Old school MMO's expectations and realities.

Dewm · January 2013

In responce to a recent thread here on the site, which takes a look at the issue of players with higher game expectations, and I thought this was off topic enough that it didn't belong in the thread.

I see quite often around this site, how expectations are higher now, how we see games through rose colored glasses etc etc.. I'm here to tell you, you are wrong. Just plain wrong.

Do I have high expectations? no not at all, I want a remake of a game made in 2003 with updated graphics... is that to much to ask? do I have high expectations?.. I don't think so.

Now many old school MMO'ers on this site would probably agree with what I just said, just replace the said game. Whether its EQ, FFXI, SWG, UO etc... we don't have high expectations, we just expect to have what we had 10 years ago, we are tired of moving backwards..

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable. I don't think I am looking through rose colored glasses.. I am just looking back 10 years, and saying "wow that stuff was fun"

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

Disdena · January 2013

Expectation is subjective. Your opinion on the expectations of the community is doubly subjective. What's your reasoning for saying that expectations have not risen?

madazz · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm

In responce to a recent thread here on the site, which takes a look at the issue of players with higher game expectations, and I thought this was off topic enough that it didn't belong in the thread.

I see quite often around this site, how expectations are higher now, how we see games through rose colored glasses etc etc.. I'm here to tell you, you are wrong. Just plain wrong.

Do I have high expectations? no not at all, I want a remake of a game made in 2003 with updated graphics... is that to much to ask? do I have high expectations?.. I don't think so.

Now many old school MMO'ers on this site would probably agree with what I just said, just replace the said game. Whether its EQ, FFXI, SWG, UO etc... we don't have high expectations, we just expect to have what we had 10 years ago, we are tired of moving backwards..

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable. I don't think I am looking through rose colored glasses.. I am just looking back 10 years, and saying "wow that stuff was fun"

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

You know, we don't even know if it truly is a niche market. When these games we look back on were at their pique, MMO gaming in general was a niche market. For all we know if UO came back but with Diablo 3 style graphics it might be the newest biggest hit!! But we will never know because the suits take a different look to gaming than the indie guys. The big studios with the huge budgets don't want to take big risks, and the little guys just don't get the funding to see their dreams through entirely.

jtcgs · January 2013

I DO have high expectations. Why the hell shouldnt I? Why should I have LOW expectations? Why should I believe that a genre cannot evolve? Why should I except that companies CANNOT learn from history and continue to make the same mistakes over and over? Why should I except mediocrity with open arms? Why cant I expect something I want to be good...to actually be good?

There are few things worse than a consumer that believes he has no power or voice. One of them, is a consumer that has excepted that he has no power or voice and demands that others be the same and try to shut them down.

jimdandy26 · January 2013

Well, outside of the rather gigantic fact that those who comprise this site are an extreme minority you are also running into the business side. Simply put development costs have increased dramatically. The average wage for a game developer has increased by upwards of $15,000 a year over the last 10 years alone, and that number is just going to continue to climb. On top of that the amount of cost that comes along with making those "new graphics" has increased even more with all of the newer toolsets and associated software licenses required.

Besides all of that, you are also forgetting just how many of those "steps backward" came tied to rather large steps forward. Take any reasonable person who has stuck with WoW through its different iterations and ask them if they want to go back to vanilla. The answer will be a resounding no the vast majoriry of the time. Vanilla WoW was a complete mess after looking at how the combat itself has evolved over time. There will always be a give and take with any kind of development, with many people responding to things in many ways without them even understanding how or why they are responding in that fashion. If anything honestly developers are spending far too much time actually listening to the playerbase instead of doing what they feel is right.

Aelious · January 2013

The "old school" fans may be smaller in number compared to the playerbase brought in by WoW but the scene has changed in regards to population expectations. I think it's finally sunk in that there will not be another 5m+ sub game, at least not in the foreseeable future.

Using the lowball figure one the OP, 200k of subs would be more than enough to build and run a game if you consider box sales. If you made a game solid enough to attract the "old school" crowd it would be stable as well.

darkhalf357x · January 2013

Originally posted by madazz
Originally posted by Dewm

In responce to a recent thread here on the site, which takes a look at the issue of players with higher game expectations, and I thought this was off topic enough that it didn't belong in the thread.

I see quite often around this site, how expectations are higher now, how we see games through rose colored glasses etc etc.. I'm here to tell you, you are wrong. Just plain wrong.

