I don't think those two games did anything innovative enough that could really move the genre in any direction.
So those two games are exactly like WoW, LOTRO,RIFT,EQ2 and alike, you dont see any difference in them and you dont see any form of innovation?
Yes, exactly. GW2 tries to change some numbers around in the MMO formula, but does nothing differend really. I don't care if i go and get a quest (WoW), or if the quest comes to me (GW2). It is still a quest like everything else. And there have been games without a trinity before that all failed as well.
And ESO, while being a nice game, is a carbon copy of the themepark formula. Just because it has pvp like DAoC does not mean there is anything differend. Just because some people WANT to belive the story is any better, does not mean the game does anything new. It is a solid game, one i hate for the story and questing, but still more solid then anything else that has hit the market in the past 8 or so years. Yet it has no innovation, not a single one.
If you belive otherwise, care to name one innovation those two games brought us?
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
Lot of long posts with good points. I'll keep mine short and sweet.
TESO is a step forward, GW2 was a step in the mud.
TESO is a dynamic world that changes with your actions, and if you don't explore you miss a lot. May not be the holy grail sandbox we are all looking for, but as a themepark it is by far the best yet. There is no way to comment on the pvp until the game is released for a few months imo..
Is there a good link with all the major features of TESO that you are excited about?
Because after the beta I wasn't impressed and was basically thinking not buy. However...there are some things I liked about the game, and it's possible that I may have just not got the best impression from my limited time. So let me know if there is some place I can learn about what the game has to offer that isn't a Zenimax marketing site .
I think he failed to mention that it's only for your personal version of the world. Nothing you do outside of the PvP zone has any effect on anyone elses version of the world. So it's a dynamic world... in a lonely box only you can see...
Ahhh yes phasing. I encountered that, and your assessment is completely accurate .
Is there a good link with all the major features of TESO that you are excited about?
Because after the beta I wasn't impressed and was basically thinking not buy. However...there are some things I liked about the game, and it's possible that I may have just not got the best impression from my limited time. So let me know if there is some place I can learn about what the game has to offer that isn't a Zenimax marketing site .
I think he failed to mention that it's only for your personal version of the world. Nothing you do outside of the PvP zone has any effect on anyone elses version of the world. So it's a dynamic world... in a lonely box only you can see...
You are absolutely correct.
To me its a better option though, the world changed.. it did not remain as it was before I changed it. Personal stories are always personal stories, or not everyone can be the hero.. so in a themepark the personal story is a lonely box.
I made a choice to save this evil pirate from from her well deserved fate, others did not.. there wasn't only one predetermined choice to be made, there was two. That choice changed my world and where it will lead.
In something in like Eve where a betrayal might cost sovereignty in a system and leave it wide open to a massive campaign lasting months and changing the landscape and gameplay forever... well dynamic like that is only available from a real sandbox. No one since CCP has had the balls to release that kind of game, so for the themeparks we have... this is the most dynamic world available.
Forgot about phasing. The third most annoying aspect to hit MMOs in the past years.
Why do MMOs move away from social aspects and grouping so much,.. i don't get it. There are so many great single player games. Why turn MMOs into single player games
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
Lot of long posts with good points. I'll keep mine short and sweet.
TESO is a step forward, GW2 was a step in the mud.
TESO is a dynamic world that changes with your actions, and if you don't explore you miss a lot. May not be the holy grail sandbox we are all looking for, but as a themepark it is by far the best yet. There is no way to comment on the pvp until the game is released for a few months imo..
Is there a good link with all the major features of TESO that you are excited about?
Because after the beta I wasn't impressed and was basically thinking not buy. However...there are some things I liked about the game, and it's possible that I may have just not got the best impression from my limited time. So let me know if there is some place I can learn about what the game has to offer that isn't a Zenimax marketing site .
I think he failed to mention that it's only for your personal version of the world. Nothing you do outside of the PvP zone has any effect on anyone elses version of the world. So it's a dynamic world... in a lonely box only you can see...
