tell me more about MMORPGs

[Lou]

I am intringued by the so called MMORPGs, mainly because they have been around for so long and because I heard about them for the first time last week. I can only imagine the experience is similar to playing CS except that instead of playing in a server with 20 other guys you play with 2000 other guys. How could this be possible in terms of bandwidth I do not know, but I supppose the numbers are that high since 'massive multiplayer' sounds like a shitload of people. I would imagine there is a storyline and your job is to accomplish mundane tasks, with the help of other players, like killing the boss at the end of each level so you can move on to the next. Something like that I suppose, since 'massive multiplayer' does not sound like the members of one team trying to kill the members of the other team, endlessly, round after round, a la CS. So deep are these MMORPGs that some players even form gangs that coerce new members into giving them virtual money in exchange of protection. If the newbie refuses to give them money, he would suffer the consequences, such as? The best MMORPGs out there are EverQuest, and what's the name of the other one, World of Warcraft? Oh and the best part is that you have to pay a montly fee, in addition to the retail price of the game, in order to be able to play online, or perhaps at all, assuming that there is no such thing as offline mode. Long story sort, someone paint me a clearer picture of what a MMORPG is like. If there is some demo I can download also let me know.

 

[Zeus]

All I can say is dont do it..it will seem fun at first..then you will go into an uncontrollable addiction spending hours and hours each day on the game building your imaginary character, camping for 10 hours straight for some game item, and it basically becomes a job to improve your character eventually. The amount of time and money ($15 a month??!?) it cost now to play its just not even worth it.

take it from me, I used to be addicted but I gave it up thankfully..mmorpgs are like nicotine man just addictive and pointless

 

[DigiQ8]

Wiki is your friend.

 

[Absinthe]

EverQuest is not a good game in any shape or form.

Download a 14-day trial of WoW and you'll get an idea. You create a character, you put him into a large online persistent world inhabited by thousands of other players, play with them, kill them, complete quests, etc...
Because of their nature, they tend to have a more prominent social aspect to them, in which players are always grouping, trading, buying, selling, and so on.

 

[Absinthe]

LOL at people with no ****ing control over themselves.

"OMG I WAS AN MMO ADDICT DUN DEW IT MANG IT'S SO LAME AND A WASTE OF TIME" stfu.

 

[63]

Planetside effteedoublu!

 

[TheAmazingRando]

Planetside = Best MMO ever.

 

[Zeus]

LOL at people with no ****ing control over themselves.

"OMG I WAS AN MMO ADDICT DUN DEW IT MANG IT'S SO LAME AND A WASTE OF TIME" stfu.

Ok the man does have a point..back when I played mmorpgs I didnt really have any self control and went overboard on playing. I guess I just have a personal thing against them now...

well..if you have good self control over your playing habits then I guess you would be good to go now that I think about it.

 

[Absinthe]

Sorry if that seemed too aggressive, but I kind of get irked when something I do is called pointless.

 

[Fliko]

LOL at people with no ****ing control over themselves.

"OMG I WAS AN MMO ADDICT DUN DEW IT MANG IT'S SO LAME AND A WASTE OF TIME" stfu.

QFT.
Never got addicted to one.

 

[bam23]

I recommend Guild Wars.

I recommend Guild Wars.

QFT

 

[MiccyNarc]

Lou how come you don't know jack about computer games?

 

[Lou]

Are MMORPGs like a GTA San Andreas inhabited by a bunch of other players? Also what normally happens if your character is killed? Do you have to start all over again?

Lou how come you don't know jack about computer games?

Too much CS I guess.

 

[Seagull]

You get revived somehow in some way with a Penalty, usually to Experience.

 

[Qonfused]

I got back into FFXI recently and it's really great (as I left it). If you die, it depends on the game. In FFXI, you lose a chuck on EXP; that's it. In EQ2, you have to run back to yuor body to collect your "Spirit Shard" or else you'll suffer a huge EXP debt. In other games, I don't know.

