After playing UO almost any game after ruined it because they all had levels. Why all the games had to go to a level based system that restricts your play to those of similar levels is beyond me.
I was introduced to AC when I was only 16ish and played it for roughly 6 years almost nonstop. It was the first and only game that I had ever become so immersed in. I actually started to feel like it was an extension of my real life, which is when I knew it was time to quit. I have not played in probably 5ish years but have tried every other major (and some minor) MMO's (easily 30 different ones).
AC2 was a flop, CoH gained my attention till I hit the cap, SWG changed too often and too much for my liking, EQII was good but didn't have a great community IMO, AoC kept nerfing despite not one class was happy and virtually ZERO end game content plus almost no replay value (no new/different zones), Warhammer was awesome but couldn't hold my attention for some reason.
WoW really lacks that sense of immersion for me but makes up for it with a plethora of content, zones and classes. The community is there, however it is a poor quality one (too many brats). I find myself quitting wow after a couple months, searching for the next best MMO only to come back. The good thing I can say for WoW is that I don’t feel that dependency or need for it, I can come and go as I please and still have fun.
EQ1 is what set the bar for me. I liked how the game was just... THE GAME. Almost Everyone who played MMO's was on EQ. The ONE thing I wish they would do in other MMO's that they did in EQ was the spells set. They had spells, some classes could use some spells others could not... but just about every spell could be used by atleast two classes. It was almost like they made the spells, then chose the classes to use them... not like WoW + clones where each class gets their own spell set.
What ruined MMO's for me, is easy. WoW. WoW isn't really an MMORPG. There is no roleplay aspect to it... no down time... no death penalty... stupid repeatable quests. Seriously... where has the RISK vs REWARD system gone. I play games to be challenged, not to get labotamized. WoW is a Massively Multiplayer Action Adventure Game.
Yea, I've given up on MMO's
I don't think classes got the same spells at all that I can recall. I don't remember any other caster have Ice Comet. I don't remember having any other class have tarnasi besides an enchanter. Well on second thought some classes did get some of the same spells but in a very lesser form. And whats wrong with classes having thier own spell set? Not to copy WoW?
Everquest ruined it for me. As a long standing member of the UO community before EQ hit the stores, I was having the time of my life and enjoying it in the company of close friends. After EQ came out, a good portion of my friends went to the "other game" and attempted to convert me over. Since I've always enjoyed gaming with my close friends I followed even though I enjoyed UO all the same. First thing I was amazed at the graphics (at that time) and began to get myself into the swing of things. First thing I asked my friends over ICQ... "Hey were are you guys?". Long story short, my friends had been playing for awhile and had leveled up further than I leaving me eating the dust of their advancement. This is what killed it for me. The whole concept of "levels" and gear grinding killed the genre for me as it did nothing but seperate friends and refocus ones goals. Ever since EQ every single game thereafter has been a carbon copy of this sort of level-based model, and every single time I've played one of these games I have been left with nothing but a sour taste in my mouth. The only game I have ever found any solice in was Ryzom and even then there were times where seperation ensued. Seperation of friendships through level-schemes killed MMO gaming for me. ====================EDIT===================== After re-reading the question and the comments beforehand, UO is what set the bar high for me as nothing compares to its free-form and open ended content. No game has ever come close to releasing the same amount of features as UO did way back in the day.
Everything he said, I agree 100%..... People blame WOW, but it was EQ that started the rat smacking, level grind, and the end game raid crap that you see in every single MMO since.
You see thats an arguement there as well. Yes, EQ did start the levels and the grinding. But if everything was like EQ after WoW's release, I would agree with you. Its just the fact that, if are EQ clones, there would be better grouping capabilities and better communities and more challenging content. But they're arnt at all. But yes, WoW did copy EQ but dumbed it down. So in my opinion they are WoW clones...
