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My first week in a MMORPG ! (True Story) A lesson for all MMORPGS !
GungaDin
Member UncommonPosts: 514
My first experience with a MMORPG was Ultima Online in 1998 (well before Trammel was implemented, mirror world , no PVP except with consent). I compare every MMORPG to UO in its early days. For those who never got a chance to play before Trammel, i'm gonna tell you about some events/gameplay that you will most likely never get the chance to experience or see implemented in a MMORPG again.
My first week in Ultima Online (Chesapeake server) was rough. On my 4th day online I decided to venture beyond the city limits. See in the City you were protected from PVP attacks by the NPC guards. Once you left the city limits, you were free game. So anyway, I came across a player (Name in RED = Which means he was a murder and has killed innocents or BLUE named online players)standing next to a Dragon, "hmmmm , what the hell is that guy doing?" 3 Seconds later..... "Kor por" ! and a Dragon standing over my corpse.
Ok, that was my first PVP encounter ever online. Didn't go too well. I didnt realize what a Murderer was. So, I ran as a ghost to a healer, he rezes me. I run back to my corpse to get my equipment back....... "what the hell?" The guy who killed me looted my corpse. I had no idea lol. Ok now i was pissed. PVP anywhere ! WOW.
I travel back to town with my tail between my legs and find another online player (My first Online Encounter with a NON-NPC character) This guy had been playing for 3 weeks. "Veteran !" I thought. At this point all I can think about is revenge, so I talk this guy into helping me track down my assassin and maybe together we can kill him and I can get my stuff back.
I pick up some new supplies and with the added confidence of my companion we head out in search of my killer. We were ready ! He said he had killed a troll and a few bears ! I was impressed. After wandering around where I had been slayed for 15minutes, my friend says "Ok where is this guy?" 3 seconds later I see a Dragon come down from above and kill my savior in one hit. (Picture the Dragon from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You know, the cartoon one that eats the Knights) At this point i'm so scared to even help him I just run back to within town limits with my heart racing. Hoping he doesnt catch up to me.
Ok "I'm safe" "Phew". I thought to myself, this game is too difficult, I can't compete, I lost all my stuff, who knows how many times thats gonna happen to me. I was just about to quit right there. Obviously i was taken advantage of by a veteran player, a griefer at that. I logged out and thought i'd never log in again.
A few days later I jumped back in. Something drew me back. Maybe because I saw a real challenge here.
I'm at the bank in town and a player (Taizong) approaches me. A moment later over my head I see "Taizong is attacking you !" (In the normal style, in town !) I reacted and attacked him, 3 seconds later, a town guard was standing over my corpse.
I run to a healer , rez, run back.....my corpse was looted. I was scammed ! My first one ever online. Well that was just about it, "screw this game !". So I see Taizong and decide to ask him how he was able to attack me in the town limits and not get killed by the guards. He explains to me he just typed Taizong is attacking you!" into the spatial in the same font and color as it would appear any other time. Hmmm, you know, thats kind of creative and funny. I went from ready totally quit to having a laugh with the guy that scammed me and got me killed.
We talked at great length and in the end he gave me a ton of new equipment (better than what I had ever found) and introduced me to his guild. I met another 10 people within 5 minutes, joined their guild and went on to enjoy UO with them for over a year. They taught me how to survive, how to avoid danger and how to advance my character.
Good thing I stuck it out. PVP almost anywhere, if you die your corpse could be looted ! What was I thinking? Greifing? This can't be fun ! Well guess what, I miss getting my corpse looted, I miss getting scammed, I miss seeing a guy with his name in RED come on to the screen and my heart rate go up, I miss not knowing if a guy with his name in Blue would decide to attack me or befriend me. It was RAW, and barely any rules. All of us learned how to survive and apapt.
Why am I telling this story ? Because I want a game like this again. Maybe with a few more rules 
, but RAW !
UO had house decay, if someone didnt log in for 10 days their house would collapse and all there possessions would lie there for others to loot. We used to check house signs for signs of wear. Fairly worn, greatly worn, in danger of collapsing !! People would know in danger meant within 24 hrs and tons of characters would show up like it was a party. PVP was going on, friendships made, alliance made for when the house fell etc . When the house collapsed all hell broke out, some people got attacked, others when for rare items, and some just tried to place a house with a deed in that same spot. Early on the map would be full , and no space for housing. Hell it took our guild 3 months just to find a spot lol. But it was our spot !
I had a Grandmaster Smith. People would die, get looted and come back to me for supplies. I was in constant demand and became very popular. Made many friends too. The guys that looted those they murdered would bring me weapons and armor to smelt back into ingots for them to sell to other smiths and of course they would tip me ! lol. Nice circle economy.
There was so much going on, I could write tons of stories.