Do I have high expectations? no not at all, I want a remake of a game made in 2003 with updated graphics... is that to much to ask? do I have high expectations?.. I don't think so.

Now many old school MMO'ers on this site would probably agree with what I just said, just replace the said game. Whether its EQ, FFXI, SWG, UO etc... we don't have high expectations, we just expect to have what we had 10 years ago, we are tired of moving backwards..

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable. I don't think I am looking through rose colored glasses.. I am just looking back 10 years, and saying "wow that stuff was fun"

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

You know, we don't even know if it truly is a niche market. When these games we look back on were at their pique, MMO gaming in general was a niche market. For all we know if UO came back but with Diablo 3 style graphics it might be the newest biggest hit!! But we will never know because the suits take a different look to gaming than the indie guys. The big studios with the huge budgets don't want to take big risks, and the little guys just don't get the funding to see their dreams through entirely.

My thoughts exactly. Why not re-release or 'clone' one of the older MMOs, re-skin it, and make it more 'approachable' There are some aspects of older MMOs I dont mind leaving in the past, such as corpse runs. XP deficit works fine here (for me).

ArcheAge looks to be a spirtual upgrade of old in some fashions. Its bringing back the 'exist in the world' versus run to max level feeling thats been missing for years.

tixylix · January 2013

I don't think we're a minority, maybe we're in terms of the worlds population but as games? I think we're a big enough market to try and make games for us. Dayz for example, 1.5 million people have downloaded it and lots of people love it. There is this need now to make games for hardcore gamers like Dark Souls. We see EVE Online doing just fine too and don't forget the reason why people loved BF3 MP over COD, there is this hardcore audience who want something with more depth.

Why haven't hardcore MMOs done well traditionally? Mainly because they're made by a small developer and they don't have the budget to make a polished experience. Also when has a casual dumbed down WoW clone done well? LOTRO, AoC, WAR, SWOTR, GW2 etc etc.... none of them have done that well, GW2 probably made people the happiest, however the population has dropped off, people lost inerest really quick because there was no depth.

Sandbox games also isn't this hardcore notion, Garry's Mod has millions of players, Minecraft has sold like 20 million, GTA as a series has sold like 60 million and MTA is probably one of the most popular onlines games for the PC. Sandbox MMOs just don't exist any more but EVE Online which doesn't appeal to most people because it's basically a text game. The other sandbox games were all from the 90s and early 00s so they're too old now. People just jumped on the WoW themepark band wagon and every single one has failed, no one has made a sanbox MMO since but small low budget developers.

People want a challenge when gaming, if you make something too easy the game gets boring fast, we've seen that trend where these shallow easy MMOs just lose their players quickly.

Dewm · January 2013

Originally posted by Aelious
The "old school" fans may be smaller in number compared to the playerbase brought in by WoW but the scene has changed in regards to population expectations. I think it's finally sunk in that there will not be another 5m+ sub game, at least not in the foreseeable future.

Using the lowball figure one the OP, 200k of subs would be more than enough to build and run a game if you consider box sales. If you made a game solid enough to attract the "old school" crowd it would be stable as well.

I was running on the small side of numbers, just for the sake of argument. But you also have to remember, even if you did a exact remake of any one of the "old school MMO's" it would never capture 100% of the "nitch market"

But like I said, for the sake of argument I put 200k, whatever the number is, we know there are more facebook/MMO-lite gamers out there then "old school MMO gamers"... and I think developers are fighting over the larger crowed and are forgetting us here in the back.

Reklaw · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm

In responce to a recent thread here on the site, which takes a look at the issue of players with higher game expectations, and I thought this was off topic enough that it didn't belong in the thread.

I see quite often around this site, how expectations are higher now, how we see games through rose colored glasses etc etc.. I'm here to tell you, you are wrong. Just plain wrong.

You might feel YOU are wrong with having high expectations but I sure have higher expectations then what MMO's deliver today.

Do I have high expectations? no not at all, I want a remake of a game made in 2003 with updated graphics... is that to much to ask? do I have high expectations?.. I don't think so.

How is that you want a larger feature listing, more content, player housing, interdependency and everything else from the old and still say that you don't have high expectations when you look at today's MMO's? that are in comparison far more limited then what we had?

