about Americans dying in front of the machine though. Out here we read about kids killing each other over MMO activity.
There have been laws passed in China and Korea limiting teens playtime in cyber cafes. There are warning everywhere telling kids to "take a break". Korean games even have timers that tell you how long you have been playing and some games even post suggestions in the chat window advising the player to take a break now.
WoW is famous in Asian because it si form Blizzard. That is why. Plus it is easy to make money off of the game due to its humungous needy playerbase. Diablo 2 was famaous in Asia. Starcraft is famous in Asia also. As a matter of fact Korea was the place that Starcraft 2 was first announced.
Final Fantasy 11 is a Japanese game.
Everquest is really the only true western MMO grind fest. Everquest was also the pioneer game that introduced the grind in the first place. Everquest 2 lowered the grind dramatically which shows that SOE was not really liking it either.
Comments
I have been very impressed with Nsoft, their customer service for Guild Wars is outstanding. I would love to see Blade and soul ported to the US with it's full bloody content, it looks like it will be a great game. I just hope it plays as well as it looks
.
I have to agree with you completely. I just reinstalled gw last night to try it again after 3 years of not playing and I was unable to login. I knew the username but the pw did not work and I could not change it due to my email with the acount no longer being active. So I sent a question into the customer service requesting help and they responded back some time while I wa asleep during the night, so within 10 hours. I had to respond back with my cd key and some more info, and 5 minutes after I responded back they sent me a new pass word, and links to how to change my pw and username so I won't have any problems again. This makes their team the best I have seen when it comes to tech support.
Blade and Soul looks amazing, and I can't wait to try out the more fighter styled fighting system. Just looks so fast paced and the combat seems much more skill based then anything out now. I will judge a game when it comes out on its own merits, it doesn't matter where it comes from if it is enjoyable.
yes ncsoft are probably the best mmorpg company out there
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
Korean MMO games are all too identical. Their game ideas are ahead of the game but in the end their execution makes them a clone of previous games.
Interface. I don't like being forced to point and click. I don't like having a complex character with 30+ abilities, but being forced to use a specific interface to access all those abilities. I need to keymap and customize.
Graphics / Art Style. Nationwide Korean art is all the same. It is a sudo anime style art that has this perfect mix of western and Japanese to it. Kim Hyung is a perfect example. Sadly when it comes to MMO games, you could take the characters from all the different Korean MMO games and drop them into Lineage 2 and not see a difference. The clothing style is the same. It is typically fetish gear with lots of silve rand gold trim, put together in patches that cover an arm or a leg here and there. It all has a dark gothic ritual look to it.
Rappelz
Requiem
Lineage 2
Sword of the NEw World
Take note how all of them have the same armor style. Even in Sword of the NEw world which takes place in a 1700s time period. Notice how they all have the same posture. They are all point and click too. Compare it to:
WoW
Disclaimer: Yes, this picture glorifies the game art to a level that it really is not!
WAR
LOTR
AOC
Same old looks on characters. While you level up, you get a whopping choice of the same 2 or 3 looking items throughout the game. All of that gear has different stats, but it all looks the same. When you reach endgame, everyone is wearing the same 5 pieces of armor.
Sadly WoW embraced this recently in an attempt to grant access to high end gear to everyone.
Poor content and Dumb AI. Enemies mull around like mindless zombies. you heard them like cattle and kill them quickly in mass. When they fight back they cast 1 spell, then melee the rest of the fight. They don't run in fear, they rarely call for backup. WoW might have been an easy game but the mobs had variety in their attacks. They performed cleaves, stuns, vanished, basically a little of everything as you progress thorugh the game.
Western MMO games have their blaring problems.
Lack of Polish. Everything is rushed because investors are jerks who have no clue what they are investing into or how it really works. so development teams have to rush out pieces of unfinished crap.
Safety in the bandwagon. If one company was successful making one style of game, every company after it will copy that, then introduce their 1 single significant feature that will pull people towards them. even WAR, (which I love to death) really didn't introduce anything too new. They just focused differently on different aspects of gameplay.
