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Since 99% of MMO's revolve around themepark PvE and farming at endgame...
Kopogero
Member UncommonPosts: 1,685
To get the most gold/loot quickest, etc...I'm trying to find research at least which one do it the best as in...
#1 Deliver the most content, frequent updates.
#2 Rewards the player with some sense of accomplishment for completing that content that benefit his character.
So, that being said the game must have some solid playerbase/income that is generating to continue to deliver or those behind it must not need the $, which IMO is very rare to find. So let's see what MMO's are out there that feel fresh (that recently receive or about to heavy content/updates) and feel stable, promicing for long term gameplay.
Since the last new MMO I've spent $ is DC: Universe Online that's the first thing that comes to my mind at the moment. It is about to receive new PvP tier and raid/dungeon content. They're also offering a special promotion to sub for $30 for 3 months, which imo $10 a sub is a good deal. The fact I can continue to play DCUO and next year Everquest Next for $15 with their all access plan and any other SOE MMO as well as the fact I'll be receiving all released DLC's/expansion to DCUO for free the moment I sub and how the game has one of the best IP's out there that is also fully voiced with great graphics and innovative, action packed combat it comes as my #1 choice.
Any other/better options I have on the table right now or? One thing I really liked about DCUO was how the feats (achivements) were actually benefiting my character, making it stronger. So doing alerts/dungeons, collecting styles, PvPing with my chr or with legend chrs as well as doing investigations was in fact benefiting my character, not something just there for display.
Comments
Yea, I got Diablo 3 for free thx to the WOW annual sub promo. Unfortunately, after 10 days I was farming Inferno act 2 with my Wizard and became extremely boring. The 2H dual wielding exploit that later on existed for almost a year before removed (and they still let those with equipped 2H weapons continue using it) was a nail in the coffin. And then all the other mess afterwards...with the gold exploits. Diablo 3 for me is forever done....I was actually surprised they were keeping on their schedule and releasing expansion, hoping to milk further of their remaining playerbase through all that mess.
Regardless, yea DCUO also is one of the few games out there with a reasonable cash shop, where players can't buy items with IRL $ and trade them for ingame currency.
As I said if your game didn't revolve around raiding, gear grind it most likely revolved about repetitive farming for currency/item at a certaion locations or mobs over and over. You also failed to mention that MMO that does not belong in this bracket...
They did it right until the end of Wrath of the Lich King. Afterwards the entire PvE was simply abysmal and on top there was no real purpose anyone should bother completing it. If guilds want to compete amongst each other, they just need to put more days/hours before Tuesday's reset and the reward for doing all of that? You can do it quicker the next week lol...and quicker and quicker for couple months then wait few more months for new content and repeat the cycle.
P.S: If you are at least making a themepark on a treadmill, make it one epic experience that players would not have issue repeating it over and over...
I've played MMOs since SWG beta. I'll just go ahead and say I've played about a dozen or so MMOs in total, but it's probably much higher were I to crunch the numbers.
I've only ever raided in SWTOR and that's because my guild needed a warm body. I didn't want to raid. I'm now positive I wish i didn't, despite being more then competent at it, going so far as to leading and teaching raids.
Anyway, the point is, I never ran on the gear treadmill, farmed locations or currency in any game, ever. Except for the guild-driven need in SWTOR, I've never sprinted to the end of any of them. I pace myself and take long breaks when the game gets tedious or boring to me.
Being in that same 1% of yours really paid off. I enjoy my time. Interestingly enough, the only game I've ever quit that's still running: SWTOR. I burnt myself out and there's not enough depth to the game to want to go back. Personal opinion.
I'm playing GW2, SWTOR, Rift, and Tera at the moment and there's always something new to do.
You don't have to play a game to know what it's all about. That is one of the reason I've managed to save tons of $ in the last 3 years. Tons of sites with game reviews out there as well as forums and official sites describing exactly what their games are about...
Yet, if you only went by what the forums stated, you'll miss some gems.
It's like politics, each special interest wants a piece of the pie, and in some games they are beyond toxic in their greed. So they'd gut a game just because their toon/class/faction is the most powerful...and make sure to spam it up on the forums by how much and guard it's power.