 

[WhiteZero]

I got so bored of FF11 very quickly...
WoW on the other hand..

 

[Lou]

EverQuest is not a good game in any shape or form.

Download a 14-day trial of WoW and you'll get an idea. You create a character, you put him into a large online persistent world inhabited by thousands of other players, play with them, kill them, complete quests, etc...
Because of their nature, they tend to have a more prominent social aspect to them, in which players are always grouping, trading, buying, selling, and so on.

I went to the World of Warcraft page and couldn't found any free trials.

 

[Laivasse]

Are MMORPGs like a GTA San Andreas inhabited by a bunch of other players?

That's kind of what it's like in terms of game world, but most have some kind of medieval/fantasy/hack&slash slant as opposed to being urban & contemporary.

I would imagine there is a storyline and your job is to accomplish mundane tasks, with the help of other players, like killing the boss at the end of each level so you can move on to the next.

Well, usually there aren't 'levels', in that sense. There might be separate maps and certain dungeons to check out, but it's usually more of a large scale continuous world that you're free to travel within. But there might be other types of boundaries preventing you from travelling through a certain place, such as incredibly strong monsters that will make mincemeat out of you unless you increase your level a lot or travel with a tough party. As such, one of the main goals in MMORPG's is levelling up - killing stuff, doing quests, getting experience points and making your character stronger. This part of the game can consume massive amounts of time, and it is often the repetitiveness of this part that puts most people off. Other goals are obtaining exclusive items, getting rich, making your character look all bling to show off - and of course, socialising.

As for the story, that's always the weakest part IMO. Since everyone else in the game is undergoing pretty much the same quests and getting the same lines of dialogue from NPC's it always feels to me like the story and setting, such as they are, are really clumsy and lacking in immersion. This, all the level grinding, and the fact that I'm not an especially social person means that MMORPG's are rarely very fulfilling for me. Give me a good single player RPG over an MMORPG any day.

Having said that I'm currently playing a Japanese MMORPG called Eco Online. It's horrifically cutesy with all anime cel-shaded graphics, and it's not particularly compelling, but when the game was still in open beta I became good enough friends with someone that they offered to pay for me when the game became pay-to-play, since I don't have a credit card. I figured it would be a waste not to take them up on the offer...

 

[Lou]

That's kind of what it's like in terms of game world, but most have some kind of medieval/fantasy/hack&slash slant as opposed to being urban & contemporary.



Well, usually there aren't 'levels', in that sense. There might be separate maps and certain dungeons to check out, but it's usually more of a large scale continuous world that you're free to travel within. But there might be other types of boundaries preventing you from travelling through a certain place, such as incredibly strong monsters that will make mincemeat out of you unless you increase your level a lot or travel with a tough party. As such, one of the main goals in MMORPG's is levelling up - killing stuff, doing quests, getting experience points and making your character stronger. This part of the game can consume massive amounts of time, and it is often the repetitiveness of this part that puts most people off. Other goals are obtaining exclusive items, getting rich, making your character look all bling to show off - and of course, socialising.

As for the story, that's always the weakest part IMO. Since everyone else in the game is undergoing pretty much the same quests and getting the same lines of dialogue from NPC's it always feels to me like the story and setting, such as they are, are really clumsy and lacking in immersion. This, all the level grinding, and the fact that I'm not an especially social person means that MMORPG's are rarely very fulfilling for me. Give me a good single player RPG over an MMORPG any day.

Having said that I'm currently playing a Japanese MMORPG called Eco Online. It's horrifically cutesy with all anime cel-shaded graphics, and it's not particularly compelling, but when the game was still in open beta I became good enough friends with someone that they offered to pay for me when the game became pay-to-play, since I don't have a credit card. I figured it would be a waste not to take them up on the offer...

That's a very good explanation. thanks.

Suppose you want to kill a monster in order to access some part of the island. You can't defeat it alone, so you you'll need help from other players. How do you enlist them on your quest? Do you just tell them follow me and hope that they will want to go along with you? Or are there prearranged expeditions that meet at certain places, at certain times, and those who want to go need to wait in line for the next available expedition? See that's the part that I don't get. Suppose you and your friends kill the monster. Does that mean other players won't be able to fight that same monster at some other point in time?

