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Worst Feature of Themepark MMOs
PyrateLV
Member CommonPosts: 1,096
Ive seen alot of discussion lately about the sorry state of Themepark MMOs.
Whats wrong with them. What are they missing.
How they have become they same old thing in a different wrapper. Nothing innovative.
How they are being dumbed down to where they are shallow WoW Clone facerolling kiddie games
I am wondering, is there a specific Worst Feature to Themepark MMORPGs that are limiting or holding the genre back?
Or is it just Themepark MMOs in general are becoming an over produced style of game?
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
Comments
I voted Levels as the rest is all a by-product of that.
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
You forgot Instanced PvP and Small Worlds.
But out of your list, I would select them all.
I honestly can't pick just one of those options. They're all pretty significant flaws in my opinion.
Template based questing. "You are the hero, you are here to save us, we are in dire need." "Go kill 10 pigmen."
Great poll, well presented!
None of the above.
Linear content.
All of the above in large doses.
Questing, it's really out of date, and there are better ways to go about what it does as a mechanic.
Yeah, I'd have to agree that all of the above is the best fitting choice.
The "modern" MMO - might be some fun games you can enjoy, I know I still enjoy some themepark fun
But this is NOT where the MMO genre should have gone...
What happened?
The simpler, more popular MMO won - EverQuest.
You know what UO didn't have? Anything on that list.
You know what EQ had? Most of it.
The problem isn't always what a game is missing. Sometimes it's what a game does have, but shouldn't. Such as nearly all endgames.
Wow, so many right answers to choose from. However... one that stands out to me is endgame. Basically... it's not really endgame anymore... it's a gear treadmill. You get to level, jump on the treadmill and your game goes from play to work. Grind for gear to get to the next raid to grind for gear to get to the next raid, rinse, repeat ad nauseum.
This is forced on the player by creating a wall in the game where you now overpower all the content below you. As such, it's rare to go back to that content and when you do the challenge is gone; it's a simple faceroll over once challenging areas for useless loot and no real satisfaction. This, of course, ties it all to another option... levels. Levels aren't the problem in and of themselves... it's the fact that levels mean so much based on the content you're on. You don't scale to the content, therefore content you pass becomes useless.
Oderint, dum metuant.
My problem is with controls and too much progression. So I guess..I should choose levels or somefing? Not too sure x.x
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To me
- lack of having a huuuge world to explore. It all feels so tiny and crammed together nowadays.
- devs making it too easy to reach lvl cap
- most important to me: some within the community trying to hit the lvl cap in record time and then complain theres nothing left to do..
Same.
I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.
Worest feature in a Themepark MMO "Developer Forums with player feedback " Prior to forums by developers you had better games
After you gave a place for people who had more time to post then play had place to complain to developers we had Themepark mmos'
Back to work..
I don't know what you mean be "Levels". You mean the feature of leveling, as in it should be removed?
I chose Linear Progression mostly for the reason of the lack of freedom in developing your character, lack of freedom of where you want to level, and the overuse of quests that direct you where you should go.
I agree that Endgame is a terrible feature but it has more to do with leveling WAY too fast.
I'm just walking through a story that someone else has written.
In my opinion, it's not levelling itself that's a problem, but it's the significance placed upon levels. You reach a certain level and an entire section of the game no longer offers any challenge or real run anymore. Content becomes beneath you. The loot is always crappy for you now, the rewards insignificant. It's constantly pushing you to chase the carrot on up the "progression". Then once you've maxed out your level, the majority of the game is pretty well shut off from you (as far as there being any real desire to go there) and you're on the raid treadmill.
Levels matter too much. It isn't important how fast you acquire them, it's about the walls they put up behind you as you go along.
Oderint, dum metuant.
Hmm in correlation to EQ
Levels (too ambiguous a term, do you mean lots of levels, lack of levels, slow leveling, fast levels)
Classes/Professions - Yes it had those but they were clearly defined (unlike today's games where the lines are very much blurred. This blurring means that some of today's games might as well not even really have classes persay)
Questing - Yeah it was called EverQuest but actual quests were relatively sparse and you had to work to find em (very unlike current mmos)
Instancing - Didn't have them till LDON and then moreso in Gates of Discord (after its peak)
Mirrored/Sharded Zones - Nope
Raiding - Yes
Dailies - Nope
Linear Progression - Not in the slightest
Limited Social Activities - Not in the slightest
Endgame - Very few people got to see what some might call the "Endgame" before the next expansion pack was out (which raised the bar)
So in my mind, EQ had less than half of the options in the poll during its prime.. Does that means its still a themepark?
I'm 100% with you there, I just didn't mention it. I rather not have a lvl 10 be 600% weaker in power than a lvl 50.
I would say it's Linear Progression, although not in the way you meant it. I mean that while players can choose a race/class they want to play, they do not get to decide where they want to level that character, they do not get to choose which quests they want to complete and which not: they'll hve to do them because they're either part of a questline, or there are very few quests too choose from.
I also dislike the way some MMORPGs limit exploration by dividing zones into all these little subzones with their own levelling-range, and which are separated from each other through graphical features such as cliffs/mountains.
But would people actually play a MMO game that had no RPG linear statistical progression?
Ask yourself:
MMO is made, you log in - there is no XP bar, there are no levels, you can't raise or lower skills - you only get to choose what skills you get to equip at once to define your "role" and the rest go inactive.
There is no loot - no stat improvements/upgrades to chase after.
It's all just cosmetic.
Would you still play? Would you keep playing for months? Years?
I think it'd really depend on what else you could do in the game. Territorial control/capture, housing, exploration, wealth, showing off treasures, titles, reputation, etc.
So pretty much UO but without the 1-100 skil grind (which only took a couple of days for most skills btw)
QFT... lvl are good to a certin point så att ju arent force to get used to 50 skils but after is just annoying
I think the worst aspect of themepark mmorpgs is missing from the poll. The worst aspect is the linear nature of the zones, ie in Warhammer Online. Do Quest A, B, and C in the first area, and quest C will take you to another area where you do quest D, E, F, and G. G ultimately takes you to the area with H, I, and J, and so forth until you don't need any brain cells to play the game at all. You can just grab onto the handrails and slide forward without any kind of decision making, immersive and meaningful interaction, or worthwhile exploration.
"Linear progression (lack of alt ways to level)" covers the leveling aspect of this problem, but not the zone/handrails aspect of it.
not on the list
.... tupperware PVP
aslthough of course im taking this to mean modern version of "themepark" = "wow clone", you can have themepark with good pvp - e.g. DAOC and planetside.
I would select them all as well.
I wanted to list that as the last option, but (IMHO) there are so many aspects of Themeparks that could contend for the Worst and I only could list 10, so I didnt use All the Above.
*edit I should add though that if I had to choose 1 off my list it would have to be the Linear Progression and the lack of alternate ways to level as the worst aspect of Themeparks MMOs
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)