This. The phasing mechanic is a disaster. As soon as you get even a little out of step with friends and guildies, you are cut off into your own little instance / universe and it effectively becomes a solo game that you are paying a sub for. So many times I found myself unable to do stuff with friends / guildies because I was too far ahead or behind and we couldn't enjoy the content together. We were in a group but invisiable to one another and could not do questing together. It was awful. It just became a single player game. And not a very good one at that. I already have Skyrim, and other MMO's do the MMO part better. I give the sub model they've adopted 6-12 months tops before they slash the prices or go f2p.
For ME, both games have done tremendous damage to MMOs as I like them.
I hate questing that takes less then a month per quest. So ESO is ruining my day with forced questing for skillpoints and meaninfull xp. I also hate not having a solid trinity, so GW2 screwed me over. Also i dislike action combat, i want my tab targeting with 3+ hotbars full of options (options, not a roatation of 30 skills!).
Of corse this means nothing, as every other person might like those points. But for me, both games did stuff that i really hate and wish it never happened to MMOs.
Edit: To point out what i wish new games would do,... social interaction, the need for others, depending on other classes, having to actually talk to someone, being able to have a reputation on the server (with people, not with npcs), ect.... forced grouping. There, i said it.
Couldn't agree more. I still relish the fact that I had rep in WoW before LFD and LFR created casual everything. As a tank it was an important thing to have rep.
I've tried just about every MMO of the past few years and those days are gone forever. It's a shame. The social part of an MMO was what kept me interested.
Originally posted by nariusseldon Originally posted by TorgrimWoW set the standard what a themepark game should be back in 2004 and countless MMOs was made in the image of WoW but with a twist such as quest hubs, easy crafting, handholding,raiding so on and so forth, yes this changes during the years but those changes were made by Blizzard.Now with GW2 and ESO we dont see the classic quest hubs, handholding gameplay, people are rewarded for exploring the gameworld which you basicly cant do in most themepark MMOs such as SWTOR, RIFT ect, yes in RIFT you can find this collectible things but thats not what i meant by exploring but I hope you understand what I mean.So do you guys think that this a new trend how we will see MMORPGs being produced in the future or do you think that the classic themepark formula still be around?
I think MMORPG is no longer the trend. The number of production has dropped.
MOBAs, shooters with new online features (like Destiny) will be the future.
I think this is the first time i ever agreed with what you said lol.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
For ME, both games have done tremendous damage to MMOs as I like them.
I hate questing that takes less then a month per quest. So ESO is ruining my day with forced questing for skillpoints and meaninfull xp. I also hate not having a solid trinity, so GW2 screwed me over. Also i dislike action combat, i want my tab targeting with 3+ hotbars full of options (options, not a roatation of 30 skills!).
Of corse this means nothing, as every other person might like those points. But for me, both games did stuff that i really hate and wish it never happened to MMOs.
Edit: To point out what i wish new games would do,... social interaction, the need for others, depending on other classes, having to actually talk to someone, being able to have a reputation on the server (with people, not with npcs), ect.... forced grouping. There, i said it.
Couldn't agree more. I still relish the fact that I had rep in WoW before LFD and LFR created casual everything. As a tank it was an important thing to have rep.
I've tried just about every MMO of the past few years and those days are gone forever. It's a shame. The social part of an MMO was what kept me interested.
Sounds like Aion almost exactly.. Tab targeting, 5 completely full hotbars, player reputation is everything. Just saying.. smaller community for sure, but smaller tends to bring the social interaction back into a game.
GW2 took the MMO genre back years, it was one big badly designed MMO. No direction, all over the place, with no goal. Not only that it was an extremely anti-social MMO. It is because of GW2 people are afraid of non-trinity in games now. GW2 took the genre backwards. I will wait to place judgement on ESO, but so far I am a fan of the game.
For ME, both games have done tremendous damage to MMOs as I like them.
I hate questing that takes less then a month per quest. So ESO is ruining my day with forced questing for skillpoints and meaninfull xp. I also hate not having a solid trinity, so GW2 screwed me over. Also i dislike action combat, i want my tab targeting with 3+ hotbars full of options (options, not a roatation of 30 skills!).
