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With the looming trend of classic MMOs relaunches on the rise, the truth will be revealed
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,400
With the looming trend of classic MMOs relaunches on the rise,
My theory of the state of the MMO genre will be put to the ultimate test.
My theory to explain the regression of the MMO genre over the years has been the understanding that the MMO games themselves now days haven’t really changed. It’s the Mentality of the players which is what really has changed.
Over time player’s mentality has changed and evolved. But the MMO games themselves have stayed the same stagnant conservative models of yesteryear. In fact I believe the players and fan of the MMO genre themselves aren’t even consciously aware of this mentality change.
Things that use to be a stable to the MMO genre aren't the case anymore. Like long grindy level grinds use to be the thing, but now days a grindy MMO will bleed population. FFA full loot MMOs were once a thing but that ship has long sailed away.
With Classic WoW soon to become public, this can go two ways. With its long term success we will see that MMOs been the source of the problem over the years not the players.
But if Classic WoW flops that would be a clear sign that maybe both sides of the equation here been in the wrong. Both the players and the developers.
I believe Classic WoW will have a high count of success early on like most hyped up MMOs, but quickly lose steam.
The same people that complain about the lack of challenge in level grind in modern WoW will likely not be in Classic WoW long, and the people that say the modern WoW is too easy will also play Classic and steamroll the content because it wasn't that the games were harder, it's just we got more skilled and have better access to tools and guides.
My theory of the state of the MMO genre will be put to the ultimate test.
My theory to explain the regression of the MMO genre over the years has been the understanding that the MMO games themselves now days haven’t really changed. It’s the Mentality of the players which is what really has changed.
Over time player’s mentality has changed and evolved. But the MMO games themselves have stayed the same stagnant conservative models of yesteryear. In fact I believe the players and fan of the MMO genre themselves aren’t even consciously aware of this mentality change.
Things that use to be a stable to the MMO genre aren't the case anymore. Like long grindy level grinds use to be the thing, but now days a grindy MMO will bleed population. FFA full loot MMOs were once a thing but that ship has long sailed away.
With Classic WoW soon to become public, this can go two ways. With its long term success we will see that MMOs been the source of the problem over the years not the players.
But if Classic WoW flops that would be a clear sign that maybe both sides of the equation here been in the wrong. Both the players and the developers.
I believe Classic WoW will have a high count of success early on like most hyped up MMOs, but quickly lose steam.
The same people that complain about the lack of challenge in level grind in modern WoW will likely not be in Classic WoW long, and the people that say the modern WoW is too easy will also play Classic and steamroll the content because it wasn't that the games were harder, it's just we got more skilled and have better access to tools and guides.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
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Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
When MMORPGs starting reaching the peak pf their evolution (well established, fast pased grindy 3d beautiful world), kids started getting really addicted, in hige numbers, it was no longer those 3 nerds at class that play mmorpgs, most of the class or at least halve were into mmorpgs.
So everyone played, and played a lot, which was perfect for the grindy gaming design of those times. All these kids grew up, started getting serious jobs, getting married, suddenly, playing for 8 hours to gain 1%-2% percentage experience, wasn't really an option anymore, and playing one hour to gain less than 0.5% wasn't really satisfying.
So games started catering to those gamers who got old, because they complained, played less and had more money to spend. hence, in game shops became more aggressive. In the end, its all our fault, we became too old, our imagination too stale, we are unable to immerse ourselves in a game for 8 hours everyday like we used to. ( well some of us still can). Unless we can't make money while playing the game, i double adults will be able to truly immerse themselves into these games. Making money ingame is the thing which is missing from games today, if any of us could make an average salary by grinding goblins, we would all be playing now.
Basically clicking away text windows ruins every MMO, try to have fun instead of rushing things. Without story and lore all there is left is a bunch of mechanics.
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But I agree
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
See you in Classic!
You stay sassy!
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
In order to keep people playing Classic longer than 5-6 months Blizzard should have ways to expand the journey somehow. The mistake they did in the past and keep doing in current WoW was that they add more end game content but at the same time they create short-cuts to keep the length of the journey the same than before.
MMORPGs were a niche and still are, it’s a nerdy hobby, it never meant to go mainstream.
MMORPGs are the modern version of table top D&D, it’s a niche.
And the last MMORPG was Vanilla WOW.
WOW Classic is going to be a huge success because it will be played by this big niche who is waiting for a ‘real’ MMORPG for 10 years.
And it will have longevity, because old MMORPGs were designed to be Social.
It’s the players who are the main content of older MMORPGs, not the game mechanics per se.
I played Vanilla for 2 years on private servers, and I would still be playing if they didn’t announce Classic.
So saying that after a couple of months people will get bored with it, means you never understood what an MMORPG is all about.
PVP is not what WoW is.. WoW is a classic PVE, questing MMORPG..
I probably have 3-4 months of game time total in WoW since launch. So I'm not really in a position to answer.
But, if it's just my opinion, I liked the older versions when Shockadin was viable, no flying mounts, boss loot, and the skill trees.
Sorry, those are the only things that stick out for me.
I think the key to them making this work as a business is the phases, every new phase will bring people back to consume that content, I suspect that once that has been exhausted they will likely move to TBC and beyond, with every new patch the servers will be full of people with a % of those being new subscribers and when they consume the content it is very likely a lot of them will turn into retail subscribers too.
Now here is an alternative to classic that I think would be very interesting but will never happen:
Blizzard forks World of Warcraft, pick an event in classic and call it a different timeline and re-invent WoW Classic with new content and a different approach that is more inline with the experience some of its core fanbase is looking for. Take the things that are universally liked from all the expansions they released and repackage it with different content and leave out everything people hated, they must have 15 years of data readily available.
This would still be a massive gamble and no guarantees of any success but it would be a completely different take and if someone can make this work is Blizzard, because I think right now they are doomed to simply make a progression server and hope that they buy enough time and enough subscribers until their next project.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!