Ugly characters. WoW characters are too simple. DAOC characters are ugly. Vanguard characters are ugly. AOC characters are too detailed. There's lot of art to choose from but there is usually some major flaw in the art style also.
$15 subscription. Every American MMO makes it sound as though their subscription fee is or will be different. It is not. It is all $15 dollars a month, ad or take a buck. No matter what the game quality is, you get $15 a month. Even when a game is not popular at all, (dying) the subscription is still.....you guessed it. Can we get a $5 dollar a month game? Perhaps an item mall US MMO game?
wow i guess thats prooff... but to be fair u only showed off the lineage 2 clones, wheres the maple story, gun bound, grand chase? ragnarok?
they are way more varied then u give them credit for.
the koreans sure know how to do hot girls... american gameart sucks esp in mmos
Most of the hate, as is also evident by this thread, comes from ignorance and easy stereotype. mmorpg.com is sadly not the best place to talk about games from the far east. The vocal majority here has only played a handfull of them and then decides to stereotype 400 games based on the few they actually played for 20 minutes.
Yeah I focused on the 3d fantasy games for this arguement. basically the most popular and well known games. It was my error to miss out on Ragnarok Online, and Maple Story. They are significant Korean MMO games.
However just look at the adds on this site. There are a bunch of 2D MMO games, and most are Korean. But really how well known are these titles. My arguement is focused on the big titles that were aiming to be AAA. I'm sure there are a ton of little odd ball American MMos hovering about also.
In the end, when over 50% of your products have the same features, people will stereotype you. China is suffering form this stereotype today. Nobody thinks of Chinese products as high quality. But there are high quality Chinese companies.
For me with alot of them is the click to move. Simply hate click to move. Other than that I think many Korean MMOs ahave really good graphics, game systems, and storylines, but click to move drives me away from most.
When we get back from where we are going, we will return to where we were. I know people there!
Im suprised you even asked this question, you might be new to korean mmorpgs but these are the main reasons, forced to pay more money to get ahead then you would pay in a normal 15 dollar a month mmorpg.
Second its not the art style trust me I loved jade empire its a single player game but it was just beautiful, and the storyline is excellent, but the issue with korean style mmorpgs is there all flash and no depth, point and click, point and click, or its another wow fps style skill spammer, so in reality its fun at first but gets boring very quickly.
Third reason is there fp2 which means you are going to have an 80 percent chane that atleast 70 percent of the population are jerks espically if it has pvp.
Fourth reason grind grind grind, most quests in korean mmorpgs are very cookie cutter and boring, now some may be creative but usually there only rare quests in the game and every korean mmorpg ive heard of stops questing towards level 30 or so or only has quests every 5 levels or something. If your going to make a grind atleast make it into a freaken sandbox like ryzom geesh.
Fifth reason, they all seem to add only one good feature if you would put all the korean mmorpgs together you would probably have one of the best mmorpgs ever made, but one good feature is not enough to justify anyones time or effort to play it through, and you also have lack of content.
Sixth reason, almost all those companys make promises and never do what they promise to there playerbase there liars and scammers.
well the p2p korean/ asian mmorpg are great
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
I think the only p2p korean mmorpg ive tried is rose online which ones are you talking about?
ragnarock online , lineage 1 and 2 mu online....also ff 11 but thats japanese
all great game except mu because i have not played it
also soon to be Aion and Soul and blade
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
Aion might actually be good but we will see right now all im seeing is bling but I trust nc soft.
you wont be disapointed
closed beta tests have been going great and they dont have an NDA so nothing to hide..all is good coming from CB testers.
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
If they are grindfests... no thanks. I mean, that's the thing I hear about most Korean/Asian mmo's.
How is support in those games? How are the farmers?
I mean, the art is cool... yes, the games are somewhat the same from one to another, but overall... I dig it.
If they just gassed the grinding, they might not be so bad.
