I used to many years ago since I started in Everquest in 1999 play the same game for years. Now I don't. I don't see the value in it any more. I prefer to flit about and then go back ever so often after playing other games.
I think it is mainly due to how many more games are out there and having expanded to playing so many single player games I find I am not inclined to play one MMORPG for beyond a few months at best.
My guess is you are less inclined to socialize with strangers hence enjoy playing most games, even online ones in a more solo fashion.
If true, why do you suppose that is? It's been years since I needed other players to accomplish most goals in modern MMOs, outside of raiding which I decided I did not care for back in 2006 and that still hasn't changed.
Even regular dungeon content holds little appeal unless playing with close friends as most gamers these days are rushing through the content much more quickly than I care for, and I don't want to be the one holding everyone else back.
Still, I prefer to play games with others so have spent quite a bit of time on min-MMOs such as Fallout 76, 7D2D where the populations are smaller or composed of mostly my friends.
One exception was ESO, joined it with 3 friends and along with a veteran player formed our own guild for players who were "tired of chasing firetrucks." ( Part of our recruiting slogan)
We grew to 100 members almost instantly, and even had a raiding group of experienced players who had grown weary of the more demanding raid guilds in the game.
Clearly we were not alone but running a guild took it's toll on me and some others so we left for another game.
The guild carried on for several more years and only broke up last fall when a spat arose between the current raider leader and the guild's leader (one of our 4 founding members).
She disbanded the guild entirely when her core officers including her long time friend sided with the raid leader in order to keep him from quitting.
Kyleran you are one of the handful of replies here that remind me exactly what made the early days of the genre so great: the community.
I'm glad to see the WTF Cat is still making it's rounds.
Old gamers never die, we just bitch and moan about our favorite genre's decline since the "good ole days."
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Well being just shy of my 75th birthday, I am not as spry as I once was, so I still dabble in ESO's PvP to keep some dexterity going.
A small indie game I really recently enjoyed was Caves of Lore, quite a lot packed into a single developer's efforts and reminded me of an improved and updated game type of the old Lands of Kesmai.
Bought Nightingale and enjoy what I see and looking forward to Horizons Forbidden West for PC in March.
Perhaps it is just a placebo effect, but gaming seems to keep my mental acuity sharp with involved games' character creation and play style strategies firing on my neurons.
I used to many years ago since I started in Everquest in 1999 play the same game for years. Now I don't. I don't see the value in it any more. I prefer to flit about and then go back ever so often after playing other games.
I think it is mainly due to how many more games are out there and having expanded to playing so many single player games I find I am not inclined to play one MMORPG for beyond a few months at best.
My guess is you are less inclined to socialize with strangers hence enjoy playing most games, even online ones in a more solo fashion.
If true, why do you suppose that is? It's been years since I needed other players to accomplish most goals in modern MMOs, outside of raiding which I decided I did not care for back in 2006 and that still hasn't changed.
Even regular dungeon content holds little appeal unless playing with close friends as most gamers these days are rushing through the content much more quickly than I care for, and I don't want to be the one holding everyone else back.
Still, I prefer to play games with others so have spent quite a bit of time on min-MMOs such as Fallout 76, 7D2D where the populations are smaller or composed of mostly my friends.
One exception was ESO, joined it with 3 friends and along with a veteran player formed our own guild for players who were "tired of chasing firetrucks." ( Part of our recruiting slogan)
We grew to 100 members almost instantly, and even had a raiding group of experienced players who had grown weary of the more demanding raid guilds in the game.
Clearly we were not alone but running a guild took it's toll on me and some others so we left for another game.
The guild carried on for several more years and only broke up last fall when a spat arose between the current raider leader and the guild's leader (one of our 4 founding members).
She disbanded the guild entirely when her core officers including her long time friend sided with the raid leader in order to keep him from quitting.
Kyleran you are one of the handful of replies here that remind me exactly what made the early days of the genre so great: the community.
