State of MMOs

[Bad^Hat]

So, MMOs seem to be in a bit of a lurch at the moment. LOTR Online was a polished turd, Vanguard was nothing short of a dissapointment, and then there were a bunch of other minor ones that just fizzled, to noones great surprise. Of course there's always WoW, but if you've been there then you're either still playing, or you've already played it to death (as in my case). Besides that there's the older crowd that the vets still cling to - EQ/2, UO, etc. And then of course there's the myriad of "free" Korean MMOs that keep popping up like roaches, but we all know how they go.

And what's on the horizon? Anyone around here would probably be quick to point out Age of Conan, which looks pretty promising, but that's been pushed back to next year. Warhammer: Online is the other "big" one, but that's not until '08 either if my sources are to be trusted, and honestly to me it just looks like the latest in a long line of WoW clones (let's not get into which franchise ripped of who first ).

So what else is there? I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this thread is, I guess I've just been getting that itch lately after giving up WoW for good, and I felt a need to check out what else there was out there. Of course I came up with a big fat nothing, so here I am.

Discuss! Or something.

 

[Ennui]

Heheheh, I was going to point out that it can't be a WOW clone if WOW itself is a clone of Warhammer.

As far as interesting MMOs go, Pirates of the Burning Seas might be worth checking out (though I don't know) and there's still that Firefly MMO in the pipeline, but that won't surface for a few years.

 

[jverne]

Heheheh, I was going to point out that it can't be a WOW clone if WOW itself is a clone of Warhammer.

As far as interesting MMOs go, Pirates of the Burning Seas might be worth checking out (though I don't know) and there's still that Firefly MMO in the pipeline, but that won't surface for a few years.

i'm sorry ennui nothing personal, but your avatar reminds me of a grown man doing a monkey from behind.


anyway MMO suck, since you have to pay.

 

[PvtRyan]

From what I've heard Warhammer is nigh unplayable in the beta so don't expect too much from it.

anyway MMO suck, since you have to pay.

Broadband internet sucks, since you have to pay.

Sorry, just trying your twisted logic for a second there. :|

 

[jverne]

From what I've heard Warhammer is nigh unplayable in the beta so don't expect too much from it.



Broadband internet sucks, since you have to pay.

Sorry, just trying your twisted logic for a second there. :|

yeah..true that...but the net offers way more than what you normally pay for. a game usually doesn't

 

[Raziaar]

I'm going to be playing POTBS when it comes out. I better... been waiting for the damn thing since 2002.

 

[CptStern]

So, MMOs seem to be in a bit of a lurch at the moment. LOTR Online was a polished turd, Vanguard was nothing short of a dissapointment, and then there were a bunch of other minor ones that just fizzled, to noones great surprise. Of course there's always WoW, but if you've been there then you're either still playing, or you've already played it to death (as in my case). Besides that there's the older crowd that the vets still cling to - EQ/2, UO, etc. And then of course there's the myriad of "free" Korean MMOs that keep popping up like roaches, but we all know how they go.

And what's on the horizon? Anyone around here would probably be quick to point out Age of Conan, which looks pretty promising, but that's been pushed back to next year. Warhammer: Online is the other "big" one, but that's not until '08 either if my sources are to be trusted, and honestly to me it just looks like the latest in a long line of WoW clones (let's not get into which franchise ripped of who first ).

So what else is there? I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this thread is, I guess I've just been getting that itch lately after giving up WoW for good, and I felt a need to check out what else there was out there. Of course I came up with a big fat nothing, so here I am.

Discuss! Or something.

tabula rasa is mildly fun ..I can see it being good in a group ..however no vehicles kinda kills the sci-fi theme a bit

there's Gods and Heroes which looks somewhat interesting ..it uses a minion system where you can summon npcs to help you fight mobs

Warhammer is a pass in my book, it's pretty much a WoW clone with a few tweaks here and there

as Cowman mentioned Pirates of the Burning seem looks interesting, hopefully an open beta will start soon

as most of you know I'm anticipating Age of Conan ..here's a recent Seige demonstration .. guilds will fight over battlekeeps (they also have their own cities) ..also this might interest some of you ..Age of Conan is M rated ..meaning boobies

 

[Bad^Hat]

Yeah, I was just looking at some previews of Tabula Rasa and wondering "where's the vehicles?"

Checking out Pirates now, I remember it being mentioned here a couple of times now I think of it.

 

[Dalamari]

Get EverQuest, you can pick up all the expansions in one box for about $20

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Age of conan does look great.