 

[Absinthe]

You usually just shout out and ask if people want to go with you or if you can join a party. If you're in a guild, you can enlist their aid.

Enemies will respawn after a certain amount of time, thus giving other players the opportunity to fight them.

 

[Lou]

You usually just shout out and ask if people want to go with you or if you can join a party. If you're in a guild, you can enlist their aid.

Enemies will respawn after a certain amount of time, thus giving other players the opportunity to fight them.

Rather than being a noob for the first days I think I will just skip MMORPG altogether and keep playing on de_dust. Besides, who came up with the idea of charging a montly fee? Imagine how much CS would suck if you had to pay a fee.

 

[15357]

Rather than being a noob for the first days I think I will just skip MMORPG altogether and keep playing on de_dust. Besides, who came up with the idea of charging a montly fee? Imagine how much CS would suck if you had to pay a fee.

Here, in the great land of Korea, we don't have a monthly fee. Everything is free, except some 'special' items. But, since you probably don't speak Korean, that is not helpful atall.

 

[Lou]

Here, in the great land of Korea, we don't have a monthly fee. Everything is free, except some 'special' items. But, since you probably don't speak Korean, that is not helpful atall.

What games do they (love to) play in your country?

 

[15357]

I meant all MMORPGs, btw.

WoW, Maplestory, ect. Online games are the most popular game type here.

 

[Absinthe]

Rather than being a noob for the first days I think I will just skip MMORPG altogether and keep playing on de_dust. Besides, who came up with the idea of charging a montly fee? Imagine how much CS would suck if you had to pay a fee.

They're also radically different kinds of games.

Besides, nobody would pay monthly for CS since it sucks any way.

 

[Jintor]

What games do they (love to) play in your country?

The only Korean MMORPG I know anything about is probably Lineage (Or Lineage II, whatever). I hear MapleStory has a following their but it's international, so it might even come from Japan for all I know. Same with Ragnarok (I think that's Korean; at least, I think the manga is Korean) and Gunbound (which isn't so much an MMORPG as it is Worms).

My MMORPG of choice would be City of Villains/City of Heroes, where you can be a superhero/supervillain and muck around doing heroic/villainy things. For a monthly fee, of course.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Right. I'm going to run down World of Warcraft which is a fairly typical and arguably the best MMORPG out there. It's certainly the easiest to get into, I think.

Begin.

First you create your character. Different MMOs have differing degrees of freedom in this regard but it usually follows a set class-based system, TFC/DnD style. You can pick a warrior or a sneaker or an archer-type class or whatever. You can choose your gender and race. In WoW, the world is embroiled in a constant war between the forces of the imperialistic evil Alliance and the noble Horde (yeah, guess which side I play on). Thus there are eight races, four per side.

Once you've created and named your character you're in the game. And so is everyone else. As you start off, you'll have very few skills and bothers, so life as a level 1 character is pretty simple. Non-Player Characters that have golden exclamation marks hovering over their head will give you quests, and quests are your primary means of advancement, acting as springboards into interesting areas and offering substantial cash/item rewards. You'll spend most of your time doing quests.

Questing!

Go up to NPC. Ask him wassup G.
NPC gives you an objective like 'go kill 10 lions' or 'go kill boss creature' or 'go get item'. Later on in the game quests get a bit more interesting and complicated. Let's say your mission is to kill 10 lions.
Follow the directions ('North of Generic Camp') and you'll find a load of lions to kill. Attack them in an RPG fashion.
Well done, you have killed 10 lions! Return to the NPC and he will give you one copper piece in thanks. But arguably more important than the material reward is the XP reward. XP are experience points and every time you kill something or complete a quest you'll get a load of them. They all build up until they reach a certain point (say, 3000 points) and then you'll level up. From killing the lions you've already got a load of XP and now you get some more for completing the quest. Congratulations! You're Level 2!

