I've been gaming online since around 1998, first ever multiplayer game was Quake II. I really can't remember the smack talk being quite so frequent back then, but like the previous poster said, I think now that online gaming has become a lot more popular - less of a niche one of the unavoidable consequences is that you get a greater number of idiots online. Also like someone else has said this group always seem the larger because they tend to be the most vocal.

It can frustrate you at times when people get kills that you think are a result of hacking, I used to find it more annoying to be accused of it because it's something I've never even looked into. However in recent times I just laugh about it because I know somewhere out there in cyberspace some child is spitting out his dummy, shoving a remote up his a** and smashing up his keyboard because he hasn't matured enough yet to be able to accept defeat once in a while. Maybe it's also a sign of the times; otherwise I think it's just as a result of a larger percentage of the populace having easier access to online gaming.

Fallout 3, Bloodbowl and Left 4 dead 2, which is a good game if you can find some tidy, mature people to play it with, otherwise it's a waste of time.

Originally posted by Illius

I just work nowadays.  Haven't subscribed to an MMO for well over 6 months now and haven't tried any free trials for any either.  Instead of gaming I just get out of the house, read, go for a drive to places I wanted to go but never got around to.  Doesn't look like any future games will grab my attention much.

You're not alone.

Ditto.  I'll probably keep trying the odd trial here and there, and as usual will keep an eye on these boards but I can't see any releases on the horizon that maybe worth my while.  I've been thinking about getting a console... dirty thoughts...

Play a couple of free trials, read the reviews on the new AAA P2P games, hang on for more trials... decide nothing is worth playing in 2010, then come to the conclusion that i need to move on from computer games... but then see something promising for 2011 to pin my hopes on.  2010 - different year same sh*t

There was a BW called 'Gasmarkfive' which thought was pretty funny .

Originally posted by Vinterkrig

Originally posted by Chavas

I just hope I am not the only person that looks for a new MMO and wishes DAOC still had a population

 

i feel you man

i've gone b ack to daoc a few times and had fun in little bursts, but i've been there and done that in that game

i've played in 8 man gank squads in every realm, i've played stealther in every realm, battle bard solo killing tanks and stealthers.... etc..etc..

nothing left for me with that game, i love it... but its just ugh to me at this point

 

i don't think there will ever be anything as fun for me again, and i'm feeling more and more like my mmo days are about to be non-existant

Couldn't agree more, nothing has been as much fun really. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed MMO's since DAoC, just not in the same way, as such I'm coming to the conclusion that will always be the case.

Great article, pretty much sums up how i've been feeling about MMO's after i started playing the WoW beta.  Thanks.

I too have come back to PS recently and am having a blast, just a shame that my old toon was deleted and that the lone Euro server is dead, i don't mind playing on the US one it's just that a ping of 120-140 is a bit of a disadvantage especially when it comes to sniping and 1 on 1 battles.  I did read somewhere though that they were thinking about consolidating to a single server and that they were looking into the hardware side of things before making a decision, any idea if that's true?

Originally posted by Die_Scream

Originally posted by Benthon

WTF is that a head attempting to crawl out of his stomach?

 

Haha "Quaid... Quaid... start the reactor... free Mars" Awesome :D

1: DAoC - Most fun i've had in an MMO, played it more or less from the start until ToA came out but that kinda killed it for me and i left a few months after, have tried to go back twice but could never recapture the feeling i had for the game originally.  The way the PvP worked out in terms of both player combat, the RvR system and  the keep/realm layout was just great, felt you were part of the epic on going battle and that you could do your part to help out.

2:SWG (Pre-CU) - Amazing fun, so much to do and see and all that great customisation! played half my time as a BH the other half as various crafting professions, was a little disappointed with the PvP but the rest of the game was great until all the changes started to take place.  Hung around after CU but NGE was the last straw.

3:WWII Online - I'm a history buff and graduate, i've always been fascinated with this period of history and as a result it was only natural for me to pick this title up and play it.  Really do enjoy the game in bursts of 1-2 months then put it down for the same period and go back to it.  Sure the game has its fair share of problems but i think my love of the history and realism let me see past all this.  Currently not playing but will go back in a month or so.

4:LOTRO - The game world looks stunning, and feels authentic to me, really felt like what you'd read about in the book.  Played for a couple of months but eventually lost interest, just not enough innovation over previous titles, i consider PvP to be central to my gamin experience and I just didn't like the idea of monsterplay, my friends left and so did I not long after.

5:Planetside - The first battle i found myself in was a huge offensive which surged through a forest, swamp and then into an enemy facility.  It was an inch by inch battle, slowly pushing the enemy back, i took cover behind a cluster of boulders, looked to my left and saw tracer rounds, explosions and advancing infantry as far as the draw distance permitted, again to my left, tanks surged forward amid a hail of lead supported by ground attack air units.  This was an awesome game for the first month but sadly it just got too repetitive for me after this period, you get used to the battles, you know their outcomes and routines before they're over, could have been a great game if there was more depth.

Originally posted by Lonestryder

Perhaps because MMOs have become the mini-vans of the gaming genre and we are going through a mid-life crisis.

 

One could argue that MMOs are becoming games for people without time for games. Mini-vans, trophies for everyone, the age of entitlement...MMOs - where anything taking any amount of time is considered a "time sink" and anything requiring the slightest commitment is slapped with the dubious title of "tedious".

