I would say all MMORPGs I've played in the past 4 years have been let downs...

Originally posted by Sainthood

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising . I waited for this game forever participated in beta and was crushed when SOE canceled it.

This may have already been posted but SOE didn't cancel this game, PE did because of funding. I have no clue why SOE is mentioned for this. By the way, I was a internal tester for this game. I loved it dearly and thought it had great mechanics. But it needed funding and time, both of which it didn't have. As for biggest let downs, nothing. I don't expect much from games other than entertainment. I guess if I did have to pick it would be DaoC only because the population is so small these days. Game is fantastic though in the sense it entertains me.

SWG NGE by far. A far second would be Warhammer.

Tabula Rasa has to be it for me, and the shutting down of the game proves it. With a name like Richard Garriot behind it, I expected much more since he was considered one of the MMORPG leaders.

Originally posted by jonrd463

For me, the biggest let down wasn't a specific game. It was a shift in attitude among the player base. I'm not going to get into the argument of who or what game precipitated it, but the attitude itself has really sucked the enjoyment out of online RPGs for me. The attitude I refer to is the "death match" mentality of players with regard to PvP. I personally used to like PvP, as it added a real sense of danger to the world, but now it's gotten ridiculous. There's no moral sense, even in the context of the game world. There's no rhyme or reason for killing fellow players, other than doing it for the sheer, unadulterated fuck of it. No respect is paid to the lore of the games either, so you can't try to immerse yourself in some spontaneous RP. There have been times where I've tried and the response I get is along the lines of "ROFL! RP NERD!". Um... yeah. It's a roleplaying game.

So, whatever it was that caused the influx of non-RPG players to dominate the genre and make it into their own mutated strain of competitive goat shit is what I consider to be the biggest let down in mmorpg history.

^^QFT. Also for pure awesome.

Ultima Online Age of Shadows. 

I would stuill be playing UO if they hadn't destroyed it.

Everquest 2

Im not sure how they took a pioneering MMO that was groundbreaking, and turned its sequal into a micro-management simulator of inventory, collections etc

Originally posted by Rayx0r

Everquest 2

Im not sure how they took a pioneering MMO that was groundbreaking, and turned its sequal into a micro-management simulator of inventory, collections etc

By letting the suits in charge channel the micromanager within themselves into the game. That's why big companies need to stay away from direct control of game development. They can't help but view everything as an exercise in project management. Just look at what fun a company party is lol.

Originally posted by Sneakers05

Please dont blame WoW or any other game for another companies lack of creativity.

You don't know how wrong you are.  Blizzard proved there was a huge untapped market of new mmo players based on a certain playstyle (easy, instant, simple minded).

Other developers saw the $$$$$ and have been trying to emulate it ever since.  Does SWG NGE ring a bell?

Originally posted by Thradar

Originally posted by Sneakers05

Please dont blame WoW or any other game for another companies lack of creativity.

 

You don't know how wrong you are.  Blizzard proved there was a huge untapped market of new mmo players based on a certain playstyle (easy, instant, simple minded).

Other developers saw the $$$$$ and have been trying to emulate it ever since.  Does SWG NGE ring a bell?

On the other hand, prior to WoW, MMOs were a niche gamer market, with a small population of obessive players that were not a great source of income.

Blizzard's opening the MMO market up HAS created a massive number of simplified, stupid games, yes. But it's also encouraged developers that wouldn't have spent millions on an MMO that there might be a reason to think about making one. I think over time as the initial "gold rush" of MMO building starts cutting the chaff away, we'll see fewewr, better companies out there, developing more interesting games. There have been small strides forward already (AOC's attmepts at targeting body parts, WAR's RvR concepts, and others). While none of these have been satisfying to gamers (due to weak impelementation), one can hope future developers will see those mistakes and learn where to not go wrong.

I wouldn't expect to see every game become MUCH less simple though. WoW has taught us that 11 million people want, or at least are satisfied with, a simpler experience. It may be time for us older players to realzie UO and EQ died for a reason, much like the dinosaurs.