This process will continue, pretty much, until you're at the top of the chain - level 60. That might sound boring, but the quests are pretty varied in lots of different locations with lots of different things to do, some in 'instances' - which are dungeons that replicate for every player or party who enters them. That means one group of five can be in an instance while another group of five is in the instance at the same time - but in a temporary parallel dimension. Later on in the game you'll have access to far more skills, equipment and money. And of course, you've always got your friends.

You can talk to them both by walking up to them and using a chat with a limited range, or you can message them individually, or you can talk on the area-wide chat channel. If you join a guild, you can talk on the guild channel...it's basically like IRC within the game. Many quests are extremely hard and need more than one person to complete it, so you can band together in parties with up to four other people. Often these parties will be ad-hoc as someone shouts out 'ANYONE DOING RAGERIFT CANYON?' and a load of other people go 'YEAH LET'S BAND TOGETHER!' Sometimes such groups are arranged with friends.These groups of five can even band together themselves to form a raid group which is 50 people (I think) and is essential for co-ordinating high level instances or for PVP. More on the latter later.

Travelling the world

Basically, the whole thing works exactly like a single-player RPG, somewhat like Baldur's Gate if you've ever played it. But the key difference is of course the presence of a couple of thousand of other people and the whole game is built so that almost everything is repeatable - kill a monster and it'll be back within an hour; complete a quest and it doesn't stop anybody else from doing so. Despite the apparent freedom it offers (and make no mistake, some of that freedom is real) you are quite constricted. You can't kill people on the same side as you, and WoW is built so there are very few ways you can really 'grief' - translated as 'piss people off'.

The other side, however, is fair game. If you're Horde you fight Alliance and if you're Alliance you fight the Horde. Each side controls certain areas in the world, and there are 'safe areas' where new players start off. Outside these 'safe areas' and side-controlled lands anything goes at least on a PvP server. PvP = player vs player. This can be anything from encountering an enemy out on the barren wastes and killing him or banding together with a group of 30 other people to attack an enemy town. Attacking an enemy town won't actually do anything - you'll kill a load of stuff but you could never truly take over or destroy the place. The main point of such raids is A. they're fun and B. you get honor. Honor is a system by which players who kill other players that are around their own level can get rewards, and the more PvP kills you get the cooler the rewards are.

Of course if you don't like any of this (and some people don't like getting killed by enemy players when they're trying to quest) you can play on a non-PvP server where both parties have to consent to combat.

It's a lot of fun, because you end up travelling a wide and expansive and awesome world, killing monsters, razing dungeons to the ground, completing cool quests while chatting with friends and then maybe stalking the jungles of Stranglethorn tanling with enemy players.

Alternatives

Now if you want an RPG where anything goes, you could try EVE. Everyone pilots spaceships and the entire economy is basically controlled, so you can go and kill anyone you want and you can destroy entire corporations and you can drive up ore prices by gathering a load of friends and attacking all the transport ships and mining ships - all of which are piloted by other players. WoW and EVE represent two different sides of the same MMORPG coin - the former is quite restrictive in the name of fun whereas the latter is completely free but can be boring or even horrifying as all your hard work is destroyed by some utter bastard. Note that even though WoW is 'restrictive' it's still quite freeform by the standards of most games.

HOPE THAT EXPLAINS IT ALL

 

[Jintor]

The MMORPG Experience is different for each game yet mostly the same. It's quite strange.

I'll give a CoV guide later, maybe.

 

[ComradeBadger]

I enjoyed CoH far more than WoW personally, it just appealed to me more, and aside from the people I knew already playing WoW, most people in WoW weren't as helpful as those in CoH.

CoH was farrrr too fun

 

[StardogChampion]

The only Korean MMORPG I know anything about is probably Lineage (Or Lineage II, whatever). I hear MapleStory has a following their but it's international, so it might even come from Japan for all I know. Same with Ragnarok (I think that's Korean; at least, I think the manga is Korean) and Gunbound (which isn't so much an MMORPG as it is Worms).

