Large scale open world PvE events. They seem to inevitably turn into either a brainless zerg event if they are too easy (see GW2's dragon events), or if they are too hard are deserted by all, but a few people trying to herd cats and explain the mechanics one-more-time (see GW2's dragon events - yea, that's not a typo ).
The gradual shift to a gaming model where you expect/are guaranteed to get a continual stream of rewards each week, which constantly undermines previous rewards.
Oh and instances where facerolling AOE everything to the point where CC and healing is redundant and then hiding the issues by making challenge = 'speed run'. Stupid design beyond belief!
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Lfg tool... ever since i've seen this invented its made the mmo scene even more lifeless... there's the odd hi and off u go zerging through a instance to get a achievement or 1 certain item... and then there's the situation where there's no bloody tank or healer and all DPS!!! guild wars has the right direction where it doesn't matter what class you are... but it needs to evolve more from it more to make working together worth while... alah FFXI days were u NEEDED TO GROUP non of this solo crap.... MMO MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER not solo player... bring back the early 2000's again PLEASE
Not exactly a game feature, but something that I've been encountering in a number of recent MMOs I've played. It completely changes the way the game is played for every player in a way that I absolutely abhor and will ensure that I keep away from that game no matter what.
There's really only a couple of "absolutes" for me since I can enjoy a variety of game types, at least for a while.
One thing that will absolutely turn me away from a game and prevent my ever reading further, much less trying it to see what else it has to offer, is forced pvp. I won't play any game where pvp is not completely optional, and I won't play any game where pvp is the focus and causes endless nerfing of pve content in order to "balance" pvp.
Unfortunately for me, I've noticed a rather disturbing trend lately while looking at games in development, particularly those asking for crowd funding. They will say on their main page that you can opt out of pvp, that pvp is entirely consensual, but if you look into it a little further you find that it's designed in such a way as to "nudge" non-pvp people into pvp by placing roadblocks to pve, like placing all high end resources in pvp zones and having "safe zones" only in very small areas like towns and/or faction bases. That's what they call "consensual" pvp. lol. I won't mention the names of those games here, but if they ever read these threads they know who they are.
I've learned to look very carefully before leaping because I refuse to be subject to attempts at pushing me into a playstyle not of my choosing.
1. The lack of incentive to group past instanced content. Solo quest grinding has become the fastest way to level in modern MMOs and that's just... Boring. If I wanted to level someone singleplayer and feel like the hero of the story, I'd play The Witcher/Dragon Age/Mass Effect/ Diablo/Path of Exile/Deus Ex/Masquerade:Bloodlines/Watch Dogs/any other singleplayer RPG. I play MMOs because they're just that: massively multiplayer.
Logged into DAoC today and, at level one, I was able to take on one mob of my level. That's it. Any more would be dicey at best. And after that mob, I needed to rest before the next one. So whaddya know? After about 20 minutes of solo, finding my way, outta nowhere another couple newbies come up: "wanna group?" Of course! And we proceeded to make great progress taking on much harder fights. And I'll be damned if they were friendly and not total pricks, too. That's crazy, isn't it? And I actually felt like I was playing an MMORPG again, instead of a singleplayer RPG in a shared world.
2. Horrible UIs. It takes a really confusing, clunky UI to break a game, but if the UI is bunk, I'll never even consider playing it. That's one thing I think MMOs have definitely, objectively improved upon over the years. There's no reason to regress in that category. Not much more needs to be said.
3. PvP that isn't separated into tiers based on level. It's the reason I gave up on ESO PvP and let my subscription run out. I have no interest in my only PvP option while leveling being, "well, you can go get ganked repeatedly by VR10s.... Or maybe man a catapult in the zerg ball- again, provided you don't get ganked by VR10s." Disgusting. A persistent battleground instance, basically set up as a miniature version of the games endgame PvP, is probably the best thing you can do for PvP in your game. It eases players into the system, is completely optional (they have to enter the instance), and the only problem that can even present itself is twinks. But short of placing an easily hit, hard cap on stats for those "BGs," that's an unavoidable problem.
Comments
Boring game world, boring racial selections
Lack of nonlinear dungeons
Fast leveling
Jack of all trades characters
crafting with no ability to influence item you are making and guaranteed success
twitch combat or combat with constant gcd spam
Lack of rewarding quests. Im fine for quest leveling but games also need bigger quests mixed in as well. Like EQ2's heritage quests.