But who really is to blame, here? I actually enjoyed WoW for what it was, a sequel to the RTS games in which I got to play a part. There was the cushion of knowing a great deal about the lore and history of the Warcraftverse going in, so when I actually made a character and jumped into the fray, it all felt familiar to me. The beginning of WoW was really good, imo. Blizzard made a business venture, and with all customer-based businesses, you have to cater to what the majority wants in order to stay in business. Somehow, the majority of the players went from RPG players to the deathmatchers I mentioned in my previous post. So, to me, it's the players who suck. They, with their simple-minded gameplay goals are what made WoW what it is. Blizzard is just exercising good business sense, and it's paid off for them. Unfortunately, we who appreciate roleplaying over "FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL!!!!" have been relagated into a niche.

I have a theory as to why this has happened. Prior to the advent of multiplayer RPGs, the only other serious arena of multiplayer was FPS's. The entire concept of online play back in the '90s was wrapped around running around a set level and killing as many people as possible. Hell, I enjoyed it myself. The difference between a guy like me and the average deathmatcher is that I'm willing to distinguish between the genres. FPS's are all about running and gunning, declaring personal war on any and all player controlled avatars in the game world. This mentality carried over into MMORPGs with the promise of getting bigger and powerful weapons, bigger and powerful armor, and so on, all with the same focus of indiscriminately killing any and every other player. Now, the very definition of RPG has changed. 10 years ago, a "hardcore" RPG player is one who rolled up a character, complete with disadvantages, and played as that character, letting stats determine abilities (for example, you could play a complete moron in Fallout and still have an enjoyable experience, up to and including completing the main quest). Now, "hardcore" is mindless PKing with a player skill determining ability. Only it's not really player skill, unless you define that as the ability to set up a macro while the player sleeps. That's why games like Darkfall, which seemed like the second coming of Ultima Online on paper has ended up being a ginormous Medieval Team Fortress clusterfuck. It's why Mortal Online is going to end up the same way. Unfortunately, because people in general suck balls, the only decent RPG experiences that will come are going to be from singleplayer titles, or good old fashioned pen and paper.

Originally posted by jonrd463

But who really is to blame, here? I actually enjoyed WoW for what it was, a sequel to the RTS games in which I got to play a part. There was the cushion of knowing a great deal about the lore and history of the Warcraftverse going in, so when I actually made a character and jumped into the fray, it all felt familiar to me. The beginning of WoW was really good, imo. Blizzard made a business venture, and with all customer-based businesses, you have to cater to what the majority wants in order to stay in business. Somehow, the majority of the players went from RPG players to the deathmatchers I mentioned in my previous post. So, to me, it's the players who suck. They, with their simple-minded gameplay goals are what made WoW what it is. Blizzard is just exercising good business sense, and it's paid off for them. Unfortunately, we who appreciate roleplaying over "FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL!!!!" have been relagated into a niche.

 

I have a theory as to why this has happened. Prior to the advent of multiplayer RPGs, the only other serious arena of multiplayer was FPS's. The entire concept of online play back in the '90s was wrapped around running around a set level and killing as many people as possible. Hell, I enjoyed it myself. The difference between a guy like me and the average deathmatcher is that I'm willing to distinguish between the genres. FPS's are all about running and gunning, declaring personal war on any and all player controlled avatars in the game world. This mentality carried over into MMORPGs with the promise of getting bigger and powerful weapons, bigger and powerful armor, and so on, all with the same focus of indiscriminately killing any and every other player. Now, the very definition of RPG has changed. 10 years ago, a "hardcore" RPG player is one who rolled up a character, complete with disadvantages, and played as that character, letting stats determine abilities (for example, you could play a complete moron in Fallout and still have an enjoyable experience, up to and including completing the main quest). Now, "hardcore" is mindless PKing with a player skill determining ability. Only it's not really player skill, unless you define that as the ability to set up a macro while the player sleeps. That's why games like Darkfall, which seemed like the second coming of Ultima Online on paper has ended up being a ginormous Medieval Team Fortress clusterfuck. It's why Mortal Online is going to end up the same way. Unfortunately, because people in general suck balls, the only decent RPG experiences that will come are going to be from singleplayer titles, or good old fashioned pen and paper.

