| Username | Pynda |
| Real Name | |
| Rank | Advanced Member |
| Joined | March 20, 2004 |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 1 |
| Location | Elkhorn, MT, United States |
| Last Visit | July 19, 2008 |
| Post Count | 212 |
| Biography | |
| Quote |
Innovative Gameplay Element #1 - the random item stat generator of Asheron's Call 1. Great fun and mystery to keep you interested during the grind. And strangely, never picked up on by another mmorpg since.
Innovative Gameplay Element #2 - the crafting and resource system of Pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies. But too much thought and reading required here for todays brain dead mmorpg buyer I suppose.
Yep. AC1 is just too underpopulated for me (I have been back), and apparently there are some technical reasons why Turbine can't do server merges with it - or I'd be there. And like some other posters have already mentioned, the other MMORPG I'd go back to again in an instant if I could is Pre-NGE SWG. So screw the rules here at mmorpg.com, I'm going to admit I'm pulling for a Pre-NGE SWG emulator to be released.
As for the rest, in my book there's not another worthwhile mmorpg left to play. So I don't play them anymore. I just hang out here whining about the good old days instead.
Boobs, blood, an M rating, and consoles.
I think AoC is aimed squarely at the (low) teen market, and its release was timed to coincide with the beginning of summer break. Simple as that.
OP's Point 1 - Limited sense of progression in sandbox/skill based games? I'd say the exact opposite is true, and that it's the linear, class based, everyone is maxed out in 1 month games that fail so miserably to provide any continuing sense of progression or achievement.
UO and SWG have already been honorably mentioned by other posters, and I'll bring up another - AC1. I played the same character on AC1 for over three years and I was still working on my build (there effectively was no max level), still roaming the countryside looking for unique and kewl lewt (randomly generated items), and there were still quests, dungeons and other areas of the game I had yet to explore. And add to this that my character was only nerfed once during all those years - it was a minor and fair nerf - and that we used to get new content in AC1 free of charge every month.
OP's Point 2 - Sandbox games hard to make? Yes, but people here like me are saying it has been done before. IMHO what we are seeing now with modern MMORPGs is simply the meeting of the 'I don't want to read or think generation' - those who demand instant gratification - with publishers who are perfectly willing to design in simple mode and hopefully sell their slickly packaged watery gruel for even greater profits. But what I'm hoping is that even the common man is capable of discovering that steak tastes better than slop. And that these publishers will soon discover they are going to have to start giving us better as far as game design goes. At least if they want to keep retention rates high.
Originally posted by markoraos
Your poll is going to be all screwy cause of all the people voting whatever just to see the score.
Agreed, I've always felt people creating polls at this site should make sure to include a "No opinion, just show me the results" choice.