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I will pay $100 a month if you can deliver me from combat focused clones, give me the virtual world
admriker4
Member Posts: 1,070
Ive followed and played MMO's since the days of MUDS. In the beginning the focus wasnt all about combat. It was more about social interactions and community. Then along came EQ and suddenly the focused seemed to be heading in a different direction.
Folks blame World of Warcraft for the lack of diverse complex gameplay but in reality it was EQ that killed the genre. Current players not be aware of this but 10 years ago it was thought that MMO's would be virtual world simulations.
Star Wars Galaxies gave us hope that virtual worlds might still be a viable alternative to combat-focused grindfests. When SWG failed to become an industry leader, we got more EQ clones and no options.
The industry is now sliding further down the ladder. Even the complexity of auto-target and specials is being replaced (dumbed down) with FPS style combat. Look at Age of Conan, folks are applauding its so-called innovation but honestly its just a modified version of a fps.
What happened here ? Besides the occasional quirky game like Second Life, there are no virtual worlds for us to play in. With SWG's failure, it seems even less likely we'll get another sandbox game with focus on all aspects of gameplay ever again.
I cant believe there isnt a market for virtual worlds. Or at least give us the options in the current EQ clones. Why cant AoC allow me to simply be a musician or a crafter in Cimmeria ? Why cant I just spend my time in any MMO decorating my home and building things ?
I would gladly pay much more than the standard $15 fee to have this become a reality. I know there are many others like me as well.
Comments
You can do all of this and much more in Sosaria. Not sure why you're trying to reinvent what's already been invented.
And there's no way on this planet I'll pay $100 a month for a game.
(to original poster)
AMEN!
Check out Wurm Online.
MMO migrant.
To the OP, the game you describe sounds like something a lot of us would be interested in.
agree for the most part with the OP. I love combat too, but not raids and "endgames" and I am just tired of the retreads.
many of the old skool players, including myself, are at a point in their lives where we would happily part with $100/mo to recapture the feelings we once had. It is sad to say that I blow much more than that out of boredom in a month and sometimes a few times over in a nite alone. damn you south beach and hard rock *shakefist*!
in a codemasters voice - "I luv you whores!"
I'd like an MMOG less focused in combat. But I don't remember we all wanting a virtual world and EQ turning us down. EQ was the new incredible 3D MMOG back then. And what we have now is an EQ-classic clone as a Twingo is a Mercedes clone.
I agree with the OP on many of his points. Most of the games feel very similar in design, and I think with SWG it had that world simulator feel where there were many professions including non combat that fit together nicely to create a very interactive and immersive experience. I here UO originally was really good too, but I never had the pleasure of playing that in its prime.
I would love to see another game like SWG. Heck, make the same game but take out the Star Wars even, because as many people have noted in the past it didn't even feel like Star Wars anyway.
Probably a game like that won't come out for a long time. Here's to hoping the future of mmo's is not cookie cutter level/quest based gameplay forever
Heck, atleast give us one precu SWG type game that gives us land/space game with indepth crafting, noninstanced housing and innovative noncombat professions.
Wow, the OP's post was thoughtful and well written. Yours....wasn't.To the OP, the game you describe sounds like something a lot of us would be interested in.
lmao well bro mine was a reply about his rant that ive heard 100x from many others how mmo's could be better....they all sound good but never will happen....well not atleast in the op's lifetime(no -disrespect) but the gaming community is slow at best...i mean nes was out forever before it was upgraded xbox and sony too.....cpu games have had about the same progress....wish it was dif and you actually could play a FPS vitural game in your living room but wont happen anytime soon and if it does finally come out will cost like 10k with market prices atm lol
Games shifted from enthusiasts to mass entertainment industry for the average american idiot, 3D high quality graphics and models changed the structure of a development plan, making content and features much more resource consuming, the reasons go on and on. Game complexity is gradually decreasing.
Games breaking the pattern are usually indie projects which cant compete technically and often content amount wise with the major projects. There are only a handfull of quality sandboxes, EVE being the most prominet, however being a spaceship isnt everyones cup of tea.
EDIT: Simply put, games must make money, a complex costly game focused on a niche market of intelligent people is not a wise business decision when compared to easily carbon copied simplified game for the masses.
Subscribtions: EVE, SWTOR WOW, WAR, DDO, VG, AOC, COV, FFXI, GW, RFO, Aion
+plenty of F2P, betas, trials
Female Dwarf player: WOW, VG, WAR, DDO
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Due to the recent economic crisis and spending cuts the light at the end of the tunnel was turned off. Sincerely, God.
