The curse of MMOs or "how do I get that cute pet?"

Gaming
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Oooh boy I totally forgot about Star Wars The Old Republic!

I have a dear friend who’s positively addicted to it. She doesn’t play or own many games, so when she gets hooked on one like that it’s truly something.

I thought about playing it some time but, despite knowing the game itself is good, I’m not very familiar or interested in the SW universe. Which reminds me that I tried the LotR MMO only to be surprised by how bad the mechanics and progression were despite me being super invested in the universe itself. :thinking:

@Nyctus ah, yeah! Do people still play Runescape, btw?

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ofc i bought the collectors edition just to get this! :triumph: :crazy_face:

but yea, MMO’s is too much of a time-sink or drain, nothing better than having the enjoyment of a game that can end up like a full time job on its own :smile:

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I’m a huge star wars fan, so that’s what drew me to the game in the first place. Stayed because I loved the game though. It’s pretty free to play friendly overall, and though I used to be a subscriber for a bit, I haven’t played the expansions, and have heard good things about them.

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i keep lying to myself trying to convince me that i still like mmo but the truth is i used too… i’m still looking for an mmo that would become my main game like it used to be back in the day but i just cant… none of the mmo i try feel the “mmhole” in my soul i guess

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I am necro’ing this thread for 2 reasons:

  1. The stable ‘successful’ MMO’s are certainly remaining where they are, but there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of games trying to break into the market, who disappear in the mists within a few years. Including big budget offerings breaking their legs to become more like an MMO (Fallout 76, ESO). Given it has been 1 year since our overlord said things looked dark/bright.

First, how do you think the year has been for MMO’s? Anything new adding itself to the genera? Did folks ever see New World?
Related Query: Do you think that the ‘player burnout’ or MMO fatigue contributes to the perpetual attempts of games to enter the market, because even though any given MMO isn’t going to reach the success of one of the big dogs, there are enough people who had to step away from the big dogs for one reason or another that they can be successful in the short term by attracting those folks alone?

  1. Other than obvious financial benefits/abuses from a large player base in a subscription based service plus premium currency and expansions. I have a big weakness for games with MMO-like qualities, my mind easily falls into a routine where I pursue small tasks/big tasks, get distracted, micromanage my gear/pets/items. It is the reason why I have 242 hours into terraria, and the bulk of that was spent building a massive hellivator lined with blue mushroom grass so it would glow a specific color (I know it isn’t an MMO but I think it gives a good example).

I myself spent a lot of time on Guild Wars 2, but nothing too crazy, probably only like 200 hours in a 1 year period… but as I mentioned a lot of the games that I have logged a ton of hours into have a lot of the ‘good qualities of an MMO’.
I tried The Secret world (lol) and though I loved the world but it being an MMO did nothing for me, and made all the things I don’t like about an MMO stand out more.

So I want to ask you: the good MMO playing chronies out there, what do you consider the traits of a good MMO? What is the core of the experience you are looking for?

Previously mentioned was the

  • Social aspect/cosmetic appearance of a character
  • Feeling of accomplishment you get from rare/uncommon things happening to you
  • Ability to play with others, either friends or strangers (or as I like to call them: Future Friends!) :smiley:
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Only thing that caught my eye was Temtem.

Today was the first day I’ve ever heard of it.

Yes, I left WOW a long time ago and looked for something to scratch the itch per say. I moved to Aion but that was only in the interim. Now, I don’t really play MMOs because Aion was a Korean MMO. AKA grindy AF. People would still be looking for something different that can take their interest. And really, it doesn’t necessarily need to last too long as burnout happens relatively quick once end game is reached.

A little harder to answer, but community, story, experience, reasonable progression, and combat mechanics.

A bad any one of those can break the enjoyment easily.

Personally, I want it to be fun. I want it to be something that is simple to pick up, but not overall simple.

The simplification of skills in world of Warcraft is what broke it for me.

The excessive gear grinding, breakage, and integrated PVPVE is what broke Aion for me.

I never really enjoyed playing Guild Wars 2. I loved the jumping puzzles and will probably log in again for the Christmas one. I think it was the combat that was lackluster. Oh, and the community and crafting a bit too.

Each game did some things right in my opinion. But each one had things that did not go right.

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What drew me to SWTOR was the story. every class had a different story filled with light and dark side choices, and each story was absolutely awesome. A second thing that was nice was how it was not grindy at all. If you completed all of the quests (and really not even all of them) you would level up as needed and be able to move on perfectly fine.

So I have a 30 day trial for FFXIV that I haven’t started yet. I’m really interested to though, as lots of people seem to love it and I am interested in the economy and game style of a fully P2P MMO.

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Yikes when, in the name of God, this I start this thread? Alrighty then let’s necro this.

