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New MMO boredom.. what causes it?
Swiftblade13
Member Posts: 638
I'm sure many things can cause it, but lets rule out a few to start with.... lets assume its an MMO you expected to like... so its not the genre etc thats bothering you.. its the gameplay...
When I tried EQ2 and LOTRO I simply lost interest after a few hours of gameplay. I rather suspect for me that its the ease of casual progression.. there is no challenge so it doesnt keep my interest.
I like LOTRO's graphics, the world seems interesting enough... the quest content seems to be pretty good.... but for some mysterious reason I was bored out of my mind within 30 minutes of starting the game... played up to level 14.. found I was still bored and quit....
The question is WHY!!!!
I think for me it was the lack of grouping. Groups formed up for a few minutes to complete quests but lasted only 45 minutes or so tops... I'm all about grouping and I think I had only spent maybe a couple of hours total in a group on my way to level 14 in LOTRO.
In EQ2 I was almost always grouped... the game just made me want to fall asleep by level 30. I think EQ2 is a great game, I just find the world dull I think. I strongly encourage others to try EQ2.. but cant play it for more then a month or so myself.
Grymm
MMO addict in recovery!
EQ,SWG preCU,L2,EQ2,GW,CoH/CoV,V:SOH,
Aion,AoC,TR,WAR,EVE,BP,RIFT,WoW and others... no more!
Comments
feel the same way,
why would a game be massively multiplayer if it was meant to be played solo.. groups can be fun if your friends or becoming friends.. best feature in an mmo is a nice group system with a kool community
I've been really surprised at how many disagree though... based on how many MMO gamers seem to prefer solo'ing I can understand why the devs give it such a high priority....
but that doesnt mean it has to make sense to me or make me happy!
Sure I used to get frustrated in EQ when I spent two hours LFG then had to log..... soloing should be possible, but grouping should be immensely better to encourage everyone to go out of their way to do it.
Not only do modern MMO's make soloing more efficient then grouping, they also discourage grouping with the modern quest system.. who wants to group with someone who is working on a quest they already completed or cant start yet?
Grymm
MMO addict in recovery!
EQ,SWG preCU,L2,EQ2,GW,CoH/CoV,V:SOH,
Aion,AoC,TR,WAR,EVE,BP,RIFT,WoW and others... no more!
Probably for me its a combinaton of several in your list, but number 1. would be the "Seen it all before!" syndrom.
Lately developers churn out the same crap with different colour scheme, what I call lowest common denominator no thought gaming. When I start a new game I DON'T want to automatically know how to do everything in the game, I want to be able discover things or discover ways to do things or to have to learn how the world works.
Pick up any new MMO and straight away I know 99% of how the game is going to play and what to expect, that for me = boredom.
Could be why EvE caught me for so long, the learning curve really added something. 30 minutes in any other game and you know it all and have seen it all before.
Everything is so damn predictable in mmos lately. Developers boast about minor tweaks which make their game different from the next, I want to see sweeping revolutions in gameplay that blow my mind, and drop me in a reality of the strange which makes me have to think about what i'm doing.
I want sandbox gaming, with the tools and environments to take it as far as the players want. I want completely interactive environments, I see a chair I want to be able to sit on it, pick it up, throw it through a window. If it snows I want my character to catch a cold if he's not dressed accordingly. If my character wakes up after a hard fight my hair should be a mess and I should have scars.
It doesn't take much imagination to think up concepts for MMOS its the over-commercialism and obsession to make things simple that is making me bored of the mmo clones out there.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The tab targetting and hot button mashing system has been the same since 1999 with EQ1. All the games are basically the same with different dressings. For some reason I find COH alot of fun, mostly due to the great people I play with but the really awesome physics help too I think. DDO is the only one different and the combat is pretty fun just not the best game in other ways.
This is the reason why me and so many others are anxiously awaiting the promised innovation in TR and AOC.
I too could have selected 3 or 4 choices from the list....but seen it all before would rank at the top.
