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[Column] General: Five of the Best MMOs for Soloers

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  • HaitesHaites Member Posts: 69

    Yeah, I think WoW has now gone too far in the wrong direction with the over simplification.  I think vanilla had the right ideas and they polished and built on those ideas in BC and Wrath, but they just kept on continuing to simplify the game and now it seems they have gone too far and it feels shallow IMHO.

     

    It has absolutely gone too far.  Blizzard decided that catering to the least common denominator was worth sacrificing what made the game great in the first place.  It worked for a while..but their slumping subscription figures should be an indicator of just how bored we all are of it.

    WoW had a vice grip on the market and in many ways it still does.  So many projects now cannot get off the ground because companies are skittish about investing in the genre.  Everything looks and feels so WoW-esque because that's the only thing that companies think will sell.  Sadly in some ways they are still right.  We've hand-held the playerbase now so much that when they have to put in actual work to get a reward all they do is cry about it being too hard.

    Frankly I am sick of it.  There are already too many single player games and games that cater to the casual "don't bother me or expect me to log in or help others when I don't feel like it" crowd.  If that's your playstyle well that's great for you, but the market is already oversaturated with your boring, easily beatable content.

  • VelocinoxVelocinox Member UncommonPosts: 1,010
    Originally posted by Haites
    Originally posted by Velocinox
    Originally posted by Viper482

    While I enjoy just having some "me time" in an MMO the WoW model has destroyed what made the genre. The old school MMO's were not perfect, but the forced grouping developed a sense of community, something lacking these days.

    MMO communities nowadays are filled with people in competition to see who can be the biggest ass. Back in the day if you did that you better have a guild full of them or you are not leveling.

    Tall buildings are Tiger repellant.

    Don't believe me? Even see wild Tigers stalking NYC?

     

    That's the same logic you are using when you say, 'forced grouping developed a sense of community'.

     

    The concept of MMO guilds was still in its infancy when EQ was big. You grouped up with others at random and took on forced grouping because you had to. You put up with pubs because there was no option.

     

    What grew out of that were guilds. People joining together and filtering out the people they didn't like. That is there by default now. So when someone says, 'I used to love grouping up with PUGs and taking on a challenge we couldn't face alone.' the only current difference is instead of someone saying in public chat hey lets for a group for the BBEG, they say it on their guild's forums/mumble.

     

    Grouping still happens, community is still there, it' just a gated community now because of all the lessons we learned from PUGs in games like EQ... (Well, that and we don't remember those times with rose-colored glasses on.)

     

    Lessons learned in EQ you say?  That very system of forced interdependency is the reason that during it's day EQ had such an amazing community. 

    Sorry, I'd rather find my group in a guild of like minded people that want to work together, rather than a random group of people only invested as far as what they could get.

    Your way...

    Cleric: Well, I got the item I needed, thanks for the party. See you guys some other time.

    He's not being a jerk. You can't call him out for being disruptive. he came for what he needed and left when he got it. Nobody got mad when he left he had real life things to do... (well that's what he said anyway) So, he;ll get a group again no problem.

    Guild way...

    Ok guys we've put aside Thursday for the party-stomper demon run, post what you need from that dungeon and we'll make sure to make a complete run for everyone.

    The difference?

    Planning: You can't plan ahead when you just PUG'd everyone and you need to get moving or you may drop someone that gets impatient.

    REAL team-work not teamwork up until the weakest link: The guild makes sure everyone there has time for the entire run and that everybody gets what they are after. Everyone helps out 100%, not just until they get what they came for.

     

    People who had bad reputations didn't get groups and would therefore have trouble progressing or getting into a guild.  Anything remotely resembling the whole concept of "Barrens chat" was preposterous.  People weren't just a random voice in the wind and what you did mattered.

    This is a pretty serious case of rose-colored glasses. There were players that ninja'd whole raids and the word never made it around about them being a jerk. They did it several times before anyone even began to care about their reputation.

    But here is the best part. As the player's of EQ became more experienced with jerk players, they elected trusted players to do the full looting and then distribute the loot as needed. So even if the guild had one of those jerks worm their way in they had limited potential for jerkiness.

    That was a move up from PUG hell.

     

     Nobody was entitled to something simply because they paid their monthly fee.

     

    Ok, you pay for my MMO games. I get all the fun, you get all the bills. There. You're happy paying the bills and getting nothing from it, and I'm happy having fun. :)

     

    All areas of the game were cooperative for a reason!

