Sounds like it'll be some sort of Marvel Alliance style beat 'em up which Bendis has to try and find a point to...
No thank you
Because most MMOs aren't a pointless "beat'em up"....
Honestly, the gameplay and content of most MMOs is pretty substandard compared to single-player games. It's the persistent gameworld and number of other players that makes MMOs compelling, not stellar gameplay systems or mechanics.
Almost nothing is known about how this game will play. It's likely that it won't be a big, virtual world MMO. But, if that is exchanged for better-than-average game mechanics, or some really innovative and fun concepts, it might be worth playing. I'm willing to hear more before prematurely writing a game off that won't cost me anything to try.
I'll keep an eye on this. I really hope they use this "no-customisation" step as an opportunity to expand on the gameplay elements, like more involved combat, etc, instead of trying to follow generic MMO gameplay (Tab, 1, 2, 3, 4, Tab...).
It has some serious potential to change the way we play MMOs. Most complaints I've seen are about people wanting something different. So try to think out-of-the-box and give MMO players a reason to forget about customising their characters.
If this is going to be an attempt at WoW with Wolverine/Spiderman, I think it'll fail miserably.
DCUO isn't an MMO. I have a better MMO experience leveling up my dog's terds in the back yard fighting grass clippings.
uh, yeah, DCUO is an mmorpg, no matter how bad you think it is. It's more of a persistant and massive world than many games that players call MMOs, like the horribly instanced ones. Maybe you should either a: play a game before opening your mouth, b: learn the definition of words before opening your mouth, c: keep your mouth shut.
I'm sooooo okay with this. Even if you only get to play as existing characters, if they had ONE storyline for even a fraction of the characters in the Marvel universe, it would take years to get through it all. Mind you that won't happen right away, it will take time to build up for that, but the Marvel Universe is huge and expansive. Actually between all the rehashes, alternate timelines, etc., there's so much possibility for content it's ridiculous.
The problem would come from all of that content being b2p. THAT would get expensive, and that's the part that worries me. With a f2p model they have to make money somehow, and I'm betting it will be by selling content packs. If they're reasonably priced that's one thing, but I doubt it.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Um, lets step back from the 'Customization NAO' kool aid for a second.
Everyone wants to play as the 'real' heroes. This was the request in DCUO, which is doing server merges, and was a complaint going all the way back to City of Heroes that the Lore heroes were too important, and that we were all just sidekicks. Look around in any of these games, people are playing heroes, or knock offs of heroes. When you get to SWTOR, you're playing, with tweaks, characters from the SW movies, for the most part. The masses don't want, don't use, and don't need robust customization. While hardcore MMOers and intensely creative want to have different appearances and storylines, invariably, people want the powersets and notoriety of existing heroes. The rest of the folk, the masses who have never scoffed at F2P, have no problem being an established hero. To say nothing of all the console players who relish playing an established hero. To say nothing of the zero customization in many popular successful F2P games.
The clone complaint is silly. As instance-heavy as games are nowadays, it's pretty clear what's going to happen.
Global Chat
Veron25: "Looking for Wolverine to do Avengers Disassembled"
GarthusJ: "I've got a Wolverine, level 20"
xXxViscousxXx: "Wlv, mxd out, all gear"
ThamesBoy: "Veron - Got room for a Spider-Man?"
GarthusJ: "Wlv, lvl 20, LFG"
And all those goofballs who spent all their time making hero clones and playing as the published heroes in DCUO, and the adults who play SuperHeroSquad Online will be on board to eat it up. And the tiny group of superhero MMO elitists ("If I don't like it, it sucks") who aren't numerous enough to even keep the next big superhero MMO thread up front, much less keep DCUO alive, will be playing... dunno.
Now the problem that you guys are getting at is valid. Where is the emotional investment, if I don't have a single character and full control? I don't have that answer. The developers claim to have that answer, and their investors are confident enough in that answer to make a triple A MMO (say, 10M dollars?) and make it F2P. I've played an MMO like this before, were your goal was unlocking other classes/characters to play as. For example: you start out being able to play Spider-Man and the Hulk, but if you want to play as Wolverine, you need to level up Spidey to lvl 5. If you want to play as Professor X, you need to level up Spider-Man to lvl 10 and Hulk to lvl 5. Basically, it was like a Character tree instead of a skill tree. I thought that was fun.
Also, as a Marvel comics fan, I remember reading in Runaways about the kid Alex Wilder playing a Marvel MMO, and it was pretty clear that playing as the Marvel characters is the only way to go. Especialy since there are many ways to solve the cloning problem.
Anyways, Gamastura has more information on this game, I'll be following it. Can't wait to see more of it.
