We really need a large game to find some unique niches that we can call our own. Amethe talked about a Guild member that only soloed and made food in EQ........ This was super powerful to me as I reflected back to my old days when we had larger games that allow unscripted idea's to formulate. To do this, developers have to give us total freedom.
" here's your world, do what you want "
I'm sorry that I arrived late on the early mmo days, I wish I could have found games like EQ1 early but Oh Well..... I could only use Vanilla World of Warcraft to give some examples.
My unique qualities were two:
- I was the master of finding Groups for dungeons. I wasn't even good at Dungeons themselves, just getting people together by using the Social Panels that all mmo's have and nicely asking them to tag along. This may not sound very unique, but it was and still is today.... Very few know how to really find people !
I would do a lot of prep work beforehand, because my little niche was not limited to Vanilla WoW, I used it in all my early mmos. I would study dungeons before ever stepping foot in them, gather all the quest, and manually find the entrances, then start inviting others and leading the ones to the starting point...... All this with the hope that someone would have the knowledge to take charge if I didn't know myself.
- I found most fun in sacrificing my self to help others. At first you'll say "that's not unique". But it was rarely done, people often say they do, but they rarely do.
I would start with my Guild and say "anyone level 27 or below need help with anything". If not I would spam chat with the same.
Now here's where the sacrificing comes in. I have to go in NOT expecting anything in return except making a new friend. I'll go there no matter what the task is. I may have already accomplished that, or I'll be unable to take the quest at hand... So what, it's to make a friend !.... Very few will do this without saying "what's in it for me". Playing with strangers, gives a totally new perspective.
- I had an older RL friend that amazed me when he asked me to show him World of Warcraft. He never played a video game in his life. I showed him the ropes and he ran with it. Weeks after he got the basic drift, he decided to ONLY harvest, and fish and use it to play the Auction, that's it !!!!..... This blew my mind how he figured out his niche.
- His wife soon wanted here first computer. She didn't know anything about computers, just wanted to play this game along side her husband. I helped her with the purchase and gave he the basics and she was soon rolling. Her niche was to Guild chat. She somehow found an older woman's Guild and they chatted about small game things, and do non-threatening runs around the world.
- Two years ago, I talked five friends into playing Vanilla Wow at work. It may have been the best Winter of my gamming career. Two had knowledge, three came in raw. Of the three and being the most intelligent of our group one decides he'll never care about quest, armor weapons or abilities. He just logged in and played with us, we actually had so much fun protecting him because he always found trouble !..... We couldn't get him to take the game serious.... What a spin on things.... he later took it seriously, but it took months.
The point I'm trying to make :
"You need a Large World, where developers give the player freedom"
So, I don't think I pissed anyone off with this post, but I'm sure I'll catch hell
So, I don't think I pissed anyone off with this post, but I'm sure I'll catch hell
Actually you might want to work on your titles...High Fantasy and being popular? It doesn't really match the content of the thread IMO.
I'm kidding, I don't care (though it would be nice if you explained the title). I don't know about the large world (which would be nice to have), but certainly I care to have a degree of freedom, or what some people call, some emergent gameplay.
What I liked about EQ were the things created by the players -Train to Zones -Power leveling (buffing lower level character) -Kiting Mobs -Selling buffs (I remember Chanters selling KEI)
Those things while not intended, made EQ rather charming, even though some of them were annoying like the Train to Zone. I hope Pantheon will give us some degree of freedom to create our content not just playing the content created by VR. I think EQ imperfection made it great, at least in my opinion.
So, I don't think I pissed anyone off with this post, but I'm sure I'll catch hell
Actually you might want to work on your titles...High Fantasy and being popular? It doesn't really match the content of the thread IMO.
I'm kidding, I don't care (though it would be nice if you explained the title). I don't know about the large world (which would be nice to have), but certainly I care to have a degree of freedom, or what some people call, some emergent gameplay.
What I liked about EQ were the things created by the players -Train to Zones -Power leveling (buffing lower level character) -Kiting Mobs -Selling buffs (I remember Chanters selling KEI)
Those things while not intended, made EQ rather charming, even though some of them were annoying like the Train to Zone. I hope Pantheon will give us some degree of freedom to create our content not just playing the content created by VR. I think EQ imperfection made it great, at least in my opinion.
Your right on the title doesn't match the content. The post started as one thing and ended up more about finding your niche. Fantasy was meant to mean living the game how you like to play, but still wrong choice of words, sorry.
I really wish I played EQ1..... Your stories are all great, it's like I skipped a step, and it's too late. It's now too outdated. I think this would hold true for anyone not catching it the first time around.
I'm sure Pantheon will give us freedom. I already hope to work on a full support Cleric on my downtime. Gathering what's needed to help my groups.
