Originally posted by erandur

Hah ^^ Original topic :D However I'm afraid I'm not gay, and I didn't exactly asked around a lot in Guild Wars. But most players are underage... so I'm afraid that won't 'satisfy' your needs. :)

Edit: This suggestion might be quite obvious, but I suppose there is a gay bar near where you live? I think you'll have a higher chance finding gays there, than here.

Great article. I bet 90% of longtime MMORPGers have been in your shoes. I became so burnt out, I took a little vacation from the genre for the past year. I'll be returning to MMORPGs next month, and hope I can always keep the lessons I've learned about work vs. play in mind so I too "stop to smell the roses."

Tuesdays With Morrie. Hands down the obvious choice.

You forgot a very important name in your survey: 38 Games. I think the fact that they are an indie studio with big names backing them and on their creative team (Curt Schilling, R.A. Salvatore, and Todd McFarlane) will give them the right amount of freedom both financially and creatively to do something very exciting if that's the direction they choose to move in. Think about it. Schilling is an avid gamer with the financial resources, Salvatore is an acclaimed fantasy author, and McFarlane is a celebrated illustrator/toy designer. Though I'm neither a huge fan of McFarlane or Salvatore, I have a lot of respect for what these guys do and think the coming together of such prominent creative forces could result in something very exciting.

I agree wholeheartedly. Maturity = depth and complexity, not blood and boobs. Slapping a "mature" label on a game does little more than up the sales among kids in their tweens and early teens. Some of the worst, most immature movies ever made are Rated R. Shrek, IMHO, is a funnier movie than Porky's.

Originally posted by conscious2K5
Anybody can tell me which of the two is a better game? I want to buy either of them but I would want  more insights from real gamers before i finally decide.  Thanks. any help is appreciated :) 

I have not played EQ2, but this may be a happy medium for you. My friends who play it claim it has a real depth that WoW lacks and from the screenshots I've seen, it looks impressive. I always preferred the more stylized look of WoW to the rigid "realistic" character models in SOE titles who run around like they have broomsticks up their backsides, though.

I think there is still a relatively healthy EQ community out there--but I think it's very endgame focused. If that's what you're interested in, I'm sure you could jump back in. But I'd say if you're starting fresh, you might as well take a stab at a more current game. Even with updates and patches, by today's standards, EQ is going to seem pretty dated. I was never a fan to begin with, so I don't have much more advice to offer. I did find a solid podcast on itunes called "EQual Perspectives" which is co-hosted by a current EQ player and a current EQ2 player which might give you better insight into the current in-game state of EQ.

Originally posted by URMAKER

now for just $10 you can change your toons name. its a feature long over due and one that i'm sure will make blizz a ton of money.

What a sham. The paid server transfer is bad enough, but this is preposterous. It's not like this is a process that costs them any money to perform--it's just a transfer of electronic data. I understand how adding a fee cuts down on people from constantly hopping servers and changing names, but you think Blizzard would throw some kind of bone to the fans who pay their salaries every month.

Originally posted by Suvroc

I personally couldn't care one way or another about a KoTOR MMO, but the generated interest in this is amazing.

If it's not Bioware then I'm sure someone will eventually get the license to do it. It would be foolish for LEC to not take advantage of it, especially (but regretably IMO) if it's released on console.

I agree with you 100%. I'd prefer to see Bioware create an MMORPG based on an original IP. Star Wars has limited nostalgia value for me, but that's where it ends. Nothing about the world makes me want to immerse myself in it outside of a console game shoot-em-up format. That being said, I realize I am in the minority of 25-45 year old males when it comes to my feelings on this franchise. The pairing of Bioware and Lucas Arts, if this proves more than rumor, will rake in the consumer dollars.

On a more general note, it's too bad most of the MMO news is more corporate soap opera than gamer's paradise. I'd much rather be reading posts about players excited about the games they're playing than about the buyout of Bioware, the collapse of Perpetual, and layoffs in the SOE Vanguard team and across the board at EA. 2007 has been disastrous at worst and disapointing at best for gamers looking for something new and engaging.