I don't get how Korean Companies Make MMOs where it's all grind. Is it like a conspiricy to make people buy item malls to make them level faster. Or is it just cheaper? Is there a signle f2p mmo out that isn't a grindfest? (Ryzom is free atm but will be p2p)
Hmmm is there a way I can sign up for beta?
only if you can speak korean
but i know some western players in the beta and they say its all good.
they can speak korean....bastards
http://aion.plaync.co.kr/
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
Darn.
Nope, it is not a conspiracy. It is because Asian players are workaholics; even in their games. Work hard and play hard.
What you htink is hardcore in US and Europe is nothing compared to a hardcore Asian player. In an 8 hour day they will get 3 times as much stuff done than the average US player. It would take the content of 3 World of Warcrafts games to keep these guys busy for half a year.
Hell, there many reports of Asians gamers literally dying in front of their computers because they are soo friggin hardcore that they go almost a week without sleep, and eat extremely unhealthy food or live in darkness. You need sunlight for vitamin D. Some of these guys die form lack of vitamin D. Others die fdrom exhaustion, because, you may not realize this, but the brain uses up a lot of energy when it is working constantly. That is probably why you need sleep. You can exhaust yourself from thinking too hard for too long.
The best way to make sure these guys play a game for a long time is to make the leveling grind long and difficult. Since it takes so long to level, the developers just can't create enough quest to keep the player busy, continueously, from start to finish. So the only thing they can do is make grind spots while they add more expansions and end game content.
Adding mid game content is worthless because these guys level so fast. so developers focus a lot on end game and next expansion content.
That is why Asian MMO games have the horrendous grinds.
Nope, it is not a conspiracy. It is because Asian players are workaholics; even in their games. Work hard and play hard.
What you htink is hardcore in US and Europe is nothing compared to a hardcore Asian player. In an 8 hour day they will get 3 times as much stuff done than the average US player. It would take the content of 3 World of Warcrafts games to keep these guys busy for half a year.
Hell, there many reports of Asians gamers literally dying in front of their computers because they are soo friggin hardcore that they go almost a week without sleep, and eat extremely unhealthy food or live in darkness. You need sunlight for vitamin D. Some of these guys die form lack of vitamin D. Others die fdrom exhaustion, because, you may not realize this, but the brain uses up a lot of energy when it is working constantly. That is probably why you need sleep. You can exhaust yourself from thinking too hard for too long.
The best way to make sure these guys play a game for a long time is to make the leveling grind long and difficult. Since it takes so long to level, the developers just can't create enough quest to keep the player busy, continueously, from start to finish. So the only thing they can do is make grind spots while they add more expansions and end game content.
Adding mid game content is worthless because these guys level so fast. so developers focus a lot on end game and next expansion content.
That is why Asian MMO games have the horrendous grinds.
Because as everyone knows, there are no western players who ever had issues, such as death when playing western MMORPG's...EVER, right?
You're just fooling yourself. Some of the most popular MMORPG's in the west, such as Everquest and Final Fantasy XI, have a long enough grind to rival hardcore asian mmo's. If it would take 3 WoW games to keep them busy, then why is WoW one of the most popular MMORPG's in asia? (WoW' is more popular in Asia than the US/EU)
You're looking for differences that simply aren't there. Western MMO gamers are often just as hardcore as asian ones.
I admit that I haven't played EVERY game that's ever come out, console or online MMO, but I have played a very large amount of them both western and Asian, p2p and f2p. I can't think of a single one that doesn't have some level of grindage, repeated themes, same old gameplay or major disappointments whether they be Western or Asian. The biggest difference for me is always the Cash Shop/Item Mall when differentiating between the two hemispheres of origination.
It's been said a thousand times in these forums and in every other website related to online gaming that Cash Shop/Item Mall games create an unfair advantage for those who spend the big bucks and it's been argued that you can just buy those same items from other players if you want them badly enough. Somehow that's supposed to "balance" everything out and make it fair for everyone so there can be no room for complaint, but, they forget how much extra time has to be spent grinding away to come up with so much more in-game coin to buy those items. Meanwhile, the CS/IM buyers are way ahead and well equipped and free to PK those toiling in the fields or dungeons without remorse.