    Maybe those ideas are just considered "old school" now though?  Having to work hard for a reward?  Not being entitled to something just for breathing on a keyboard?

     

    Not sure where you're going with this... it's sounds more like a Fox news story than a MMORPG post, and since I am apolitical, I'll just skip over some possible political agenda couched in an MMORPG thread...

     

    EQ indeed had many serious flaws, and WoW had originally got so many of the corrections right.  We learned some extremely valuable lessons in EQ and it allowed us to collectively create the magnificence of Vanilla WoW.  What Blizzard has allowed their game to become, and what that influence has had on the entire genre has been absolutely devastating.

     

    So you're a big raid fan... ok, well there's been plenty of MMO's with end game raiding. Not sure why you think that isn't a part of the current MMO scene...

     

    Somebody needs to step up and soon.  There is a playerbase out there absolutely foaming at the mouth for a new MMO to revitalize this stale genre.

     

    They have. They've flopped. people are tired of being dependent on Little Johnny, or Mom with baby, or sociopath bully, or neurotic drama-queen to help them enjoy the game they purchased.

    'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.


    When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.


    No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.


    How to become a millionaire:
    Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.

  • iamrtaiamrta Member UncommonPosts: 165
    There would be less soloing if there were less whiny know-it-all pricks.
  • VelocinoxVelocinox Member UncommonPosts: 1,010
    Originally posted by iamrta
    There would be less soloing if there were less whiny know-it-all pricks.

    Especially ones that say, 'Make the game force people to play with me!'

    'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.


    When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.


    No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.


    How to become a millionaire:
    Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.

  • KatillaKatilla Member UncommonPosts: 829
    i've been playing mmorpg's for a very lng time, but i enjoy hopping into a game and being able to solo things and not sit around spamming for a group for hours.  I got tired of that in EQ1, and aion for instances.  I like to be able to play by myself if i do not have too much time to play and get involved in anything, and i think it's cool that games nowadays give you the opportunity to do this.
  • jtcgsjtcgs Member Posts: 1,777

    The games haven't changed as much as people make it out to be, the players have changed more.

    You could solo almost the entire content in Ultima Online, Asherons Call 1, Anarchy Online and Star Wars Galaxies...the games haven't changed that much, its players attitude towards having to wait forever for a group and making raiding a damn JOB.

    You can still do the same old boring crap in modern games. Go on, wait around to form groups in SWTOR, WoW or GW2...you can still do it. You can also chose not to like many are doing.

    YOU chose to play it the way you are playing it...perhaps you just need a better guild. I sure don't have problems getting groups together in GW2 that's for sure.

    “I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson

  • HaitesHaites Member Posts: 69
    Originally posted by Velocinox
    Originally posted by iamrta
    There would be less soloing if there were less whiny know-it-all pricks.

    Especially ones that say, 'Make the game force people to play with me!'

    You seem particularly full of venom.  I'm sorry you had so many bad experiences with groups.  I had an amazing time in EQ and so did most of the people I've known.  Sure there were times when it was hard and the game wasn't without many flaws.  I definitely would not play a game as intense as EQ again, but I also don't think they got it all wrong.

    Frankly, the entire idea of solo play is the antithesis of what an MMORPG should be. There's already so many games where you don't have to interact with other real people. Why does every game have to cater to the person who only wants to log in for 15 minutes and can only handle 3 skills on a bar?

    I like that there is more variety available now.  I think it's great for gaming in general.  But maybe some games can start bringing back the ideas that made those games a success in the first place?

  • VelocinoxVelocinox Member UncommonPosts: 1,010
    Originally posted by Haites
    Originally posted by Velocinox
    Originally posted by iamrta
    There would be less soloing if there were less whiny know-it-all pricks.

    Especially ones that say, 'Make the game force people to play with me!'

    You seem particularly full of venom.  I'm sorry you had so many bad experiences with groups.  I had an amazing time in EQ and so did most of the people I've known.  Sure there were times when it was hard and the game wasn't without many flaws.  I definitely would not play a game as intense as EQ again, but I also don't think they got it all wrong.

    Frankly, the entire idea of solo play is the antithesis of what an MMORPG should be. There's already so many games where you don't have to interact with other real people. Why does every game have to cater to the person who only wants to log in for 15 minutes and can only handle 3 skills on a bar?

