Five Things MMO Gamers Should Complain About - The List at MMORPG.com

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Five Things MMO Gamers Should Complain About - The List at MMORPG.com

This week Rob is back with a few gears to grind. There are plenty of things we don't need to whine about in gaming, but there are also quite a few issues we should be concerned about. Read on about his five things he believes should have gamers up in arms.

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Volgore

Hi Rob!

Albatroes

Hype is honestly the communities fault since everyone does everything to blow up and honestly make money off it, i.e. streamers etc.

Slapshot1188

Careful @Grakulen !!!
Your list might make some folks feel threatened in their safe spaces!

I particularly like #2...

WoeToTheVanquished

any mathematical character advantage gained by paying money is pay to win. it's the same concept as playing Dungeons and Dragons and you're given higher dice rolls because you paid money to the dungeon master. it's unfair.

Greyed

Nah, here's my 5.

5: F2P games with premium subscriptions that burn off whether or not you log in. One of the benefits of the F2P model is being able to take a 2-3 day/week break from the game and not feel like you're losing anything. Except the premium sub model screws with that. Puzzle Pirates did it nicely, some of the things you unlocked in 30 day chunks were literally "30 days on which you logged in." More of that, please, less of the backwards always burning premium time.

4: Games which mix PvP and PvE poorly. Look, they are two separate but valid styles of play. But when you spend days/weeks leveling to cap in PvE only to swap over to the "endgame" which is PvP. No, just, no. WoW is bad for this, BDO is worse. Pick a focus and STICK TO IT.

3: Stop dumbing stuff down. What we are looking for in MMOs is more complexity and freedom, not less. We want more systems, more complexity. While I griped about BDO in the last point they did get one thing right. Debuffs to combat/sighting mechanics based on weather and time of day? Madness! Faster running on roads? What heresy is this?

2: For the love of god stop with the need for near perfect action combat. You're not a game running solely on the local machine. You're an MMO with often 100+ms ping times. That means 200ms added on to your customer's reaction time. Given that the average human's reaction time is about 200ms that means your customers are already at a 400ms disadvantage. If you're doing action combat (and not all MMOs should, I'd like to play an MMO with my wife again sometime this decade please) telegraphs of adequate visibility and duration are a must. Wildstar did good here.

1: Why is it GW2 came out 4 years ago with a damn near perfect implementation of PvE which actively encouraged people to seek each other out in the open world and play with them rather than run away from them because being near someone was a detriment. And most MMOs since then IGNORED THAT. Or how the automatic downlevelling meant the older content was still viable for players years later so their entire population base isn't crammed into the lastest 2 top end zones. Then most MMOs since the INGORED it. Basically PvE MMOs post GW2 should look at its secondary systems and realize they are the platinum standard and DO THAT! 'cept GW2, your combat sucks IE, be more like GW2 unless your GW2 then fix your combat!

0: Bonus round. Remember #4? PvP, PvE, pick one and focus on it? Yeah, GW2 did it right. PvP and PvE don't mix. Both are glorious. Imagine that. See also #1 - Learn from GW2 you dipshits! And teach them decent freakin' combat in return.

Sevala

1-4 are ok. But #5 isn't something to complain about the way you describe it. Subs got replaced by stupid cash shops, which leads to f2p p2w BS models. Subs without derpy cash shops are one of the things I miss about MMOs. Rather pay $10-15 a month flat than spend a single dollar in a cash shop. Just todays ADHD gamers can't enjoy a single game, I'd rather have a single, good MMO, that the 100s of crappy ones that come out in the last decade.

GladDog

That is a pretty good list, but there has to be exceptions.

IF NCsoft decided to part with City of Heroes, whoever bought it would have a bit of a dilemma.  It is a 12 year old game with dated graphics.  There is a ravenous fan base (including me) that would drop everything to play it if it came back.  But who knows how many non-ravenous it could retain?

There is a further problem though.  Matt Miller said that the game's code is 'full of spaghetti' and would be a nightmare to reverse engineer.  The guys that had a handle on the spaghetti have not touched it in 4 years (and have probably forgotten most of the nuances of the code), and therefore, it would be almost impossible to update.

And yet the purchasers would need to get their money back.  They would have a tough time charging a 'box price', so the only way they could quickly recover their investment is by a subscription model.  It would probably take two years to recoup their costs before they could go to a sub optional system, a two year period with no updates.  

I would be happy to sub to this game in its final state as long as servers were up, and I am not alone.  So this would have to be an exception, and I doubt this is not the only game like this.

orbitxo

You forgot number 6 -Dont ever complain if.... your system cant run a well developed game- just get a new computer that can!

Slapshot1188

orbitxo said:

You forgot number 6 -Dont ever complain if.... your system cant run a well developed game- just get a new computer that can!

I think you are responding to the wrong article.  THIS one is when you SHOULD complain...

psiic

Sadly a criminal element from con men working alone to organized crime like the Russian Mob, and the Yakuza have realized how lucrative this industry is and how little is is policed. Steam and now crowdfunding have made this way more productive and effective than even identity theft.

Alverant

You know, I'd like to see a list of Five Things Gamers should NEVER Complain About because we do like to complain about things and lately it seems like we've been crossing the line. Developers are getting death threats because of a small delay in a game. That's just going too far. Seriously, between how the AAA publishers and the rabid fans are acting sometimes I want to give up on video games completely.

mgilbrtsn

psiic said:

Sadly a criminal element from con men working alone to organized crime like the Russian Mob, and the Yakuza have realized how lucrative this industry is and how little is is policed. Steam and now crowdfunding have made this way more productive and effective than even identity theft.

I gotta admit, this is a new one.  Haven't heard the industry blamed because of Yakuza yet.  I like it!

waynejr2

#5 Subscriptions were paid to access a service. Stupid people started to make the false claim that it was for updates. Stop spreading this lie.

