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I feel that fantasy MMOs have reached a point of formula fatigue. Level a character, do the raids to get the best items, so you can do more raids to get more items... to raid with. It’s an effervescent reward at best as all the gear you’ve careful acquired swiftly becomes obsolete in the next dungeon, patch or expansion. We are seeing a lot of games that are at their core, incredibly similar to this WoW/EQ formula with slight changes in the dressings. Who can blame developers for creating a game that takes after one of the biggest successes in the industry? This is not the first genre to suffer from this; first person shooters have gone through their own uninspired period of brown modern war combat. It now feels as if we’ve hit a saturation point and everything presented before us is the same bland pudding. And I’m fucking sick of pudding.
Perhaps the MMO stagnation has occurred due to the sheer cost of developing one of these titles. Granted, there are always exceptions to the budget rule, EVE Online being the big one, but with such large checks to be written, investors are incredibly wary to fund a project that is not either based on an existing successful IP or doesn’t herald itself as a “WoW killer.” Because of these risks, we haven’t seen many fresh faces in the market. It seems that everyone who wants to play an MMORPG is either playing WoW or is dabbling here and there in other MMOs that they ultimately ditch due to the lack of polish or community size that Blizzard boasts.
I have a love/hate relationship with WoW; I respect Blizzard as a developer and commend them for making such a well polished experience. I hate the fact that a 7 year old game is still the industry standard. Sure, we’ve seen our share of updates and expansions to the PVE endgame raiding gear grind, but the game at the core is the exact same as it was 7 years ago. Even before Warcraft was crowned king, we were seeing the same things done in Everquest. The pudding could be the best vanilla pudding in the world, but even the most gourmet of foods tastes pedestrian after eating it thousands of times.
Perhaps I am not alone in my exhaustion; there has been a steady stream of players leaving World of Warcraft since the beginning of this year. It may be due to the fact that half of the latest expansion was not end game content and was easily devoured by the player base. It may be due to the recession and people trying to cut back spending by canceling subscriptions they aren’t using. I, however, was drawn away from the genre by the riper pastures of consoles and PC games which were promising unique, fresh experiences as opposed to the perpetual raiding endgame.
I have not lost all hope; there are some very interesting titles coming our way that certainly will shake things up. Planetside 2 has begun to show some promise, suggesting the same unique experience as the original. NCSoft has also stepped up the game with Guild Wars 2, and I am interested in seeing how Bioware’s first MMO title, Star Wars the Old Republic, turns out. Like Guild Wars, SWTOR promises a very strong single player story driven experience in a massively online environment. It’s an interesting concept, and while this may get me through leveling up a character, we’ll see how they can keep me around once I reach end game content.
Comments
12 years, 8 months ago
Don't forget Bungie's new MMO.
12 years, 8 months ago
I'm not too much of an MMO person. I think developers are still trying to copy the WoW formula. The ads for generic MMO's always need some gimmick or Internet meme to be interesting. Maybe it's just a wait and see process that will take some time.
12 years, 8 months ago
GW2 is where my money will be going with the next batch of mmos. I put over 5,700 hours into the first game, and I'm excited about the different ideas and art styles that ArenaNet are pushing forward with. :)
12 years, 8 months ago
As a former WoW player (who left not out of bitterness, but simply being content with everything I had done and was ready to move on.) I found this article very easy to relate to. Way too many projects, including ones currently in development, very clearly have all of the same pitfalls that WoW suffers from, and they are merely copying its 7-year old paradigm.
Because of this, I am a little saddened that you did not say more about Arenanet's upcoming title, Guild Wars 2. (NCSoft is just the publishing company. They are funding Arenanet, and Arenanet has full reign over the project.)
When a game proposes ideas such as completely removing the holy trinity of class design, (there are no tanks or healers in GW2. Every class has the ability to support other players and control enemy targets in some way.) as well as moving the quest system away from town hubs and quest logs, and more towards events that engage a player as soon as they enter the area, I feel more needs to be said.
12 years, 8 months ago
I am not a big mmo guy, never played more than half an hour of any, but what do you think about funcoms new mmo "the secret world"?
12 years, 8 months ago
This is why I'm excited about Tera. Something that plays more like an action game than a "press a button and press it again later" formula sounds fun for me. I'm not sure how it will be end game of course, but the graphics look amazing for a journey that will be enjoyable I think.