I'm glad to see the WTF Cat is still making it's rounds.
Old gamers never die, we just bitch and moan about our favorite genre's decline since the "good ole days."
I still sub to wow one or two months a year. I’ve been playing a good amount of Palia on the switch. I still pop into LoTRO once a year or so. I like to pop in on indie MMOs when they come out- love the idea of people making their own games. I’ve currently been helping to bug test new client in the game Faldon.
I really like UO style games. I really like the idea of fractured and Albion and they feel pretty good to play, but I’m old and I start something and start doing the time sink calculations in my head and get cold feet
The time sinks don't really bother me, as long as the game has a casual component.
I liked the fact that UO had those sleeping bags (whatever they were called), where you could log out in seconds and know you were logged out, instead of leaving your character unattended in game.
I used that in Dungeons and anywhere else that I could find a safe corner, so I could break up my adventures when I had other things I needed to do. I consider that a "casual" sort of a thing in the design, because I was never forced to finish it once I started. Little things like that get lost among all the other stuff, but it's important IMO.
I remain. Though I've been around since the earliest of MMORPGs I don't currently play any of them.
My favourite MMORPG is City of Heroes and with the NCSoft blessing of the Homecoming server I expect their continuance is ensured.
I also play ESO regularly as it well supports my solo tendencies. While the overland is quite easy more challenging play is there to seek out.
I dabble in numerous other MMORPGs as well and keep tabs on several more, giving me a general awareness of that available.
I cannot thank you enough. I had no idea Homecoming was a thing, and CoX is absolutely a part of my golden era of MMOing. Last night I had a happy weepy time standing under Atlas Statue for the first time in well over a decade.
The sound effects of this MMO are still freaking amazing. I can't believe how much the community reminds me of what it was before the MA implementation.
Any other old heads looking for an orphanage, come jump in.
I really hope that *insert game name here* will be the first game to ever live up to all of its pre-release promises, maintain a manageable hype level and have a clean release. Just don't expect me to hold my breath.
I remain. Though I've been around since the earliest of MMORPGs I don't currently play any of them.
My favourite MMORPG is City of Heroes and with the NCSoft blessing of the Homecoming server I expect their continuance is ensured.
I also play ESO regularly as it well supports my solo tendencies. While the overland is quite easy more challenging play is there to seek out.
I dabble in numerous other MMORPGs as well and keep tabs on several more, giving me a general awareness of that available.
I cannot thank you enough. I had no idea Homecoming was a thing, and CoX is absolutely a part of my golden era of MMOing. Last night I had a happy weepy time standing under Atlas Statue for the first time in well over a decade.
The sound effects of this MMO are still freaking amazing. I can't believe how much the community reminds me of what it was before the MA implementation.
Any other old heads looking for an orphanage, come jump in.
I'm so glad my post made you aware of the return of CoX and that you have been able to get back that buried treasure that had been lost far too long.
I remain. Though I've been around since the earliest of MMORPGs I don't currently play any of them.
My favourite MMORPG is City of Heroes and with the NCSoft blessing of the Homecoming server I expect their continuance is ensured.
I also play ESO regularly as it well supports my solo tendencies. While the overland is quite easy more challenging play is there to seek out.
I dabble in numerous other MMORPGs as well and keep tabs on several more, giving me a general awareness of that available.
I cannot thank you enough. I had no idea Homecoming was a thing, and CoX is absolutely a part of my golden era of MMOing. Last night I had a happy weepy time standing under Atlas Statue for the first time in well over a decade.
The sound effects of this MMO are still freaking amazing. I can't believe how much the community reminds me of what it was before the MA implementation.
Any other old heads looking for an orphanage, come jump in.
The Homecoming team recently signed a formal agreement with NCsoft and is working with them on future upgrade and stability plans.
