Played them enough? Which I think is the most common answer and not added to your little "research". Played AO since beta up until... think I was in last time last year. DaoC since beta, last in two years ago. SWG since beta, played last... hm... made a crafter last year it was online. City of Heroes, up until year before closure. What else... UO since euro release, played last, well ten years ago, it really was about the age there. The only ones I left early was Ryzom and Shadowbane. Earth and Beyond and a bunch of others disappeared before I was finished with them. But stopped because features? That would been the new generation games, not the oldies.
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force"
Another combo vote from me. I'll even attempt to put some order of importance on the various options.
Too slow/grindy. Probably my biggest complaint, especially in games designed to be multi-player. The more dependent the character is on others, the more they are also dependent on the LFG factor.
Lack of modern features (i.e. auction house, group/raid finder, modern UI). Especially fast travel. Many modern features improved the ability to get players together.
Populations are too low now. For games like EQ1 and LotRO (which I still play regularly), the lack of a population at my character's level makes finding groups extremely difficult, especially with usually less than 2 hours playing time. The low populations caused the games to become more solo than before.
Graphics. Not really important to a degree. I'm fine with EQ1 and LotRO graphics, but AO and similar games just cause too much eye stress for me.
The modern MMO model is just better. Only remotely applicable. The improvements made by games has been impressive, especially in the QoL features. But the core game hasn't changed.
My favorite old school MMO(s) went in a direction I did not like. No importance at all to me. If anything, I'd prefer that each generation of games add some new element to the experience that MMORPGs provide. They haven't. The entire genre is based around combat, with no other game systems to solve problems. So for me, I'd say 'the old school hasn't evolved enough'.
And no poll options for 'I still play old games' or 'I prefer old games'.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Graphics / UI + the direction they have taken them.
Lineage 2 would be a good example.
Classic L2 looks terrible and has an awful click to move system instead of wasd, but it was paced correctly and felt like i was playing an MMORPG.
Modern version, however, was like an ugly looking modern WoW with linear questing and accelerated experience gain. I plowed through trivial quests and attained a level 30 or so at which point i began to question my motives to keep going any further. The only reason i got even that far was that i wanted to know if the game really starts at some point. It never did.
Bring back the old school design with modern graphics and UI and develop it away from FPS and ARPGs genres. Only then there may be hope to revitalize the genre.
Why I quit playing: Lineage 1 - nerfed my bugbear Wizzy, no respec option.
DAOC 1st time - Shadowbane released 2nd time - Trials of Atlantis / New Frontiers changed gameplay 3rd time - Classic server, no TOA, but removed ability to buff bot 4th time - Uthgard shut down 5th time - Uthgard obsession with 2.69 RSV purity drove all away 6th time - Phoenix great QOL improvements, but not a fan of RVR, pointless keep trading, prefer FFA red servers.
Shadowbane - crap design saw one alliance roll entire server via 3 am fights
Lineage 2 - the grind...oh so long...went back a few times, the grind...with cash shop.
CoH - Weird game others love but I just don't get, PVE only and no PVP. CoV - still a weird game I don't get with bad PVP.
WOW 1st time - burned out raiding Rag in early Vanilla. 2nd time - BC release destroyed my raiding guild & made all progress invalid. 3rd time - Cataclysm, ugh, enough said.
EVE 1) Kinda let the subs just run for 10 years, ducking in and out to try various other games along the way. 2) Two years ago, closed all 6 subs - remote boosting change coupled with CCP refusal to refund skill points for ships I no longer would fly. 3) Last summer - resubbed three accounts for 3 months, couldn't find anything fresh to do.
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
Likely because they are limited and hard to get into. I tried playing EW and DAoC a few years ago. My God the UI. The goggles. They do nothing.
I survived without cellphone in the past but now? Nah, my job almost literally requires one and we aren't techically allowed to use them at work. Kind of the same concept with older games. While I can be fun to navigate with a map... why would you?!?
Likely because they are limited and hard to get into. I tried playing EW and DAoC a few years ago. My God the UI. The goggles. They do nothing.
I survived without cellphone in the past but now? Nah, my job almost literally requires one and we aren't techically allowed to use them at work. Kind of the same concept with older games. While I can be fun to navigate with a map... why would you?!?
