/signed

Having been a fairly "dedicated" MMO player since UO beta I thought the same thing as the OP with Aion. As is the norm these days with the heavy hyping on new big MMO titles I was really looking forward to Aion. It didnt take long for the "I've done this all before somewhere" feeling to take over which is a shame as it started to make me wonder if my MMO days are over. I dont believe I'm done with the genre because I am playing around in FE and enjoying the change of scenery...and while it can be argued that FE is more of the same with a different wrapper there is enough in FE for me to know I still enjoy MMO's.

I think Indie titles might be the way of the future, the big companies seem to be too tightly wound in the massive money making potential of a game like WOW...its a business after all eh. My wife and I have unsubcribed to Aion which suprised me as she liked the look of Aion (I didnt), but even she who has boundless patience and understanding, cant bring herself to log in. About the only fantasy type MMO that would draw me back to that style is something along the lines of a new DAOC or a Lord of the Rings theme superimposed over something like a pre-cu SWG game mechanic. Any Indie dev's reading this? :)

If you love gaming like you say you do, then start playing a whole new genre for awhile.  Come back to MMO's in a year.

Originally posted by Kyleran

I'll agree, its a whole lot of "more of the same" and I'm playing it very casually (like 2 days a week)

Consider playing EVE, Ryzom or even Darkfall and try something really different.  Should cure some of the burnout you're feeling.

Same here, pretty much.

I definitely agree with the Ryzom recommendation.  It is just what I needed. Finally a sandbox that I'm compatible with.   It's the perfect cure for the "Ho-Hums".

To anyone else - if you haven't tried it, or haven't tried it lately.. Try it - give it an honest shot.  Learn how to create your own custom abilities.  It's gravy from there.  I had tried it before, and quit after about 10 minutes. Big mistake. I wish I had given it a decent shot before.  I was about to give up MMOs for a while, after playing them for almost 10 years.  I don't know how long i'll be with Ryzom - quite a long time i suspect, but it sure perked me up at the very least.

Acidon

And another one here... bought Aion which at least cured me from WOW making me realize how much I had fallen in a routine of jumping from dungeon to dungeon and from raid to raid, spending the time trying to learn silly steps to avoid snow falling or a lava wave... doh!

But after a while Aion 's shortcomings made me quit it too. So now I'm not playin anything.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by altairzq

And another one here... bought Aion which at least cured me from WOW making me realize how much I had fallen in a routine of jumping from dungeon to dungeon and from raid to raid, spending the time trying to learn silly steps to avoid snow falling or a lava wave... doh!

But after a while Aion 's shortcomings made me quit it too. So now I'm not playin anything.

 

Perhaps here and there they're taking up ONE idea that Blizzard uses in its own game (lvl through Pvp, or fortress assaults).

Wow, Blizzard invented THOSE too? Amazing. First they invented the sun, then MMOs, and now these! What'll they think of next?

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Quailman

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by altairzq

And another one here... bought Aion which at least cured me from WOW making me realize how much I had fallen in a routine of jumping from dungeon to dungeon and from raid to raid, spending the time trying to learn silly steps to avoid snow falling or a lava wave... doh!

But after a while Aion 's shortcomings made me quit it too. So now I'm not playin anything.

 

Perhaps here and there they're taking up ONE idea that Blizzard uses in its own game (lvl through Pvp, or fortress assaults).

Wow, Blizzard invented THOSE too? Amazing. First they invented the sun, then MMOs, and now these! What'll they think of next?

Learn to read the original message instead of browsing through words.
 

I did read the original message. Maybe you should read it again.

I feel exactly the same, none of the recent MMO's seem to hold my attention for more than a months subscription (or until the end of the trial), at the minute I'm considering going back and giving Vanguard a shot after quitting that game not long after release.

My own personal opinion is that WoW's success has created problems for the genre, there is no doubt that when WoW first appeared it was the next step in a genre that had seen games gradually evolve for years, but with its huge success came the copycats, every company now wants the "next WoW" which means games basically become clones instead of developing something unique and new, within an hour (or much less in a lot of cases) of playing most new MMO's I get the feeling of been there done that and bought the T-shirt, and for most of the people I know they end up back at WoW simply because they think why play a clone when you can play the real thing.