Comments
Sounds like it'll be some sort of Marvel Alliance style beat 'em up which Bendis has to try and find a point to...
No thank you
Because most MMOs aren't a pointless "beat'em up"....
Honestly, the gameplay and content of most MMOs is pretty substandard compared to single-player games. It's the persistent gameworld and number of other players that makes MMOs compelling, not stellar gameplay systems or mechanics.
Almost nothing is known about how this game will play. It's likely that it won't be a big, virtual world MMO. But, if that is exchanged for better-than-average game mechanics, or some really innovative and fun concepts, it might be worth playing. I'm willing to hear more before prematurely writing a game off that won't cost me anything to try.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
I'll keep an eye on this. I really hope they use this "no-customisation" step as an opportunity to expand on the gameplay elements, like more involved combat, etc, instead of trying to follow generic MMO gameplay (Tab, 1, 2, 3, 4, Tab...).
It has some serious potential to change the way we play MMOs. Most complaints I've seen are about people wanting something different. So try to think out-of-the-box and give MMO players a reason to forget about customising their characters.
If this is going to be an attempt at WoW with Wolverine/Spiderman, I think it'll fail miserably.
uh, yeah, DCUO is an mmorpg, no matter how bad you think it is. It's more of a persistant and massive world than many games that players call MMOs, like the horribly instanced ones. Maybe you should either a: play a game before opening your mouth, b: learn the definition of words before opening your mouth, c: keep your mouth shut.
I'm sooooo okay with this. Even if you only get to play as existing characters, if they had ONE storyline for even a fraction of the characters in the Marvel universe, it would take years to get through it all. Mind you that won't happen right away, it will take time to build up for that, but the Marvel Universe is huge and expansive. Actually between all the rehashes, alternate timelines, etc., there's so much possibility for content it's ridiculous.
The problem would come from all of that content being b2p. THAT would get expensive, and that's the part that worries me. With a f2p model they have to make money somehow, and I'm betting it will be by selling content packs. If they're reasonably priced that's one thing, but I doubt it.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
If Gazillion's Super Hero Squad game is anything to go by, their Marvel "MMO" will be utter dross.
Um, lets step back from the 'Customization NAO' kool aid for a second.
Everyone wants to play as the 'real' heroes. This was the request in DCUO, which is doing server merges, and was a complaint going all the way back to City of Heroes that the Lore heroes were too important, and that we were all just sidekicks. Look around in any of these games, people are playing heroes, or knock offs of heroes. When you get to SWTOR, you're playing, with tweaks, characters from the SW movies, for the most part. The masses don't want, don't use, and don't need robust customization. While hardcore MMOers and intensely creative want to have different appearances and storylines, invariably, people want the powersets and notoriety of existing heroes. The rest of the folk, the masses who have never scoffed at F2P, have no problem being an established hero. To say nothing of all the console players who relish playing an established hero. To say nothing of the zero customization in many popular successful F2P games.
The clone complaint is silly. As instance-heavy as games are nowadays, it's pretty clear what's going to happen.
Global Chat
Veron25: "Looking for Wolverine to do Avengers Disassembled"
GarthusJ: "I've got a Wolverine, level 20"
xXxViscousxXx: "Wlv, mxd out, all gear"
ThamesBoy: "Veron - Got room for a Spider-Man?"
GarthusJ: "Wlv, lvl 20, LFG"
And all those goofballs who spent all their time making hero clones and playing as the published heroes in DCUO, and the adults who play SuperHeroSquad Online will be on board to eat it up. And the tiny group of superhero MMO elitists ("If I don't like it, it sucks") who aren't numerous enough to even keep the next big superhero MMO thread up front, much less keep DCUO alive, will be playing... dunno.
Now the problem that you guys are getting at is valid. Where is the emotional investment, if I don't have a single character and full control? I don't have that answer. The developers claim to have that answer, and their investors are confident enough in that answer to make a triple A MMO (say, 10M dollars?) and make it F2P. I've played an MMO like this before, were your goal was unlocking other classes/characters to play as. For example: you start out being able to play Spider-Man and the Hulk, but if you want to play as Wolverine, you need to level up Spidey to lvl 5. If you want to play as Professor X, you need to level up Spider-Man to lvl 10 and Hulk to lvl 5. Basically, it was like a Character tree instead of a skill tree. I thought that was fun.
Also, as a Marvel comics fan, I remember reading in Runaways about the kid Alex Wilder playing a Marvel MMO, and it was pretty clear that playing as the Marvel characters is the only way to go. Especialy since there are many ways to solve the cloning problem.
Anyways, Gamastura has more information on this game, I'll be following it. Can't wait to see more of it.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34467/Interview_Marvel_Universe_Studio_Directors_Great_Responsibility.php
The Illusion of Choice