Don't forget to blame the game devs for making games that are all about loot as accomplishments. Killing something isn't the goal, getting the shiny is the goal, because then you can uberwtfpwn. Until you need to get another shiny of a higher level that is.

When you put that in - that winning is only a path to power, and not in and of itself an accomplishment - you remove any incentive to actually play when you're in the game. Instead, you are incentivised to WORK in the game, as if that isn't a total non-sequiteur.

I've a friend who actually enjoys that- EQ2 is another workplace for him, with shinies and game money as rewards. Sadly, i remember when we started EQ1 together. We played to play, and we had a crapload of fun at it. Once he started EQ2 though, he went with what the game showed him, and he's put in years of playing for loot and crafting for plat. More sadly, after giving it years of my own effort, I just can't stand to hang with him in EQ2 because that's not what playing is about for me.

Originally posted by Sneakers05

What do you guys think was the biggest let down in mmorpg history?

The community.  All of them.   There was just digg posting about Bioware's SWTOR, with some alpha screens.  It's looks fine and there was no interface shots.  80% of the posts said it was just a WoW rip off - just like 80% of the posters here would say.
Completely disappointed with the community.  I don't play MMOs anymore because of them, and I rarely come here anymore.  It's just not worth it.

The community deserves bad games.  That is what they predict they are going to get, so that is what they should get.
Honestly Bioware should just stop working on their game right now if people aren't even going to give it a chance. Seriously. This fan base doesn't deserve a good game.

If they are going to accuse every new game coming out of being a WoW rip off, then I say remove all MMOs other than WoW. Just remove all of them.

F the MMO community. May they never get a good game again.   And the probably won't because they wouldn't know a good one if they saw one.

SWG.

Originally posted by Sneakers05

I have to go with Vanguard, it was supposed to be the WoW killer I know that term is used a lot but thats what we all thought it  was, we thought it would return us to the glory days of EQ. Exploration, fun, grouping, etc. it was supposed to be THE pve game.I think it turned out to be the biggest flop in mmo history.

I must not be a part of the all. I've thought no game would kill WoW so far. If EQ and DAOC are still going on, so will WoW. If by kill you mean more subscribers, I still didn't think Vanguard would come close. Look at the company that runs it...

Originally posted by darwa

Dark and Light.

This came to my mind too, however, I never spent money on that scam of a game, but did SWG.

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

For me, WAR.

I was hoping for a fusion of WoW-style PvE and DAoC-style RvR content and instead got a watered down mush whose every aspect failed to live up to the hype or compete with existing games.

PotBS isn't far behind though, I was hoping for a combination of a pirate-themed EVE with avatar combat, but found the ship-to-ship combat to be beyond boring.

Yup, DAOC is way funner than WAR. They devolved not evolved.

Originally posted by wootin

Originally posted by jonrd463

But who really is to blame, here? I actually enjoyed WoW for what it was, a sequel to the RTS games in which I got to play a part. There was the cushion of knowing a great deal about the lore and history of the Warcraftverse going in, so when I actually made a character and jumped into the fray, it all felt familiar to me. The beginning of WoW was really good, imo. Blizzard made a business venture, and with all customer-based businesses, you have to cater to what the majority wants in order to stay in business. Somehow, the majority of the players went from RPG players to the deathmatchers I mentioned in my previous post. So, to me, it's the players who suck. They, with their simple-minded gameplay goals are what made WoW what it is. Blizzard is just exercising good business sense, and it's paid off for them. Unfortunately, we who appreciate roleplaying over "FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL!!!!" have been relagated into a niche.

