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What are your thoughts on MMORPGs in the present day?
iLikeImperfection
Member Posts: 31
Since my computer cannot handle high graphics and has low internet connection, I cannot run most MMORPGs properly, so, yeah, I can't answer this question.
Comments
They are too easy and simply do not reward my long-term determination since everything I want to do is being delivered on a silvern plate for me. FFXI for example was masochistic but very memorable before Abyssea. It gave me a sense of achievement by just being redicioulusly hard sometimes, but rewarding me with milestones along the way (new Areas etc.).
Today that is different. The world is being catered to casual-crybabies that moan when they cant achieve something in 5 minutes when a dedicated player needs a total of 3 hours.
The problem for me is not that there shouldnt be casual or easy MMOs - my problem is that there is barely a new MMO that is catered towards my type of playstyle. I don't even care if it is artificially hard anymore - just !§$%"/-hard, ya know?
Winning a discussion is not what it's about. If you could pass insight to someone or learn something from it in return - noone can really loose, can they?
Being able to commune in an online world no longer has the magical feeling attached to it. People like to be able to communicate but progress either solo or with 4-6 friends.
MMO's now cater more for the casual crowd as developers become more business orientated. However there are choices to be made if you want to play hardball. P2P Hybrid is the future F2P does not provide enough content for the masses and is beginning to hurt the bottom line of mmo makers. F2P models do work for moba games though.
Console MMOs will be ported more frequently as they try to target a wider audience.
If you want to play MMOs and have a low end everything then a Ps4 maybe a good option for you or a valve box. Ps4 you will have FFXARR, PS2 later, Eso, DCUO and a couple of others.
In my opinion most MMORPGs today are simple single player games with optional multiplayer content. You can progress to maximum level solo at fast speed and then are introduced to instanced grind for gear. They aim to offer players quick and easy success so that the players are most likely always lucky and happy like a meadowing cow.
It sounds strange, but I miss the days of Classic Dark Age of Camelot (SI/ToA) or Lineage 2. Games where grouping with other players was important to actually speed up leveling. Leveling took quite some time but you came to know your class and made a lot of friends. Also, getting certain powerful items was a real achievement. Finally getting a Dragonstorm 2 handed hammer or having created a full set of A Grade armor made you happily jump around like a child. Long term achievements are a lot more worth than for example getting a drop out of a instanced dungeon.
I think Wicoa pretty much hit the nail. Todays MMOs are made to cater to the masses. The masses like quick and easy gameplay and usually cannot be bound longer than a few months.
They are
doing fine
No matter how cynical you become, its never enough to keep up - Lily Tomlin
They are boring and limit you as a player in expressing yourself through your toon.
There is no freedom to be creative.
Immersion is lacking.
Interdependency is lacking.
Social aspect is lacking.
The feeling of a virtual world rather than an amusement park is overwhelming.
In short: they are not SWG.
I'd say mostly they've gone from the old days and "playing with other people" to "playing, with other people". Everything is so casual, non lethal, and solo friendly that it has really sucked the soul out of the genre. I mean, honestly, up to the end game or maybe a few instanced dungeons along the way, the chat window might as well be a random irc chat room. Those people might be present in the same zone as me, but we aren't really playing together, just doing our own things in the same place. I remember all the people I met and fun I had in the original Guild Wars and how I had to find people to progress with, and then I compare it to Guild Wars 2, where I can get a character to level 80 in one to two weeks, dungeons aren't even required for progression, and I never have to be in a team a single time. My first character was maxed level with the entire PvE map unlocked(every quest, every uncoverable point, everything), and had been in maybe six parties, and those were really just because a bunch of us guild members decided to form a group for fun and were completely unnecessary. The closest I'll come in Guild Wars 2 to playing with other people while leveling is taking down a world boss, and I won't know or be working with those people, just along side them waiting for the huge health bar to empty so I can claim my chest and run off, never seeing them again. Guild Wars was hard to do solo(back before all the hero nonsense got out of hand) and so you were actually encouraged to group up with players. Even the explorable areas could be too much for you and the NPC henchmen to handle alone. Guild Wars 2 you could turn in to a single player game and the only thing you'd have to tone down is world bosses and dungeons. That's drawing pretty heavily from those two games, but it's a pretty universal trend. I rarely find I actually NEED other players anymore in any of the newer games, unless you are talking about farming end game instances of one variety or another, or pvp.
Improvements:
Access to all aspects of a MMORPG has improved.
