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| Is the MMO Market Dead?; Or is there hope yet ... | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 24 2013, 06:17 AM (332 Views) | |
| Toegoff | Mar 24 2013, 06:17 AM Post #1 |
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I think the last few years for me have been riddled with a longing desire for a replacement of WoW. Old Republic and Guild Wars 2...the two that SHOULD have been the replacement, but both fell very short, and ultimately, left me feeling somewhat bored. I've talked to a number of people and friends, and the the quote that sticks out for me is the one Carnedge had actually said, "I want an MMO that makes me fail." People don't want a WoW Clone...and I get that. But you know what, I bet a vanilla 'WoW Clone' would do extremely well, just add a few updated things to really make it memorable. A few things I'd love to see in an MMO that might just revive it - at least for me. Bring Back Crowd Control - For old WoW players (or old mmo players in general) remember when the game was about not just spamming a rotation? You couldn't. You had to keep one eye on your threat and one eye on your CC'd mob. I miss the days of coordination and not just seeing who could get the highest number on a DPS chart. You had to really focus on separating and positioning monsters, crowd controlling them, and working as a team. Even in a lower level dungeon, throwing the tank in balls deep would almost certainly get your group wiped. To go along with this, I'd like the challenge of DPS having to REALLY pay attention. If you went full force at the very start, you pulled agro, and it was over. It wasn't the tanks fault. It was you. Thus, the DPS classes weren't just about doing a rotation and getting the shiniest gear. It was really about paying attention to your CC'd mob and your threat. I miss that challenge. Guild Halls - This one I think would be so huge for me. How great would it be to have a guild hall that was old and crumbling ruins. But your guild pools money to upgrade the troops, banners, walls, etc. This opens up a great opportunity for raids, pvp, etc. I think when its your own guild hall, there's just something about it that would make you really want to see it grow. Giving the game a money sink help keeps the economy from losing control. An instanced guild hall is a perfect place to sink money for guild advantages. Challenging Raids - I also really miss the days of going into a raid knowing we were going to probably fail. But still, there was a chance. This raid, the starts might align, and we might just pull through and win. At the end, you felt amazing. You spent a lot of time, and finally, with everyone coordinated and on the same page, you managed to down some tough beast. The loot was nice, but you know what? Who cares! YOU WON! Even larger end game dungeons. You just felt like you overcame a true challenge. Non Linear Leveling - This is where I feel so many MMOs fall off for me today. You have one road to the top level. It feels like a grind because it is one. You take one path to the top, and that's really it. Part of the greatness in WoW (and other MMOs) was that there were SO many ways to get to the top. You simply don't see that as much anymore, and it's a real shame. It was awesome exploring Kalimdor, then crossing the sea and seeing what was on the other side. It was amazing going out exploring and finding some new quests you didn't know existed. It wasn't simply this linear progression of point A to point B to point C etc etc until you get the top. Guild wars actually did a REALLY good job on this with scaling zones. I think that's something that could be applied to really make the games more fun. Turn off Quest Trackers - If the feature is on, I'll use it, however, it's more about game design. Part of the coolness in WoW was that you know that you "have to kill a bunch of murlocs in the north." You go north and find nothing. So you start poking around a bit, and lo and behold, there's a whole little town here with more quests. This is all about placement. Developers knew you would be forced to explore around a bit, and thus, give you little incentives to. It isn't just go out to point A, kill shit, and return. It's look for where you are going, notice on your mini map a potential quest, and pick that up! It was awesome finding some of these little pockets that there is simply no need for with a quest helper. Forcing Players to Adapt - If you ran molten core in vanilla WoW days, you had a fire resist set. You had to. Thus, this added a new depth where some crappy green piece of gear could be better than your epic lewts. This was perfect because it forced players to adapt and learn. You couldn't simply stack only fire resist gear, you'd get destroyed. You still had to have some though. So part of the challenge in these raids was seeing what worked best for your group. This also makes the victory so much sweeter when you get it right. When everything clicks. Instant Gratification - I feel this is the backbone behind so many problems today. People simply want to get the game, beat the game, move on. But it's simply too easy. There's no fun challenge anymore. I think keeping that challenge in would go so far. The beauty in WoW was that you could level up solo, but there were times when damn it was tough. I feel in many MMOs things have just gotten SO easy. ------------------------------------------------ I just want an MMO that makes me fail. I want to feel a real achievement hitting top level, not just feeling like I grinded my way there mindlessly. So...I wait =\ |
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| Unfie | Mar 24 2013, 09:02 AM Post #2 |
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Big Sweaty Moose Bleepers
