WTF my post was made in paragraphs and got all jammed together. Not col, MMORPG.com

In my opinion, best Diablo by far.

That being said, I don't really get why there's been so many server problems. I mean, it's not like this is Blizzard's first online party. Single 2-handed weapon melee weapon?  At least before the harder levels, if you want to max DPS you'll want to dual wield. You need a single 2-H that is at least 15% higher in damage than the 1-H weapons, and I've yet to see one come along. I just started "Nightmare" level on my Hardcore Barbarian so I don't know after normal levels, I hope it's better.

A lot of people think loot is broken. I'm not sure it's as broke as some people think, or that they just want killer loot easy. Generally, I think both are true.

My first character was a Barbarian, and it was a blast to play. I've leveled up all the classes to at least 10 in Hardcore (Hardoce means "permadeath"; your dead, the end, roll another character), and so far the Witch Doctor is my favorite other than Barbarian. It's actually taking me experimenting to work out how best to play, which for a veteran MMOG gamer means quite a bit. Let's just say throwing jars of spiders isn't like any other class I've played, ever.

The Auction House - I'm not sure they could have made it less intuitive. In my opinion,it's just bad.

My biggest complaint is probably that we are forced to play online. With so many other games where co-op is possible you can play offline and enjoy the game fully by yourself with no limitations, and I just don't understand why Blizzard made the choice to force people to play online. Very. Bad. Move.

;)

No. No MMOG should have a permanent F2P player base. Give people early-level preview play, but don't keep players who aren't willing to pay for the game and don't recognize the fact that F2P games aren't free.

That being said, give the subscription players what they are paying for; rich content updated on a monthly basis. Don't give them easy-mode slop, and make Xpaks huge updates on the game engine to keep up with modern hardware and other capabilites, as well as major content updates.

Turn the orginal devs into Director devs in charge of teams that can accomplish these tasks properly.

;)

Originally posted by Elikal

I was in beta, and early on I wanted to buy this. But later on they raised the difficulty so the mobs make their special attacks way more often, and it just wasn't relaxing anymore, and too much of a hassle with constant blocking, circling and dodging. It was ok at first, but just too uncool later with the raised speed of combat. *shrug*

 

That actually sounds good to me.

I don't play a game to "relax" like I'm sitting back drinking a beer and watching TV, I play a game to be involved and challenged. "Relaxed" gaming is boring gaming - for me, it isn't even gaming.

;)

Cautious optimism here.

Bethesda is going to have to do some serious out-of-the-box work to keep this from being just another MMOG formula game, which is what is making the industry so dull these days (in my opinion).

If it does follow the WoW formula, it will be a terrible game, it will lose all that makes Elder Scrolls and Skyrim what they are. If I'm going to play WoW formula, no thanks, but I'll just stick to WoW.

;)

Ebert backed off from his statement about video games, I think it's rather narrow-minded to keep attrributing narrow-mindedness to him regarding this kind of art.

How many of you can really appreciate a Picasso, or some of the classic literature, such as The Brothers Karamazov?

;)

I really like the idea of doing a review of an MMOG over time (especially if it actually deserves to be called  "MMO"RP"G). They aren't, or shouldn't be, simplistic experiences easily discribed in a paragraph or two (not that most MMORPG editors give us something that basic).

Nice going! Thanks!

;)

Originally posted by JeroKane

Completely unaceptable that they waited one and half year to come out with it!

Even more retarded (and this pretty much shows the kind of incompetent company Cryptic really is) if it really took them one and half year to discover they had been hacked. Which would mean that hackers have been able to use this backdoor for a whole one and half year!!

/FACEPALM

 

Frankly, I don't put much stock in the opinion of bigots.

If you want to be heard by an intelligent person have the decency to not use "retarded" as a pejorative. There are millions of people labeled retarded by the medical and educational fields that don't deserve your disdain. There is no shame in having a biological impairment.

However, there is shame in willful ignorance and stupidity; in denying the facts, refusing to learn, and demonstrating strong emotional opinions about things you know little about. I suggest if denigration is appropriate here, then you are a suitable candidate.

One of the things that I think is rather odd is people thinking that a game with a million and a quarter paying subscriptions is somehow failing. That's not failing folks, that's making goood money.

Sure, it's not making as much money as World of Warcraft, but clearly no one has made a game that matches WoW's appeal to date (in the West), so basing your concept of success on what so far is more a fluke than a reasonable measuring stick makes no sense.

;)

Originally posted by mmoDAD

This game will continue to lose subscriptions. It's not worth subscribing to. It's a great single player PC game with a nice co'op. However, calling it a MMORPG is simply wrong.

This game has no player-generated content, no social realm, and absolutely no sustain.

If this game wasn't a Star Wars title, it would've already converted over to FTP.

 

 

Just because it may not fit your defintion of an MMORPG doesn't mean it's not. Can you have thousands of players on a server at the same time, that can interact with each other? Does it have ropleplaying elements?

;)

Originally posted by k-damage

Post GW2, the only next real big thing I can see is Titan. Be it a good or bad game, it will for sure be a damn big thing.