Nice Simpsons reference.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
EQ - Played a gimp ranger and got tired (at level 57) of trying to find a group.
SWG - Other people (not in general - specific ones) annoyed me; lack of sufficient content
CoH/CoV - Other people annoyed me.
GW1 - Game became tiresome
GW2 - Had some computer trouble. Was killing the frame rate. Also hated the idea of an expansion. And other people annoyed me.
Warhammer - Thought the game sucked.
Champions Online - Thought the game sucked.
WoW:
First Time - Got to max level quickly and got bored;
Second Time - Nerfs, and other people annoyed me; and
Third Time - Nerfs, and other people annoyed me
SWTOR - Other people annoyed me, and game became tiresome
Vanguard (Beta) - Did not enjoy the game. At all.
FFXI - Thought the game was stupid. That floating stuffed animal that you have to deal with really killed it for me. Tried to strangle it, but failed. Was a short ride.
Secret World: Ok this is really embarrassing. And it's on me. There was some kind of test you had to take to be keyed for the hardest encounters. As a dps character, I had to fight this guy where I had to run and gun in a circle. But I can't run in a circle. I tried and tried. I felt like that kid in the Breakfast Club who couldn't make a lamp.
Those were the main ones.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
1) WoW = wasn't going to raid to get better gear to raid harder dungeons to get better gear to raid harder dungeons. Hamster on a wheel . . . no thanks.
2) L2 = due to the huge grind, i figured it would take me 33 hours to go from lvl 70 to 71 as a gladiator and i was like, i'm done. Plus the bots.
3) EVE = quit games in general at that time, kind of wish i never did.
4) Entropia = still playing on and off . . . real cash economy keeps me coming back and the $10 i accrue a month from it.
5) Runes of Magic = stale and raiding was boring and played a new game
6) Neverwinter = got to a point where i got bored doing dailies, felt like work, so i quit, once i quit a game, i very rarely go back to it (sans Path of Exile)
7) SWG = studying for a big exam, stopped playing, kind of wish i never quit but then when i thought about going back, they closed it. Low population as well.
Haven't really played another MMO seriously from that point on.
I'd be super excited about an MMORPG If they were to remake SWG with modern graphics, i'd be all over that. I'd also try star citizen if that ever comes out. I am not interested in any other MMO, not pantheon, not crowfall, not anything else.
I would be interested in chronicles of elyria only because of the concept not that it will ever come out. Basically, give me a cool innovative novel concept and i'll be back otherwise, i'm good with PoE and SC 2.
Cryomatrix
Catch me streaming at twitch.tv/cryomatrix You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
For me, I still play old mmorpgs. Some more than others. Some I am no longer allowed to. I used to play AO and AoC heavily in my rotation, but Funcom cut me off and won't tell me why and demanded I send them a picture of my ID to continue being their customer - so I stopped being their customer because I am not willing to send pictures of anything to anyone to be their customer.
Other games I love just have too much bloat. I would have loved to have gotten back into LotRO with their new servers, but only four months between adding expansions ruled me out. I love DDO and play often, but the reincarnation grind and them adding new races and iconics means I get more and more behind.
I still play DCUO, Champions Online, TERA, EQ2, and some other mmorpgs once and a while.
So - there can be a catch 22 for older games and their perspective audiences. Make current players happy by releasing new content regularly, or have so much bloat like LotRO (and probably other games like ESO) where you reward people for clearing all content, but you don't think clearing the content is fun, and more and more content added is just more and more a hassle to clog through, so you skip the whole game instead.
The old games are not better but are romanticized because of the communities. You were younger, probably no kids, had more time, so more commitment to those games. It's funny many of the old school people talk about the community being better but not the actual games.
Let's be honest, the old games are crap. That's why most of you are not playing but complaining about lack of...you miss the community. Janky Mechanics and design forced a lot of these communities to form, and this is before the youtube tutorial era.. so yea... nostalgia.
As someone said, the games will always be around and even more niche than before, but don't expect it to go mainstream ever again. If you are a true fan of the old stuff then really you should be happy to just be able to play those games.. because you still can play currently in 2019.
But we all know it's not the game you care about is it?
You miss your old friends from that part of your life. It was never about the games. It's about the community developed in those games and because this is the thing people remember, they romanticize the actual "Old School MMO"...