Yeah, Columbus did and then he killed all the indians as “thank you”. Haha! Bitter historical jokes aside: no idea what happened since then and the latest update seems to have been in June, during Alpha.

I played The Elder Scrolls online with a friend this year and it was outstanding. Highly recommend it, unlike any MMO I’ve ever played and I bloody hate Skyrim. I hope I have time to play more soon!

Sincerely I think the MMO genre is a dying genre. I say this because it requires a profound real-time time investment. It’s not only online but also usually requires a lot of timing, planing, being online at precise times for specific events, and a varying amount of cash in order to fully “enjoy”.

Don’t feel like it’s the kind of game for a generation who’s working 2/3 jobs to afford living with their parents while they pay off their huge student’s debt.

Then again I might be either a) misinformed b) pessimistic or both. We’ll know in time.

On the technical side, very simply: Brazilian servers. if you got that, you got me to try it. The end.

Regarding everything else: friends who also play the same game or an active, generous and open community that might take me into their gilds! I used to love partaking in guilds and, as a very personal trait of my personality, I adore getting to know new people, online or in person.

I don’t care much about cosmetics but a pet-peeve is gender-locked classes. Why can’t I be a female warrior?

@Vindace (tagging you as you mentioned the same thing above): ever since I tried out ESO I realized that – and really, I’m sorry for saying this, everyone – perhaps paid or subscription-based MMOs work better, money-wise, then F2P with P2W elements. Pretty sure several of you won’t agree, and that’s fine, it’s just a feeling I got from playing ESO and it opened my eyes to how well economy can be based when you have a more fixed income from your player-base.

(Not to say a change in income is the ONE thing that will make all MMOs great, because it won’t. Administration, events, moderators, servers, etc, play a hell of a bigger role.)

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This. Yes.

Wizard101
Great games but the card packs money sink for pets and mounts. Sigh. Also, the customer service is awful, salty, petty company policies for glitches they allow and don’t fix. All the while, the for real money shop items are getting worse and more expensive. KingIsle - you scuk.

Lord of the Rings Online
Would play again, I love that world but no idea how I’d like the different skill tree mechanics now.

Fairyland Online 1 & 2
You can still download and play the first game. The 2nd one tried something different, the players weren’t happy (I was!) and then lawyers, copyright. T_T

Rift and Aion
Dabbled. The character creation is so awesome! I could have played with those features alone all the day long.

Final Fantaxy XI
biggest sigh I tried so hard and got so far. Then I gave up a toxic friend and had to delete my character. Still love that world. Aht Urghan - a good place to die at Level 30 (it’s a level 75 area). The job system, meh. The grind, ugh. The world, yum! Lake side relaxation. Water to splash. Sheep to fight. Bird men to run from… ha ha. I miss it, in spite of the tainted memories. Most importantly, you got to talk to Cid and fly in Airships. I mean, that’s living. :heart:

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That’s because developers focus on quality instead of quantity. The hottest new OP thing will only be a best seller for a limited time until you have to nerf it or risk bleeding players.

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Oh yeah. Played it for almost for two years an eternity ago :smiley: i wonder how would it hold up today for me …

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Haha! You brought up an update to the thread eh?

First, how do you think the year has been for MMO’s?

Not too good. Anthem, Fallout 76. Bless Online. And many others that faded from memory. I didn’t play any of them. But just seeing the online gameplay and twitch streamers, its easy to see where things failed.

2018 is still holding some games like Monster Hunter: World, Destiny 2(?), and Elder Scrolls Online (some say is fixed), and now WoW Classic.

Anything new adding itself to the general?

Well. There are only RPG and shooter mmos that make it into the mainstream. So seems same old same old to me. I’m glad FPS has Overwatch vs. Battlefield vs. Call of Duty vs. Star Wars Battlefront etc. etc. Plenty of competition so the genre can get better and better weeding out games from companies making bad decisions.

Do you think that the ‘player burnout’ or MMO fatigue contributes to the perpetual attempts of games to enter the market

I think plenty of people want to play MMOs. Of anything, there is microtransaction burnout from people that give up on MMOs. Gamers still want to play fun games with their friends.
A problem is when a game becomes the pinnacle of some genre. Angry birds took over catapult games. Fortnite took over battle royale. League of Legends took over mobas. And World of Warcraft used to own the rpg genre. So when a game becomes the pinnacle of a genre, new developers try to clone it and the clone fails. Or the developers try to improve it and the improvements are bad and the game fails. Basically if some company owns a genre most gamers are playing, that genre limits player growth in similar games, it sucks players away from other games to one game and so squashes competition for 2-10 years. Thankfully, this has not stopped Asia from constantly churning out MMOs to maybe create a competitor.

what do you consider the traits of a good MMO? What is the core of the experience you are looking for?