12 years, 8 months ago
runescape o.O
12 years, 8 months ago
I believe this past April was the first time I have gone a month without some sort of MMO subscription since back in early 2004 when I jumped into p2p MMO's with Final Fantasy 11. I do admit that the genre in general has become a bland mess containing more of the same stuff, only with different aesthetics. Seeing complete train wrecks like FF14, where they ignore 7 years of progression within the genre, makes me lose hope just a tad. I might stick to dabbling in some free-to-play nonsense and keep my money for non-MMO games. I could also go back to STO now that it has 3rd person shooter controls for ground combat. One thing is for sure, there is probably a zero percent chance that I'll go back to WoW after blowing so many years on that.
12 years, 8 months ago
Good write-up. I absolutely loved 'vanilla' WoW back in 2004/2005, got to max level which was 60 at the time and did some high end raiding, after a while it just got boring and I wised up to the whole carrot-on-a-stick game design. Quit after that and never even tried the expansions. In general I don't really know where I see the genre going, every single self proclaimed "WoW killer" (age of conan, aeon, warhammer, Lotr, rift, etc...) failed to make the massive impact they all set out to and the genre just further stagnates. Maybe, just maybe SWTOR will be different, but I definitely am weary. Multiple times now I've seen a huge portion of my friends migrate to whatever just released MMO only to be back on WoW within a month of time.
12 years, 8 months ago
I used to play WoW, and then EVE, and then WoW again. EVE, while having the smaller budget, was a much more enjoyable game because they were forced to innovate.
12 years, 8 months ago
Coming from EQ2, I can relate as well. It just becomes a tedious process of, "Here's my money, let me wast my time some more.." There's some other MMO's out that have piqued my curiosity, such as Fallen Earth, Secret World and of course the new Star Wars MMO. the F2P thing is starting to catch on with Steam, with titles like Global Agenda. But alas, they do fall back on the grinding and repetitive "Rise-Fall" concept.
12 years, 8 months ago
I never liked MMO's myself, they're all the same. Like you said, "Level a character, do the raids to get the best items, so you can do more raids to get more items… to raid with." Plus, things that would make a certain MMO badass you have to buy 'cash cards' to can get special shit.
12 years, 8 months ago
Im hoping the introduction (or reintroduction) of FPSMMO in the market will rekindle my passion for MMO's. But yea, Fantasy setting MMO's are dead to me now. =/
Makes me sad because I really liked them.
12 years, 8 months ago
its a sad reality that a lot of genres are suffering the same fate.
12 years, 8 months ago
I've played basically every MMO that has come out since eq2/WoW and I know what you are talking about. Everything has become bland and samey. When a new MMO comes out its great for a couple weeks or a month, then you realize its the same old shit with a different sugar coating. Nowadays I still have a sub to EQ2 just to reconnect with friends now and again, but I largely do not play an MMO unless it has some form of PVP to break the PVE monotony. I have incredible worries for SWTOR, from the gameplay I've seen it looks like just another MMO to me, I don't really see any innovation other than maybe the cutscene/singleplayer story telling. But to me stories in MMOs always seemed inconsequential, I personally want some innovation on the gameplay.
12 years, 8 months ago
Nicely put sir.
As a current player of WoW, I can relate to this. And as a player who has drastically cut down play time due to boredom, I can really relate to this.
I am very excited for Guild Wars 2, and am looking forward to whatever else the industry trows out. I just hope it is refreshing and not the same old pudding, as you put it.
12 years, 8 months ago
Played Wow since Burning Crusade, thought things will go will with Wrath, it sort of did. Then Cataclysm came out, well the burn out started there. After a few months, it just go too boring. Just the same crap from vanilla days over and over again. I can relate to the article. Just hoping SWTOR will be better.
12 years, 8 months ago
This is what made Star Wars Galaxies so great, you had soooooo much extra ciricular stuff to do,
12 years, 8 months ago
Great article.
And as a former MMORPG player I agree with what you wrote.
I used to play Lineage 2 (got really addicted for a while), 9Dragons (pretty nice free MMORPG) and ofcourse Lord of the Rings Online.
12 years, 8 months ago
Great Article Sir Bobington :)
Its been quite a while since I've played an MMO and its simply for the fact that i will eventually just get bored with it. I see it as kind of a bummer that not more studios try to innovate more, because the whole raid & loot esthetic just doesn't get my attention anymore. Sure playing with buddies can make it 100x more fun, but then it becomes a "follow the crowd" scenario because my friends will play less and less and and then I will as well. I know its different for other people, but this is just my experience and opinion.
Anyways... Keep it up Bob :D
12 years, 8 months ago
I think most MMO developers are kinda afraid to break away with whats most popular (WoW) but the market really is getting saturated. So we need a big name developer to start something fresh.
12 years, 8 months ago
The next great step is for the MMO genre to allow people who play all day, to make enough money doing so, to afford the bare minimum living standards. The first MMO to do that will be the WoW killer.