They don't seek balance or healthy compromises, they just dictate. In EQII I saw a paladin with a balance suggestion get threatened with a wall of shame threat at EQ2Flames. That's how toxic game forums can become when turfs are so selfishly guarded.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
That applies to the start of LK and even bc and vanilla, the difference being the percentage of players with the percieved lack of purpose, in bc- it involved mostly harcore guilds, with lk it spread to the "i dont raid, but still spend much time ingame" and later even casuals and roleplayers, because everyone was being funneled into the raiding experience by its superior rewards and occasional easyness, amongst other game system changes.
One minigame to rule them all...
Flame on!
Beside Sajman01 no one else has added any other options beside the one I stated in the thread. I prefer to focus on one MMO so I'm trying to find the one that offers a lot of choices at endgame with frequent content and updates. The cash shop is also another thing I closely pay attention to. It would be also nice to see the revenue and playerbase on certain games...
Just out of curiosity, what was the exact purpose of completing raid content during and before WotLK? What about in games before WoW, what was the purpose of raiding then?
I find the outcome is the exact same - shiny gear and another tier of content/new expansion. I'm trying to remember if there was some special and valuable purpose during Vanilla and I can't remember anything outside of new shiny gear. Nothing else seemed to happen upon completing the content, just got new stuff.
Did Blizzard give you something more that you're not telling us about? Spill the beans.
If you're looking for a f2p game with good updates, plenty of end-game options, and a cash shop that doesn't break the game. Then you'll want to play Rift imo.
I myself would be playing except my pre-order account that I once subbed to the game with (and recieved a bunch of free cash shop currency that's still sitting on it). Had the email account hacked and customer service won't allow me to change the email on the account. I had a bunch of unique collectable items and such on my Mage that cannot be obtained in the game anymore. Other than that customer service issue, I'd be playing Rift.
So I myself have been bouncing between SWTOR, Tera (for when I'm itching for action-mmo), and when I can afford to sub (unemployed atm) I play Final Fantasy XIV. The last one I spend equal amounts of time crafting, raiding, and doing arena PvP (Which has been one of the most balanced PvP experiences I've had in a long while), and leveling other classes for the story quests. They just released quild housing and additional end-game content, and it's only $12 a month for a sub for one character per server. Sounds steep but when you consider you can switch to any class or crafting profession on that one toon, that restriction is less relevant.
the trouble with forums and reviews your reading another view of the game ,based on how they feel about the game vs their play style,what one person may hate you may like. i will not play a game that does not have a free trial if i pay for it.
Most people pre-WotLK didn't raid. It wasn't until WotLK was easy to raid (devs wanted players to see the LK ending story) with the 30% nerf that players went to ICC like junkies. It was the best time not only in raiding in WoW, how many raided NORMAL 25m raids.
It showed that Blizzard knew the winning formula, but to this very day stubbornly tries to stick to EQ concepts, and thus in 2 expansions killed not only raiding itself (bye bye 25mans -- shared raid lockouts were b-a-d), the population too. As end-game IS funneled toward raids, even though most would prefer to NOT raid (they'd dungeon run or farm battlegrounds). The devs want to concentrate on building raids, but on average 20% only raid Normal/Heroics. MoP there's no dungeons past the 5.0.1-5.1, we have scenerios, yet nothing for the 80% to gear up upon via activities players PREFER to do.
It was all nerfed to justify development on LFR, a LFR that was suppose to be FLEX. To get more folks to raid itself. -_-
When that Blizzard dev insulted the 80% of their player base by calling the gear they earned "welfare", it's how things began to decline. Just like Ghostcrawler's "l2p" blog post created the sharpest sub drop in WoW's history -- THE VERY NEXT DAY. Devs have no business insulting players play styles all because they enjoyed the AWFUL raid environments.
80% like dungeons and battlegrounds. Make 80% for dungeons and battlegrounds -- and sew the lips of catty devs. Arrogance is not how to run a business, access and meaningful activity tailored to that 80% IS.
WoW should've reached 20mil subscribers by now. If they followed the WotLK formula we would've been there 2 expansions ago.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Yea, mounts. Players who were clearing hard content on time were rewarded with special mounts. Now its way too easy anyone to get their mount, which makes the whole purpose of collecting mounts not as rewarding.
I don't do raiding or end game gear grinds either. I just stop playing any game where I reach max level and go find something else to do. I haven't engaged in anything "end game" in many years and have no interest whatsoever in doing it again.
It solves the problem quite nicely.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
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The special mounts were RNG drops (i.e., Fireland egg drop for the flame flying mount); or like the LK cache (that was simply removed after awhile to appease the entitlement attitudes of raiders...weird because that's when the 30% nerf thing started!).
