Poll: What is the Escapist's Opinion on MMOs?

[DrgoFx]

Well with the release of the Star Wars beta and the free launch of DCUO, not to mention this being highly anticipated [http://guildwars2.com/en/], you can't deny that even those who were pushed away from MMOs way back when due to their gameplay are now given more interesting forms of combat, creation, dialog, etc. So having access to the Escapist forums brings me this question: How many of you have played MMOs in the past? How many of you were interested in them by means of something recent? How many of you still think they're pointless?

Honestly, one of the very few games I played on my computer was an MMO, Bots. It was an arcade styled beat-em-up and in my while of playing it, I enjoyed it. Since then I've played numerous MMOs and even beta tested a few, ranging from the actually well made Cartoon Network MMO Fusion Fall to the beat-em-up rusty hearts, from the amazingly faithful Dungeons and Dragons Online to All Points Bulletin.

In short, I've played a lot of MMOs and it's really an expensive market. It takes millions of dollars; more so than most single player games, or even games with multiplayer slapped on; to simply design one. Due to this, the market rarely leaves room for creativity and tends to make many WoW Clones since WoW is highly successful. But as the times change, so do the demands of the players and more publishers and developers are realizing that. SOE noticed that a few times, and had many trial and errors. ArenaNet has been blessed with such a trusting publisher as NCSoft and is given complete freedom on Guild Wars 2.

So in my honest opinion, I'm tired of "WoW Based Combat" and I want a definite change.

NOTE: If there's an option in my poll that I haven't thought of but one would like to be there, just say so.

 

[Lord Honk]

I've played WoW, LotRO, Warhammer and a couple of Free-to-play games, and none so far have sparked any lasting enjoyment. If people enjoy them that's fine, but I personally like to stick to games with distinct single- and multiplayer parts.

 

[DrgoFx]

I've played WoW, LotRO, Warhammer and a couple of Free-to-play games, and none so far have sparked any lasting enjoyment. If people enjoy them that's fine, but I personally like to stick to games with distinct single- and multiplayer parts.

I've played a lot of them and so far the two I return to are Guild Wars and DC Universe. From time to time I'll play APB: Reloaded with some steam friends, but that's about it. I've actually been really excited for Guild Wars 2 and I know a lot of my friends are excited too, even the friends that never liked MMOs.

 

[Qitz]

I've messed with so many MMOs, both RPG and FPS. Runescape, Ragnarok Online, WoW, LotrO, Allods Online, Champions Online, Warhammer, couple of flight and shooters I can't remember at all, DDO and now DCUO.

I'm glad more MMOs are leaning towards action based combat. After so many poke your guy in the back of the head to make him do things MMOs, ones where I get to make him attack is a nice refreshment. Even better is all the MMOs going Free-To-Play so I don't have to worry about sinking $60 on the game then $14.99 a month afterwards.

 

[Noble_Lance]

Here is my stance on them, they are grind fests every last one of them. No matter what they say, or do you grind... Vindictus was the longest I played solo but the requirements for items and such were nuts. The longest mmo I ever played was Runescape and paid for it, but you know why. I had friends there, not online friends real friends who played but real friends, and it made it worth while until we are started to get bored and busy with college and stuff. So yeah we quit together but at different times based on age. MMOs are only fun if you have a way to pass the grinding together.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I started with Runescape about 6-7 years ago, then moved onto Guild Wars about 4-5 years ago, then after a year or two of playing that i had done just about everything and achieved my goal of getting elite armour with every character i had, so i havent played any MMOs recently.. however i'll almost definatly be picking up Guild Wars 2 on release.

 

[Infinatex]

Yeah I've played my fair share, and I love the MMO genre. A lot of people are annoyed by the sub fee, but then you are getting the service that it pays for. Glitches and bugs are fixed weekly not every few months like other game. Updates and new content too.

Currently I'm subbed up to WoW, Rift and Aion as well as playing a little bit of DCUO.

This all may change next year with the release of SWTOR but thats release depending (the game seems awesome from beta but if there is no Aussie release date and we get screwed behind everyone else then I'm not even gonna give it a look).

 

[Antitonic]

MMOs look relatively appealing. The user base doesn't.

I find myself unable to enjoy a game unless it's single player, or in certain circumstances local multi-player. It's just something about the online crowd I dislike.

To people that play MMOs, more power to you. I won't be joining you.

 

[DrgoFx]

I've messed with so many MMOs, both RPG and FPS. Runescape, Ragnarok Online, WoW, LotrO, Allods Online, Champions Online, Warhammer, couple of flight and shooters I can't remember at all, DDO and now DCUO.

I'm glad more MMOs are leaning towards action based combat. After so many poke your guy in the back of the head to make him do things MMOs, ones where I get to make him attack is a nice refreshment. Even better is all the MMOs going Free-To-Play so I don't have to worry about sinking $60 on the game then $14.99 a month afterwards.

