I used to give open betas the benefit of the doubt when it came to bugs and crappy gameplay. Now I don't. I feel like Murphy - if you have a live cash shop then you have a live game. No more excuses.

Good column!

Originally posted by Yaevindusk

 

I hate gearscore and DPS meters with an insane and fiery passion.  While I main healers and tanks, it has always annoyed me how things have changed in WoW for (my opinion) the worse with the increasing popularity of these addons.  Granted, it's the playerbase and how they use them, and not that the actual systems themselves are bad (and if used in a positive fashion, can probably help raid leaders).

 

People as a whole no longer take classes for mechanics or skills or for people who employ utility appropriately, but rather for their maximized DPS and those player's who want to stroke their egos.  Encounters are then just made into "avoid this, do this for max damage" as opposed to people having specific jobs to do and accomplish.  Tank's aggro was increased a thousand fold because DPS don't want to hold back and lose the damage wars, utilities that could help the entire raid and increase over all team DPS are tossed aside in lieu of personal DPS for bragging rights, and in general any interesting mechanics that are released for classes are also ignored for speed kills and the before mentioned (it also doesn't help if a game institutes a rage timer, as this also contributes to the above).

 

It wouldn't be out of the league of possibilities that such things have devolved World of Warcraft into what it is today.  When such things did not exist (or hold such prominence) we had the golden years of WoW.  But now everything is crafted to a fine point, and raids are made with these systems in mind as opposed to plain old utility and group tactics.

 

In organized groups whereby only leaders use these systems (or are allowed to post them), people can just focus on doing their job and playing support if it helps the group more than just pure DPS.  But the whole pug system is ruined by the implementation of these things as that's all pugs (which, sadly 95% of the people play with) basically are within the game.  If the game has a dungeon finder of some sort, it may be more beneficial as a whole (or the majority) just to leave out such things, and just allow individual inspections.  It's best for an organized group not to skip processes of selection, anyhow, and extra questions could be asked to ensure they're quality players than rather an inflated score whereby they could wear gear for another spec while you check their score.  Organized groups will likely have the same people anyway once the hassle of getting a group together is finished, and one could just as simply say "we require x amount of epics" as opposed to saying "we require x gear score".  People will try to pass through anyway, so it's always good to check their gear to make sure they won't play the whole "switcharoo" on you.

 

Though this is just if you are thinking of the overall health of the game and not just the convenience of the less than .10% (the recruiters) who will be working hard finding members anyway.  

Fantastic response!!! 110% agree.

Originally posted by Fusion
Answer to OP's question: World of Warcraft. Pre-WoW (when MMORPG's were a niche) most if not all gamers joined MMORPG's because of the community as much as the gaming aspect or even mostly because of the community aspect.

I was waiting for that answer.  Although I believe that WOW was a contributing factor it is only due to WOW bringing more people into the hobby.  WOW was not a bad place on chat. Back, prior to the end of WOTLK chat was full of jokes and people actually helping people. Personal attacks were rare and in general the environment was civil. Near the end of WOTLK things started changing.  I went back to wow for a bit with Cata and Mop and the social environment completely changed. Personal attacks, flaming, provocative comments filled chat. I played about a month on each and then dropped. I speak from a pve/alliance perspective mainly (except I leveled three horde to 60).

The whole "why are mmo's not civil anymore" question is just a comment on society - throughout the world. The more people there are the more rectums there are both in games and in life.

As a care bear I have learned to be anti-social. I just keep my mouth shut, play solo and try to be polite even with ninja looters. Most importantly - I play on a pve server. 

Originally posted by Leiloni

Originally posted by sunshadow21
All games die, and people need to accept that, but at the same time, that doesn't mean that the deaths should be treated as insignificant. For the people who invested their time and effort into them, either as player or developer, it is something that deserves a bit more than "Get over it." Most folks can and will eventually find a replacement if they really want to, but trying to disregard the disappointment of losing the first one and expecting that process to start and end immediately is both unrealistic and unfair.

You are far too emotionally invested in games and seem to take them a bit too seriously. Yea it's normal to be disappointed if a game is shut down, just like you're disappointed when you're favorite TV show is cancelled. But that's it. It was enjoyable while it lasted and there will be other things to enjoy in the future. It's just a form of entertainment for you. Any friends you made you can keep in touch with. Those that worked in it will find new jobs. There are more important things in life to worry about. Games are not one of them.