I'm not knocking WoW exactly, it was a great game (although the game is now far too easy and dumbed down to keep my attention which is why I quit) but now I want something different, something new, the next step in the MMO evolutionary cycle, unfortunately I can't seem to find anything that doesn't feel all too familiar.  I havent had an active sub for any game now for a good few months (I have grabbed a few trials of games to see if I would go back to them but no luck yet), it is probably the first time this decade I haven't had an active account for a MMO, hopefully something will surface sooner rather than later that grabs my attention because I have a sleep disorder and really miss losing myself in a game world at night while the rest of the family is sleeping.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Quailman

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Quailman

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by altairzq

And another one here... bought Aion which at least cured me from WOW making me realize how much I had fallen in a routine of jumping from dungeon to dungeon and from raid to raid, spending the time trying to learn silly steps to avoid snow falling or a lava wave... doh!

But after a while Aion 's shortcomings made me quit it too. So now I'm not playin anything.

 

Perhaps here and there they're taking up ONE idea that Blizzard uses in its own game (lvl through Pvp, or fortress assaults).

Wow, Blizzard invented THOSE too? Amazing. First they invented the sun, then MMOs, and now these! What'll they think of next?

Learn to read the original message instead of browsing through words.
 

I did read the original message. Maybe you should read it again.

 

I said the others TOOK up an idea and that Blizzard uses it in its own game. I didn't even say copy, because you can't develop sieging a fortress in 6 weeks time (the time War for instance launched and Wotlk was put out).

So the ideas grow mutually, but the only one profiting from it is Blizzard, by simply having the (massive) market.

Also the leveling on PvP was already in WOW 2006 (you could "buy" experience by turning in BG badges, the idea came and went back with patch 3.1 (under another form), after War took it to another form.

That's the only advantage of these supposed "WOW killers", but for the rest they only lead to road 1 or 2 above. Players quit mmo's or go back.

Like I said reread the complete post and it's very clear.

 

Actually, it wasn't too clear the way you originally wrote it, but you cleared it up in this post. I just find it funny and sad that you spend  so much time talking about how WoW is so great and all other games aren't even worthy to exist in the same world. You're on some crazy zealous crusade.

And about the leveling through PvP in WoW in 2006...while technically possible through the badges and quests, it was by no means a viable means of leveling.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Psycho2k

I feel exactly the same, none of the recent MMO's seem to hold my attention for more than a months subscription (or until the end of the trial), at the minute I'm considering going back and giving Vanguard a shot after quitting that game not long after release.

 

My own personal opinion is that WoW's success has created problems for the genre, there is no doubt that when WoW first appeared it was the next step in a genre that had seen games gradually evolve for years, but with its huge success came the copycats, every company now wants the "next WoW" which means games basically become clones instead of developing something unique and new, within an hour (or much less in a lot of cases) of playing most new MMO's I get the feeling of been there done that and bought the T-shirt, and for most of the people I know they end up back at WoW simply because they think why play a clone when you can play the real thing.

 

I'm not knocking WoW exactly, it was a great game (although the game is now far too easy and dumbed down to keep my attention which is why I quit) but now I want something different, something new, the next step in the MMO evolutionary cycle, unfortunately I can't seem to find anything that doesn't feel all too familiar.  I havent had an active sub for any game now for a good few months (I have grabbed a few trials of games to see if I would go back to them but no luck yet), it is probably the first time this decade I haven't had an active account for a MMO, hopefully something will surface sooner rather than later that grabs my attention because I have a sleep disorder and really miss losing myself in a game world at night while the rest of the family is sleeping.

 

I don't buy your "too easy stuff" because frankly you didn't enter at least the last 10% difficult stuff that is in the game, UNLESS you downed Algalon AND have a unique deadly gladiator title for PvP.

And since that's only for 0.001% of the present players base, fat chance you're in that category.

You simply played WOW (too long) and are used to Blizzard quality, polish, extreme Pve/Pvp content design.

Get over it: like I said: leave the whacky world of mmorpg's and rejoin Blizzard within a few months or years.

It is really pathetic that only Blizzard is capable of creating PC games that can longer be played than 3 months these days.