I do enjoy the Free-To-Play aspect and I think SOE made some smart decisions on the F2P vs P2P accounts in DCUO. My friend plays F2P, where as I am a Premium member and he doesn't feel restricted to the point he HAS to pay to enjoy the game, which is good. As I mentioned, I'm psyched for Guild Wars 2, mostly because they have trust in their abilities to successfully run an MMO without a subscription, or game changing items.

It's how they ran Guild Wars 1 and they relied on their expansions, which in the time they released all three expansions for Guild Wars 1, each presenting new areas to explore and two of which presented two new classes, WoW only released Burning Crusade. So yes, these guys are dedicated.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The only one I liked the most is Guild Wars. I had played other like Champion Online during the free weekend and City of Villain but I got tried of those games easily. MMO doesn't fully appeal to me that much since most of them is the typical escort or fetch quests or the gimmick doesn't stay onto me for long (like you don't really feel like a superhero in Champion Online).

I admit there other other MMO I want to have a go like RF Online, Wakfu, the upcoming Transformer Universe and Hellgate London (Hellgate and RF had be revive as free to play) but I want the game files end up being pile into the junk files (yes I cna delete but I don't to install and delete every single games).

Anyway I am looking forward to Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3.

 

[darth.pixie]

I've no interest in playing them. It's just for wasting time. I have no goal, no point in playing and most quests are inane. The fun that might happen at the beginning turn to redundancy so I'd rather have a short but fun single player campaign than sinking my already limited time in grinding just to get better stuff which I use for more grinding.

 

[DrgoFx]

I've no interest in playing them. It's just for wasting time. I have no goal, no point in playing and most quests are inane. The fun that might happen at the beginning turn to redundancy so I'd rather have a short but fun single player campaign than sinking my already limited time in grinding just to get better stuff which I use for more grinding.

I really do think that no matter what MMO you pick, the real fun with them lies with the first to letters. Massively Multiplayer. I see a lot of people shun MMOs because they try to play them like single player games, but they're not meant to be played that way. And it pains me when Developers even make games that compliment the single player.

I'm not saying you're wrong, some people just don't like multiplayer in general. But when you look at a game genre that has multiplayer in its name, what are you expecting? I do agree more MMOs need to focus on a "personal story" or a less grindy atmosphere, which is why I'm interested in Guild Wars 2 since they're focusing on those, and other aspects over looked in MMOs. But yes, if you don't like multiplayer games then don't play MMOs, but if you give them a shot, make sure you understand what you're getting into.

 

[mikey7339]

I played the original EQ, Planetside, and WoW when the Lich King was the last expansion pack. Each of them held my interest for a half year a piece. I like them but each of them got too time consuming and ended up being retired by events in my life, like being promoted and in-turn moving from 2nd shift to normal daylight hours and buying/fixing up my house. I'm probably not going to play another one until Blizzard comes out with their next MMO.

I also played EQ2, Guild Wars and the Warhammer game but I don't think they held my interest for more than a few months.

 

[Zantos]

I very much enjoy Rift, and I can't wait for The Secret World. Never really took to WoW though.

 

[bleys2487]

I've done WoW, Aion, Warhammer and Lotro. I'm a pretty big MMO player and most of the people I game with now are from those MMOs. I basically stay in Lotro now just for the people and pvmp, but with how Turbine has ignored pvmp for up to four years now, I honestly don't think I'll be staying. It's way too much of a grind. It took me years to get rank 12 on creepside, if that means anything.

I'll probably find another MMO. I really like the community aspect. But, hey, I understand some gamers are looking for other things. More power to you.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The concept of mass-multiplayer isn't bad; I loved the 30-40 man teams in my (comparatively brief) days of Tribes 2.

However, MMOs in practice follow this cycle of necessity that ultimately ends in some sort of tragedy.

Spoiler: Tragedy of the MMO Genre

****
0*MMOs aim to support hundreds to thousands of players on one server at a time
1-Said server farm and bandwidth is not a cheap initial investment
1a\-It's also a persistent (or fixed) cost that MUST be paid.

2-The best way to pay for the server is to charge for something
2a\-Subscriptions
2b\-Microtransactions

3-From either method above, the best way to make money (and thus extend the life of your server/business) is to inflate the value of the above. The best/proven method is to take your existing system, and introduce grind into your gameplay.

4-Grind is anti-game. A series of repetitive tasks that require no thought and only exist to pad out the time spent on the game. There is no real challenge or skill required to grind. Worse, grind preys upon human behaviorial psychology, making it addicting without actually adding anything to the experience. (the ubiquitous "Skinner Box")
4a\-Subscription players will be forced to log far more time on your server to get ANYWHERE, and thus are forced to pay that subscription fee for longer. Microtransactions (F2P)
4b\-Microtransaction-based payments (F2P), essentially "oppress" and annoy the playerbase into compliance.