More instances of various types.
More world bosses and events, for dynamic content.
Boss mechanics that are pushing the extremes.
Problems:
Community still sucks (what 1 griefer can do to spoil so many players fun).
Too much emphasis on combat, to the point almost everything else takes a back seat to ePeen meters.
Loot grinds that making getting the gear almost pointless and as meaningless (e.g., purples replaced by greens in a new expansion).
Does meaningful crafting even exist anymore?
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
And in my opinion, they can't be more like single player games. For example, they can do better in terms of story & scripting in instances.
They are getting better. I think they hit their low point a few years ago. Most MMOs are now adding multiple types of gameplay and are even launching with multiple systems in place.
Been at it a long time and still having a blast mate, like most I'm always looking at the new stuff coming out. Trying to get into beta's and such, but 9 years later I'm still having a good time in WoW. Over the years they've changed the game quite a bit, mostly for the better I think. Community is what makes WoW for me though, I've been lucky to be able to raid most of wow with pretty much the same folks since Vanilla/BC. Of course I’m burnt out on many aspects of wow, but I really enjoy our raid nights, my guildmates are the most important thing to me in WoW.
I'm sure one day we'll go our separate ways, move on to other things, RL and whatnot. But in the mean time, I'll be raiding semi - casually, collecting pets, and helping out guildies where I can. Being in an adult guild of folks that have known each other for 9+ years, having fun just playing the game is something I wish everyone could experience. And in essence is what separates a MMO from a RPG and helps bring them together.
Sorry I didn't really answer your question though, but that's my thoughts on present day mmos
Side note, GW2 is fantastic to poke around in on non raid days
, oh and my kid loves the chua, er rat guys as he calls them.
MMORPGs are non-existent is what comes to my mind. The "RPG" aspect is too inefficient for the vast majority of today's player. It interrupts their leveling race to end game for absolutely no in-game reward.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
I think MMORPG's is one of the most homogeneous and stagnant genres. I find most MMORPG's to be boring, repetitive and continuations of the previous game I played. I am tired of vertical progression. Quest have been ruined because I've done way to many and simply don't care since I'm being forced to do them to progress.
I do have some hope in the future that sandbox games will have a revival. I am glad that the endless stream of WoW clones seems to have slowed a lot.
Nah, I think racing games hold that title.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
They are what they are, they garner those that are willing to play, and they'll shut down when there are no longer enough players to play it.
Trends will change and everything entertainment-wise will too. We may see 'old school' styles of mmo's return, we may not.
Music, movies, fashion. They all go through phases, and the longer we wait, the more often we get left behind remembering the 'Good Ol' times' when in essence, we are the ones standing still while the rest of world continues forward.
Try Eldevin, I'm playing on a crappy computer at work most of the time and it runs fine.
Main Game: Eldevin (Plat0nic)
2nd Game: Path of Exile (Platonic Hate)
No, NFL football by far holds the title. But racing has ranges from arcade to sim and then you have zanny games like Mario Kart. MMORPG you pretty much have 7 type of quest, quest hub themeparks with different IPs.
MMOs nowadays are less of an experience and more of a video game. In a sense, they are meant for quick fun, but aren't meant to hook you into a world you enjoy just being in (socially sitting around or actually doing things).
This is all my opinion, obviously.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
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
It is because the MMORPG is a mediocre and expensive gaming platform IMO. Not to say it can't be fun but the limitations due to technology leave a lot to be desired compared to single players games.
The vast majority of MMOs are not bad because they are expensive, they are not bad because of their mechanics, they are bad because of the majority of people playing the games. I find the vast majority of people playing these games to be idiots that I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire. I don't want to play with them, I don't want to inhabit the same space with them, in fact, given the choice between an MMO and a SP game, I'll pick the SP game for both the quality and for the fact that I don't have to hang around with a bunch of immature neanderthals. However, the one thing MMOs have going for them is their range of content. There's a lot more to do in an MMO than there is in a SP game. I can finish a SP game in a couple of days, maybe a week, even playing an hour or so a day. An MMO, even with all of it's faults, lasts at least a couple of months. That's really all it has going for it. I wish it wasn't the case, but society has fallen apart.
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
MMORPG's have content but majority is sadly quest hub running which I am bored to tears of no matter the IP. But basically the content which I can't stand and the people I barely interact with because it almost seems counter productive to do so.
Mechanically the games are water down. I mean, look at ESO and Skyrim.