Without a doubt it would be Asherons Call 1, this game set the bar so high no games have being able to truely keep my attention for more then maybe 6 months at the most. No game that I have played compares with AC's one of a kind lore, open world, no instancing and twitch combat for PvP. From final Beta right till I quit 5 years later I had so much fun. To remiss for a moment...
I remember one of my first Characters, I wanted to be a sword fighter so I have sword, melee d specialized. This of course at the time made me gimped from the start but how was I to know. A buddy of mine had an Axe fighter basicly the same thing, no magic just typical skills for a fighter which gimped us in the long run. We both started in a little Sho town, I think it was Glendon Wood. We hunted around there thinking we were bad ass when we reached level 15. Nothing has given me the feeling of being home in a game untill I come over the hill and see that town in the Valley, anyway. We were in town one day and watched a guy cast a spell and open a portal, we all did the typical, "WOW" and that is when we learnt about magic. So we of course remade our characters with item magic, and so on. It took us probably 2 months of messing around to finally realize this world didn't end at the mountain range next to our town, and that is when we started to venture further and further out. Every step gave you the feeling of wonder because you never knew what sort of creature you would meet up with next. Then on top of all that, the monthly updates were great, and who could ever forget the "Shadow Wars". Or remember seeing my first diamond golem, or my first shadow lieutnent. Or dieing to a lich, and hearing that insect like sound just before you were swarmed by Olthoi. The community was the best and the game still to this day calls to me, and if no games this month pan out I will resub.
Well after AC, I tried them all I think, well the major releases, all of them had there little +'s or -'s. However nothing calls to me after this long like AC.
Since I havent answered my question yet, I might as well.
For me Games like UO, EQ, SWG and Eve set the bar so freaking high that I can't play a new mmo without totally just hating it since it can't stack up.
For me these new games dont have the character customization depth of the older games, the communities, the open ended world feel and the risk/difficulty of my favorite games.
When i played Vanguard I felt like I was playing a EQ knock off, With War It just felt like a baby version of DAoC and since i was used to the risk of Eve it felt like there was no point in fighting.
No game with millions of quests and hand feed character templates (classes) will ever give me the same feeling that the older games did.
AC no doubt was a great game, and I loved the PvP in it...Darktide ftw. Then came oldschool DAoC, the first 6 months were awesome..loved my ranger. Then came...hmmm...SWG...I think...and then Planetside. It was a combination of all these games...but of all these...I would have kept playing Planetside if SOE had added some fluff to the game. Like more customization for out toons. Maybe some social areas like a bar and or maybe outfit quarters that would allow us maybe some place to store trophies like eneny weapons and what not.
Planetside was an incredible game...and I loved the time I spent playing it. So yea..Planetside.
For me these new games dont have the character customization depth of the older games, the communities, the open ended world feel and the risk/difficulty of my favorite games.
These new games aren't really MMORPGs. As others have stated, most of these new MMOs are nothing but feeble attempts at grabbing some of World of Warcraft's marketshare. The greed and incompetence involved kind of makes me ill.
It's sad, because there actually was a real MMORPG market at one time. It was much smaller than the convoluted mess of a genre that exists now, but it was quite lucrative. IMO, the most important thing to ever happen in the MMO industry is for that smaller market to get out from under the crushing weight of corporate greed and people-who-think-they-know, but don't.
When a new Mmo releases the majority of us put this new game up against mmos that we loved in the past. If these games don't surpass or atleast equal those older games we rip them apart . We are so hard on today's games that its almost impossible to enjoy anything new. What I want to know is what game did you play that just totally messed up the genre for you? Was it the harsh full loot world of UO? the open ended world of EQ or AC? Was it the fluid movement of WoW? The character building and community of Swg? The Massive factional Wars of DAoC? The feeling of true territorial conflict of Eve online? What was the game and the feature that the newer games just can't live up to? What game ruined it for you?
I have been a gamer since the early 70's. Nothing has ruined it for me. The world is a dynamic place and wishing for something to be static just doesn't work for most people. Adapt and deal with it I say.