Originally posted by MrVicchio

I'm just curious, with the Xpac coming how many people are going to quit raiding before release.  I'm all ready fatigued by running the same 5-7 instances on heroic everyweek for those last bits of gear, of running Kara nd Gruuls so we can be geared for the next stop...

 

I'm ready to qwuit, it's pointless now and we all know it, but how many will admit it?  And when?

I quit about a year ago. I highly recommend it. Monotony and timesink way outweigh the fun and entertainment value.

Game specs for PoTBS are currently available. I'm pretty sure you can get them at this point on their official site. If not, they're definitely out there somewhere because they've released photos of the game box which has the required and recommended specs printed on the side. I'm pretty confident they've been posted here too. The system specs for AoC will probably remain a mystery until well into the new year, as far as I know.

Any word if the pre-order version is available through online retailers or just in-store? I checked Amazon and Gamestop, both listed the "ships on" date as January 21, not the pre-order advance date.

Originally posted by Taera

The podcast program is currently on hold :)

Hopefully Game/On will be back soon. I really enjoy listening and have noticed they've been mysteriously absent from my weekly podcast downloads. I suppose it's a good time to go on hiatus since there's really not been a heck of a lot to say about MMORPGs the last month, outside of all the turbulent business goings-on with EA/Bioware and Perpetual. Maybe the PoTBS and TR will prompt Jon and co. to get back behind the mike this winter...

The things that finally burned me out on WoW that I will be very wary of in other games are:

1) Static world - it's about time devs give us worlds that players feel like they impact.

2) Repetitive rep grinding - this was a lazy way to give players "new" things to do without having to add new content or dungeons. Probably the straw that broke the camel's back in my experience.

3) Linear endgame - Everyone reaching for the same carrot, everyone running around in the same armor sets. One of the things that kept me playing WoW for a year and a half was the fact that from 1-60 you could progress through soloing, grouping, dungeon-crawling, world questing, you name it. Once you got to endgame, the only options were PvP or raid content.

Most of the problems I had with WoW are problems that could be leveled at most MMORPGs out there. WoW was good enough where I stuck with it longer than any other MMORPG I played, but I feel like the devs got very lazy very quick and decided to rest on their laurels rather than pushing things even further.

I really loved this article. When people talk about incorporating elements from shooters and console games into MMORPGs, they always seem to miss the boat and focus on game mechanics or making MMORPGs more twitchy while ignoring things like atmosphere, tone, and pacing. I'd much rather see MMORPG worlds that take into account the storytelling elements Jon points out rather than, "Oh man, when I hit Shift X twice real fast and click the left mouse button after I execute the killing blow, my toon pirouettes through the air AND decapitates my adversary."

MMORPGs are about story, more so, dare I say, than your typical shooter or console game because it's not just about the story we lead our avatars through, it's also "writing" the story OF our avatars. Great storytelling is great storytelling regardless of the genre--be it film, books, comic books, songs, console games, or PC games. That's why I'm so intrigued by what 38 Studios might do with a fantasy author (R.A. Salvatore) at the helm. 

Really nicely done editorial.

Originally posted by zOMGREI

I dislike F2P games as well, but I doubt they're going to get removed.  The only reason they could be removed is if they had no English website and/or an English client in the works/out already.

They're MMO games too, so for the sake of journalistic integrity, you can't exclude them.  Plus, there are some people around here that do enjoy the Asian F2P games, so that wouldn't be fair to them.

I do think it's a decent idea to split F2P games and P2P games into different categories, though.

I'm a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" and have a rabid distaste for dime-a-dozen, poorly made F2P games as well. The only exception that crosses my mind is Guild Wars, but with their constant rollout of expansions, I somehow consider them exempt from having to bear the F2P scarlet letter. I find the mmorpg.com homepage to be entirely too busy with ads for crap F2P games, but hey, I enjoy the site and they gotta pay the bills somehow.

