2008 - Year of the MMO?

[Frax]

WoW is such a juggernaut, I doubt they are overly concerned with what WAR or AoC or whatever Darkfall is supposed to be will do. I'd imagine all three plus WoTLK could release on the same day and WoTLK would still dwarf them all combined in box sales...

note: I really do wish WoW had some real competition, it would drive better/faster decision making out of Blizzard and whatever that imagined competitor would be. Everyone wins in that case, except obviously the 4 out of 5 MMOs that seem to release into epic failure every year.

[gavinrad]

Originally Posted by Kez

Better hope Vigil Games is up to the task then since that's who has the 40k MMO license.

Yeah, I managed to forget that they announced the 40K MMO was in development in November. Here's hoping its something great.

[Draegan]

Originally Posted by Dumar

yes, it's the one shining bastion of light amidst a sea (a giant, giant sea) of complete and miserable garbage.

i just pray once i reach the end of that tunnel, the light is shining. not dismally dim and barely lit.

I just want to mark this post as the exact moment Dumar turned into jayrebb.

[Magnum PI]

Originally Posted by sticktastic

No.


As bad as I hate to say it, because I think they did a lot of good, and bad but WoW is the best MMO ever created. I played EQ for 7ish years, and while it is still my favorite, WoW is the best. It does well in every aspect Makes me ill, but it's true. This year will be chalked full of failures in the mmo business. AoC does not stand a chance, and frankly warhammer has always been a joke imo, anything mythic ever does again will be a joke to me. They had the best pvp game ever, and completly fucked it up. To the point where people who knew anything about the game was asking themselves "does mythic even play this fucking game?". TOA was the nail in the coffin.

Has there ever been another game, or MMO in history where your remaining player base begged for a server that included everything except one specific expansion? It was that level of fuck up. Anyhow, I see WoW remaining king of the hill until they decide to attempt to out do themselves with their next MMO whatever it may be.

Spot on. WoW is the best MMO ever made to date and will be for the next five years at least.

[Magnum PI]

Originally Posted by Salshun

No WoW memories are EVER going to be able touch my EQ memories, it just isn't happening. Running for 45 minutes to get to EC because it was rumored someone had a Ykesha blade or a Fungi tunic, pre-nerf rubi BP, Jboots or Testament of Venear farming, first time I ever kited a hill giant in the Karanas, etc. I could go on for pages. Somehow I was never able to get immersed into WoW like I did EQ. EQ just pulled me in like a fantastic book. EQ raids you felt like were a little short story you were reading.

All these types of anecdotes are only applicable because EQ was all alone in the genre when it released in 1999.

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by Magnum PI

All these types of anecdotes are only applicable because EQ was all alone in the genre when it released in 1999.

I disagree. Not because it was all alone, but because it allowed the player a lot more flexibility to play thier own game. I laugh every time I see the comment that EQ was somehow "linear" back then. Which is total bullshit. If you had a like-minded group of individuals, you could choose to reach the endgame in a number of various ways. You could choose to support an opposing faction (hi2u FP guards) to gain access to what they had to offer (Thurg/Kael armor turn-ins).

You simply don't have capability like that in WoW. Because by design, its far more linear. Its designed to set you on a specific path, and lead you through to the endgame, where once you arrive, you do exactly the same thing as everyone else of your race/class. Sorry, but NE's leveling outside Stormwind, or Humans killing things in Dun Modr simply doesn't compare. Call me when your Dwarf character is welcomed in Orgrimmar or Undercity.

So stop with the lame ass "EQ was all alone back then" bullshit. We already know. WoW is a great game. Of this there is no argument. It nailed the "fun factor" in spades. But thats hardly reason enough to dimish the type of fun others miss from EQ.

[Zehn - Vhex]

I'm going to stop this fucking derail right here. We don't need -another- goddamn thread about how much more awesome your EQ memories are. As much fun as it is mocking the shit out of Dumar, it's getting old. If you really, absolutely must regurgitate that bullshit, go check out the EQAA thread where both the EQ and WoW players are sick of this goddamn conversation. So please, just shut the goddamn motherfuck up.

Let's keep on target here, yes?

Anyone else find it interesting that other then SGW and vaporware, most of the proposed mmo's are still in the fantasy RPG genre? Wonder if the 'relative failure 'of HGL and TR will impact the risk-taking of future companies. I think a faster-paced Eve game would fucking kill.

