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The Poll: MMOGS getting better or worse?
altairzq
Member Posts: 3,811
What are your feelings about this?
Comments
I'd go with 4th...3rd seemed nice, but nothing better? Come on, TF2 has better PvP than most PvP MMORPGs who use instancing for PvPing.
Wherever the MMO's are going, it's not towards a good place.
Yeah i miss how the old EQ was too!
I personally think they are getting better (and im talking from a technological point). My only problem is that none of the companys (at least the big boys with deep pockets) want to break out of the mold and continue to make the same-ole theme and tired systems, and they do it with such high funding that indies with great ideas are almost unable to compete and break that mold.
Anyway, my .0002cents
I'm not that nostalgic about old MMOs.
New games find ways to please hardcore players as well as the casuals and try discourage a few professional griefers from ruining the fun of the many.
None of your options appeal to me. They are getting better in some ways, worse in others. That'd be the option I'd choose.
They're getting better in the content department, but worse in the freedom of choice, and character advancement department. While there's more content in todays MMORPG's, the developers put a character on rails to play through that content. There's really no freedom in how to complete that content, or when. You do the content as you encounter it, because it's your level, and if you do content above or below your level, you'll find no challenge or instant death. So you do content when they tell you to do it.
Character advancement is all about the levels and gear now. Gaining levels grant you skills. Skills that every class the same as yours has. Some games offer alternative advancement options, such as Traits and Talents. That adds some choice, but it's still pretty linear.
Give me AoC type graphics with UO style gameplay with Asheron's Calls' story and LoTRO's community!
I chose the 3rd option. Sure the gfx/sounds are improving but at what cost? The cost of enjoyment, purpose, and community. I would rather play the Isometric UO than 99% of today's MMO's.
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"I like wow, I like aion and I like AoC all for different reasons.....the later cause i get to see boobs, but still its a reason!!" - Sawlstone
They are ALWAYS getting worse. It doesn't matter what stance you try and take, as you obtain more experience you begin to critique more. Players never settle for "just as good"... it's always got to be better and so even if Blizzard, Turbine, or SOE release a new game that has every bell and whistle available on the market... it will still receive bad marks!
There is no "getting better" until there is a whole group of games that release with such poor quality that ANYTHING release with a little though would be better... and even then it's only better than that group.
Games will always keep getting worse because you, as a player, keep gaining more experience with the genre... and no development team is a match for your personal taste.
The latest releases have been disappointing. I tried Vanguard, LotRo, WAR and found all three lacking. Didn't want to try AoC or DArkfall, their designs never even looked appealing to me.
I have no real interest in Aion, partly because of artstyle, but I don't think I"m missing much. From what i've heard it's a solid MMORPG, similar to say LOTRO, nothing special but well made.
I am hopeful for the next round of releases. Looking forward to TOR and the games that come after TOR.
TOR does look decent and I am looking forward to see how the design turns out! The same goes with STO
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"I like wow, I like aion and I like AoC all for different reasons.....the later cause i get to see boobs, but still its a reason!!" - Sawlstone
There really wasn't much of an option for how I feel, so I'll elaborate a little.
The games haven't really gone bad IMO; my expectations have changed due to the size of the market. Any game you could play in the 90's that you could play with hundreds or thousands of players that didn't crash every 5 minutes was the coolest thing ever. There weren't very many.
Now the market is flooded, and we expect alot more from them. I expect a more casual, yet more meaningful experience. Gone are the days where I'd enjoy crushing stuff with my mortar and pestle in dragonrealms, or mining for hours for enough iron for a breastplate in UO, or pick up contract after contract to grind TK killing quenkers in SWG. Despite having had many of my most notable in-game moments in SWG, If they brought pre-cu back, I doubt it would hold my interest for 10 minutes when before, I'd waste entire weekends waiting for doc buffs and kicking nests, raiding imperial towns, or blowing up pirates in JTL...
It used to be that if instead of having adequate content, you required even the most mundane tasks to take up hours of time, players would still play your game because they didn't have many other options.