Originally posted by wjrasmussen I have been a gamer since the early 70's. Nothing has ruined it for me. The world is a dynamic place and wishing for something to be static just doesn't work for most people. Adapt and deal with it I say.
Well said.
It's a proven historical fact that beer saved humankind.
After AC1 the majority of games EPIC FAIL (Swg had me hooked but then SOE doesnt know how to manage games so we know where that went).
WoW i think has ruined the genrefor now only WoW (Daoc) clones are the only ones seeing hits, hardly any unique games are really being looked at which is kind of sad. ANything unique now and its basicaly "WoW did it differently this sucks".
for me it was lord of the rings online , not because of the games quality but for the fact that codemasters continued to charge me the monthly subscripton fee for three months after i d canceled it via thier account page before i spotted the error . since then i only would play an mmo with a game time card . i just dont trust them with my credit information anymore . as for gameplay wise i think wrath of the lich king spoiled it for me warcraft wise . terrible class imbalances and lag . for a while i m going back to single/limited multiplayer online games till things improve .
SWG Pre-CU "ruined" the genre for me for showing me what virtual world-type MMO could be, and the present form (NGE) killed that world, and show me that MMO had turn for a direction that defeat the purpose and the protential...
FFXI "ruined" the genre for me for showing me that group means something, and that playing with people is one of the main point in MMO... Now I rarely see games that really requires groups to play together...
WoW "ruined" the genre for me by showing me the rush to max level and playing on your own, are dominating the market...
I came very late into online gaming. I was a console junkie since the days of Pong (yeah I'm fairly old!) and didn't grow up with computers. Technology was always something I was extremely intrested in but it wasn't an integral part of my youth so I never caught the "MMO" bug when it hit the masses. I was so far behind the younger generations that the first computer I purchased was in 2001. I had never really considered having one as a priority and certainly not a necessity. I was content to own every console system there was though.
I did have friends who played online, of course, yet whenever I sat and watched them play their favorites (EQ1 was notably the one most played) I was not taken with the pace of the game nor the graphics and just sitting there and watching for a few minutes or an hour did not allow me to understand the deeper aspects of why they enjoyed the games so much. I was puzzled as to how they could devote so much time to running across vast open areas and rarely ever finding an encounter as opposed to the console games and the rush of constant challenges. I thought I was immune to the MMO bug but the truth was that I had never been bitten.
Once I had a computer in my home it was only a matter of time before exploring gaming with one would naturally occur and it did in a big way. Soon I was out trying to upgrade my freakin E-Machine and found out that it would always be a POS due to the makers design as far as my ambitions were concerned. So I learned about building a rig and that begins a different tale so I'll stay on topic.... After building a machine worthy of the games of the day I discovered the MMO bug and it bit me hard!
I became a diehard addict of Battlefield 2 and even managed to stay in the top 1200 worldwide for more than a year before the game took a nosedive down hack/nerf alley. I discovered Clans and Guilds and Factions and made friends (and a few enemies) world-wide. We can all remember our first realizations of just how great the times really were and the fact that we had friends waiting every time we clicked the icon to start the game. With online MMOs we fought for and against livng and thinking beings like ourselves unlike the dead AI of even the very best console games and a whole new world opened up in the glow of the screen and it mattered how we behaved in it.
I've always been a huge fan of twitch skill games and open PVP for the most part, but, I love the MMORPG games as well. I finally got into EQ1, Anarchy Online (a few years ago) and many others both sub and FTP, western and Asian. There has been nothing truly "new" or "revolutionary" since their advent. The developers of most games now also seem, IMO, to have become blatantly greedy and sloppy in their productions. There is no polish beyond the graphics and the packaging and the completed products as they are presented make me feel like someone is trying to slip their hand into my pocket without me noticing rather than give me a good game for my money.
Yes it's business and don't think I have any delusions about why games are made. It's just that in the old days the developers had to have a good product to sell you or they just wouldn't make a sale. Now days the market is flooded with piss poor copies of the games before them and offer nothing new or innovative and I feel I have to wade through each of them in an attempt to find something I can tolerate until something better comes along and so far I'm still just flatly disappointed.