The achieve mounts were always there since the achievement system came in WotLK, which you can't really complain about as it's an achievement mount, and designed to be...just like the titles.
Raids are intended for people wanting a challenge beyond dungeons. It's an EQ heritage concept, though. Dated, old and ancient. Other games are going for more dynamic raiding, which is open ended and accessible and more in keeping with modern MMORPGs (WoW still requires joining raids even in world content which limits groups to 40 max).
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Compared to RIFT, FFXIV, etc...I find the combat and overall theme of DCUO far more appealing. If one thing DCUO could do is make me feel immersed within the DC Universe, something few games could do over the last decade. I feel like I also have a lot more meaningful things to do for my character beside raiding and PvP unlike Rift. The fantasy IP is also imo too old and overused.
I'm installing DCUO right now and it seems it will be my main game until 2015+ and most likely it will continue to be my secondary MMO (if EQ:Next proves to be a success). And then there is the announcement of a SWG type of game in the making from Smedley.
What SOE did is assured me that I can stick to DCUO long term, without being forced to choose across MMO's and end up quitting either (since I've never subbed to more than 1 MMO's at a time)
I still keep a close look @ Star Citizen, World of Darkness (God knows when this will come out) and any other MMO that might surprise us in distant future. I kinda lost interest in the Repopulation, the moment I saw 100k budget behind it...
nah .. no game last forever. WoW was a good game, but i prefer to play new games now.
And if not for LFR, i would have quit WOW much earlier.
I personally am not a fan of dailies. I don't want a list of what is the most efficient way to play, and makes it feel like you have to do this, or you are gimping yourself in respect to the time spent/benefit ratio.
I prefer to decide what I want to do, without the game company deciding for me, what they think I should be doing, or designing the mmo to push me to things at end game/max level.
If I want to harvest/craft, pve, pvp, do raids, dungeons, or even a side thing like VG had diplomacy for a rare break for me, when I played it....I want to do what I feel like, not what they are pushing me towards or locking me out of.
I like less rail and theme though. I think if you design a railed themepark, it is like any rail line, their is a end of the line, and I hit it pretty quick in the modern ones I have played. I analyze newer mmos, and if I see that the end of the line is too quick/obvious, I don't ride.
This is why I think hybrids are the answer, and have the chance to be the popular future for mmos. If someone hits the sweet spot, they can pull in people from everywhere. I of course think this type of game may be too casual for me (yes, I played WoW beta and it didn't grab me, but I admit I am not the majority), but could be the next big thing.
My personal choice would be a 80/90 sandbox - 10/20 themepark blend, where I think the one that would be more popular for the masses is probably going to be 70/80 themepark - 20/30 sandbox.
I am fine not playing the WoW of the world though, as long as it is a good mmo.
The problems with games like EvE is it isn't really a sandbox. Folks claim it is, but there's a pre-defined way to play the game. If you want to push PvE, CCP will slap the concepts down, as they want the game to be played as designed. So it is NOT a sandbox, only sandbox enough to fit into their narrow concept of FFA PvP with one mega corp (guild) controlling the economy/pace/direction (with CCP itself making sure that one corp has the perks of control).
Honest sandboxes are you truly are your own boss and make your own rules within your sphere of influence. BUT, games like that lack direction, which the player learns gets to be boring after a while, as he's not challenged by outside influences.
To be truly successful for a persistent world there has to be some themepark activity to offer people some purpose. Dailies are usually how it's done. It offers some structure in an otherwise directionless game.
So yes, 80 sandbox / 20 themepark is a good ratio. Plenty of creativity, with a nudge to give purpose to even login for the day.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
"WoW should've reached 20mil subscribers by now. If they followed the WotLK formula we would've been there 2 expansions ago."
Nah. I used to think like you and I still think LFR was a mistake. But what you have to remember is that WoW's growth is related to it expanding into new markets - and not drawing a bigger market share in the States and Europe. WoW makes it seem like they had unprecedented growth but really what has been going on is they have been churning through the likely players of old school MMOs in the West while simultaneously expanding to new markets in the east.
Real US wow growth likely stopped before the Chinese release - and its been going downhill from there on. But what is more interesting is that very few of the old vanilla players acually play WoW anymore. So in the US they have been bringing new players in - but they just aren't sticking around.
So if you look at the deeper numbers there is no chance of 20 million unless they start charging a penny per hour in the internet cafes in the east and bundling it with free coffee..