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Themepark Fatigue Syndrome (TFS) - Is there a cure ?

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  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775

    You do not have to play a MMO, you know. There are tons of entertainment out there: SP games, tv, movies, novels, board games ....

  • TazlorTazlor Member UncommonPosts: 864

    The cure is take a break, find a new hobby, or play a sandbox MMO. Why is that so hard to understand?

  • CastillleCastillle Member UncommonPosts: 2,679

    I suggest playing other games. 

    Seriously.  In preparation for SWTOR, I stopped playing MMOs for about half a year or so.  I played games like Terraria, Minecraft, Fable, SPAZ, L4D2, Alien Swarm, Spiral Knights, x3, Dungeon Defenders, Magicka, Skyward Sword, Skyrim, Super mario sports mix...

     

    But now how do I feel about SWTOR?  It feels fresh! o.O

    ''/\/\'' Posted using Iphone bunni
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    **This bunny was cloned from bunnies belonging to Gobla and is part of the Quizzical Fanclub and the The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club**

  • BigBadWolfeBigBadWolfe Member Posts: 143

    Until Guild Wars 2 is released, a lot of people have been flocking to Tera Online, also there is a closed beta sign up.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3cn5qfCbBsA

    No need to thank me (>'.')>.

    Edit: That link was to the EU sign up, this is for the US

    http://www.tera-online.com/node/958

     

  • itgrowlsitgrowls Member Posts: 2,951

    Originally posted by smh_alot

    One of the biggest issues I have with the 'TFS' (lol), is that people who suffer from it by extensive playing MMORPG's, seem to lose the ability to be objective in their evaluation of gameplay features that they formerly used to enjoy and have fun with.

    For example, mechanics like raids and dungeons and quest leveling that were perfectly alright and fun to them in the past and would probably get high marks from them back then, when they're confronted with the same mechanics now while they have developed this 'themepark fatigue', those mechanics have become insufferable to them and will get low marks.

    The OP was speaking about core mechanics needing to change. Right now almost every themepark uses Raids, Dungeons for gear progression not for fun. There's a big difference between running something with complete strangers instantly teleporting there and getting what you need after a few minutes of hack n slash and actually doing something fun like exploring or getting rewards for helping npc's with a mission or two in a dungeon that doesn't require simply killing a boss to see what he drops. 

    Next I'll address the questing, the purpose of questing can't change, however, the machanics of questing shouldn't be "lead you by the nose to gain that next ding" it gets old fast. The boring parts also include having to run back to talk to the same npc, not being able to drop the quest and go do something else and not simply getting rewarded for helping on a particular quest line within a zone that's in the middle of being completed. Right now most mmo's using the older system won't even let you see your friends if they are on a different sequence then you and if you can't even quest with your friends in an mmo then it becomes a solo experience.

    So i think that the core mechanics shouldn't be the only things to change in these but the purposes for the player to do them should change. 

    Eliminate the gear treadmill, the lead-you-by-the-nose mechanic, the cutting out of players you know and even those you don't know participating in your fun and you might just have a game worth playing. All themeparks are right now are grind fests. Then there is the part of the game where you're personal story for your character should affect everything in your world to reflect what you have done and the adventures you have. Having a home base that's static and simply sits there for you to store things in really isn't all that exciting more needs to be done here in most games.

    I enjoyed showing off my home in LOTRO to my friends because i got quest rewards to place in my home that showed where i had been what i had done along the way to get to this point in the solo storyline.  I hope more games enhance this experience.

  • QuenchsterQuenchster Member Posts: 450

    I think that many of these themepark MMORPGs might want to step back and notice that maybe kill, fetch, and activate object quests aren't enough to keep us entertained as much as they could years ago. Take a look at WoW. You got kill quests, you got fetch quests, and you got to activate things quite a bit. It is an old MMORPG quest format. In Burning Crusade they started to experiment with alternatives such as bombing runs, that one trampoline quest in Nagrand, and World PvP objective quests. In Wrath of the Lich King they introduced siege weapons and phasing in quests, which made story progression during quests much better than it previously was. In Cataclysm they went back and just changed up all the old quests to give new characters a better experience. They also found out a way to use the siege weapon UI for just quest things our characters do in certain zones, which allowed them to do some creative things with quests that they normally wouldn't have been able to do without the UI.