I read that some dev said Titan will be an "MMOFPS", not so much an "MMORPG".

I think that's a very good thing, for 2 reasons; I think that's much more what most people playing MMOGs these days want, and the WoW devs - which are the largest part of the Titan team - have no clue what "RP" is about, so it's better they don't even pretend to.

What worries me is that the game will be so much influenced by WoW developers. I consider them a bunch of talented guys, but I don't consider them to be so talented or inventive that I want the next game I spend more than a month playing to have any of that WoW flavor. I want a different game - different play, different story, different philosophy even.

;)

Originally posted by Rohn

It shouldn't be his choice.  CCP needs to relieve him of that position immediately, and ban him permanently for the harrassment that violates their own TOS.

The fact that they have done nothing so far speaks volumes about CCP.

But, as of now, he has not resigned.

 

I disagree. The apology is enough.

One mistake doesn't define a person, and I don't know about you, but I've made a few in my life.

I say that because it is clearly sincere, unlike the "apologies" of so many public figures doing it because it put them in a bad light in the public's eyes, not because the person truly regrets what was said.

Gianturco's resignation - or "firing" - would be an over-reaction, not a reasonable decision.

You've very likely heard about the new bill introduced into Congress regarding a video game warning label, stating that there is research to prove that violent video games tend to make people more violent. According to every court in the land, no, no it's not true (or at least all the research that has been done so far claiming it has been shown is too flawed for a judge to accept).

https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8548

EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is a great organizatiion to stay in touch with how the government and business curtail our rights (or at least propose to). Check them out at their main site:

https://www.eff.org/

Sites like this one make it easy to shoe-horn into your busy day a well thought out response to our government representatives by providing a format to tell yours where you stand on an issue. I suggest adding your voice to the violence label issue, and any other you deem appropriate.

;)

You can stop every person making the "Multiplayer means you have to play in groups" statement in his tracks by saying "Well, I guess that means you are really into roleplaying too, right? I mean it says right there in the label, "Massively Multiplayer RolePlaying Game".

;)

I guess I haven't forgiven FunCom for screwing us over from the beginning with Age of Conan.

"Cimmeria" was supposed to be a Roleplaying server, but they forgot to label it as such, and then didn't do a dang thing about the GoofballzRS names or lack of RP from the player base on that server. In my view, AoC needed 3 things to work right: A game that supported the vision of Robert E. Howard, a well maintained RP server, and a PvP player base that wasn't into ganking low level characters ad infinitum. A player base that wanted to use PvP to enhance RP, not destroy it.

Then, FunCom added equipment you could buy for real money that effected your stats. Then, they put F2P players on P2P servers.

I have no hope for "The Secret World" because it's a Funcom game. I don't even care whether or not that's "fair". Certainly, Age of Conan is more than just the things I mentioned, and they got some things very right, including instances that would scale down to a single player and some of the most fun melee combat around, but the rest leaves such a bad taste in my mouth I just can't deal with AoC. Or FunCom.

Requiring the accused to prove he is innocent is a direct violation of the Constitution of the U.S.A. It is more than a violation, it is throwing it away entirely.

Every American should be up in arms about this. What it means is that all I have to do to make YOU a criminal is to say you broke the law. You ARE a criminal, until you prove you aren't.

If you think our legal system is bad and too full of people suing people now, imagine what it would be like if this was the type of system we lived by.

I enourage everyone to check out EFF's (Electronic Frontier Foundation) website, and join them (or some similar organization) in fighting ridiculous and stupid laws designed to take YOUR rights away.

https://www.eff.org/

Well said, and thanks. I especially like the part about "Man up, Devs."

It would be nice if MMOGs came with a clear mission statement to the players, telling us what kind of game it is, what the devs intend, and what it won't be, and having enough vision and heart to stick to it.

;)

One of the things - possibly the main thing - that taking a break does for me is get me out of the "habit" and "compulsive" modes I may have developed when playing a game over a long period of time. Those feelings have nothing to do with fun; they are just my brain telling me I should follow the pattern I've set for myself, at best. At worst, they are a mask for whatever I'm avoiding in my life.

I think sitting in front of a computer longing to play a game is a sign of that (following a pattern that has become a compulsion). At least, it's something to think about. Listen to what it is you really want at this time that's getting in the way of enjoying your experiences in games.

Likely, it has nothing to do with the "quality" of MMOGs today; likely it has nothing to do with gaming at all. For example, maybe you are, deep down, wishing you could spend more of your leisure time with your wife. Certainly a mixed-time work schedule isn't conducive to a lot of face time, and you have to set aside clear times when you can make sure you have that with your spouse. (Just using this kind of thig as an example, I don't know what your situation is, of course.)

Patterns are a natural part of our lives. So is "running on automatic". Since what we do in our day-to-day existence is largely the same every day, it's good that we get comfort and even enjoymant from our personal patterns. However, for most humans, patterns aren't everything life is about, either. It is part of us to want to step outside our patterns sometimes.

So, disatisfaction can be a sign of at least 2 things that have nothing to do with what you are disatisfied with. It can be a sign of there being something else in your life that you want to do that is being neglected, or it can be part of the natural destire to step outside of what you normally do for awhile.

Make that 3 things, one people have talked about - that the activity (gaming in this case) really is something you are done with as it exists today. The routine no longer fulfills that part of you that caused you to want to game in the first place. Maybe it is that modern MMOGs haven't brought anything new you are interested in. Your job now, in any case, is to stop and listen to your deep down voice and understand what it is you really want.

People talk about the MMOGs in the last few years being "all the same". If you stop to think about that, you know it's not really true - for example, there are no other MMOGs that look like World of Warcraft. If you think Star Wars: The old Republic is "another WoW clone", then you atren't paying attentiion to the game, because SWTOR clearly looks different and plays different in many ways. People want to blame the medium, when it's really them that has stopped connecting with what they are playing.

;)

Originally posted by Cuathon

Originally posted by Vegetto

 

---

Originally posted by Ujirik
I think that everybody will reach that point eventually. It's mostly because you've experienced all the standards and now know what you want from a game. In my opinion, there's really only two options left when you reach this point in gaming: pursue it or give up. You can either attempt to learn one of the various programming languages or just give up and hope that somebody will eventually make your desired game. There's really nothing wrong with waiting and learning is easier said than done, but it's worth a shot. You've played the games and have developed a passion for the genre. Isn't it about time to try your hand at creating something?
Anyway, dramatic nonsense aside, it's perfectly normal to get burned out. Something new will come around and spark your interest eventually, but it's probably a good idea to try something else until then.

---

 

Exactly what i've decided to do. I see the indie devs about and i think "ok, just what qualifies them to even try making an MMO? What's on their CV?". The answer is usually not alot and certainly nothing to put me in the shade. When i see the models, the textures, the animations, the GUI, the piss poor coding, i always ask "why didn't they do xyz?"

Answer is they can't. 9/10 they seem to be people who learnt C++ at college and that's it. You see this when all patches and updates are coding ones, rather than anything tangible. Coders usually have a very narrowly focussed skillset, you rarely get a creative programmer, you cannot have that mindset to be a good one, it's like being an accountant.

So, from now i'll be learning a new script language and working with a new engine. I have spent 2 years not doing alot and trying half-assed games, in that time i could have created something half-decent, so i'm going to put it to the test :)

This is very offensive. Great coders are creative. Just because some people are dumb code monkeys doesn't make the rest of us non creative.

I have to agree here. Pigeon-holing people is a very un-creative way to think. :)

It brings to mind a little story the head of the Chemistry Dept told, back when I was in college. At a faculty meeting, one of the history professors made a comment about scientists, callng them narrow-minded and knowledgable only about their field. Dr. Razniak replied to the professor:

"I just finshed reading a treatise on the Civil War. When's the last time you picked up a book having to do with any scientific study?"

The history professor had nothing to say about that.

Anyone who knew Dr. Razniak, at all, would know better than to say something like that. Many of the science fiction writers have been, and are, working physicists. Just about every writer you've ever read was or is a professional in some other career.

As far as "patches and updates" - games these days are made up of millions of lines of code. Most people can't code because they don't have the patience and ability to break what they want to do into little steps. You take a program, particularly a large one, and throw it into an environment with a bunch of others you didn't write (someone else's computer, for example) and guess what, unexpected things can happen.

Personally, I make enough typing mistakes in a forum post to understand that someone writing code might make some that they miss before their work is released. I go back and check what I type, so I almost always catch errors, but on occasion something still gets through. There is no way I'm going to call a programmer poor at what he does because something needs to be patched after it's released.

It's insane to think that everything is always going to work perfectly in a game. Even if the coding is perfect, there are too many variables to take into account. Geniuses can't do it, never mind the average game developer.

I'm all for a person with passion learning to code and develop the kind of game he wants to play, but there's a reason very few people do it: it takes dedication, a willingness to learn what you need to learn, put what you think you want down on paper, and turn that into a working game. It takes thousands of hours of focused effort, and that alone takes more discipline than most people will ever think about actually committing to, much less accomplishing. It takes partnership with people who can do the same, because it simply takes too long for one person to make an MMOG sized game. We already have a serious and problematical lag between the start of a game's developement and the technology that is available when it is released. Something that took 3-5 years for a team to develop will take 6-20 years for one person, even a very gifted and talented person.

Originally posted by LadyNoh

This is actually the absolute best time to take a break. alot of new MMO's are coming out, and we will be hearing a TON of launch horror stories. (don't argue it, facts a fact, MMORPG's dont launch well) so when you start to get back all the kinks will be worked out and you will have some interesting games to choose from.

I agree, playing an MMORPG in beta, or at launch, tends to be less than the best experience. (That being said, I wouldn't delay purchasing a game I was really interested in pre-release, I just wouldn't expect the first couple of months to be the best it can be, and it may take longer than that to mature.)

;)