I'll append my earlier statement. The only thing that could possibly compete with WoW is a MechWarrior mmo (done right...!)

[Zerai]

Makes you hope Blizzard's secret project is Starcraft.

Fuck why did they have to ruin planetside. That game was so awesome.

[Zehn - Vhex]

Planetside had so much goddamn potential. If they had put money into that, it would have been goddamn brilliant. I -still- load it up and play from time to time. Could get wicked commander points just going around at ninja-capping bases at like 2 AM with a buddy.

The world was just too big so combat was spread all over. If they had focus'd on a smaller more awesome planet and added some kind of character advancement other then just getting max rank.

[Rayne]

Agreed Zehn. But do we really need yet another derail on the uber-awesomeness of WoW either?

Personally, i'd prefer an Eve/AO hybrid game. With conquerable tiers of territory. Like planet cities/solar systems/etc.... starting with controlling a city on a specific planet, then expanding out onto other planets within the system. Sytems controlled much the way they are in Eve, with planet cities controlled the way tower fields are in AO, with lots of contestable resources spread all over. Definitely keep the AO skillpoint/gear system. That shit was awesome.

Cities contested on the planet surfaces once the system they're in is open to contention in space combat. The pvp/pve possiblilties would be endless.

[Pancreas]

There was an old 2D overhead-view game called INFANTRY that Planetside was a 3D iteration of.

The thing that made infantry so damn fun was cooperative objective based maps. Your rank, kills/deaths and equipment got saved which gave some continuity between games. The assortment of classes added an element of tactics.

The best aspect was that you just logged on and could play instantly without extensive set up time.

Looking back it was really just a very early version of teamfortress. (Engineers FTW)

It's sad considering the number of things they got right with that game, and how those lessons haven't really been passed on in mmo development.

Course it all went to hell once they initiated a pay to play mechanism with upgraded accounts and restricted classes...

[Kreugen]

Pew pew laser combat in RPGs has -always- sucked. It sucked in Fallout - it was the rest of the game that was awesome. It sucked in KOTOR - okay you two guys stand 20 feet apart and blast each other in the face 500 times, the rest of us will use magic and freakin laser swords. It just does not work.

Planetside - lets make up for the bandwidth/latency issues by making weapons so hilariously inaccurate that it really doesn't matter. So why even have manual aiming at all? Tabula Rasa "fixed" this, but man is it boring.

Not saying it can't be done, just saying nobody has figured it out yet.

As for Darkfall, if you don't know about this game, this is how it works. Close your eyes and imagine the best game you possibly can - the game you've always wanted. Now picture that times like, a thousand. That is Darkfall. No lie people, Darkfall is going to change your life. Honest. Its the first game that will be absolutely perfect for every single person that plays it. its just that goddamn amazing. I'm quitting all my games and putting "Waiting for Darkfall" in my sig just as soon as I finish this heaping bowl of crack.

[Zehn - Vhex]

Well, when you try to take TF/TF2 and times it times 1000, server reliability just goes to shit. Considering your average MMO player has probably between a 100~400 ping time and it's just hilarity city.

A mechwarrior might not be too bad. Half the weapons are lock on target anyways and it's as much about how you load out your mech and manuevering then anything. Same with ship to ship combat. The things you're fighting in are so goddamn massive that it's hard to miss anyways. Small fight combat is the only thing that would really be very difficult and probably pretty retarded to do anyways.

Besides, I imagine the majority of MMO players have very shitty reflexes and 'skill' to begin with. Having to fucking aim would be pretty hilarious.

[Blackulaa]

Originally Posted by Draegan

To be fair to LOTRO, the devs always said they are designing their game for the ultra-casual player. Which is why I quit after a month when the depth of the game was extremely shallow. It's a shame too, best dungeon/sound/world environment design, in my opinion, in the market to date. Especially the dungeons, they are awesome.

So true it makes me cry. Man the effects were amazing too. Yet their fan base balks at anything considered hard core or raid only. And they balk hard, lot of whiners.

[Zehn - Vhex]

Barrow Downs instnace needed like 7 more mini-bosses spread all over and it would have been the best fucking dungeon I've ever played in. It was absolutely beautiful and shit creeped me out for the first time in a long time.

That dungeon is wasted on that game.