I cut my teeth on AC around 2001 and have never found the same satisfaction. After reading about some of the old UO stories I wish I would have discovered this genre earlier, but now........I find myself searching and doing a lot of reading for anything that resembles a mmoRPG . What happened here, I get more satisfaction out of Oblivion than MMOs?
"Why cant AoC allow me to simply be a musician or a crafter in Cimmeria ? Why cant I just spend my time in any MMO decorating my home and building things ?"
i'm pretty sure AoC will have that. hell, you will be able to build your own buildings and eventually your own damn city. u can do nothing but craft if u want, i'm certian u'll be able to decorate your cyberhome too. but it probably just wont be end game. is that the problem? u want making pottery to be end game?
basically you want to be a cyber musician or decorate your cyber home? what exactly is wrong with REAL LIFE? i am a real musician and i decorate my real home, but i wanna go on epic raids and slaughter ppl. not exaclty allowed to do that in real life. cyber worlds? exactly like the one we actually live in? comeon...
Second life. $100 plz
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
2nd life is not a game. next....
second life is a game(difference in play style doesn't exclude it from being in the 'game' class), and that's from a person who messes around with building in it.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
To OP-- YOUR WRONG AND RIGHT !!!
EQ did not kill the genre it took it in another direction. What MUDS offered was built upon expanded and gave the gaming community options or a different style of game.
What killed it all is all the EQ clones,no one is coming up with original ideas thier all trying to make a bigger ,badder EQ.
EQ was ,at least compared to most mmos, a complex mmo with AWESOME gameplay cause it sure wasnt the graphics that kept subscribers around for many years.. It had a great community,almost forcing people together to interact in a virtual world. Players became creative when they got bored with the grind and developed thier own fun like weddings,parties,scavenger hunts,etc.
The only reason ,IMO, people blame WOW is because it dumbed down MMOs. In EQ you were forced to figure complex quests out,forced to develop multiple stratigies for fights,and forced to get creative when the grind got boring.
You dont play WOW it plays you. You dont have to use much brain power to play it cause it holds your hand and walks you thru the game. Creative in WOW is dancing naked at the mailbox. You dont have to figure out quests cuz WOW walks you thru it as do most newer MMOs. So with all these idle creative minds floating around in newer MMOs it steers people to use thier creativity in different outlets like gold sellers or hackers or exploiters.
Player driven creativity has changed over the years-- MUDS and MMOs used to make you get creative to add additonal fun to the games and make more out of the game. Lately the only time players are getting creative is to figure out a way to exploit the game .
Your comparing EQ and WOW to Second Life, thats like comparing beer and wine. Just because a game is labled as an MMO doesnt mean they have to follow one path.
Some people like killing things and getting a reward or hunting things for that last quest piece. YOU WANNA SIT AROUND BAKE CAKES AND DECORATE YOUR HOUSE !!!!
How can you blame a MMO like EQ for you not being able to decorate a house. YOUR LOOKING FOR A DIFFERENT GAME.
Are MMOs all suppose to be about decorating a nice house,raising a family,etc ?? NO !!! You want a totally diiferent kind of game and these different games can co-exist with thier own unique communities.. You want the SIMS with a virtual world other people may want a fantasy world of exploration,hunting, and questing.
What you want in a game others may not really care about,so you cant blame one of the FOREFATHERS of fantasy/questing MMOs for you not having a secondlife/the sims clone.
Blame the developers for going where the big bucks are at. They cant make everyone happy so they make the ones happy that are gonna make them money.
When I was a young lad in the early days of computer gaming, there was much talk over creating virtual worlds. I now compare it to my father's younger days when he grew up hearing about promises of flying cars.
For us Generation X people, virtual worlds were the next logical step in the computer revolution. It would be a place for city dwellers to simulate living on farms. It would be a place for people with dreams of space flight to live it. It would allow people to raise virtual children even though they were infertile in the real world.
We were told that eventually these virtual worlds would allow us to relieve stress, get some exercise, even live out our entire lives. It was touted for the handicapped as a means to escape their body prisons.
These promises were made over 20 years ago. The first virtual communities lacked graphics and were nothing but text based fantasies. MUDS and the first MMO Ultima got us closer. Then along came SWG and the 1st real virtual world was born. It was brilliant in concept but flawed in execution.
And with the failure of SWG we seem further than ever from virtual world MMO's. AoC isnt a virtual world and I cant just craft or decorate my home in it. The devs there openly admit that crafting is simplistic and an afterthought. The other games mentioned here Im not familiar with so Im assuming their the Second Life oddball types with horrid graphics and small communities.
