Heerobya's Random Thoughts
My random thoughts about MMORPGs. A bit of critique, suggestion, debate, and insanity. Enjoy.

I've been quite vocal on a lot of forums about a lot of different MMORPGs. I figure, it's time for me to really lay down what I feel is happening in the MMO world. This is going to be long and in multiple parts. I'll start with my history as a MMORPG player to give a better sense of where my analysis/thoughts/critiques come from....

It all started with Ultima Online. I started playing before they split the world into PVE and PVP. Trammel and Felucca. The very concept of a MMORPG was so new, so different. I'd create this character that meant nothing to the world I entered. He was no great hero, no son of so and so, nothing like the hero's in the single player RPG's we were used to. This character had no destiny, no path, and that was what was so amazing about it.

Yeah, there were some rough times at first. Being ganked by PK's that would wait outside town for noobies like myself to venture out for the first time, and take the 100 starting gold (or whatever it was) and disappear back into the shadows. I think that being my first MMORPG experience is what really has made me hate gankers and greifers so much over my many years playing MMORPGs. I just never got the point, why would you want to kill someone else so easily? Were you that afraid of losing? That afraid of a fair fight? The answer, as it turns out, would almost always be yes.

The great thing about UO was that it really didn't matter. None of the gear was any good, it was all the same, bland crap. No stats, no special modifiers.. the earliest "special" thing I remember was Silver weapons, which were much better at killing undead. They were common enough where you could almost always have one ready incase you decided to wander into an undead dungeon.

When they released Trammel, a PVP free area copy of the world, man was I happy. Now I could wander about killing and exploring, upping my skills and stats in search of greater challenge and reward. That was the thing about UO, without levels, and without any "uber" gear to aquire, many people now would ask "well then what's the point?"

The point was that it was fun, it was new and different. I'd venture out with my friends who had been playing a bit longer and they'd take me to new and exciting locations. We'd build money, create a guild, and erect a massive guild house. We'd fill it with all kinds of dyes and piles of gold and weapons and armor, we'd create rooms like kitchens and bedrooms..

Then another really big turning point came in my MMORPG days. Real PVP. I joined the Siege Perilous server, the "hardcore" server where skill gain was 1/2 as fast. I became an orc, through roleplayer and tactical helmet choice only of course, become a murderer, and really became a part of something. We had our own language, customs, rules, we'd fight each other, help each other, train how to best kill humans and anyone else who attacked the fort we made our home. Those were probably the best days of MMORPG playing I've ever had.

After that came the Factions PVP system. There were like 4 factions fighting for control of all the towns and cities in Felucca. It was a thrill to hop through a teleporter and see 15+ enemy faction memebers waiting, then hop back through before you died to warn your comrades. City sieges were quite the event, as we'd have to capture and hold the city while it turned. I really don't remember all the specifics, but no PVP system in any game I have played since has been able to match it.

That lasted me for a good long time. I never got into Everquest. By the time Star Wars Galaxies was announced, I was all hyped for it. In between UO and SWG I had a stint playing Earth and Beyond, which, at the time had the most beautiful gameplay, the first quest/mission system I had seen, and despite all the tedius grinding, was a challenging and rewarding experience.

Then came SWG....