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Is it just me, or has this year been crappy for MMORPGs?
Razeekster
Member UncommonPosts: 2,591
It's one of the reasons that I believe FFXIV had so many players that Square Enix wasn't prepared for such a situation. In fact is FFXIV the only AAA MMORPG that has come out this year? I don't really count NeverWinter... I know some people do and that's alright, but I am not one of them.
Kind of a boring year for MMORPGs with all the new MMORPGs deciding to come out next year at around the same time because apparently (for some odd, unknown reason) they all want a ton of competition.
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twitter @WockyCC | you-tube: WockyCC
What has this year produced? I honestly can't think of more than a couple MMORPGs.
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"New" MMORPGs have nothing to do with it. The genre is flooded with players, over 20 million around the world. Now factor in old MMOs like WoW no longer being able to hold onto long time players and the fact that SOE has had poor leadership for such a long time and there you have it.
I mean really, even RIFT had issues after going F2P with being under-prepared...
And this is during the first year in how many where two new MMOs break the 2 million player mark, both GW2 and Neverwinter, one topping 3 million in sales and the other 2 million active accounts.
twitter @WockyCC | you-tube: WockyCC
For most MMO gamers, it's been a year of good expansions for a lot of the major MMOs. Jaded bittervets aside, gamers seem relatively happy about what has been released this year. These forums paint a different picture because every release or expansion is either shouted down as "fail" or touted as the second coming of Christ - insanely binary, with no middle ground at all.
However, most of the MMOs seem to be doing well, and the only way they can do well is by offering content their audience enjoys. It really hasn't been a bad year.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
So tell me why have I not played any MMORPG this year or spent $ on a new one in the last 2 years and 8 months after a joyful MMORPG experience over the last decade. There have been 3-5 great MMORPG's since the first MMORPG came out. Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies Pre-CU, World of Warcraft and I'll let the fans pick the rest 2 so I don't get flamed.
So yea, every 3 years now it's the norm and average for a great MMORPG to come around. Everything else is just unfinished, broken or simply to pass the time for some. After WOW came, the 3 year average feels like 5+. We've been plagued by WOW clones and MOBA's.
I'm desperately trying to figure out what else to play, so I don't go back to WOW 5.4 in a week or so, but there is nothing really that comes to my mind, not until late 2014.
Loktofeit, if majority of gamers were like me, 90% of all MMO's today would be shut down and we would be seeing 20+ million of veteran players contributing to fewer games, but because they would be so huge, they would also had the tools to truly make an epic MMORPGs in the long run.
WOW dominated cuz it countered the sandbox genre, which was mostly popular with themepark. SWG-Pre CU and Ultima Online and indeed of companies learning from Blizzard and going for the sandbox market, which CCP something did with EVE....they just wanted to compete with a beast. CCP with EVE is the best example of success, not huge, but still great for being only a niche game.
My predictions so far are:
EQ: Next will flop and fail. ArcheAge already failing. Wildstar another flop. Elderscroll Online, another flop, but will do better than other 2. Everquest next will flop so badly cuz I saw the combat. It has bad PvP design, its a major recipe for disaster.
He doesn't need to explain his opinion because what he said was "most MMO gamers", not ALL gamers. You however are giving YOUR OPINION which applies only to you as if it means it applies to everyone.
You don't like the new MMOs, we get it.
Yes, I'm giving my opinion which applies only to me as your opinion only applies to you. Please, if your so kind tell to the community exacly what part of my message shows that my opinion applies to everyone. What you said makes no sense, at least not to me.
Anyways, the numbers back me up as well as the performance on most MMORPG's released since WOW. If I released a MMORPG to a MMORPG market of 50 million and I managed to capture 5% of that market with it, then I would not consider my MMORPG doing well at all. Another best example is how scattered the MMORPG market right now is across dozen of different MMORPG's, which just shows how mediocre all are doing.
World of Warcraft remains still the #1 MMORPG after almost a decade by far, so that itself just shows how well MMORPG's been doing...
To each his own...i thought all 3 of those were lousy.