My MMORPG of choice would be City of Villains/City of Heroes, where you can be a superhero/supervillain and muck around doing heroic/villainy things. For a monthly fee, of course.

Korea has a huge amount of MMORPG's, with about another 10 or more in dev too.

Ragnarok
Ragnarok II
Wiki (got into legal trouble for looking just like Zelda: WW)
ROSE Online
etc

 

[15357]

Korea has a huge amount of MMORPG's, with about another 10 or more in dev too.

Ragnarok
Ragnarok II
Wiki (got into legal trouble for looking just like Zelda: WW)
ROSE Online
etc

As i've said, there are literally tens and maybe even hundreds of Online games, and 80% are MMORPGs.

 

[Steven]

MMORPG's, what puts me off is the fact that you become good at them by clicking on stuff then waiting for your level to go up. There not like multiplayer FPS games where you have to have skills to be good at.

My point is in an MMO you don't actually do anything there like watching TV you just sit there watching it where as in a multiplayer FPS you get to actually play the game.

This is my 666th post.

 

[Unfocused]

Just download a free to play MMORPG and try it out for yourself. You could try Silkroad, it's quite OK.

 

[Septih]

MMORPG's, what puts me off is the fact that you become good at them by clicking on stuff then waiting for your level to go up. There not like multiplayer FPS games where you have to have skills to be good at.

My point is in an MMO you don't actually do anything there like watching TV you just sit there watching it where as in a multiplayer FPS you get to actually play the game.

This is my 666th post.

FPS's where you just have to click at a certain area on the screen...


Ignorance?

 

[Absinthe]

MMORPG's, what puts me off is the fact that you become good at them by clicking on stuff then waiting for your level to go up. There not like multiplayer FPS games where you have to have skills to be good at.

My point is in an MMO you don't actually do anything there like watching TV you just sit there watching it where as in a multiplayer FPS you get to actually play the game.

People say this kind of crap without putting much thought into it.

 

[Lou]

Right. I'm going to run down World of Warcraft which is a fairly typical and arguably the best MMORPG out there. It's certainly the easiest to get into, I think.

Begin.

First you create your character. Different MMOs have differing degrees of freedom in this regard but it usually follows a set class-based system, TFC/DnD style. You can pick a warrior or a sneaker or an archer-type class or whatever. You can choose your gender and race. In WoW, the world is embroiled in a constant war between the forces of the imperialistic evil Alliance and the noble Horde (yeah, guess which side I play on). Thus there are eight races, four per side.

Once you've created and named your character you're in the game. And so is everyone else. As you start off, you'll have very few skills and bothers, so life as a level 1 character is pretty simple. Non-Player Characters that have golden exclamation marks hovering over their head will give you quests, and quests are your primary means of advancement, acting as springboards into interesting areas and offering substantial cash/item rewards. You'll spend most of your time doing quests.

Questing!

Go up to NPC. Ask him wassup G.
NPC gives you an objective like 'go kill 10 lions' or 'go kill boss creature' or 'go get item'. Later on in the game quests get a bit more interesting and complicated. Let's say your mission is to kill 10 lions.
Follow the directions ('North of Generic Camp') and you'll find a load of lions to kill. Attack them in an RPG fashion.
Well done, you have killed 10 lions! Return to the NPC and he will give you one copper piece in thanks. But arguably more important than the material reward is the XP reward. XP are experience points and every time you kill something or complete a quest you'll get a load of them. They all build up until they reach a certain point (say, 3000 points) and then you'll level up. From killing the lions you've already got a load of XP and now you get some more for completing the quest. Congratulations! You're Level 2!

This process will continue, pretty much, until you're at the top of the chain - level 60. That might sound boring, but the quests are pretty varied in lots of different locations with lots of different things to do, some in 'instances' - which are dungeons that replicate for every player or party who enters them. That means one group of five can be in an instance while another group of five is in the instance at the same time - but in a temporary parallel dimension. Later on in the game you'll have access to far more skills, equipment and money. And of course, you've always got your friends.