Originally posted by burn1ngh0t

I was just wondering if  there is any kind of free trial for Vanguard? I don't know anyone who plays so I can't get a buddy key and I played in Beta and did not end up buying the game (and I usually buy pretty much anything) so...lol but I thought maybe it would be time for another try,  but it might  not be  worth $40 if I don't end up staying

They are going to add a "Trial Island" to the game. I forget if this is going to roll out with Game Update #3 (which is this month) or a few months down the line. I'm sure when they institute it, it'll be announced on this site, so just keep an ear to the ground.

I hate the DKP system but I think in reality, it's the most fair way to handle time invested/reward within a guild. Sure, it discourages non-guildies from participating in guild raids and can't work in P/U groups. I think future games should have an in-game solution to this. Something that makes loot acquisition fair to everyone involved in a large raid group and not a process reliant on systems outside the game.

How do I propose this is done? I don't know. I'm not a game designer. Maybe instead of giving us the same recycled crap year after year, game devs can start putting their heads together and remedy this and other clunky systems MMORPG players have labored under for close to a decade now. I think what WoW did with ZG is approaching some sort of solution with the coins that dropped that could be turned in for gear and items.

Sure, it wouldn't be exactly fair if EVERYBODY got some great weapon or piece of gear every time they went dungeon crawling, but the coins did make each trip into the instance rewarding on some level, even if you didn't get a great drop.

Honestly, I think almost every aspect of raiding as it exists today is flawed and needs to be reevaluated. Devs seem to be taking baby steps with this, by scaling down the number of party members required in a raid group and making dungeons a little more dynamic, but I think we've got a long way to go until raids are more fun than frustrating and feel less like a part-time job and more like a good time.

Originally posted by MrVicchio

As TBC has aged, what initially appeared to be a short stick big carrot, has changed.

 

The inherient mechanics of WoW of course demanded this to be the case, but I for one am curious how much longer this style of game mechanic as we know it will survive.   Last night, perfect example, we're clearing up Kara and my bud pm's me his guild is collapsing.   "Dude, what's up?"

 

"Man we just one shotted Kara, and sharded all but the T4 helm, AGAIN!"   Long story short is, for the last four weeks they have made almost no gear progression in Kara and Gruuls.  Why?  The same gear dropped, all their Priests have their T4 Gear, their main tank still lacks his helm and his shoulders.  They are frustrated, their lead pally deleted his toons and quit.

 

This is a perfect example of the main problem with the WoW game system.  While yes it works well 1-69, when you have run the same 5-8 instances over and over and over and over again only to be stymied not by the mundane encounters, but the horrid loot drop system... it was old back before TBC, and it's even more maddening now.

 

I know WAR is going to try and be not "loot-centric" and from what I have read AoC has plans for a game outside of "Raid for gear to raid for gear so you can raid for gear"

 

It made sense years ago to adopt such a policy, you keep people hungering for the "gear" but honestly, it's losing it's appeal, and I think we'll see plenty of WoW clones for a while, this mode of game play should be buried.  Developers need to find new ways to keep people coming back, cause who wants to pay to work at a game?

Unfortunately, this is not a problem exclusive to WoW, but all MMORPGs. The trick is, find a game where you enjoy the ride and aren't just racing ahead grasping at that ellusive "carrot." Eventually, you'll tire of jumping through hoops even in the most dynamic MMORPG.

Originally posted by WHCWrenn

It really doesn't matter if what was said was insignificant, it was still something that deviated from the signed non-disclosure agreement. They were right in editing the content of your posts.

Now, if you were to send Garthlik a private message, I'm sure he will further explain the reasons for your warning - far better than any of us here could. Additionally - depending on how you approach it - he might also take that warning away.

Sure, YOU are not technically breaking any sort of NDA, but spouting heresay from sources who were untrustworthy enough that they DID break the NDA is awfully trollish, IMHO. I'm all for free speech, but these are all privately hosted websites, so free speech issues do not apply. If I have a website and you post things I don't agree with on it, I have every right to remove them.

In my experience over there, moderators on warhammeralliance.com are very vigilante, moreso than I'd ever be, but that's their prerogative. If I were them, I certainly wouldn't risk severing my ties to EA/Mythic over someone spouting potentially NDA-breaking heresay with the tired, beaten-like-a-dead horse WoW/WAR schtick.