What makes a MMORPG great? graphics? length?

Apocallypse · February 2006

many people don't understand that MMORPG arn't just all about being better then everyone else. MMORPG are so popular because the fact that you arn't playing alone. There is a whole community out there you can share your experiences with. Adventuring in a game is fun in itself, but doing it with others is just that much better.

tigris67 · February 2006

for me, first comes graphics, second comes combat, third comes skills, and so on. ::::01::

EDIT: err First comes originality actually. I hate being the same as everyone.

Darkbackward · February 2006

MMORPGS should be about affecting change. I want my world to change based on my actions, solo or otherwise, community mmos are only good if change is affected.

StealthElite · February 2006

First comes graphics:
-If it has ok graphics I'll take it
-If it has HORRIBLE graphics I'll not play it.
Second comes gameplay:
-I like games with swords,bows,magic, and buffs
-It has to have an understandable skill tree
-Combat system must be understanable

Thats basically the stuff I look for in a game ::::01::

OSYYRUS · February 2006

1.) Lack of Bugs

2.) Free form play (I hate being led around by my nose, I prefer to explore/learn on my own)

3.) Skills/Classes

4.) Community Interaction

5.) Combat System/UI

6.) Graphics (Has to have decent graphics, and I hate anime art in games)

OSYYRUS · February 2006

Originally posted by tigris67

for me, first comes graphics, second comes combat, third comes skills, and so on.
EDIT: err First comes originality actually. I hate being the same as everyone.

I forgot this too, HAS to have HUGE character customization

ghostinfinit · February 2006

I find myself really getting personal with my character. With the vast amount of hours I spend grooming him, developing his skills, and making him money I feel I really need lots to work with. Having said that I'd put character customization (1) and freedom to explore the world (2) Graphics, skills/class, combat system etc etc can fall in various ways.

I think one thing that should be ranked rather high is keeping the game honest. What I mean by honest is if you have PvP, build it into the game so it's not a "gank fest" If the game is heavily based on money or your ability to make money (* see FFXI) find a way to make it impossible to buy/sell money in the game (* see FFXI gilsellers) I could go on and on, as I'm sure you guys could, but you get my point.

Necrod · February 2006

Originally posted by Darkbackward
MMORPGS should be about affecting change. I want my world to change based on my actions, solo or otherwise, community mmos are only good if change is affected.

I agree totally, i only want common sense pls...

Jorev · February 2006

Things that make a MMOG great:

non-linear

persistent world

freedom to play your way and not be forced to change your style to achieve

a gameworld that is realistic based on it's setting

a large gameworld

a challenging gameworld yet not cumbersome

Anofalye · February 2006

For me it is the epic progresson (lengh) in activities I enjoy.

I am an achiever, I keep dreaming, hopelessly, about a world with endless levels. I can settle for many things, but not for raiding, PvP or tradeskills.

I want to play and have fun endlessly or up to the end. When I meet a harsh change in the gameplay (aka, reach max level and see an unworthy "End Game" which have nothing to do with the previous gameplay), I throw pooh at devs!

Pre-Hamidon CoH was gorgeous, to little levels and to little progression for my tastes, but gorgeous nonetheless.

The game lengh, the "endless" progression doing what I like and the possibility to GROUP other players are why I enjoy MMOs. DDO would have been great, if I would enjoy the basic activity...but twitch action game is something I doesn't enjoy to start with, anything build around a gameplay I doesn't enjoy can be fabulous, I still doesn't like the basic.

Xpheyel · February 2006

1) Enjoyment.

As long as I'm having a good time, I'm not sure what other technical details matter.

BamaDoc · February 2006

Agreed. Graphics, to me, are the least important. Freedom to really personalize the character and the experience are the primary factors IMHO.