I am someone who played the old stuff and the new stuff, and I'm finding the communities although different, are both super connected but in different ways. You have to get involved, get social. Youtube, Twitter, Discord, even Facebook groups.
For instance, I'm in a guild that plays several games together. We use Discord to stay connected, and its a blast. Destiny, RDO, Warframe, ESO, SWTOR, FFXIV, WoW, etc.. we have people all over. Raiders to Roleplayers. Back in the day, games had their own communities, they didn't really cross over like that. That's different now.
I don't think it's healthy for the community as a whole to romanticize the old so much because it causes people to miss what's currently happening right now. If you are unaware of right now, how can you possibly move forward?
I got a lot of shit for saying stuff like Destiny is an MMO but I was also looking ahead. Bungie now calling its flagship an MMO is a big win for the genre. I don't see how you could see it as otherwise.
As we always say at work, appreciate the past, be aware of right now and always look ahead.
"Beliefs don't change facts. Facts, if you're reasonable, should change your beliefs."
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
#1) The old MMOs through expansions and patches have often given up what made them great, embracing the same formula as the modern MMOs but with less graphics.
2) The MMO you look back fondly on has closed its doors.
3) The MMO either has gone into maintenance mode or has really low end expansions now due to lower budgets.
4) You have done pretty much everything in the game and everything you do now is a rehash and hence boring.
5) Inability to swallow the low graphics etc of an old game.
6) Not having the time available to really play such an MMO in the way you had.
The old games are not better but are romanticized because of the communities. You were younger, probably no kids, had more time, so more commitment to those games. It's funny many of the old school people talk about the community being better but not the actual games.
Let's be honest, the old games are crap. That's why most of you are not playing but complaining about lack of...you miss the community. Janky Mechanics and design forced a lot of these communities to form, and this is before the youtube tutorial era.. so yea... nostalgia.
As someone said, the games will always be around and even more niche than before, but don't expect it to go mainstream ever again. If you are a true fan of the old stuff then really you should be happy to just be able to play those games.. because you still can play currently in 2019.
But we all know it's not the game you care about is it?
You miss your old friends from that part of your life. It was never about the games. It's about the community developed in those games and because this is the thing people remember, they romanticize the actual "Old School MMO"...
I am someone who played the old stuff and the new stuff, and I'm finding the communities although different, are both super connected but in different ways. You have to get involved, get social. Youtube, Twitter, Discord, even Facebook groups.
For instance, I'm in a guild that plays several games together. We use Discord to stay connected, and its a blast. Destiny, RDO, Warframe, ESO, SWTOR, FFXIV, WoW, etc.. we have people all over. Raiders to Roleplayers. Back in the day, games had their own communities, they didn't really cross over like that. That's different now.
I don't think it's healthy for the community as a whole to romanticize the old so much because it causes people to miss what's currently happening right now. If you are unaware of right now, how can you possibly move forward?
I got a lot of shit for saying stuff like Destiny is an MMO but I was also looking ahead. Bungie now calling its flagship an MMO is a big win for the genre. I don't see how you could see it as otherwise.
As we always say at work, appreciate the past, be aware of right now and always look ahead.
Things that early MMOs did that led to extra "socializing":
Free for all looting: you grab it first, it's yours! This was usually followed by chat messages that began with "hey asshole..."
No secure trading between players whatsoever - you either paid the gold first or he gave you the item first but someone had to take that leap of faith (yes kids, this is the way Asheron's Call actually did trading for a very long time.) Lots of socializing opportunities arose from that: sometimes you made a friend and sometimes you spammed the chat channel raging about so and so being a fucking thief... to which someone would inevitably reply "Language!"
No shared bank space or even bank for that matter. You kept your spare stuff on characters you didn't actually play, A.K.A. "mules." How did you transfer items to your mule? You asked a friend to trade with you, logged off your main, logged in with your mule and your friend gave you your stuff back. Either that or he was no longer your friend and now your mortal enemy (optional: repeat raging chat spam from 2 above.) You could also do it by finding what you hoped was an out of the way spot where no one went, dropped your desired transfer items on the ground, logged out your main, logged in your mule and were either really sad because someone came by and looted your stash in the 5 minutes it took the server to log you out/log you in, or were stupidly pleased because the stuff was actually still there!
