seems to me all the games out there are the same old stuff with different skins.  Has anyone seen anything coming out that looks like it may provide a new experience to the hardcore mmorpg player?

Well Guild Wars is slightly something different, Voyage Century Online is nice too, the game is not just based on leveling and stuff, the game is built on the history of our world,  you can learn some cool facts about different things in the game.. I don't feel like explaining the whole game

If you are talking about Fantasy style MMORPGs then the answer is:

When the Devs decide that it is more important to make a great game with new ideas vis just trying to tap into the WoW money.

P.S. I like some of the same old stuff with a new skin but i would like to see some of the same old stuff like EQ or UO. We dont need another game that you can get to max level in a month. Some of us actually like the "Grind" of actually playing a character.

Oh looky here, i just made my new shiny Warrior, he is already fully trained in every weapon he could ever find, he can already craft and i will be doing end game stuff in about a month. Fun.

I remember when the "Game" was the levels between 1 and 50, now 1-50 is just a quick tutorial so you can get to the real game at max level.

true guild wars is a little different but i got bored with it pretty fast. Voyage Century i have not checked out yet, however i do play games as a bit of an escape from reality. I had high hopes for fury, tried the free trial and imo it sucks monkey nuts.

yea it is too bad everyone is modeling there games after WoW, especially since i never liked it. Im honestly thinking about quitting mmorpgs for good. May just stick with Battlefield.

it'll come around when it's profitable to do so.  as for what's going to convince devs that it would be profitable who knows what the real trigger is going to be.

I'd recommend playing wurm online and bring a few thousand friends.   maybe we'll see a AAA player controled world in 5 years.

Not to badger, but , there is a fundamental skeleton in which games are fromed from that are what we know of as mmo's if this was to change im not sure it would attract but a small following at best. I hope to prove myself wrong, but it seems that there is a universal formula to make an mmo, and the skins are what set them apart, but the skeletons are all the same, just gotta find the skin you like i guess. for me atm its eve and lotro, and i see the mmo skeleton of both games are the same but the skins are different as in genre and story.

This is why I'm playing Eve even though I'm not a big sci-fi or pvp fan.

Out of everything out there it's the only one I've seen that really breaks the mold.

I know how you feel completely. A few months ago I canceled my EQ2 Subscription and just played bf2142, Counterstrike, and all that... I miss it now. I'm waiting for new releases, though - as for those, I'd check out The Chronicles of Spellborn and Age of Conan, they look like the best ones coming out soon-ish... As for developers getting their act together and realising that the average gamer doesn't play these games to slay x of y repeatedly ad infinitum with zero purpose, it might not happen for a while, if ever. Developers SEEM to be so caught up in worrying their game will fall short of their goals if they deviate too far from the status quo (WoW's carrot-on-a-stick "You Win" style of gameplay) that they're somewhat unable to create much if anything that is truly original.

You never know though, a great game could be on the horizon, I guess we just gotta wait. :(

Gief mmo plz :P

Orginal MMO? when they create game based on Ultima Online rules, then this game will be "orginal" crating all those easy game like WoW, EQ2 etc with rules for children (No open PvP etc) will be moving back :P not going back! :P

Originally posted by Horusek

Orginal MMO? when they create game based on Ultima Online rules, then this game will be "orginal" crating all those easy game like WoW, EQ2 etc with rules for children (No open PvP etc) will be moving back :P not going foward! :P

Wow and eq2 are not even that origonal, though i prefer eq2 over wow, but back to eq and earth and beyond thats all i see as the basic skeletal for all mmo's to date, they were origonal when they first started popping up like ultima, earth and beyond and eq, but now they all kinda blend in like eq2, wow, the new swg, they all have the same skeletal fundamentals of there predesessors with different skins on them and different themes, and subtle little tweeks that makes them there own unique game in there own right, but all in all after eq1, ultima, earth and beyond, there is what laid down the basic building blocks of what mmo's are today and if this was to change dramatically would we still consider it an mmorpg, i think not it would be an mmosomething else,

Yep, but I only mention that those games EQ2 and WoW are "Moving back" its like having good think (UO / EQ1) and get ride of cool things and relase it again with new name :) its EQ2 and WoW... (misstyped Forword = Back :P its 5 in the morning... I didnt sleep whole night waiting for EVE :P)

Best game? Ultima Online :P since then we moving one step back with every MMO relased... and there is EVE that is "exeption from all rules"

why should they, when people seem to spend more money on mindless games.