Of corse this means nothing, as every other person might like those points. But for me, both games did stuff that i really hate and wish it never happened to MMOs.
Edit: To point out what i wish new games would do,... social interaction, the need for others, depending on other classes, having to actually talk to someone, being able to have a reputation on the server (with people, not with npcs), ect.... forced grouping. There, i said it.
Couldn't agree more. I still relish the fact that I had rep in WoW before LFD and LFR created casual everything. As a tank it was an important thing to have rep.
I've tried just about every MMO of the past few years and those days are gone forever. It's a shame. The social part of an MMO was what kept me interested.
Sounds like Aion almost exactly.. Tab targeting, 5 completely full hotbars, player reputation is everything. Just saying.. smaller community for sure, but smaller tends to bring the social interaction back into a game.
Wow, funniest thing, I just reinstalled Aion this week. My son and I played at release and we decided to give it another try. It was either that or Rift, but I picked Aion because I like its skill system better for tanking.
I go back to EQ1 every few months and have some dungeon fun there. Grouping, talking to others... pulling, crowd control and depending on others all while having great xp without having to collect some dirty towl from a farmer.
Remains the best, and in my opinion only game that managed the social part perfectly. You can do solo, but grouping GREATLY boosts your success and you really want to group up. The more i think about it, the more i realize how i miss the social part about MMOs. Even tho i never noticed that when i HAD that social experience. Guess that is something you start valuing after you have lost it.
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
Originally posted by SoMuchMass GW2 took the MMO genre back years, it was one big badly designed MMO. No direction, all over the place, with no goal. Not only that it was an extremely anti-social MMO. It is because of GW2 people are afraid of non-trinity in games now. GW2 took the genre backwards. I will wait to place judgement on ESO, but so far I am a fan of the game.
GW2 isn't meant to have directions, it is meant to be explored. Different model and therefore something to take the genre forward. Finally we have an MMO that even with all its flaws tried some new concepts instead of ''WoW-style, gear focused progression lead by npc's who take your hand and lead you to where you go''.
I enjoyed WoW, I enjoy GW2 and I will enjoy whats coming. If you can't accept new concepts and rather see copies instead of something new, even if it is not according to your taste, you will never then see new MMOs and will get stuck in 2004 forever.
imo when an mmo tries something new it always move the genre forward. Even a colossal failure ( neither were) would be an example like SWG of what not to do.
WoW set the standard what a themepark game should be back in 2004 and countless MMOs was made in the image of WoW but with a twist such as quest hubs, easy crafting, handholding,raiding so on and so forth, yes this changes during the years but those changes were made by Blizzard.
Now with GW2 and ESO we dont see the classic quest hubs, handholding gameplay, people are rewarded for exploring the gameworld which you basicly cant do in most themepark MMOs such as SWTOR, RIFT ect, yes in RIFT you can find this collectible things but thats not what i meant by exploring but I hope you understand what I mean.
So do you guys think that this a new trend how we will see MMORPGs being produced in the future or do you think that the classic themepark formula still be around?
well if you replace the WoW with Everquest series (and i am not even fan of these games..) your argument might be valid, WoW just polished, wasnt so innovative, i would say it might be a step backwards (at least from a PvP point of view ..)
i am playing GW2 and their innovation is the dynamic quests, they look awesome and i wish games represent their quest in such a style ... other innovations which i like where about game play like the remove of holy trinity, but this requires a hell of work for dungeons from the part of developers, but in pvp was an awesome thing, also the downed state, which many people hate, but it offered more depth in fights (in WvW and sPvP), and the remove of the half UI other MMOs have was good and i prefer to dodge or hide behind a wall than having a 2nd keyobard on my screen ... i wish it was not a railed thempark with instead of WvW, GvG and not this stupid personal story, and no barriers between maps ...
ESO also had some innovative mechanics in the character development where you can see a lot of diversity, but i didnt saw anything else truly innovative ...
i read the last page and i saw some disappointing posts, probably you dont like any innovation, on gamasutra GW2 became a standar of innovation and here some WoWbabies demand the genre to stuck in 2004, what a pity ...