You can talk to them both by walking up to them and using a chat with a limited range, or you can message them individually, or you can talk on the area-wide chat channel. If you join a guild, you can talk on the guild channel...it's basically like IRC within the game. Many quests are extremely hard and need more than one person to complete it, so you can band together in parties with up to four other people. Often these parties will be ad-hoc as someone shouts out 'ANYONE DOING RAGERIFT CANYON?' and a load of other people go 'YEAH LET'S BAND TOGETHER!' Sometimes such groups are arranged with friends.These groups of five can even band together themselves to form a raid group which is 50 people (I think) and is essential for co-ordinating high level instances or for PVP. More on the latter later.

Travelling the world

Basically, the whole thing works exactly like a single-player RPG, somewhat like Baldur's Gate if you've ever played it. But the key difference is of course the presence of a couple of thousand of other people and the whole game is built so that almost everything is repeatable - kill a monster and it'll be back within an hour; complete a quest and it doesn't stop anybody else from doing so. Despite the apparent freedom it offers (and make no mistake, some of that freedom is real) you are quite constricted. You can't kill people on the same side as you, and WoW is built so there are very few ways you can really 'grief' - translated as 'piss people off'.

The other side, however, is fair game. If you're Horde you fight Alliance and if you're Alliance you fight the Horde. Each side controls certain areas in the world, and there are 'safe areas' where new players start off. Outside these 'safe areas' and side-controlled lands anything goes at least on a PvP server. PvP = player vs player. This can be anything from encountering an enemy out on the barren wastes and killing him or banding together with a group of 30 other people to attack an enemy town. Attacking an enemy town won't actually do anything - you'll kill a load of stuff but you could never truly take over or destroy the place. The main point of such raids is A. they're fun and B. you get honor. Honor is a system by which players who kill other players that are around their own level can get rewards, and the more PvP kills you get the cooler the rewards are.

Of course if you don't like any of this (and some people don't like getting killed by enemy players when they're trying to quest) you can play on a non-PvP server where both parties have to consent to combat.

It's a lot of fun, because you end up travelling a wide and expansive and awesome world, killing monsters, razing dungeons to the ground, completing cool quests while chatting with friends and then maybe stalking the jungles of Stranglethorn tanling with enemy players.

Alternatives

Now if you want an RPG where anything goes, you could try EVE. Everyone pilots spaceships and the entire economy is basically controlled, so you can go and kill anyone you want and you can destroy entire corporations and you can drive up ore prices by gathering a load of friends and attacking all the transport ships and mining ships - all of which are piloted by other players. WoW and EVE represent two different sides of the same MMORPG coin - the former is quite restrictive in the name of fun whereas the latter is completely free but can be boring or even horrifying as all your hard work is destroyed by some utter bastard. Note that even though WoW is 'restrictive' it's still quite freeform by the standards of most games.

HOPE THAT EXPLAINS IT ALL

That's a very damn good explanation You should make a wiki about it, seriously!

 

[Steven]

FPS's where you just have to click at a certain area on the screen...


Ignorance?

you have to hide behind stuff / you have to reload / a guy's shooting you from behind / you've been flashed / you are completly shocked by the attack and thus you shoot inacuratly for the first few moments > change spells / eat food or potion / block.

People say this kind of crap without putting much thought into it.

I have put more thought into it and yes I am completly wrong MMORPG's do in fact require more, the same ammount or near as much skills as a multiplayer FPS.

There is no doubt in my mind that multiplayer FPS' need much more skills and concentration then MMORPG's.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Then you've obviously never been ambushed by a rogue in WoW...or, well fought in battlegrounds or any kind of PvP.

 

[Jintor]

PvP is generally the only sort of challenge. Well, I say generally, because I haven't played WoW past lvl 16, and CoV/CoH is amazing fun/difficult in groups.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Instances may require good group co-ordination, tactics and quick reactions. D: