Worst mmo worlds?

[the_dramatica]

I've only played 10 or so mmos, and only a few hardcore. Amongst them are rift and guild wars 2.

Although i'd say guild wars 2 is a better game than rift, rift easily had a more interesting and beautiful world in nearly every way. Soundtrack, graphics, open world pvp, the terrain, deadlier and larger enemies, even the lore is better and rift lore is on potatoe levels. The open world in guild wars 2 SUCKS; it's hardly worth playing.

Was wondering if you guys had similar opinions about mmos you are playing.

 

[RedDeadFred]

The only MMO I've spent enough time in to give an opinion on is GW2. Personally, I like the open world a lot as it's a very casual experience and great for exploring and going about things at your own pace. They put the harder stuff inside instanced content. Not sure what there is to complain about the terrain though. It seems nice and varied to me. Mountains, valleys, glacial trenches, sprawling country side, swamps, volcanoes, the crystal scar, desserts, the insanely vertical jungle, and my personal favourite: the labyrinthine Tangled Depths. I know you knock the difficulty of the world (it is quite easy IMO as well), but you might be surprised to know that many long time fans hated Heart of Thorns because the open world was too hard and too complex.

Definitely agree on the lore thing though. Guild Wars has some fantastic lore, but it is absolutely shit at conveying it in game. The recent living world season has been telling the best story since the game's launch because it's actually drawing on established lore and explaining that lore through the new maps it has introduced.

Anyway, if I had to pick one that I've actually tried for more than an hour, I'd say Perfect World. Granted, I still don't think I spent enough time in it to form a particularly qualified opinion, but from what I saw, it was about as generic as you could get.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I haven't played Guild Wars 2 for years, but back when I did I didn't find the world all that immersive.

 

[Worgen]

I haven't played Guild Wars 2 for years, but back when I did I didn't find the world all that immersive.

Its much more immersive than wows world. I played wow for like 3 years and the only lore I knew was from warcraft 3.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I haven't played Guild Wars 2 for years, but back when I did I didn't find the world all that immersive.

Its much more immersive than wows world. I played wow for like 3 years and the only lore I knew was from warcraft 3.

Lore? Immersion isn't directly tied to the amount of lore in a game. People called Skyrim immersive, and they didn't do it just because you could stop playing for 5 hours and read all the lore books in the world. What I meant was:

I feel like the world just isn't as immersive as Azeroth. The zones are all separated by big swirling portals, like every time I walk across the border I'm traveling to a different dimension, rather than what I remember to be a seamless transition in WoW. The fast travel system, while much more convenient, takes me out of the world somewhat. Rather than ride a giant bird across the lands, flying high over all of the monsters and towns, you just open your map and click where you want to go. Another exchange of convenience for immersion is the ability to place crafting items in some sort of bank from any location... and to access the trading post from anywhere, and your mail, and the bank from crafting stations. It's all very convenient, but it just reminds me that I'm playing a game rather than exploring another world.

The world felt disconnected, like a series of levels or instances, rather than an actual place.

 

[Worgen]

I haven't played Guild Wars 2 for years, but back when I did I didn't find the world all that immersive.

Its much more immersive than wows world. I played wow for like 3 years and the only lore I knew was from warcraft 3.

Lore? Immersion isn't directly tied to the amount of lore in a game. People called Skyrim immersive, and they didn't do it just because you could stop playing for 5 hours and read all the lore books in the world. What I meant was:

I feel like the world just isn't as immersive as Azeroth. The zones are all separated by big swirling portals, like every time I walk across the border I'm traveling to a different dimension, rather than what I remember to be a seamless transition in WoW. The fast travel system, while much more convenient, takes me out of the world somewhat. Rather than ride a giant bird across the lands, flying high over all of the monsters and towns, you just open your map and click where you want to go. Another exchange of convenience for immersion is the ability to place crafting items in some sort of bank from any location... and to access the trading post from anywhere, and your mail, and the bank from crafting stations. It's all very convenient, but it just reminds me that I'm playing a game rather than exploring another world.

The world felt disconnected, like a series of levels or instances, rather than an actual place.

The connected nature of azeroth made it seem really small and gamelike. I mean when you can fly across a continent in 10 min then it makes it feel really small. The fast travel in gw2 actually fit into the plot of the game so while you could teleport all around in seconds, it didn't feel outside the game like traveling in wow did. In living season 2 one of the plot points was some of the waypoints were coming under attack by these weird vines and were being taken offline.

