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I took a last leap * bought Age of Conan* which is as good as any other MMO on the market* and am bored after 3 days. Log in, kill computer generated AI rinse, repeat, and do the same thing over and over and over to what achieve max level, reroll and repeat the mind numbing format of modern day MMORPGS.
Step 1. Kill mobs
Step 2. Level
Step 3. Kill more mobs
Step 4. Realize we've all been mindlessly doing it for HOW many years for me its over 12 years but no longer.
When i look back at how long i played some games. Most were worth only but a year max of interest but we played them back then for other reasons. Who cares about quests since they are all the same generally. Levels mean nothing and now there is no social element to MMO games like years gone by.
So we add up the wasted time and years realizing we could of been doing something different.with our lives with no regrets. We met many great friends in the process , fewer in modern day MMO's. We players are unnecessary to others in todays games. Getting the best gear is a simple achievement that means nothing in the end. Anybody can obtain it with time.
I honestly don't think those seeking will ever find their once lost love but that is ok. Buy a Harley, take a trip with a friend. Live life? Regretfully the modern day MMO gamer will NEVER experience what we have over the years. It was a great ride no questions there.
With that being said i'm as hard core of a computer gamer as can be but with no reservations can list myself as
NOT looking for a game. Unplug its not so bad.
Comments
No, it's not over for most MMO vets, it's only over for those MMO vets who refuse to move on. Most of us who started playing long, long ago no longer want the same thing out of games that we wanted back then, most of us have grown up, most of us no longer have the time or interest in sitting around in a time-wasting game, pretending it's somehow challenging.
We grew up and a lot of vets are actually enjoying MMOs today.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Of the two stances presented, the second seems to be a much more realistic representation of the long time MMO gamer.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I never have and never will like raiding so I never do it, but since the beginning of games so long as they have more move to new places and doing goal oriented work I have fun. When games tell me the only goal is doing the same dungeon 10 times to maybe get an item is when I check out.
Its not over. It is just much harder to actually find decent people to talk to while hunting in today's mmo worlds. Most people can be ina group and not say a word all day. I think the days of socialzing and just hanging out without going after that next epic piece are long gone.
You hit the nail right on the head.
I've been playing MMOs since the beginning and I certainly have moved on. Times change and you either change with them or go find another hobby.
Besides, the evolution of MMOs in the past 10 years is neither good or bad, just different. Adjust.
You play for the wrong reasons. MMOs never where that challenging.
.
You play to hang out with guildies and friends.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
Age of conan is not just mindless killing, they made that game so that the activity of killing is fun and a little challenging. The fatalities never get old. At this point there is no need to grind anywhere, you can level all the way just doing one quest after another, which means a constant flow of different activities throughout the levels. This is much better than older games, like, EQ for example, where you would have to camp the Orc camps in Commonlands for days and days, or the basement of Goblins in Highhold Pass for weeks, etc.
If a game like AoC is not enjoyable to you than IMHO you have definitely outgrown the genre.
I swear on my children i came to the exact F--ing conclusion after i bought Aoc Expansion a few weeks ago.
Maybe it really is over . i have hope for Rifts.
Well, why aren't you on a pvp server then?
Also, I don't believe it is over for players who want a game that is more like your older style games. besides the fact that some of those older games are still around, there are games that are differnet. Whether it's EVE, Darkfall, Vanguard or Mortal Online. I'm sure others as well.
I understand that some of them might not be optimum but if no one supports these games then devleopers aren't going to see any market in these games.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Agree 100%.
I'm an MMO vet. Looking forward to the release of TOR.
Last game I thought was fun was City of Heroes. Wasn't perfect, but it was fun to play a super hero game, and I had a great time designing characters.
Last game that really disappointed me was WAR. I was looking for a new and improved version of DAoC, and instead got a new and shittier version of DAoc.
Maybe TOR will suck, but maybe it will be fun like City of Heroes was fun.
I totally agree with the OP. My expereinces have been in WoW, War, AoC, Lotro, EQ2; so I am unable to comment on others.
Strength of community has declined in recent years although the causes aren't clear to me. Maybe it's soloable max-leveling, or maybe it's the endless grindfest for our own uber-gear. Whatever the reason I remember when noobs were encouraged and mentored, while now they are derided and exploited (an over-generalization I know but a noticeable trend).
MMOs are not as "nice" as they once were.
Blame the PvP element that is added to all the games now for the "nice" factor being removed. Hard to be nice when the enviroment has been made more competitive than in the past.
Honestly, I can't tell if its the games' mechanics or just the newer generation of players, but the focus has definitely shifted more toward individual gains rather than group comaradarie. There are still plenty of groups doing stuff together, but the focus has shifted (to me it seems) more heavily on the gear upgrades, achievements, unlocks, etc. It used to be more about the adventure and exploration. Nobody cared what your stats were, for the most part. There are some games that do not focus on it as much, but I've seen several companies adopt some sort of gear grind (especially for PvP) that did not launch with one.
