Very true. The monetization of the genre has changed MMO's forever. I remember paying $6 an hour to play NWN (AOL) and thought it would only get more expensive. I was glad that I was wrong. I love all the options we have now to pay. Though I still prefer a sub to anything else.
Very true. The monetization of the genre has changed MMO's forever. I remember paying $6 an hour to play NWN (AOL) and thought it would only get more expensive. I was glad that I was wrong. I love all the options we have now to pay. Though I still prefer a sub to anything else.
Wow that's brutal.
Was that here in NA?
Yep
$6 an hour was the evening/weekend rate, daytime rates were like $15 an hour for the Genie service I use to subscribe to.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Dynamic events and umm abandonment of virtual worlds and risk vs reward. Oh those last two aren't good innovations.
It's amazing the difference in traffic (or at least posting on the forums) on this site since I first started coming here in 2010. This place was on fire just prior to SWTOR and then GW2.
Don't know if id call anything "innovating" but I have a few more so advancements id call out.
Graphics advancing. While not innovating just look at a screenshot of character models in eq1 pre model updates and compare it to something like BDO LOL.
Megaservers are pretty cool, don't have to worry about certain servers being locked, splitting a guilds up and things like that.
Dynamic worlds are really cool but have a ways to go before they are what they should be. EQN is/was on the right track if they game is even being made anymore.
Crafting has come a long way and does have meaning to it in most games now.
Still a lot of things that need to advance like exploration. Still waiting for a truly innovating feature to come out.
There is no such thing as Dynamic events,they are quests that simply appear after being triggered,no different than what questing has been doing for 20 years now. A REL dynamic event would be where a GM sits there and creates a quest out of nothing and then it is gone,what we are seeing is pre scripted ,auto generated stuff.
Imo the idea that i feel brought me the most enjoyment,was the SUB CLASS idea.It opened up classes and combat to a whole new level.Equal to number 1 is online grouping,without it we don't have the mmo genre.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I believe Voice Acting has been the most profound "innovation" to the MMORPG genre. However, it is hard tell what sort of impact it will have on the genre as a whole as there are some negative arguments against it.
With that being said, and as far as "features" go, the hybridization of game genres has been a great leap forward. Destiny comes to mind in that respect. It will bridge the gap and make the concept of MMORPGs more appealing.
I like how questing has changed, It has been made more fun and meaningful with either good story writing like BnS or immersive and dynamic environment like GW2.
One of the reasons I like GW2 is it treats you like and adult and remembers your password for you.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Cross-server dungeon and raid queues. I don't have time to sit around for 2 hours waiting on a group like I did when I had zero responsibilities, so it's a great feature for me.
I vote for the sidekick option in City of Heroes (other versions of which can be found in other games) that lets you adjust up or down to the level of your group mates so you can still play together. It should be used more widely, imo.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Better combat is the main thing. Early MMORPGs were mostly about combat, but mostly didn't seem to care if their combat was any good. Enter combat, don't particularly pay attention, wait for mobs to die, rest to recover health/mana, then rinse and repeat is not fun. That wasn't acceptable in console games 30 years ago, so I'm not sure why so many developers thought it was fine in MMORPGs 10 years ago. Now it's becoming more prevalent for games to have you actually do something in combat other than wait for it to end.
I believe Voice Acting has been the most profound "innovation" to the MMORPG genre.
EQ2 is over 10 years old now. Voice acting isn't new.
Also WAR launched 8 years ago. Dynamic events aren't new.
Most of the good points in here are more than a few years old. Im a big fan of AoE loot myself. Maybe GW2's crafting bank setup? Not sure if that was done before GW2 but I sure love having a separate bank for my mats and being able to craft directly from it.
And regardless of what others have said, combat has taken a huge leap backwards as group mechanics are almost non existent these days. Also, I dont want my fingers to be more active, I want my brain to be more active.
Better combat is the main thing. Early MMORPGs were mostly about combat, but mostly didn't seem to care if their combat was any good. Enter combat, don't particularly pay attention, wait for mobs to die, rest to recover health/mana, then rinse and repeat is not fun. That wasn't acceptable in console games 30 years ago, so I'm not sure why so many developers thought it was fine in MMORPGs 10 years ago. Now it's becoming more prevalent for games to have you actually do something in combat other than wait for it to end.
I bit sad to say, but to me, the best and most responsive MMORPG "non-action" (aka "classical") combat is still WoW. No other game beats the "press key / action happens on screen" synchronization WoW achieves, even though some come close enough to be very good.
Have to agree, WoW is definitely the best combat of its type. And its certainly not slow "wait for mob to die". I certainly cant think of a MMORPG that came after it that I would call as good, let alone better. It just feels right.
What i would love to see is a little slower pace (think FFXIV) combined with group mechanics like EQ. FFXIV's combat kind of sucks not because of its pace, but because it lacks the depth of the earlier games.
stop being massively multiplayer, and become better, more convenient, instanced games.
[mod edit] Different genres for different people. Why do people insist on changing a genre when they can create their own? Just silly.
You should ask website owners who do the classification, and the devs who change the design of the genre. I am not the one changing the labels here.
May be it is just convenience? If few gamers care about the strict definition of a genre, isn't it easy to just evolve into a broadened definition?
May be it is money? If the old design is not that popular, may be devs want a bigger audience, so they change the designs.
There may be a thousand reasons. But .. are you disputing that the genre is less massively MP, more convenient, and more like games in the recent years?
There are games that claim to be in the genre that are fogging people's minds about what an MMO is or should be, yes.
what an MMO "is" or "should be" depends on whom you ask. Clearly your answer is different from those who operates this and other websites, and quite a few developers.
The question is ... why other should listen to you, rather than listen to them?
Comments
Was that here in NA?
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
What I would like to see, on the other hand, is a very long list.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
MMOs have been a pile of rotting fish for the last several years.
Which is why the genre and sites like this have been on the downswing.
It's amazing the difference in traffic (or at least posting on the forums) on this site since I first started coming here in 2010. This place was on fire just prior to SWTOR and then GW2.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
Don't know if id call anything "innovating" but I have a few more so advancements id call out.
Graphics advancing. While not innovating just look at a screenshot of character models in eq1 pre model updates and compare it to something like BDO LOL.
Megaservers are pretty cool, don't have to worry about certain servers being locked, splitting a guilds up and things like that.
Dynamic worlds are really cool but have a ways to go before they are what they should be. EQN is/was on the right track if they game is even being made anymore.
Crafting has come a long way and does have meaning to it in most games now.
Still a lot of things that need to advance like exploration. Still waiting for a truly innovating feature to come out.
A REL dynamic event would be where a GM sits there and creates a quest out of nothing and then it is gone,what we are seeing is pre scripted ,auto generated stuff.
Imo the idea that i feel brought me the most enjoyment,was the SUB CLASS idea.It opened up classes and combat to a whole new level.Equal to number 1 is online grouping,without it we don't have the mmo genre.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
With that being said, and as far as "features" go, the hybridization of game genres has been a great leap forward. Destiny comes to mind in that respect. It will bridge the gap and make the concept of MMORPGs more appealing.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I vote for the sidekick option in City of Heroes (other versions of which can be found in other games) that lets you adjust up or down to the level of your group mates so you can still play together. It should be used more widely, imo.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
*Downscaling
*Personal loot and nodes
Also WAR launched 8 years ago. Dynamic events aren't new.
Most of the good points in here are more than a few years old. Im a big fan of AoE loot myself. Maybe GW2's crafting bank setup? Not sure if that was done before GW2 but I sure love having a separate bank for my mats and being able to craft directly from it.
And regardless of what others have said, combat has taken a huge leap backwards as group mechanics are almost non existent these days. Also, I dont want my fingers to be more active, I want my brain to be more active.
What i would love to see is a little slower pace (think FFXIV) combined with group mechanics like EQ. FFXIV's combat kind of sucks not because of its pace, but because it lacks the depth of the earlier games.
The question is ... why other should listen to you, rather than listen to them?