I honestly hope you're joking... The only good one you listed was Firefall and that is arguable as it's been mired in problems (I played a beta version that was better than the OB version).
The game with the most updates was probably GW2, a game I can no longer stand because of how ridiculously repetitive feelings each one of their "living story" and events updates (most of the times the living story is a complete joke and partly made up of instances so so much for the "living" part). Also, if GW2's graphs are anything to go by they should be able to afford some decent writers because their story so far has just been terrible. I'm honestly waiting for more sandbox games to come out, and no, I'm not talking about ArcheAge or EQ Next. I mean games like Star Citizen that are trying to do different things and not just saying they are doing different things but in actuality are doing the same things but using different names for these things.
It's just saddening to me that the best game that was released this year was FFXIV... Which, yes, is a great themepark MMORPG, but the thing is the market is flooded with themeparks and it really does begin to feel repetitive. I've been playing the same game for four years because it's completely different than the other MMORPGs out there. The sad part is that game is run by Nexon... One of the worst companies out there with what I'm sure is the worst customer support in existence, and they don't even try to hide the fact that all they are there to do is to take your money. That is how desperate I am for a game that isn't a carbon copy of WoW or either of the EverQuest MMORPGs.
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Each one of those seem to offer something entertaining and unique to the genre. Neverwinter probably could have saved a ton of money (and saved players a lot of senseless travel time in game) by just making the foundry system and calling it a day. Dragon's Prophet is a really entertaining take on the fantasy game with a collection twist to it, but the business model seems so intrusive and consistently inhibitive that... actually, it's just inexcusably offensive and damn near insulting in every regard.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I agree on two, but Neverwinter is a good online game in my opinion, just not an MMO. In FFXIV you can at least play with a massive amount of people. I see so many damn people in the world it's awesome. In Neverwinter you might see a couple. Unless you are in the graphical lobby (main city). I am finding Firefall extremely lackluster, and dragons prophet? Ugh... don't even get me started.
This isn't a genre like FPS where every year you buy a new version of the same game you've been playing (like call of duty). This is a unique genre where the games run for 15+ years. Millions upon millions still play all those old games. You can't have a constant flow of AAA titles because there isn't enough players moving on to support that.
Step back and enjoy some of the old gems out there with 14 years of content instead of waiting for some flashy brand new game where you've exhausted the content in 2-3 weeks and then complain about when the next patch is coming.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you there. This used to be a unique genre. Now it's filled with clones. And like I said I've tried some of those "old gems" and I honestly don't know what some people see in them. I think they just have rose tinted glasses on personally because some of them are just plain dull.
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Of course. People have different preferences in games.
I have tremendous amount of fun in Marvel Heroes for its story mission. That is 30 hours of free fun (for me) content.
NWO has good action RPG elements (to me) too. I may play that next.
You have taken unique genre and applied it to the words unique games.
At no point in my post does it say that all MMO games are unique. What it actually says is the genre is unique in that old games aren't replaced each year with new ones, but instead continue on with new updates and with players playing.
It is easy for CoD to get massive sales each year because each year the players move on to the new model. With an MMO the majority of the audience is still playing old games making it harder for new games to get players. For that reason you won't see years with lots of AAA releases, there simply isn't room.
A lot of the newer MMO players (and typically younger) want games that are flashy and action packed. Those games are fun and exciting, but generally not in the long run. For that reason you see a crowd that jumps into each new MMO for a month or two and then complains that there aren't 6 more new ones to keep them busy through out the year. Those who see the fun in the old ones don't run around complaining there aren't enough new ones in a given year. For those who do, this genre may not be for them.
Who is complaining? There are plenty of other games to hop to. MMORPGs are not the only fun, exciting, flashy and action packed games out there.
"This genre may not be for them" .. you sound like one has to choose between genres. I would say the genre is exactly for them to enjoy ... for a while.
I do exactly that. There is no reason not to get the "extra" fun from the MMORPG genre, on top of the other ones.