I don't blame the players, they do what they like. I don't blame the developers, because they are just doing their job. Part of me thinks maybe I'm just too old or that my perception of the games, and other players in general, has changed. But I do feel confident that things can change for the better and that players can become less separated and more compassionate toward one another. I can't think of any specific solutions for this, so for now I will just have to try to lead by example.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I think the key to what made precu SWG so immersive for me was the community. The fact there were so few quests meant you ended up meeting people in town or while you were out adventuring. People were more willing to develop relationships because the extent of those relations were not based specifically on short term goals (quests or quest chains). When you have quests you tend to have a lot of people running to or from somewhere, and they might be on the same quest but already started, or a different quest or a different quest within the quest. When there are no quests, people are more apt to create their own content by grouping up.
It made sense to network for the sake of getting a good deal on a blaster or armor piece, or for combat reasons. There were just layers and layers of social interaction, everything from economic or factional to guild or city politics...or your neighbor next door. There were entertainers, people to give you make overs, interior decorators, miners, scavengers, cooks and so many other things. For all it's failings, the game was a masterpiece in the social arena, and that to me is what really stands out between then and now.
I have hope we will see a game like precu SWG again one day, but I see nothing on the horizon remotely like it. So I twiddle my thumbs and dabble here and there. TOR looks interesting. LOTRO going F2P looks interesting. Right now I'm back for one month to dabble with WOW, but Red Dead Redemption seems more interesting right now to tell you the truth...I just wish it was an mmo.
I say broadband internet killed social gaming. Doom 2 LAN parties were the s**t.
I feel the exact same way as the OP. I started in AC and played a lot of different games after that. I can't find that thrill anymore.
In my honest opinnion game studios have forgotten what's roleplay about. It's about adventure, chalenge, challenging the perils, but above all allowing personalism, improving, cutoming your chracter. Games are nowdays mirror images of each others with or as with classes games with either skill tree or classless games that are easy to overpower by grandmastering 1 field. Now how that makes our characters inviduals if everybody are able to become alike us, with exactly same skills, same amount of everything?
So in the pvp situation how does the skill factor matters if non existant character design skill can obtain the same, movement maters nothing, both have possibility to get the exactly same gear (Which is about grind generally rather than skill) You are exact mirror images of each others.. Only thing that skill factor works is on ability to smash right buttons in correct order. No mater if it's clasless or classed system no invidualism exist other than mayby 12 different faces with 12 different choices of hair and 8 choices on facial hair makes you an invidual?
Also there is another important factor; a question so let's ask question from ourselves "Wasn't the idea of RPG to be a roleplaying game? So how is it a roleplaying game if nothing I do is invidualistic, how do i play a role then? Wasn't the idea of internet based roleplaying games to form communities and lively world where uniqueness could lead to fruitfull roleplaying chracter (not talking about roleplaying itself) and ever developing world with a lore? How does anything we do affect lore, how can a single invidual rise above masses and achieve status in world of roleplaying games, how anybody can become more skilled than other if nobody can affect how their class comes out as?"
Question for all above questions is: Giving everybody equall chance despite their skill or ability. As everything is same nobody can exploit any aspects of game, no skill spamming. no stacking some skill till char becomes death itself. It's also easy to fix all exploits, balance classes and skills. But when will a game studio steps outside the form and looks at outside the box? Due my belief that players should get tons of more customizing their class and enough challenge game would have more re-play value and less rushing towards the engame... Less need to create endless stream of engame content when currenty content with tons of options would offer challenge for years to come.
I will explain now alternative, creative method of creating combat system and character system. But like all good things, come with a cost so does this one.
Each roleplaying game are basically the same class and customization wise . Basically studios are grinding out the very same arch types.... So now we got all the arch types have already been designed like 30-40 years ago... So and there is no need to re-invent wheel. So one would figure that designing subclasses with the archtype wouldn't be all that hard when everything else is ready.
The classes are what they are simply because they are based on real history things in logical thinking that orginal PnP creators took from mythology and war-history. Those people gave the classes certain special abilities and atributes. So was the fantasy roleplaying born. All stats you see in games are existing aspects of each human being. So in other words having same stereotypical classes is simply a existing fact that can't be reverse enginered. it's simply the order of the universe that everything must be understandable and explainable by some manner or anarchy and chaos rules. We can't understand something we cant comprehend in our minds. Also everybody would hate unbalanced anarchy in games.
Why not to create matemathical system or a dice system that is based on well thought balanced skill system that allow by specialising enough to become nearly or perfect in something enforcing player to make choices on what to give up in order to master certain weapon, armor, spell, skill etc. Such choice would neclect character in some other field. So you could make compleately invidual jack of all trades, or specialized master of war. Mage a master in arts of the dead, or a mage a master in killing the dead.
Such systems however require far more from server's capacity as it needs to serve far more functions for players so it creates more lag. Also if the game would have to use player's local system for such calculators it would provide chance to create tons of exploitation software.
