Interesting topic. Mine is Star Trek. Surprisingly, they actually had some pretty decent systems in that game, but something about it bored me to tears after just a few nights playing. That being said, I think it's pretty darn tough to make a good space mmo. I mean, there's really not that much you can do with ships that are slow. If we were dealing with more of a fast action dogfighting game, perhaps there's some potential there, but does that really fit into a mmo? After all, we're back to the same point that there's just not much you can do with ships, even if dogfights make flying more entertaining.
It still comes back to the same thing with me that it does with any mmo. You need freedom, crafting, city building, politics, meaningful pvp, etc. The EQ/WOW formula on rails just doesn't do it anymore. People get bored with it way too quickly, and if they're into it they won't be leaving wow for a game with half the polish and a tenth the content.
I am still confused by all the WAR hype myself. I guess people just wanted it to be good so badly that they turned a blind eye to what was actually being produced. When I tried it out I couldn't believe the low quality of the animations, or the dullness of the PVE action. Fortunately I didn't buy the game, and this just served to strengthen my resolve to never purchace a game without a free trial or open beta first. I have no faith in hype anymore, it's hands-on or no sale.
Right there with you, man. We should start our own club. The pain of disappointment in MMORPGs is 100% self-inflicted.
I can also roleplay the tower in a chess game and shout "is that a peasant at the horizon I see? I will smash it I will! Oh damn I broke one of my merlons!". -- maji
Warhammer, because as a DAOC vet, a few of us ventured to GEN CON to check out Mythic's booth, and see the new WARHAMMER ONLINE offering. We talked with Dev after Dev for a good 2 hours. They even asked for us to meet up for dinner that night (We politely declined). They promised us up and down that they learned from mistakes and this game would be truly epic................Yeah Epic Fail. But I will not blame Mark Jacobs nor the Mythic Staff completely. I have a feeling that EA pulled the strings way early on them to push a release. But still the game flopped. Still very poor implementation, and they totally forgot the other game, the best damn RVR/PVP game ever, in DAOC.
AION, well I played beta, and it was fun, fun, fun. The styles, of characters just blended together, it was really fun. Then I hit lvl 25ish, and hit the wall of XP. Like a good little MMO Gamer, I grinded threw it to 50 like a wood chuck through a floating log. I got to 50 and was refreshed, time to PVP..........only to find that I was only 1/10'th through what I needed to do to compete in the abyss. The Gear Grind. OMG, and the crafting crap. Drop rates that are NIL!!! Crafting chances that are crazy. I know I spent about 5 million Kinah on attempts at mastering weapon crafting, and no crits. And others that got it on the first go. For those that don't know, that's a ton of farming on my part, and really shitty odds. Especially when it meant you're progression through the end game Gear Set, (Fenris) that if you did not have it................LOL, have a nice day. Also people seemed to forget how to play team based PVP. It's like a free for all out there. But, I was hoping for the best, as the game mechanics are fun, but the Eastern Style of Grind O Matic, killed it.
Vack FF XIV - the single worse game to cross my hard drive, ever.
The biggest regret for me would be Age of Conan. I really liked the Conan stories as a kid. I actually spent several hundred dollars upgrading my system to run the super high end graphics. Then the game sucked. The only upside to it was that my system has been more then able to run anything out since then, and I haven't yet seen games coming out that I can't run easily.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
I'd have to say Vanguard. Never before had I been so hyped for a game. I joined a pre-release guild over a year before the game came out and believed every word Brad McQuaid spat out of his mouth as if he were some sort of a gaming god. Unfortuantely, what we got at release was a buggy broken game that felt more like an EARLY beta test than any sort of finished product. Three years after release, the game is only now beginning to resemble a finished product, and with such a small population, I began to see that there were just a lot of bad design decisions plaguing Vanguard that no amount of bug fixes could ever help.
Star Trek Online was a major disappointment... I expected a lot and got a generic space-battles-online game with some Star Trek models.
Also, while I longed for a WH40K MMO, I sent Dark Millennium into oblivion following a single interview and a small description on the official website.
