I did (and prob will for a little more) play WOW longterm (2-3 year?) but there is no apriori reason why i should play any MMO longterm.

MMOs are games .. if they are fun .. i will play. In fact, after MOP, i probably will move to F2P MMOs and hop around.

The OLD games? I got disgusted with UO during beta. EQ got too grindy (horrible camping) in a year. WOW is the only one that holds my attention for more than 1 year.

Is the game fun? 

Do I have friends that play it?

Am I able to find an active/mature guild of like-minded individuals and avoid 'trade-chat-trash'?

How well are classes balanced for PvP?

How engaging is the PvE? 

Is it a 'grindfest'?

Am I able to create a 'unique' character (character creation, development, appearance, etc.,..)

What genre is the game?

Does the game have a healthy population?

If I want to do something in game (dungeon/pvp/raid/etc.,..) how long do I have to wait in a queue?

How dedicated and accessible is the Dev Team and how well do they communicate to their customers?

Player housing?

Fun/engaging/rewarding crafting system?

... lots of stuff, tbh.

There are three major factors for me:

An in-game group of friends that I get along with who share similar game priorities and level of (or lack of) commitment as my own.

The feeling of having a personal investment in my characters.  This starts with name and appearance options but includes things like "class theme" and abilities, and the types of rewards and accomplishments I'm able to accumulate on the character.  You could have the most awesome game world ever, but if I don't feel a connection to my character, I'm not going to play for very long.

Amount and diversity of content.  I've found that I often stop playing games, not just MMOs, when I feel I have seen "everything" of consequence.  If the future is a repetition of what I've already experienced, I begin to feel that I no longer need to continue.  How does the amount of content (including content being added) compare to how fast I consume that content?   Is the ocntent I have yet to experience different enough from the content I have experienced to keep me working toward experiencing it (includes visuals, atmosphere, types of enemies, and level of challenge of skill and ability)?

Originally posted by Thunder073

SLOW (EQ) leveling curve. Sick of playing games, hitting max level in a week and waiting for new content. I want to feel like I'm always advancing my character. Whether it be leveling up with AA's (or some sort of max cap progression) crafting, earning positive factional reputation to go to KoS areas.

 

LESSSSS quests! omg so sick of 50 quests per level. I just want to group up and kill normal mobs. FORCE us to group, tired of solo playing a character to max level in a week. Mobs need to be much stronger, no charcter should be able to solo... its a MMO for christ sake, make us group. This solves the community problems as well. No one wants to group up with pricks. This will force players to play nice together so they get invited back to exp grind groups.

/sigh... I miss old school EQ 1 so bad

 

btw, i now realize i hate children playing games as well, no more f2p bs. Make them 18+ CC manditory. I cant throw money at a game fast enough for this to happen. Devs are targetting the wrong demographic...

 

fml, i have had nothing to play since EQ and DAoC. "Maybe next year" is getting annoying.

First off i agree with you 100% on grouping and the community, I also miss EQ because of that. I'm not liking this F2P bull Sh*t. SoE F2P so stupid. you can't even breath with out them asking me to be a gold membership or  buy a jar of air. 

What keeps me in an MMO is how  massive the world is. kinda like EQ.If i can see it i want to beable to walk/run/ride my mount there. This is before they added PoK portal books. i liked how people would sit at east common land to sell/buy and ask for a port by a druid or wizard because its so darn far to just run there. That to made EQ so life like. I think thats the reason why i played EQ for 4 or 5 years before SoE went crazy with the expansion packs.

I made more friends on EQ then i have ever made on any other MMO because of the grouping . some of them still hang out with me on other MMOs just to hang out. I like MMoRPG becaue its suppost to be massive with multi players. I don't want a massive single role playing game ( MSoRPG ). 

Originally posted by maplestone
I'm living a life of denial and escape.  I'd like to believe that MMOs are healthier than alcohol.

Have your doctor evaluate your weight and bp.

If you make it past those hurdles, talk to the spine specialist about what all those hours seated is doing to your back.