While GW2 was fun as everything was almost diffrent from the tab target standard mmo's it also became extremely dull. No healers and only a handfull of skills wich you just spam on cooldown.... No way i would ever play such mmo style again.
It showed me that tab target brings a more personal pvp style as you can hammer down the target you want and not blend in the zerg and be safe. ESO has almost the same style but with healers, yet no tab target....
I hope these kind of styles wont be the norm as it aint my cup of thee. Archeage comes out this year and from what i have seen so far their pvp might be back on what i prefer most.
I believe that GW2 most definitely made an impact to the genre.
It showed us, the consumers, that it's business model can work, that devs can produce content on regular basis and that MMO's do not have to be hard-core competitive in order to be fun. It's not flawless, far from it, but it has undeniably set some standards in MMO industry.
I feel that TESO on the other hand, does not bring anything new to the genre. None of the features are new and I couldn't even say that the features that are present are implemented on a consistent, high quality level, which will set the standard for future MMO's to come.
I don't think those two games did anything innovative enough to move the genre in any direction.
I agree. ESO has sort of cherry-picked the nicer aspects of other mmorpgs and, with some minor variations and little tweaks, placed them all into ESO. It works rather well, but I don't think they pushed any boundaries all that far, if at all.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I think GW2 brought things up a notch or two in overall character and world design. There were some new and interesting races with their own lore. The world felt like a fresh place for the first six months I was playing it. The overall design of the world features and NPC also felt fresh and vibrant.
Being able to paint each piece of armor through collected dyes and to change skins of weapons was pretty cool. That may have already existed in other games, but none that I remember. I think the WvW was also innovative to a small degree (even with all the issues that arose from it). The living story and scaled group quests also helped support and continue things we were seeing in other games. I don't see the contribution of T.E.S.O. so far. The combat is not new, but it does support the continuation of first-person combat established in earlier games like Darkfall, Tera, etc. which I like.
WoW set the standard what a themepark game should be back in 2004 and countless MMOs was made in the image of WoW but with a twist such as quest hubs, easy crafting, handholding,raiding so on and so forth, yes this changes during the years but those changes were made by Blizzard.
Now with GW2 and ESO we dont see the classic quest hubs, handholding gameplay, people are rewarded for exploring the gameworld which you basicly cant do in most themepark MMOs such as SWTOR, RIFT ect, yes in RIFT you can find this collectible things but thats not what i meant by exploring but I hope you understand what I mean.
So do you guys think that this a new trend how we will see MMORPGs being produced in the future or do you think that the classic themepark formula still be around?
1) You should read more about the MMO history, i gonna help you:
As you can see, WoW is not the 1st MMO, is even a copy of pretty much everything. WoW didnt set any Standard in the genre, it was just popular for so many reason but we have no point to talk about that now.
2) i dont find any MMO following the Path of GW2, is more likely that GW2 is what you dont want to do in a MMO, and there is not exploration on GW2, it was just running around following paths.
3). Probably SWTOR 1st, and now ESO have changed the genre talking about themepark, with a strong history and lore, at the level of a SPRPG, in a MMO. If we have to talk about a new trend, probably SWTOR and ESO have set the new standars, again, talking about themepark.
Lot of long posts with good points. I'll keep mine short and sweet.
TESO is a step forward, GW2 was a step in the mud.
TESO is a dynamic world that changes with your actions, and if you don't explore you miss a lot. May not be the holy grail sandbox we are all looking for, but as a themepark it is by far the best yet. There is no way to comment on the pvp until the game is released for a few months imo..
TESO, the multiplayer game where 90% of the levelling is soloable. If that's the future of MMOs, I'll wait for indie niche MMOs.
I believe these games will both go free to play. I don't see how they will support a subscription model as there is no reason to play the game long term past a certain point. Everyone will get to the endgame and either play that ad nauseam or quit. Most people will quit. A few people will keep playing the boring/easy linear path with some alts following the GPS around like rat through a maze. Eventually they will quit when they grow tired of leveling some alts. Part of the problem is (as some people have pointed out) that it isn't really anything new and considering how long MMOs can take to complete compared to single player games most people are tired of the themepark style gameplay. I'm willing to bet most people who play MMOs right now play in free to play games and quit when they hit a paywall. For a game to last there has to be some kind of major effort put into getting your character to max level. A large investment of time and effort that will keep you playing as you don't want to just flush all that time and effort down the toilet. That is what you need for a pay to play game to be successful. That is what no current MMORPGs have.