 

Things in life change and maybe it's just me, but I'm used to it. You go to different schools as you grow up. You have different jobs as an adult. Friends come and go for various reasons. You have different homes you live in. Life is ever-changing. The key to happiness is learning to roll with it. Appreciate the past, look forward to the future, and live in the present. And I can't say this enough, but it's just a damn game.

 

You do not realize that, for some people, the virtual world is what keeps them sane. After a day of work at customer support I log in and start killing monsters. After a while my anger subsides and I can be the nice guy again. Do I have issues? Most likely! You would too if you were short, fat, ugly and stupid. Well maybe not. It does not really matter. I have found a way to rise above my short-comings in a way that is detrimental only to the monsters of virtual games. LOL. You hear so much about how BAD video games but, for me, they changed my life for the better.

My response to this article is mixed. I did not realize how much I enjoyed WOW until shortly after Cata. I felt that the WOW that I bonded with had just been twisted and warped and quit the game. It was a traumatic experience that affected my "real" life. I realized then that I had gone too far. Yes, I still play, and even went back to WOW for a few weeks before MOP, but never with the enthusiasm of that first 6 year run. Many times I thought it would have been better if WOW had died, then I remember playing with my druid and thought not.

I have been scarred. As much as I wanted to make SWTOR the next WOW it did not happen. Rift and GW2 went the same way - great games but not where I wanted to make my home. That is the rub. To me WOW was like a second home. Just like a lost home I still miss it but like time, you cannot go back.

Would I pre-order to get a beta key? Yes.

I am one of those who pre-ordered the SWTOR deluxe edition (statue and all) when it was first announced. 

Originally posted by Vigg

Hey guys, I'm a veteran gamer looking for a home.  Just finished playing WoW again, looking for something new.  I'm mostly looking for:

 

1)  sub based

2)  no "twitchy" combat

3)  no having to move while pressing combat buttons

4)  PvE

5)  long-term appeal

 

Any suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks!

Do what this old fart did - Rift. You might have trouble with the Storm Legion content unless you grind a lot (I could not continue past 50) but that is after you hit level 50. I went back to SWTOR and am enjoying it. Wildstar is what I am hoping will be my "lasting" mmo but it has at least another year before it is ready.

Loved the poster who suggested Eve.  Although it is a great game it is NOT pve. Old farts don't like to live in fear of getting ganked all the time. Nice game to visit but not to stay.

Originally posted by birdycephon
I'm so happy that players are actually dying to mobs, though I'd like to see the numbers a bit higher. I'm so tired of games that people just breeze through.

 

Please go play something like Darkfall. No, I don't want to breeze through games but making a game to difficult for everyone over 15 is a recipe for a game to be small time. From what I have seen of the videos Wildstar is doing a pretty good job of making things challenging.

I love this company. Please read the complete Wildstar link - it is hilarious at times. My favorite is the player who found out that a taxi driver would give him money and then rode around for 4 (four!!!) hours making money. You have to give Carbine credit - they did not ban him but let him keep a few copper "for making them laugh". 

Looking forward to this game more each day!

"I’ve seen complaints from a number of people that the pacing of the expansion content may be off a bit on the experience side of things."  Ain't this the truth. I stopped playing SWTOR shortly after I hit 50 and then came back for the expansion.  The initial weapon I received was literally twice as good as what I had. It did not make a difference - I get wiped in the second mission three times. I would love to continue but not sure if I will. Fresh, level 50, solo players are at a REAL handicap.

Rift did the same thing to me with their last expansion.

The good news about SWTOR is that I am having fun playing my lower level alts and decided to re-sub because of this.

I too like Carbine's attitude. I am amused by the "this is too much like WOW for me". After this episode my opinion of Carbine is  almost to the level of Blizzard just before WOW was released - top notch. Carbine is going to build a super game. From what I understand there are several former WOW developers on Carbine's staff. Maybe that is where the "classy" went :)

The notes were the meat for me. You can see that they realize that there is a lot of stuff that they have to put in the game just to "keep up with the Jones". Again, just like Blizzard and WOW, Carbine realizes that they don't have to re-invent the wheel, just make it better.  REALLY looking forward to this game.

