MMO's are becoming too generic.

[Calindor]

Finding a MMO today IMO is like a Shooter or Racing enthusiast buying Grand Theft Auto because it has shooting/driving in it. I'm anything but impressed with the selection of MMORPGs today. It seems they are trying to encorporate everything and go after the biggest crowds possible, while lacking in each specific area they target. It seems they are all becoming the same, rather than having different styles.

Also they are not changing...and I think MMORPG's are the style of game with the least limits/boundaries. Each new game is just copying a successful game and glorifying it with some fancy features...they could be so much more but it seems like all the developers are afraid to try something new.

[Anuxinamoon]

Like any game, usually the most innovative ones are indi games, that lack in the AAA budget and graphics/tech but shine in the gameplay. I havent played any indi MMO's yet but I'm sure more indi mmo's would be pushing the envelop than the bigger boys.

I'm sure you know how it goes. MMo's cost a lot of money to make, and then upkeep. It is a larger risk to make an mmo than say an action adventure game, so uaully they evolve slowly (like FPS) with one or two gems every 5 or so years. Publishers, testing and market research usually define how you shape your game. It has to appeal to as many people as possible to make the best returns, so you can pay of the big fat publisher and possibly start making some profit of your own.

Example: Fury tried to be different. It tried and yes it failed because of bugs and poor management, but I think it was more a turn off for a lot of mmo players because it was TOO different. Its a fine line designers have to tread. If they make something too generic, it wont gain interest. But if they make something too new and different, it will be hard to get people into it as the learning curve would intimidate most players.

Though I agree with you. MMO's lately seem stagnant, growing blue green algae in their oxygen depleted waters. That's why I'm so interested in Aion I guess. Its nothing completely revolutional, to be honest, but it offers enough change yet keeps some old comforting bases that make me excited to want to play it

[Terpsichore]

The worst part are the tries to make MMOs "casual", aka dumbing down everything to the point where you don't feel like archieving something.

And don't forget the F2P pest, pay to win suits the overall game sector.

[Xerish]

Originally Posted by Terpsichore

The worst part are the tries to make MMOs "casual", aka dumbing down everything to the point where you don't feel like archieving something.

And don't forget the F2P pest, pay to win suits the overall game sector.

I agree Completely!!

About the "genericness" of new mmos i do agree, in part. Yes there are about 40 of them that are teh spitting image of each other or just the same old stuff with new shiny graphics. However, there are a few that have definatly moved outside of the box. Age of Conan (with the "M" rating, no damn gnomes and the more casual stlye), FFXI (very unique mmo IMO) and even CoH/CoV was a bit different from the MMOs. The staple games used to be EQ/UO/DAoC but now with the main staple being WoW, most games are trying to target the higher number, younger, and the gimmie gimmie crowd. I would love to see an EQ1 restart, (pre-Kunark) with newer graphics (NO NOT EQ2) or even a UO version 2 (not sequal).

[Tareith]

Casual, F2P, halfassed PVP, and Solo based....that's the making of almost every MMO these days.

[birdman]

Calindor, since you really like pvp, have you tried Tibia? It makes l2 pvp look carebear. Although the graphics are awful, the pvp is pretty fun. Open pvp, and you can drop your entire backpack upon death.

[cmykspliff]

carebears
blah

[Lalage]

Megaten Online is a breath of fresh air. I like the devil catching/summoning system and the combat benefits greatly from creative use of combos, I think you could get by on button mashing but so much faster if you pay some attention to the enemy and figure out good combos.

Hope it will be translated into English but I suspect partly why I enjoy it is the curent community which is mostly quite mature and well behaved (not the case I have experienced with most English F2Ps)

[Draca]

I do take the F2P play games over all the wannabe WoW games that's coming out.

But still the F2P like cabal and last chaos is realy boring, just laot of grinding.

the CORPGs like guild wars is quite fun tho.

[Calindor]

97% of F2P games are garbage, and 90% of MMORPG's are garbage, its just the slight few that are good, are like ecstacy .

F2P games look like paper (Rohan included), always have striking similiarities to L2, in appearance and skill style, are a grind masked up with some fancy feature. Controls are always sluggish, not to mention GM shops.

Most MMO's just suck and copy an already good game, and end up being the same thing, but usually worse.

[asenia]

*sigh* its so sad because its so true...most of them just aim for the MMO part, and forget about the RPG. And what annoys me even more is that, for example when playing WoW, there are so many blood thirsty idiots all talking the leet speak etc...If anyone tries to role play in ANY form they get spat upon. wth is wrong with the world 0_o it was called MMORPG for a reason.

[yeh I sure there is another thread elsewhere on this matter but I dont feel like digging it up this second =p]

[Ovum]

Originally Posted by asenia

it was called MMORPG

enough said.

and yeah i do love weed too

[Dank]

Which is why I still play FFXI, everything else is the same generic trash compared to it. I don't even think I'm going to buy Aion anymore, unless some trailers change my mind soon. It just looks like another WoW, ****ty.

[Calindor]

Originally Posted by Dank

Which is why I still play FFXI, everything else is the same generic trash compared to it. I don't even think I'm going to buy Aion anymore, unless some trailers change my mind soon. It just looks like another WoW, ****ty.

Look harder, because you obviously put next to no effort in.

[Ghorr]

Hack and slash games like Diablo 3 are the future of gaming, mmorpgs will die.