Because I think the magnitude of the change is the same, but the implementation of the change is totally different. Blizzard was smart enough not to implement the change the same way as SOE did. If Blizzard would made it the same way he would be attacked the same way as SOE was.
SWG started as a sandbox MMO. With the success of WOW SOE soon found out that they made a mistake - they should launch SWG as a theme-park MMO. Because with a theme-park MMO you can have millions of subscribers as WOW showed. With a sandbox MMO you can never have millions of subscribers - because it's just a small niche. So they thought it's never to late to change things. The idea of changing SWG into a theme-park MMO was from a business point of view brilliant. The implementation was catastrophic. They changed the game overnight. They should changed the game slowly in small steps over 2 years. In this process the sandbox players would slowly leave SWG and new theme-park players would slowly come. And after 2 years they could have a great theme-park SWG who could compete seriously with WOW.
WOW started as a theme-park MMO. It was a success. But I think that Blizzard knew that most theme-park MMO players are really multiplayer players under disguise. They are playing MMOs because of the hype but they really want to play multiplayer games. So if they would want to make an even greater success of WOW they had to change it into a multiplayer game but market it as a MMO. If they would change WOW overnight they would destroy WOW like SOE destroyed SWG. So instead they changed WOW slowly with small steps from a theme-park MMO into a multiplayer game. And it worked. One of the biggest and final steps in these change was this cross realm looking for group option in patch 3.3. With this patch WOW did finally became a multiplayer game and WOW players love it because the player base of WOW are multiplayer players. The theme-park MMO players already left WOW.
Because I think the magnitude of the change is the same, but the implementation of the change is totally different. Blizzard was smart enough not to implement the change the same way as SOE did. If Blizzard would made it the same way he would be attacked the same way as SOE was.
SWG started as a sandbox MMO. With the success of WOW SOE soon found out that they made a mistake - they should launch SWG as a theme-park MMO. Because with a theme-park MMO you can have millions of subscribers as WOW showed. With a sandbox MMO you can never have millions of subscribers - because it's just a small niche. So they thought it's never to late to change things. The idea of changing SWG into a theme-park MMO was from a business point of view brilliant. The implementation was catastrophic. They changed the game overnight. They should changed the game slowly in small steps over 2 years. In this process the sandbox players would slowly leave SWG and new theme-park players would slowly come. And after 2 years they could have a great theme-park SWG who could compete seriously with WOW.
WOW started as a theme-park MMO. It was a success. But I think that Blizzard knew that most theme-park MMO players are really multiplayer players under disguise. They are playing MMOs because of the hype but they really want to play multiplayer games. So if they would want to make an even greater success of WOW they had to change it into a multiplayer game but market it as a MMO. If they would change WOW overnight they would destroy WOW like SOE destroyed SWG. So instead they changed WOW slowly with small steps from a theme-park MMO into a multiplayer game. And it worked. One of the biggest and final steps in these change was this cross realm looking for group option in patch 3.3. With this patch WOW did finally became a multiplayer game and WOW players love it because the player base of WOW are multiplayer players. The theme-park MMO players already left WOW.
There is really no similarity between the two. SWG was completely changed. WoW hasn't changed at all.
Originally posted by Frostbite05 There is really no similarity between the two. SWG was completely changed. WoW hasn't changed at all.
Yup, you really have to understand what was done to SWG to know why people were upset about it. WoW as a game was not changed with this new cross-server LFG feature. This changes nothing for those who currently are in a clique or have friends they play with. However this changes for the positive to anybody who relies on pugs for instance runs.
If someone doesn't want to join your guild due to this feature enhancement, then they probably never wanted to join your guild anyway. Or they only wanted to use your guild as a stepping stone to level up, then hop to one of the top 5 raid guilds on the server. For people looking for friends, guilds, and raids, they will continue to join your guild.
There is really no similarity between the two. SWG was completely changed. WoW hasn't changed at all.
Exactly my point. Blizzard changed WOW so slowly that most players didn't notice it at all. Brilliantly.
The game hasn't changed since launch. They have only made gear easier to obtain. Ever since it came out its been one big dungeon crawl for gear. This new feature did nothing to change that.
They are playing MMOs because of the hype but they really want to play multiplayer games. So if they would want to make an even greater success of WOW they had to change it into a multiplayer game but market it as a MMO.
Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game.
