It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Let me tell you where I am coming at.
I started MMOs with EQ, Tibia. If anyone knows anything about either of those games, is that it takes days to get anywhere. This is true in Tibia, where a single death can set you back a week and lose your most valuable equipment- Litterally. Everquest, wasent as hardcore but corpse runs were definately a pain if you werent careful. Anyways, in terms of gameplay, older MMOs were much more difficult. I played SWG, unlocked jedi during the CU and even that grind at the village was retardedly hard but the months it took for that reward was worth it.
I got into WoW and EQ2 for a bit. They both launched around the same time and being a MMO enthusiast (playing DAoC, AO, EVE for a time), I had to play both of them. These games revolved around hardcore questing for EXP. Sure you could grind but it felt even worse then EQ1. I couldnt play either game but for a few weeks. I recently got back into WoW as some colleagues got me to resub and try it out again, in 3 days I hit level 34 on a warlock and all I did was queue for dungeons and playing roughly 3-4 hours a day. I noticed for instance, going from 1-20 in WoW and EQ2 may take a day or two while in games like Tibia and EQ1, it took 3-4 days at least. Obiously games like WoW and EQ2 are fast paced, level ASAP types.
Now, the main point of this post. What it comes down to is, what type of MMO do you enjoy the most. Fast paced or slower paced?
My personnal experience; After playing the face paced games, I didnt feel involved with the world or my character. Running quests in EQ2 and WoW, you do 1-3 quests at a NPC that involves gathering or kills and they only take a min or so for each quest. You also get a peice of gear for doing it! I honestly cannot get into games like that. I enjoy progressing with my character. For instance, EQ1 - I am currently playing the new progression servers and to get gear you have to kill fairly difficult named creatures by dungeon crawling in dangerous places - if you dont have 1-2 other people with you, you have the chance of being overrun and have to flee. I'm getting at that it feels like I dont have to level like a madman or grind quest and instances. In that old version of EQ - gear with bonus stats was relatively hard to come by and you would have the peice for quite a long time assumeing you could not find a upgrade to it. I feel that games like EQ and Tibia is much more immersive to the player and I personally can log after playing for a few hours and feel like I have accomplished something with only gaining one or two levels and a peice of gear.
So whats your guys' take on MMOs? What do you enjoy playing and why?
Comments
minecraft. the battlecraft.net server. awesome hardcore pvp, raiding, clans, etc.
As long as it's fun I don't care what "type" it is.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I don't give a damn about arbitrary labels like Sandbox or Themepark, or what genre a game is, or kind of payment structrure (P2P, B2P, F2P + cash shop, Freemium, etc.) a game has. I only care about three things:
1. Does the game look interesting to me?
2. Do the people playing the game seem like people I can deal with?
3. Is this a game world that I want to spend any time in?
That's it. If a game looks like something that interests me, has classes that catch my eye, and has a community of people in it that I can tolerate, and it looks like a game I could see myself playing for a while, that's enough.
This. Also a bit harder game would be nice, gotta hate being able to burn through content as easy as you can in 95% of MMOs now a days. I personally like to actually put in a little work and think about what I'm doing, not just mindlessly burn through content.
Karasu Linkshell for Final fantasy 14 now accepting all members! Just head on over to karasuls.shivtr.com and apply now! Linkshell info is on the site.
Well said!
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I'm somewhat perplexed as to how the average MMO gamer has so thoroughly confused gameplay aspects that act as an inconvenience or a waste of time as "more difficult". The games you come from are not "much more difficult"... they merely were much better at wasting colossal amounts of time. This was a leftover relic of game design from when MUDs used to charge by the hour(or the ISP they were provided on did), where causing you to waste colossal amounts of time was beneficial to the companies bottom line.
The difficulty curve of a game is not determined by how much time you waste, it is determined by how difficult the content is to beat.
Anyway, back on topic. I prefer games with smooth combat systems, a leveling/questing system that doesn't bore me to tears, and tons of content/story to keep me busy. It's funny, because 5-10 years ago I was all about sandbox PvP games or hardcore raiding. Now that I'm older and I have much less time to play, I lean towards games that take me on a ride w/out having to make a second job out of it. I've literally become the thing I used to hate on in the forums years ago when games started to cater more to them, a casual player.
Sandbox is my kind of MMO. it needs fully player driven economy and content. player created quest, housing non instanced.no levels or classes nothing linear.
it needs decent sci-fi touch and possibly a pet profession/class and space. (space optional)
With housing i need it so i can plop down a house anywhere i desire. combat needs to be there and is just as inportant. world PVP is a must huge number of options for having a guild and maybe player driiven citys.
If you can get up in the middle of combat, leave to go get a drink, and then come back and it doesn't even matter that you were gone, then that's not fast paced.
