ok, here is my advise...

stop trying!

Grab a copy of Dragon age: Origins, or Assassins Creed 2, whatever... MMOs have been so stale in recent years that I find it impossible to find anything that is new, exciting and an actual evolution - gameplay wise. Some ol', same ol'

I have no problems whatsoever with MMORPG.com being filled with ads - the site has to make money to stay afloat.

But if people start running their own ad campaings in this forum  - that should be dealt with, imho. I guess a number of users here have their own companies - what's to stop them from spreading ads here as well?

So yes, remove these darkfall ads. .

boohoo - a 'tank' ship, a 'dps' ship, a 'debuff' ship? Wtf?! ...

How on Earth can one take this rich franchise and boil it down to WoW in space? KNowing myself, I will try it anyway - but I still have to see something that gets me really excited about this title (less arcade, more RPG).

- not as 'accessible'

- 'rewards' are not dangled in front of the player (the next 'level up', quest chains, etc)

- lack of quality (?)

- rely much more on well-thoughout game mechanics

- often (?) PvP focused, which not everyone enjoys

I guess a sandbox game you need to learn how to 'play' - explore the game mechanics to see what works for you. In more themepark oriented games you log in and it's quite clear what is expected from you. You keep going from quest to quest, level to level - and that is the motivation ('reward' , if you will). It's rarely about immersion, but a more direct way to get the feeling of 'success' and accomplishment. People like that feeling...

Originally posted by IAmMMO

WAR is a fitting MMO for Mac users, it's shallow , very linear and simple, just as Mac users like things.

Considering that OsX is a unix variant, this shows your understanding (or lack therefor) of operating systems...

That aside, I actually don't think that it was a lot of work for Mythic to port WAR to Mac, since they use a commercial software package that 'simply' wraps the Windows code into something processable by OsX. A bit like a stand-alone-version of WINE, I think.

Originally posted by Stradden

As for the score: That's the score that the reviewer chose to give the game. You don't have to like it, you don't have to agree with it but in the end when asked that the game was worth, he told me 6.9. Not everyone is going to like the same kinds of game. In the end, a reviewer scores a game based on his or her own opinions of it.

 

I don't really agree with that. To me a review should be an objective report on a game, using pre-defined scoring categories and a standardized scoring scale. Now, that's certainly a bit optimistic, but I think the recent reviews published here don't do this otherwise great site justice....

grind = lack of content - for me, anyway.

Companies got away with it in the early days, but with improving technology, commercially available MMO-kits to reduce some aspects of development and so on I personally don't accept that anymore. It's lazyness and a lack of skill/vision. Some players enjoy such mindless tasks and get some kind of rewarding feeling from it, but I sure as hell don't...

Originally posted by nate1980 

Your main point is that mmorpg.com should pay more attention to how they score the games in their reviews. Is this correct? If so, I agree with you.

Your second point is that AION doesn't deserve the best grade in town. Keep in mind that I quit the game out of dislike, but I'm trying to look at this from anothers point of view. We all assume people have played MMORPG's before if they're posting on this website. While this may be likely, it's an incorrect assumption. So let's throw that assumption out the window and assume rather than new people to the genre might be reading. In this case, referencing other games in the market would be a waste of time. So as a rule of thumb, I think referencing other games in a review should not be done. A game should be scored and left to stand on their own two feet.

Another assumption is that those who have played MMORPG's before, have played so many of them that they'd notice the similarities and differences. Not all gamers are like that, and some could argue successfully that most aren't like that. So let's throw that assumption out the window as well, and instead assume that a gamer will judge AION on what AION has to offer, not on what it doesn't offer or copies in relation to other MMORPG's.

Given this point of view, AION could very well be the best MMORPG they've ever played and these people may not really care what other MMORPG's have done in the past, nor should they. In this regard, we must ask ourselves, what does AION do well, and what is lacking in AION. This is why I believe in scoring a game based on tangible assets, and it doesn't hurt to throw in intangible assets at the end, with a large disclaimer that it's pure opinion after that.

If you list pros and cons of a game, you let the readers decide if the game is for them. I believe that the lack of pros and cons, meaning more objectivity, in the review is what people are complaining about.

See, normally I don't quote that much text, but in this discussion (28 pages, wtf...) this is one of the few comments that make a lot of sense and should be enough to conclude this otherwise rather inarticulate and thus pointless debate. 

Haven't played the game myself but even I can tell that the review fails at being objective and mixes information too much with very subjective opinions. Writing a 'real' review is hard, I totally get that - so that means not everybody can or should do it....

Hi,

well, making an MMO is a fairly ambitious task, I'd say. You do learn alot making your own engine of course, but the complexity of engine, networking code etc is a bit much for one person to handle if you also want to build a functioning, fun game.

Here is a suggestion: https://www.garagegames.com/products/torque-3d/tgea

I think there is even an add-on that provides you with much of the code needed to turn the game into an MMO. If you consider the time it would take you just to get a half-way decent engine coded, I'd say it's worth the investment.

Good luck!

The only thing that this thread and the poll show is that a lot of people don't know how to do/interpret statistics, including the OP - starting with the usage of the term "significant".

...those gamers who can afford it and understand that companies need money to make more games in the future...

How you guys did not see this coming I will never understand ^^
All the signs (level-headed beta reports, game footage, etc) indicated that Aion is, underneath, a very unimaginative piece of software. But then again, we as gamers pay 50 bucks for a single player game that we can beat in 15h, so I wouldn't say that buying Aion would be a waste of money. But it doesn't sound like it has a great deal of long-lasting appeal.

...this just doesn't sound...right...

I do see the rationale behind designing ships to be basically solo-elements, but that imho doesn't really capture the Star Trek idea. So it boils down to Cryptic doing a space MMO in a Star Trek skin to make quick cash, rather than trying to capture the spirit of the shows. And before someone comes to say "but it would be boring or technically unfeasable", then I'd like to say "If you can't do it right, don't bother doing it at all". Well, my opinion anyway - I'm sure they'll produce something that a bunch of people will be able to enjoy.

well, your questions show that you haven't read up  at all on either game - I suggest you do that before asking more specific things. You can't really expect people to do the work for you. The time it takes someone to really do any of these questions justice would be longer than it would take you to quickly read up on the basics of either game.

Anyhow, since you are a WoW player, Aion is much closer to what you would probably expect from an MMO. FE is quite sandboxy and will feel very unfamiliar and probably even frustrating.

I am by no means  a Trek nerd - I have watched the major movies, TNG and a bit of Voyager and of course the original series - but even with this new material presented here I am still left with the impression that the developers just don't get what Star Trek is about... Looks like straight-forward arcade action to me, whereas a complex 'metagame' is what would make a Star Trek game truly "star-trekky".

Originally posted by JesterDarkly

It's been said over and over again that the countdown timer you can see in the official site is indeed towards 2012 the intended end of the world by the Mayan calendar. It's been stated also that 2012 is not the release year. The game has been in development for more than 3 years by now. Official release date is not out yet, but it's not at 2012!!!

END OF THREAD

Thank you ^^

Thanks to the OP for a well-articulated opinion (a rare thing on MMORPG.com for sure...).

I also agree with his statement that the mechanics he described are a step back. And btw, why do people think that features from EQ/UO/DAoC are what defines MMORPGs?! As I see it they were a first step into what should become a much better product - with improving technology and a better understanding of what makes such a game fun and immersive. The original idea, imho, was to transport the player into a virtual , story-rich (fantasy) world - and to me that is not about being squeezed through a quest tunnel (well put, OP) and massacre the same mobs over and over for no apparent reason whatsoever.

that is because your system is way over the top for the kind of applications you seem to use it for. Don't think there is much out in the entertainment sector that you need to throw that much raw power at. Doesn't change the fact that Vista is a poor OS with respect to resource management (and other things..^^).

big fan of the comic book look, nice idea and optional - so no reason to complain about it ^^

My guesses:

A) One key motivation of playing MMOs (or games in general) is the endorphine rush you gain through accomplishments ala "level-up". Since the effect is only short-lived you crave it again thus creating a continuously increasing 'forward motion' from level up to level up. It seems to me to be quite similar to caffeine or other drugs - addiction through pleasure; with a rapid breakdown of the effect (the basis for any addiction, btw).

B) Many MMOs are simply an example of piss poor design and lack of imagination between start and level cap. The Endgame is often, not always, the only reasonably solid and challenging aspect.

C) Competitiveness - gamers define their enjoyment not based on a rich and immersive story, but through competition with others (i.e. racing to reach level cap)

D) Many games (most, actually) have a heavily tiered game world, creating artificial borders between players of different levels - which only break down at cap level.

There is probably more tho...