What a difficult question! What do I find fun in an MMO? I know that gameplay > appearance. So if gameplay is fun somehow, I’ll find things to do.

I myself spent a lot of time on Guild Wars 2

Did I mention I also played GW2?

I liked the world very much, especially when I could solo or join people without being in a group. Then I wanted Legendary Armor. Failed raids constantly for months. Got like…3 of those raid things. Hated raids because no matter how good I was, the rest of the large group needed to be competent too. So then I did PvP for Legendary Armor. I got 2 pieces of Legendary Armor before I quit the game. I did pretty well in pvp because you didn’t need to buy anything, thankfully. But I hated it so much. I even hated it while winning. Not fun (to me!). Doing PvP made me realize, what am I doing this for? Why am I playing an MMO? Shouldn’t I play things that are fun? Is this game just habit forming? Then I decided to walk away and go back to single player games.

But at least the story was interesting and I liked exploring it.

PS. I haven’t heard of New World.

PPS. Since I’ve been out of the MMO scene, I’m probably wrong. Be forgiving of my opinions.

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Stupid joke alert

That’s a lot of servers.
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@coralinecastell I have never encountered a game with gender locked classes, what MMO did that?

Isn’t this the sort of direction most video games are taking though? It seems most stories are epic narratives (unless they are hacked out bare bones affairs to prep you for the multiplayer).

That is an excellent question. I always thought that MMO’s because they are so mechanically bare bones (typically) should remain engaging because they are built to hook you into playing. I have never gone back to an MMO really after I left one.

No one is ever wrong about their own opinions. Especially about videogames.

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Only if you’re looking at the AAA market and even there the “stories” rarely have more than 20h worth of content, the rest is just padding and busywork to fill check boxes.

This is where I often find roguelites to be an excellent trend that fills the niche for people who want to play 20-60 minutes and have a rewarding no nonsense experience. You can also find a lot of good AA titles that have a lot more of a focused scope with good stories that actually end after 15-20h without too much filler.

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What we really lack these days thought are those mid-tier games like Vampyr,The Surge,Grim Dawn and stuff like that. I remember 10,15 years ago were was whole market of mid-tier games which were fun , werent afraid to experiment but at the same time had pretty decent production values not to be nieche only.

It was a good time to be a gamer. Nowdays you either have triple A nonsense or Indie nonsense and i cant say i like any of those too much. Bring back mid-tier!!

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I just feel like as i child i really had lower standards for games in general and MMO genre moved on a lot since i was actively playing them.

Something like Elder Scrolls Online or Guild Wars 2 would have blown my mind 15 or 20 years ago when i was playing Mu Online or Lineage 2 . I have spent thousands of hours on those games but i would probably get bored after 15 minutes if i would try to play one today.

As much as i feel nostalgia for Vanilla WoW i’m pretty sure that WoW Classic is just terrible simply because of how outdated it is :smiley:

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I’ve probably tried every free MMO at least once cause I love MMOs so much.

Spent 10+ years of my life playing Ragnarok Online. I actually met my first boyfriend in RO. We were together 13 years.

Spent around 8 or so years playing FFXI, I miss that game a lot but I don’t miss the grind. I played it in tandem with RO.

Aion - I was the first max level assassin on Yustiel server when the game released!

FFXIV - my current on and off again love. Planning on returning again soon and starting over on a new server actually.

There are lots of other MMOs I’ve played but those are the ones I have played the most and invested the most of my time in.

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I mean I still consider Vampyr pretty new and The surge 2 came out just a few months ago, then there was Blasphemous, Noita and Code Vein, to name but a few titles that’s been on my radar. Summers generally don’t see a lot of new releases and we’re just about to enter the holiday season release window so I expect that we’re about to see a fair number of titles drop over the next few weeks.

I honestly don’t feel like there’s ever really been a dirge of good games coming out. At least I’ve consistently felt like there’s always something new I wish I had time for.

oh, and indivisible deserves a mention too… greedfall, the longer I think about it the more games comes to mind.

oh god, there’s so many good games out there that I want to play and I just keep spending my time with this godawful rally game, what the hell am I doing?

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Black Desert Online’s classes are tied to gender, most of the classes being female and a couple being male. I believe Terra did the same thing not sure though, I didn’t play Terra but I did play BDO.

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I consider Blashemous,Indivisible to be more of a Indie titles . And while yes , i can’t say that there are no good mid-tier releases whatsoever ( heck i’m sucked into one myself now , yes i’m looking at you KCD ) i still would prefer less CODs and Breakpoints and more Vampyrs and Greedfalls.

But that’s just me :slight_smile:

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