- prefer more themepark than sandbox, but some of each
- multiple classes, few restrictions
- in depth crafting (Wow's crafting is the height of dull)
- soft trinity focus at most. I'd prefer to see teams be viable with any class combinations, a la City of Heroes
- little forced grouping, especially at endgame, sick of raid-or-die
- few timesinks, insta travel portals once you've walked their once
- lots and lots of viable builds
- no pointless corpse runs upon death
- very detailed interface, show me ALL the numbers
Good.
I prefer good type MMOs.
They are rare.
That isn't really the thing. Those 2 games had too many expansions and when they raised the max level they also made leveling up faster.
It is common in the genre and it was in fact Everquest that started this.
I prefer a game that have few levels and stick to them. Guildwars and DDOs 20 levels are perfect for me. I don't see any point in 80 or 100 levels, it is just confusing and dinging doesn't feel like an accomplishment at all.
I want 20 levels but I also want that each level should take time. Games that you hit max level in 2 weeks and them must spend 2 years raiding for endgear until next expansion comes out doesn't really work for me.
So I guess I prefer what you call slow paced leveling.
- Huge open world, no instances
- No class system, build your own character (sort of like AC1 but more in depth)
- Long, challenging quests
- No "kill 10 rats" quests
- Solo, group, and raid should all be viable for PvE
- Slow leveling. I don't want to be max level the first couple weeks I'm playing
I approve of this message.
I like MMOs where the players have value and are encouraged to play nice. As far as pace goes, I enjoy both. I usually play at my own pace, which is slightly above a snail's.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
I think I'd prefer a good quality sandbox MMO but then again I've never played one to know.
1) Gear is obtainable by those with a job and a life.
2) An economy throughout all level ranges. BOP destroys any economy at top level
3) Fun, engaging combat.
If not for #3 EVE would be the perfect MMO for me.
^^ THIS
Gaming since Avalon Hill was making board games.
Played SWG, EVE, Fallen Earth, LOTRO, Rift, Vanguard, WoW, SWTOR, TSW, Tera
Tried Aoc, Aion, EQII, RoM, Vindictus, Darkfail, DDO, GW, PotBS
I'm beginning to fear my favourite game is talking about games.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
The most fun I had in a long time playing an MMO has been tutorials, believe it or not. More specifically, Age of Conan's tutorial. If the whole game had been like that, I'd probably still be playing it and not shuddering at the very thought of paying out of pocket for it's subscription fee.
I also appreciate sandbox theme, for example, Star Wars Galaxies prior to the whole NGE mess. Worlds that take you a long time to travel across, free roaming, etc. Something you can immerse yourself into.
Player run economy.
Player built housing/cities.
Crafting that can stand the test of time against raid/pvp gear. How about 3 options for gearing up with great stuff, rather than two - or one in most cases. Crafting can be difficult and time consuming, but those who put the work into it should be rewarded for their time and effort.
Can I open up my own shop and display my own wares in some random city? If I can do that, I'm sold.
Basically, things to that event. I guess the perfect game, in my opinion, can be found somewhere inbetween theme and sandbox.
I was thinking along the same lines
My favourite game is trying to find a favourite (good) game :P
For me it's all based on the content. I thought the leveling was really good in World of Warcraft in the beginning. It took a normal player probably a month-month and a half to max level. But this doesn't really matter. It's about the content you are experiencing. If there is nothing to experience before you get to the max level, then of course you're going to want to be max level now. If there is a ton of content to do early in the game, then what's the rush to get to the max level?
So for me, that's the deciding factor. I'm never in a hurry to max my level up because that just means I'm getting to the end of the content and I'll soon have nothing to do in the game. If I have another level to gain, then I know there is more content to play.
I prefer a slower leveling process these days.
There hasn't been an MMO created that has been my "ideal" game yet.... Here's what would make me buy a life-time subscription:
1) Sci-Fi or Modern
2) Skill based: No classes AT ALL! Darkfal has a great system for this, UO and Ryzom are pretty slick too. The idea of you being what you do the most makes sense. Locked into a class blows...
3) FPS combat system: The classic turn based system is boring and stale. FPS is fast pasted and exciting. I love it and I completely blow at FPS style combat. You should see me playing MAG. lol
4) Avatar based with vehicals on ground, sea, and air.
5) Voluntary large scale PvP. Guilds/clans fighting over territory. Seiges. Housing will be in player cities that are only allowed in designated areas to prevent the entire landscape from being littered with BS player housing like in SWG.
6) Large open world with sandbox style play. Large detailed cities with a lot going on.
7) Solo play completely viable, with group play for seiges, raids, and dungeon crawls.
8) Player economy with elaborite crafting system. I personally could care less about crafting, but player driven economy's add a nice level to the game and a lot of people enjoy it. Crafted items should be king, not dropped loot.
9) Unique and varied races. I know it's completely week and unmannly, but I'd love to have a werewolf style race to play. But not vampires!
10) Classic subscription with absolutely NO microtransactions at all. F MT!
11) Regular content updates and contribute to a compelling story arc. Old school Asheron's Call is a great example of this.
That's all that comes to mind right now .... If any development studios want to hire me as lead developer to make this a real thing, let me know.