 

[Ennui]

Yeah, I was just looking at some previews of Tabula Rasa and wondering "where's the vehicles?"

Checking out Pirates now, I remember it being mentioned here a couple of times now I think of it.

Keep us posted on how it looks, I haven't gotten around to checking up on it and I don't have time to atm.

i'm sorry ennui nothing personal, but your avatar reminds me of a grown man doing a monkey from behind.

I suppose it's worth it anyway, because a certain percentage of people see it and go "I love Boards of Canada!"

 

[Pulse]

I'm awaiting Pirates of the Burning Sea beta, although I haven't played a MMO for 2 years. Neocron was always my favourite MMORPG/FPS although it went to complete shit and now holds an average gamer population of around 100 dedicated veterans or newbies trying it out.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Eh, I watched some videos and read up on the Pirates wiki and I can't say it's doing much for me. Could be decent, but maybe I'm just not digging the ship combat. *shrug*

Get EverQuest, you can pick up all the expansions in one box for about $20

1 or 2? I'd be more worried about the monthly fee than the cost of the game itself (but then they usually come with a trial period). Besides which, is it any good? And uhh... do people still play it?

 

[TCfromBN]

anyway MMO suck, since you have to pay.

Has everyone already forgotten about the Guild Wars thread? Guild wars is pretty fun, and it will keep you busy for quite a while.



WoW lovers:

Go ahead and whine about how it doesn't compare to WoW, but it's very good for being subscription free.

 

[Absinthe]

Conan has a lot of good stuff in it that I should be interested in. But I can't bring myself to give a crap about it. In fact, nothing else interests me except for perhaps Warhammer and the eventual (you know it's coming) Starcraft MMO. I think my extent is going to be WoW. At least until it abuses me to the point where I can't take it any more.

Guild Wars did not do it for me. I tried it as a WoW substitute because I figured, hey, no subscriptions. But it felt very isolated and hollow. Simply the way it's built impedes it entirely from creating the kind of unified world you have on WoW servers. Didn't like that,

 

[Rapstah]

yeah..true that...but the net offers way more than what you normally pay for. a game usually doesn't

XB360?

 

[TwwIX]

POTBS=Sid Meiers Pirates Online
Tabula Rasa=SWG after the NGE with a new look
Get into beta and you'll see what i mean.

Anyway,the only mmo that i still have some hope for is Age of Conan.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Guild Wars did not do it for me. I tried it as a WoW substitute because I figured, hey, no subscriptions. But it felt very isolated and hollow. Simply the way it's built impedes it entirely from creating the kind of unified world you have on WoW servers. Didn't like that,

(Edit - Whoops, WoW rant ahead, lol)

The destruction of that "unified world" is exactly what drove me away from WoW. With the unflinching focus on endgame now, everything that matters is instanced - dungeons, raids, battlegrounds and arenas. The only reason the wider "world" exists is to grind and be ganked in. Outdoor PvP objectives are just an exercise in which side can spam general more to get a bigger raid group going.

Also, it still baffles me to this day that, with the massive amount of content (much of it free) Blizz has thrown at the game, everything BEFORE endgame still remains pretty much completely untouched. The only reason pre-60/70 exists anymore is as a means to an end - a giant grind before you get to play the game. It seems so very ****ing futile and pointless... I wouldn't be surprised if Blizz just comes out with an option to pay for pre-levelled characters soon.

 

[CptStern]

Conan has a lot of good stuff in it that I should be interested in. But I can't bring myself to give a crap about it.

oh you'll learn to like it, perhaps even love it /me sharpens head mounting stick

In fact, nothing else interests me except for perhaps Warhammer

the only thing I remotely find interesting is the IP ..however i'd rather they had set it in the science fiction setting ..from what I've seen it doesnt deviate from WoW all that much and imho that's enough of a reason to just stick with WoW

and the eventual (you know it's coming) Starcraft MMO.

hopefuly but I dont know, I mean blizzard has no real reason to make a starcraft mmo, they would be their only competition, they'll just splinter their fan base ..if it is coming it wont be till WoW is played out and even then they'd be foolish not to make WoW2

I think my extent is going to be WoW. At least until it abuses me to the point where I can't take it any more.