Now many old school MMO'ers on this site would probably agree with what I just said, just replace the said game. Whether its EQ, FFXI, SWG, UO etc... we don't have high expectations, we just expect to have what we had 10 years ago, we are tired of moving backwards..

Thus even you seem to show clearly to have high expectations. You want updated graphics, you already know how large of a hit that is towards coding a game let along having high end graphics combined with a large feature list most of us old scholers want.

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable. I don't think I am looking through rose colored glasses.. I am just looking back 10 years, and saying "wow that stuff was fun"

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

Funny thing is that many who left old school games back in the day often complained that they felt like jobs, where with today's MMO market I feel these games actually feel allot more like jobs then games due to the nature of how things are set up, you will be excluded from raid X party if you do not meet their demands in stats, it's all to serious now when grouping, nobody talks anymore as they are all working their job to complete the mission within a set time stamp. Most rush thru the content to get at end game.

I have to wonder if "we" the niche MMORPG player are not making enough revenue, I mean in most oldschool games people kept playing for years, today person A play's MMO X for a few day's and hops to another MMO because these games are setup like normal multiplayer games where the player doesn't need any kind of devotion towards the ingameworld or community. Still I am glad they are there cause plenty of players enjoy them. I just feel there is room for MMORPG to go far beyond single/multiplayer games as I have experianced with the old school MMORPG's.

Your last sentence doesn't make sence as you try to exclude gamers from a genre they might enjoy in it's current state which is lets face it larger then the niche MMORPG gamer.

Just lets hope that future MMORPG deliver us a more old school experiance with lots and lots of feature's that go beyond being merly combat oriented.

Dewm · January 2013

Originally posted by darkhalf357x
Originally posted by madazz
Originally posted by Dewm

In responce to a recent thread here on the site, which takes a look at the issue of players with higher game expectations, and I thought this was off topic enough that it didn't belong in the thread.

I see quite often around this site, how expectations are higher now, how we see games through rose colored glasses etc etc.. I'm here to tell you, you are wrong. Just plain wrong.

Do I have high expectations? no not at all, I want a remake of a game made in 2003 with updated graphics... is that to much to ask? do I have high expectations?.. I don't think so.

Now many old school MMO'ers on this site would probably agree with what I just said, just replace the said game. Whether its EQ, FFXI, SWG, UO etc... we don't have high expectations, we just expect to have what we had 10 years ago, we are tired of moving backwards..

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable. I don't think I am looking through rose colored glasses.. I am just looking back 10 years, and saying "wow that stuff was fun"

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

You know, we don't even know if it truly is a niche market. When these games we look back on were at their pique, MMO gaming in general was a niche market. For all we know if UO came back but with Diablo 3 style graphics it might be the newest biggest hit!! But we will never know because the suits take a different look to gaming than the indie guys. The big studios with the huge budgets don't want to take big risks, and the little guys just don't get the funding to see their dreams through entirely.

My thoughts exactly. Why not re-release or 'clone' one of the older MMOs, re-skin it, and make it more 'approachable' There are some aspects of older MMOs I dont mind leaving in the past, such as corpse runs. XP deficit works fine here (for me).

ArcheAge looks to be a spirtual upgrade of old in some fashions. Its bringing back the 'exist in the world' versus run to max level feeling thats been missing for years.

And thats exactly why I've been waiting the last few years for AA.. its not everything I want.. but it does look to be the closest thing.

What I would LOVE is an almost exact remake of FFXI start at the Chains of Promathia expansion, with updated graphics. Thats what I had hoped FFXIV would be... but instead it was just a horrible horrible car wreck. (but they are coming out with FFXIV 2.0)...so maybe....

*turns blue holding breath*

Dewm · January 2013

Originally posted by Reklaw
Originally posted by Dewm

In responce to a recent thread here on the site, which takes a look at the issue of players with higher game expectations, and I thought this was off topic enough that it didn't belong in the thread.

I see quite often around this site, how expectations are higher now, how we see games through rose colored glasses etc etc.. I'm here to tell you, you are wrong. Just plain wrong.

You might feel YOU are wrong with having high expectations but I sure have higher expectations then what MMO's deliver today.

Do I have high expectations? no not at all, I want a remake of a game made in 2003 with updated graphics... is that to much to ask? do I have high expectations?.. I don't think so.

How is that you want a larger feature listing, more content, player housing, interdependency and everything else from the old and still say that you don't have high expectations when you look at today's MMO's? that are in comparison far more limited then what we had?

Now many old school MMO'ers on this site would probably agree with what I just said, just replace the said game. Whether its EQ, FFXI, SWG, UO etc... we don't have high expectations, we just expect to have what we had 10 years ago, we are tired of moving backwards..

Thus even you seem to show clearly to have high expectations. You want updated graphics, you already know how large of a hit that is towards coding a game let along having high end graphics combined with a large feature list most of us old scholers want.

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable. I don't think I am looking through rose colored glasses.. I am just looking back 10 years, and saying "wow that stuff was fun"

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

>snip<

I think we are pretty much agreeing here,

My arguement is that I don't have high expectations, I just expect to have at LEAST what we had 10 years ago.

But alot of people here on the forum say "we have to high of expectations from the devs" and my answer is nooo, with current tech. and the amount of people in the MMO market, that the current MMO-Lite crowed have very very very low expectations from where we were 10 years ago.

Loktofeit · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable.

When half the items you wants are things that the majority of gamers despise, yes it's unreasonable to think a dev would spend money making it for the small crowd that wants it. Expecially since no two people in that crowd have the same list of what they want from an MMO.

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

You assign a perjorative ("MMO-lite crowd') to your audience, incorrectly called your personal wish list "old school mmo" to ensure that anyone disagreeing obviously isn't "old school" and then tell your audience to go find another forum if they don't like what you have to say.

If you just wanted to tell people with other views to F off, why create a new thread to do so?

Dewm · January 2013

Originally posted by Loktofeit
Originally posted by Dewm

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable.

When half the items you wants are things that the majority of gamers despise, yes it's unreasonable to think a dev would spend money making it for the small crowd that wants it. Expecially since no two people in that crowd have the same list of what they want from an MMO.

You must need to get your reading comprehension checked.. That is nothing like what I said. I listed quite a few old school MMO's. The list you just quoted was my own personal list of things I liked in FFXI.. In fact at the end of my post I actually said "we'll never see it happen because its to much of a small nitch market"

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

You assign a perjorative ("MMO-lite crowd') to your audience, incorrectly called your personal wish list "old school mmo" to ensure that anyone disagreeing obviously isn't "old school" and then tell your audience to go find another forum if they don't like what you have to say.

If you just wanted to tell people with other views to F off, why create a new thread to do so?

PMS much? yes I generalized, no I didn't go through the 30million+ people, and name what every single one likes about different MMO's. But there is deffinitly a certain crown that likes the newer (MMO-lite) games.. and a smaller crowed that likes the older (oldschool) games.

Don't really see how I told anyone to "F off"... if anyone, it sounds like you who have the problem

DamonVile · January 2013

Originally posted by Loktofeit
Originally posted by Dewm

Favorit things about FFXI? indepth crafting, enough to keep you busy for months, forced partying, grinding, player housing.. I don't think any of these things are unresonable.

When half the items you wants are things that the majority of gamers despise, yes it's unreasonable to think a dev would spend money making it for the small crowd that wants it. Expecially since no two people in that crowd have the same list of what they want from an MMO.

Now why don't we have that stuff today? because our nitch market of 200-400k ppl isn't as much of a money maker as the MMO-lite crowed of today. So we'll probably never see a "old school mmo again" Now are you tired of hearing us bitch and complain?...find a different forum to visit.

You assign a perjorative ("MMO-lite crowd') to your audience, incorrectly called your personal wish list "old school mmo" to ensure that anyone disagreeing obviously isn't "old school" and then tell your audience to go find another forum if they don't like what you have to say.

If you just wanted to tell people with other views to F off, why create a new thread to do so?

They need a +1 feature for some posts

The hard core/ old school thing always seems to come down to the same elitist BS.

Disdena · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm

And thats exactly why I've been waiting the last few years for AA.. its not everything I want.. but it does look to be the closest thing.

What I would LOVE is an almost exact remake of FFXI start at the Chains of Promathia expansion, with updated graphics. Thats what I had hoped FFXIV would be... but instead it was just a horrible horrible car wreck. (but they are coming out with FFXIV 2.0)...so maybe....

*turns blue holding breath*

Did you play FFXI at the start of the Chains of Promathia expansion?

Did you like it?

Then why can't you play it now unless the graphics are better? Higher expectations? (I'm asking this as someone who played FFXI for a few years at release and then resubscribed last year.)