That's simply not the case, anymore.
I've played most of the "big" MMO's out today. AoC, WAR, WoW, Aion, FE, Eve, CoX, and now only subbed to LotRO. I'm still enjoying LotRO, after some 5 months of playing, I find myself having plenty to do that doesn't just seem like an enormous time sink. It's the one game I've ever played where nothing that I do seems like a waste of time.
So how would you explain that FPS, RTS, Simulators, platforms, and what not, are in general much better now than 10 years ago?
I've played MMO for around 10 years now, started around 2000ish when I first discovered a korean MMO (being a Korean),
it was all new and fun those days, it was a new concept that everyone enjoyed.
I eventually found WoW and started enjoying it immensly, it was the first game where I recruited some friends to play with and it kept me hooked for two years or so.
Then everything started falling apart.
WoW lost its glitter, the fun aspects of raiding and grouping turned into a test of tolerance of those around you... AKA those immature ba*tards who can't stop flapping their tongues. I was tired of everything but arena, which contained a decent amount of excitement to actually keep me playing.
The formula is old, there is nothing new that can be delivered from the same reptitious grind, level, gather pattern. The only saving grace is the community and in-game social activities; an activity that can be reached outside of games for all I know.
Nostalgia led me to play a bunch of games I had previously enjoyed, they were all dull and boring. Alot of people spread about the joy of old games and their 'unique' aspects, but I honestly believe nostalgia speaks for 90 percent of these people. Everything that was done up till now HAS BEEN DONE and the formula evolved, changed, grew, shrunk, went through the grinder, died and became zombies, etc...
While searching for a mmo I could play with interest once more... All I have to say is there is nothing out there today that could be called truly different, I'm just waiting for a change.
Libranim, you and Robsolf (up above) posted pretty much exactly what I feel.
It is strange, so many posts about the "perfect MMO" , "WoW killer" , or something like this thread. I think even 5 years ago we would not be having near the same conversations we do today about this silly large video games. You know what I have started playing again? Old Nintendo games. I picked up the controller and have been playing old Nintendo games, haha. I was sitting there thinking "What were some of the most difficult games I played for the Nintendo that were fun?" The two that immediately came to mind were Mega Man (the original) and Ninja Gaiden. Two games I never beat.
What brought me back to these old games? Remembering the challenge and fun I had with them. Mega Man is so incredibly difficult to beat without cheats or a turbo controller. Not only do you have to do quick memorization of things, but your hand eye coordination and reflexes have to be up to par as well. I enjoy every genre of video game out there, from RPG to action to puzzle to racing. An MMO provides me a tool to play a large RPG game with many other people and that is all it really is to me.
The trick to these MMO's is that they want people to live in another world, paying them to run this game - month after month, or for every piece of gear you want. The only real difference I see in an MMO and a console game is the people, the thing many people end up complaining about. We are all strange, we enjoy being around each other, just not told how to have our fun unless there is a specific catch in which we have to join each other in order to have fun, also known as an instance or group quest.
Will MMO's get better? Yes, they will. Games as a past time just can't "fail" unless something else in real life that is much more important gets in their way. The social aspect of Massive Multiplayer Online games drives them to be made, since we as humans are social creatures. There is a need to be socially linked - view MySpace and Facebook for a perfect example.
I do not believe there will ever be a perfect MMO. I prefer my action / RPG games over my puzzle / racing games, but am willing to go back and forth when I feel the need. This will always happen for people playing games, yesterday I played tag at lunch, today I'm going to go play soccer with Eric. Tomorrow I might just go play on the big slides. I did those things just as I play games now and as many people play games now. Some people will only play soccer so they can be the best PvP'ers, while others are more content just talking with each other over in the corner or hanging out at Goldshire. I'm going back to my homework...
The poll needs more options.
I dunno if I'd say they are getting worse. Rather we are just getting tired of the ones we already have (hence why new MMOs that come out w/ similar gameplay to ones we played and loved just aren't enjoyable).
If anything, I'd say that, for the moment, MMOs aren't getting better or worse. They are stagnating.
Games aren't getting worse, they're just not improving and that's the problem. Everything that comes out in a new MMO, we've already done before, it's nothing we haven't seen in a dozen other games and the mechanics are no better, the game is just prettier.
I, for one, don't give a damn about prettier games.
There isn't anything better out there but that doesn't mean modern MMOs are any good, it's the same old stuff we've been playing for the past 10 years, the same mechanics, the same mindless grinds, the same stupid progression... none of it has gotten better.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
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So how would you explain that FPS, RTS, Simulators, platforms, and what not, are in general much better now than 10 years ago?
Yeah, not a very thought-out response there. COD4 came to my mind instantly. That one kicked it up a few notches for the competition. And that's just naming one.
So how would you explain that FPS, RTS, Simulators, platforms, and what not, are in general much better now than 10 years ago?
Yeah, not a very thought-out response there. COD4 came to my mind instantly. That one kicked it up a few notches for the competition. And that's just naming one.
Yea, COD4 is a good one, which reminds me of something not many players seem to be noticing / pointing out. The traditional mmoRPG may be hurting for a revamp, but the elements that actually make something an 'mmo' have gradually been spilling out into other genres. In a way it's merging w/ them. So, MMOs as we know it may just be changing and blending in w/ the other 'single player' genres, to make them more community / progression oriented. I say this, because even FPS games (ie COD4, BF1 & 2) are starting to have things like lvls, unlocks, etc. Which imho is a good thing.
I think MMORPGs are staying the same or "optimizing on an old formula."
So they're boring; perceptively worse each time because there's nothing new about them and new 'conveniences' actually take away from the game's value.
I think MMOs are starting to get better in the past 2-3yrs. Not many of the ones released in those years, but the whole genre seems to have a different take on the market than they did 2-3yrs ago and with the fails of LoTRO (non-expected numbers), AoC, Vanguard, and Warhammer, developers seem to be trying to come up with new ideas and are trying to create something different than the basic cookie cutter kill X for Y so you get Z crap that you see in all the 'majors'.
If you were to ask this question 2-3yrs ago with all the games above still in development, I would have said they were getting worse. I saw from the beginning that 3 of the 4 above were going to fail and fail pretty damn hard. I gave less credit to LoTRO than it got and I gave more credit to AoC than it deserved. But all in all they still seemed to be cookie cutter junk while they were in development. A few games seem to be trying to push to new horizons and get something unique into their MMO experience. There are many many things I look for in an MMO, but being Unique new and Original are the top of my list. Regardless of game mechanics, as long as w/e new unique and original mechanics they put in are fun to play. Such as SW:TOR. My thoughts on that game have gone up and down over and over again, but right now with the latest news that I've seen it's back up.
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MMOs have gotten worse and I only continue to play them because there is nothing better.
Almost every MMO released over the last 5 years has been the same themepark level grind with a different skin slapped on it. They were fun at first, but over the years have gotten tedious and boring. I am finding myself playing less and less over the last few years, and barely play anymore. If a new MMO doesn't release soon that breaks this mold, I will probably quit MMOs all together and go back to playing single player rpgs exclusively.
I understand that a lot of people like the themepark style MMO.......but is it really too much to ask for a little variety in MMOs?
Currently Playing: DAOC Uthgard
Previously Played: UO, DAOC, Shadowbane, AC2, SWG, Horizons, COX, WOW, EQ2, LOTRO, AOC, WAR, Vanguard, Rift, SWTOR, ESO, GW2.
MMO's have been on a steep decline and so has the community that is drawn to them. it's all a downhill race from here man.
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. ~ Italian proverb
While I am glad to see things such as hailing an NPC gone and other interface updates overall the appeal is not there.
New MMOS tend to be very easy and relatively simple. While streamlining the interface is nice they also often streamline other areas such as crafting and ruin that entire aspect of the game.
OP, you forgot number 5: The games are getting better, but we as consumers are getting more demanding, so i vote 5
I know what you mean, but the poll is about your feelings on MMOs only.