The folks over on MOP are all about Homecoming so lots of good info and need to catch you up on it
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Yes the Darkpaw family of gnolls that are in Qeynos were responsible for many of my deaths as I had never played an MMORPG before Everquest. Watching Fippy approaching the gate was exciting once I could kill him and especially when he carried that cracked staff that was worth one platinum.
I am here, wish a MMO could grab me like UO did back in 1997, 1998
Same, mate. I went back to UO from 2020-2023, but I'd really like a new 'old' experience now. The game is still a lot of fun, tbh.
Germzypie said: I downloaded DAoC a few months ago but had the same experience. Such a great game that was. I think that the passion developers had in their product is long gone. Now, the only bottom line is how much money they can make off initial sales.
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
/played-mmorpgs
Total time played:9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
I am here, wish a MMO could grab me like UO did back in 1997, 1998
Same, mate. I went back to UO from 2020-2023, but I'd really like a new 'old' experience now. The game is still a lot of fun, tbh.
Germzypie said: I downloaded DAoC a few months ago but had the same experience. Such a great game that was. I think that the passion developers had in their product is long gone. Now, the only bottom line is how much money they can make off initial sales.
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
Nah, games are still created by "other gamers." What you have for AAA games is a huge investment so that people in charge of money have more input.
Also, look at the games such as Pantheon and Camelot Unchained. I would argue their founders were gamers or at least created games from the players' point of view and now both projects are years over delivery date since there was no real financial oversight.
I also understand that Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't a gamer and he has a stream of highly acclaimed video games and even created a genre of games.
He probably came at it, initially, more like an artist.
What it boils down to is that creating a great game isn't easy and there needs to be vision, financial responsibility and a willingness to not allow feature creep, to "kill one's darlings" as is often the case with creating new works.
The issue with "suits" creating games is that they need to get someone with real vision and not just "let's clone x game but use y seeting and then 'profit.'"
Doesn't really work for great games "usually."
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I am here, wish a MMO could grab me like UO did back in 1997, 1998
Same, mate. I went back to UO from 2020-2023, but I'd really like a new 'old' experience now. The game is still a lot of fun, tbh.
Germzypie said: I downloaded DAoC a few months ago but had the same experience. Such a great game that was. I think that the passion developers had in their product is long gone. Now, the only bottom line is how much money they can make off initial sales.
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
Nah, games are still created by "other gamers." What you have for AAA games is a huge investment so that people in charge of money have more input.
Also, look at the games such as Pantheon and Camelot Unchained. I would argue their founders were gamers or at least created games from the players' point of view and now both projects are years over delivery date since there was no real financial oversight.
I also understand that Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't a gamer and he has a stream of highly acclaimed video games and even created a genre of games.
He probably came at it, initially, more like an artist.
What it boils down to is that creating a great game isn't easy and there needs to be vision, financial responsibility and a willingness to not allow feature creep, to "kill one's darlings" as is often the case with creating new works.
The issue with "suits" creating games is that they need to get someone with real vision and not just "let's clone x game but use y seeting and then 'profit.'"
Doesn't really work for great games "usually."
You've got a great point about vision. And that's probably why copycats can't do as well, they lack that vision and it shows in the little things.
But also, the genre is stale and feels that way to many players, so there's that issue for status quo copycats too.
I am here, wish a MMO could grab me like UO did back in 1997, 1998
Same, mate. I went back to UO from 2020-2023, but I'd really like a new 'old' experience now. The game is still a lot of fun, tbh.
Germzypie said: I downloaded DAoC a few months ago but had the same experience. Such a great game that was. I think that the passion developers had in their product is long gone. Now, the only bottom line is how much money they can make off initial sales.
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
Nah, games are still created by "other gamers." What you have for AAA games is a huge investment so that people in charge of money have more input.
Also, look at the games such as Pantheon and Camelot Unchained. I would argue their founders were gamers or at least created games from the players' point of view and now both projects are years over delivery date since there was no real financial oversight.