I am not sure you fully understand what you are saying. If Diablo had persistent servers that hundreds of people could play on at a time, it would be an MMO. Only reason it is not an MMO is because it does not have persistent servers hundreds of people's characters can call home. Having your character stored on a server does not make that server a persistent world either. MMORPG.com has a list of criteria for what classifies a game as an MMO, and worthy of forum space on this website, it does a very good job of outlining what Massive Multi-player means.
It is not strange at all that anyone playing an MMO would also like Multi-player games since the root is the same for both!
I am not trying to make fun of you, but your statement is very funny if you were serious.
Nothing excites jaded Grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty
They are playing MMOs because of the hype but they really want to play multiplayer games. So if they would want to make an even greater success of WOW they had to change it into a multiplayer game but market it as a MMO.
Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game.
Destroy guilds? Are you positively mad? This will save guilds! Especially the small ones.
One of the biggest sources of drama in guilds is people's inability to form groups despite seeing a lot of people online and the resentment that breeds. Now you don't have to constantly nag your guildies to get a group going, and guildies don't have to come with you to dungeons they don't need to be in or feel bad about letting you down.
Originally posted by Frostbite05 There is really no similarity between the two. SWG was completely changed. WoW hasn't changed at all.
Yup, you really have to understand what was done to SWG to know why people were upset about it. WoW as a game was not changed with this new cross-server LFG feature. This changes nothing for those who currently are in a clique or have friends they play with. However this changes for the positive to anybody who relies on pugs for instance runs.
If someone doesn't want to join your guild due to this feature enhancement, then they probably never wanted to join your guild anyway. Or they only wanted to use your guild as a stepping stone to level up, then hop to one of the top 5 raid guilds on the server. For people looking for friends, guilds, and raids, they will continue to join your guild.
I won't claim to know what happened with SWG since I never played that game, but I do get what the OP means. It's the idea of a single patch changing a vital part of the gameplay. They made pugging easier than forming a guildgroup with this new feature and only the future can tell us what the effects will be. My fear, and it seems the OP shares that fear, is that as so many times before the community acts like water; they take the easiest route. The easiest route now is through this new system.
The result of this may be different from what I fear, but I have a strong feeling it won't. Forming a guildgroup for some instancing usually takes a lot longer than entering a dungeon through this cross server system. Because of this there is a big chance that over time the community as a whole changes with it. Guilds and friendships may become less valuable because of this or at least will change. Over time this mentality may, and probably will, also be for raiding.
I agree that this, from what I hear, is not really the same as what happened to SWG since the change is not as instant, but I fear the change may be a lot bigger than you think.
I actually think what WoW did was a good idea. I had 30 minutes this afternoon to play and was in a group in like 3 seconds and in the instance in no time.
Makes getting to the game play easier.
They will wait until Cataclysm to change the open world game play.
Right now for long time players this definitely makes things faster.
The cave and basement people should get out of their old old old closets. WIth cross server dungeons Blizzard allows ANY dungeon to be played by 100.000 to 150.000 people (depending on the Battlegroups their servers are in). With such a HUGE world and 50% of its players in the end game, .... this mechanism is a breath of fresh ear in GROUP play. ---> No longer the WOW trolls can come up with the solo leveling argument. ---> Started at lvl 18 I found me a nice group to do DM in ... 40 seconds and when we had to replace a member it took one minute... at 01.00 AM. We killed Van Cleef and now I can decide if I'll move on or redo it. SInce my experience is OFF now, I want to do it one more time and do the difficult red quests (at level 19 ) in Redridge. After that, I'll put on experience again and level to 20 by just doing my preferred playing: PvP in Wsg. Then it's up to Darkshore and Wetlands with around lvl23 Experience back off again and go to Shadowfang and Stockades. (quests allowing). Combined with the leveling through PvP and shut down/reactivate Experience ---- the new LFG is DYNAMITE for adventuring freely now in Azeroth... ---- So OP you fail in recognizing the new techniques used in WOW. It gives the total freedom to concentrate on gameplay value in group/pvp/pve/solo/experience off and on techniques. YOU choose.
Zorndorf, I usually hate your posts. However, you're right. This is an awesome idea.
I don't play WoW, but being able to group any time you'd like is a huge plus. My fear is that since groups are random and easily replaced, there will be next to no talking or interacting with your group, other than burning through the instance as quickly as possible. Not sure how you can get around that though.
The cave and basement people should get out of their old old old closets. WIth cross server dungeons Blizzard allows ANY dungeon to be played by 100.000 to 150.000 people (depending on the Battlegroups their servers are in). With such a HUGE world and 50% of its players in the end game, .... this mechanism is a breath of fresh ear in GROUP play. ---> No longer the WOW trolls can come up with the solo leveling argument. ---> Started at lvl 18 I found me a nice group to do DM in ... 40 seconds and when we had to replace a member it took one minute... at 01.00 AM. We killed Van Cleef and now I can decide if I'll move on or redo it. SInce my experience is OFF now, I want to do it one more time and do the difficult red quests (at level 19 ) in Redridge. After that, I'll put on experience again and level to 20 by just doing my preferred playing: PvP in Wsg. Then it's up to Darkshore and Wetlands with around lvl23 Experience back off again and go to Shadowfang and Stockades. (quests allowing). Combined with the leveling through PvP and shut down/reactivate Experience ---- the new LFG is DYNAMITE for adventuring freely now in Azeroth... ---- So OP you fail in recognizing the new techniques used in WOW. It gives the total freedom to concentrate on gameplay value in group/pvp/pve/solo/experience off and on techniques. YOU choose.
Zorndorf, I usually hate your posts. However, you're right. This is an awesome idea.
I don't play WoW, but being able to group any time you'd like is a huge plus. My fear is that since groups are random and easily replaced, there will be next to no talking or interacting with your group, other than burning through the instance as quickly as possible. Not sure how you can get around that though.
...and this is what I think changes the game so much, it may be a lot easier to get groups, a whole lot easier...but at what cost?
cross-server lfg is genius. they can mask the fact that people there have a huge drop in server population and with this they can get people who are tired of doing nothing at 80 to re-roll a toon and do the instances they've ran a thousand times all over again. not trolling, this is my sincere thought on the matter and zongrof, quit trolling threads. you get corrected everytime and yet you want to repeat the same things again.
I seem to be in a very small minority but this whole cross-serving matching idea makes me uneasy. It further erodes the notion of immersion and community in MMOs. After all, there is no need to cultivate a good reputation or circle of playing partners if you can simply port straight into an instance with a bunch of complete strangers that you will never meet again.
I've met some of my closest MMO friends in PuGs and, as I understand it, this new development takes that possibility away since most of the time you will likely be matched with people from different servers. I can see the benefits of the system, particularly with regard to low-level instances, but as the OP says this really is a major step for WoW on the way to becoming a multiplayer online game rather than a MMORPG.
What worries me is that this will become considered an essential feature for future MMOs because while it works well for WoW it will not suit games which place greater emphasis on immersion and community.
The one thing I used to hate when I played WoW was the constant waiting around if I wanted to do any low level instance. Anything that improves/speeds up that process has got to be good in my book. I'm even considering resubbing to level some of my alts before The Xpac.
I agree with the OP. An endless supply of pugs and instanced missions seems great at first, but this just doesn't stay enjoyable for as long as a more "massive" game. Taking the effort out of the process also reduces the sense of reward.
Yeah, like I'm going to risk doing a 10/25 man raid with a PUG.
What exactly is the risk involved?
Regardless, the server you play on must be pretty low pop or full of baddies, because most servers have been pugging 10 and 25 mans for quite some time now.
ICC is a different story, but eventually it will be the same story.
It was never my intention to criticize this change. In my opinion it is a very smart move of Blizzard and it looks like they are still the company that can make the right decisions at the right time. I still love playing WOW after this patch and I still think that WOW is one of the best games I ever played.
What I wanted to say was that this patch will be a very big change for WOW. I don't think it's bad if WOW becomes a multiplayer - I will still enjoy playing it. But let be honest with ourselves and admit that WOW has become more of a multiplayer game and less a MMORPG.
This is actually making me reconsider coming back to WoW, if not for a long time, then just for a little while.
When I made a switch from NA servers to EU servers I lost everything, and I never really got back into it because of the "Solo is better" attitude most people have/had. This will definitely up my experience and make me go yuuuppii
Other way around. It's a step towards being more massive. They're essentially merging all the servers into one big pool of players instead of a collection of communities.
No, because the players are being sent to instances, I maintain it is less massive. Sure you can pull players from a larger pool, but then you send them to an instance, so it is no different than a game like Team Fortress 2 In other words, it is just like any regular multiplayer online game e.g. Team fortress 2, like the OP said: all players have access to a massive lobby to meet up and then play in a not-massive instance.
I'm surprised at the lack of alarm at what this change could signify for the genre, maybe more of this community than I though consists of WoW players who are temporarily palliated by the convenience of the new feature, and maybe the ones who would be alarmed did there hooting and hollering many years ago when the trend towards instanced content first became apparent.
Well actually reading this feauture in this post just got me interested in WOW again, i left it over 3 years ago and never looked back untill i read this post...
This could be fun...
I... *sigh* I have to agree...
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
I can't help but like the sound of this feature. I mean, I know the implications of what it'll do to the social aspect of the game, but it really does sound nice for someone who likes to group.
Massive isn't in how many players you can interact with this instant it's in how many player are available to interact with.
If this were the definition, all the First-person shooters that allow online play would be MMOFPS, all the strategy games like Civilization 4 or Starcraft become MMO strategy, etc.
It's a great way to get groups for instances quickly.
It does somewhat lessen the need for a tight community at lower levels. It lessens the chance people will make memories by leveling up with friends. Not that they won't make memories by raiding, etc.
Also, it seems the servers mostly hurt by this would be the PvP servers. Players don't have to travel outside of their safe areas to level up or to travel to instances. I'd venture too say that world PvP, which was mostly dead anyway is now pretty much all dead until level 80. The griefers are going to hate this.
_____________________________ "Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit"
Other way around. It's a step towards being more massive. They're essentially merging all the servers into one big pool of players instead of a collection of communities. No, because the players are being sent to instances, I maintain it is less massive. Sure you can pull players from a larger pool, but then you send them to an instance, so it is no different than a game like Team Fortress 2 In other words, it is just like any regular multiplayer online game e.g. Team fortress 2, like the OP said: all players have access to a massive lobby to meet up and then play in a not-massive instance. I'm surprised at the lack of alarm at what this change could signify for the genre, maybe more of this community than I though consists of WoW players who are temporarily palliated by the convenience of the new feature, and maybe the ones who would be alarmed did there hooting and hollering many years ago when the trend towards instanced content first became apparent.
Massive isn't in how many players you can interact with this instant it's in how many player are available to interact with. You cannot interact with every player at once on any server, unless of course there are very few players.
If that is your idea of massive than I suppose you consider just about every popular game with an online option to be a mmo?
Ah well, when it comes to defining words like this it gets confusing I guess...
In my eyes unless they include cross server guilds, cross server chat (outside instances), cross server friendslist and instant free serverhopping, it's a step away from mmo's. However it would be a step towards one big server if they included those features. Fact is they don't and most likely they won't.
Comments
Why did I compare WOW with SWG?
Because I think the magnitude of the change is the same, but the implementation of the change is totally different. Blizzard was smart enough not to implement the change the same way as SOE did. If Blizzard would made it the same way he would be attacked the same way as SOE was.
SWG started as a sandbox MMO. With the success of WOW SOE soon found out that they made a mistake - they should launch SWG as a theme-park MMO. Because with a theme-park MMO you can have millions of subscribers as WOW showed. With a sandbox MMO you can never have millions of subscribers - because it's just a small niche. So they thought it's never to late to change things. The idea of changing SWG into a theme-park MMO was from a business point of view brilliant. The implementation was catastrophic. They changed the game overnight. They should changed the game slowly in small steps over 2 years. In this process the sandbox players would slowly leave SWG and new theme-park players would slowly come. And after 2 years they could have a great theme-park SWG who could compete seriously with WOW.
WOW started as a theme-park MMO. It was a success. But I think that Blizzard knew that most theme-park MMO players are really multiplayer players under disguise. They are playing MMOs because of the hype but they really want to play multiplayer games. So if they would want to make an even greater success of WOW they had to change it into a multiplayer game but market it as a MMO. If they would change WOW overnight they would destroy WOW like SOE destroyed SWG. So instead they changed WOW slowly with small steps from a theme-park MMO into a multiplayer game. And it worked. One of the biggest and final steps in these change was this cross realm looking for group option in patch 3.3. With this patch WOW did finally became a multiplayer game and WOW players love it because the player base of WOW are multiplayer players. The theme-park MMO players already left WOW.
There is really no similarity between the two. SWG was completely changed. WoW hasn't changed at all.
Yup, you really have to understand what was done to SWG to know why people were upset about it. WoW as a game was not changed with this new cross-server LFG feature. This changes nothing for those who currently are in a clique or have friends they play with. However this changes for the positive to anybody who relies on pugs for instance runs.
If someone doesn't want to join your guild due to this feature enhancement, then they probably never wanted to join your guild anyway. Or they only wanted to use your guild as a stepping stone to level up, then hop to one of the top 5 raid guilds on the server. For people looking for friends, guilds, and raids, they will continue to join your guild.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
There is really no similarity between the two. SWG was completely changed. WoW hasn't changed at all.
Exactly my point. Blizzard changed WOW so slowly that most players didn't notice it at all. Brilliantly.
There is really no similarity between the two. SWG was completely changed. WoW hasn't changed at all.
Exactly my point. Blizzard changed WOW so slowly that most players didn't notice it at all. Brilliantly.
The game hasn't changed since launch. They have only made gear easier to obtain. Ever since it came out its been one big dungeon crawl for gear. This new feature did nothing to change that.
Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game.
I am not sure you fully understand what you are saying. If Diablo had persistent servers that hundreds of people could play on at a time, it would be an MMO. Only reason it is not an MMO is because it does not have persistent servers hundreds of people's characters can call home. Having your character stored on a server does not make that server a persistent world either. MMORPG.com has a list of criteria for what classifies a game as an MMO, and worthy of forum space on this website, it does a very good job of outlining what Massive Multi-player means.
It is not strange at all that anyone playing an MMO would also like Multi-player games since the root is the same for both!
I am not trying to make fun of you, but your statement is very funny if you were serious.
Nothing excites jaded Grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty
Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game.
I'm talking about:
1. multiplayer games
2. massive multiplayer online role playing games
The differences are: massive and role playing.
Destroy guilds? Are you positively mad? This will save guilds! Especially the small ones.
One of the biggest sources of drama in guilds is people's inability to form groups despite seeing a lot of people online and the resentment that breeds. Now you don't have to constantly nag your guildies to get a group going, and guildies don't have to come with you to dungeons they don't need to be in or feel bad about letting you down.
Sign up and voila!
If anything, I foresee much happier guilds.
Yup, you really have to understand what was done to SWG to know why people were upset about it. WoW as a game was not changed with this new cross-server LFG feature. This changes nothing for those who currently are in a clique or have friends they play with. However this changes for the positive to anybody who relies on pugs for instance runs.
If someone doesn't want to join your guild due to this feature enhancement, then they probably never wanted to join your guild anyway. Or they only wanted to use your guild as a stepping stone to level up, then hop to one of the top 5 raid guilds on the server. For people looking for friends, guilds, and raids, they will continue to join your guild.
I won't claim to know what happened with SWG since I never played that game, but I do get what the OP means. It's the idea of a single patch changing a vital part of the gameplay. They made pugging easier than forming a guildgroup with this new feature and only the future can tell us what the effects will be. My fear, and it seems the OP shares that fear, is that as so many times before the community acts like water; they take the easiest route. The easiest route now is through this new system.
The result of this may be different from what I fear, but I have a strong feeling it won't. Forming a guildgroup for some instancing usually takes a lot longer than entering a dungeon through this cross server system. Because of this there is a big chance that over time the community as a whole changes with it. Guilds and friendships may become less valuable because of this or at least will change. Over time this mentality may, and probably will, also be for raiding.
I agree that this, from what I hear, is not really the same as what happened to SWG since the change is not as instant, but I fear the change may be a lot bigger than you think.
Maybe I am just a pessimist, time will tell.
I actually think what WoW did was a good idea. I had 30 minutes this afternoon to play and was in a group in like 3 seconds and in the instance in no time.
Makes getting to the game play easier.
They will wait until Cataclysm to change the open world game play.
Right now for long time players this definitely makes things faster.
Zorndorf, I usually hate your posts. However, you're right. This is an awesome idea.
I don't play WoW, but being able to group any time you'd like is a huge plus. My fear is that since groups are random and easily replaced, there will be next to no talking or interacting with your group, other than burning through the instance as quickly as possible. Not sure how you can get around that though.
Zorndorf, I usually hate your posts. However, you're right. This is an awesome idea.
I don't play WoW, but being able to group any time you'd like is a huge plus. My fear is that since groups are random and easily replaced, there will be next to no talking or interacting with your group, other than burning through the instance as quickly as possible. Not sure how you can get around that though.
...and this is what I think changes the game so much, it may be a lot easier to get groups, a whole lot easier...but at what cost?
cross-server lfg is genius. they can mask the fact that people there have a huge drop in server population and with this they can get people who are tired of doing nothing at 80 to re-roll a toon and do the instances they've ran a thousand times all over again. not trolling, this is my sincere thought on the matter and zongrof, quit trolling threads. you get corrected everytime and yet you want to repeat the same things again.
Veni, Vidi, Vici
I seem to be in a very small minority but this whole cross-serving matching idea makes me uneasy. It further erodes the notion of immersion and community in MMOs. After all, there is no need to cultivate a good reputation or circle of playing partners if you can simply port straight into an instance with a bunch of complete strangers that you will never meet again.
I've met some of my closest MMO friends in PuGs and, as I understand it, this new development takes that possibility away since most of the time you will likely be matched with people from different servers. I can see the benefits of the system, particularly with regard to low-level instances, but as the OP says this really is a major step for WoW on the way to becoming a multiplayer online game rather than a MMORPG.
What worries me is that this will become considered an essential feature for future MMOs because while it works well for WoW it will not suit games which place greater emphasis on immersion and community.
The one thing I used to hate when I played WoW was the constant waiting around if I wanted to do any low level instance. Anything that improves/speeds up that process has got to be good in my book. I'm even considering resubbing to level some of my alts before The Xpac.
I agree with the OP. An endless supply of pugs and instanced missions seems great at first, but this just doesn't stay enjoyable for as long as a more "massive" game. Taking the effort out of the process also reduces the sense of reward.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
What exactly is the risk involved?
Regardless, the server you play on must be pretty low pop or full of baddies, because most servers have been pugging 10 and 25 mans for quite some time now.
ICC is a different story, but eventually it will be the same story.
I want to say just this before I go to sleep.
It was never my intention to criticize this change. In my opinion it is a very smart move of Blizzard and it looks like they are still the company that can make the right decisions at the right time. I still love playing WOW after this patch and I still think that WOW is one of the best games I ever played.
What I wanted to say was that this patch will be a very big change for WOW. I don't think it's bad if WOW becomes a multiplayer - I will still enjoy playing it. But let be honest with ourselves and admit that WOW has become more of a multiplayer game and less a MMORPG.
This is actually making me reconsider coming back to WoW, if not for a long time, then just for a little while.
When I made a switch from NA servers to EU servers I lost everything, and I never really got back into it because of the "Solo is better" attitude most people have/had. This will definitely up my experience and make me go yuuuppii
Going to resubscribe tomorrow if time allows it
Other way around. It's a step towards being more massive. They're essentially merging all the servers into one big pool of players instead of a collection of communities.
No, because the players are being sent to instances, I maintain it is less massive. Sure you can pull players from a larger pool, but then you send them to an instance, so it is no different than a game like Team Fortress 2 In other words, it is just like any regular multiplayer online game e.g. Team fortress 2, like the OP said: all players have access to a massive lobby to meet up and then play in a not-massive instance.
I'm surprised at the lack of alarm at what this change could signify for the genre, maybe more of this community than I though consists of WoW players who are temporarily palliated by the convenience of the new feature, and maybe the ones who would be alarmed did there hooting and hollering many years ago when the trend towards instanced content first became apparent.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
I... *sigh* I have to agree...
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
I can't help but like the sound of this feature. I mean, I know the implications of what it'll do to the social aspect of the game, but it really does sound nice for someone who likes to group.
Massive isn't in how many players you can interact with this instant it's in how many player are available to interact with.
If this were the definition, all the First-person shooters that allow online play would be MMOFPS, all the strategy games like Civilization 4 or Starcraft become MMO strategy, etc.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
It's a great way to get groups for instances quickly.
It does somewhat lessen the need for a tight community at lower levels. It lessens the chance people will make memories by leveling up with friends. Not that they won't make memories by raiding, etc.
Also, it seems the servers mostly hurt by this would be the PvP servers. Players don't have to travel outside of their safe areas to level up or to travel to instances. I'd venture too say that world PvP, which was mostly dead anyway is now pretty much all dead until level 80. The griefers are going to hate this.
_____________________________
"Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit"
Massive isn't in how many players you can interact with this instant it's in how many player are available to interact with. You cannot interact with every player at once on any server, unless of course there are very few players.
If that is your idea of massive than I suppose you consider just about every popular game with an online option to be a mmo?
Ah well, when it comes to defining words like this it gets confusing I guess...
In my eyes unless they include cross server guilds, cross server chat (outside instances), cross server friendslist and instant free serverhopping, it's a step away from mmo's. However it would be a step towards one big server if they included those features. Fact is they don't and most likely they won't.