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The 'Guildhall' idea has always been awesome to me. It gives guilds a sense of purpose, other than aimlessness in the main world. Creativity is lacking in the MMO world nowadays. Things are becoming simpler, more mindless. Developers are starting to notice a lack of demand of innovative content from the consumers. In my opinion, the biggest thing an MMO can offer is immersion. The standard way to involve immersion in any game is to have heavy involvement of guilds/player factions. But really, games can immerse players in so many ways that developers are neglecting. I'm just going to pull out a prime example of immersion in a game: Dungeons and Dragons Online instances. Some will last up to two hours. Some will last longer. But there's one thing about them that I always loved tremendously; the lack of mindless grinding. You're not being tossed alone into some little stretch of rock where you have to grind 20/20 rock elementals. Instead, you're being thrown into an instance with up to 5 other people (11 in raids) who you're forced to cooperate with in order to fight your way to the end and get your phat lootz. At the beginning of each quest, you hear the narrator talk about what dafuq is going on instead of a little strip of text in the corner saying, "save da gurl." You feel determined and ready to get to the bottom of everything. Then at the end, you hear the beautiful "bling" sound and the narrator going on and on about how you were victorious, whilst you strut your stuff back to the quest giver in order to get your well-earned reward. And there are no level 4+ quests that you can powerquest through on your own with your powerbuilt min-maxed half-orc barbarian, so have fun trying. This was pretty sloppy altogether, but I hope my statement got across. Innovation and immersion are everything in MMOs, and there are very few developers these days that really understand that concept and how to apply it. Edited by Unfie, Mar 24 2013, 09:03 AM.
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| TheSamuraiElf | Mar 24 2013, 12:46 PM Post #3 |
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Woof Woof Woofies!
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I would not say that the MMO Market is "dead" per say but it is certainly not picking up any momentum. I would think it would take a game like the one both of you described but most companies look to existing MMOs in order to make a "safe" game that makes money. I think it might take an Indie developer to create an MMO that takes the risks or reverts back to some classic ideas. Kickstarter would be great for that and I hope it may exist one day because I remember the first time I play World of Warcraft and I was just amazed that there were two roads outside of town and I could take which ever one I wanted, find a new town, level up, and have fun exploring. |
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| Gorger | Mar 24 2013, 02:28 PM Post #4 |
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Mist Could Not Pass
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I want a MMO that will give me the feelings WOW gave me the first time I played it back on release day. I still think back on my first Tauren exploring Mulgore, seeing Thunder Bluff for the first time and flying around the Barrens just amazed at how huge and epic this world was. Barrens chat was full of life, people organized raids to attack outposts, and you almost jumped in your chair when you saw alliance on your territory. The first time just entering Ashenvale (contested territory) or my first visit to a dungeon made me so excited. The world was kept alive because it didn't have quick-travels, quest helpers, super flying mounts and all those stupid things Blizzard added to simplify and ruin the atmosphere. Even better was how the continents were open without constant loading screens to kill your immersion unlike most of todays MMO's I felt like a small piece just exploring the unknown. If a MMO can give me that feeling again, then I will definitely support it. The only game that has managed to come close after is LOTRO. |
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| ACDCFan89 | Mar 26 2013, 03:16 AM Post #5 |
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Woof Woof Woofies!
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I barely have the patience for myself in single player RPG games like Skyrim, ME series, and the DA series. And multiplayer in faster paced series, well, my patience only goes so far as well. So yeah, MMOs have never mattered much to me. |
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| Pong | Apr 2 2013, 11:37 AM Post #6 |
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Neener Neener Neener
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I honestly don't know about the wow clone, i want one. I played wow for the first time when we played on the excalibur servers, and i loved it. If they bring out something simmlar to burning crusade or vanilla, just in a different enviroment i think most mmo people would be sated. One huge flaw i've seen many mmos do, is the dreaded act of trying to reach a larger group of players. Why did wow get popular, they went with one consept as far as i understand ( might be horribly wrong) but the fact that if you try and cater the grinding pepole and non grinding people at the same time, you WILL crash and burn. And i wish they made an eu/us server combined. |
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| Psycodiggr | Apr 3 2013, 01:12 PM Post #7 |
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Chicka Bow!
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I think the new NwN MMO may be a good addition to the market. It would be nice to have a MMO that takes me back to my days playing NwN and Baldur's Gate. It was such a great world with so much more potential for playing |
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7:17 PM Jul 10