I also understand that Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't a gamer and he has a stream of highly acclaimed video games and even created a genre of games.
He probably came at it, initially, more like an artist.
What it boils down to is that creating a great game isn't easy and there needs to be vision, financial responsibility and a willingness to not allow feature creep, to "kill one's darlings" as is often the case with creating new works.
The issue with "suits" creating games is that they need to get someone with real vision and not just "let's clone x game but use y seeting and then 'profit.'"
Doesn't really work for great games "usually."
But founders who are gamers does work, it is just that the recent record has been poor, when MMORPG's started there were quite a few. Perhaps the practicalities of starting and running a business have just got harder?
I am here, wish a MMO could grab me like UO did back in 1997, 1998
Same, mate. I went back to UO from 2020-2023, but I'd really like a new 'old' experience now. The game is still a lot of fun, tbh.
Germzypie said: I downloaded DAoC a few months ago but had the same experience. Such a great game that was. I think that the passion developers had in their product is long gone. Now, the only bottom line is how much money they can make off initial sales.
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
Nah, games are still created by "other gamers." What you have for AAA games is a huge investment so that people in charge of money have more input.
Also, look at the games such as Pantheon and Camelot Unchained. I would argue their founders were gamers or at least created games from the players' point of view and now both projects are years over delivery date since there was no real financial oversight.
I also understand that Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't a gamer and he has a stream of highly acclaimed video games and even created a genre of games.
He probably came at it, initially, more like an artist.
What it boils down to is that creating a great game isn't easy and there needs to be vision, financial responsibility and a willingness to not allow feature creep, to "kill one's darlings" as is often the case with creating new works.
The issue with "suits" creating games is that they need to get someone with real vision and not just "let's clone x game but use y seeting and then 'profit.'"
Doesn't really work for great games "usually."
But founders who are gamers does work, it is just that the recent record has been poor, when MMORPG's started there were quite a few. Perhaps the practicalities of starting and running a business have just got harder?
I think it's expectations. The first mmorpg's didn't really have much to compare themselves to. They were so new, so novel. Players just wanted to wander a world with other people.
Now, people scream "there's nothing to do at end game!"
blah blah blah
I think with a game like Everquest, it was very much about exploration with others. That is what mattered. Now we get people demanding there be purely solo experiences. Of course, with that outlook we don't get a lot of people wanting to group. And "of course," there are so many bad players, disruptive players, who can blame them?
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Archeworld I think is the future of any serious online project as it's a way to justify putting money into a game as you can extract it in the form of digital currency or crypto.. I know many for some reason frown on the newer blockchain technology - but I feel many do not understand it so it's easier to throw stones
Other than that Throne and Liberty is looking really promising to me.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Archeworld I think is the future of any serious online project as it's a way to justify putting money into a game as you can extract it in the form of digital currency or crypto.. I know many for some reason frown on the newer blockchain technology - but I feel many do not understand it so it's easier to throw stones
Other than that Throne and Liberty is looking really promising to me.
I am here, wish a MMO could grab me like UO did back in 1997, 1998
Same, mate. I went back to UO from 2020-2023, but I'd really like a new 'old' experience now. The game is still a lot of fun, tbh.
Germzypie said: I downloaded DAoC a few months ago but had the same experience. Such a great game that was. I think that the passion developers had in their product is long gone. Now, the only bottom line is how much money they can make off initial sales.
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
Nah, games are still created by "other gamers." What you have for AAA games is a huge investment so that people in charge of money have more input.
Also, look at the games such as Pantheon and Camelot Unchained. I would argue their founders were gamers or at least created games from the players' point of view and now both projects are years over delivery date since there was no real financial oversight.
I also understand that Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't a gamer and he has a stream of highly acclaimed video games and even created a genre of games.
He probably came at it, initially, more like an artist.