Perhaps the MMO bug that bit me had more to do with the community of gamers that I found in the early (for me) games and the effects of the bite have faded over time as I've grown accustomed to an ever changing set of names and faces as friends move on or I do. Now the games are just a way to pass some time and it's difficult for me to find any real motivation in any of them. Some are better than others and some just suck plain and simple but in any of them I always feel like I've been there before... only the names have been changed to protect the copyright.
Well for online RPG Phantasy star Online was my first back in 2001 on my Dreamcast, I was on that until the servers shut down in 2003. Now that out of the way I want to say FFXI but that would not be it, true it was my first mmorpg back in 2003 but I did not stick with it forever because I quit it in late 2005 (delete my character and all my work) and started up wow in 2006. WoW from 2006-2008 Then I quit wow as well and sold that account, Back to FFXI from Feb 2008-May 2008 (on a new account) and quit again. Then I got Guild wars, April 2008-September 2008 I was a guild wars player. Then I quit Guild wars and back to FFXI September - November 2008, quit FFXI in November of 2008 and started up trying out Random F2P mmorpgs and playing guild wars on and off, Been doing thats ince November of 2008, I will prob hit FFXI up again sometime in April or so, I always seem to go back to FFXI but its not something I would consider a Genre ruiner for me...
Hell if anything the only real thing that ruined it for me is all those crappy Cash shop F2P games that are out there. But that only ruined the F2P genre now I am very cairful when I start a F2P game. I want to make sure the game is fair and at least possible to finish without spending money before I decide if I am going to spend some money on it. So far only F2P games worth money are Atlantica online, Runes of Magic, Exteel and MAYBE Cabal online maybe its the best pure grinder out there because of the combo system.
I guess if i had to say one I cant ill say 2 The Mix of FFXI/Guild wars, Guild wars amazing cinematics voice work and graphics, great story based non grind game play.
FFXI- Amazing music great story emotional music matches the story perfectly very hard bosses, and epic group content.
There's a couple of games that ruined a lot of genre for me.
Dofus: For the RTS (Final Fantasy Tactic) feeling. (MMORPG)
WAR: For the PvP/RvR and good graphics. (MMORPG)
Call Of Duty 2: Good looking 19xx shooter (MMOFPS)
Diablo 2: For good story, many classes and many different builds (MMORPG)
Warcraft III: for the real RTS feeling (MMORTS)
S4 League: Fast-Paced action shooter (MMOFPS)
The Elder Scroll serie: Though not MMO, I haven't found a decent MMO that could match TES when it comes to the great open world, deep story and the amount of possibilities and choice. (RPG)
These pretty much ruined every other MMO out there. I can't stand games that are not similar to these as I find them not only boring but as complete failures and an attempt at copying something greater in order to make money, in other word: Scam.
Well I do not believe one game can actually ruin a genre. Since the release of WOW has there really been a Western mmo that has really captured the heart of gamers ? The most disappointing point about the genre today and for the past few years is that it has become a "copycat genre". Everyone copies one another thinking their game is better and ultimately fail in the end.
Lotro - If it wasn't for the popular IP you would think you are playing WOW. Obviously the game survives on name alone and nothing more. Turbine really needed to make Mordor an option for people and pvmp doesn't exactly having everyone drooling these days.
AOC - A ton of hype along with a ton of potential and unfortunately neither delivered. I will be suprised if AOC survives another year with a subscription model.
WAR - So not a WOW clone but because this game is first and foremost a pvp game with a subscription fee , this game will not last with the masses. The game has some good ideas but they are poorly designed. Time to face reality and realize that Mythic is just an average game developer that makes average games. They really need to change their approach on making mmos.
I really hope 2009 will be a great year for mmos but if not then there are always good online rpgs and rts games to play until the developers actually get a clue on how to make a quality mmo.
UO and EQ1 for me. UO showed my how open and free and MMO can be, its immersion, community and complete freedom on where to take your character. EQ1 was great gameplay, zones, dungeons, raids, community all wrapped in one. While playing EQ1 though i always thought how great will be the day when a game of EQ1's callibur was given the freedom and dynamic world of UO.... sadly that never came about as WoW dumbed down EQ1 and became an incredible success... nothing but copycats since.
Thought vanguard was going to mix the two and do it well, but they failed horribly at it, not to mention a horrid launch that made the servers completely dead by the time they fixed the million bugs.
I'll continue to try pretty much all games that aren't WoW clones (War was last one for that thanks) and a good list seems to be coming out in '09 with darkfall,MO,earthrise and more.
Everyone knocks WoW but millions of subscribers indicate that people like that kind of game.. I can't say that I care for the game but it sends a big message on what people like in a game. Which drives developers to create games that people want to play...
Comments
After playing UO almost any game after ruined it because they all had levels. Why all the games had to go to a level based system that restricts your play to those of similar levels is beyond me.
Asheron's Call
I was introduced to AC when I was only 16ish and played it for roughly 6 years almost nonstop. It was the first and only game that I had ever become so immersed in. I actually started to feel like it was an extension of my real life, which is when I knew it was time to quit. I have not played in probably 5ish years but have tried every other major (and some minor) MMO's (easily 30 different ones).
AC2 was a flop, CoH gained my attention till I hit the cap, SWG changed too often and too much for my liking, EQII was good but didn't have a great community IMO, AoC kept nerfing despite not one class was happy and virtually ZERO end game content plus almost no replay value (no new/different zones), Warhammer was awesome but couldn't hold my attention for some reason.
WoW really lacks that sense of immersion for me but makes up for it with a plethora of content, zones and classes. The community is there, however it is a poor quality one (too many brats). I find myself quitting wow after a couple months, searching for the next best MMO only to come back. The good thing I can say for WoW is that I don’t feel that dependency or need for it, I can come and go as I please and still have fun.
FFXI ruined it for me.
People actually play in groups.
Group battles actually require team-work.
The job system where you can switch class with one character is superb.
Death means something.
Did I mention - people actually play in groups!
In the last 3 years I think I've tried about 10 or so different MMOs, but I'm still subbing FFXI.
I don't think classes got the same spells at all that I can recall. I don't remember any other caster have Ice Comet. I don't remember having any other class have tarnasi besides an enchanter. Well on second thought some classes did get some of the same spells but in a very lesser form. And whats wrong with classes having thier own spell set? Not to copy WoW?
For me it would have to be WoW and Ragnarok Online.
Although I have quit wow, It'll live in my heart forever.
Still play RO tho, and probably always will.
Everything he said, I agree 100%..... People blame WOW, but it was EQ that started the rat smacking, level grind, and the end game raid crap that you see in every single MMO since.
You see thats an arguement there as well. Yes, EQ did start the levels and the grinding. But if everything was like EQ after WoW's release, I would agree with you. Its just the fact that, if are EQ clones, there would be better grouping capabilities and better communities and more challenging content. But they're arnt at all. But yes, WoW did copy EQ but dumbed it down. So in my opinion they are WoW clones...
Without a doubt it would be Asherons Call 1, this game set the bar so high no games have being able to truely keep my attention for more then maybe 6 months at the most. No game that I have played compares with AC's one of a kind lore, open world, no instancing and twitch combat for PvP. From final Beta right till I quit 5 years later I had so much fun. To remiss for a moment...
I remember one of my first Characters, I wanted to be a sword fighter so I have sword, melee d specialized. This of course at the time made me gimped from the start but how was I to know. A buddy of mine had an Axe fighter basicly the same thing, no magic just typical skills for a fighter which gimped us in the long run. We both started in a little Sho town, I think it was Glendon Wood. We hunted around there thinking we were bad ass when we reached level 15. Nothing has given me the feeling of being home in a game untill I come over the hill and see that town in the Valley, anyway. We were in town one day and watched a guy cast a spell and open a portal, we all did the typical, "WOW" and that is when we learnt about magic. So we of course remade our characters with item magic, and so on. It took us probably 2 months of messing around to finally realize this world didn't end at the mountain range next to our town, and that is when we started to venture further and further out. Every step gave you the feeling of wonder because you never knew what sort of creature you would meet up with next. Then on top of all that, the monthly updates were great, and who could ever forget the "Shadow Wars". Or remember seeing my first diamond golem, or my first shadow lieutnent. Or dieing to a lich, and hearing that insect like sound just before you were swarmed by Olthoi. The community was the best and the game still to this day calls to me, and if no games this month pan out I will resub.
Well after AC, I tried them all I think, well the major releases, all of them had there little +'s or -'s. However nothing calls to me after this long like AC.
WoW! thanks for keeping this thread civil guys.
Since I havent answered my question yet, I might as well.
For me Games like UO, EQ, SWG and Eve set the bar so freaking high that I can't play a new mmo without totally just hating it since it can't stack up.
For me these new games dont have the character customization depth of the older games, the communities, the open ended world feel and the risk/difficulty of my favorite games.
When i played Vanguard I felt like I was playing a EQ knock off, With War It just felt like a baby version of DAoC and since i was used to the risk of Eve it felt like there was no point in fighting.
No game with millions of quests and hand feed character templates (classes) will ever give me the same feeling that the older games did.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
At first.. Ragnarok Online.. then I guess Guild Wars. I don't compare games to RO now but I still compare them to GW.
Pre-CU SWG is the pinnacle of MMOs for me. No one will match it.
SWG Pre-CU and EvE Online have utterly spoiled and ruined me.
AC no doubt was a great game, and I loved the PvP in it...Darktide ftw. Then came oldschool DAoC, the first 6 months were awesome..loved my ranger. Then came...hmmm...SWG...I think...and then Planetside. It was a combination of all these games...but of all these...I would have kept playing Planetside if SOE had added some fluff to the game. Like more customization for out toons. Maybe some social areas like a bar and or maybe outfit quarters that would allow us maybe some place to store trophies like eneny weapons and what not.
Planetside was an incredible game...and I loved the time I spent playing it. So yea..Planetside.
These new games aren't really MMORPGs. As others have stated, most of these new MMOs are nothing but feeble attempts at grabbing some of World of Warcraft's marketshare. The greed and incompetence involved kind of makes me ill.
It's sad, because there actually was a real MMORPG market at one time. It was much smaller than the convoluted mess of a genre that exists now, but it was quite lucrative. IMO, the most important thing to ever happen in the MMO industry is for that smaller market to get out from under the crushing weight of corporate greed and people-who-think-they-know, but don't.
I have been a gamer since the early 70's. Nothing has ruined it for me. The world is a dynamic place and wishing for something to be static just doesn't work for most people. Adapt and deal with it I say.
It's a proven historical fact that beer saved humankind.
After AC1 the majority of games EPIC FAIL (Swg had me hooked but then SOE doesnt know how to manage games so we know where that went).
WoW i think has ruined the genrefor now only WoW (Daoc) clones are the only ones seeing hits, hardly any unique games are really being looked at which is kind of sad. ANything unique now and its basicaly "WoW did it differently this sucks".
for me it was lord of the rings online , not because of the games quality but for the fact that codemasters continued to charge me the monthly subscripton fee for three months after i d canceled it via thier account page before i spotted the error . since then i only would play an mmo with a game time card . i just dont trust them with my credit information anymore . as for gameplay wise i think wrath of the lich king spoiled it for me warcraft wise . terrible class imbalances and lag . for a while i m going back to single/limited multiplayer online games till things improve .
SWG Pre-CU "ruined" the genre for me for showing me what virtual world-type MMO could be, and the present form (NGE) killed that world, and show me that MMO had turn for a direction that defeat the purpose and the protential...
FFXI "ruined" the genre for me for showing me that group means something, and that playing with people is one of the main point in MMO... Now I rarely see games that really requires groups to play together...
WoW "ruined" the genre for me by showing me the rush to max level and playing on your own, are dominating the market...
Current MMO: FFXIV:ARR
Past MMO: Way too many (P2P and F2P)
I came very late into online gaming. I was a console junkie since the days of Pong (yeah I'm fairly old!) and didn't grow up with computers. Technology was always something I was extremely intrested in but it wasn't an integral part of my youth so I never caught the "MMO" bug when it hit the masses. I was so far behind the younger generations that the first computer I purchased was in 2001. I had never really considered having one as a priority and certainly not a necessity. I was content to own every console system there was though.
I did have friends who played online, of course, yet whenever I sat and watched them play their favorites (EQ1 was notably the one most played) I was not taken with the pace of the game nor the graphics and just sitting there and watching for a few minutes or an hour did not allow me to understand the deeper aspects of why they enjoyed the games so much. I was puzzled as to how they could devote so much time to running across vast open areas and rarely ever finding an encounter as opposed to the console games and the rush of constant challenges. I thought I was immune to the MMO bug but the truth was that I had never been bitten.
Once I had a computer in my home it was only a matter of time before exploring gaming with one would naturally occur and it did in a big way. Soon I was out trying to upgrade my freakin E-Machine
and found out that it would always be a POS due to the makers design as far as my ambitions were concerned. So I learned about building a rig and that begins a different tale so I'll stay on topic.... After building a machine worthy of the games of the day I discovered the MMO bug and it bit me hard!
I became a diehard addict of Battlefield 2 and even managed to stay in the top 1200 worldwide for more than a year before the game took a nosedive down hack/nerf alley. I discovered Clans and Guilds and Factions and made friends (and a few enemies) world-wide. We can all remember our first realizations of just how great the times really were and the fact that we had friends waiting every time we clicked the icon to start the game. With online MMOs we fought for and against livng and thinking beings like ourselves unlike the dead AI of even the very best console games and a whole new world opened up in the glow of the screen and it mattered how we behaved in it.
I've always been a huge fan of twitch skill games and open PVP for the most part, but, I love the MMORPG games as well. I finally got into EQ1, Anarchy Online (a few years ago) and many others both sub and FTP, western and Asian. There has been nothing truly "new" or "revolutionary" since their advent. The developers of most games now also seem, IMO, to have become blatantly greedy and sloppy in their productions. There is no polish beyond the graphics and the packaging and the completed products as they are presented make me feel like someone is trying to slip their hand into my pocket without me noticing rather than give me a good game for my money.
Yes it's business and don't think I have any delusions about why games are made. It's just that in the old days the developers had to have a good product to sell you or they just wouldn't make a sale. Now days the market is flooded with piss poor copies of the games before them and offer nothing new or innovative and I feel I have to wade through each of them in an attempt to find something I can tolerate until something better comes along and so far I'm still just flatly disappointed.
Perhaps the MMO bug that bit me had more to do with the community of gamers that I found in the early (for me) games and the effects of the bite have faded over time as I've grown accustomed to an ever changing set of names and faces as friends move on or I do. Now the games are just a way to pass some time and it's difficult for me to find any real motivation in any of them. Some are better than others and some just suck plain and simple but in any of them I always feel like I've been there before... only the names have been changed to protect the copyright.
Well for online RPG Phantasy star Online was my first back in 2001 on my Dreamcast, I was on that until the servers shut down in 2003. Now that out of the way I want to say FFXI but that would not be it, true it was my first mmorpg back in 2003 but I did not stick with it forever because I quit it in late 2005 (delete my character and all my work) and started up wow in 2006. WoW from 2006-2008 Then I quit wow as well and sold that account, Back to FFXI from Feb 2008-May 2008 (on a new account) and quit again. Then I got Guild wars, April 2008-September 2008 I was a guild wars player. Then I quit Guild wars and back to FFXI September - November 2008, quit FFXI in November of 2008 and started up trying out Random F2P mmorpgs and playing guild wars on and off, Been doing thats ince November of 2008, I will prob hit FFXI up again sometime in April or so, I always seem to go back to FFXI but its not something I would consider a Genre ruiner for me...