Corpse runs: you died because you couldn't really handle the area you were running through on your way to do something. You re-spawned in your designated re-spawn spot typically miles away and, oh yeah, you dropped several of your equipped items and left them behind in the corpse. You now had to go back to the tough area that killed you not as well equipped to get your corpse... repeat for corpse #2... cue social opportunity (long after you've forgotten why you were running through there in the first place and where you were going): "Oh god! Someone please help me recover my 5 corpses before they de-spawn and I lose all my stuff.... anyone?"
Training: (developer 1) "why not put mobs on a leash and let them focus their anger on only the one player that aggroed it? (developer 2) "Nah, too easy. Let's let it follow the player forever and kill anything in its path." (Digital vandal) "I wonder what would happen if I aggro these 6 golems and just run circles around those 6 players sitting and chatting over there?"... cue social opportunity with one person laughing his ass off and 6 people spitting curses at him.
Yup, things were definitely more social in them good ole days
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Old school gameplay was better, but you cant milk 18 year old games because the gameplay kicks ass. Thats why they arent popular, those games are just too old.
Make a totally polished modern version MMO true to old school gameplay and then.....
A combination of everything along with lack of AAA budgets and features actually being good and implemented along with balancing out playstyles instead of going 1 route or another.
I still dip into EQ time to time and pay when I do, but the main reason I dont full time it is because i dont want to sink in hundreds of hours into it again when Pantheon is a year or two away.
Old School MMO's (all mmo's) change. And I've stopped playing them (any/all of them) because the changes ruined the play experience for me.
I played DAoC on the day of release for about 3 straight years. I was max character and the game didnt lose it luster until one of the expansion packs changed or introduced something to the game I wholly didn't agree with. It's been so long I don't remember but it also didn't have the end game I enjoyed. I liked RvR but it was a neat "something else" for me rather than the end game raiding that I enjoyed.
The only classic MMORPG that I still miss is SWG. And that is because it has been shutdown and there is no modern alternative for SWG.
I would love to see a modern version of SWG (with a mix of preNGE and later NGE). I am aware of the emulated servers, but I am not interested in preCU at all. The concept was great, but execution was horrible and then there is the lack of content. Also, friends that I play games with are not interested in the NGE emulated servers (haven't even checked if they still run actually).
Anarchy Online was cool too, but it feels too dated by now. Vanguard was a cool idea, but also was horrible with bugs and performance. Classic example of an idea of a game that I like, but executed terribly.
Another problem with the classics is that the devs didn't know what they wanted. They kept implementing big overhauls that just wasted time and money.
I still play my old school mmorpg of choice (and it has been the only mmorpg i have played for a long time because modern offerings have completely failed me) but in a classic private server setting.
This leads to what I voted, which is that the game/games went in a direction that I don't approve of. Pretty much all of the classics today have incorporated modern features that have either diminished the experience I want or removed it entirely.
Theres a pretty wide range of reasons why these classics are not currently market leaders (although it could be argued that WoW is practically a classic itself at this point, even though it has defined what a modern mmo is for a long time... we now have "wow classic" offering an experience that many think of as being part of the older era). I think things like WoW classic and pantheon will tell us more about the viability and staying power of classic design ideas than this poll will.
I doubt pantheon will reach mass appeal, even if it could it doesn't have the recognition, funding, and marketability to be a massive hit. I think though, that if the game maintains a solid playerbase with steady growth from word of mouth that it would be a demonstration of the viability of oldschool ideas on a smaller scale. On the other hand I think wow classic has the potential to reach a larger audience, especially with it coming at no extra cost to current players. If that can build a strong playerbase despite it being time locked, using older graphics, and reduced quality of life that will be a pretty strong case that oldschool designs are viable (regardless of if they are the most successful or not).
Those that genuinely want old school games are in relatively small supply. What many are clamouring for is new games with old school sensibilities. Even that interest appears larger than it is, as those content with what is aren't as prone to post about it as those not.
On the other hand I think wow classic has the potential to reach a larger audience, especially with it coming at no extra cost to current players.
Perhaps, but that assumes that those that want to play WoW Classic and have no interest in current WoW will be content to pay the subscription price for a game still in development just so they can play a different version that will essentially be stagnant. For those that play both it is obviously a great deal. For those only wanting to play Classic it may not seem quite as nice.
