In late 08 and early 09, I got a chance to go back to Everquest for a while.
Bring back pre-PoP or even Pre-Luclin, modernize some controls and stuff, remove insta-travel, auction houses etc. and you have the best MMO out there. Hell, from my experience a year and a half ago it is STILL the best MMO, even in its current state.
Absolutly no doubt for me revive Asheron's call 2. I had 38 characters when the game died I played on and off since the launch day.
The best MMO ever made. Way better than AC1. I played AC1 and hated most of it especialy melee combat.
AC2 was great because, it had very low amount of useless npc's all over the place, the combat system rocked, the class mixup was awesome, the crafting was great. The mobs / classes/ races all unherd of in any other MMO even to this day ( except AC1 of course).
Didn't have to play suzy homemaker and virtual sims like in most MMO's.
So hands down for me it's AC2, I would play that and nothing else for a long long time.
If I could revive any MMORPG, it'd be Star Wars Galaxies.
Back to the days before the CU/NGE.
+ Back to the Skillpoint / Template System (avoiding the Class + Level System)
+ Back to a true player run economy
+ Back to where crafted equipment accounted for essentially everything you used to play
+ Back to where non-combat gameplay was just as important to the playerbase
+ Fix the bugs that SWG never really got rid of; make the tweaks that needed to be made. This was something that SOE historically did a p*ss poor job on with SWG, and a major factor in people leaving (before the the CU & NGE changes)
+ Get rid of the "invisible barriers" to gaming worlds introduced via the "Rage of the Wookies" and "Trials of Obi-Wan" expansion packs. Bring back true travelling freedom that the original worlds had (yes, even "Terrain Negotiation" for slopes and inclines).
+ Instead of the efforts wasted on the awful Combat Upgrade (CU) and much worse, the subsequent New Game Enhancements (NGE), 2 large gameplay system alterations, especially the latter, the work could have been devoted to bringing more to the existing game world and system.
+ Expand further space, the "Jump to Lightspeed" portion of the game. After the JTL expansion pack came out, very little attention was devoted in improving and enlargening the space game. JTL had some cool little aspects, but that fruit was allowed to wither on the vine.
SWG was a Sanbdbox style of a game. If the game got the fixes and additions that it needed, you wouldn't be hearing so much about the demise of SWG so frequently on these boards. It'd also give an alternative home to Sandbox style MMORPG players. Because let's face it: There's not much selection when it comes to Sandbox games these days.
With the upcoming SWTOR, if SWG was still around doing ok, Star Wars MMORPG fans have two alternatives: Playing in the "Original Trilogy" era or with BioWare's "TOR" era. You can play in either a Sandbox style MMORPG like SWG or in a focused, directed quest with Class + Level system in SWTOR. The choices would have been nice but the reality says it isn't happening. I'll be declared Emperor Of Earth and have World Peace at the same time before this happens.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Kind of combine them, AC1 was a great game, the way games today should be played. AC2 was great also, ahead of its time but didnt get a fair shake. If they combined the best features of both, I would be hooked for life.
I can only DREAM of such a game.
Sinn
Agreed. AC1 pretty much has all of the features that everyone seems to ask for anymore. Open world, classless system, full-loot pvp (on Darktide or going "Red"), etc.
Asheron's Call 2 was a great game in terms of pure action oriented combat. Not to mention very unique classes, like the Hivekeeper that harnessed bees as weapons.
Now if you were to take the features that made AC1 great, add in a smattering of the uniqueness of AC2, and some other improvements, you'd have a real gem of a game.
BTW, for those who don't like full-loot pvp, AC1 also had pk-lite (or going "pink") that allowed you to pvp against other pk-lite players without the penalties. Turbine had a great blend of casual and hardcore play mechanics, before the terms were even really coined.
One of most unique classes in AC2 you forget to mention the Tact with his turrets!!!
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009..... In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Tough one, there are three games that I loved but got shut down. Auto Assault, Hellgate London and Tabula Rasa. I guess if I could pick one of those to be revived it would have to be Tabula Rasa, i really miss that game
SWG Pre CU. It had a ton of sandbox but just enough structure to feel like a real universe (unlike second life). So yummy with all its customization, innovation, and non-combat elements.
Shadowbane. With some updates, of course (graphics, UI, etc). The potential of the game was severely hindered by the mediocrity of the programming and a bad, crashing release. By the time there was stability, the population was in it's death spiral.
Real, in game consequences for the pvp. An in-game political structure like no other MMO before or since. When having mouthy guild members can destroy your log-in point and vendors...your home if you will...you either get good, or pay the consequences. No other game has forced people to back up what they say like Shadowbane did.
Unfortunately, it has a bad rap from the name, but a remake of it could be *the* pvp game, bar none. If anyone cared to make it happen.