 

I have a theory as to why this has happened. Prior to the advent of multiplayer RPGs, the only other serious arena of multiplayer was FPS's. The entire concept of online play back in the '90s was wrapped around running around a set level and killing as many people as possible. Hell, I enjoyed it myself. The difference between a guy like me and the average deathmatcher is that I'm willing to distinguish between the genres. FPS's are all about running and gunning, declaring personal war on any and all player controlled avatars in the game world. This mentality carried over into MMORPGs with the promise of getting bigger and powerful weapons, bigger and powerful armor, and so on, all with the same focus of indiscriminately killing any and every other player. Now, the very definition of RPG has changed. 10 years ago, a "hardcore" RPG player is one who rolled up a character, complete with disadvantages, and played as that character, letting stats determine abilities (for example, you could play a complete moron in Fallout and still have an enjoyable experience, up to and including completing the main quest). Now, "hardcore" is mindless PKing with a player skill determining ability. Only it's not really player skill, unless you define that as the ability to set up a macro while the player sleeps. That's why games like Darkfall, which seemed like the second coming of Ultima Online on paper has ended up being a ginormous Medieval Team Fortress clusterfuck. It's why Mortal Online is going to end up the same way. Unfortunately, because people in general suck balls, the only decent RPG experiences that will come are going to be from singleplayer titles, or good old fashioned pen and paper.

 

Don't forget to blame the game devs for making games that are all about loot as accomplishments. Killing something isn't the goal, getting the shiny is the goal, because then you can uberwtfpwn. Until you need to get another shiny of a higher level that is.

But still, they're catering to what the masses of dumbasses want. Remember that as a business, Blizzard's number one goal is to make money. That's why all businesses exist. You can't really fault them for doing what's best for the bottom line. Now, one can rail against the evils of capitalism, but who really is to blame? The market, that's who. That's why the chances of seeing something that we in the niche really want is pretty slim. You can't change people en masse. As long as "the people" want MMORPGs to be a variant of Unreal Tournament with a focus on pimping their avatar with armor and weapons bling, that's all we're going to see.

Originally posted by Stabbath

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

For me, WAR.

I was hoping for a fusion of WoW-style PvE and DAoC-style RvR content and instead got a watered down mush whose every aspect failed to live up to the hype or compete with existing games.

PotBS isn't far behind though, I was hoping for a combination of a pirate-themed EVE with avatar combat, but found the ship-to-ship combat to be beyond boring.

 

Yup, DAOC is way funner than WAR. They devolved not evolved.

Is funner a word?  WTF does funner mean?

oh me! me! thats an easy one! eh hem ((Clears Throat)) SONY!

Biggest let down? After the generation of EQ, pre-CU SWG, AC, DAoC and AO, everything started to suck. Seems they all started to die at around the same time, and everything after those has been pretty pathetic in terms of gameplay. EVE is a nice step with fresh ideas at the time, CCP really set themselves apart with it. Not my cup of tea though. THe genre is literally laughable right now. The companies in the MMO business really just suck ass now. 

For me it was Dark and Light, lies + horrible game + bugs + horrible graphics + an endless mob of mindless fanboys = the worst experience ever

Originally posted by Ahiles

Originally posted by Stabbath

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

For me, WAR.

I was hoping for a fusion of WoW-style PvE and DAoC-style RvR content and instead got a watered down mush whose every aspect failed to live up to the hype or compete with existing games.

PotBS isn't far behind though, I was hoping for a combination of a pirate-themed EVE with avatar combat, but found the ship-to-ship combat to be beyond boring.

 

Yup, DAOC is way funner than WAR. They devolved not evolved.

 

Is funner a word?  WTF does funner mean?

http://mw1.m-w.com/dictionary/funner The person you questioned probably meant more fun than whatever he/she was talking about. You probably already knew this though.

Agreed , DnL , without question

Originally posted by arcdevil

if this is about creating a metric fukton of hype and then delivering 0,01% of promised,the award goes to WAR

 

seriously,that gotta be the only game where the developer hype was even bigger than player hype. MJ can fit both feet in his mouth. and now? has been 3 weeks now M.I.A after watchig his game sink like the Titanic

 

WAR is the biggest let down for me, the game just blows so hard... I've never felt this way before but I can't wait for the announcement of the game closing down its servers. I felt so ripped off for buying that game and I do not know what is keeping people playing it to this day.