DuraheLL · February 2006

Or more accurate:

1) Bug free (To play a game clean is always top priority)

2) Variety in freedom (Here is where the real content lies)

3) Community (This is the people you interact with in the game)

4) Combat (Linear or variative, advanced or simple, as long as it's well thought through and good it's fine)

5) Graphics (It takes only a fool to not see through the graphics)

moonfog · February 2006

For me its Graphics and diversity.

Diversity in character development and individuality progress to make your character as uniqe as u can.
WoW is real bad at this, the main reason i left everyone is a clone.
EQ2 also had a problem, but with the new achevement system, skills and race quests they seem to be on the right track. A achevment system that continues after lvl cap is very interesting and will result in more uniqe combat stats (not to mention having 5 skill trees!) for turning your character into your gameplay style.

Blackstar · February 2006

I actually think focusing on graphics to the detriment of gameplay and content can be self-defeating. A simpler graphics engine (or game engine) means that updates are easier to program, which in turn means you can pump out more updates at a quicker pace. Greater complexity breeds greater bugs. Of couse no one wants to see pac-man era graphics, but no one needs to see the latest and greatest graphic pixilation. Are colleges pumping out enough programmers that can handle the most complex of code, or would you be better off with simplier coding?

The more complex the game engine the more complex the bugs. The more bugs that are in a game, the more they tend to break the game experience. Imagine reading an otherwise good novel and having to deal with missing pages, misplaced paragraphs, poor grammer and spelling. Those things tend to "rip" you from the fantasy world. Kind of like daydreaming and having someone interrupt you at a really good moment.

Kormac · February 2006

For me, the greatness of an MMORPG does not lie in the presence of other players - they are still just other characters. It isn't lack of bugs, great storyline or any such thing either, since these can be more easily accomplished in single player games.

The one thing that I always thought would be in an mmorpg (until the first day I actually played one):

Fully flexible player driven content.

An online (not massive) game could provide flexible player driven content to an extent, but would need to be filled out with npcs and quests, most likely, or be based on a non RPG concept.

An offline game can be huge, rich and well written, but it cannot write itself differently for future playing. The endgame is the end.

An mmorpg could replace most or all npcs with players, and have a story that never needed to end because it wasn't preprogrammed, but dynamically evolving with the players. The endgame wouldn't exist.

Ironically enough, I've seen very linear (offline) adventure games with far better replayability than some mmorpgs...

APEist · February 2006

going from greatest to least:

Gameplay (this also includes amount of lag)

Has to be a freeform/sandbox game

Combat system

Crafting system

PvP system (FFA [with penalties for pking your own race] with full loot)

The ingame world (has be to an awesome place to adventure)

Graphics.

if you feel similar at all in your preferences, check out Darkfall online, might be a game for you to watch out for.

moonfog · February 2006

Originally posted by Blackstar

A simpler graphics engine (or game engine) means that updates are easier to program, which in turn means you can pump out more updates at a quicker pace.

So not true. If you ever made any type of graphic you would know thats false. A friend of mine works for a effects/3d modeling company. I asked him that on ventrilo and he just laughed. Once the engine is made the hard part is pretty much over. After that the patching goes for fixing script errors (mostly text/code), not 3d modeling.

EQ2 has alot more updates/patches then WoW. And wow has a very simple graphic engine.

APEist · February 2006

i cannot believe so many people have put graphics first.

i mean if only 1 person put graphics first that woulda been 1 too many in my mind.

oh well, i guess artificiality reigns supreme nowadays.

Darkbackward · February 2006

Originally posted by Necrod

Originally posted by Darkbackward
MMORPGS should be about affecting change. I want my world to change based on my actions, solo or otherwise, community mmos are only good if change is affected.

I agree totally, i only want common sense pls...

I can't understand why people think graphics and a skill system are important when there isn't a proper mmo to date that offers substantial change in an environment. Why people wish to pay for something they can get for free is beyond me. Persistent Worlds are the only logical draw (other than grind addiction, which most mmo vets shrug off) to mmorpgs.

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What makes a MMORPG great? graphics? length?

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What makes a MMORPG great? graphics? length?

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