It's been a little while since I've written any sort of a summary on the MMORPG's out there at the moment. This time someone else has kind of done it for me. The basis for this little piece of writing is
Allakhazam's E3 Review.
First off, the comment about renaming of E3 to the "MMO Entertainment Expo" is quite a good indication of the way games are going at the moment. Personally I think once you've spent a lot of time immersed in a MMO game, its hard to go back to single player games. Even going back to something like Diablo 2 was a bit weird after playing in persistent worlds (although I did get used to it - having started playing D2 after spending a lot of time in other MMO games). This is definately being reflected through what's being released, and whats coming up on the horizon.
To start with, lets pick a few points up from the E3 Review.
The Beta Testers are divided.
The first thing worth mentioning is the comments on Star Wars Galaxies (an Empire Divided, for those who didn't know - how you'd manage to not know if you have an internet connection somewhat escapes me). The general buzz around this game at the moment is kind of annoying, and I think Penny Arcade sums it up quite nicely with this comic. I find it interesting that they didn't provide a playable demo, however after getting a general vibe from a few people I know who are beta testing at the moment it does make a fair amount of sense. The amount of crap they're putting up with as beta testers is quite phenominal - some of that you'd expect from a beta, things like server restarts, frequent client patches, random character resets, and varying support times are all things that one experiences during a beta. However, there are other things which I think could be dangerous to reveal to the general gaming populace. Issues such as imbalanced characters/professions, problems with the economy, and other things that are more playability related are problems that one would only want to expose to people with previous beta experience, or who are so hardcore devoted to the game that they don't mind sticking around while things are balanced out a little. I've experience things like this from other betas, and indeed other live games (the amount of "MY CHARACTER IS NERFED!" discussions one would read on DAoC forums simply cannot be counted), and they can indeed be worrying when read by an untrained eye.
The other vibe I've got is related to the player economy. This was something that worried me from the outset. Despite all the great things about a player driven economy, there is one serious downside - most players are smacktards. Many of the stories I've heard so far support this. Theres a fine line to be struck here, as in general I think a player driven economy (or at least an economy that has some ability to fluctuate based on reactions to supply and demand in a similar fashion to a "normal" real life economy) is a very good thing, I just feel there needs to be a level of regulation put in to prevent moronic players from ruining the games realism for others. Backup NPC's that provide basic services (such as healing) for example - they might charge twice what a player with healing abilities *should* charge for that service, however just having them prevents other players from trying to charge 20x that price.
When it comes to SWG, the current phase of beta is pretty important - the feedback gained during this phase, and more importantly, what the developers actually do with it will go a long way into shaping the final game. So far while the game is visually stunning, filled with detail, and filled with possible variety, it all has the potential to count for nothing if serious balance issues remain unaddressed.
To finish, this is one of my favorite quotes from that page. It sums up my feelings about the game, because although at the moment it doesn't sound like its going to be my sort of game, I really want to like it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a Star Wars fan - I *want* to like and enjoy whatever Starwars Galaxies is in the end. I'd really like to.
Oh please no, don't let it be good.
Next I'll mention the authors first point, Everquest 2. The first Everquest left me totally underwhelmed, although I did take a peek at it quite late in play (when they were running the beta trials for the Europe release), ie, after spending time in games like Dark Age of Camelot, which is graphically much more impressive. Ironically it wasn't EQ's graphics that put me off, it was the scrolling. Seems kind of silly, but there you have it. Oh, the nightmare stories about the end game might have had something to do with it as well, but only a little. EQ2 has some pretty serious potential - they KNOW they have a massive player base already, so as long as they don't stray too far from the path then it seems success is somewhat assured here.
One of the points mentioned is the possibility of leaving character names off, as the avatars are so customisable that you should be able to tell individual players apart. I like this concept, I guess in some ways its getting closer to what I have in my mind as a concept for an "ultimate" MMORPG (a concept that is somewhat similar to that of the "Metaverse" in the novel Snow Crash).
I'd definately like to think that the developers of EQ2 are very aware of peoples issues with the current game - some people have spent a lot of time in this world, and have some very strong opinions about its lacking end game and other issues, so hopefully these will be addressed to provide something with a bit more variety, and potential for other modes of play, ie, soloing at high levels. At any rate, it's sounding like it has potential.
..and still hanging in there
Dark Age of Camelot. Bah. My long running bias against this game will never end, however there are some cool things being introduced with the Trials of Atlantis/Foundations expansion packs. First off, I haven't played DAoC since the Shrouded Isles expansion came out (well thats not entirely true, I had a bit of a run around on the Euro PvP server just to try it out, but not with SI installed. Pity, as the Bonedancer looks like the solo class I longed for during my time in that game), but from what I hear the SI expansion added some nice graphical touches, as well as the new worlds and new characters/classes. Both of the expansions (one which is free, one which is not) sound like they have potential - player and guild housing could be very cool if done properly, and the ability to "build up" level 50 characters more sounds good - definately something needed to be done in order to provide level 50 characters reasons to continue playing (other than PvP of course). Still, it will all come down to the implementation of these things - and at the moment I'm not sure I'll know anyone still playing DAoC when these expansions are released to use to get comments from!
The article mentions loads more titles, many games I haven't heard of, and some that I had heard of but have no direct experience with - have a read for more info on those titles. At the moment I think I'm more looking forward to having a bash at Planetside more than anything else. A persistent world FPS has some definate potential in my book! On that note, theres info about a deal for EQ / EQ2 / Planetside (and some others) bundled together here - might be useful for some, as the standalone monthly cost for Planetside sounds a little high at the moment.
There's loads of stuff coming up on the horizon, however I'm starting to wish some of it would hurry up. Apart from the odd DAoC session (and believe me those didn't last too long), and some Diablo 2, I've hardly been gaming at all. I really want something to come along and ruin my sleeping patterns like games have done in the past, and the thought that it might be Everquest 2 that does that kind of scares me.
To end, I'd like to use a quote related to FFXI. Having not played any of the FF games so far, I can't really comment on them - so heres a quote from someone who can.
[01:16:45] <MG5> clearly FFX-2 is not a game I'll be able to play with my pants on