Comments
Yes, exactly. GW2 tries to change some numbers around in the MMO formula, but does nothing differend really. I don't care if i go and get a quest (WoW), or if the quest comes to me (GW2). It is still a quest like everything else. And there have been games without a trinity before that all failed as well.
And ESO, while being a nice game, is a carbon copy of the themepark formula. Just because it has pvp like DAoC does not mean there is anything differend. Just because some people WANT to belive the story is any better, does not mean the game does anything new. It is a solid game, one i hate for the story and questing, but still more solid then anything else that has hit the market in the past 8 or so years. Yet it has no innovation, not a single one.
If you belive otherwise, care to name one innovation those two games brought us?
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
Ahhh yes phasing. I encountered that, and your assessment is completely accurate
.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
You are absolutely correct.
To me its a better option though, the world changed.. it did not remain as it was before I changed it. Personal stories are always personal stories, or not everyone can be the hero.. so in a themepark the personal story is a lonely box.
I made a choice to save this evil pirate from from her well deserved fate, others did not.. there wasn't only one predetermined choice to be made, there was two. That choice changed my world and where it will lead.
In something in like Eve where a betrayal might cost sovereignty in a system and leave it wide open to a massive campaign lasting months and changing the landscape and gameplay forever... well dynamic like that is only available from a real sandbox. No one since CCP has had the balls to release that kind of game, so for the themeparks we have... this is the most dynamic world available.
Forgot about phasing. The third most annoying aspect to hit MMOs in the past years.
Why do MMOs move away from social aspects and grouping so much,.. i don't get it. There are so many great single player games. Why turn MMOs into single player games
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
This. The phasing mechanic is a disaster. As soon as you get even a little out of step with friends and guildies, you are cut off into your own little instance / universe and it effectively becomes a solo game that you are paying a sub for. So many times I found myself unable to do stuff with friends / guildies because I was too far ahead or behind and we couldn't enjoy the content together. We were in a group but invisiable to one another and could not do questing together. It was awful. It just became a single player game. And not a very good one at that. I already have Skyrim, and other MMO's do the MMO part better. I give the sub model they've adopted 6-12 months tops before they slash the prices or go f2p.
Couldn't agree more. I still relish the fact that I had rep in WoW before LFD and LFR created casual everything. As a tank it was an important thing to have rep.
I've tried just about every MMO of the past few years and those days are gone forever. It's a shame. The social part of an MMO was what kept me interested.
MOBAs, shooters with new online features (like Destiny) will be the future.
I think this is the first time i ever agreed with what you said lol.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
Sounds like Aion almost exactly.. Tab targeting, 5 completely full hotbars, player reputation is everything. Just saying.. smaller community for sure, but smaller tends to bring the social interaction back into a game.
Wow, funniest thing, I just reinstalled Aion this week. My son and I played at release and we decided to give it another try. It was either that or Rift, but I picked Aion because I like its skill system better for tanking.
Good call.
I go back to EQ1 every few months and have some dungeon fun there. Grouping, talking to others... pulling, crowd control and depending on others all while having great xp without having to collect some dirty towl from a farmer.
Remains the best, and in my opinion only game that managed the social part perfectly. You can do solo, but grouping GREATLY boosts your success and you really want to group up. The more i think about it, the more i realize how i miss the social part about MMOs. Even tho i never noticed that when i HAD that social experience. Guess that is something you start valuing after you have lost it.
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
GW2 isn't meant to have directions, it is meant to be explored. Different model and therefore something to take the genre forward. Finally we have an MMO that even with all its flaws tried some new concepts instead of ''WoW-style, gear focused progression lead by npc's who take your hand and lead you to where you go''.
