Why do we jump from MMO to MMO?

[nomotog_v1legacy]

These games inherently sacrifice dynamism and so many other things. You can't cut off the quest giver's head or find an item of great power at a low level. You can't steal the merchant's entire inventory or have quests which truly impact the game. In many ways your experience is restricted so as to not disturb the experience of others playing around you. In many ways your entire existence in the game feels like a shoe in. .

You bring up a lot of good points, but I'd like to address this one in particular.

I feel that this is the same in a lot of ordinary games. You're not allowed to really affect the world, like it's the developer's toys and they're afraid you'll break it. The thing is that complete freedom might not be all that desirable as it would most likely just end up being a wasteland. If anyone could kill off the quest-giver then there would have to be either a respawn (like there is in WoW for example) or the quest itself would probably be lost forever, and then what's the point?

There are a lot of practical aspects that one has to consider. Is every game supposed to play like Rust then?

It really irks me that I'm not able to effectively impact the game-world in a lot of games (like how I can even break chairs in Skyrim), but in the case of MMOs I'm not sure if they would be well served by having everything killable or breakable.

You bring up a good point. I don't know if mmos would really benefit from being dynamic. Not every game needs to be dynamic some game types simply can't exist if they are too dynamic. See GTA or most open world sandbox games. As a more general thought related to this I often wonder if mmos are being pulled in the wrong direction when it comes to gameplay. Like with combat. We are seeing a push for more actiony combat, but I don't think that push will be able to really make combat better.

 

[themyrmidon]

The unfortunate answer is because all the ones with halfway decent production value are all the same. We all want a truly massive online gaming world, but no one really wants the current mechanics that are found in every major release.

The closest I've come to finding a unique experience was The Secret World. I loved the story and theme. But the leveling and combat was only a slight variation on the standard MMO formula, so when I went from Kingsmouth Town to Egypt the novelty wore off as I felt like I was playing the desert levels from Age of Conan all over again.

MMO's today just aren't built to last. They're built to make big money in a short time, then pair down for long-term sustainability. Until something comes along that completely rocks the boat in terms of game structure and gameplay mechanics most players will always be looking for something that is hopefully better than what we already have.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I try not to. I stopped playing Runescape a few months ago, 'cause really, where the hell does it go from here? I really should stop playing Runescape... according to my info, I've been playing for atleast 30 hours, yet I'm only about LVL ~130 ish. The game is far too grind heavy.

I'd play WoW but my account got hacked. Then again.. then again. Sounds unrealistic? It was unrealistic.

Seriously, I'm a picky bastard, so I tend to play MMO until I'm quite literally as bored of it as one could get.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Only one I have played thus far and stuck to it at all is Guild Wars 2, I know people that play it and it not having a subscription is great because it means I can go a few weeks without playing and not worry about paying for time not used. I like the personal story thing so far and I find the combat quite enjoyable in comparison to other MMO's I have played.

I just play to hang out with my friends and fight monsters

 

[Aesir23]

I never manage to stick with any MMO more than a couple months. I just get bored. Final Fantasy XIV reminded me of this. Once I hit the mid forties in level, it just became a huge grind, and the story came to a halt because I was always waiting over an hour to queue up for dungeons. I realized I have a hard time with MMOs and the reliance they require on other people to complete tasks. Long story made short, I'm a single-player person at heart and would rather do things at my own pace. Also the amount of time required is far too much.

That was my biggest problem with Final Fantasy XIV. I adored the visuals, the story I had experienced, the animation. Not to mention it was a good-looking, modern MMO that my computer could play smoothly where it only slightly lagged with large crowds. I also really got into the larger FATEs where you had these larger beasts that everyone in the area got together in order to fight.

Once I hit level 15 (17?) and there was that particular quest that forced you into a group to get through it? Nope, that was it for me. If I had pre-existing group or some friends I could do that with then maybe not. However, after the horror stories I'd heard and after seeing the conduct of many of the more rabid SE fans, I just didn't want to go through with it.

 

[Vegost]

I think I do this because i have a nostalgic fondness for World of Warcraft, years ago. Back in vanilla WoW, i played all the time and I had alot of fun. I played with friends, made new friends and got a real sense of accomplishment out of it. Now i look back to those days with nostalgic fondness, and i try to recreate them by trying new MMOs. As my friend said after trying SWTOR: "I wanted World of Warcraft with lightsabers!"

Having figured this out, I am going to try Elder Scrolls Online for what it is, not what I expect or want it to be, or how i remember other games to be. Perhaps I can return to enjoying the genre

 

[KouDy]

MMOs are weird. Just like you mention. They make you grind same thing over and over, yet we do come back for more. I know that one of my targets that i will never meet (because genre is like that) is to find new shiny MMO with no grinding and farming. MMO that will give a lot of things to do.