SWG was my first MMO, and as it happens one of the best examples of what you're getting at here. You could only have one character per server, IIRC, so you had to make friends to get anything done. There simply weren't enough skill points to master crafting, combat, healing, and resource gathering. I started as a Bounty Hunter just to shoot lightning at things with my LLC from Vast's Weapon Emporium on Corellia. My 2 RL friends were a commando and Ranger / Pikeman. The ranger friend's thing was slaughtering bantha by the score and gathering hides. His connections with our go-to armor girl got us all free 80% kinetic armor since he kept her so well supplied. We all had niches in that game, and it worked amazingly well. My "thing" eventually became creating interesting things with housing like my doctor's office and the movie theater next door.
I really hope Pantheon can bring that back; that freedom to be or do whatever you choose. I've read what Brad and the gang have said about community in Pantheon, and so far, I like what I'm hearing. However, I happen to think that those log in just to chat with the other old women and the refuse to use quest rewards type players are a critical part of that community. They are, in my opinion, what makes a server feel unique from the other 20 options. If everyone is forced to level up and take part in the same things as everyone else, then I think they've overlooked or missed a large part of what made those earlier MMOs great.
Mmorpgs are sort of like cruise ships. You have the tip of the spear, high end raiders in their sea view cabin suites. And working your way down the challenge/reward hierarchy you eventually get to steerage class (where people's level and gear may not be great but they have found things to do that please them anyway).
In a good mmo (and EQ was a good mmo), just because you are not consuming the most difficult content and reaping the biggest rewards for that effort does not mean your experience of the game has to suck. A good mmo is fun at all levels. It may not be the same kind of fun (such as if your definition of fun is best in slot items or server firsts), but fun in some manner nonetheless.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I never planed on it, just slowing down, because nothing to talk about in open forums. Please don't get me started again
You literally said it was your last post. Even your info on yourself is inaccurate.
Look, read the first post of that posting, I stated:
" First I'll say this will be one of my last post. "
Then I stated why:
" Their really is not much to see here anymore. Not because their is nothing to talk about that hasn't been covered but the lack of mmos. Because of a this lack we can only express our feelings. " After a lot of bating I stated a lot of things.
So you do agree you said it was your last post? Does "one of my last posts" just mean for the day?
lol.....
MMo's are not mmos, their online games even the classics, no need for anyone. No need to post in open forums because topics are only about online games, not mmos. Since I'm getting backlash from the same 10 or 15 posters that like online games, I don't see any reason to be there (but with the occasional post)....... Now don't get me wrong MANY people are unhappy with this lack of, but they get shot down too.
Pantheon and a few other up comings but for now, none. JUST REMEMBER, you started this up again....... Your nasty !
Comments
I never planed on it, just slowing down, because nothing to talk about in open forums. Please don't get me started again
It doesn't really match the content of the thread IMO.
I'm kidding, I don't care (though it would be nice if you explained the title).
I don't know about the large world (which would be nice to have), but certainly I care to have a degree of freedom, or what some people call, some emergent gameplay.
What I liked about EQ were the things created by the players
-Train to Zones
-Power leveling (buffing lower level character)
-Kiting Mobs
-Selling buffs (I remember Chanters selling KEI)
Those things while not intended, made EQ rather charming, even though some of them were annoying like the Train to Zone.
I hope Pantheon will give us some degree of freedom to create our content not just playing the content created by VR.
I think EQ imperfection made it great, at least in my opinion.
Your right on the title doesn't match the content. The post started as one thing and ended up more about finding your niche. Fantasy was meant to mean living the game how you like to play, but still wrong choice of words, sorry.
I really wish I played EQ1..... Your stories are all great, it's like I skipped a step, and it's too late. It's now too outdated. I think this would hold true for anyone not catching it the first time around.
I'm sure Pantheon will give us freedom. I already hope to work on a full support Cleric on my downtime. Gathering what's needed to help my groups.
I really hope Pantheon can bring that back; that freedom to be or do whatever you choose. I've read what Brad and the gang have said about community in Pantheon, and so far, I like what I'm hearing. However, I happen to think that those log in just to chat with the other old women and the refuse to use quest rewards type players are a critical part of that community. They are, in my opinion, what makes a server feel unique from the other 20 options. If everyone is forced to level up and take part in the same things as everyone else, then I think they've overlooked or missed a large part of what made those earlier MMOs great.
In a good mmo (and EQ was a good mmo), just because you are not consuming the most difficult content and reaping the biggest rewards for that effort does not mean your experience of the game has to suck. A good mmo is fun at all levels. It may not be the same kind of fun (such as if your definition of fun is best in slot items or server firsts), but fun in some manner nonetheless.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Look, read the first post of that posting, I stated:
Then I stated why:
Again read the first post again !
Your nasty !!!!!!
lol.....
MMo's are not mmos, their online games even the classics, no need for anyone. No need to post in open forums because topics are only about online games, not mmos. Since I'm getting backlash from the same 10 or 15 posters that like online games, I don't see any reason to be there (but with the occasional post)....... Now don't get me wrong MANY people are unhappy with this lack of, but they get shot down too.
Pantheon and a few other up comings but for now, none. JUST REMEMBER, you started this up again....... Your nasty !
Here we go again.