MicMan · January 2013

I think that the expectations are often not too high but rather impossible in the sense that a new game should do everything exactly like in that half remembered magical very first MMO, only better!

And thats impossible because the magic and the excitement of the first time never come back and a game that does everything like, for example, WoW will never be better than WoW.

Dewm · January 2013

Originally posted by aktalat
Originally posted by Disdena
Expectation is subjective. Your opinion on the expectations of the community is doubly subjective. What's your reasoning for saying that expectations have not risen?

>snip<

An example would be Age of Empires Online (what a way to kill a franchise)

But anyways, AoEO is really just a RTS with a lobby system. You have your "home city" which is just a lobby to either do, solo quest, or play multiplayer with up 2-4 people... how is that a MMO?!!?

But by todays standards.. it is.

Dewm · January 2013

Originally posted by Disdena
Originally posted by Dewm

And thats exactly why I've been waiting the last few years for AA.. its not everything I want.. but it does look to be the closest thing.

What I would LOVE is an almost exact remake of FFXI start at the Chains of Promathia expansion, with updated graphics. Thats what I had hoped FFXIV would be... but instead it was just a horrible horrible car wreck. (but they are coming out with FFXIV 2.0)...so maybe....

*turns blue holding breath*

Did you play FFXI at the start of the Chains of Promathia expansion?

Did you like it?

Then why can't you play it now unless the graphics are better? Higher expectations? (I'm asking this as someone who played FFXI for a few years at release and then resubscribed last year.)

I played FFXI from the start of the NA launch (I think it was 2003?), and I played untill around 2006 where I quite because of school...and it was just taking to much of my time, (literally 5-8 hrs a day)"

I came back in 2010 (I think thats what it was) and with the Abyssea expansion the whole game changed (and not for the better IMO), I tried to play for a while, but the new expansion + the really small population + dated graphics + FFXIV announced, I just had a hard time staying interested.

I still loved going back and doing the old school stuff, (grinding in the dunes, exploring area's and what-not), but the population was so low in those areas you just couldn't get a party. Most people just leveled to max in a week or so with the Abyssea leveling system..

...anyways it still makes me kinda sad, but it doesn't change the fact that we have moved backwards options/complexity wise in the last 10 years.

Disdena · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm
Originally posted by aktalat
Originally posted by Disdena
Expectation is subjective. Your opinion on the expectations of the community is doubly subjective. What's your reasoning for saying that expectations have not risen?

>snip<

An example would be Age of Empires Online (what a way to kill a franchise)

But anyways, AoEO is really just a RTS with a lobby system. You have your "home city" which is just a lobby to either do, solo quest, or play multiplayer with up 2-4 people... how is that a MMO?!!?

But by todays standards.. it is.

That's a completely different topic. I'm talking about what you created this thread to discuss: whether or not MMO players have higher expectations now than we did back then. The looser criteria for being considered an MMO is moot.

Dewm · January 2013

Originally posted by Disdena
Originally posted by Dewm
Originally posted by aktalat
Originally posted by Disdena
Expectation is subjective. Your opinion on the expectations of the community is doubly subjective. What's your reasoning for saying that expectations have not risen?

>snip<

An example would be Age of Empires Online (what a way to kill a franchise)

But anyways, AoEO is really just a RTS with a lobby system. You have your "home city" which is just a lobby to either do, solo quest, or play multiplayer with up 2-4 people... how is that a MMO?!!?

But by todays standards.. it is.

That's a completely different topic. I'm talking about what you created this thread to discuss: whether or not MMO players have higher expectations now than we did back then. The looser criteria for being considered an MMO is moot.

I was responding to Aktalat, he was respond to you.

Goatgod76 · January 2013

Agree with OP and am hoping EQNext (or whatever they decide to finally name it) is to a large degree a reskin of EQ.

Also want to add how funny it is to me it's always the same 3 people...mostly (Only 1 of which I've seen post in here...so far) that feel the need to constantly rain on any old school MMO threads parade when they could easily just ignore it and move on. Seems they are on a personal mission to be sure no one gets what they want but them....despite a much larger crowd seeking these than they may think.

Reklaw · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm

I think we are pretty much agreeing here,

My arguement is that I don't have high expectations, I just expect to have at LEAST what we had 10 years ago.

But alot of people here on the forum say "we have to high of expectations from the devs" and my answer is nooo, with current tech. and the amount of people in the MMO market, that the current MMO-Lite crowed have very very very low expectations from where we were 10 years ago.