****

And it's because of that sequence of events that I don't play MMOs. I gave the genre a chance from 2003-2008, trying everything from Ragnarok Online, to Star Wars, to WoW(trial) to even obscure shit like S4 and Dofus.
It's the same fucking song and dance for each one: Great gameplay concepts ruined utterly by the grind. Skinner Box and social entrapment designed to keep you pushing that button in your fruitless quest to increment numbers in a database.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Here's the played list:

1. Neverwinter Nights (the AOL version)
2. Ultima Online
3. Lineage (beta)
4. Everquest
5. Asheron's Call
6. Anarchy Online
7. World of Warcraft (still playing since beta)
8. Star Wars: Galaxies (pre- everyone's can be Jedi era)
9. City of Heroes
10. Dungeons and Dragons Online (beta)
11. LotRO
12. Warhammer Online (such a waste of good money on that game...)
13. Everquest 2
14. RIFT (beta)

Out of all those games, I only still play WoW. Because out of all those games WoW just knows how to make it fun. I do miss the old days of EQ, raiding the Plane of Fear. I miss the days when UO was fun and PKers could rule. I miss the days when becoming a Jedi in SW:G wasn't just a select your class option but rather something to work for.
I understand some people hate on WoW, thats fine with me since it doesn't affect my game at all. I will be playing most likely until the end of that game since I've invested so much into it already. I want to see how it ends, and I believe it will end. Even if its just to usher in WoW2.
I've been saying to Blizz "Shut up and take my money" for almost 7 years now (I took a little time off) and I'm loyal to them. They make a good product and despite whiners, still try to balance the game as well as it can be balanced.
I also love how people talk about balance issues when in reality most of them whine because their favorite PvP spec doesn't dominate anymore. Its not balanced if you can't be beaten.

 

[viranimus]

Ultima ,4th coming[ Eq, Asherons call DAoC, shadowbane,neocron, Anarchy Online,Earth and beyond,rupies of eventide, runescape,The matrix online, Adventurequest,FFXI,star wars galaxies, World of warcraft, Ragnarok, maple story The mana world, 9 dragons, two moons,shiya,cabal,CoH/V Champions, Dofus, minions of mirth, second life, dungeon runners, EVE, EQ2,last chaos, shiya Fiesta, planetside,Guild wars, kingdom of loathing,silk road, neo steam, Tabula rasa,DDO, LoTRO,Vanguard, Fallen earth, Vindictus, age of conan, wizard 101 FFXVI,requiem, Star trek , spiral knights, DCUO, and as of this weekend, The Old republic.

That is a list that is most of the MMOs I have played for any duration. It ,is by no means a complete list, because honestly some of their names ellude me but I figure 50 + represents a good enough cross sample out of the over 150 ive tried.

That said...I am obviousl hopeful for MMOs, but ive yet to see enough good out of em to stick with them any more. they are all too tied to the tedious model WoW set, and honestly that model is not all that good.99.9% of MMOs are pretty much useless garbage. Not even worthy of the the code its written in.

MMOs are in dire need of a genre redefining title, and massive influx of new conventions and mechanics to make them viable. Heres hoping ToR and GW2 can start that.

 

[l3o2828]

I choosed the 'I don't find MMOs appealing at all'.
Which isn't entirely true, but the only way i can enjoy an MMO is if i'm with friends all the time, preferably being of a supportive role like the medic or something.
If i'm soloing in an MMO first it starts getting bored worryingly fast and it's without any sort of point because the mmos are great for playing with people but people in mmos aren't too friendly , they either already have a guild or are too busy or like soloing the weirdoes...
it's just not fun to me...

 

[Keava]

I love MMOs as a genre, sadly there isn't many of games in the genre I enjoy. I played back in ultima Online times, played EQ, Lineage2, Anarchy Online, DAoC, WoW, WAR, EVE, AoC... any many many more, including several Asian mass produced F2P low quality MMOs. I probably spent about 2-3 years of time worth on MMOs alone (my WoW /played was about a year alone), back since dial-up era.

Thing is to enjoy MMO You have to find a community for Yourself. Without a guild You will enjoy hanging out with it's pointless to really try and get into such games, because, what many gamers seem to forget these days, MMOs are in big part about social interaction. Playing MMOs alone just cuts You out of things too do way too early, and I do not think developers should really focus all that much on providing solo-friendly content.

Over all that time i met wonderful people, keep contact with many of them even if we don't play the games we've met in any more. Some i've even got to meet in real life and had a blast.

The problem with current MMOs, however is the fact that the market been in stagnation since EQ. There very little innovation in the genre, and even games like GW2 or TSW don't really bring enough of freshness to the table, operating on same, basic core with mostly cosmetic adjustments. ToR is pretty much just the straight up continuation of the trend introduced by Blizzard - take what's been done and improve upon what's familiar.

I'm however, still hoping, that the the technology will advance further and allow for a much more dynamic and player driven gameplay in time. I think all is needed is an in game set of tools that would allow players themselves to contribute in some way to the world presented by the game rather than being limited by a strict boundaries that are present in majority of MMOs. The closest to that ideal of course is EVE, but everything in EVE works in a slightly different manner, making it much easier to introduce player driven dynamics that simply would feel out of place in traditional, on ground, MMO.