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
How is this article even remotely related to the title? lol
I apologize for the bitterness, but let's be honest here, this is an article of "Hey, so there's these 2 MMORPGs that I still like, you should give them a chance."
You're better than this.
Neither ESO nor Neverwinter are raking in the cash now like they used to.
So IMO neither game is all that great off financially, I mean they are making enough to stay afloat, but not thrive so this is where the article is wrong.
Both of these games are still making good money. However, what has stopped is their GROWTH. The market is such as it is, because investors have insisted on 20% YOY growth, or they force a cashout, and move on. This model became impossible to sustain about 8-9 years ago, with the only option for such sustained growth coming from mobile... which is also now unsustainable.
These are decent examples of games from established companies that are designed to sustain for years, but no longer expect the unsustainable explosive growth that investors have required in the past.
They're stagnant in the West, but growing exponentially in developing markets where internet penetration is rising and people are very new to the genre.
Take SEA for example where increasing number of MMOs have engaged in partnerships with local companies & have local languages.
Neither ESO nor Neverwinter are raking in the cash now like they used to.
So IMO neither game is all that great off financially, I mean they are making enough to stay afloat, but not thrive so this is where the article is wrong.
Both of these games are still making good money. However, what has stopped is their GROWTH. The market is such as it is, because investors have insisted on 20% YOY growth, or they force a cashout, and move on. This model became impossible to sustain about 8-9 years ago, with the only option for such sustained growth coming from mobile... which is also now unsustainable.
These are decent examples of games from established companies that are designed to sustain for years, but no longer expect the unsustainable explosive growth that investors have required in the past.
I feel like there is a little more unsaid here, but I'm not sure the right question to ask (I've tried and erased several). Specifically you stopped short of the likely outcomes and consequences.
The company I work for is now putting a toe back in the water in game publishing ( after having exited years ago). We believe that things need to go backwards a bit, before they can go forward again. We are hoping to be part of this... but it is risky/difficult to make changes in an established industry. This is especially true when it will require companies to accept that they made bad choices, and that they have to rethink their strategy with different priorities.
So, I don't expect it to get better. I am hoping that some backtracking, with a different approach going forward can be effective in creating new opportunities.
I don't care who you are or what you say, corpse runs was a dogshit mechanic and the only reason it was made in the first place was to artificially bloat playtime. The fact that we don't have to deal with corpse runs if you don't want to(WoW still has them but 1. corpse run doesn't take nearly as long and 2. can res at graveyard for a short debuff) is fucking fantastic and i think 90% of gamers would agree with me on this.
I love corpse runs. Ones where you need to get some items of consequence back. It adds a lot to risk vs reward IMO. I feel it adds a lot to adventure and social aspects. I have met a lot of people helping with corpse runs. I developed a taste for it from Asheron's Call.
It is one of the reasons I also got hooked on Ark for bit.
It makes me really decide if I want to risk going places. Yeah I actually love corpse runs.
My favorite MMORPG grouping of all times remains EQ's LDoNs.
Trying to think of a game since that has the non linear dungeon crawl experience those had. Certainly no game has improved on EQ's role system, where you had crowd controllers, pullers, and buffers to go along with your tank/heals/dps and these roles could be fulfilled by various classes in various ways.
There are certainly still high quality games today. FFXIV and ESO being the two most obvious answers. But neither of those is necessarily improved over EQ or even WoW.
There are a few areas where there has been clear improvement in MMORPGs, but things like world building/lore that are absolutely crucial to MMORPGs (arguably as important as combat) haven't clearly improved (storytelling has improved though). Even combat hasn't necessarily improved. There are more options. I think its fair to say WoW has better combat than Rift as they are very similar styles just one is smoother than the other, but to say Tera's combat is better than WoW's is impossible. Two different things that you cant compare. You can only say what is more fun to you.
But it will always come back to the question of "is this MMORPG objectively better than EQ or WoW or FFXI or whatever" and the answer is always, and probably will always be, no.
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"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
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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
Let's party like it is 1863!
I always ask for my preorder with a side of scam sauce.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
I apologize for the bitterness, but let's be honest here, this is an article of "Hey, so there's these 2 MMORPGs that I still like, you should give them a chance."
You're better than this.
Both of these games are still making good money. However, what has stopped is their GROWTH. The market is such as it is, because investors have insisted on 20% YOY growth, or they force a cashout, and move on. This model became impossible to sustain about 8-9 years ago, with the only option for such sustained growth coming from mobile... which is also now unsustainable.
These are decent examples of games from established companies that are designed to sustain for years, but no longer expect the unsustainable explosive growth that investors have required in the past.
Take SEA for example where increasing number of MMOs have engaged in partnerships with local companies & have local languages.
So, I don't expect it to get better. I am hoping that some backtracking, with a different approach going forward can be effective in creating new opportunities.
It is one of the reasons I also got hooked on Ark for bit.
It makes me really decide if I want to risk going places. Yeah I actually love corpse runs.
Trying to think of a game since that has the non linear dungeon crawl experience those had. Certainly no game has improved on EQ's role system, where you had crowd controllers, pullers, and buffers to go along with your tank/heals/dps and these roles could be fulfilled by various classes in various ways.
There are certainly still high quality games today. FFXIV and ESO being the two most obvious answers. But neither of those is necessarily improved over EQ or even WoW.
There are a few areas where there has been clear improvement in MMORPGs, but things like world building/lore that are absolutely crucial to MMORPGs (arguably as important as combat) haven't clearly improved (storytelling has improved though). Even combat hasn't necessarily improved. There are more options. I think its fair to say WoW has better combat than Rift as they are very similar styles just one is smoother than the other, but to say Tera's combat is better than WoW's is impossible. Two different things that you cant compare. You can only say what is more fun to you.
But it will always come back to the question of "is this MMORPG objectively better than EQ or WoW or FFXI or whatever" and the answer is always, and probably will always be, no.