What it boils down to is that creating a great game isn't easy and there needs to be vision, financial responsibility and a willingness to not allow feature creep, to "kill one's darlings" as is often the case with creating new works.
The issue with "suits" creating games is that they need to get someone with real vision and not just "let's clone x game but use y seeting and then 'profit.'"
Doesn't really work for great games "usually."
But founders who are gamers does work, it is just that the recent record has been poor, when MMORPG's started there were quite a few. Perhaps the practicalities of starting and running a business have just got harder?
I think it's expectations. The first mmorpg's didn't really have much to compare themselves to. They were so new, so novel. Players just wanted to wander a world with other people.
Now, people scream "there's nothing to do at end game!"
blah blah blah
I think with a game like Everquest, it was very much about exploration with others. That is what mattered. Now we get people demanding there be purely solo experiences. Of course, with that outlook we don't get a lot of people wanting to group. And "of course," there are so many bad players, disruptive players, who can blame them?
Yes, those have to be factors, in fact you are making me think of something we see today. You often hear gaming reviews that use the expression "great with friends", this is for games which tout themselves as solo or small group multiplayer. Yet you find that what that expression means is usually "not great solo". So being with friends or just other people did distort how good we thought those old MMOs where. But I will raise a counter argument, most of those old MMOs are still going to today, they must have something todays MMOs are missing. Which is why I favour the hybrid approach to MMORPG gameplay design; something old, something new for the best marriage of gameplay design.
I do love Everquest but I have been thinking about what one considers as a success. These days this is so overblown to ridiculous proportions. I mean you have idiots on Steam forums screaming about games dying when they have 200k players over 24 hour periods.
I'd say a game like Everquest which was revealed a few years back during the investor presentation https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/eq1-numbers-revealed.271988/ as around 82k players monthly with around 16k as f2p is definitely nothing to scoff at for a game as old as the hills. However one cannot dismiss that their running costs must be awfully low in comparison for instance to how much Palworld is paying to keep their servers open.
So when you say how come these old games are still around like UO, EQ, EQ2, Anarchy Online, FFXI, DAOC is it really about longevity or merely that the companies running them are content with the profits considering the low maintenance they put in and less inclined to make any more MMORPGs. If they are not producing anything new why not just keep them up. I suppose Funcom would be the exception to that argument. Even then if keeping up some games that still make an income and generating good will to your future projects one can see the wisdom of keeping a game operating.
Take Standing Stones who run LOTRO and DDO and their miserable servers that are so laggy that it is a pain to play on. They are not upgrading the hardware because obviously they are content with the amount they are making and not inclined to spend anything to improve the condition that is the absolute pits in both these games. It is no coincidence that both games suffer from insufferable lag caused by the aging hardware of their servers. While throwing out platitudes about improving the lag with no actual intention of ever doing so.
Are these games what we constantly hold up as examples of how the older games are still better and that their lasting power is evidence of this or are they merely there because of how little they cost to keep up. NCSoft in their less than smart move of shutting down City of Heroes can attest no amount of money can replace the goodwill they lost and I venture to speculate that loss of goodwill easily cost them more than the money they saved shutting COH down considering Homecoming can get the operating costs in less than a few hours of donations. Dolts.
Anyway I am not saying that that is the case as I'm personally a huge fan of Everquest and a few more of these older games. I am merely making an argument for the prudent business moves that may have nothing to do with the game itself.
A lot of these games have passion projects that do keep the games going in spite of them being shutdown like SWG. Making an MMORPG these days is so very risky and the new face of it is the survival genre and they seem to be less than massive in fact I'd say they are more often than not merely coop games. The only good thing about them seems to be the mutual reliance on other players to achieve some goals but many are simply painfully shallow but I must admit the building options can be their saving grace if you are like me into that aspect of these games and are willing to grind a few hundred hours to make your dream abode or should I say castle.
The whole landscape of the MMORPG genre has changed and the types of people playing have also changed. The management of these games have undergone radical and often horrible changes that we can no longer see the halcyon days of this genre. More's the pity.
