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I prefer "sandbox with some themepark features", with the themepark features restricted to starting areas, guiding the new players into learning and dominating the game tools before venturing into the world.
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About half and half sounds right to me. Classes (if you have them) that are crafting dedicated, not side disciplines. Big open vibrant worlds or planets with quests (if you want) and plenty of exploration. Alternate ways to level besides becoming a massive slayer of everything moving. Have a good storyline or multiple ones that aren't required. Ability to enter world neutral and then pick your faction or choose not to, instead of choosing sides before entering the game world. Those are some things, could add more
What would some games be that fit into each category?
This is a bit hard to answer, because no one seems to know what exactly is a sandbox/themepark. I think some "themepark features" like some kind of introductory quests and starter areas are a must, but other than that, I don't really have a preference. I just want a high-quality game without poorly-designed FFA PvP.
I wanna do a list of mmos categorized by the options from the poll, but i dont know so much mmos in details like many people here, so i would like to have the help of you all. Please amplify and correct that list, if possible.
Sandbox => I know only Ultima Online and EVE fitting 100% that category. Darkfall and Mortal Online can be considered sandboxes too, but they have far less sandbox tools than UO, EVE and Archeage (which, paradoxically, will not be a pure sandbox). DF and MO seens more "PVP arenas".
Themepark => WoW, Rift, SWTOR, Tera...
Sandbox with some themepark features => Archeage, EverquestNext, Asheron's Call, Shadowbane...
Themepark with some sandbox features => Aion(?)
Sandbox and themepark in equal amount => Lineage 2
Really, some mmos lack both sandboxes AND themepark tools if compared to others. Lineage 2 is a example.
Themepark with some sandbox features => GW2, Firefall
Sandbox and themepark in equal amount => Anarchy Online
I guess.
How could i forget GW2...!
I never played it, but the informations that i received about it points to a mmo with VERY emphasis in instancing, which makes him a true themepark. What are its sandbox features?
Actually, the majority of GW2 isn't instanced. Only dungeons, small team PvP and so-called Personal Story (single-player) missions are. They're a very minor part of the game and can be ignored entirely. GW1 was entirely instanced.
As for its sandbox elements, being able to achieve max lvl by crafting, build siege engines and modify/conquer forts and castles, an emphasis on exploration and a relative lack of hand-holding are the ones that come to mind.
for myself i want sandbox. i want to be dumped into a harsh world with some cheap weapon and no idea what the hell im doing. I want to explore and figure things out, i want to meet people and ask for their help or help others with things i have figured out, i want death from level 1. not hand holding.
pretty much how DayZ is when you first play it.
That must have been before EQ at the latest.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
well from my experience. when you are forced to group to level up and colaborate with people youl get the social part with it?
i think people mean social when they talk about community and grouping. (and no dungeon running for 20mins without saying a word is not social at all) :P
voted sandbox with themepark elements btw. im not sure myself wich themepark elements are nice but some tools are good.
I can't really vote either themepark or sandbox.
The formula I prefer is:
Free roaming PVE focused on adventuring with few but difficult and rewarding quests.
Well established backstory. Some storyline for individual quests, but no arcs.
Roaming elites in overland that require groups and can easily squash soloers.
Public group-oriented dungeons, mixed linear and non-linear.
Emphasis on crafting with crafted gear on par with dungeon reward gear.
Emphasis on farming materials in dungeon and overland. Used by self or to sell to crafters.
Consensual faction-based PVP in the overland and dungeons. (no BGs or arenas).
Optional servers with non-consensual PVP everywhere.
Some towns are faction specific, others are neutral.
Town guards are weak enough that no area is ever safe from PVP if flagged or on a PVP server.
I guess this is sort of a mix of the two. For me it feels more like what oldschool would have progressed into if quest-hub hopping hadn't become the norm.
dungeons being open world not instances? My kind of game tbh
I prefer sandbox formula. It should give complete freedom. There should be 1000 profession in the game. If I'm a farmer, I should spend all of my time making crops. If I'm a trademan I should spend all my time in the market. Mob shouldn't be able to respawn instantly since it break immersion. So if I kill too many goblin, there won't be any goblin left. Unless those golbin mate with each other and produce offspring. And obviously if the godblin notice alot of people is killing them, they should hide in an area so people won't be able to hunt them. I should be able to get marry in the game too and have children. And there should be a need to eat 3 meal a day to stay alive. Might I add peeing and taking a dump should be in the game too, since without it, it break immersion.
Basically playing an mmorpg should be exactly like living and breathing in the world. Which is impossible to make. So in that case I prefer themepark game. Unless a true sandbox game with 500 billion budget is in the making.
As inevitable as the sunrise. Not you coretex, but rather nearly single sandbox discussion, ever.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Pure sandbox is my primary choice. I mess around with a couple themeparks, but most I can't stand. The things I dislike most in mmorpgs are themepark elements... quests, story, instances and stuff like that. The things I love most are lack of direction, player driven economies, open world housing and dynamic weather, realistic day/night cycles, hunger and thirst, slow pace.
So yeah, sandbox for me. the more pure the better. I'll play a couple themeparks which i do find fun, but they have to be separate for me. Merging the two would simply kill both angles for me.
But what is Themepark? and what exactly makes a sandbox "element"?
I don't care for these terms and I think people focus about these things too much that on and off themselves they really mean NOTHING.
An MMORPG is a complicated sum of game mechanics that all should work well together. Make one wrong design decision aspect and you end up with an MMORPG that I probably don't want to play. It doesn't matter if it's Themepark or Sandbox.
That's the real problem with MMORPGs, peopel think if you make a sandbox MMORPG it will be a success. Not necessary. The game, as a whole, should be made the way the designer had envisioned it. Every single aspect of it should compliment the other. If you compromise you end up with a bastard child.
I am also a strong believer in "inconveniences" in MMORPGs. Things should be tough and inconvenient. Otherwise what are you going to overcome if everything is instant, straightforward, easy and convenient?
But that doesn't work with the current game philosophy of Quest Hubs and Story Driven/HandHolding kind of experience. It simply doesn't work. Once you define a path for players to take, you cannot make things inconvenient. However, when you set the players FREE to get involved with your world (which must have static CONTENT like Dungeons, Factions, Places to Explore) and allow them to progress in various ways (economy, combat, socially) then you have a game I might be interested in.
MMORPGs are very complex that you can never mention a specific factor and expect that particular thing is going to make or break a game.