Thoughts on the MMO future.
April 12th 2010 18:14
If you are too young and missed an MMO era without WoW, I feel a little sorry for you. If you were lucky enough to get into a game that emphasized community, you found something really special. Not to say you can't find certain aspects of past MMO's in WoW, it's just an entirely different beast. One reason it was so hard for it to draw me away form Anarchy Online is the idea of having over 50 realms. The idea that you will never get to see 98% of the player-base was something that I didn't really find appealing. Granted this was pretty immature at the time, it's a bummer for me.
This is not coherent or well-structured at all, but I'm going to continue on. If you are like me, and ready to move on from WoW, or at least take the first step, you have 2-3 very promising chances to forgo the monster, and try something else. You will never succeed at doing so unless you are willing to forgive the imperfections that you will inevitably find in other games. The general crowd will not agree with this reality, if the game isn't as good or better then WoW, why switch? that’s a fabulous question. I don't feel there is a short answer to that question, so I won't really touch on it.
I'm very much so on WoW's nuts, because the game deserves it's subscribers, it's credit, it's place in MMO history. It has forever changed the genre, hopefully for the better. If nothing else, it showed developers there is a HUGE market for the industry, and it continually brings in more players and more video gamers, which is good for us. If you create an addictingly fun game, you will profit.
OKAY I’m getting way to side-tracked here, the reason I’m even posting this, is because IF you are ready, like me, watch out for these titles, and keep a close eye on them, sign up for betas, etc.
Final Fantasy XIV. FF 14 is coming, and it could very well supplement your need for a different mmo. You've heard about it, you've heard about 11, you know it will at the very least be entertaining. I'm confident in the developer to learn from its' mistakes, go back to the fundamentals of what truly makes a MMO good, and just make an overall well-rounded game. They have the experience now; it's just on them on how to use it.
Tera Online. VERY experience developers behind this game, with some innovative thinking on combat, and I believe they understand the importance of end-game. Just like FF14 this game is looking very pretty, but like FF14 it will need to have the fundamentals of smooth combat, clarity and definition with spells, lag/stutter-free game-play. This could be a big sleeper hit. It's worth a look.
Of course, SW:TOR. Theres not much to talk about with this giant, you know the developers, you know what they are capable of. It's all about whether or not they understand how to convert their story-telling and game-play into a MMO world. They have the tools to become a realistic alternative to WoW.
A quick shoutout for a Planetside 2, if this gets officially announced by SoE, I'm sold, I will buy it and pray it's even half as good as Planetside. Rumors are rumors.
Before I end this blog, I want to give my example of why I think WoW is so successful, and it comes down to the CORE of a game, the combat, the fundamental game-play. It's hard to fully understand what I'm talking about through text, but this is the only way I can describe why WoW is what it is. The example is a rogue dueling a warrior, and how WoW's fluid and smooth game-play lets a rogue open on a warrior with a CS>KS, and before the KS ends a rogue can kite a warrior in his dead-zone while waiting for a full energy bar, before moving back in with a dismantle into pushing more damage out, without using a single major cooldown, and taking a single hit from the warrior.
No other game has had combat so fluid and so smooth as WoW, where everything is so defined. Every other mmo I've played has felt sluggish compared to it. Maybe you know what I'm talking about, maybe not, but once a game accomplishes these fundamentals, they can start creating intuitive content to challenge the player with very fun and new techniques.
I'm just another nerd addict hoping I can finally find something to replace WoW with.
This is not coherent or well-structured at all, but I'm going to continue on. If you are like me, and ready to move on from WoW, or at least take the first step, you have 2-3 very promising chances to forgo the monster, and try something else. You will never succeed at doing so unless you are willing to forgive the imperfections that you will inevitably find in other games. The general crowd will not agree with this reality, if the game isn't as good or better then WoW, why switch? that’s a fabulous question. I don't feel there is a short answer to that question, so I won't really touch on it.
I'm very much so on WoW's nuts, because the game deserves it's subscribers, it's credit, it's place in MMO history. It has forever changed the genre, hopefully for the better. If nothing else, it showed developers there is a HUGE market for the industry, and it continually brings in more players and more video gamers, which is good for us. If you create an addictingly fun game, you will profit.
OKAY I’m getting way to side-tracked here, the reason I’m even posting this, is because IF you are ready, like me, watch out for these titles, and keep a close eye on them, sign up for betas, etc.
Final Fantasy XIV. FF 14 is coming, and it could very well supplement your need for a different mmo. You've heard about it, you've heard about 11, you know it will at the very least be entertaining. I'm confident in the developer to learn from its' mistakes, go back to the fundamentals of what truly makes a MMO good, and just make an overall well-rounded game. They have the experience now; it's just on them on how to use it.
Tera Online. VERY experience developers behind this game, with some innovative thinking on combat, and I believe they understand the importance of end-game. Just like FF14 this game is looking very pretty, but like FF14 it will need to have the fundamentals of smooth combat, clarity and definition with spells, lag/stutter-free game-play. This could be a big sleeper hit. It's worth a look.
Of course, SW:TOR. Theres not much to talk about with this giant, you know the developers, you know what they are capable of. It's all about whether or not they understand how to convert their story-telling and game-play into a MMO world. They have the tools to become a realistic alternative to WoW.
A quick shoutout for a Planetside 2, if this gets officially announced by SoE, I'm sold, I will buy it and pray it's even half as good as Planetside. Rumors are rumors.
Before I end this blog, I want to give my example of why I think WoW is so successful, and it comes down to the CORE of a game, the combat, the fundamental game-play. It's hard to fully understand what I'm talking about through text, but this is the only way I can describe why WoW is what it is. The example is a rogue dueling a warrior, and how WoW's fluid and smooth game-play lets a rogue open on a warrior with a CS>KS, and before the KS ends a rogue can kite a warrior in his dead-zone while waiting for a full energy bar, before moving back in with a dismantle into pushing more damage out, without using a single major cooldown, and taking a single hit from the warrior.
No other game has had combat so fluid and so smooth as WoW, where everything is so defined. Every other mmo I've played has felt sluggish compared to it. Maybe you know what I'm talking about, maybe not, but once a game accomplishes these fundamentals, they can start creating intuitive content to challenge the player with very fun and new techniques.
I'm just another nerd addict hoping I can finally find something to replace WoW with.
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