The state of the MMO genre

[mozibake]

Is there any promise on the horizon for MMOs of the old type, where you had to actually go out and do things and collect things and meet other players? All the new ones are basically either Korean loli simulators, which aren't inherently a bad thing but usually lack in gameplay since all dev resources are devoted to making cute waifus instead of FUN. Or they may as well be a MOBA, where you do nothing but sit around and wait for queues to pop and clear content with a bunch of randoms you'll never see or speak to again.

When I think back to my best memories from WoW and other MMOs, what sticks out to me the most is the multitude of varied and interesting people I've met in them over the years. The random, forgettable progressive raid content and similar things are just the backdrop, the setting against which me and some friends laughed our asses off in teamspeak at our PUGgie tank who was so whacked out on bath salts or something that he couldn't tell his ass from his front and kept getting 1 shotted from behind. It's the players that make a good and interesting MMO world what it is, but retail and most other games in the genre seem to be dead set on removing all of the kind of spontaneous interactions that made it great in the first place.

[PeaceHammer]

The future of MMO's looks bleak to me. At this point, I think Vanilla WoW will remain my favorite MMO till I die.

[VeloxBanks]

This is yet another reason why Nost NEEDS to come back... ofcourse if it doesn't come back in a state as polished and well maintained as it was before it's not really worth it...

The state of MMOs seems to be the exact same as the gaming industry in general. Big companies care about nothing more than money. Just look at Bethesda for instace... ever since Oblivion it's been nothing but cash grabs. What really bothers me is that a fair number of people (who whether they know it or not are the EXACT reason this is happening) would sooner say something like "that's the way the world works, kid. get over it" and just keep buying into whatever halfassed "game" a developer shits out. That's also what the Blizzcucks are doing right now with the addition of "it's illegal, pirate. go fuck yourself". It's yet another thing spawned by stupidity of the masses.

[wallan]

Couldn't agree more. There is no sandbox in current MMO's, well there is, but there's basically nothing out there for players.

Vanilla WoW made the whole world vibrant and interesting. For example: to a level 20, the corner of Redridge Mountains was alive, you could find mobs with quest items, herbs/nodes, PvP... that is incredible value to an MMO. Blizzard thinks that the flashiest endgame content and the easiest/fastest way there is appealing, and it truly is if you have tunnel vision.

I've always questioned if my longing back for vanilla was all nostalgia or if it really was just a great game, and it took me eight years to find the perfect setting to figure this out. I finally got the word of Nostalrius PvE server and played on it since release until now. It wasn't nostalgia, vanilla WoW is simply just the perfect MMO for me.

I hope these big gaming companies come to their senses and realize that they did something right. Old Runescape, old WoW, Everquest... and the list goes on.

[Overtime]

Well there's Project Gorgon. Big businesses just don't want to do MMOs anymore. Look at Blizzard with Hearthstone, etc. Money talks.

[Remember_Nostalrius]

The most interesting thing to me at all since Cataclysm blew up WoW was Guild Wars 2, and while its world content was a strong contender its endgame hasn't been much to speak of.

[Forcerius]

Is there any promise on the horizon for MMOs of the old type, where you had to actually go out and do things and collect things and meet other players? All the new ones are basically either Korean loli simulators, which aren't inherently a bad thing but usually lack in gameplay since all dev resources are devoted to making cute waifus instead of FUN. Or they may as well be a MOBA, where you do nothing but sit around and wait for queues to pop and clear content with a bunch of randoms you'll never see or speak to again.

When I think back to my best memories from WoW and other MMOs, what sticks out to me the most is the multitude of varied and interesting people I've met in them over the years. The random, forgettable progressive raid content and similar things are just the backdrop, the setting against which me and some friends laughed our asses off in teamspeak at our PUGgie tank who was so whacked out on bath salts or something that he couldn't tell his ass from his front and kept getting 1 shotted from behind. It's the players that make a good and interesting MMO world what it is, but retail and most other games in the genre seem to be dead set on removing all of the kind of spontaneous interactions that made it great in the first place.

I've given up hope aside from making a game myself. Dev's lost the vision of what it means to build a world that has a real sense of danger and mystery. They're afraid to make players think, learn, and interact with each other like original EQ, Ultima, or vanilla WoW.