I'm not arguing for either side here. I'm not condeming anyone or whining the same old whine so don't troll me too bad, lol. It's simply that we take the term "F2P" far to literally in the west and most Asian games love to go that route since it's lucrative as hell in the EU/US markets. We all flock to play the latest game with our wallets wide open from the first day ready to pay whatever it takes to save ourselves the major grindage and have a real shot at major Uberdom if we just learn/play/spend fast enough. All the while the poorer or more restrained and literal believers in the "F2P" definition grind away until their eyes bleed and ultimately quit the game due to complete frustration and boredom attempting to compete with their wealthier and less restrained counterparts.
Before cash shops and item malls it was all about time, dedication and intelligence in choices and perhaps some skill at button mashing. Now it's all about who has the capital and who has to work in the mines and buy the day old bread... too much like real life social status and it can be pretty depressing to mine all day knowing it will take a looooong, looooong time to get the same armor that the guy (who started 6 months AFTER you did) just bought after selling a ton of CS/IM goodies to the people who started 6 months BEFORE you did!
So there you have my reason for ("hating" is such a strong word) not being overly enthused with Asian games...CS/IM advantages. It's not wrong to make money from a game. That is, after all is said and done, why they exist in the first place. I can equate item malls to car racing though... one guy takes his free time, hard work and saved up cash to build a nice rod for the street and another guy just goes and has one built by a pro-shop and destroys the first guy when they meet on the strip. Who deserved to win? Who would you rather be? How much pride is there for either side of that race? And how much defeat can the first guy take before he realizes he just can't beat the rich kid without an act of God and then heads to the nearest gaming forum to complain about why Asian games suck?
Yeah I hate 'em. Love 'em too. It's all about the fun anyway, right? Have fun while you can and when it stops being fun... dig the fork out your eye and go play something else! Nobody says you HAVE to play what sucks to you! (*thanks whatever power controls the universe!*)
I don't like that playstyle based on grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding... and grinding.
Also click to move is a lame and game breaking control type.
I haven't seen any news article about American boys found dead in front of their PC from over playing WoW or any MMO. I've ready one about a kid that became week and sick. A few about kids fainting. Nothing about Americans dying in front of the machine though. Out here we read about kids killing each other over MMO activity.
There have been laws passed in China and Korea limiting teens playtime in cyber cafes. There are warning everywhere telling kids to "take a break". Korean games even have timers that tell you how long you have been playing and some games even post suggestions in the chat window advising the player to take a break now.
WoW is famous in Asian because it si form Blizzard. That is why. Plus it is easy to make money off of the game due to its humungous needy playerbase. Diablo 2 was famaous in Asia. Starcraft is famous in Asia also. As a matter of fact Korea was the place that Starcraft 2 was first announced.
Final Fantasy 11 is a Japanese game.
Everquest is really the only true western MMO grind fest. Everquest was also the pioneer game that introduced the grind in the first place. Everquest 2 lowered the grind dramatically which shows that SOE was not really liking it either.
I haven't seen any news article about American boys found dead in front of their PC from over playing WoW or any MMO. I've ready one about a kid that became week and sick. A few about kids fainting. Nothing about Americans dying in front of the machine though. Out here we read about kids killing each other over MMO activity.
There have been laws passed in China and Korea limiting teens playtime in cyber cafes. There are warning everywhere telling kids to "take a break". Korean games even have timers that tell you how long you have been playing and some games even post suggestions in the chat window advising the player to take a break now.
WoW is famous in Asian because it si form Blizzard. That is why. Plus it is easy to make money off of the game due to its humungous needy playerbase. Diablo 2 was famaous in Asia. Starcraft is famous in Asia also. As a matter of fact Korea was the place that Starcraft 2 was first announced.
Final Fantasy 11 is a Japanese game.
Everquest is really the only true western MMO grind fest. Everquest was also the pioneer game that introduced the grind in the first place. Everquest 2 lowered the grind dramatically which shows that SOE was not really liking it either.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=31536
Shawn Woolley first person to commit suicide because of a game.
he was a white amirican and it was for a western game....everquest.
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon