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what are the things that you look at first when trying out/starting a new MMO?
Doushi
Member UncommonPosts: 96
As the topic says, what are the things that you look at first when trying out/starting a new MMO? And what turns you off.
Mine are mostly visual things,
1. Animation, if the animations isnt smooth or feels odd or clunky, it will leave bad impression to me, since we do have to look at them all the time.
2. Action bars/icons, for an example, I tried out Lotro since I heard that its quite nice PvE game, but when I saw the action bar, my first thought was "whatta hell is that" it had too much extra art that just made it confusing to look.
3. How well the combat is made, I think thats the most important one, since we are fighting alot in MMO's, and if its not smooth, well it does eat away gaming experience.
4. Font used in text's ingame. This one isnt so important, I can play the game even if it is the basic font that is used everywhere, but to me its always extra eye candy to have different Font's used.
mmorpg.com, the 4chan of mmo forums.
Comments
Mostly the community is something I look for. For the first month it always seems to have the players that troll the chat. I played the start of Aion and I think it was all of the wow players going in chat trolling about everything. So waiting a while after release is a must for me. Also if its an older game, when I first started LOTRO the sheer amount of quests it threw at me made me not enjoy the game much, it just kept throwing tons of quests at me and I couldn't decide which ones to do which ones not to do so maybe not too quest driven for leveling. I don't know just random odd things.
I look at the box or website for words such as "Cryptic", "Made in Korea", etc... lol
first things, i would have to say the graphics, secondly, a decent community, an MMO to me means not playing solo all the time, some may like that, but i prefer group dynamics, the larger the groups the better, swg had group sizes right when it first started - 20 man groupings, though it was probably just as well as walking out into the wilds was bordering on suicidal
Controls, combat, graphics/animation and UI, classes, skills, items, structure of the game, the rest... More or less in that order.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Ambiance. It's hard to put into words, because it's a feeling I get playing, and I'm not 100% sure what all contributes to it. I just know what games have it and what games don't, and I'm pretty sure it's mostly subjective. What I might feel is lacking may be different to someone else.
But what creates it? Is it a vibrant community? Attention to detail, both in visuals, sounds, and gameplay? All of these things? It's frustrating to me to try to find a game that fits what I'm looking for. There are many games that have features I really like, but lack that ambiance to keep me playing. Right now, the biggest culprit is Vanguard. I have my bouts of desire to play crop up every few months and it's always the same. I resub, play for about a week, then cancel. I'll read articles about it, go through forums, both the official one and here, looking to see if I'm just "doing it wrong" or if I need to change my way of thinking.
Games that do have it that I've played include WoW, EQ2, LOTRO, and AOC, but I can only take the latter 3 in small doses before I quit for other specific reasons (heavy instancing in EQ2 and AOC and an appreciation for Tolkien that's not quite deep enough to keep me interested in LOTRO for long stretches.). It's only WoW that I keep going back to, primarily because there's a large pallate of stuff to do. There's also an aspect of schadenfreude, where some people actually expend the energy to express their hatred for the game the instant it's mentioned, (This also explains why I unapologetically play a Blood Elf Death Knight) and I really get a kick out of that. But aside from all that, the game has ambiance and tons of it.
If the ambiance of WoW could be melded with the features of Vanguard.... *sigh*
"You'll never win an argument with an idiot because he is too stupid to recognize his own defeat." ~Anonymous
the combat system
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
- Roleplayer friendliness (Is the chat working ok, are there custom emotes/ targeted emotes, character customizability, lore/characters/races/classes)
- If the world is open... or closed/ instanced. I hate deeply instanced games.
- Overall "feel" of the game (is it laggy, how are the animations, how the combat looks like). If i don't feel immersed i just won't stay for long.
I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading.
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I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer; voice-activated and bio-degradable.
RIP George Carlin.
1. PvP and how it is worked in to the games content.
2. Amount of instancing. Less is more (imo)
3. Combat mechanics
4. The dreaded, "end game content".
5. Crafting
I compare it to WoW.
I ask myself, why should I pay $15 for this when I can be playing WoW?
If it beats WoW, I hang around. If it doesn't beat WoW, I quit.
So far, I've only spent one or two months in other games before returning to WoW.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
It's funny you mention it this way. I look along the same lines (probably not comparing to WoW specifically), but more in terms of innovation which is subjective enough in itself. If I perceive something new and exciting not being offered by other games, I'll stick around and see what might come from it.
Another mentioned community. This is something I, also, value, but not something I look out for specifically. I do go out of my way to meet a couple of people, but the community kind of speaks for itself just by running across them, seeing if they'll group up with you if you're on the same quest etc., chat channels.
I think its great when you see someone upon the first few hours of the game introduce themselves to you and ask you if you need any help. I really think companies should find people that are willing to volunteer themselves into these type of roles or even pay someone to spend regular daily shifts doing that. I think that'll add a lot to the community in itself personally.
First thing? If I can see myself enjoying myself in a game due to its world and character graphics.
Once I pass that check point its animations and UI functionality.
After that Combat, gameplay options and the community. I evaluate the global chat to see if people respond and if their generally helpful people.
I will uninstall if a game doesnt at least have a global help chat.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
When deciding if the MMO is a "game for me" I usually look at the following criteria (in order of priority):
1) is it a long-term game or a short-term game? (i'm only interested in long-term MMOs, otherwise I might as well play a single player game)
2) is the company that provides the game dedicated to providing a good game or making lots of money? (often hard to tell without actually playing - this usually involves checking reviews and the official game forums etc. as well as recent patch notes)
3) is there a free trial? (i've made the experience that games without trial accounts or buddy keys usually are trying to blind the potential customers with marketing / hype instead of allowing them to test themselves. paying 60$ to find out the game sucks is a definite no-no for me. the only exception i make here is if the game was recommended to me by people i trust.)
4) does the game have an item-store? (that's an instant no-no for me)
if the above points seem ok then I'll generally download the client and play the game. The main things I look for is:
1) have the devs learned from mistakes that previous games made (I compare mainly with EVE and WoW since those are the market leaders and the only MMOs aside from UO that managed to keep me hooked for longer then a few months)
2) is the presentation of the game good (this is a combination of graphics, audio, UI etc.). There are games (such as WoW) that have pretty bad graphics compared to newer games but still manage to look good. It's a mix of many different aspects. Great graphics with bad animations can look just as crappy as an old graphics engine. A good example is PotBS ground missions: the actual graphics (number of polygons, texture-quality, shaders etc.) may be OK but the animations are so dismal that it might as well have UO-graphics.
3) how is the PVP system (open/closed, consensual/non-consensual, faction driven etc.).
4) are there any consequences to my actions and choices in-game? I can't stand games (such as STO) where it's physically impossible not to win. What's the point in playing if I can be a total noob and still be rewarded for it?
5) what's the "goal(s)" of the game? (e.g. collecting all BiS items, earning achievements, grinding currency, player-created content etc.)
6) how's the communication between GMs and players or devs and players? I can't stand this "dear customer" bullcrap. I want facts and not marketing-blather.
7) are the game policies (overly) restrictive (e.g. not allowed to scam people out of their items if they're dumb/trusting enough)
8) does the game have any built-in trojans or data mining tools (WoW's Warden comes to mind)
9) is the game competitive enough for my liking? (I want to measure myself with other people and a game has to be hard core enough for this to be fun)
Simple really. Just like a new car I look for these few things:
1. Control(s)- feel of moving through the world. IF this is clunky or rough, it can seriously make me log off right there.
2. Graphics(s)- yes, they matter. I can't play games that are considered old, like EQ and AC1 mainly because of controls but also because of the graphics. Part of the reason for this, is that I want to feel immersed in the world, and visuals are the first step to doing that.