Originally posted by Zapzap
The odds of anyone getting an invite in the 1st wave are so slim.  All the diehards who went to Arkshp should come 1st, plus all the people from Pax and the Curseafter party, all the testers that have worked with these devs before in previous games, then all the good people at Wildstar central that have been living and dying with the game since 2009 are likely next, the faniste people, and then all the people that put in beta apps in 2011 when they 1st came up.  In other words there is a long line of deserving people.  I have been a fan for 4+ years and I know I am not anywhere near as deserving as the diehards that have been active fantical fans for 4+ years.  In other words its going to be a long shot for many of us to get an invite.

/this!  Still one can always hope :)

Originally posted by Jakdstripper

EvE is the ONLY full loot sandbox mmo that has actually managed to grow in numbers year after year, instead of crash and burn like 98% of all others.

now you sit here and try to explain how their core system "doesn't work"? You, my friend are one presumptuous dim witted fool.  

 

the high sec/low sec system is by far the best sytem every implemented in any full loot game as EvE subscriber's numbers clearly show. there is simply no better system which allowes pve and pvp to co exists AND interact on the same server so smoothly and with so much balance and fairness. please just go slap yourself in front of a mirror for a few hours. 

 

Dayz is capped at 50 players per server and you will NEVER have 100+ people with Battle Cruisers camping a nube station just for shit and giggles. Not to mention that anything you lose in Dayz you can find again in a few hours if you know where to look. Worst comparison ever.

I have heard this before "Eve is the only ... mmo to .. grow in numbers".  I remember playing 3 years ago and seeing pretty much the same numbers that I see every night in Eve today. Maybe Eve is growing but not by much. I  believe that any major growth is due to old subs creating multiple accounts. I find it interesting that CCP does not identify the number of UNIQUE accounts. If they do - please post the link.

Get rid of High Sec?  I cannot find the link but 3 years ago when I first joined I read that CCP had determined that almost half of the Eve population stayed in High Sec space. Yup, I am one of them. I stay in 0.5 space and above. Eliminate High Sec and a good proportion of the Eve population will quit. I will. Eve is a great game but I do not like getting ganked.

Actually, getting rid of High Sec IS a good idea as it will kill Eve for new players and eventually kill the current incarnation of the game. With almost no new blood and long term subs using plex to pay for their subs CCP will be in a world of hurt. Maybe then they will do the thing that will not only save Eve and could double their subs - create a pve server. Let the hard-core keep their pvp server but let everyone else enjoy blessed relief from the rabid.

Of course it is not going to happen (removing High Sec or a pve server). 

Too much hype has hurt more of the recent games than helped them  (examples:  SWTOR and GW2). I am really looking forward to Wildstar but I would rather Carbine tone down the rhetoric. Yes there are differences between Wildstar and other MMOs but it is not the "Second Coming" or the "One that everyone is waiting for".  For me it looks a lot like WOW with some GW2 combat thrown in and that is fine with me. A lot of posters on this site (and others) disagree. 

Let me be stronger - too much hype will kill the chances for Wildstar to be as big as it could be.

Going beyond what an earlier poster said - there is no such thing as a true free-to-play mmo. Every one of those games is pay to win. Sure many, if not most of them, do not let you buy better weapons and armor but they offer instead othere goodies such xp packages. Faster xp means you level faster - thus paying to be better - paying to win. Of course there is so much more involved (player skill, time in game, etc.) but the bottom line is that you can spend money and get ahead of those that do not.

I know of no game that offers ONLY cosmetic items. Contrary to what the posters on this site avow - most players won't buy something unless it gives them some sort of advantage. And it works. True p2w works even better (in the sense that people will spend more money). 

I loath f2p. Yet, here I am, back in SWTOR, and what did I do? I re-subbed so that  I could get all the goodies and the faster xp. That is what I hate about f2p - it is so seductive - like the Dark Side :) 

TBH, I do not know. Although I have played nearly every AAA MMO since 2003 I have only stayed with WOW for more than a year (7 years and quit with MOP). Probably the reason is that I don't stick around for more than 3 months on any MMO is because am a solo player.  The only MMO that I have seen that had a decent endgame for the solo player was RIFT. You could continue to grind and your stats would slowly get better. 

I do not like pvp but I remember spending 2 hours a day and 12 hours on weekends playing Alterace Valley in the Burning Crusade over and over and over. Yes it was gear and rep grind but I loved being in a group and being able to heal. The architecture of the battleground meant that you could not really zerg. No other battleground (WOW or any other game) has come close. Now that MMOs are trying to eliminate pvp healers I don't see anything like that happening again.