Of course you may add you personal IMO.

Fact is what the market is telling us: 5 to 6 M in the west paying for one game. One other at 300K (EVE) and the rest is taking up the peanuts past the 3 months launch period.

Get over it. Play boardgames or join a football or tennis club.

 

 

 

There are plenty of PC games that have and will continue to hold mine and many others interest for years to come. Team Fortress 2, EVE, Ryzom, and the Battlefield series just to name a few. And sub numbers aren't the end all be all of success. 300k+ subs for EVE is a pretty big success IMO.

Edit: I misread what you said about the sub numbers. I do agree that most MMOs out right now are spread kinda thin with subscribers, but there are some that seem to be picking up (for instance Fallen Earth). But not all of the games with lower sub numbers I would consider failures by any means.

The fault dear brutus lies not in our stars but in ourselves.

There has been a trend to blame the game developers and the games for being copy cat and derivative and worst of all boring but the fact is that WoW wasn't boring to people who had never played a MMO before but to those who had played EQ, DAOC, AO, UO, etc it was. Now here we are 5 years after the introduction of WoW and the introduction of more games and people are looking at the whole genre and blaming it for the fact that they have grown up and are ready to move on in life.

To use an analogy MMORPGs are like roller coasters and if you have never been on one then even the smallest shortest one is thrilling. But as you get used to it you look for bigger, faster and more exciting roller coasters but eventually you just get bored and start to say they don't make good ones like they used to. For people that have never played a MMO before games like Aion can be a revelation and they don't care about the past since that is their new starting point. Of course the game needs to be good and fun and be able to retain them but for some people the days of their gaming youth are over and as jaded old coots they might need to consider moving on to something else like collecting porcelain figurines.

And, yes I have a lovely collection going at the moment.

Man i am right there with all of you.

I really miss Dark Age of Camelot before Mythick ruined it with Trials of Atlantis. I remember the sense of exploration i had and the sense of fear you got when going out into the frontiers where a smelly dorf or righteous human (yes i was a hibby) tried to cream you all over the ground.

It all comes down to the dumbing down of the games we play, its easier and easier. The difficulty in todays MMOs is based on mob health or elite status. Not based on tactics or strategy. Heck even WoW had some strategy in its raids. Now its just boring grind. Grind mobs, Quests, Factions, TradeSkills.... just grind. Thats just not fun.

I liked DAoC so much i think because of the 3 realms. No matter what if there was one overwhelming realm the other two eventually came to a semi truce and knocked that realm down a notch or two. Its this competition, the thrill of being successful in an event where your realm takes pride in its accomplishments.  

I do not find this in any current MMO not even the current state of DAoC. While i am not a staunch PvP fanatic i see it as a healthy aspect to MMOs and if a MMO synergizes PvE and PvP well then that game is great, fantastic. 

The last 5 years for me have been Abyssmal failure after Abyssmal failure. I do not need to list them, i think most of us here have been subjected to the travesties of the recent MMO crop.

Before anyone says what about Fallen Earth ? I have to say yes i have that game installed right now, yes i play it, but, even with its more sandbox style gameplay its still grindfest for me yer either grinding or your not playing really. Not that i have lost complete faith in FE i just log in and go meh. Aion is even worse, Champions is a complete chore, it feels like an empty shell.

I do have my sights set on a couple of titles. Secret world might be that one for me, but its by Funcom and well i got burned with Anarchy online and Age of Conan, so even with all that potential goodness i am very hesistent. SW:TOR intrigues me a ton, i love Bioware, i have yet to play a single Bioware game i have not totally played the crap out of. Even with that optimistic view i am still worried that Bioware makes its first game i hate with TOR.

Bleh i am rambling, i think because this subject really affects me, MMOs have been my hobby since i first installed Ultima Online,  All the friends i made and still have, all the wife aggro i avoided, and the times i spent teaching her how to play. These games effect us in more ways then alot of us care to admit, but now i feel like my faithful companion (MMO) is bedraggled and need to be put down for something new.

Problem is...... What is that something new for us ?

 We must admit, Zorndorf can always come up the with the most stupid comparisons each time he comes here.... kudos to you

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Psycho2k

I feel exactly the same, none of the recent MMO's seem to hold my attention for more than a months subscription (or until the end of the trial), at the minute I'm considering going back and giving Vanguard a shot after quitting that game not long after release.

 

My own personal opinion is that WoW's success has created problems for the genre, there is no doubt that when WoW first appeared it was the next step in a genre that had seen games gradually evolve for years, but with its huge success came the copycats, every company now wants the "next WoW" which means games basically become clones instead of developing something unique and new, within an hour (or much less in a lot of cases) of playing most new MMO's I get the feeling of been there done that and bought the T-shirt, and for most of the people I know they end up back at WoW simply because they think why play a clone when you can play the real thing.

 

I'm not knocking WoW exactly, it was a great game (although the game is now far too easy and dumbed down to keep my attention which is why I quit) but now I want something different, something new, the next step in the MMO evolutionary cycle, unfortunately I can't seem to find anything that doesn't feel all too familiar.  I havent had an active sub for any game now for a good few months (I have grabbed a few trials of games to see if I would go back to them but no luck yet), it is probably the first time this decade I haven't had an active account for a MMO, hopefully something will surface sooner rather than later that grabs my attention because I have a sleep disorder and really miss losing myself in a game world at night while the rest of the family is sleeping.

 

I don't buy your "too easy stuff" because frankly you didn't enter at least the last 10% difficult stuff that is in the game, UNLESS you downed Algalon AND have a unique deadly gladiator title for PvP.

And since that's only for 0.001% of the present players base, fat chance you're in that category.

You simply played WOW (too long) and are used to Blizzard quality, polish, extreme Pve/Pvp content design.

Get over it: like I said: leave the whacky world of mmorpg's and rejoin Blizzard within a few months or years.

It is really pathetic that only Blizzard is capable of creating PC games that can longer be played than 3 months these days.

Of course you may add you personal IMO.

Fact is what the market is telling us: 5 to 6 M in the west paying for one game. One other at 300K (EVE) and the rest is taking up the peanuts past the 3 months launch period.

Get over it. Play boardgames or join a football or tennis club.

 

 

 

So taking a new character, yet another of my many alts, from new to clearing over half of Ulduar in around 3 weeks with a newly formed guild doesn't give me the right to claim that the game is too easy for my personal taste?  I also grinded PvP for quite a while with my son and some friends and it was honestly the most tedious part of all the time I spent in WoW.  I stated that all of that was my "personal" opinion, so for you to use you degree in psychology to tell me how I am simply too used to Blizzards quality, polish, extreme pve/pvp content design is a quite frankly a joke, if that was the case wouldn't I still be playing it instead of looking for anything that is not trying to copy it?

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Quailman

There are plenty of PC games that have and will continue to hold mine and many others interest for years to come. Team Fortress 2, EVE, Ryzom, and the Battlefield series just to name a few. And sub numbers aren't the end all be all of success. 300k+ subs for EVE is a pretty big success IMO.

Sorry, TF 2 is crap. Played it and even a single basic BG in WOW (like wsg or AB) is better to have simple PvP fun.
 

Let's compare it with other markets or sports or games.

If one game has say 5 - 6M western paying players and the second best is at ... 300K, that's the same as saying:

Bolt runs the 100 m dash in 9.6 seconds and his second best competitior is clocked in 42.6 seconds and all the rest coming in over a minute later.

In fact 9.6 times 20 is even 3 minutes later... the second player arrives.

Of course this is not healthy, of course this is ABNORMAL.

But instead of shooting Bolt who can run the 100 meters in 9.6, you should look at all those others who shuckle in ... 3 minutes later.

Is the difference THAT great?

Yep, according to what people want to pay, it is ...

So it is VERY hard to be a supporter of an athlete that runs a 100 meter in 3 minutes, when you've seen Bolt run it in 9.6 sec.

You can ALWAYS ignore Bolt of course.

But that ain't working.

"IMO" doesn't count when measuring successes, be it in sports, market leaders or game leaders.