Yes i have some years in EVE, WoW or Lineage 2, some more extensive time on Warhammer. WoW was not my first MMO but it was different, more open to people (i'd say) with steady flow of content coming in patches. I left for good when Lich King expansion was released. Occasionally i consider coming back and checking but so far it did not happen.
When MMO is in pre-release state it gets hyped. It will have this and that feature, so awesome content on the release. Then you come there on release day and it's so cool, fresh feeling and shiny. The first days just feel it's new hit of your heart. But then all the downsides start to emerge. Jeez why do i have to click between all these weird inventory tabs (yes i am looking at you FFXIV) when there could be simply one bag and so on.

I too am interested in potential sleeping in MMOs. Tera is prime example of how not to do it. In Korea it's probably great game but in EU it's just horribly executed.

I think i would relate this to Jesse Schell's dice talk 2013. He mentioned plans and how they relate to human mind and gaming industry. We are looking for Utopia in the MMOs only to find out it's not in this one. But what if it is in the next one? What if it is there and you'd miss it.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

MMO's are one style of game that I've never gotten into. In fact, from the outside, I rather see them as almost inherently artless exploitation as opposed to actual games.

Watching a few vids of TESO's beta (from Gopher [https://www.youtube.com/user/GophersVids] and SorcererDave [https://www.youtube.com/user/Jingles1215]) it struck me how terrible the idea of an MMO TES is, and why on earth anyone thought it may have been a good idea. MMO's commonly destroy world immersion and player freedom - the two things TES has always been known for. And, MMO's also tend to look bloody awful, compared to TES's first person grandeur (and insanely moddable lifespan - Morrowind can still look fairly great now).

TESO might prove enjoyable enough to fans of the genre. But did it have to drag TES's name and rep through the mud to do so?

 

[R2Ian]

I've played a number of MMOs, but I've learned to distrust that feeling of being strung along. It's a close cousin to the "ah, just one more turn/puzzle/level/etc" that I get out of games that I like, but it's somehow sinister. You feel the XP curve start to slow down, you start to connect gold acquisition with time spent farming, and you just sliiide into the set of expected game behaviors / business model. It feels terrible. The older I get, the more interested I become in discrete gaming experiences -- quick puzzle games (like Threes), focused/bite-sized action games (Risk of Rain, Binding of Isaac, Nation Red), and the occasional grand strategy game (Dominions IV, CK2). I have to be able to put things down, and MMOs don't encourage me to do that.

 

[Nata-chan]

I never manage to stick with any MMO more than a couple months. I just get bored. Final Fantasy XIV reminded me of this. Once I hit the mid forties in level, it just became a huge grind, and the story came to a halt because I was always waiting over an hour to queue up for dungeons. I realized I have a hard time with MMOs and the reliance they require on other people to complete tasks. Long story made short, I'm a single-player person at heart and would rather do things at my own pace. Also the amount of time required is far too much.

Yeah, the reliance on others to complete tasks that are individually focused is a problem in current MMO RPG design. Especially since the designers seemed to have lost track of what a "quest" is supposed to be and got it mixed up with a "task". Looking back, I blame the poor transition from the MUD / Ultima / EQ quests to the World of Warcraft quest structure.

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Also, as many people have already beaten to death, massive multiplayer games do not work with "you are the chosen hero" style storylines. It conflicts with the elements of the type of game being developed, where interaction with a large population of players is expected who may be better or worse than the existing player. What Massive Multiplayer games excel at are stories of finding ones place in the world.

I +1 both of these. The waiting game is compounded when you are playing in the wrong time zone. I used to play Aion in Australia but on a West Coast USA server. Timing was always wrong, they were amping up when I was going to bed each night, or on the weekends, I would spend the better part of my day playing rather than seeing my real friends. It was great to have a legion and to have lots of insta-friends but there were so many dramas I misssed overnight between the American legion-mates it was frustrating. I woke up one morning and my legion had split up over an argument the night before!

When I went back to Aion, after it became FTP, I had SO much trouble finding good PUGs. Especially because I was working full time and didn't have hours to kill sitting around waiting for people to get online. That's what killed MMO for me, not having the time, and the community wasn't there anymore.

My recommendation to anyone playing MMOs is to sync your timezones or your personal schedule and to join a new MMO. The community is I think the most helpful at the beginning because you're all learning together and up to about the same points. Well, with the exception of those people who spend like a gazillion hours playing exclusively so have reached the level cap in a couple of weeks.

Sucks about the reviews of Elder Scrolls, I was looking forward to playing it... hmmm