Nowadayts mmorpg game systems according my wisdom work by pairing few mathematical values against each others and increasing then decreasing a value to produce out dmg. Such as armor & resistances decreases dmg by certain % and dmg calculator is paired against the dmg value which creates the total value of dmg. Now level is many games a factor that increases or decreases the value, so you can't kill monster of many lvls higher due the lvl functionality in terms of dmg. Such factors so maxium lvl is infact: lvl based values that come automatically despite race, build or lvling style, their not random in any aspect and every char without gear depending on class will have exactly the same values. Now we all know that items function as modifiers for those preset values. So in otherwords gear defines your base success as all values are preset. Skill tree provides few choices also on mathematical value modifier those are also preset. It's easy and nearly lag free just to wipe those modifiers off and set them again. Since it takes it's toll on server, and the higher numbers the larger the lag.. So WoW made it so that it costs since not so many people do it reduces lag such mathematical calculation causes. To cut the long story short, creating invualistic experience is FAR more difficult than a mere gamer can understand. That kind of system would be also far more costly as it would require countless hours of thinkering and design.
So why would system I suggested be heavier? Well, since the game couldn't anymore rely on the nearly lagless mathematical pattern due the fact that people could choose their own statpoints and their own skillpoints, that would require different mathematical system able to calculate and cumulate all the bonuses, minuses etc.. it would also take it's toll when you would re-roll stats, in combat the calculator system would need to run on every attack, since there are no preset values on what comes out from player bonuses. That system would also have greater error marginal as all wouldn't be preset. It would also make it so that stupidity would be rewarded with frustration. However I do claim that such system could be created, and the ever repeating mmorpg scene could finally get from the cycle becoming a true to promise of RPG where everybody could become invidual. Such system would also offer more variation than any single system of mmorpg can offer nowadays.
When thinking about it all, in aspects of game mechanics Eve is the most succesfull different kind of MMORPG game ever created.
Thank you for reading this lenghty post, most clever will notice few things not fully authetic in this post, but for that the space is left for discussion. More about this topic in my blog.. (When and if i ever finish writing it.)
Kindest regards,
DKW
So they perfected a pill to bring ones IQ level down low enough to enjoy these games? I mean I don’t want any permanent IQ loss, only temporal so I can actually enjoy your games for short periods of time.
M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demos & indie alpha's.
Sorry I had to, post number 2..
What? Are you joking? When did you start playing games? yesterday? Apparently... Good thing you didn't play 13 years ago or you would have quit after the first day.
Please, if you don't know what you're taling about, please don't post.
Sheeeshh
I'm not the same gamer now that I was when I first started in EQ1. I've grown and changed, and have adapted to the new market and to the way that games are now because hey, it's closer to who I am now anyway.
When I first started, I'd spend just as much time in Norrath as I did at work every day. Entire weekends would be sacrificed, too. That went on from EQ's launch until the Ykesha expansion. Since then, I've refused to let that kind of hardcore grind become a part of my life. I'll never go on a raid again. I'll never have the most epic armor, or the most money, or the greatest notoriety in any MMO that I'll play from now until I finally get tired of the genre. I'm okay with that.
I have other priorities now. My life isn't as singularly focused on games anymore as it was back in my 20's. I'd rather find a game that allows me to log in to an interesting world, play for a few hours at a time and show some progress, and have fun while I'm at it. All the rest is just details, IMO.
Well, I've been playing since UO(in at launch). I have to tell you that what I look for in a game today, is rather different than it was then. I'm more interested in cooperative, solo, small group games now. The days of rabid PvP and sand box games are over(at least for me). Given the trends I've been seeing, I suspect thats true of a lot of people.
We have seen only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is possible in terms of technology. Once game design catches up to what is possible, I suspect it will be amazing. Until then, try to find some other hobby that will entertain you. But check back every year or two. I wish you all the very best.
Agreed
I don't wanna grow up,
I'm a Toys eR Us kid.
There's a million toys at Toys eR Us
That I can play with.
From bikes to trains to video games
It's the biggest toy store there is!
I don't wanna growup, cuz, baby, if I did,
I couldn't be a Toys eR Us kid!
meh, I grew up in the 70's-80's :P
Most vet mmo gamers grew up long ago, know what is good and what is not.
There are already enough toon town games out.
M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demos & indie alpha's.
Cute.. Your picture doesn't really correlate to your condescending jingle.
Again, its not about growing up, just cause the market turned to make games appease to the consumers ideals of instant gratification, doens't mean the market has matured,
I'd say a fair amount of vets arent over mmo's their is a few games out that require 0 levels. and personally I'd say the mmo world is starting to turn interesting. A fair amount of new games coming down the road. What it really souds like to me if the op has caught a case of *burn fever*. give mmo's a break awhile and come back. Sounds like ur due in for a mini break that all of us take here and their.