New MMORPGs are missing these raw elements. And you know why? Because we all complained, its too tough, I was scammed, I was griefed ! Guess what , deal with it. The more restrictions placed upon the game mechanics, the less interesting these online games will become. I want some developer to have the balls to put out a MMORPG like UO was before Trammel was implemented. Then you will have my wallet.
I'm looking for my next Ultima Online.
Comments
I laughed, I cryed.
Well done, nice story and I agree 100%.
hahahah. That was great bro.
Long live the old days of Ultima Online.
I loved that game so much. Nothing can compare to it, nothing can touch old ultima online. NOTHING.
man that story brought back so many great memories.
I have no stories to share while playing World of Warcraft and i'm level 60 there. The only story I have to share about WOW is that I waited in line to join an instance and in the instance I fought horde and I could not even talk to them. Then when I won, I got some points as if it were pacman .. WTF
I totally agree
Great story by the way.
I have to disagree with your last paragragh. I believe that it is not like that anymore is because once you played your first MMORPG (and being a total newb) you get all those feelings. My first mmo was Everquest (which i really dont count as my first). I didn't play it for long, but I would always fish and try to sell the fish and make it a job.
The mmo that i count as first is DAOC. I started it with my sister and her boyfriend. I remember maing a guardian. My sister was a mage and her bf was a ranger (he already hit 5). it was night in game and we were at the side of a hill killing mudmen. At that point I had a funny feeling in my heart as if I was really there and totaly immersed into the game. I was afraid to stray too far from mag mel because I was affraid of being attacked. I remember going in the muire tomb and seeing all the people and ALL of the graves. Man it was like being at a store at christmas. I got to see the high levels glowy swords that I would tell my rl friends about. I even made friends that I came accross like 3 years later still playing.
So yeah, it is all about first experiences with an mmo that makes it so good. After that (possibly after a long time or changing a game) you loose that feeling and will never see it again.
good story but i started on Mordred(i think that was the name of the PvP server in DAOC)
as my first char and the safety flag is at level 10 meaning after level 10 which takes about maybe 2 hours tops to reach you are totally fair game and got that little shadowblade all the way to 50.
i cant tell how many times i got killed and as a result it changed my play style forever i learned two things one melee is entirely over rated and is the best way to get killed, any melee over a minute is too risky as the odds of getting hit by a strong nuker, or other ranged attacker is too great.
and all the armor and defense in the world is not as good as speed and stealth.
so it forever affected my playstyle forever before that i played as tank and heavy fighter.
so i always look for the best nuker mages with AE spells, or powerful powerful stealthers. in my mind shadowblades were the best ever made as far as poison, speed, combat, evasion, and not to mention sick dual wielders who could poison both blades.
but i admit the savage impressed me as far as PvP was concerned especially when teamed with any type of healer there self buffs from hp got pretty damn ridiculous with their attack speed.
but the first real pvp experiences always affect the way we play and characters we choose for forever.
98% of the teenage population does or has tried smoking pot. If you''re one of the 2% who hasn''t, copy & paste this in your signature.
great story lol
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
and with the name gunga din im not surprised you bravely blow the horn on a problem.
if you dont get that you havent seen any good classical films but gunga din is one of the better british army ones.
98% of the teenage population does or has tried smoking pot. If you''re one of the 2% who hasn''t, copy & paste this in your signature.
It wasnt just because I was a noob. It was the way the game was setup. When they made UO less RAW (adding in trammel) the game lost all of that for me and I quit. Here are a few more examples.
A bunch of us used to mine in a cave North of Britannia. A murderer lived in a house nearby and griefed us daily, taking all our ingots and equipment. One day 4 of us tried to take him on. We had him in his house but he banned all of us. He then just kept opening the door firing arrows at us until there were 4 ghosts and 4 corpses. We tried a few more times and then we all just ended up standing outside his house laughing in our death robes. He came out, gave all our stuff back and had a few laughs with us. Later that day he introduced me to really cool player run house called the Falconer's Inn.
At this location REDS (murders) and BLUES (regular people) would hangout together in peace. You could have a few pints, chat a bit and shop at the owner's vendors without worry. The owner had a rule that if you attacked anyone inside or near the Inn you would be banned from his shop. Sort of a respect system. One day I got attacked just outside and the patrons of the Inn emptied out and ganked the guy lol. We all then proceeded inside to have a few pints of ale and laugh about the attack.
The murderer befriended me and never killed me again while mining. In fact he used to run into the cave, kill another miner, loot him and then hand me the ingots he got lol.
I don't see how you can have a situtation like that in MMORPGS of today.