Hell if anything the only real thing that ruined it for me is all those crappy Cash shop F2P games that are out there. But that only ruined the F2P genre now I am very cairful when I start a F2P game. I want to make sure the game is fair and at least possible to finish without spending money before I decide if I am going to spend some money on it. So far only F2P games worth money are Atlantica online, Runes of Magic, Exteel and MAYBE Cabal online maybe its the best pure grinder out there because of the combo system.
I guess if i had to say one I cant ill say 2 The Mix of FFXI/Guild wars, Guild wars amazing cinematics voice work and graphics, great story based non grind game play.
FFXI- Amazing music great story emotional music matches the story perfectly very hard bosses, and epic group content.
There's a couple of games that ruined a lot of genre for me.
Dofus: For the RTS (Final Fantasy Tactic) feeling. (MMORPG)
WAR: For the PvP/RvR and good graphics. (MMORPG)
Call Of Duty 2: Good looking 19xx shooter (MMOFPS)
Diablo 2: For good story, many classes and many different builds (MMORPG)
Warcraft III: for the real RTS feeling (MMORTS)
S4 League: Fast-Paced action shooter (MMOFPS)
The Elder Scroll serie: Though not MMO, I haven't found a decent MMO that could match TES when it comes to the great open world, deep story and the amount of possibilities and choice. (RPG)
These pretty much ruined every other MMO out there. I can't stand games that are not similar to these as I find them not only boring but as complete failures and an attempt at copying something greater in order to make money, in other word: Scam.
Well I do not believe one game can actually ruin a genre. Since the release of WOW has there really been a Western mmo that has really captured the heart of gamers ? The most disappointing point about the genre today and for the past few years is that it has become a "copycat genre". Everyone copies one another thinking their game is better and ultimately fail in the end.
Lotro - If it wasn't for the popular IP you would think you are playing WOW. Obviously the game survives on name alone and nothing more. Turbine really needed to make Mordor an option for people and pvmp doesn't exactly having everyone drooling these days.
AOC - A ton of hype along with a ton of potential and unfortunately neither delivered. I will be suprised if AOC survives another year with a subscription model.
WAR - So not a WOW clone but because this game is first and foremost a pvp game with a subscription fee , this game will not last with the masses. The game has some good ideas but they are poorly designed. Time to face reality and realize that Mythic is just an average game developer that makes average games. They really need to change their approach on making mmos.
I really hope 2009 will be a great year for mmos but if not then there are always good online rpgs and rts games to play until the developers actually get a clue on how to make a quality mmo.
Totally agree. The genre needs a good sandbox game that appeals to the masses.
UO and EQ1 for me. UO showed my how open and free and MMO can be, its immersion, community and complete freedom on where to take your character. EQ1 was great gameplay, zones, dungeons, raids, community all wrapped in one. While playing EQ1 though i always thought how great will be the day when a game of EQ1's callibur was given the freedom and dynamic world of UO.... sadly that never came about as WoW dumbed down EQ1 and became an incredible success... nothing but copycats since.
Thought vanguard was going to mix the two and do it well, but they failed horribly at it, not to mention a horrid launch that made the servers completely dead by the time they fixed the million bugs.
I'll continue to try pretty much all games that aren't WoW clones (War was last one for that thanks) and a good list seems to be coming out in '09 with darkfall,MO,earthrise and more.
The Genre isn't messed up to me.
But I have to say EQ1 set the bar.
Everyone knocks WoW but millions of subscribers indicate that people like that kind of game.. I can't say that I care for the game but it sends a big message on what people like in a game. Which drives developers to create games that people want to play...
Break the mold!!
https://www.youtube.com/user/NemsGaming