Also, even Classic isn't all that old school really, when contrasted with many of the games that came before, and has a massive population of previous players they may be able to tap into. It was and still is an outlier when it comes to success, so their results may not be considered all that demonstrative of the potential for others to succeed with similar efforts.
Comments
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
What shampoo did Jeffrey Dahmer use? (he was a serial killer that ate his victims)
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Head & Shoulders
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
- My favorite old school MMO(s) went in a direction I did not like. No importance at all to me. If anything, I'd prefer that each generation of games add some new element to the experience that MMORPGs provide. They haven't. The entire genre is based around combat, with no other game systems to solve problems. So for me, I'd say 'the old school hasn't evolved enough'.
And no poll options for 'I still play old games' or 'I prefer old games'.Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Lineage 2 would be a good example.
Classic L2 looks terrible and has an awful click to move system instead of wasd, but it was paced correctly and felt like i was playing an MMORPG.
Modern version, however, was like an ugly looking modern WoW with linear questing and accelerated experience gain. I plowed through trivial quests and attained a level 30 or so at which point i began to question my motives to keep going any further. The only reason i got even that far was that i wanted to know if the game really starts at some point. It never did.
Bring back the old school design with modern graphics and UI and develop it away from FPS and ARPGs genres. Only then there may be hope to revitalize the genre.
Lineage 1 - nerfed my bugbear Wizzy, no respec option.
DAOC
1st time - Shadowbane released
2nd time - Trials of Atlantis / New Frontiers changed gameplay
3rd time - Classic server, no TOA, but removed ability to buff bot
4th time - Uthgard shut down
5th time - Uthgard obsession with 2.69 RSV purity drove all away
6th time - Phoenix great QOL improvements, but not a fan of RVR, pointless keep trading, prefer FFA red servers.
Shadowbane - crap design saw one alliance roll entire server via 3 am fights
Lineage 2 - the grind...oh so long...went back a few times, the grind...with cash shop.
CoH - Weird game others love but I just don't get, PVE only and no PVP.
CoV - still a weird game I don't get with bad PVP.
WOW
1st time - burned out raiding Rag in early Vanilla.
2nd time - BC release destroyed my raiding guild & made all progress invalid.
3rd time - Cataclysm, ugh, enough said.
EVE
1) Kinda let the subs just run for 10 years, ducking in and out to try various other games along the way.
2) Two years ago, closed all 6 subs - remote boosting change coupled with CCP refusal to refund skill points for ships I no longer would fly.
3) Last summer - resubbed three accounts for 3 months, couldn't find anything fresh to do.
"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 survived without cellphone in the past but now? Nah, my job almost literally requires one and we aren't techically allowed to use them at work. Kind of the same concept with older games. While I can be fun to navigate with a map... why would you?!?
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
EQ - Played a gimp ranger and got tired (at level 57) of trying to find a group.
SWG - Other people (not in general - specific ones) annoyed me; lack of sufficient content
CoH/CoV - Other people annoyed me.
GW1 - Game became tiresome
GW2 - Had some computer trouble. Was killing the frame rate. Also hated the idea of an expansion. And other people annoyed me.
Warhammer - Thought the game sucked.
Champions Online - Thought the game sucked.
WoW:
First Time - Got to max level quickly and got bored;
Second Time - Nerfs, and other people annoyed me; and
Third Time - Nerfs, and other people annoyed me
SWTOR - Other people annoyed me, and game became tiresome
Vanguard (Beta) - Did not enjoy the game. At all.
FFXI - Thought the game was stupid. That floating stuffed animal that you have to deal with really killed it for me. Tried to strangle it, but failed. Was a short ride.
Secret World: Ok this is really embarrassing. And it's on me. There was some kind of test you had to take to be keyed for the hardest encounters. As a dps character, I had to fight this guy where I had to run and gun in a circle. But I can't run in a circle. I tried and tried. I felt like that kid in the Breakfast Club who couldn't make a lamp.
Those were the main ones.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
1) WoW = wasn't going to raid to get better gear to raid harder dungeons to get better gear to raid harder dungeons. Hamster on a wheel . . . no thanks.
2) L2 = due to the huge grind, i figured it would take me 33 hours to go from lvl 70 to 71 as a gladiator and i was like, i'm done. Plus the bots.