The gradual shift to a gaming model where you expect/are guaranteed to get a continual stream of rewards each week, which constantly undermines previous rewards.
Oh and instances where facerolling AOE everything to the point where CC and healing is redundant and then hiding the issues by making challenge = 'speed run'. Stupid design beyond belief!
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
add
- the new trend of megasmart server ...
- world/general chat (as i saw someone else mentioned)
- PvP based on NPC factions
- 1234556 skills on your screen
- classes restrictions
- global trading markets
- loading screens
- the moto "give us insane more money to be able to join our beta"
- bad graphics/animations (the reason i turned down many interesting MMOs out there), i want art and good aesthetics in my daily gameplay
Well, to name a few:
- Dungeon Finder
- F2P model
- Overdone instancing (there's a fine line there somewhere, and it's difficult to put a finger on it)
- Anime-style themes
All I can think of right now.
The Weekly Wizardry blog
Not exactly a game feature, but something that I've been encountering in a number of recent MMOs I've played. It completely changes the way the game is played for every player in a way that I absolutely abhor and will ensure that I keep away from that game no matter what.
Multi-boxing
"Single Player MMO"
- when I find that MMO is Single Player focused (everything is soloable), I stop reading about it.
There's really only a couple of "absolutes" for me since I can enjoy a variety of game types, at least for a while.
One thing that will absolutely turn me away from a game and prevent my ever reading further, much less trying it to see what else it has to offer, is forced pvp. I won't play any game where pvp is not completely optional, and I won't play any game where pvp is the focus and causes endless nerfing of pve content in order to "balance" pvp.
Unfortunately for me, I've noticed a rather disturbing trend lately while looking at games in development, particularly those asking for crowd funding. They will say on their main page that you can opt out of pvp, that pvp is entirely consensual, but if you look into it a little further you find that it's designed in such a way as to "nudge" non-pvp people into pvp by placing roadblocks to pve, like placing all high end resources in pvp zones and having "safe zones" only in very small areas like towns and/or faction bases. That's what they call "consensual" pvp. lol. I won't mention the names of those games here, but if they ever read these threads they know who they are.
I've learned to look very carefully before leaping because I refuse to be subject to attempts at pushing me into a playstyle not of my choosing.
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
Gold buying.
Everything else is a distant second.
1. The lack of incentive to group past instanced content. Solo quest grinding has become the fastest way to level in modern MMOs and that's just... Boring. If I wanted to level someone singleplayer and feel like the hero of the story, I'd play The Witcher/Dragon Age/Mass Effect/ Diablo/Path of Exile/Deus Ex/Masquerade:Bloodlines/Watch Dogs/any other singleplayer RPG. I play MMOs because they're just that: massively multiplayer.
Logged into DAoC today and, at level one, I was able to take on one mob of my level. That's it. Any more would be dicey at best. And after that mob, I needed to rest before the next one. So whaddya know? After about 20 minutes of solo, finding my way, outta nowhere another couple newbies come up: "wanna group?" Of course! And we proceeded to make great progress taking on much harder fights. And I'll be damned if they were friendly and not total pricks, too. That's crazy, isn't it? And I actually felt like I was playing an MMORPG again, instead of a singleplayer RPG in a shared world.
2. Horrible UIs. It takes a really confusing, clunky UI to break a game, but if the UI is bunk, I'll never even consider playing it. That's one thing I think MMOs have definitely, objectively improved upon over the years. There's no reason to regress in that category. Not much more needs to be said.
3. PvP that isn't separated into tiers based on level. It's the reason I gave up on ESO PvP and let my subscription run out. I have no interest in my only PvP option while leveling being, "well, you can go get ganked repeatedly by VR10s.... Or maybe man a catapult in the zerg ball- again, provided you don't get ganked by VR10s." Disgusting. A persistent battleground instance, basically set up as a miniature version of the games endgame PvP, is probably the best thing you can do for PvP in your game. It eases players into the system, is completely optional (they have to enter the instance), and the only problem that can even present itself is twinks. But short of placing an easily hit, hard cap on stats for those "BGs," that's an unavoidable problem.