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MMORPGs, Numbers, and You
cyberpunkhobo
Member UncommonPosts: 71
I came across a comment on a gaming forum recently that struck a rather dissonant chord with me. The poster began, quite typically, by expounding the importance of gameplay, immersion, and story to the MMORPG genre when, all of a sudden, he/she brought up his/her desire to see RPGs seize to be all about numbers, which apparently only hardcore players care about.
Now, this struck me because (1) I'm definitely NOT a hardcore gamer, especially if you go by my time spent gaming, and (2) I quite like numbers. In fact, I spend a good deal of my available gaming time playing RPGs because of all the numbers. I enjoy developing characters in a functional sense (e.g., coming up with and/or testing character builds) as much as I enjoy developing them in a roleplaying sense. And I feel like numbers grant my preferred form of (meta)gaming some tangibility.
But I'm curious to read how others feel. Personally, I'm not entirely sure how long a game without some sort of means for measuring performance and success would hold my attention. Would it hold yours? Would you play a MMORPG without stats? Without numbers?
Now, this struck me because (1) I'm definitely NOT a hardcore gamer, especially if you go by my time spent gaming, and (2) I quite like numbers. In fact, I spend a good deal of my available gaming time playing RPGs because of all the numbers. I enjoy developing characters in a functional sense (e.g., coming up with and/or testing character builds) as much as I enjoy developing them in a roleplaying sense. And I feel like numbers grant my preferred form of (meta)gaming some tangibility.
But I'm curious to read how others feel. Personally, I'm not entirely sure how long a game without some sort of means for measuring performance and success would hold my attention. Would it hold yours? Would you play a MMORPG without stats? Without numbers?
Comments
The issue isn't really the numbers, but that the multiplayer online RPGs have become so linear that there really isn't much outside increasing numbers to most of them. Worse, there is usually one path to do it - killing crap over and over.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Don't know how you can have a computer RPG without numbers and stats. Computers aren't nearly abstract enough to allow you to just roleplay a character in a game setting without some kind of statistical framework (I believe there are tabletop games that do that kind of thing although I've never tried one). Personally I've always kind of liked the stat juggling part of RPGs.
Unless the person you're talking about doesn't actually care about the roleplaying part and just wants an action game pretending to be an RPG in which case there are plenty to choose from and sadly that seems to be a trend in AAA games.
If the combat is great, yes. Actually playing spreadsheet online actually bugs me. I think Guild Wars 2 got it really great. Its some balance between spreadsheet and combat that requires you to be observant. Just spamming auto attack for the sake of it won't cut it. Poor skill choice won't cut it either. If the encounter requires stability and you don't put some, you better be good at dodging
I like that. I'm playing that for over 2 years now.
Too many skills (ala Archeage/WoW/SWTOR) is really annoying to me by now. And yeah if I could care less about numbers, that would be great. I play MMOs for more than 10 years with not much MMO hopping (mostly being loyal to the games I play and like) and the action combat just clicks with me. Dodging, stepping out of a harms way, controlling your enemy, this just beats any spreadsheeting for me.
well theorycrafting is popular now, and I have seen many doing it for many games ... and personally i like numbers too. And devs know this, and hence you get all the stats for many games.
I highly dislike the latest trend to say "X Skill will improve damage by 1%." I keep thinking, "This is worth increasing? naaah." 1% of 30 damage is .3 added damage. 1% of 300 damage is 3 added damage. 1% of 3000 damage is 30 added damage. None of these is significant in the grand scheme of combat.
I do, however enjoy knowing that if I improve a weapon or armor, what will happen to it. Not necessarily the exact numbers, but a good general idea I like.
I like numbers, myself, but do not think they should be the "be all, end all" to gaming. If I want to use a mace over a 2-handed sword, it should be a viable play idea. Maybe the mace is faster and may stun the opponent but does less damage, so getting in many hits to "equalize" the huge damage of the 2-handed sword should give me a chance to win.
I would hate to see every weapon be the same, though. There should be differences, according to how any player desires to play their character. Skyrim did this by making every weapon and armor the same in damage once smithing was done to them. Hide armor gave the same protection (with no side effects) as Dragonplate armor. Perks (and 1 Standing Stone) negated the weight/movement differences.
In this era of "You can be/do everything with 1 character", characters are becoming more and more bland. A sneaky character wearing plate armor is just as viable as a warrior wearing flimsy hide armor. The added wallop a mage gets with their spells is easily combined with the protection of platemail, negating their one weakness: Low Protection. There is just no more differences between players anymore.
- 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