3. Music and sound - again vastly important for immersion factors. A must. Ryzom failed me in this regard, due to lack of soundtrack and Darkfall, with its lack of world sounds.
4. Character progression paths - I have to have tangible things to persue otherwise, I keep wondering why I'm playing the game(a la Eve).
5. Story - Delivery of the story more than just having one basically. IMO FFXI is how it should be delivered, via awesome cutscenes that your character is in. Maybe even throw in WoW's phasing technology to really give it that tangible feel.
1. Before i even try a game. I look for trailers and such on youtube and read some reveiws. Even if the reveiw might give it good credit the first visual impression is what makes me want to try it or not.
2. Game must contain diversity among classes and a decent skill tree where not everything is preset.
3. Crafting, i come from Eve and SWG so i have high standard on crafting which i know no games at the present cant match. But non the less it must have a decent way of crafting and no BS WoW crafting.
4. PvE conent (sandbox games works here to) firstley and then PvP content.
5. Chat system. I have only found 2 games that dont have the worlds most stupid chat system. EvE and SWG have tabs where you can preset what channels you want it to display. All other games display region/trade/guild/whisper/shout and so on in 1, just 1 fracking tab!!!!
So far only 2 games have made me stick. Thoose are EvE and SWG, i know alot say SWG suck but setting aside the history that game now is a very good game and well cant i stop crafting in that game. ive tried every other mmorpg game there is. I have 15 game boxes and several more that i bought online.
Games always fail at no.3, sometimes i can handle it if the no.4 is good enough but then we have no.5 where no game win. I dotn play theese types fo games for the lore, Swtor might change my mind but thats it.
Sorry for OT but i'm genuinely interested: have SOE provided any new quests/content past about level 55 or 60? I played SWG a few years ago but once I reached level ~55 there were no more storyline quests (and only these random "kill X" quests from these terminal things). Have they changed that? That was the only thing that drove me away.. well that and the fact that I got a forum warning from shitty SOE for pointing out that there was no more content past level 55. ;-)
Sorry for OT but i'm genuinely interested: have SOE provided any new quests/content past about level 55 or 60? I played SWG a few years ago but once I reached level ~55 there were no more storyline quests (and only these random "kill X" quests from these terminal things). Have they changed that? That was the only thing that drove me away.. well that and the fact that I got a forum warning from shitty SOE for pointing out that there was no more content past level 55. ;-)
It is, just doing the legacy quest that takes you from level 1 to level 50 or so. Dont need any expansions just the regular game. Then you have kashyyk that is content from around 40-60. After that mustafar takes up the trail. Doing the legazy/kashyyk/Mustafar should take you to 90 and if it dont you have a few more 80+ quest lines you can pick up and you also have the heroic quests and such that gives huge xp. then you also have the collection that give you xp while you level up and you also have the themeparks that have bin redone. You know have a new imp/reb faction themepark and then the 2 neutrals meatlumps and Nyms. You also have the missions you can repeat as much as you want in the PvP zone restus that give you rewards you can use to buy weapons and armor. So answer to you question its probably enough stuff to do to hit level 90 twice atm.
Terminals aint used anymore, they where just used back in the day of launch for grinding skill boxes and such sense back then it was a sandbox game. Sure you can use terminals to grind which ive done on 5 of my 6 combat toons, i dont like questing and not until you start on mustafar will you get rewards you use in end game. Now with al lthe Pvp addons and such that you surley missed it way more fun. but i must say i dont play the game anymore. I login to craft sometimes and then go up in space which i love in that game.
Thanks for the info mate. I might have to reactivate my old account just to take a look. ;-)
Before I'll even try a gain I look at two key things:
1) Payment model... I look for subscription based games. If it has an item shop or RMT, I pass it by.
2) Prevalence of PvP. I don't mind PvP being around, and will participate in it from time to time. If however, PvP is less than optional, i.e. forced or required to advance at some points, I will pass the game by. I don't have the free time I used to, and as such my tolerance for having my time wasted being ganked by kids with nothing better to do is much lower.