Archeworld I think is the future of any serious online project as it's a way to justify putting money into a game as you can extract it in the form of digital currency or crypto.. I know many for some reason frown on the newer blockchain technology - but I feel many do not understand it so it's easier to throw stones
Other than that Throne and Liberty is looking really promising to me.
I can't be sure you are an adbot so...
Welcome to the forums!
He mentioned crypto and Blockchain in his opening post, two ideas which just need to
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I am here, wish a MMO could grab me like UO did back in 1997, 1998
Same, mate. I went back to UO from 2020-2023, but I'd really like a new 'old' experience now. The game is still a lot of fun, tbh.
Germzypie said: I downloaded DAoC a few months ago but had the same experience. Such a great game that was. I think that the passion developers had in their product is long gone. Now, the only bottom line is how much money they can make off initial sales.
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
Nah, games are still created by "other gamers." What you have for AAA games is a huge investment so that people in charge of money have more input.
Also, look at the games such as Pantheon and Camelot Unchained. I would argue their founders were gamers or at least created games from the players' point of view and now both projects are years over delivery date since there was no real financial oversight.
I also understand that Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't a gamer and he has a stream of highly acclaimed video games and even created a genre of games.
He probably came at it, initially, more like an artist.
What it boils down to is that creating a great game isn't easy and there needs to be vision, financial responsibility and a willingness to not allow feature creep, to "kill one's darlings" as is often the case with creating new works.
The issue with "suits" creating games is that they need to get someone with real vision and not just "let's clone x game but use y seeting and then 'profit.'"
Doesn't really work for great games "usually."
But founders who are gamers does work, it is just that the recent record has been poor, when MMORPG's started there were quite a few. Perhaps the practicalities of starting and running a business have just got harder?
I think it's expectations. The first mmorpg's didn't really have much to compare themselves to. They were so new, so novel. Players just wanted to wander a world with other people.
Now, people scream "there's nothing to do at end game!"
blah blah blah
I think with a game like Everquest, it was very much about exploration with others. That is what mattered. Now we get people demanding there be purely solo experiences. Of course, with that outlook we don't get a lot of people wanting to group. And "of course," there are so many bad players, disruptive players, who can blame them?
Yes, those have to be factors, in fact you are making me think of something we see today. You often hear gaming reviews that use the expression "great with friends", this is for games which tout themselves as solo or small group multiplayer. Yet you find that what that expression means is usually "not great solo". So being with friends or just other people did distort how good we thought those old MMOs where. But I will raise a counter argument, most of those old MMOs are still going to today, they must have something todays MMOs are missing. Which is why I favour the hybrid approach to MMORPG gameplay design; something old, something new for the best marriage of gameplay design.
I think those older mmorpg's are going because there was a segment of the population that so completely bought into the world, the game play experience, as well as their guilds, that there was no reason to play anything else.
So instead of them being "mmorpg players" they are Everquest players, Lineage 2 players, EVE players, etc.
Heck, the only reason I left Lineage 2 was because I poured my all into being competitive but then I realized I had to be MORE competitive, give MORE time in order to maintain my "high level" status.
was my breaking point.
I really envy Everquest players who have their guilds and eagerly await the next bit of DLC, or EVE players who have made life long friends and that's where they live, in EVE. Game wise that is, not "as opposed to real life."
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Wargfoot was keeping us updated I think, but until they properly launch I find it difficult to maintain intertest. Still, good to see player enthusiasm as always.
Comments
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Perhaps it is just a placebo effect, but gaming seems to keep my mental acuity sharp with involved games' character creation and play style strategies firing on my neurons.
I liked the fact that UO had those sleeping bags (whatever they were called), where you could log out in seconds and know you were logged out, instead of leaving your character unattended in game.
