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Why Don't MMOS stick with systems long term more?
Abimor
Member RarePosts: 915
So I am not a game developer I am actually a licensed psychologist so some things I just do not understand about game development but some things developers do especially on mmos game features are weird. This is what I'm talking about Lotro is the game I have played the most so maybe other games are not the same although I did play swg until I got married.
Lotro has the skirmish system which when it first launched as this huge new thing I was not that interested in it at first. It did have some cool features and you could use the vendors to get some good crafting or class items you needed if you couldn't get a group to get them so that was nice for solo players. Then they started adding some pretty good group skirmishes that were actually really fun and I really enjoyed and so I think so did a lot of people. Then they just never did anything much with it after that first few updates. The system still works and you can use it to level and can select the level of diffuculty and do things in it but its pretty neglected now. I think the last one added was volume three book one o think.
I guess I just never understood why they put so much into a new feature and then never really do anything with it in the future whatever that feature is.
is this because only new shiny things move the needle for expansions or just a lack of resources? Sometimes it makes sense mounted combat only being in rohan was fine. They have updated the legendary item feature over the years to get it where it is at now a much better place. But some features they add in one expansion and are never heard from again I have always wondered why.
Is this pretty common in other games where the new thing is just moved on from when the next new thing comes into being?
Lotro has the skirmish system which when it first launched as this huge new thing I was not that interested in it at first. It did have some cool features and you could use the vendors to get some good crafting or class items you needed if you couldn't get a group to get them so that was nice for solo players. Then they started adding some pretty good group skirmishes that were actually really fun and I really enjoyed and so I think so did a lot of people. Then they just never did anything much with it after that first few updates. The system still works and you can use it to level and can select the level of diffuculty and do things in it but its pretty neglected now. I think the last one added was volume three book one o think.
I guess I just never understood why they put so much into a new feature and then never really do anything with it in the future whatever that feature is.
is this because only new shiny things move the needle for expansions or just a lack of resources? Sometimes it makes sense mounted combat only being in rohan was fine. They have updated the legendary item feature over the years to get it where it is at now a much better place. But some features they add in one expansion and are never heard from again I have always wondered why.
Is this pretty common in other games where the new thing is just moved on from when the next new thing comes into being?
Comments
one of the things it lead to and was a ton of fun were those survive as long as you can' group encounters with h wave after wave. it would get crazy fast and I think to me was some of the funnest group content because you could get in with a kin group and see what you could do with ever increasing difficulty. I wish they would've kept that up better
the delving duo stuff is ok but not as good as the skirmishes were. they do do so a lot trio stuff I wish that stuff was down scalable down to two but sometimes you have to have three for switches and things.
Oh I remember I think what you said lets build a bunch of costly stuff for players that don't even care about the game. Chasing that next best thing is the plight of human kind.
Like every Expansion and LW update they put in some new fancy ass system only to abandon the whole fucking thing next update!
Oh Look, we are Shitcanning Dungeons for Fractals.. because that will allow us to implement instance dungeon content better. Oh look here is some Dragon Response Missions while we watch Fractals rot into the Abyss!
I swear whoever is at the helm in that game is just a Skritt in a Suit!
Innovation is vital in mmos for long term engagement, at the same time, you cant keep adding new systems forever otherwise it leads to bloat.
Case in point, with Legendary Journey system in GW2. "We are putting in this system to make it easier for players to get precursors for legendary weapons"
And then turn around halfway through the expansion, and be like "Oops, we discovered that we are not going to do that anymore"
And they are like "We are making Fractals the GoTo for Instance content because it will allow us to add content to it easier"
They Put out a fuckton of living world content that could be used in Fractals, but does not use any of it. Instead they make custom Dragon Response Missions and take 3 years to make some bullshit custom fractal that is buggy as shit, as opposed to using any of the content that they said was the whole point of fractals.
Like.. you know... what the hell.