As to the whole "no longer acceptable for MMOs to charge for subscription" line. Sounds like another made up "Fact". You haven't even tried to make a convincing argument to support this point.

#4 Early Access Bad Practices. Players need to be better consumers and need to think about their purchases. You don't have to get into a game in early access you can wait until release. If you are impatient or hold the belief that early access lets you "WIN' faster, then own that.

#3 PAY To WIN. This is another choice a player can make. If you truely believe that Pay to Win exist, you should never purchase a game that has it or sells stuff in a shop. Be a good consumer. Note: I still think this is mostly the freeloaders complaining.

#2 Game launch hype accuracy. Again, being a good consumer and waiting until after release is an option. You don't need to have it now. Ask yourself what you currently can control in this situation.

#1 Never Ending Fundraiser. Easy solution: Stop putting money into kickstarters. I backed one game and won't back another until it releases.

Players need to be mature adults and become better consumers. I suspect that is way too much to ask for.

Kyleran

Alverant said:

You know, I'd like to see a list of Five Things Gamers should NEVER Complain About because we do like to complain about things and lately it seems like we've been crossing the line. Developers are getting death threats because of a small delay in a game. That's just going too far. Seriously, between how the AAA publishers and the rabid fans are acting sometimes I want to give up on video games completely.

Coming next week, they did the positive first.

waynejr2

WoeToTheVanquished said:

any mathematical character advantage gained by paying money is pay to win. it's the same concept as playing Dungeons and Dragons and you're given higher dice rolls because you paid money to the dungeon master. it's unfair.

Life is unfair.

FacelessSavior

Couldn't take the article seriously after reading the very first complaint. I'd much rather continue to pay a sub to pay for the games bills and maintenance than have the game sunsetted or a shitty cash shop implemented to cover running costs.

Quizzical

Points (1) and (4) are entirely the fault of people who pay developers to do that.  Developers are just doing what a lot of players implicitly ask them to do.  If people would pay for games that have already been developed and are good rather than throwing money at hopes of future content, (1) and (4) would go away in a hurry.  I have no problem with (5) precisely because I favor rewarding developers for what they have already done over gambling on what I hope they'll do.

waynejr2

Alverant said:

You know, I'd like to see a list of Five Things Gamers should NEVER Complain About because we do like to complain about things and lately it seems like we've been crossing the line. Developers are getting death threats because of a small delay in a game. That's just going too far. Seriously, between how the AAA publishers and the rabid fans are acting sometimes I want to give up on video games completely.

Death threats? Seriously that is messed up.

I would like to see the never points but as long as they can keep us arguing they are getting the clicks they need to keep mmorpg.com open!

Vrika

I disagree with #5.

We don't normally get access to future content updates with our 30 days subscription, because no matter how frequently the devs update, our subscription normally runs out sooner.

In that context, I don't think we have any right to complain that the devs don't use our subscription money to launch updates that we would be unable to play with our current subscription.



I'd like to add one point to the list: #6 Not enough info about how much game costs. I'm sick of games where you're allowed to play nearly free for first 20 hours, or maybe for first month after launch, and at that point the game comes up with a paywall and to continue would cost more than 50 €/month.

I know it's hard for devs to give us good info about how much the game and microtransactions will eventually end up costing us, but I hate it when devs make it their business model to obfuscate the game's true cost until we have already invested a lot of time and made friends.

bcbully

Good stuff.

GladDog

WoeToTheVanquished said:

any mathematical character advantage gained by paying money is pay to win. it's the same concept as playing Dungeons and Dragons and you're given higher dice rolls because you paid money to the dungeon master. it's unfair.

This is an incorrect thesis.  This is the same as saying that all other factors being equal, the guy who dropped out of high school should get the same wage as a college grad.  People need an incentive to be separated from their hard earned money.  People that F2P do not get any advantage.  People that pay a sub, or have a reason to buy things from the cash shop are getting an advantage.  However, a proper game will give the F2P player the ability to level the playing field for the most part by strategy, tactics, and time invested.  Any game that does not give this capability is P2W.

When I say level the playing field for the most part, consider ESO.  It is not a P2W game, but if you purchase items from the cash shop you can get an advantage.  Respec scrolls, XP boost items and high tier potions can help a player get a SMALL advantage, but that game is most definitely NOT pay to win.  It is a there-are-good-things-you-get-by-subbing and a time-shortcut-by-buying game.  Respecs are giving occasionally, the XP boost is 50% but only for two jhours, and if you develop your alchemy skill you can make the potions.

Spending money an advantage, whether sub or cash shop?  Yes.  P2W, not hardly.

MagikrorriM

When Korean game are designed they are designed for Korean bandwidth only, when they reach NA, which is woefully behind Korea in terms of bandwidth, creates a lot of dysfunction in the game, a lag that never seems to go away. If Korean game developers actually developed two versions of the design, one for Korean Bandwidth and one for NA Bandwidth.

http://www.businessinsider.com/fastest-internet-connection-speeds-2015-5

We are ranked 17th in the world, South Korea is ranked number 1. (state owned broadband twice as fast, half the cost, maybe would could learn something from Korea)

Anyhow, gripe number two, when it comes to Korean games, the never ending Frankenstein patches in playing the game of catch up with content. These patches are horrible, glitchy as hell, bugs a plenty and none seem to get fixed because we are woefully behind in patches. If I am paying good money for a game, I want the game to be caught up to Korean version asap, no more Frankenstein patches, have had my fill of them.

Nanulak

I think I have finally learner my lesson. It is not worth it. Thanks for stating the same conclusion I finally reached.

aleos

Haven't we been complaining about these since.. I don't know.. forever?

AshySamurai

#1 is about Star Citizen, right?