Edit: Lots of mentions for Shadowbane in this thread. Nice to see.
DAOC no doubt, its stilla good game people just don't feel they can compete, they can but .. they also made leveling via task dungeons which is lame. Still.
AC2 maybe but only with a ton of improves.
PS. shadowbane was never fixed to be playble. Unless you call like 10 feet away object/player clipping and loading playble. But i did love its setup and the classes were very cool also.
PS HGL , TR, were bad bad bad.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
without a doubt i would have to say vanguard. when the game first came out i could feel that old magic from everquest but due to the game being unpolished at released, (just plain unfinished) everyone quit, myself included. after years of playing everquest and wow when vanguard was released i started my own guild, worked hard at building it from the ground up with pretty much zero help just to see everyone, including my rl friends, all quit and go back to wow. i dont see vanguard as the perfect mmo by any means but i think that if the proper amount of work were put into it vanguard had the best chance of becoming something really great. too bad it has very few players these days.
i'll go for TCoS... t'was one hellova game which deserved a lot more... cant believe they gave up... it would've easily kikd DDo's ass had it not been closed...
without a doubt i would have to say vanguard. when the game first came out i could feel that old magic from everquest but due to the game being unpolished at released, (just plain unfinished) everyone quit, myself included. after years of playing everquest and wow when vanguard was released i started my own guild, worked hard at building it from the ground up with pretty much zero help just to see everyone, including my rl friends, all quit and go back to wow. i dont see vanguard as the perfect mmo by any means but i think that if the proper amount of work were put into it vanguard had the best chance of becoming something really great. too bad it has very few players these days.
With the server merge the population is actually tolerable. I've been able to find groups for my URT and HL quests, had someone run me through my Necro FD quest, had a couple of TK groups and gotten a lot of help/advice in chat. It's by no means bursting with players but it's large enough to be functional yet small enough to feel like a community.
Original Horizons concept was great, I admit to wasting part of my life following that game when it was in the development stage. Then the people realized what it actually took to make a mmorpg and gutted 75% of it.
AC2 easy. I actually enjoyed parts of it as a mmo experience more than EQ or WoW. Its just it was inconsistent, and there are other aspects that weren't so good. I'd love to play it again.
Shadowbane comes to mind also but only if it was given to a company that could make it stable. I loved the game concept but it never really had a chance with all the tech problems.
Even though it isn't dead as such - far from it, to most of the original fans it is, thats why i would like Runescape revived, the real Runescape, before it was dumbed down into the childrens online playground it is now.
Comments
I think if I could revive any game it would be Star Trek Starfleet Command 2, No other game has captured my interest like that since.
I would bring Zork back and make it an MMO.
In late 08 and early 09, I got a chance to go back to Everquest for a while.
Bring back pre-PoP or even Pre-Luclin, modernize some controls and stuff, remove insta-travel, auction houses etc. and you have the best MMO out there. Hell, from my experience a year and a half ago it is STILL the best MMO, even in its current state.
Absolutly no doubt for me revive Asheron's call 2. I had 38 characters when the game died I played on and off since the launch day.
The best MMO ever made. Way better than AC1. I played AC1 and hated most of it especialy melee combat.
AC2 was great because, it had very low amount of useless npc's all over the place, the combat system rocked, the class mixup was awesome, the crafting was great. The mobs / classes/ races all unherd of in any other MMO even to this day ( except AC1 of course).
Didn't have to play suzy homemaker and virtual sims like in most MMO's.
So hands down for me it's AC2, I would play that and nothing else for a long long time.
If I could revive any MMORPG, it'd be Star Wars Galaxies.
Back to the days before the CU/NGE.
+ Back to the Skillpoint / Template System (avoiding the Class + Level System)
+ Back to a true player run economy
+ Back to where crafted equipment accounted for essentially everything you used to play
+ Back to where non-combat gameplay was just as important to the playerbase
+ Fix the bugs that SWG never really got rid of; make the tweaks that needed to be made. This was something that SOE historically did a p*ss poor job on with SWG, and a major factor in people leaving (before the the CU & NGE changes)
+ Get rid of the "invisible barriers" to gaming worlds introduced via the "Rage of the Wookies" and "Trials of Obi-Wan" expansion packs. Bring back true travelling freedom that the original worlds had (yes, even "Terrain Negotiation" for slopes and inclines).
+ Instead of the efforts wasted on the awful Combat Upgrade (CU) and much worse, the subsequent New Game Enhancements (NGE), 2 large gameplay system alterations, especially the latter, the work could have been devoted to bringing more to the existing game world and system.
+ Expand further space, the "Jump to Lightspeed" portion of the game. After the JTL expansion pack came out, very little attention was devoted in improving and enlargening the space game. JTL had some cool little aspects, but that fruit was allowed to wither on the vine.