    I like that there is more variety available now.  I think it's great for gaming in general.  But maybe some games can start bringing back the ideas that made those games a success in the first place?

    1) please don't take that comment personally. There are just some people that are die-hard adamant that MMORPGs mean forced grouping like air means life. They have no room for any other interpretation, and MMO's should be made with only one playstyle in mind... theirs.

    2) You're assuming something about me with the soloing topic. Go back and read the post two above the one you quoted to get a better view of my idea of the changes that have occurred in MMO 'community' between EQ and now.

    'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.


    When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.


    No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.


    How to become a millionaire:
    Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.

  • jbombardjbombard Member UncommonPosts: 598

    People play games differently now.  Sitting around for hours trying to get groups together is no longer acceptable to most people.

     

    If you want to encourage social behavior in an MMORPG that is exactly what you need to do, encourage it not force it.  More activities and opportunities for people to socialize and group up dynamically with drop in drop out groups.

     

    All of the chat, grouping and social systems have to be designed in a manner that they help streamline the process not get in the way of it.

     

    The problem with games like WoW is that they often discourage social behavior, and often without thinking they are.  When you spend most of the game in queues to do instanced content, people aren't engaging in cooperative gameplay out in the world and while they are waiting on their queues they aren't inclined to help or socialize because they don't know when they will have to leave.  Kicking people out of queue when the group up to help someone out in the world doesn't help the situation.  When you don't let people create large groups to quest together because you are afraid they will trivialize the quest content you are missing the point.  The quest content was already trivial, but at least your are providing players with an opportunity to socialize.

     

     

  • VoqarVoqar Member UncommonPosts: 510

    There very thought of "best MMORPGs for soloists" makes me want to vomit.  Such a list shouldn't exist.

     

    The biggest problem with the genre right now IS solo - way too much emphasis on it in design and execution makes for weak MMORPGs that don't hold players - far lower quality of players - and overall weak MMORPG.

     

    MMORPGs are at their best when they are all about grouping and the massively multiplayer elements, with massively multiplayer meaning people working together on content via groups and raids, not a massive amount of soloists playing single player content next to each other and polluting chat with idiocy.

     

    Hopefully designers will wake up to this.  Are MMORPGs that sell a ton of copies and empty out almost immediately due to being glorified single player games really successful (when they have to go F2P and end up being a shell of their intended designs).

     

    Mutilating the genre to come up with different ways to solo isn't the answer to the MMORPG genre's woes.

     

    Returning the genre's roots and designing for the core players is the answer.  So what if you don't have 1-2m box sales on release day - those sales mean very little when 75% of those players bail after they finish all the solo content.  Forget about the solo content.  Make solo possible but return the focus to group play, and if soloists elect to not play, so be it - let them play single player games where they belong.

    Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.

  • DarthconnorDarthconnor Member UncommonPosts: 62

    I love how people now look at the words Massive Multiplayer Online role playing game and assume that it means or left out the world group/grouping. If it doesn't require a group at some point then its not a real MMORPG. Seems that most have forgotten they were just worlds created that didn't always require direct interaction but required multiple people playing to make it feel like a complete game. Grouping or forcing players to get together isn't what some of the older MMO's were built on. Sure you had tasks in alot of them that required it to get something done but you could still play alot of the game and enjoy it without the need to actually have to join and participate with others directly anyways. Think what these games meant for years were that the world wouldn't function or work well without alot of players going along their way inworld.

     

    SWG is a great example of needing MAssive Multiplayers while being able to solo most everything you wanted to do. No direct interaction required but there was a need for others in the game or you would be stuck without what you needed to play the game. It didn't require playing right along with others but did require others to play. THats what I think a MMO should be about.

     

    As it is now with games like WOW and SWTOR starting out new can be a bit harsh as lower level items often have insaely high prices attached to them for those that are creating alts and not for those that are starting off new and don't have a character that has a billion in a bank somewhere. Often I found zones were dead so the group activaties where pointless as there wasn't anyone else around to talk into grouping. Like another player said creating a group should be about adding to the reward and not about requirements or about adding in better loot. It should be about making gameplay slightly more enjoyable. After all these are games and games are meant to be fun...

  • AlbatroesAlbatroes Member LegendaryPosts: 7,671
    Rise of the MSORPGs! Massive Solo Online Role Playing Games....wait what?
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