General Discussion

My experience with Wow was good for the most part. I started to play just before the Burning Crusade expansion. I no longer play it because it's not fun for me anymore, not because of the actual state of the game, but because I wanted to play something different. I also tried other MMO released not long ago and cancelled my subscription in less than a month.

That been said, I don't think MMOs encourage masochism. I believe each person is a different world. If they are playing a game, then it's because they like something about it that keep them playing, even if there are things they don't like about it. For example, I like PvE more than PvP. Others will like PvP or RP

The fun part of the game is generally the point until you max your level IMO.  Some people do enjoy raiding which is ultra slow progression through equipment.  For the most part I find that the most enjoyable part of the game comes when you are finding new places and are developing your character outside of equipment.  Once you get to the point where you character can only progress through equipment and you are repeating the same dungeon over and over again I can't say that I enjoy that.  Perhaps some people enjoy such repitition, but I do not.

I agree, I don't play very often nor am I extremely active when I do, and I rarely get to the highest level so games end up being pretty boring. Normally the first levels are okay, the kind you'd get to during a free trial, but after that it's just a longer version of the same thing. I think the main problem is most mmos are games no one would enjoy if they were singleplayer. They all use the crutch of multiplayer to make it fun, for some reason people just enjoy being in MMOs, to the point where they'll pay knowing they're going to try to solo it anyway. The game itself should be fun, but 99% of the companies seem to of signed some agreement among themselves to keep the same style of boring combat and quests.

Most MMO in today's market are MMORPG, Role Playing Game which means the role is player. That's why better weapons, armors, and higher level all symbolize your successful role. That's the genre.

I think more and more people getting tired of playing such game because it is same as movie maker only making Horror movies. Everyday is undead, zombies and vampire, and we all knew the scenario.

THE END

Originally posted by Larry2298

Most MMO in today's market are MMORPG, Role Playing Game which means the role is player. That's why better weapons, armors, and higher level all symbolize your successful role. That's the genre.

I think more and more people getting tired of playing such game because it is same as movie maker only making Horror movies. Everyday is undead, zombies and vampire, and we all knew the scenario.

THE END

 

ya. I agree.

Originally posted by UbinusCol

I think that too many MMOs nowadays stress that all of the good stuff - the meat of the MMO, the point at which one would begin to have fun playing the game - comes in the end, and that it's "worth it" to stick around and try to level a character up to the level cap. Very few MMOs actually offer something exciting when it comes to progression.

The only two MMO's I stuck with past the trial were City of  Heroes and Dungeons & Dragons Online because it was fun to play right from the beginning (for me at least). I played CIty of Heroes for two years and started to get bored when I finally hit the level cap with one of my characters and could solo quests on the hardest settings.  I have yet to hit the cap in DDO (permadeath) and am still enjoying it more than two years later.  Both games are great for making alts and playing through the content again with a different style/prospective.

I did play Vanguard for a few months when it launched but I went to that game with a group from my DDO guild, I wouldn't have lasted as long if I wasn't playing with them.

But as others have said already, people play these games for different reasons. I'm sure more people would play to enjoy the journey over the destination without the peer pressure of getting to the level cap but It would still be a smaller group of players than those that like the grind games. And 'grind' is in the eye of the beholder, some people do get their moneys worth out of racing to the level cap.

A game being fun from the start is a matter of opinion relative the person playing the game.  Peoples opinions on such things change on all the time.  My opinion is that endgame is generally not fun in MMORPGs and the character building that leads up to that is what is the fun part.  Someone else might see things differently who are not interested in character building/exploring and are more interested in large scale raid tactics.  Unforunatley we wont see two seperate games for both groups of people.  The only place we will see raids is at engame to keep people playing the game instead of quiting when the game is over. 

I agree with the OP. Why can't progression be presented in a fun way? It's almost like we've been programmed to crave high-end rewards and to mindless go about doing whatever it takes to get them.

Originally posted by JustBe

I don't why mmorpgs even have levels because theres other types of advancement in character development than levels. SWG had a system where you just unlocked new abilities and items made your stats better instead of levels, i remember doing all the content back then, however with levels once you're past the level cap the rest of the world is useless. UO had a system where the more you did something the better you get at it which is kool too and I just don't get why we can't change our appearence once in game for most mmorpgs because you don't stay the same forever and maybe you want a makeover or a haircut.

What is the difference?The level is nothing more than a number,you are still unlocking new abilities just as you would in any other game.The level number is merely a spot in the game that lets you know when you are advancing ,just because it's called a level it is still the exact same advancement as any other game.

When you play a game or any game ,you still have points in the game that allow you knew abilities or spells,calling it a level or not doesn't matter ,they pretty much all equate to a certain time factor to achieve.Be it 3 days to advance to level 3 and your new abilities or be it 3 days and no level,but you get your knew abilities and spells it's still the same end result.

Using your UO as an example,i can compare to FFXI.FFXI has levels yet after you level yo uare not done.You may still have to raise your main weapon skill or maybe raise the skills of other weapons your class can use.You have abilities like parry/block and others that will and can be further raised.FFXI has a system where by end level you can focus your new XP from kills into other skills and abilities,of course they have some caps as you would break the whole design of a game if they allowed you to raise stats endlessly.

I do agree on your makeover,EQ2 sort of does that.You should age as a game progresses and since your going that route,i believe some skills should perhaps get weaker and some maybe rise.An example would be you get wiser[INT/WIS] with age but your strength and agility lowers.At a certain point age takes over completely and you start to lose stats in every area.