SWG was a Sanbdbox style of a game. If the game got the fixes and additions that it needed, you wouldn't be hearing so much about the demise of SWG so frequently on these boards. It'd also give an alternative home to Sandbox style MMORPG players. Because let's face it: There's not much selection when it comes to Sandbox games these days.
With the upcoming SWTOR, if SWG was still around doing ok, Star Wars MMORPG fans have two alternatives: Playing in the "Original Trilogy" era or with BioWare's "TOR" era. You can play in either a Sandbox style MMORPG like SWG or in a focused, directed quest with Class + Level system in SWTOR. The choices would have been nice but the reality says it isn't happening. I'll be declared Emperor Of Earth and have World Peace at the same time before this happens.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
One of most unique classes in AC2 you forget to mention the Tact with his turrets!!!
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Tough one, there are three games that I loved but got shut down. Auto Assault, Hellgate London and Tabula Rasa. I guess if I could pick one of those to be revived it would have to be Tabula Rasa, i really miss that game
Get real swg was a themepark with very little sandbox elements .
This board is full of 'sandbox' wannabe's but they have never even played one of the only 2 true open sandbox games.
SWG Pre CU. It had a ton of sandbox but just enough structure to feel like a real universe (unlike second life). So yummy with all its customization, innovation, and non-combat elements.
Play as your fav retro characters: cnd-online.net. My site: www.lysle.net. Blog: creatingaworld.blogspot.com.
Shadowbane. With some updates, of course (graphics, UI, etc). The potential of the game was severely hindered by the mediocrity of the programming and a bad, crashing release. By the time there was stability, the population was in it's death spiral.
Real, in game consequences for the pvp. An in-game political structure like no other MMO before or since. When having mouthy guild members can destroy your log-in point and vendors...your home if you will...you either get good, or pay the consequences. No other game has forced people to back up what they say like Shadowbane did.
Unfortunately, it has a bad rap from the name, but a remake of it could be *the* pvp game, bar none. If anyone cared to make it happen.
Edit: Lots of mentions for Shadowbane in this thread. Nice to see.
Dungeon Runners --- when i only had a small amount of time to jump on and play something, Game was perfect
MMO's wise to many good ones have gone but MY first was AC1--- I would love to play an updated version.
Original horizon design. I still think it would work (well maybe not for the vampires for a variety of reasons).
Forever looking for employment. Life is rather dull without it.
DAOC no doubt, its stilla good game people just don't feel they can compete, they can but .. they also made leveling via task dungeons which is lame. Still.
AC2 maybe but only with a ton of improves.
PS. shadowbane was never fixed to be playble. Unless you call like 10 feet away object/player clipping and loading playble. But i did love its setup and the classes were very cool also.
PS HGL , TR, were bad bad bad.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
DAOC.. nuf said...
without a doubt i would have to say vanguard. when the game first came out i could feel that old magic from everquest but due to the game being unpolished at released, (just plain unfinished) everyone quit, myself included. after years of playing everquest and wow when vanguard was released i started my own guild, worked hard at building it from the ground up with pretty much zero help just to see everyone, including my rl friends, all quit and go back to wow. i dont see vanguard as the perfect mmo by any means but i think that if the proper amount of work were put into it vanguard had the best chance of becoming something really great. too bad it has very few players these days.
i'll go for TCoS... t'was one hellova game which deserved a lot more... cant believe they gave up... it would've easily kikd DDo's ass had it not been closed...
With the server merge the population is actually tolerable. I've been able to find groups for my URT and HL quests, had someone run me through my Necro FD quest, had a couple of TK groups and gotten a lot of help/advice in chat. It's by no means bursting with players but it's large enough to be functional yet small enough to feel like a community.
Shaq-Fu beause martial arts x frieballs + shaq = awesome
Plus im pretty sure the end boss now would be Kobe
I challenged my reflection to a staring contest....4 days later i won
Original Horizons concept was great, I admit to wasting part of my life following that game when it was in the development stage. Then the people realized what it actually took to make a mmorpg and gutted 75% of it.
AC2 easy. I actually enjoyed parts of it as a mmo experience more than EQ or WoW. Its just it was inconsistent, and there are other aspects that weren't so good. I'd love to play it again.
Any game? - A little mod for Quake 2 called Gloom. Pure gold that was.
As for MMOs... those that would need reviving... - None. They may have been good back then but they aren't good now.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Daoc without buffbots and task dungeons.
Shadowbane comes to mind also but only if it was given to a company that could make it stable. I loved the game concept but it never really had a chance with all the tech problems.
Even though it isn't dead as such - far from it, to most of the original fans it is, thats why i would like Runescape revived, the real Runescape, before it was dumbed down into the childrens online playground it is now.