I enjoyed WoW, I enjoy GW2 and I will enjoy whats coming. If you can't accept new concepts and rather see copies instead of something new, even if it is not according to your taste, you will never then see new MMOs and will get stuck in 2004 forever.
well if you replace the WoW with Everquest series (and i am not even fan of these games..) your argument might be valid, WoW just polished, wasnt so innovative, i would say it might be a step backwards (at least from a PvP point of view ..)
i am playing GW2 and their innovation is the dynamic quests, they look awesome and i wish games represent their quest in such a style ... other innovations which i like where about game play like the remove of holy trinity, but this requires a hell of work for dungeons from the part of developers, but in pvp was an awesome thing, also the downed state, which many people hate, but it offered more depth in fights (in WvW and sPvP), and the remove of the half UI other MMOs have was good and i prefer to dodge or hide behind a wall than having a 2nd keyobard on my screen ... i wish it was not a railed thempark with instead of WvW, GvG and not this stupid personal story, and no barriers between maps ...
ESO also had some innovative mechanics in the character development where you can see a lot of diversity, but i didnt saw anything else truly innovative ...
i read the last page and i saw some disappointing posts, probably you dont like any innovation, on gamasutra GW2 became a standar of innovation and here some WoWbabies demand the genre to stuck in 2004, what a pity ...
While GW2 was fun as everything was almost diffrent from the tab target standard mmo's it also became extremely dull.
No healers and only a handfull of skills wich you just spam on cooldown....
No way i would ever play such mmo style again.
It showed me that tab target brings a more personal pvp style as you can hammer down the target you want and not blend in the zerg and be safe.
ESO has almost the same style but with healers, yet no tab target....
I hope these kind of styles wont be the norm as it aint my cup of thee.
Archeage comes out this year and from what i have seen so far their pvp might be back on what i prefer most.
I believe that GW2 most definitely made an impact to the genre.
It showed us, the consumers, that it's business model can work, that devs can produce content on regular basis and that MMO's do not have to be hard-core competitive in order to be fun. It's not flawless, far from it, but it has undeniably set some standards in MMO industry.
I feel that TESO on the other hand, does not bring anything new to the genre. None of the features are new and I couldn't even say that the features that are present are implemented on a consistent, high quality level, which will set the standard for future MMO's to come.
I agree. ESO has sort of cherry-picked the nicer aspects of other mmorpgs and, with some minor variations and little tweaks, placed them all into ESO. It works rather well, but I don't think they pushed any boundaries all that far, if at all.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I think GW2 brought things up a notch or two in overall character and world design. There were some new and interesting races with their own lore. The world felt like a fresh place for the first six months I was playing it. The overall design of the world features and NPC also felt fresh and vibrant.
Being able to paint each piece of armor through collected dyes and to change skins of weapons was pretty cool. That may have already existed in other games, but none that I remember. I think the WvW was also innovative to a small degree (even with all the issues that arose from it). The living story and scaled group quests also helped support and continue things we were seeing in other games. I don't see the contribution of T.E.S.O. so far. The combat is not new, but it does support the continuation of first-person combat established in earlier games like Darkfall, Tera, etc. which I like.
Gaming since 1985; Online gaming since 1995; No End in Sight! My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8POVoJ8fdOseuJ4U1ZX-oA
1) You should read more about the MMO history, i gonna help you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_massively_multiplayer_online_games
As you can see, WoW is not the 1st MMO, is even a copy of pretty much everything. WoW didnt set any Standard in the genre, it was just popular for so many reason but we have no point to talk about that now.
2) i dont find any MMO following the Path of GW2, is more likely that GW2 is what you dont want to do in a MMO, and there is not exploration on GW2, it was just running around following paths.
3). Probably SWTOR 1st, and now ESO have changed the genre talking about themepark, with a strong history and lore, at the level of a SPRPG, in a MMO. If we have to talk about a new trend, probably SWTOR and ESO have set the new standars, again, talking about themepark.
TESO, the multiplayer game where 90% of the levelling is soloable. If that's the future of MMOs, I'll wait for indie niche MMOs.
Only 90%? May be i should skip it.
That is just a matter of perspective.
Phasing and instances move the "GAME" in MMORPG forward.