Comments
Interesting topic. Mine is Star Trek. Surprisingly, they actually had some pretty decent systems in that game, but something about it bored me to tears after just a few nights playing. That being said, I think it's pretty darn tough to make a good space mmo. I mean, there's really not that much you can do with ships that are slow. If we were dealing with more of a fast action dogfighting game, perhaps there's some potential there, but does that really fit into a mmo? After all, we're back to the same point that there's just not much you can do with ships, even if dogfights make flying more entertaining.
It still comes back to the same thing with me that it does with any mmo. You need freedom, crafting, city building, politics, meaningful pvp, etc. The EQ/WOW formula on rails just doesn't do it anymore. People get bored with it way too quickly, and if they're into it they won't be leaving wow for a game with half the polish and a tenth the content.
Right there with you, man. We should start our own club. The pain of disappointment in MMORPGs is 100% self-inflicted.
I can also roleplay the tower in a chess game and shout "is that a peasant at the horizon I see? I will smash it I will! Oh damn I broke one of my merlons!". -- maji
Asheron's Call 2. I played it from launch all the way up to WoW's launch... amazing what you can do while wearing rose colored glasses *sigh*
Warhammer and Aion, total dissapointments.
Warhammer, because as a DAOC vet, a few of us ventured to GEN CON to check out Mythic's booth, and see the new WARHAMMER ONLINE offering. We talked with Dev after Dev for a good 2 hours. They even asked for us to meet up for dinner that night (We politely declined). They promised us up and down that they learned from mistakes and this game would be truly epic................Yeah Epic Fail. But I will not blame Mark Jacobs nor the Mythic Staff completely. I have a feeling that EA pulled the strings way early on them to push a release. But still the game flopped. Still very poor implementation, and they totally forgot the other game, the best damn RVR/PVP game ever, in DAOC.
AION, well I played beta, and it was fun, fun, fun. The styles, of characters just blended together, it was really fun. Then I hit lvl 25ish, and hit the wall of XP. Like a good little MMO Gamer, I grinded threw it to 50 like a wood chuck through a floating log. I got to 50 and was refreshed, time to PVP..........only to find that I was only 1/10'th through what I needed to do to compete in the abyss. The Gear Grind. OMG, and the crafting crap. Drop rates that are NIL!!! Crafting chances that are crazy. I know I spent about 5 million Kinah on attempts at mastering weapon crafting, and no crits. And others that got it on the first go. For those that don't know, that's a ton of farming on my part, and really shitty odds. Especially when it meant you're progression through the end game Gear Set, (Fenris) that if you did not have it................LOL, have a nice day. Also people seemed to forget how to play team based PVP. It's like a free for all out there. But, I was hoping for the best, as the game mechanics are fun, but the Eastern Style of Grind O Matic, killed it.
Vack
FF XIV - the single worse game to cross my hard drive, ever.
The biggest flop for me and general MMO industry must have been Dark&Light.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
The biggest regret for me would be Age of Conan. I really liked the Conan stories as a kid. I actually spent several hundred dollars upgrading my system to run the super high end graphics. Then the game sucked. The only upside to it was that my system has been more then able to run anything out since then, and I haven't yet seen games coming out that I can't run easily.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
I'd have to say Vanguard. Never before had I been so hyped for a game. I joined a pre-release guild over a year before the game came out and believed every word Brad McQuaid spat out of his mouth as if he were some sort of a gaming god. Unfortuantely, what we got at release was a buggy broken game that felt more like an EARLY beta test than any sort of finished product. Three years after release, the game is only now beginning to resemble a finished product, and with such a small population, I began to see that there were just a lot of bad design decisions plaguing Vanguard that no amount of bug fixes could ever help.
Star Trek Online was a major disappointment... I expected a lot and got a generic space-battles-online game with some Star Trek models.
Also, while I longed for a WH40K MMO, I sent Dark Millennium into oblivion following a single interview and a small description on the official website.
SWG... well... do I even have to mention that?