Guild Wars did not do it for me. I tried it as a WoW substitute because I figured, hey, no subscriptions. But it felt very isolated and hollow. Simply the way it's built impedes it entirely from creating the kind of unified world you have on WoW servers. Didn't like that,

agreed with guild wars ..it just seemed so desolate ..kind of how I feel about Tabula rasa even though lately there's been more players

 

[Max35]

I heard Petroglyph (a game studio comprised partially of ex-westwood employees) is making an MMO, although it hasn't been officially announced yet. Gamespot just mentioned the job listings for an MMO on Petroglyph's site, so it'll be quite awhile before release I'd imagine.

 

[Gunner]

I'm waiting like most people for AoC. In the mean time I'm just trying to kill time the best I can. About TR, there's an NDA so I won't go into details but it's not an MMO, it's a singleplayer game.

 

[CptStern]

Bioware has yet to announce their MMO but that wont be coming soon ..I'm hoping they take the genre somewhere interesting ..I'm more than a little sick of gnomes, trolls and elves

 

[Slacker]

I doubt I'll play an MMO for a looong time, simply on the account of the fact that I never have time to invest that much time to a video game anymore. I played SWG for about a year, and WoW for two years, and I had no trouble quitting either games. I think that monthly fees are a form of economic Darwinism for nerds who can't quit a ****ing game, even if it makes them miserably bored.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Oh yeah, forgot about that. I was kind of hoping they'd pick up a license to do a Star Wars MMO, and hopefully a good one, following in the footsteps of KotoR. But then again, they might not want to revisit the space genre so soon after Mass Effect.

But yeah, the same old fantasy fare is getting pretty tired, it'd be nice for devs to start latching onto some original ideas. Some settings that spring to mind, that noone has really explored with MMOs (to any great success) -

Zombies! Not the first time I've brought it up, but you've gotta recognise the potential for some truly awesome cooperative play. Dynamic cities, parties of humans forming barricades, awesome standoffs where everything becomes a weapon... yeah, I know, I'm dreaming

Samurais! I so want someone to do an authentic shogun-era (whatever it was called, the one with war and stuff) MMO, with clan wars and politics and revenge and hari kari, all the good stuff (and yeah, ninjas too).

Wild West! Hmm... maybe not so much this one.

Anyway, a little originality would be nice, but it seems like everyone's trying to suck the teet of the WoW cash cow at the moment.

There's an interview with someone in the business that I found pretty interesting, here (yes, it is serious, despite being on SA ) - http://www.somethingawful.com/d/comedy-goldmine/mmo-money-problems.php

 

[Darkside55]

Huxley will arrive soon.

 

[Qonfused]

I'm sorry to dampen your parade PotBS fans (I once was one), but I beta'd it and it sucked. Yes, yes, beta means nothing about the final game condition; but at the state it was in when I played it, it was complete trash and was, in no way, redeemable. I had such high hopes for PotBS, but I was totally let down by the beta.

AoC is looking like my anti drug, so I'm waiting for that now.

 

[Slacker]

I'm sorry to dampen your parade PotBS fans (I once was one), but I beta'd it and it sucked. Yes, yes, beta means nothing about the final game condition; but at the state it was in when I played it, it was complete trash and was, in no way, redeemable. I had such high hopes for PotBS, but I was totally let down by the beta.

Care to elaborate? Was it buggy and unplayable, or did the content of the game just blow?

 

[Letters]

Until there's a MMO that gets rid of "grinding" and that you can actually guarantee some fun gameplay in without having to play for huge amounts of time (whether the game itself requiring the time, or the time you need to put in to find the right people to play with), I see MMO's going nowhere but down.

 

[Jintor]

I'm, waiting, for the next, PLANETSIDE...

 

[Slacker]

I'm, waiting, for the next, PLANETSIDE...

Yeah, if someone can manage to make a really good MMOFPS, I'll play that. PlanetSide honestly didn't do much for me, though.

 

[Qonfused]

Care to elaborate? Was it buggy and unplayable, or did the content of the game just blow?

Yeah, it was really buggy. But that's to be excused because it is a beta... there are going to be bugs. Otherwise, the gameplay, albeit a great avenue to venture down (who doesn't want to be a pirate in a huge game world), has no point. I felt lost with no direction to go. There isn't really grinding, more of just sailing around which really isn't too bad considering the water graphics are fantastic, easily the best water I've seen. Battles are just running into ships Sid Meiers style where one fight is exactly the same as the other. You circle around each other, spamming the fire button while waiting for it to reload; pretty boring imo.