** Oh and the name Gunga Din is from the classic film. I a big fan of Black and Whites.
Great read and story - but does it have to just be a story? I would check out Roma Victor because it's as close to UO as you will find with open PvP & full loot, twitch-based combat etc. Launches early next year as well & pre-orders in next couple of weeks - I think.
Original UO is badly missed and there is certainly a market for a harsher and more realistic game experience, just don't complain too much when you find one, so that it ends up changing.
Benny................................
I agree totally with original poster!
I think developers listen far too much to what players has to say. Do your own thing, make it original! We all know that those who are heard are the ones who are loud, not necessarily those who are right.
Great Story, never thought that Full Loot could bring so much to a MMo;
, experinces but then again its not esay to get adena in lineage2....
but ive always been, kinda aginst Full loot system, witch i gotten from lineage2
C1,C2 lineage2 had full Drop from pets, upon death witch basicly sucked cause the economy is also hard as hell in lineage2
Ah well told story for sure.
But you know what, something old schoolers tend to ignore, myself included?
It is the fact that we do believe that unless you played our game in our time, back when we had the most fun, you are incapable of having as strong emotions and just as much fun.
The story might be different but the feelings are the same for most new players who enter these worlds.
No I do not think they will ever make a game that one enjoys as much as the first one you played, ever, regardless of graphics and contents, you can only loose your virginity once.
But saying "you guys will never have this much fun", is just untrue, imho.
Something to think about.
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Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts.
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Great story. But I agree, my first MMORPG was runescape. I still go back to it now and then an PK and I play WoW and GW now. Plus BF2 but it aint MMORPG. WoW and GW are great games but the PvP is shit house. With these games now when you kill something you don't get any real benefit. Oh faction points...nice... oh honor points... big deal. RUNESCAPE PKING IS AWESOME. you kill someone who has a skull (they have attacked someone within last 20 minutes) and they drop EVERYTHING. Money, items all. unless its most valuble item and they using protect item prayer. People complain oh they go out and die and lose all their money and items... This aint diablo. you don't lose your stuff in your bank. PvP is PvP and when you kill someone and get there items and any cash, thats what gives the game the extra touch.
So basically I agree, we really need a MMORPG with great game play like WoW and awesome PKing like Runescape.
IF YOU HAVE MSN and play World of Warcraft, Battlefield 2 or Guild Wars, add me.
dareycow@hotmail.com
I'm always up for a good talk.
-Dareycow
Great stoty and Totally agree with GungaDin
LOL great story guy.
There is a game like that, called Eve-Online, it has not been turned gay yet by carebears and marketing directors, but it might end up like Trammel someday.Might wanna try it out while it's still in its heyday.
There is no best MMORPG, only favorites.
That was actually a nice description that could have described my own UO experieces as well. I had no idea what to expect and i really know how it must have felt when you got looted the first time xD
UO made me love free PvP and I seriously could swear when i see how games like WoW decide on who your enemy is and where you can't loose anything at all. It takes out a lot of excitement.
I was hoping for L2 to fill the gap until something comparable comes out. Wish it would have been more then mostly extremly boring grind.
Swan
|| Languages for gamers: http://gamerslingo.com
/where God
ERROR: Target could not be found
/target Believer
/skill science
You missed your target since Believer ignores science
/skill logic
You missed your target since Believer traded all his INT for faith.
LOL anyone have a screenshot of this? would be awesome to see that
it would be so funny if the person of the house shows online at the last minute sees a mass of people waiting for his house to collapse and the dude just repairs/pays maintainance or whatever and goes offline just like that.. i would've laughed soo hard
cool story btw, i totally agree with and i really want a mmorpg just like that
Banzai!
LOL anyone have a screenshot of this? would be awesome to see that
it would be so funny if the person of the house shows online at the last minute sees a mass of people waiting for his house to collapse and the dude just repairs/pays maintainance or whatever and goes offline just like that.. i would've laughed soo hard
cool story btw, i totally agree with and i really want a mmorpg just like that
LOL, thats exactly what happened sometimes. 20 People would all be waiting, killing each other for hours and then this guy shows up , walks into his house, refreshes it and logs off. LOL, we just all stood there in amazement. No more killing, we just all packed up and left, looking for the next house to fall. Great fun.
Awesome story man! Laughed a lot
Awesome. just frickin awesome.
Amen brother to the good ol' days of UO.
Just can't "find" that feeling in any games so far...
Currently : chillin'
UO definitely had that magic 'something' that so many MMO's lack.
I will make this statement:
If a gaming company just took the entire concept of UO, skill system, combat, the works.
Slapped that exact same setup into a new 3D interface like we are all so used to now.
That game would quickly become one of the top MMORPG's out. UO is still the best technical MMORPG out there imo... it's graphics and sound are weak by today's standards.. It's gameplay, however, has yet to be matched.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas