Throwing Out the Rulebook For MMOs 245
MMORPG.com's Dana Massey asks about the possibility of throwing out the rulebook for MMOs, suggesting that the next blockbuster title in the genre will be one that ignores many of the features and conventions that have come to be standards over the years. Quoting:
"Who said that MMOs require hot bars? Who proclaimed that it's not a proper MMO unless you have quests? Blizzard took a formula that almost all MMOs had been using for years and distilled it down to addictive perfection. Love or hate WoW, it's a polished, polished title. It's no coincidence that on hardcore MMO sites, like this one, WoW is not the most hyped or trafficked game around. It's not that it's bad, but veteran MMO players don't have the same love for it, simply because we've all seen some variation of it before. The WoW community has always been a bit apart from the larger MMO community. Based purely on the number of subscribers, WoW articles should statistically annihilate every other game on this site, but they don't. A huge percentage of people who truly love WoW, I've always believed, do not know or particularly care about this whole world of MMOs out there. They're WoW players and that's it."
Re:No Love (Score:5, Informative)
You can't dismiss an arguement (with any credibility) just because the statistically insignificant group of people you know don't fit a hypothesis.
/. view of typical gamers.
But as we're going with personal examples, I know three groups of people in real life who play WoW. Not a single one of them has played a different MMO because they just aren't interested in gaming. WoW is a social and relaxation thing for them which they are fitting into an already busy life of working and/or looking after kids. This doesn't prove they are the norm, but I hope it at least shows that there are WoW players out there who really don't fit the
Re:Something larger than WoW? (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently WOW had 60% of the world market in april 2008. I think this number was meassured in players.
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart7.html [mmogchart.com]
http://www.mmogchart.com/charts/ [mmogchart.com]
But I don't know if they have peaked now.
Re:MMO*** (Score:4, Informative)
Dude,
you're approaching to this in the worst way possible.
Firstly, all campaigns require 50 EUR (or less, if you buy with discount). Why buy unlock packs when you can have everything you need for slightly more (or less, with discounts) along with all campaign content?
Secondly, to unlock 8 specific skills, you need, in the worst scenario, 10K points in Balthasar faction. This is an hour of enjoyable Jade Quarry play. You don't need to unlock all skills, merely those you wish to use.
Thirdly, for guidance and support of community, there are two important sites to get your started (and save from some common mistakes):
http://wiki.guildwars.com/ [guildwars.com]
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/ [guildwarsguru.com]
http://pvx.wikia.com/ [wikia.com]
Regards,
Ruemere
Re:You HAVE to change the formula (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, then let's define "polished":
1. Working quests.
2. Balance (yeah, yeah, "XXX is overpowered", whatever. What I mean with balanced is that there ain't one class that can solo what needs a group otherwise, while another class is essentially useless).
3. No/few CTDs.
4. Stable servers.
5. Reliable downtimes.
6. Non-clueless support.
Essentially, what I mean is that it is "working as intended". And WoW is working as inteded. That it's a triviality to play to maxlevel is no "polishing" problem. Mostly, I'd blame it on marketing and wanting to cater to the least common denominator.