With each release, I see another failed chance to make a virtual world a reality. Why cant the developers give us both a combat focused world and a place to interact for simply the pure pleasure of it
I agree that I vastly prefer the virtual world to the combat centric grindfest.
However, son't forget to try eve-online. It isn't fantasy, but it's BY FAR the most complex virtual world I've ever seen. Even If I don't play it as much as I used to, I still keep up with it, because the player interactions and emergent gameplay is almost a work of art.
The Saga of Ryzom was another cool virtual world many may have missed. A bit shallow, but beautifully creative.
What Im saying is I want both. I enjoy combat as much as the next guy but there was nothing more satisfying to me than selling my virtual goods to other players.
I'll never forget the time I designed and crafted clothing for an entire wedding party in SWG. The really cool part was the people getting married in-game were also getting married in real life. They had their avatars online and simulated the ceremony at the exact same time as their official wedding was happening. It was such a moving experience to be there at an event with real people in a virtual world.
I had the fun of making that couple many more outfits, from melee defense clothes to outfits for hanging out in the cantina.
And when I wanted to, I had the option to go hunting as well. But the honest to goodness best part about SWG was the total interdependancy between the players. I see no reason why the latest MMO's coming couldnt create a virtual world around their combat engine. Instead they seem content on building a combat game and adding on non-combat stuff as an afterthought. Wouldnt a MMO with both be more succesful ? Can you imagine a game like WoW with virtual shopping malls built by players and more ! Who wouldnt want that ?
from what Ive read, you cant craft in AoC until you reach like level 40. And crafting is a secondary skill, not a primary choice like we had with SWG.
AoC is nothing like a virtual world SWG or Ultima was. Its a step back
Even many LP MUDs were this way. Yeah sure they may have had a merchant class etc. But most of the game was combat focused.
Only MUSHs really took the social/RP story part heavily into play.
If you look at MUD/MUSH/MOO over time the combat oriented ones were by far the majority of the space.
I really don't think virutal world stuff on its own really sells much. Just like full on roleplay doesn't sell much. To be sure there are audiences for both, but they are minor. For the most part both of these things are used as a backdrop for the meat of a game.
Most people do not want to live a second virtual life. They want to have fun in a game that has some escapism. They want fun activities to do and the rest is just spice and enhancement.
from what Ive read, you cant craft in AoC until you reach like level 40. And crafting is a secondary skill, not a primary choice like we had with SWG.
AoC is nothing like a virtual world SWG or Ultima was. Its a step back
Having been there day 1 of Ultima Online's launch and beta testing and playing SWG until the NGE, I know what you mean. The problem here, as I see it, is the concept of "end-game" and the very vocality of gamers who want that EQ/WoW style of play. Most of us who played in and like virtual worlds are, well, layed back. We don't attack forums barraging the devs with questions about end-game, which makes the devs think that is what all the gaming public wants.
SWG wasn't a failure. The suits at SOE are the failure. They made the decision to radically change a game that was doing well and had a decent sub base. By taking SWG away from the skill based sandbox form and copying the level based form, they helped further perpetuate the myth that this is the style that all gamers want. Now all the suits force devs to do is put a new visual coat on "new" games, polish the raid and PvP content and ship. And we (gamers) continue to buy it, play it for 6 months and then quit playing.
In my opinion the only way for this cycle to stop is for a AAA company to embrace the skill based sandbox style of old and make a real attempt at a game. No endgame content (which, since there are no levels this should be easy). The company that instills the idea of a beginning with no end, and packs that with solid content and truly allows players to "build" in the world, that game will have success. Today's games only focus on polishing the "destroy" aspects, in my opinion.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Thats one of the things I love about sandbox virtual world environments. There is no endgame. No tier 6 armor, no final dungeon or raid. Its just open play and you decide what you want to do.
Seems like the general MMO gamer now though cries for endgame content, plus beginning and middle content as well. Personally I dont understand this spoonfed mentality of "entertain me", Id rather entertain myself.
I dont need an npc with a giant marker flashing above his head to tell me what to do. I'd rather go explore on my own and find my enjoyment through discovery.
MMO's today remind me of fastfood compared to a home cooked meal from Grandma. Sure the fastfood meal is well faster but doesnt Grandma's 7 course dinner with all the trimmings ultimately satisfy your appetite much better ?
Signed, mate....
No...double signed
I'd pay 100$ a month for such a game too.
I'm so tired of all that "combat wombat" only games... Like everything should resolve around combat only.