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.

Originally posted by jonrd463 

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.

After a certain point you have to blame the developers and not players.  How many games can compare to wows quality?  How many busted broken mmos are pushed onto a fanbase desperate for a new game only to be let down. 

These are the examples that future investors have to look at.  I'm fairly certain that any game could be successful enough to lure sizable chuncks of wow players away if gaming companies took their time. 

Who is really going to clone SWG, EQ2, auto assault, AC2, tabula rasa, conan, warhammer, dark-n-light, vanguard, DDO, darkfall or any number of the other turds laid at the doorsteps of the genre?  Even the few decent games from 8-10 years ago would be hard pressed to serve as an roadmap to success. 

All it would have taken is for just a couple of the many dozens of any of those games to do it right and the genre would be in a totally different area right now.  Blizzard is only dominating the market, because the majority of the market is so weak.  That is not the players faults and no one should expect them to support inferior products.

Well, SWG.. has to go down as the biggest f*** up in MMORPG history in my book. But in my heart.. the biggest let down go's to Warhammer for me. I waited and waited for that game. I told myself, a game im really going to enjoy.. meaningfull bad ass PvP (RvR) and some cool PvE. Ughhhhhhhhh....................................... 

The PvE in the game was ass, i know it's a damn PvP game.. but still. PQ's were cool, but there was no reason to do it.. seeing how RvR gear was so much better. And with the new RvR token system.. in my mind helped further kill, the need to do a PQ.. unless to cap a T4 zone. Or to get a couple said pieces like the tailsman slot ring from BS.

ORvR was plagued by scenarios for to long. Untill some idiot in Mythic decided.. "Oh let's give playerz phat rewardz for doing ORvR yo!".. well came a little to late. ORvR does happen a lot more now, but everyone sick of the scenario grind.. has quit and is long gone. Toned down graphics = better performance.... someone forgot to tell Mythic that! T4 Fort  pushes/defense... is teh laghammer. For a while there... best defense was to get everyone to flood the fort and crash the server.

Then they place cap's,...... good luck getting in the fort and by the way.... it still lags like hell and theres still a slight chance of a crash if you do. Way to take out the feel of something bigger is going on. Then the over abundance of CC.... makes me want to smash my head into the wall. 

I could go on more, and with all that said i still enjoyed the game. But i quit for what will most likely be my last time, a month ago... and I really don't miss it. If it could've had  a special little thing about it...... something that would make me want come back later... it would be different. At the end of the day... their isn't a special little thing about  War. And I just couldn't bring myself to log in to the game nomore. All the issues helped with that to a point... but playing since beta, i over looked all that... but it's like the game doesn't have a soul.

I agree about the NGE   but i can't say it was a let down since i played it about a week before the implmentation and  like most others said "well I'm not going to say anything but F*** this Sucks"  so it wasnt a let down but teh Biggest mistake i have witnessed ...

Warhammer i could put down but TBH to myself i did have fun when i played it..I ran set groups of friends and we all knew what we were doing we could take down Scenario groups run along side Warbands and took keeps and did Bastion Stair to Lost Vale...but overall the game just had no reason to keep me playing  RvR was joke compaired to DAoC and i told myself it would be but still...the game became a huge renown grind and it wasnt fun paying 15 dollars a month playing keep tag online.

Tabula Rasa was also pretty bad but i had my share of fun in Beta ....

but by far Gods & Heros was going to be MY game...THE GAME...everything looked so promising  i had my invite to the beta and played it at Comic Con....and it was so good.......just thinking back  ..i try not to touch anything SONY since NGE  but if they revived it...damn i would be on it in a heart beat and all i can Do is Hope someone over there has a brain and digs it out of the trash

Originally posted by DillingerEP

  If it could've had  a special little thing about it...... something that would make me want come back later... it would be different.

What about the hot ass Witch Elves, man?

Originally posted by Palebane

Originally posted by DillingerEP

  If it could've had  a special little thing about it...... something that would make me want come back later... it would be different.

 

What about the hot ass Witch Elves, ma

I've seen a couple of them with a adams apple O.o

WoW is biggest letdown.

The Biggest letdown for me ever wasn't a game, but a expansion, EQ1 SoL.  This was the point in MMO history where they said "hey lets stop making meaningful fun hard but rewarding games and just make a button mashing EZmode mess"

Originally posted by DarkNemesiss

WoW is biggest letdown.

Too true.  Having played the game since Vanilla WoW I'd have to agree.  The homogenization of classes killed it for me.  You can't change the fundamental roles of classes and expect the game to be the same.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's still a great game, especially now from a commercial point of view.  But for me from a MMO "immersion" and "Traditional Class Role" perspective it fails.

 The cancellation of UO2 was my biggest letdown, as it heralded the end of that type of game, and there has not been a game that has come close to the open epicness of UO since it's launch.

The cancellation of Imparitor to a lesser extent as well, esp after WAR.

This thread is interesting in that I had no idea that borked launch after borked launch, people still buy into the hype and think that an MMO developer is going to make something original, or hell, even finished at launch. I generally won't even play an MMO until a year, even two after launch, none of them launch well, none of them are in a state even resembling being finished. Then they have a stigma attached to them for years after, even when they come full circle in the case of Vanguard.

Keep playing MMOs at launch, and keep being disappointed. It's your time and money! :)

Horizons was pretty bad...Had all kinds of hype for years and a soap opera development process, and is still totally broken to this day...

I did the beta and one month of release, and couldn't believe how unfinished and just plain badly executed it was...

So I left, then about 4 or 5 months ago, found I could do a free trial using my original characters...So I did.

It still takes over 8 minutes to log INTO the game, with a 6mbps connection...Everything warps all over in your view, the performance is atrocious, and the game is still just as unfinished and buggy now as it was in beta..They're made a lot of changes...But all quest or character related and all...No changes at all, really, to the performance and engine issues....

It would have been a glorious game, though, if  the original developer had been able to realize what he had envisioned...Unfortunately, that has nothing in common with what released as "Horizons"....

Darkfall.

Unfortunately its only a matter of time b4 this game shuts down.

Three biggest let downs:

1) When they cancelled Wish on the last day of beta testing.

2)  When SWG abandoned it's sandbox style and adopted the Combat "Upgrade" which then degenerated into the NGE.

3)  When Middle Earth Online abandoned it's sandbox design during alpha to become Lord of the Rings Online.

Originally posted by kiersteadmo

Darkfall

 

 

I am sry but i was soo hyped for this game and when they did nto deliver and had alot of problems getting out the door it was bad, the 1st 2 weeks they aloud peopel to use exploits and ruin the game , they originally said they did nto want toi stagger players into the game so everyone had a fair advantage but it was the opposite. the lack of customer support i think drove the nail in the coffin, but like any mmo it couls turn things around

I have an account from 2002 on the Darkfall forums and followed the game for 7 years, and I agree, Darkfall is most definitely the biggest let down in MMORPG history.

The success of World of Warcraft.

I'm not saying it's a bad game (though it's not for me). Its success, however, has placed a set of blinders on all major MMO development houses and a severe stranglehold on creativity.

 I say Darkfall is a huge misstake

A huge map with some mountains and trees where you jump others and takes there mount.