1) Longterm goals related to character development

I like the possibility to obtain better gear after level cap. I am not so much keen on the way WoW does it. It became too grindy and the fact that the gear gets reset every now and then also does not make it any better for me. As I said, I like longterm goals.

You mentioned Lineage II. I really like the way gear progression was handled back then (Chronicle 1, 2). It was really difficult and time consuming to obtain the best in slot gear. I would say that for regular people with a job, it was nearly impossible. There was still something to look forward to. However, I did not like the way towards the gear. It was a terrible grind. You said you liked it and I accept that. I also used to have fun grinding mobs, but I believe that the way towards the goals in an MMO can be more interesting than that.

The progression does not necessarily have to be only about gear. Gaining skills, crafting, stats, perks, talents, whatever it may be which makes your character stronger in a longterm makes MMORPG more attractive for me.

2) Friends + Guild

I believe that it is one of the main reasons why I am still playing WoW. There is my old guild consisting of people I have been playing with for many years now whom I met in the game back then.

3) Fun factor

To a large extent influenced by the previous two points, but really...if the game had the best longterm goals and there would be bunch of my real life friends playing it, but the gameplay would be boring, I probably would quit it anyway.

4) Lore

In vast majority of games, I really do not care about the lore. However, there are games in which the lore simply is important for me. In WoW, it has always been a significant aspect, for me (up till the death of Arthas). I used to play Warcraft 3 back then and I really liked the lore. The campaign was absolutely fantastic. Suddenly, they released WoW which allowed me to enter the huge world and be part of the lore. It was really cool.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

I did (and prob will for a little more) play WOW longterm (2-3 year?) but there is no apriori reason why i should play any MMO longterm.

MMOs are games .. if they are fun .. i will play. In fact, after MOP, i probably will move to F2P MMOs and hop around.

The OLD games? I got disgusted with UO during beta. EQ got too grindy (horrible camping) in a year. WOW is the only one that holds my attention for more than 1 year.

Why? thats the theme of the thread.

Originally posted by VirusDancer

Playing other games.  What?  Yes, what keeps me playing a MMORPG for an extended period of time is to play other games.  I used to run around four games a year - not concurrently - no, rather one at a time.  Though, at times, I might have two subs running as I switched games during the month.

Might be a case of playing Game X for 2-3 months, then Game Y for a month, then Game X again for a couple of months, then Game Y for 2-3 months, then maybe Game Y or Game X... heck, might even play one for 4-6 months before switching.  But it's the switching that keeps me playing...

So as the years passed, I was still playing a group of games over the long term.  It wasn't a case of hopping from Game A to Game B to Game C to Game D to Game E to Game F to Game G.... it was playing a group of games over the long term.

yep thats my approach,but mine is more accidental than deliberate..sometimes i guess i just need a break for certain games.like lotro for instance..aint played it for about 3 months but i know when ex pack comes i'll be there immediately.

Originally posted by Jemcrystal
If I don't stop long enough to think, "Why am I doing this," I'm most likely to keep going.  Seriously, no joke.

lol   the first step is admiting you have a problem

There are a few things (only #1 is in particular order):

#1. Friends. I require rl friends to play along with and hopefully enjoyable guld mates. Any game that is solo or forces me to solo all the time (even though I tend to do it a lot) I get bored of playing. I do not play any single players games or consoles. The social aspect of gaming keeps me playing. Console and single player games are for youth or frankly people with no lives. The real world is vastly more interesting than sitting at a screen playing against a computer. I'd rather read a book.

2. Vast world and non-linear leveling. I require a huge world with interesting sites. Most modern mmo's are WAY too small. Any game that has only one leveling path is typically abandoned by me withing a couple months. A vast world also mean no hand holding. I simply cannot stand super accurate and detailed maps showing me where everything in the game is, where the mobs are and every quest point. Some of these so called fantasy games have better maps than todays high tech GPS devices. Games that are good with this are Wow and Lotro and usually more sandbox style games.

3. Complex character development with lots of customization. Frankly I am tired of trees but have put up with them. I love lateral progression or many things to progress. This may appear as a grind to many but anything that makes my character more powerful that is within my power is fun for me. This also has to be outside of gear progression alone. I hate gear progression. I like getting new gear but if it is the ONLY method to increase my characters power and resides within it's own mini-game I start to lose interest. An example of a game that keeps me interested despite it's age is Lotro. Your character gains power from: traditional and class specific gear upgrades through dungeons, world, quest and crafting, virtues, traits, legendary item construction and advancement and hell maybe others I am not thinking of. At any given moment there is always something you can do to increase your characters potential. Most games you simply level, train and *POOF* your power is flat again for another level as there is nothing to do other than perhaps finding a better gear piece. Frankly I miss the random stats gear from AC. I loved the ability to go out and adventure in difficult zones/dungeons of your own choice to find gear. The gear you find may not even be the stats or type you want yet still useful through modification with crafting. Modern mmo's are about heading to only one dungeon or grinding one rep/tokens to get only one BIS item that you cannot modify and force your to be a clone of everyone else with your build/class.

4. Epic lore. I need to feel the story is greater than everything else in the game. The setting needs to pull me in. The latest failing of this has been GW2. I feel absolutely nothing once logging in. The game wants me to do nothing but go kill and the story element is the worst I have seen in years. Various older mmo's have had starter areas I would repeat over and over again simply because how fun they were. Carrying this further into the game is the challenge but some manage to do it. As I am playing Lotro mostly atm I will mention that as an example. There are always reminders everywhere you go that the world and story that is going on is far more important than you. So many other mmo's seem only to be a play ground for you character to advance in with little interested in pulling you into a complex web of story and immersion.

Ultimately there is no perfect mmo for me atm. It requires a world like Dereth of Telon that is open without zones and only very loosely defined zones of difficulty. I love venturing into areas where you really are not sure if you can take on the mobs there. One element long destroyed by modern mmo's is the ability to take on mobs far above your level range. In AC you could take on a level 150 with your level 50 is properly prepared. I uninstall a mmo shortly after finding out a mob 2 levels above you is high impossible (ie. Allods Online).

Originally posted by coretex666

1) Longterm goals related to character development

I like the possibility to obtain better gear after level cap. I am not so much keen on the way WoW does it. It became too grindy and the fact that the gear gets reset every now and then also does not make it any better for me. As I said, I like longterm goals.

You mentioned Lineage II. I really like the way gear progression was handled back then (Chronicle 1, 2). It was really difficult and time consuming to obtain the best in slot gear. I would say that for regular people with a job, it was nearly impossible. There was still something to look forward to. However, I did not like the way towards the gear. It was a terrible grind. You said you liked it and I accept that. I also used to have fun grinding mobs, but I believe that the way towards the goals in an MMO can be more interesting than that.

The progression does not necessarily have to be only about gear. Gaining skills, crafting, stats, perks, talents, whatever it may be which makes your character stronger in a longterm makes MMORPG more attractive for me.

2) Friends + Guild

I believe that it is one of the main reasons why I am still playing WoW. There is my old guild consisting of people I have been playing with for many years now whom I met in the game back then.

3) Fun factor

To a large extent influenced by the previous two points, but really...if the game had the best longterm goals and there would be bunch of my real life friends playing it, but the gameplay would be boring, I probably would quit it anyway.

4) Lore

In vast majority of games, I really do not care about the lore. However, there are games in which the lore simply is important for me. In WoW, it has always been a significant aspect, for me (up till the death of Arthas). I used to play Warcraft 3 back then and I really liked the lore. The campaign was absolutely fantastic. Suddenly, they released WoW which allowed me to enter the huge world and be part of the lore. It was really cool.

I do agree that modern MMO's need to have more goals that are interesting and diverse but for longevity its going to be very hard to stop grind or should I say repetiton getting in there somewhere. Companies do not have the resources to bang out top quality content, innovation and variety to stave the onset of repetition IMO.

Working towards gear/skills that will make me better in PvP

Dynamic player generated content

Usually for me tis character progression.. when that stops i usually find myself getting bored of the game.. Tho saying that if the game has good PVP the means somthing.. i.e. open world PVP with player created forts and so on then it usually keeps me around a lot longer :)