The avatar part of the game wasn't too bad. The towns are one of the few things that stood out to me; they're fantastic. You actually feel as if you've sailed into a port; there's dancers, jugglers, prostitutes, people walking up and down the highly detailed streets. Equally as detailed are the buildings.

Those two paragraphs don't sound too bad, after rereading it. My main concern was the lack of anything to do and absolutely no point or direction. The fight system is lacking and boring. Plus, they just got SOE to work with them... you know, the company that has ruined all MMOs it has touched?

 

[Slacker]

Yeah, it was really buggy. But that's to be excused because it is a beta... there are going to be bugs. Otherwise, the gameplay, albeit a great avenue to venture down (who doesn't want to be a pirate in a huge game world), has no point. I felt lost with no direction to go. There isn't really grinding, more of just sailing around which really isn't too bad considering the water graphics are fantastic, easily the best water I've seen. Battles are just running into ships Sid Meiers style where one fight is exactly the same as the other. You circle around each other, spamming the fire button while waiting for it to reload; pretty boring imo.

The avatar part of the game wasn't too bad. The towns are one of the few things that stood out to me; they're fantastic. You actually feel as if you've sailed into a port; there's dancers, jugglers, prostitutes, people walking up and down the highly detailed streets. Equally as detailed are the buildings.

Those two paragraphs don't sound too bad, after rereading it. My main concern was the lack of anything to do and absolutely no point or direction. The fight system is lacking and boring. Plus, they just got SOE to work with them... you know, the company that has ruined all MMOs it has touched?

SOE usually takes a year or two to ruin an MMO. I mean, Galaxies was amazing the first year or so, arguably more fun than WoW.

That sucks though, I did have a slight interest in Pirates, even if deep inside of me I knew it would suck.. :\

 

[Qonfused]

I really wanted it to be a success. When I got the email from them that fateful morning, I took the day off school because I was so excited to play it. In words, the game sounds like the perfect MMO. In functionality however...

 

[Acepilotf14]

Galaxies was my first MMO. Was with it to it's death. Only recently cancelled my subscription..
It was hard... but then again, it isn't the Galaxies I remember.
It's like that friend that starts drinking and wants to be like everyone else.

 

[Ennui]

I really wanted it to be a success. When I got the email from them that fateful morning, I took the day off school because I was so excited to play it. In words, the game sounds like the perfect MMO. In functionality however...

You pretty much just confirmed what I suspected about that game. It sounded great, but even just reading a little cursory information about it I was afraid it would end up just like Pirates!; that is, endlessly cool but you stop playing anyway because there's little variation in the gameplay and combat/ship battles are boring and repetitive.

 

[Jintor]

Yeah, if someone can manage to make a really good MMOFPS, I'll play that. PlanetSide honestly didn't do much for me, though.

I found Planetside great fun, but that's probably cos I was playing with a squad of real-life mates, and we'd chatter endlessly about tactics and shit.

Fun as hell with a squad of buddies though.

 

[Kadayi]

Bioware has yet to announce their MMO but that wont be coming soon ..I'm hoping they take the genre somewhere interesting ..I'm more than a little sick of gnomes, trolls and elves

Stern have you been checking out their latest venture Mass Effect?. It's shaping up to be all kinds of awesome. I'm not sure whether they'd be able to translate that extent of tech into a mmporpg style game, but that they'd no doubt try would make it worth keeping an eye out for.

Like most I'm holding out for AoC, I can't say the styling I've seen fits my view of Conan, but the claim that the ingame NPCs won't just be talking signposts and will have simlike behaviour has me interested.

I think the big problem for any developer considering a mmporpg is being able to deliver something of substance that can usurp WoW in terms of production values, without going bust in the process. Can't say I cared for WoW (played for the month), but it was a slick game for sure.

I've often wondered whether Valve might enter the mmporpg market at some point, as Gabe often cites WoW are a favourable gaming model, however I expect their perfectionism would bog them down considerably.

 

[Fliko]

Of course there's always WoW, but if you've been there then you're either still playing, or you've already played it to death (as in my case).

You forgot the part where you get bored within the first week of playing!

Man, it'd be awesome if Turbine released another Asheron's Call MMORPG. AC 1 is just AMAZING, and AC 2 was pretty good.

 

[Combine Hybrid]

Fact that no one mentioned about FFXI, I think we all can agree that it sucks beyond comparison and should not be discussed.

 

[Slacker]

Fact that no one mentioned about FFXI, I think we all can agree that it sucks beyond comparison and should not be discussed.

Yes. Is there anyone in America who even plays that game anymore?