NeverWinter was one of the worst attempts i've seen Cryptic try since Champions Online.
Firefall is ok, but lacks focus or direction.
Dragons Prophect is a low budget project that could have been executed far better. Overally, it flopped kinda bad, but hopefully it'll pick back up by the end of the year.
I don't think you'll find many agreeing that they're "damn good".
The original poster, of who I was replying to. So... yeah....
This sadly, though I'd say the "every 3 years" is more like maybe every 4 to 5 years something playable emerges, and even then, in the end the game is full of 1:1 copied stuff that ends the shininess of a new game quicker than I'd like, and at the end most of the new games falls into the gear grind trap with the exact same structure.
I have a dozen ideas how to create alternate meaningful progression systems, gameplay mechanics, and content, as we all do, but none of the devs has got the balls to try something new even if we see time after time, year after year, that resorting to cloning does not bring fortune to you or much fun for the gamers.
It truly is crazy when a new game comes out and literally the only thing different compared to the previous game is graphics, unfamiliar lore, and smaller game world. Crazy.
Yes this is just my opinion, but the low active player count on most mmorpgs after the initial rush, and the endless whining that takes place after almost every single release must have some merit.
I always love posts like this because they make no sense in this genre. Outside of SWG, you can keep playing those MMOs you called good.
People constantly move on to new and flashier MMOs to complain that they suck and that none are as good as <insert still running MMO here> instead of simply playing the MMOs that they call good.
That constant need to have something that is brand new will leave you always unhappy. It is little different than a drug user who keeps needing to inject themselves to feel a few minutes of happiness just to come down and hate how things are. That addiction to constantly jumping into a new MMO will never ever make you a happy long term gamer.
Really send a message to companies and go play the MMOs you call great and show that if companies make a quality product you will actually stick with it.
Nah it's like eating chocolade. You love chocolade so you eat it for 5 years straight, but then you notice it does not taste so good anymore because you've been eating too much and the taste stays the same. Now you can go whine on the candy forums why no candy company can make as good candy as chocolade for alternate nomnom.
You cant eat chocolade anymore because your limit got full but you can still reminisce how awesome those chocolade eating days were, maybe one day some candy factory will make something different that tastes as good or even better.
Because some of the MMOs Players call "good" and "quality" no longer are. Expansions to these MMOs have changed most of them in fundamental ways that alter how they play and how they work, not to mention these MMOs have been changed to attract a much different group of customers/consumers/players that they were attracting years ago when they started.... so the old original customers/players feel abandoned.
THAT'S WHY some of us are not playing the MMOs we used to. We try the new ones and aren't happy with them... because they contain much of the "changes" that were slapped on our old MMOs.
E.G.: DAoC.... imo a fantastic MMO before TOA, afterwards I was disappointed but played it, then the revamp altered DAoC in quite a few ways.... the change I hated the most.... Archery. Now Archery nolonger uses arrows and the attacks are considered "magic" by the game engine. Compared to how DAoC originally worked the new system to me is not acceptable. Sure newer MMOs don't worry about Arrows... but for me as a Player I won't play an Archer/Hunter who's arrows appear out of thin air like a spell. I want to use real arrows and manage the supply of them and be hindered and challenged when I run out of them.
WoW changed, SWG changed, LotRO changed..... THIS is why so may Players say [insert MMO here] was great but they don't play them now.
If the old Devs would have just left everything alone and just fixed the bugs.... and made new MMOs to try out new ideas instead of altering the existing MMOs... then there would be far less bittervets than we have now. Bittervets are customers that had their favorite products changed ... just like Housewives/husbands used to get mad as a hornet when their favorite laundry detergent got changed and made less effective. Same discontent just a different product. Instead of going to their neighbors to complain the bittervets come here to complain.... once again same thing.
This was predictable. It will happen again to the next generation of MMOs and the current Players will become the new bittervets.
I'd give Neverwinter a 7
Dragons Prophet a 6
Imo the only good game this year is FF14 ARR.
So I have too agree with op,it's been pretty craptacular this year!
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
Arya Stark