I've played some games for many years, DAOC 2.75, WOW 1.75 etc
Some for a shorter period of time, say 3-6 months or so, Lineage 1/2, COH/COV, GW's, Shadowbane, LotRO
And some for as short as I could possibly stand (1 month or less), EQ1, DDO, RFO.
For most of the games in the middle group, my reasons for leaving varied from game mechanics I decided I didn't care for, such as too much grinding to get to top levels (Lineage 2), Mindless gameplay at endgame (COH/COV), unresolved server issues/bugs (Shadowbane)
But LotRO was the unusual one. It was the best game I've every been bored with in such a short time. The game seemed to have it all, nice quest system, deed system, gameplay, lore, community....
and yet... after 2 months I was totally bored with it. I think it was a lack of real complexity in the game, or... I am just getting too familiar with these games and there's not much new in them for me.
At the end of two months, I knew everything there was to know about how to play LotRO. No, I hadn't visited everywhere, but as far as how to play the game, level up deeds, complete quests etc, it was just a matter of putting in the time. There was nothing else to learn.
Contrast this with EVE, which I started playing after LotRO and just hit the two month mark in. I am amazed at how much I still don't know about this game. Sure, I can run missions with the best of them... (but still have a few things to learn about L4's), but when it comes to mining, or trading, or crafting, or anything related to PVP (one on one, gang or fleet) I still have almost no idea what they involve. Oh sure, I've read game guides, about 8 now... so I can tell you how to go about mining to the top...but...I've not done it and there are so many tricks to something like mining that a guide can't teach.
Even simple things like properly fitting my ship turn out to not be simple, so many variants, so many play styles... so much to learn.
And its not just because EVE is a space game. I remember when I played DAOC, putting together the right combination of dropped and player crafted gear was an art form. Once they added in spell crafting and alchemy a person could spend days and days trying to get their set just right...... LotRO has no such complexities (neither does WOW really) and I think that's why I tired of it so quicky.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Some too casual (RO), some too hardcore (EvE). Some are too open (EvE), some are too linear (WoW). Some try to do everything and end up doing nothing right (SWG). Some are too concerned about balance, at least in the past (Hey, I didn't even make it to the first EQ expansion), so every class is more-or-less the same.
So I agree with another poster here, who said 'all of the above'. There's no such thing as the perfect MMO, and after so many years of the same-old-song-and-dance, we just stop buying hype.
Just a note: I voted for lack of sandbox like features, but wanted to point out that the option is very similar to the option about too linear. Or at least too linear fits in under lack of a sandbox.
If a game doesn't offer really custimizable housing and things to do for the heck of it (SWQ pre-NGE dancers / musicians / Cantinas / Player Cities, etc) then I will not last long in it. Which is why I haven't lasted long in many games after I discovered those qualities -- no one else currently offers all those aspects PLUS a good PVE and PVP / RVR system.
thanks though!
Grymm
MMO addict in recovery!
EQ,SWG preCU,L2,EQ2,GW,CoH/CoV,V:SOH,
Aion,AoC,TR,WAR,EVE,BP,RIFT,WoW and others... no more!
well, most of us know what sandbox is so there is no discussion to be had there... but as far as "too linear" I mean in many non-sandbox MMO's you have a huge number of choices on where to go at a certain level, others have a very linear progression through the zones and quests.
Grymm
MMO addict in recovery!
EQ,SWG preCU,L2,EQ2,GW,CoH/CoV,V:SOH,
Aion,AoC,TR,WAR,EVE,BP,RIFT,WoW and others... no more!
I went to WoW recently on free trial, after the impossibility of finding a group as I'm not in the 61-70 range I decided to not continue the game. The only option to level up is soloing and to be honest I can't see the appeal of mind-numbing soloing. If it were more twitch-based I would quite possibly enjoy the soloing, but it isn't, and its kind of really repetitive. Ooh, how shall I kill this one? I know, EXACTLY the same as the last one. Actually, forget it being more twitch-based, I'd settle for solo instances where you at least have some sort of entertainment. It boggles my mind why they make it so solo-based but COMPLETELY rule out solo-instances for reasons why I've forgotten now but I think they missed a useful trick there.