 

First off, you not liking TF2 is purely your opinion. You may have more fun in a WoW BG, but I prefer a game like TF2 that's balanced and requires more skill. And again with your sub numbers. Is WoW a success? Sure, it makes a lot of money and lots of people enjoy it. But that doesn't make it better than another game. Britney Spears will go on to sell more records initially than most other singers or bands that lots of people would consider better music. That sure as hell doesn't mean Britney Spears is a better "artist" than any of the bands she outsold.

I feel pretty much the exact same way. I started playing Aion and enjoyed for a while but even though it's good looking and has a lot to offer I can't help feeling as I've already done everything the game can give me.

I too looked into old or semi new games such as DAoC, WAR and AOC but they just feel "meh" nowadays. It's hard to know what I want but personally I would like to see multiclassing or some system that allows more than just decent specialization. Most games these days offer few classes with few possibilities of making your character unique in any way.

I know there are games with multiclassing out there but most of them are too restricted. I just hope there's something new and exciting in the future of MMO:s but sadly I haven't seen anything yet.

Well my solution for you that worked for me is that I spent a year or 2 playing F2P (jumping from one to another cause of grind) and many single player games.

It's been so long since I played wow and don't even miss it now playing aion till FFXIV comes out (yeah still lots of time to wait) then I will move on.

Not saying aion is the best game but it's certain that it is not a crap too, now when ncsoft will launch blade & soul this problem will most likely happen again because apart of that it will be in the era of samurais,ecc it doesn't show much innovation apart of the wall running.

So try playing some single player games till you get the urge to play an mmorpg for what it is without thinking why it's always the same. If you haven't tried it I suggest you to try risen it's a bit hard but it's a great game that is similar to an mmo but is single playr and graphics are great :P 

{mod edit}

 Its always been like that. MMO burnout I think is setting in more than a WOW syndrome. So many c ome out the door so quickly and they are all hyped beyond belief. Its the cycle of things. More and more people seem to feel this way. Until I played FE I know I was there and sure I will be again at some point. 

Comparing corporate business with athletes is silly.

True that WoW has a huge number of subscribers and true that it should make Blizzard pull in billions of dollars per year. But the real question is: does any of all those dollars go back into the process to make WoW even better or are they simply routed away into other parts of the corporate branches that has absolutely nothing to do with WoW?

Also, while Blizzard pull in more dollars than CCP per month and as such has a higher turnover of money there might not be much difference in growth between the two. In fact I would speculate that CCP has a higher rate of growth than Blizzard knowing that Blizzard is just a tiny part of a huge corporate network while CCP is completely independent.

I need five more levels until PvP in AION and I don't wanna stop it w/o having tested that. But I also started to resub WoW and level on a new realm w/o any help from friends or through resources from own 80s. And I am having a fun fun time, like back when WoW started. So will be hard for AION to get me off that again.

Keep it on topic please. 

Thing is that if a new MMO grabs you and holds your attention, it's very likely that it will attract a large number of other gamers as well. Meaning it will become popular, mainstream if you wish, and there goes your dream of playing a good MMO that is exclusive to a specific playerbase. MMOs are mainstream now, and a good MMO will not go unnoticed.

MMOs to me now are just a casual thing. Those days of logging in and playing for 5-6 hours are gone. This isn t the games fault it s just my persnal prefrence. That said I agree completely. I log into MMOs alot less frequently, I buy alot less ( I used to buy them all), even one I enjoy I play maybe 15 hours a week. Although most of this is my choice, I m just finding every game to be the same with a small twist. Waste of time with many of them, so I ve been playing alot of FPS and single player games. With FPS I find since all MMOs feel the same I may as well play FPS because it has no monthly fee.

that feeling started for me years ago.  i started playing MMOs with UO in '97, and by early 2005, i was pretty much burned out with the genre.

now i just test the occasional beta and log into EVE for maybe five hours/week at the most.  at some point i decided i had done/seen it all in MMORPGs.  there is just no point in subscribing to the new, shiny release if it offers the exact same style of content of the games i'd already played for years.

I think the industry as a whole is becoming too "cookie cutter" with the style of MMO's.  I agree with the OP with Aion and getting that feeling of "I've done this all before" and wondering if I want to do it again. 

There just doesn't seem to be that much new in MMO's as their style seems all the same with repetitive grind.

What is needed is something new and different, rathere than the cookie cutter MMO's now out there.