With negligent death penalties, I find myself running into everything full throttle, not thinking or even caring about the outcome. Sneaking and scouting out the area before engaging has fallen to the wayside. Cautious play is a thing of the past.
Today's games (MMOs AND single player games) no longer require thought before engaging the enemy.
Want to avoid traps? Walk down one side or the other of the hallway. Traps infest ONLY the middle, usually. Doors no longer have an enemy waiting for your entrance. If I get into trouble, I can outrun most critters past their appointed AI aggro range. Sure there are some skills on my hotbar, but I want to kill it before it kills me, so "situational damaging skills/abilities" get used when they pop up, NOT when they are needed or intended. I usually end up taking them off of my hotbar to have strictly damage dealing skills/abilities, because that is the current name of the game.
My gameplaying has gone downhill, for the most part. I wonder if I could even play a "hard game" anymore...
hard game = Dark Souls apparently (I find the game easy in term of gameplay once you ignore the godawful PC UI).
I'm going to agree with you AIBQuirky though.
The biggest problem of MMORPGs and single player RPGs is that the genre was invaded by people who are not there to play a RPG. They are there to play a fighting game where they can get virtually rich or PvP. They don't want to have to bring something to be able to go underwater (spells, potions, etc) nor do they want to encounter something they can't deal with because they didn't take a certain skill, item or class. These people want to enter a room, push some buttons and watch things dies so they can collect shiny loot as fast as possible regardless of the class they are playing. On top of that, the PvPers want fairness for all (aka everyone have the same class with different names and CC/buff/debuff are ev0l).
This mean that MMOs are losing the utility aspect of the gameplay to focus only on combat to please these players. It's like somebody took D&D (2nd or 3rd editions) and removed everything to keep only the combat stuff. A rogue/thief is no more your go-to scout, secret door/locked thing opener, its just a DPS class. A Mage is no more a situational buffer/CCer/debuffer/DPS, it's a glass cannon. The cleric became an healbot and the warrior is just a tank that deal crap damage.
Once you remove the utility aspect players focus on a single thing: deal damage as fast as possible. Why bother CCing something if it last only for 2-3 seconds when you can spec full damage and take 5 less seconds to kill the mob?
The place where players appear to look bad though is on the difference between levelling and instanced content. The reason is no solo vs group stuff as some people might believe. The reason for that is because both content do not follow the same gameplay rules. Instanced content have what I call gimmicky bosses, aka encounters that require players to do very specific things (interact with objects, interrupt something, avoid red circles, etc) that never show up while they level up (well red circles do now, but they are not quite the same thing). In other word, the leveling section of the game isn't teaching the players to face the instanced content, it's like two different games in term of gameplay.
Originally posted by AlBQuirky "More knowledgeable" is a good assessment, though. Game information is all over the web.
As it should be, because there's a reason: http://youtu.be/jZI29EpPsTI?t=2m5s Read the buckle.It's something that was drilled in the heads of gamers for a long time.Guides are manuals for gamers to learn and to improve their game performance: http://www.wowhead.com/guidesThey are your friend, not your enemy.
I understand this, for most players today. (I like the "RTFM" buckle, btw )I buy a game NOT to beat it or play it in the most efficient way. I buy a game to learn it's mechanics, experience the gameplay for myself, and generally have fun playing it, not copying someone else's playthrough :)I realize I am in the minority, but why buy a game if someone else is going to play it for you? (Not directed at you, specifically.) Just watch a video and say you did. Save yourself the bucks and time playing it :)For my playstyle, webguides, wikis, YouTube, and the like are evil incarnate
That is your preference -- BUT -- it can run counter to others in a group who don't want to wipe over and over and over because "I'm too good to RTFM".What folks do on their solo time they can elect to do whatever, but in groups there's some requirements, like read up on encounters and how your class fits into them...and their responsibilities. It's chaotic enough doing group content together, the last thing a group needs is excuses in NOT coming prepared.
"Come prepared"? Never. The first time I go to a dungeon, I want to experience that dungeon.
I agree that I DO have a responsibility to the group I am with, though. This is why I do not group with the "come prepared" players. They do NOT want to experience the game. They just want to beat it by copying someone else's experience. That is just not my idea of fun, and totally against why I buy games in the first place.
Wiping in groups is part of that experience. Learning together is the best part of it. Massively multiple wipes is the group NOT learning as they should and is not fun, though
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
So my point and my question to you is: Are MMORPGs really meant to be what they are becoming?
MMOs never were what they were.
You used a picture from Ultima Online in your original post. It's not easy to find two people who agree on what UO was (is). People found the fun in different corners of the world, the mechanics and the community. Every time I see someone claim they are making a successor to UO, that's usually a big warning sign to me that the developer has tunnel vision and doesn't realize just how diverse a collection of players (and player interests) existed.
The things I'm "bad" at, I've always been bad at because they were never something I was logging in for in first place. I personally would rather fish than raid - so if your game gates content with collaberative boss fights, you can't expect me to be happy (or good).
But I think people have always had a tendency to grapple with the idea that other people logging into the same servers are actually playing a different game, so I'm not even going to say that what people expect of their fellow players is getting worse ... there's always been a tug of war between corforming to a collective vision of what the goals are vs individuals finding their own fun.
Even Deus Ex offered more ways to get around mechanics, to encourage novel thinking...including ways to NOT kill to finish encounters.
Oh, it would be great (for me) if MMOs resemble Deus Ex more. Deus Ex (Human Evolution) does not even have large levels ... but multiple ways to defeat the encounter (from hacking robots to non-lethal stealth, to guns out blazing).
It is not impossible to build such gameplay in an instance though.
Comments
hard game = Dark Souls apparently (I find the game easy in term of gameplay once you ignore the godawful PC UI).
I'm going to agree with you AIBQuirky though.
The biggest problem of MMORPGs and single player RPGs is that the genre was invaded by people who are not there to play a RPG. They are there to play a fighting game where they can get virtually rich or PvP. They don't want to have to bring something to be able to go underwater (spells, potions, etc) nor do they want to encounter something they can't deal with because they didn't take a certain skill, item or class. These people want to enter a room, push some buttons and watch things dies so they can collect shiny loot as fast as possible regardless of the class they are playing. On top of that, the PvPers want fairness for all (aka everyone have the same class with different names and CC/buff/debuff are ev0l).
This mean that MMOs are losing the utility aspect of the gameplay to focus only on combat to please these players. It's like somebody took D&D (2nd or 3rd editions) and removed everything to keep only the combat stuff. A rogue/thief is no more your go-to scout, secret door/locked thing opener, its just a DPS class. A Mage is no more a situational buffer/CCer/debuffer/DPS, it's a glass cannon. The cleric became an healbot and the warrior is just a tank that deal crap damage.
Once you remove the utility aspect players focus on a single thing: deal damage as fast as possible. Why bother CCing something if it last only for 2-3 seconds when you can spec full damage and take 5 less seconds to kill the mob?
The place where players appear to look bad though is on the difference between levelling and instanced content. The reason is no solo vs group stuff as some people might believe. The reason for that is because both content do not follow the same gameplay rules. Instanced content have what I call gimmicky bosses, aka encounters that require players to do very specific things (interact with objects, interrupt something, avoid red circles, etc) that never show up while they level up (well red circles do now, but they are not quite the same thing). In other word, the leveling section of the game isn't teaching the players to face the instanced content, it's like two different games in term of gameplay.
I agree that I DO have a responsibility to the group I am with, though. This is why I do not group with the "come prepared" players. They do NOT want to experience the game. They just want to beat it by copying someone else's experience. That is just not my idea of fun, and totally against why I buy games in the first place.
Wiping in groups is part of that experience. Learning together is the best part of it. Massively multiple wipes is the group NOT learning as they should and is not fun, though
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
As the MMOs more resemble FPS games.
Even Deus Ex offered more ways to get around mechanics, to encourage novel thinking...including ways to NOT kill to finish encounters.
When I see more emphasis on combat, I look elsewhere as there's enough games with DPS counters and K/D.
Boring.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
MMOs never were what they were.
You used a picture from Ultima Online in your original post. It's not easy to find two people who agree on what UO was (is). People found the fun in different corners of the world, the mechanics and the community. Every time I see someone claim they are making a successor to UO, that's usually a big warning sign to me that the developer has tunnel vision and doesn't realize just how diverse a collection of players (and player interests) existed.
The things I'm "bad" at, I've always been bad at because they were never something I was logging in for in first place. I personally would rather fish than raid - so if your game gates content with collaberative boss fights, you can't expect me to be happy (or good).
But I think people have always had a tendency to grapple with the idea that other people logging into the same servers are actually playing a different game, so I'm not even going to say that what people expect of their fellow players is getting worse ... there's always been a tug of war between corforming to a collective vision of what the goals are vs individuals finding their own fun.
Oh, it would be great (for me) if MMOs resemble Deus Ex more. Deus Ex (Human Evolution) does not even have large levels ... but multiple ways to defeat the encounter (from hacking robots to non-lethal stealth, to guns out blazing).
It is not impossible to build such gameplay in an instance though.