 

It was inevitable, really, this transformation. As technology advanced and the next generation of developers and designers took the reigns, gaps in previous mechanics that perhaps had the unintended result of fostering just the right ingredients to create a community, were dashed against the rocks of "progress". What we are left with is a shallow, empty experience, where everything is streamlined and there is truly no Character Building, in the truest sense of the word. Each subscriber is now considered a community of one. Who hasn't seen that post that has become almost cliche within any MMO gaming forum - "What is the best soloing class?"  Even more predictable is the sad answer of, "All the classes can solo". The ability to solo is not the problem, but it is symptomatic when people's new, single most important criterion for selecting a game or class is the ability to play and beat the game by oneself.

 

One would think, however, that someone would make that proverbial Corvette for those of us who eschew the 2.2 children-direction of current MMOs and are looking for a bit of excitement in the gaming equivalent of our middle age.

 

Continuing with this analogy, and to counter arguments that there aren't enough of us out there to be profitable, if there is one thing we do have, it is buying power. Make an MMO that IS NOT for everyone. Make it well and don't apologize to those who can't or won't play it. Make a premium game and charge a premium price for it.

 

$14.99 per month is obviously priced correctly for the target demographic. So I say target a different demographic and build a game with a clear scope and direction. Challenge others to play it, if they can. Just like we eventually leave those campy board games behind, perhaps we will also leave behind MMOs for something else that takes its rightly place with the discriminating gamer.

 

Great post, I almost completely agree with your sentiments.  It's been good to read this thread, as many of you have stated, lately you come here to look for sensible debate or information on new games, ideas etc.. However mostly all you see is the same few topics being recycled, debating the fate of XYZ game which is yet to be released and these almost always devolve into insults and pedantic attacks on each other.  Thanks for providing a much more interesting read with this thread, let sensible analytical debate prevail i say!

Originally posted by Vochre

I'm running Windows 7 64 bit and I'll never go back :)

Love it, gaming is better on it, stability is awesome. Funny how Windows 7 is the beta and it seems more like Vista was the beta for 7.

Only caveat, this recent beta will stop working Aug 1st. I'm sure there will be ways around by then, but it is something to think about.
 

/agree

Mainly because it felt like it was in the early stages of beta when it was released, there were too many bugs and glitches for my liking, there was little content towards the later levels and end game just didn't seem worth reaching.  Lastly i never felt like i enjoyed the game, i was sitting there just leveling for the sake of it, there was nothing new or exciting about the game for me, it just felt like i was playing something i'd played a few times previously.

It was a dungeon which had entrances in each of the three realms (alb, mid, hib) you would only be able to enter the dungeon if your realm controlled the majority of  the RvR keeps at the present time.  If you were in the depths of the dungeon and an enemy realm gained control of it then you were still allowed to stay in it but you or your realm mates could not re-enter and you'd also have half of the capturing realm flooding through it to clear you out, good fun

Originally posted by Lobotomist

WOW: Think hack and slash. Even console gaming. Super Mario meets Diablo , bling bling with swords. Bright colors and supercute.

lol i like it.  Can just picture Yoshi and the Princess Dungeon farming in their karts

Not really a first, it's just how GOA work, there were no official DAoC forums either.

From what i've heard and read most players tend to use these forums instead...

http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/

Originally posted by Consensus

would't the third need to be an allaince of 3 races/teams? not sure that is very feasible with whats left of the lore.

they will probably just add say woodelves to order etc. in expansions. 3 factions would mean redesigning the game I would imagine, its too late.

I just feel like 2 factions lead to most of war's shortcomings, basically just the whole catering for wow players in general.

Like the OP said, I can't see a way for them to add a third faction in the future without having a huge population imbalance as a result (i.e. most players would flock to the new faction to try out the new content, or alternatively nobody would play the new faction as they wouldn't want to leave their existing high level toons).  They would also have to do some major redesign to cater for a third factions starting zones, quests, Keeps and city.  I'm not saying it's impossible, just that it would seem infeasible.

Three factions would, imo definitely have benefited WAR, like someone has already mentioned it would have lessened the effect of the current population imbalance. and made the RvR much more varied and exciting.

Nice, looking forward to 1.1

There is no specific reference to WAR in the link you posted, it seems to site a number of other releases as posting disappointing sales..

"Analysts said that some of EA's titles, such as Dead Space and Left 4 Dead, had been selling well, but that others, such as Need for Speed Undercover, Mirror's Edge and the latest instalment in the Rock Band franchise, had been disappointing."

I don't think they'd drop WAR, not if it's subscription base remains in the hundreds of thousands, or possibly if it even dips as low as the tens of thousands? I'm not sure, but I believe that it won't die a death for a year or so at the minimum.

As an IB with around 8K hp it is annoying sometimes when it all vanishes in about 2-3seconds, but this is normally, as others have stated when I am focused upon by three or more enemies.  When i'm ignored and receive the occasional heal I can pretty much go the whole SC without dying.

It does seem that the WE/WH & BW/Sorc have alot of fun in RvR, i witnessed a WE chain kill 4 of my party in SP the other day, whereas i can only really kill Sorc/SH's unless I'm part of a DPS train.  But hey, I'm a meatshield i knew that before i rolled an IB and  i know it now, my job is just to guard the cloth wearers and take DPS, not give it.

I would venture to say that there are some balancing issues which need to be resolved, a few abilities need to be toned down or increased here and there, but i don't think any class is God mode at the moment, well maybe DoK's but only when their played well