Edit: Maybe it isn't included so as not to gain the reputation Guild Wars get as 'not a mmorpg'.
Sandbox style games are the only games that ever hold my attention for long periods of time, due to the 'player generated' content the environment is always changing. Pre-CU SWG is the only game that has ever achieved this for me.
Player housing which you could place nearly anywhere on any planet(except 2 planets), player cities, no levels, amazing crafting/harvesting system, and so on. There really was an unlimited amount of things to do in this game at any time of the day or night, there wasn't the raid until you die mentallity which was so refreshing. The community was just that, a community. They did business together(player owned economy), fought wars together, protected their guild's Jedi, and in general every server had its owns unique identity and history.
This whole level system, instance raid zones, instanced PvP does nothing to build a community or take the game to another level. Its now all about the [Uber Sword of Noob Slaying] which does nothing but close off the community itself by making the game 'all about me, F the other guys'
This post IMO is pretty similar to the "what's the perfect MMO" posts out there, but still you have a more original spin on the topic.
Personally, I voted for "lack of danger" instead of the sandbox, bc sandbox for me overlooks one very important factor - community and dynamic feel of the game. Thus, what I really wanted to see in the poll is "lack of dynamic interactive world".
I've played as many MMO's as the next member of this site, and as far as WOW goes I loved it until about lvl 45-46, then got tired of it. So I've stayed with that game for about 1.5 months and I think it offered everything a classic RPG model can in a very nice package.
On the other hand, there was a game called Project Entropia (now I think Entropia Universe), which I followed from the pre-release times and in total for probably 1.5-2 yrs. THIS GAME OFFERED ALMOST NOTHING! It offered a great sandbox concept, in which the players were the "original space settlers" and thus participated in the development of the world and game features from the very beginning. However, the game economy was based on the real $$ (instead of monthly fee) and thus it proved to be too expensive for me. But I found myself spending more time on the forums and just thinking of different ideas for developing the economic, political, etc. systems in the game than actually playing it (without being bored). Anyway, this game was dynamic bc there were always new developments, players came up with new ways to get rich, new contests, new lands were discovered, attacks by alien nations, etc. But the game was just an almost empty world with settlers doing most of the work, and after a long history of devs abuse, unable to spend a fortune to take advantage of the existing features I quit. Even now, I check up on the new developments in it every now and then...
My point being - the MMO world needs to be dynamic and constantly evolving based on the players' in game actions to keep ineterest. I think most ppl are tired of the existing quest system and nonexistent timeline - the events that take place in the quest only do so for you, while the same events will take place for whomever does that quest after you. YOU HAVE NO IMPACT ON ANYTHING. Even in many sandbox games this is still true - it's just a more elaborate way to keep you busy, while nothing really happens in the world. If there is a boss MOB, it should be dead after the first player kills it! And there should be consequences drawn from this event, but of course that is too cost-ineffective to develop (that's why in many sandboxes there aren't any boss MOBS just species...).
Many say EVE is a good sandbox, but for me the world was too monotone to keep interest and I saw no potential for a really dynamic world in it.
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"Si vis pacem, para bellum"
You are only once an MMORPG virgin.
Give me SWG pre cu and im there.
I find the online gameplay of Dark Messiah more fun and stimulating now than bothering with the arena grinds in wow. And can only hope that AoC works on the foundations that Dark Messiah have and take it to a whole new level.
MMO boredom for me is having played them now for about 10 years, seeing some decent innovations, but nothing really new. The developers these days just look for clever ways to create time sinks and money sinks so you'll keep playing.
They are the same old pattern, some polished, some not. Adding one dungeon every 3 months isn't enough new content to keep me coming back, and real content is what takes tons of cash and lots of designers, artists, etc, which is why they just try to make you do the same content over and over and give you rewards to give you the illusion that it's fun.