3) EVE = quit games in general at that time, kind of wish i never did.
4) Entropia = still playing on and off . . . real cash economy keeps me coming back and the $10 i accrue a month from it.
5) Runes of Magic = stale and raiding was boring and played a new game
6) Neverwinter = got to a point where i got bored doing dailies, felt like work, so i quit, once i quit a game, i very rarely go back to it (sans Path of Exile)
7) SWG = studying for a big exam, stopped playing, kind of wish i never quit but then when i thought about going back, they closed it. Low population as well.
Haven't really played another MMO seriously from that point on.
I'd be super excited about an MMORPG If they were to remake SWG with modern graphics, i'd be all over that. I'd also try star citizen if that ever comes out. I am not interested in any other MMO, not pantheon, not crowfall, not anything else.
I would be interested in chronicles of elyria only because of the concept not that it will ever come out. Basically, give me a cool innovative novel concept and i'll be back otherwise, i'm good with PoE and SC 2.
Cryomatrix
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
Also people might like to play new games because there is endless possibility and you won't be behind if you play older games.
That's my simple take on it.
Other games I love just have too much bloat. I would have loved to have gotten back into LotRO with their new servers, but only four months between adding expansions ruled me out. I love DDO and play often, but the reincarnation grind and them adding new races and iconics means I get more and more behind.
I still play DCUO, Champions Online, TERA, EQ2, and some other mmorpgs once and a while.
So - there can be a catch 22 for older games and their perspective audiences. Make current players happy by releasing new content regularly, or have so much bloat like LotRO (and probably other games like ESO) where you reward people for clearing all content, but you don't think clearing the content is fun, and more and more content added is just more and more a hassle to clog through, so you skip the whole game instead.
Let's be honest, the old games are crap. That's why most of you are not playing but complaining about lack of...you miss the community. Janky Mechanics and design forced a lot of these communities to form, and this is before the youtube tutorial era.. so yea... nostalgia.
As someone said, the games will always be around and even more niche than before, but don't expect it to go mainstream ever again. If you are a true fan of the old stuff then really you should be happy to just be able to play those games.. because you still can play currently in 2019.
But we all know it's not the game you care about is it?
You miss your old friends from that part of your life. It was never about the games. It's about the community developed in those games and because this is the thing people remember, they romanticize the actual "Old School MMO"...
I am someone who played the old stuff and the new stuff, and I'm finding the communities although different, are both super connected but in different ways. You have to get involved, get social. Youtube, Twitter, Discord, even Facebook groups.
For instance, I'm in a guild that plays several games together. We use Discord to stay connected, and its a blast. Destiny, RDO, Warframe, ESO, SWTOR, FFXIV, WoW, etc.. we have people all over. Raiders to Roleplayers. Back in the day, games had their own communities, they didn't really cross over like that. That's different now.
I don't think it's healthy for the community as a whole to romanticize the old so much because it causes people to miss what's currently happening right now. If you are unaware of right now, how can you possibly move forward?
I got a lot of shit for saying stuff like Destiny is an MMO but I was also looking ahead. Bungie now calling its flagship an MMO is a big win for the genre. I don't see how you could see it as otherwise.
As we always say at work, appreciate the past, be aware of right now and always look ahead.
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
2) The MMO you look back fondly on has closed its doors.
3) The MMO either has gone into maintenance mode or has really low end expansions now due to lower budgets.
4) You have done pretty much everything in the game and everything you do now is a rehash and hence boring.
5) Inability to swallow the low graphics etc of an old game.
6) Not having the time available to really play such an MMO in the way you had.
7) Your friends have moved on.
Yup, things were definitely more social in them good ole days
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Make a totally polished modern version MMO true to old school gameplay and then.....
MurderHerd
I played DAoC on the day of release for about 3 straight years. I was max character and the game didnt lose it luster until one of the expansion packs changed or introduced something to the game I wholly didn't agree with. It's been so long I don't remember but it also didn't have the end game I enjoyed. I liked RvR but it was a neat "something else" for me rather than the end game raiding that I enjoyed.
Also, even Classic isn't all that old school really, when contrasted with many of the games that came before, and has a massive population of previous players they may be able to tap into. It was and still is an outlier when it comes to success, so their results may not be considered all that demonstrative of the potential for others to succeed with similar efforts.