I used that in Dungeons and anywhere else that I could find a safe corner, so I could break up my adventures when I had other things I needed to do.
I consider that a "casual" sort of a thing in the design, because I was never forced to finish it once I started.
Little things like that get lost among all the other stuff, but it's important IMO.
Once upon a time....
I really hope that *insert game name here* will be the first game to ever live up to all of its pre-release promises, maintain a manageable hype level and have a clean release. Just don't expect me to hold my breath.
I'm so glad my post made you aware of the return of CoX and that you have been able to get back that buried treasure that had been lost far too long.
Welcome home!
The folks over on MOP are all about Homecoming so lots of good info and need to catch you up on it
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
This is exactly the issue for me too. The games (even more than just MMO's) feel almost lifeless and all about checking boxes. I remember when games were created by other gamers, now it's just a bunch of suits making decisions based on what's 'driving the market'.
Diablo 4 is a perfect example of this. The game looked and sounded great, but feels completely soul-less and lacks that love and attention D1-3 received.
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
And that's probably why copycats can't do as well, they lack that vision and it shows in the little things.
But also, the genre is stale and feels that way to many players, so there's that issue for status quo copycats too.
Once upon a time....
If the game closes, I'm done with these games.
Fractured Online has a free weekend coming up on March 7th.
It scratches my UO itch just fine.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Other than that Throne and Liberty is looking really promising to me.
DG
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I'll try to remember to check that out. I have a larger monitor than I used to so the text may not be too small for me this time around.
Welcome to the forums!
I'd say a game like Everquest which was revealed a few years back during the investor presentation https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/eq1-numbers-revealed.271988/ as around 82k players monthly with around 16k as f2p is definitely nothing to scoff at for a game as old as the hills. However one cannot dismiss that their running costs must be awfully low in comparison for instance to how much Palworld is paying to keep their servers open.
So when you say how come these old games are still around like UO, EQ, EQ2, Anarchy Online, FFXI, DAOC is it really about longevity or merely that the companies running them are content with the profits considering the low maintenance they put in and less inclined to make any more MMORPGs. If they are not producing anything new why not just keep them up. I suppose Funcom would be the exception to that argument. Even then if keeping up some games that still make an income and generating good will to your future projects one can see the wisdom of keeping a game operating.
Take Standing Stones who run LOTRO and DDO and their miserable servers that are so laggy that it is a pain to play on. They are not upgrading the hardware because obviously they are content with the amount they are making and not inclined to spend anything to improve the condition that is the absolute pits in both these games. It is no coincidence that both games suffer from insufferable lag caused by the aging hardware of their servers. While throwing out platitudes about improving the lag with no actual intention of ever doing so.
Are these games what we constantly hold up as examples of how the older games are still better and that their lasting power is evidence of this or are they merely there because of how little they cost to keep up. NCSoft in their less than smart move of shutting down City of Heroes can attest no amount of money can replace the goodwill they lost and I venture to speculate that loss of goodwill easily cost them more than the money they saved shutting COH down considering Homecoming can get the operating costs in less than a few hours of donations. Dolts.
Anyway I am not saying that that is the case as I'm personally a huge fan of Everquest and a few more of these older games. I am merely making an argument for the prudent business moves that may have nothing to do with the game itself.
A lot of these games have passion projects that do keep the games going in spite of them being shutdown like SWG. Making an MMORPG these days is so very risky and the new face of it is the survival genre and they seem to be less than massive in fact I'd say they are more often than not merely coop games. The only good thing about them seems to be the mutual reliance on other players to achieve some goals but many are simply painfully shallow but I must admit the building options can be their saving grace if you are like me into that aspect of these games and are willing to grind a few hundred hours to make your dream abode or should I say castle.
The whole landscape of the MMORPG genre has changed and the types of people playing have also changed. The management of these games have undergone radical and often horrible changes that we can no longer see the halcyon days of this genre. More's the pity.
No compromise, no surrender,
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo