Originally posted by Quirhid
Why do people always blame the games and not themselves?

I would ask the opposite question. Why do people give shitty games a free pass?

More sandbox less pvp

The fact is, I’m not always in the mood for combat. I still want to engage in the virtual world, but I’d like other meaningful things to do.

I think a lesson can be taken from the The Sims franchise (trust me, I’m burnt out on that too, but …) Give me a virtual world where combat is only one of the things I can do. Give me an opportunity to pursue other meaningful careers, with meaningful rewards and a progressive pay scale that improves commensurate with the time I devote. Let me have pastime activities, like casinos or gaming rooms where I have a chance to make more money. I want a more realistic experience, where my avatar has to sleep and eat. If I’m a mercenary or full-time member of a military unit, then fine, that’s how I make my living. But historically, in the real world, mercenaries and full-time soldiers were very few in number. Most of the combatants have been full-time farmers and tradesmen. If “winning” the game can be accomplished on multiple fronts – economic, militarily, politically, and professionally, or a combination thereof, a thriving in-game economy will be guaranteed, and the player population will remain diverse. And, as so much is based on social interaction, it will be an MMORPG in the truest sense.

As for PvP – think about it – the real world is very much PvP. We pay policemen or armed constabularies to protect us, and sometimes the bad guys do takeover towns, thereupon becoming prey to other bad guys or groups of people who’ve united to make things right. Let the next great MMORPG reflect this kind of existence instead of clam-shelling us into some fantasyland that flies in the face of all logic.

Others have already said they want a more open world, with fewer restrictions. I think this can best be achieved by modeling real world socio-economic circumstances (at whatever historic period) than by constantly trying to fabricate utterly improbable gaming universes, where hollow NPCs are the only “people” doing anything of substance.

I agree with the people who’ve said they want a blend of sandbox and themepark; I certainly don’t mind a somewhat directed gaming experience, but I definitely want more control over where that direction takes me and I most certainly want the option to follow multiple directions without it handicapping my long term viability.

As for the guy who said “burnout is an excuse,” I say BS. I really am burnt out on carrot and stick MMOs that offer me little incentive beyond rising to the next level or acquiring the next coveted piece of gear. Make me want to exist in your game world instead of only playing in it – then you’ve got a winner.

John Muir said: “Most people live on the world, not in it.” There’s a huge lesson there for game developers. Give me a virtual world in which to live and you’ll have me hooked again.

If they started making real MMOs again instead of WoW clones.

Focus in immersion, socialization, dynamic player influenced content, a bit more complicated, a lot more unforgiving, no instances, no dumbed down, and for gods sake, some damn innovation again.

At this point though? Anything without instances and with no quest based leveling/solo oriented gameplay has me interested.

I love MMORPGs and I could play them forever. I do not love online RPGs like SWTOR, WoW, and Diablo.

Oh, and good PvP, that is built in from the start, is always a plus. Notice how all the best PvP in MMOs are thought of from the start and not tacked on? Built around and integrated into the experience. DAoC, for instance, had probably the best PvP model there is.

Well, I'm job hunting and mostly burned out on MMOs.  My life is hectic and I can't even set aside time for half hour dungeons as I may be interrupted.  So I've been going through games much quicker than normal lately.  I played D3 for 150 hours and quit, returned to SWTOR for one month but barely played, played GW2 for 140 hours and got bored, and played TL2 for about 60 and got bored.

In the past I played:

WOW: off and on about 20 months since release.  Skipping MoP

LOTRO: off and on about 12 months since release (lifetime sub)

EQ2: About 1 week a year after release

RoM: About a month

Forsaken World: Until only way to level was by dailies

AoC: About a month during F2P

STO: 2 days

SWTOR: 2 months

GW2: 1 month - but will return

Once my life settles there's only one thing that could really excite me with an MMO.  That would be if I could play progression servers in WOW.  Start in vanilla with just the content/gear before BWL.  Once I farm MC/ONY I then move to a server that has BWL then one with AQ20/40 then one with Naxx.  With the only modifcation being having with dungeon and raid finders from teh beginning and no lockout timers.  Obviously that will NEVER happen, but I would really enjoy doing that.

Nothing else would excite me really other than a well made MMO in an IP I love that will never get an MMO, such as Farscape or Babylon 5.

community, which unfortunately has to be forced upon the players or it will never exist.

not going to happen tho as an AAA developer's first consideration is number of players .. even though all of the pandering they do actually has the complete opposite effect.

A long break, which started about two weeks ago, and a AAA sandbox MMO.

Until then I'm done with MMOs and currently counting down the hours until XCOM opens up. The crap MMOs that have been released over the last few years has rekindled my love of great single player games though, which I guess is a good thing since I can play them without a sub fee or without the BS you get from players with names like gankedurmom or stabbymcstabberson.

OP actually made me think....

My record:

DAOC: 5.5 years.

WoW: 5 years.

CoH/V: Probably 1 year, off and on.

EVE: Probably 6 months, off and on.

LOTRO: 4 months.

WAR: 2 months (although to be honest, it was the "Oops! We just billed you 20 times in one month" incident that got me to quit that game.)

COL: 3 months.

RIFT: 3 months.

DDO: 2 months.

TSW: 2 months.

Shadowbane, Lineage II, AO, Ash Call, EQ, EQII, DCU, Horizons, AoC, SWG, Ryzome, STOL: all less than 2 weeks.

Currently not subscribed/playing anything.

Never really listed it out before. You know what? I play too darn many MOGs, for one thing. For another, it sure looks like my favorite game was DAOC. At least if you base it on time. But last summer I loaded it in and spun the game up again on one of the free weekends they advertised and I couldn't stand it. I guess nostalgia colors everything in the end with rose.

I'm similar to you OP.

diablo 2 ~2 years

daoc ~3 years

wow ~3 years

WAR 1 month

AoC 2 weeks

d3 1 month

GW2 3 weeks (biggest letdown of them all. And I was 100% sure about this game)

and a couple more for a few days each (rom, swtor)

It's not a burnout. MMOs become worse each year. 

What would excite me? DAOC 2 or something similar. Something with GOOD open world PvP, preferable FFA PvP. Mixed with open world raid bosses (pve+pvp at the same time).

i need a game that has everything but doesnt give anything for free and additionaly everything in the game from a function point of view is explained within the game. No random made up rules.

ill explain.

you have a game with a teleporter that allows you to go anywhere on the map once youve been there. Its a decent game mechanic i suppose.

what i need:

you and your friends have to venture to these places as above, but then you as a "Server/world" have to bring all the parts and build the teleporters. Once you have two teleporters built you can gate there through either one. If you wish to directly gate their without using a teleporter you need to build yourself a personal teleportation unit, and the state of the unit determines how far you can teleport. If you keep working at it you can eventually teleport anywhere that has a teleporter from anywhere.  

apply this logic to absolutely everything in the game and you have what i need.

Eve in a steampunk setting.  That would excite me to no end.

A game like precu SWG would excite me.  I've often thought that if my career path at work had skill boxes I would be director by now because I was addicted to leveling and unlocking the next skill box and abilities/bonuses.

I'd be excited to play precu SWG again but so much time has passed I don't know what kind of interest is still out there.  It had a healthy population when I was playing and community was one of the most important aspects.

More than anything else, I am totally sick and tired of quest hub hopping for progression.

They call my character an "Adventurer" but all I get to do is provide slave labor for NPCs who pay me in gear that I'll never use.  Where's the adventure in that?

Replacing that with something more fitting to the genre would excite me.

What would excite me again?

If any of the publishers would have the good sense to fund a well-managed small development studio with about $10 to $20 millions to make a sandboxy virtual world MMORPG. That budget is enough when you scrap all the cutscenes, cinematic trailers, dynamic events, voice actors, personal stories, instanced PvP areneas, quests, scripted boss fights and server-wide auction houses.

I don't like those features anyway.