So who here has been the MMO Guru?

MMOExposed

Who here has been the MMO Guru on this forum?

what I mean by this, is somebody that been able to accurately predict what would go wrong with each new hyped up MMO "Before" it gets any public release (pub-beta/alpha, early release, actual release).

i just had a thought. What if more MMOs in development stages had some of these MMO gurus look over some of the design decisions ahead of time which could save developers tons of money, time and other resources for developing these MMOs to be better on public release.

i figured we had a system like this already in place, called "in-house testers"... But then I learned that they just mostly check for bugs,,, not bad game design decisions itself.

and public beta is just a demo, long after resources are already used. So bad design decisions are too late to be changed by then before public first impressions are already made.

but catching some of these bad design decisions ahead of time before all those resources are wasted, could be beneficial to MMO developers and MMOs collectively.

IsilithTehroth

I can for the most part accurately depict what flaws and why the game will flop as I have in many posts.(Quite a few bannings too from speaking about it from fanboi mods). Check my forum post history.

I have given in to hype, but when I play beta or release I know for sure if the game will do well in terms of P2P going F2P bad mechanics ect.

GeezerGamer

Very few problems with MMO design and development have escaped discussion on these boards before release. I think this community as a whole is your guru. But then the fanboys and haters enter in who won't allow reasonable discussions of game issues.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Lobotomist

I was probably only one on this forum to predict SWTOR going F2P so shortly after release

MMOExposed

IsilithTehroth said:

I can for the most part accurately depict what flaws and why the game will flop as I have in many posts.(Quite a few bannings too from speaking about it from fanboi mods). Check my forum post history.

I have given in to hype, but when I play beta or release I know for sure if the game will do well in terms of P2P going F2P bad mechanics ect.

Now just imagine what those games would have been like had your feedback been made before resources were dumped into whatever flawed design decisions somebody at the top made,,,

so many flop MMOs could have been far more successful. 

I want to say something about Elder Scrolls Online, but perhaps it's not best right here and at this time.

Arglebargle

DMKano said:

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Unless it is digital and face is blank.....

IsilithTehroth

MMOExposed said:

IsilithTehroth said:

I can for the most part accurately depict what flaws and why the game will flop as I have in many posts.(Quite a few bannings too from speaking about it from fanboi mods). Check my forum post history.

I have given in to hype, but when I play beta or release I know for sure if the game will do well in terms of P2P going F2P bad mechanics ect.

Now just imagine what those games would have been like had your feedback been made before resources were dumped into whatever flawed design decisions somebody at the top made,,,

so many flop MMOs could have been far more successful. 

I want to say something about Elder Scrolls Online, but perhaps it's not best right here and at this time.

Hmm not finding some of my more details posts about changes; many were on the game forums themselves.
Such as:
Planetside 2-
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/ps2/index.php?threads/making-a-better-game.49902/

EQ Next-
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/comment/6838848/#Comment_6838848

There are loads others but i'd have to sift through all my posts and I don't have time currently. Not saying I am the know it all of mmorpgs but I know my own tastes and refinement and generally what alot of veterans on mmo rather have than not.

Kyleran

I am certainly no seer regarding the tastes of the general marketplace.

I am always quite amazed at what people will play and pay for, and realize I am the odd man out when it comes to gamers preferences.

I really haven't seen any MMOS fail to speak of, perhaps under perform against some folks sometimes unreasonable expectations.

But don't look to me to predict market trends, my track record is no good.

netglen

Arglebargle said:

DMKano said:

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Unless it is digital and face is blank.....

That or the reason why the analog clock was broken in the first place was one or more hands were missing.

Amathe

I called out Heroes Journey as vaporware years before it fizzled. Seems like an easy prediction to make now, but I caught unparalleled hell at the time. 

Offsetting that prescience was me buying hook, line and sinker into the hype of that complete piece of shite known as Warhammer Online. *blushes*

stayontarget

I'm just here to hand out the "pat on the back award" to the winner.

rojoArcueid

Im no guru, but i still believe when i said that Combat and animations was the problem in TSW, and combat  plus dull restricted classes ruined Wildstar.

Both games tried to "get better" and failed at it, im 100% sure its because they didnt change the actual problems the games still have to this day.

Quirhid

I predicted CCP's Dust 514 was going to be a dud the moment they announced it. There was no scenario it could work:

1. Not for PC
2. The competition in console FPS market is tough. There was plenty of good, high profile console FPS games available and upcoming at the time.
   
3. It was yet another space marine shooter among many
   

Maybe that was an easy one. Its the only real prediction I've made.

Razeekster

I was a huge fanboi for GW2 until I played the beta and realized that it really wasn't different from any other themepark besides a lack of trinity classes and not having to run to NPC to turn in quests. A game that was touted as having no grind somehow had 80 levels of generic, boring quests disguised in the form of public events. Hilaaarrrrriioooous!

simsalabim77

Not sure, but there's a lot of them on this website. WoW's death has been imminent since 2004. 

maskedweasel

I've been right a few times.. I've been wrong a few times.  

There isn't a way to really predict inherent design flaws.  I mean sure we can try and see into the future how a system may or may not work, but nobody, even game companies with all of their funds can't determine what the player base really wants.


Game companies want to create that game that everyone wants to play (even those really niche titles still wants to get the majority of players in that niche)  If there was a guy out there that had the answers, someone would have hired him.


BUT we here on MMORPG.com have no answers.  We're a bunch of misfits, goobers and weirdos that will literally hate a game because its not a different game.  We are irrational, and emotional and the most educated uneducated consumers out there.  We know everything about all these different games, but we have a hard time deciding which ones we should devote our time to - or even if they're "worthy". 

Nobody should ask our opinions.  For every one question we'll have a hundred different answers on this board alone and they'll all be different.  There would be no way to elect one MMO guru to speak for us all.  

Amathe

maskedweasel said:

We're a bunch of misfits, goobers and weirdos that will literally hate a game because its not a different game.  

If these are the options, dibs on goober. 

Shodanas

Lobotomist said:

I was probably only one on this forum to predict SWTOR going F2P so shortly after release

SWTOR utilizes a hybrid f2p / sub model. The main purpose of the f2p aspect is to make you subscribe or at least become preferred.

Quirhid

Razeekster said:

I was a huge fanboi for GW2 until I played the beta and realized that it really wasn't different from any other themepark besides a lack of trinity classes and not having to run to NPC to turn in quests. A game that was touted as having no grind somehow had 80 levels of generic, boring quests disguised in the form of public events. Hilaaarrrrriioooous!

Arenanet tried to get a piece of the bigger pie. A sad thing to witness. Hopefully someone else will make a decent CORPG soon with good PvP.

Talonsin

Being a gamer from way back in the 80's playing on the Commadore-64 and playing just about every game that has come along since, I am now qualified to say "I dont know squat". 

MMOExposed

Shodanas said:

Lobotomist said:

I was probably only one on this forum to predict SWTOR going F2P so shortly after release

SWTOR utilizes a hybrid f2p / sub model. The main purpose of the f2p aspect is to make you subscribe or at least become preferred.

I said it early on. SWTOR's problem was it was made by people that put Store First before Gameplay. That works on console single player RPGs like Dragon Age,

but never in the MMO genre, in which most people skip story anyway. Gameplay always have to be superior. Strong IPs and Story alone dont cut it anymore in the MMO genre.

The character animations also needed work to be appealing on the eyes. We all know MMOs are all about eye candy in terms of gear and weapons. Graphics dont need to be top, but animations and combat need to be smooth. no animation locks.

Also the instanced world was a killer. again this is not a single player game. that works in that environment. Not in MMOs.

the gameplay was just second to story. that killed its chance from ever being great.

Spending all those resources on Voice Overs for story that most people will skip anyway. Bad Design decisions there... oh well.

Sanisar

MMOExposed said:

Shodanas said:

Lobotomist said:

I was probably only one on this forum to predict SWTOR going F2P so shortly after release

SWTOR utilizes a hybrid f2p / sub model. The main purpose of the f2p aspect is to make you subscribe or at least become preferred.

I said it early on. SWTOR's problem was it was made by people that put Store First before Gameplay. That works on console single player RPGs like Dragon Age,

but never in the MMO genre, in which most people skip story anyway. Gameplay always have to be superior. Strong IPs and Story alone dont cut it anymore in the MMO genre.

The character animations also needed work to be appealing on the eyes. We all know MMOs are all about eye candy in terms of gear and weapons. Graphics dont need to be top, but animations and combat need to be smooth. no animation locks.

Also the instanced world was a killer. again this is not a single player game. that works in that environment. Not in MMOs.

the gameplay was just second to story. that killed its chance from ever being great.

Spending all those resources on Voice Overs for story that most people will skip anyway. Bad Design decisions there... oh well.

I brought up a ton of the issues in SWTOR on the forums years before launch.  If you were on those forums for 2-3 years before launch then you know exactly how much the (mostly Bioware) users were willing to listen to anything approaching criticism.

In the end everything I said was true, though it was very obvious if you didn't wear rose-colored lenses.  The one thing nobody knew beforehand was how big of a disaster the actual game engine would be.

I remember being actually berated by users there for saying that it wouldn't be the 'proverbial WoW-killer'.  I wasn't even bashing the game, just being objective.

That's usually the problem people have with predictions though, it's really hard to see objectively through the hype-storm that surrounds a lot of games.  That being said even if you are objective about the game itself, success is still dependent on the market, other games that release in the same window (expansions as well), the type of community the game draws, and many other factors.