 

[Drathnoxis]

The connected nature of azeroth made it seem really small and gamelike. I mean when you can fly across a continent in 10 min then it makes it feel really small. The fast travel in gw2 actually fit into the plot of the game so while you could teleport all around in seconds, it didn't feel outside the game like traveling in wow did. In living season 2 one of the plot points was some of the waypoints were coming under attack by these weird vines and were being taken offline.

Well, I liked it. I like being able to move everywhere without a loading zone popping up. That's one of the things I really liked about Dark Souls, unless you die there's only about 3 loading zones in the game and all of those are as a result of your character being transported to a completely disconnected place by another entity.

I remember the boats in WoW that lead between the two continents used to actually make the trip in the game world and took around 15 minutes to ride, I was really disappointed when I played again years later and found it was an instantaneous trip.

 

[Worgen]

The connected nature of azeroth made it seem really small and gamelike. I mean when you can fly across a continent in 10 min then it makes it feel really small. The fast travel in gw2 actually fit into the plot of the game so while you could teleport all around in seconds, it didn't feel outside the game like traveling in wow did. In living season 2 one of the plot points was some of the waypoints were coming under attack by these weird vines and were being taken offline.

Well, I liked it. I like being able to move everywhere without a loading zone popping up. That's one of the things I really liked about Dark Souls, unless you die there's only about 3 loading zones in the game and all of those are as a result of your character being transported to a completely disconnected place by another entity.

I remember the boats in WoW that lead between the two continents used to actually make the trip in the game world and took around 15 minutes to ride, I was really disappointed when I played again years later and found it was an instantaneous trip.

I dont remember it ever not being instant. But I do remember having to wait for them to leave port then it took a bit for them to arrive, I can only see it taken 15 min if you include wait time.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I dont remember it ever not being instant. But I do remember having to wait for them to leave port then it took a bit for them to arrive, I can only see it taken 15 min if you include wait time.

I'm pretty sure the ship actually made the trip at one point because I remember jumping over the edge and dying in the ocean and also checking the map and seeing the marker near the middle, but that was like 12 years ago so it's possible I'm misremembering.

 

[Worgen]

I dont remember it ever not being instant. But I do remember having to wait for them to leave port then it took a bit for them to arrive, I can only see it taken 15 min if you include wait time.

I'm pretty sure the ship actually made the trip at one point because I remember jumping over the edge and dying in the ocean and also checking the map and seeing the marker near the middle, but that was like 12 years ago so it's possible I'm misremembering.

That was a bug, occasionally the ship would bug out and and the trip would take forever.

 

[chrissx2]

I don't know. The only world in MMO game I liked was in WoW. Those in Skyforge and Conan were interesting as well, but I didn't like the way they were connected ( each zone was a different map conneced with loading screen - This really kills the immersion for me).

Everything else was meh for me.

 

[FakeSympathy]

SWTOR has one of the worst world designs I've ever seen; Because it's an star wars game you think you'll get a variation of planets. But no, both Republic and Empire sides recycles same planets on different level. Oh well, at least we got to visit Hoth, Tatooine, Alderaan, and Coruscant

 

[FakeSympathy]

SWTOR has one of the worst world designs I've ever seen; Because it's an star wars game you think you'll get a variation of planets. But no, both Republic and Empire sides recycles same planets on different level. Oh well, at least we got to visit Hoth, Tatooine, Alderaan, and Coruscant

 

[Avnger]

I would have to say the original Guild Wars. I loved the shit out of it at the time, but looking back, the fact that interaction with other players was limited to the cities and that the 'game world' was basically just a series of linear missions for all intents and purposes isn't all that great.

Saying that, I would go back and play again in a heartbeat if possible.

edit: turns out that a reddit post as of a year ago says the game is still active so... there goes my weekend

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm pretty sure the ship actually made the trip at one point because I remember jumping over the edge and dying in the ocean and also checking the map and seeing the marker near the middle, but that was like 12 years ago so it's possible I'm misremembering.

You are misremembering. It was never not instant.

It was Everquest where you actually spent upwards of 15-20 minutes traveling between continents by boat. While it was interesting from an immersion standpoint, missing the boat or (god forbid) falling off it could literally destroy half your evening of gaming.

OT: World MMO Worlds...both GW and Rift have been namechecked, so I'll list them again. Terrible, bland, lifeless lore and "who cares" storytelling in both of them. Actually MOST MMOs have woefully bad world building, which is pretty horrendous, given that MMOs are supposed to be ace at world building and shit at traditional narrative storytelling.