    If I was a MMORPG developer, would I even consider going back to making a questing experience like WoW had in 2004 and 2007 if I was going head to head with WoW quests in 2012? No! Leveling in SWTOR made me feel sick.

     

    Anyways, now I'm not playing any themepark MMOs until perhaps Guild Wars 2. I don't think I need a break from themeparks, because it is hard to disappoint me if atleast the PvP is fun to me, but I might as well as try to lessen any potential disappointment. It is not a cure for that disappointment, it is just some duct tape that holds the train to level cap together.

  • dllddlld Member UncommonPosts: 615

    For me it's not really fatigue, it's more of a.. I'm now able to see past the illusion so now I can't be dazzled by it anymore. For example when I look at a feature like raiding, I don't see kill epic challenging monsters anymore but a carefully constructed skinner box that you pay monthly for to partake in. 

  • VhalnVhaln Member Posts: 3,159

    It's funny how many people have suddenly come down with this.  

    You know, it might just be a bad game :p

    When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.

  • CeridithCeridith Member UncommonPosts: 2,980

    Originally posted by Vhaln

    It's funny how many people have suddenly come down with this.  

    You know, it might just be a bad game :p

    It's possible.

    But it could also be that more and more gamers are finally realizing just how sick they are of bland, uninspired, themepark MMOs with game mechanics resembling the slowly dying gorilla in the room.

    At least, that's my hope anyways. The more people that stop buying into the same old re-hashed crap, the sooner the MMO industry will move onto projects that are actually progressive, and not regressive like they've been over the last half decade.

  • IstafeinIstafein Member UncommonPosts: 70

    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Originally posted by Vhaln

    It's funny how many people have suddenly come down with this.  

    You know, it might just be a bad game :p

    It's possible.

    But it could also be that more and more gamers are finally realizing just how sick they are of bland, uninspired, themepark MMOs with game mechanics resembling the slowly dying gorilla in the room.

    At least, that's my hope anyways. The more people that stop buying into the same old re-hashed crap, the sooner the MMO industry will move onto projects that are actually progressive, and not regressive like they've been over the last half decade.

    I completely agree with you, but here is a video that describes the problems that developers face and why it's hard to deviate from the game mechanics that resemble said dying gorilla. xD

    http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-future-of-mmos

    To the OP, and I swear I'm not being snarky, just walking away from them for awhile seems like a good cure! One night about six months ago, as I was suffering a particularly bad bout of TFS, a friend of mine on Steam called themparks "quest-coasters" and it kinda struck a nerve. I haven't played one since. Maybe a long break will cure me so I can enjoy them again!

    “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6-34


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  • username509username509 Member CommonPosts: 635

    This has probably been said before.  I really don't want to read through every single post in this thread.

     

    The cure is sandbox mmo gaming.  Very simple... just sandbox mmo gaming...

    Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!

  • DraronDraron Member Posts: 993

    Never had the syndrome yet. The run of the mill themepark games don't keep my interest for long enough to run into fatique, though I do enjoy WoW and the games like it.

  • LexinLexin Member UncommonPosts: 701

    Umm Stop buying Themepark MMO's...

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  • AdamantineAdamantine Member RarePosts: 5,085

    I am fatigued of sandboxes before I even started playing them...

    Then again, both Lineage 2 and Vanguard, the MMOs I actually played so far, have a lot of typical secondary sandbox properties, when you think about it. Such as noninstanced, seamless gameworld.

    I am definitely not done with MMOs, still waiting/hoping for the perfect game.

     

  • MigPosadaMigPosada Member Posts: 92

    Originally posted by username509

    This has probably been said before.  I really don't want to read through every single post in this thread.

     

    The cure is sandbox mmo gaming.  Very simple... just sandbox mmo gaming...

    Hyperbole alert (don't take too seriously):

    It's like the cure of AIDS is cancer.

    End of hyperbole.

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