MMORPGs are virtual skinner boxes.
http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/skinner.html
I think you've hit it on the head for me...It's not that the game is so similar to OTHER games, it's that the game is too similar to ITSELF. That is, the gameplay never changes - you never have to learn different strategies to overcome different obstacles. Once you do something, in say the first 20 levels, you just keep doing the same thing, with the same results. This seems to be what PvPers like about PvP - if the game is designed well [which most aren't] the opponents may use a variety of tactics which have to be recognised and countered to be successful. Unfortunately, most of the PvP that I've experienced directly or been told about by friends who enjoy PvP, has one or two classes with one or two spells/abilities that are "I win" buttons.
<p align=center><a target=_blank href=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm><img border=0 src=http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg></a></p>;
Lack of end game content turns me off when it comes to playing MMO games. I can go and max my character out which may take several months to do so but once I finish there is not much to do other then make a new character and do it all over again. Games have pvp but the pvp isn't all that good really. Other than Guild Wars I can't really say other games had good pvp. Well my next MMO will be AOC and I hope Funcom's pvp and end game content is better.
Lack of depth. If you're constantly amazed at how open and deep a game is then you usually don't get bored until you've played it for 10 years.
That's easy to answer.
Because there is no purpose in todays mmorpgs except grid You character (levels or quests). This isn't just about griding, but playing same kind of game after game and so on. The theme may change between games, but the gameplay and goals doesn't. People get boored, because there is notting new in these games. It doesn't matter if one game is fantasy and other sci-fi, if You gameplays purpose is the same, level You character and there is no other purpose to play the game. Soon or later it becomes booring and new games help only little while, untill You have played so many games that even new games don't help anymore.
We get better mmorpgs only when some game developers are starting to do something new with totally different kind of goals. Givining players some other reasons to play than develop the character.
MMORPG.COM has worst forum editor ever exists
That's easy to answer.
Because there is no purpose in todays mmorpgs except grid You character (levels or quests). This isn't just about griding, but playing same kind of game after game and so on. The theme may change between games, but the gameplay and goals doesn't. People get boored, because there is notting new in these games. It doesn't matter if one game is fantasy and other sci-fi, if You gameplays purpose is the same, level You character and there is no other purpose to play the game. Soon or later it becomes booring and new games help only little while, untill You have played so many games that even new games don't help anymore.
We get better mmorpgs only when some game developers are starting to do something new with totally different kind of goals. Givining players some other reasons to play than develop the character.
I think you hit the nail on the head there.... totally agree...we need new goals not new levels.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
I played EQ pretty much from the beginning, and without question the thing I loved the most was that almost no one could claim to know everything about the world. It really did seem vast, as if there were secrets hiding everywhere.
This was before Allakhazam really got off the ground (or possibly only before I knew about it), before enough powerguilds had formed and taken over the major spawn sites, before the game felt like a job.
Nowadays, the very second a game is released, there are spoiler sites, databases, and walkthroughs available for mass consumption, and half the people you run into know every step of their character's path long before the journey has even begun.
"So don't look at those sites," you might say. No, it's not that simple. If most other players do use them, there is still no sense of adventure. You can just /shout any question you have, and it will be answered in short order. There is no organizing a TRUE exploratory party, unless you all simply agree to pretend to be ignorant of the maps and walkthroughs that already exist. There is no puzzling out a quest with guildmates.
There are no secrets.
That's why there will never be an experience like your first. Once you know there is no such thing as adventure, you can never go back.
Haha... if people didn't help out in the game you'd be searching well over a day for some mob's and you wouldn't find them... that is not fun or adventuring because ur pissed that you can't find the mob u need and thats what makes you quit
If you hadn't looked at the walkthrough, you wouldn't feel like you "need" that mob because you wouldn't know that the reward is something your class "has to have." None of these meta-game concerns would even exist.
There would be quests you've done and quests you haven't figured out yet. Not quests you plan to do once you have the levels, or once you have the guildmates who can do it for you. Not quests you skip because you'd rather farm gold and buy the item.
Obviously you never played back in those days before walkthroughs; otherwise, you would understand why things were more fun.