True we seem to want the same thing yet I do consider myself having high expectations because of all the feature's I miss from the old and would want them back but with high end graphics as in MMO standards as we aint there yet compared to singleplayer graphics.

To be honost if I didn't consider myself to have high expectations I am sure I would still be playing some of the older MMORPG's, I just can't I too have been spoiled, SWG spoiled me with the freedom and it's feature's and player made content no MMORPG I played or tried has even come close. I want those same things but with today´s graphics, sorry that´s allot to ask for thus giving me high expectations.

Disdena · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm
Originally posted by Disdena

Did you play FFXI at the start of the Chains of Promathia expansion?

Did you like it?

Then why can't you play it now unless the graphics are better? Higher expectations? (I'm asking this as someone who played FFXI for a few years at release and then resubscribed last year.)

I played FFXI from the start of the NA launch (I think it was 2003?), and I played untill around 2006 where I quite because of school...and it was just taking to much of my time, (literally 5-8 hrs a day)"

I came back in 2010 (I think thats what it was) and with the Abyssea expansion the whole game changed (and not for the better IMO), I tried to play for a while, but the new expansion + the really small population + dated graphics + FFXIV announced, I just had a hard time staying interested.

I still loved going back and doing the old school stuff, (grinding in the dunes, exploring area's and what-not), but the population was so low in those areas you just couldn't get a party. Most people just leveled to max in a week or so with the Abyssea leveling system..

...anyways it still makes me kinda sad, but it doesn't change the fact that we have moved backwards options/complexity wise in the last 10 years.

We're in roughly the same boat there. I also played from launch til about 2006, and my main mode of play now that I've returned is "doing the old school stuff" with a small group of friends rather than doing a fast-track powerlevel on the content designed to do exactly that.

But here's where my view differs from yours. I remember back when the game launched, people had a lot of things to gripe about. Jobs were imbalanced. Parties took too long to form because they were too job dependent. Quests and missions required walkthroughs because they were too vague or required unreasonable leaps of logic. The easiest and most accessible camp spots were overcrowded, because faraway difficult zones weren't feasible for pickup parties. High level parties often fought the same exact models of enemies (not even palette-swapped!) that they fought in the newbie zone, which only added to the monotony of the grind. Travelling from place to place was inconvenient even when it wasn't hazardous. New abilities came far too infrequently for non-mage jobs. Inventory space was very limited. Travelling around was inconvenient even when it wasn't dangerous. The interface was clunky. Alt-tabbing and windowed mode weren't allowed. PlayOnline made logging in take forever, and made billing confusing. I'm not even scratching the surface with this list.

Now, most of these things are things that I don't mind. But there were people who did. They minded them a lot. And they kept playing anyway. That's what I mean when I say that expectations have risen. Back then, you could make a game that had all of these... "frustrations", and people would still flock to the game and stick with it for years. That doesn't happen so much anymore. You'll see someone on these forums cry "Why don't they make a game where you can do X, Y, and Z!?" And when someone responds "Well, Such-and-Such game has all of those features", they just say "Oh, the characters aren't customizable enough in that game" or "I don't like the anime-ish art style" or "The housing is instanced" or "I don't like that you can't swim." If a game doesn't have EVERYTHING you want, it's not worth playing.

Can you imagine if people felt that way in 1999? If people were unwilling to settle for a game that had some features they didn't like, how many subscribers do you think EQ would've had? 50? 20?

ignore_me · January 2013

well said OP. Regression of systems in new games is bullshit. Each new iteration is dumbed down from previous games. Less options, less complexity, less variation. It's awful. It's like being forced to watch either old reruns, or sesame street. That's the choice these days.

nariusseldon · January 2013

Originally posted by Dewm
Originally posted by aktalat
Originally posted by Disdena
Expectation is subjective. Your opinion on the expectations of the community is doubly subjective. What's your reasoning for saying that expectations have not risen?

>snip<

An example would be Age of Empires Online (what a way to kill a franchise)

But anyways, AoEO is really just a RTS with a lobby system. You have your "home city" which is just a lobby to either do, solo quest, or play multiplayer with up 2-4 people... how is that a MMO?!!?

But by todays standards.. it is.

And? So what if the definition of MMO changes.

Howdy, Stranger!

Old school MMO's expectations and realities.

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Old school MMO's expectations and realities.

Comments