Once those two critical checks are passed, then I start even considering the game..
The first variable I look at is setting. Does it feel like something I'd like? Is the lore interesting? If not, I'll likely quickly find myself growing bored, even if the gameplay and/or character advancement is interesting. If the game world isn't very believable, then I don't get as attached to my characters and will grow tired of the game more quickly.
Tying into the previous, is how open the world is. If it feels very linear and boxed in... invisible walls... instanced... etc, then that really kills the feeling of the game world. Playing in a boxed off, instance ridden game world isn't very fun for me. I prefer wide, open, seamless (as much as possible) game worlds that well, actually feel like a world.
Next is the combat. Is it interesting, or incredibly simple and boring? I don't want to be mindlessly button mashing, but I don't want to be falling asleep doing the exact same thing over and over again either.
Is the UI manageable? I've played some MMOs that were very interesting in concept, only to grow frustrated and turned away by a clunky UI.
Is there crafting and is it useful, expansive? Not necessarily a deal breaker for me, however I have greatly enjoyed MMOs where crafting had enough depth and use to it where players can participate quite a bit in the game purely throguh crafting. It's a great alternative for when you get burnt out on killing stuff, but something that many games flatout ignore for the most part.
How is the end game? Ridiculous grinds, large raids, or any endgame at all? One of the most disappointing things I've encountered is enjoying a game all the way to max level, and then hitting a void of content. This can be either a sheer lack of content, or a lack of viable content that doesn't require jumping through ridiculous hoops, i.e. huge grinds, or selling your soul to a raid group.
I look for
Fun - Is it fun, or at least interesting, to play.
Gameplay - do the core mechanics work.
Possibilities - Will this game keep me enthralled for a good few years or does it have a limited lifespan.
Community - Can i live with the people that already play this game, does it actually have a community.
Expansion - Do i see that the game is expandable or is it now cast in stone.
Payment - Is this game designed to milk me of my cash, or is it selling me fun.
Support - Do the owners actually have an interest in the game or is it on maintenance.
Crafting - I'm a builder, i love/need to craft.
Graphics - does it look ok, I don't want/need uber level graphics, my pc probably wouldn't handle it, but are they acceptable.
And finally, the breaker, if i cant try it to see if it suits me, i aint a gonna buy it on the hope that it will.
F2P/P2P excellent thread.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/282517/F2P-An-Engineers-perspective.html
Combat, it covers around 50-70% of an MMO so if it isn't fun, I won't be enjoying it.
"The question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I, or the others crazy?" - Albert Einstein
Graphics/Animation,Combat system/How the Skills work.
^------ maybe this is why so many new MMORPGs are getting crappier and crappier.
Cause they focus more on looks then feel.
1. Gameplay: Is it smooth? Engaging? Challenging? Am I having fun?
2. Content: Is it better than your average themepark or sandbox? If themepark, is there enough variety? If sandbox, is there enough sand?
3. Community: Are there too many asshats/griefers/attention-whores? Are people friendly and helpful?
4. Graphics: What do the toon animations look like? Toon models look good? How about the game world? UI overdone/underdone or just right?
Current: None
Played: WoW, CoX, SWG, LotRO, EVE, AoC, VG, CO, Ryzom, DF, WAR
Tried: Lineage2, Dofus, EQ2, CoS, FE, UO, Wurm, Wakfu
Future: The Repopulation, ArcheAge, Black Desert, EQN
Community: If the people around are atrocious then I will not play it. It's a multiplayer game, and I expect to play with the people around.
Many different things to do: If the game focuses simply on combat and it's crafting is barely there, and there's nothing else remotely interesting then I will get bored fast. If I want to have combat as the forefront then I'll just go play Savage 2.
Ambiance: The game should evoke some emotion. It should allow you to get enthralled in the game while you play to the point that you forget the world around you.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-