Just wondering.

I read a lot of bitterness on these forums: people feeling disappointed, disillusioned, betrayed, their hopes crushed, hurt to the point that they've lost trust in any promise or hype, you name it, the whole wide range of hurt emotions.

For a wide range of games too, people sometimes even walking around with a grudge or simmering hatred for years for what happened to them with an SWG NGE or AoC or WAR or any of the other MMO's where people were all hyped up only to be bitterly disappointed after a launch or with a change in the game they played: a bitterness, pain or disillusion that didn't just go away within a short period of time but that kept lingering, often to the point that it changed the way they look upon things from then on, with that 'never again' kind of mindset almost similar to bad breakups.

In fact, I see it so abundantly on these forums that I'm starting to wonder whether I'm the only one or of a very few that has undergone the past 10 years of MMO gaming relatively unscathed. I think there hasn't been an MMO all that time where there was such a huge gap between my expectations and how a game turned out for me to the point of disillusion, or where any disappointment lasted longer than a few weeks.

So that's why my question: has everyone here gained persistent scars in their years of MMO gaming, or are there others who walked past that all up till now relatively unscathed?

And if so, what did you think made the difference?

The only scarring that I faced as a result of my expetations was in Ultima Online, my first MMO.  My expectation was that I'd be able to go wandering in a large world, exploring, hunting and meeting people.  I didn't realize that players would be such anarchistic imbeciles, going around PKing folks for fun.

I suppose I should say that I was burnt by having too high expectations of my fellow players.  Being a software engineer helps keep my expectations of the games themselves in line.

Ever since WAR it's been hard for me to believe the hype.  My pessemism gets stronger with each new game I try.  I'm excited for GW2 at the moment, but I'm just going to wait and see.  Honestly, I hope a handful of these upcoming games are actually good and ready for the long haul.  I'm tired of getting games I don't want to play after 2-3 months.  I'm also tired of seeing people complain about the current crop of MMOs.  It would be nice if we were all (or most of us) happy for a change. It's been a while.

At the end of the day these are just games. To stay pissed off and hold a grudge about something like the NGE is pointless. All you can do is make your voice heard by hitting the cancel button. Thats it.

If you have invested so much of yourself on an emotional level to a game that you feel betrayed when it changes that is really just on you. Games change and when they become not so fun I leave.

As far as launch hype goes I dont really listen to any of it. To me it is a waste of time to watch hours of videos and trailers. I'll just try it when it launches.

The first MMO of mine was AO. And it was good up till Shadowlands expansion, and it and also thanks to Gaute Godager. That faulty expansion turned quite a bit of the game's lore and feel on its head. I quit shortly thereafter.

That is about the only time I got 'burnt' on a MMO. Most of the other times were just due to me not liking the something about game or getting bored with the solo-play after a while in not being able to find a decent group/guild to raid/play with. Which I wouldn't call getting burned as that is more of a preference thing.

But even saying that I am more guarded on hype after reading what has been done over the years and developing a 'wait and see' approach to new games.

I burn out playing MMOGs but it has nothing at all to do with hype, or expectations not being met. I learned a long time ago not to listen to hype, reviews, opinions, etc... If something that I see looks like something that I migh be interested in, I wait until it releases, play it, and make up my own mind based off that. It's a lesson that I think everyone that is a fan of this genre would do well to learn well... 

I get bored too quickly in an mmo after aquiring all the new skills that allow a new experience is finished ie the starting phase, so never get to the halfway stage of grind and where probably the burn-out process really cranks it out?! I think mmorpgs suffer a unique problem: They are designed to be truly large worlds except that players have to accept that the main interaction or the only interaction is being able to hop around on one foot all the time they are there, all over this shiny new world without being able to use their hands. So it does not matter how big those worlds are, if the interaction is as caricatured as above, then no wonder players "burn out" repeating the same modus operandi so exhaustively in the majority of these mmorps, with arms tied behind their backs observing these splendid lands... hopping forth!

I like what GW2 has done with the environmental weapons and picking objects up, transforming into something or swimming underwater and changing what skills you have to use... more of this please... a lot more could reduce burn-out syndrome? : )

I think I've finally learned my lesson.  Most recently I believed the RIFT developers when they said it didn't matter how fast leveling was, because there was a ton of stuff to do at level 50 (lol).

From now on I'm going into every MMO release believing it will be mediocre until they prove me otherwise.

Well, in general playing a mmorpg truly is a long term relationship which comes with passion and dedication!
If the mmo, or the part of the mmo you be passionate about, is changed for the worse this absolutely gives a bad feeling and the grade of the "irritation" may translate into a long lasting hostility toward the decisionmakers and in general untrust if this is a common practice.

Personally i remeber most games a good way - with some annoyances here and there but this is nothing which could not be overcome.

But several disapointments from the same company together with an untrustworthy behavior and half assed excuses from what you know be lies, damage control truly destroy any confidence towards them.
One publisher/developer excelled in this manner^^

So i can only say: "If you light the fire you have to stand the heat!"

At all the genre needs to show more corporate and crafter ethics but that is a sign of the time and the best advice is to stay aloof of any hype as well as any anti-hype and make a picture of your own.

After a while you know them inside out!

PS: But i truly believe that there is a silver lining on the horizon...

Yes being burnt, and disappointed by several games.  That is why I stay so skeptical about new games now.

Burnt by the NGE, I just decided it was not worth my time staying mad, but when folks ask why I tell them how I saw it go down in my thoughts.

Disappointed by AOC,  I know the op going to stick me on this one, but it really was a huge disappointment.

Burnt by lotro, dnd, STO.    I will never ever play a game made by turbine, or Cryptic ever.

War hammer a total disaster

Rift lackluster at best, and huge disappointment.  I refused to be like the other lemmings on this one.

It going to take a special game to grab my attention now days,  still playing EQ2 despite the fact it is an SOE game.

I may have once or twice been scorned by an MMO, but it was only due to the way I approached the MMO.  My own expectations, mostly regarding things external to the game.

When I approach games with a neutral agenda and try to just play them for fun's sake, then I have never played a disappointing game.

For me, just two titles did it and it was my own fault, not from being over hyped: Champions Online (CO) and Dungeon and Dragons Online (DDO).

I actually expected the pen and paper games, but was sorely disappointed. The game mechanics are nowhere near what these two tabletop PnP games are.

Me. I simply never buy new games no matter the hype i give it some time.

Combination of  reasons why im not realy intrested anymore, mmo games are not intresting anymore and community have changed alot in last 6-7 years in a negative sense for me.

Asherons call 2 was last mmo i liked the community alot stopped early 2005.

Darkfall was not bad played 2 years but to much cheating(afkmacro/exploit)

But hate or totally vet up no not realy. There are just not any intresting games released anymore. There eather themeparks im not intresting in or unfinished indie sandbox games that are so bugged and useless not worth playing.

I just play solo games mainly RPGs untill maybe someday a intresting sandbox game comes along.

right here. happily playing WoW and EvE. I wnt for the sure thing and it payed off in both cases.

"What made the difference?"

I'll try to answer that honestly, even if it may be a bit uninformed through trying some games for only a short while and making quick impressions.

Stale combat.

That is the one thing that has made me feel old and jaded. Every game that comes out offers the same old same old stand there for 2-3 seconds to cast a spell staring at a timer bar. I admit, im not a melee player and love my casters. Every damn game gives us the exact same mechanics as any other caster, there is never anything different whatsoever. There was one F2P a few years ago which touted itself as being different but it ended up being more like a slot machine of spells, one childishly predictable.

AoC promised to revolutionise combat, and it did. For Melee. The promised spell weaving turned out to be too difficult to implement and we ended up with standard fare spell casting and a clickable buff that roots you.

If a game could give me the melee combat of AoC but as a Mage and the story that Bioware promises for TOR id be a happy chappy. I'd even settle for WAR's combat, it was fast paced albeit unbalanced.

It probably doesn't help that i started MMO's with City of Heroe's release. It's combat was quicker and more involving than most of the so called modern MMO's today, even 7 years later.

I've only had one major burn in the MMO industry,  and that was with The Matrix Online (and I guess to a lesser degree SWG).  Even when I bought Vanguard I knew what problems it had but was still happy to play it.

MxO was just in terrible shape on launch,  and they couldn't get it together.  They made way too many drastic changes in the final hours,  and I was really digging the setting.  As for SWG,  I don't feel like I got burned that much seeing as how I had my many months of fun with that title before the rapture,  but it did kind of suck.

But since then I haven't felt like I've been burned, even after buying WAR, V:SoH, DCUO, hell even Xsyon.  

To be honest I think you have to get burned at least once to really understand the ebb and flow of the MMORPG genre.  Its much less hazardous in the SP style games as usually what you see in a review is what you can expect, whereas in MMOs things can change drastically in just a few weeks.  You have to be able to accept that if you ever want to be happy playing an MMORPG.

The developers and publishers of the industry have self-created the cynisism of so many gamers. Over the past several years, and countless MMO releases, developers have spewed out lies or half-truths about their games. Anywhere from claiming next-gen, to innovation, to claims of re-inventing the genre, those making these claims have done nothing but deliver half-baked ideas that pale in comparison to the grandeous claims they made in the past.

Long story short, developers have been vastly over-hyping their products, and consumers have gotten wise to it.

In this age of MMOs, anyone having more faith beyond a 'wait and see' attitude with regards to an upcoming MMO, is begging to get burned.

I've been around here a long time. I pop my head in every so often to get a gauge of the community outlook on certain titles and the genre as a whole. It is a place where you can see a thoughtful and considered post about development tasks right next to a rage filled incoherent rant about nerfing/WoW/pvp/cover art.

I am also amused by the downward spiral of community standards in spelling and general sentence structure. It really keeps me on my toes as far as deciphering the new languages. (It should be noted that for many here English is a second language. A plus for the forum honestly) Yes, obviously my posts aren't perfect either. :P

At any rate, my point is that the core things haven't changed at all. The same posts about solo vs. group play. The same argument about 'you put your pvp in my peanut butter'..I mean 'pve'. The same general tone about gaming.

It is simply the nature of gamers I suspect. I'm not sure that the buildup of scars has changed the dynamic much.