It is hard for me to articulate what I want from Pantheon or any other mmo for that matter. On one hand, I enjoy the hardcore grind that punishes me for stupid mistakes and forces me to group with other players because those are the things that make you feel passionate about your character and friends. On the other hand, I have no desire to grind for 4 weeks straight just to make 1 out of 100 levels, or schedule a raid time at 7pm and finally roll out at 8:30 because 3 of the 40 people necessary couldn't be bothered to show up on time. I want old school hardcore with today's creature comforts... if that is even possible.
What > I < personally want for sure: - A large, diversified class system. The more classes, the better. No talent trees. - Holy trinity mechanics. Tank, healer, puller, dps, support. - Auto attack combat! None of that dynamic action combat that has flooded the market. - Less meaningless quests. I don't want to collect 20 snake eggs or hundreds of Deathfist Slashed Belts. I want to grind mobs or work on life time quests that have a meaningful result. - Clear, definable progression for my chosen class and the feeling of becoming stronger with each level. Waiting 4 levels to get a new spell or only getting 5 more points in 1HB when I level up that doesn't equate to more damage is meaningless. - Built for first person view with option to scroll out to 3rd person. - Lots of large, over stated, complex looking weapons and armor. I don't care about the slider that allows me to turn my nose up or down, or make my ears bigger or smaller. That is not customization to me. - A complex guild system. I loved the guild quest and level system in EQ2! - I would love to have a real purpose for gods and deities. Being able to rank up with my chosen god and receive benefits would be fantastic! - And I guess if I am to be honest, I'd prefer to not have a subscription.
EQ1 is old Players of EQ1 are old and moving on New generation are playing On-line games New generation have no choices New generation games are 30-60 days of content New generation games are loosing population for many reasons New generation games are not being produced New generation games are Asian outsourced
mmorpgs are dying because of the facts above. Players are moving on because of this. Point being it's not the players, but the management of it all.
It's imposable to predict how people will react in the future, its IMPORTANT to understand where we stand is because of production of mmorpg's …… NOT THE PLAYERS !
It's all an unknown, but one thing I can say... Pantheon will be new all over again.
EQ1 has been going strong for 18 years. It just had a new expansion. There are other games from that era that are also still being played; e.g., UO and DAOC. "Old" people stick with things. Not everyone gives up and quits in the newbie yard.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
EQ1 has been going strong for 18 years. It just had a new expansion. There are other games from that era that are also still being played; e.g., UO and DAOC. "Old" people stick with things. Not everyone gives up and quits in the newbie yard.
At least 50 people or more say they don't have it in them any more.
You may have a point. If production produces the wrong kinds of games this will eventually open up a window for someone else to produce what they want. However, I don't thinik that'll be pantheon. I absolutely agree with what you said about Pantheon being new all over again. I think many people here underestimate what that means. It means some of that magic all over again. Having to learn the ropes all over again. It's not a science yet. Pugs. Free love. Theorycrafting. Learning together. This is one of the reasons I refuse to watch those update videos showing gameplay. This is why I'm not in the Pantheon forums. I intentionally want to be ignorant. I'm waiting until release.
Keep in mind the market demographics and the history of roleplay games.
Roleplay hit the market around 1969, when D&D was an appendix in Gygax's Chainmail rules. It had a Gamemaster, multiple players, and co-operative social interaction.
Countless baby boomers grew up on D&D, played in high school, then through college, when FORTRAN and COBOL were the latest and greatest computer languages. Gary Gygax got rich off this market. Players bought and sat down and painted miniatures to play. They had time before jobs and families came along.
With jobs and families they switched to Wizardry games, and Ultima games, starting in the late 70s and early 80s, then moved back into social interaction with EQ in the late 90s. All these games have a common, evolving, basis.
Fast forward today, those same boomers are now entering retirement at ever increasing numbers. That means they have no careers, no kids, and plenty of time on their hands. At 60+ something years old their mind goes back to their younger gaming days. It's either that, or sit on the sofa all day and watch FOX/CNN blood pressure central (choose preference, they're both the same format, just different sides of the same coin, chase ratings to sell commercial time).
They were never big on twitch games, you don't see many boomers playing first person shooters because their mind is not wired like a younger (information age) persons mind. Their mindset is slower, more contemplative, less impulsive. They reach decisions slower than the younger generations. They did long division/square roots without calculators.
It's not that their brains are better, or worse, it's just they're wired different because of the technology Boomers grew up with. The world moved at a slower pace back then. Boomers minds didn't need to be wired for fast response twitch action.
So to say Pantheon will crash and burn because people are not interested in old style games is not really accurate. Gamers younger than boomers may not be as interested in an old style game, but, if marketed at boomers, Vanguard can still pick up quite a following.
Retiree gamers don't need the "Golden Path" game that plays itself. Social interaction is a plus, they no longer get that at work, which is why many join senior centers.
They also don't need a pay to win cash shop, they have the time to work through the encounter and eventually solve it.
Granted, it's like Bill Knapps, doomed to die out in 10 to 20 years.
Keep in mind the market demographics and the history of roleplay games.
Roleplay hit the market around 1969, when D&D was an appendix in Gygax's Chainmail rules. It had a Gamemaster, multiple players, and co-operative social interaction.
Countless baby boomers grew up on D&D, played in high school, then through college, when FORTRAN and COBOL were the latest and greatest computer languages. Gary Gygax got rich off this market. Players bought and sat down and painted miniatures to play. They had time before jobs and families came along.
With jobs and families they switched to Wizardry games, and Ultima games, starting in the late 70s and early 80s, then moved back into social interaction with EQ in the late 90s. All these games have a common, evolving, basis.
Fast forward today, those same boomers are now entering retirement at ever increasing numbers. That means they have no careers, no kids, and plenty of time on their hands. At 60+ something years old their mind goes back to their younger gaming days. It's either that, or sit on the sofa all day and watch FOX/CNN blood pressure central (choose preference, they're both the same format, just different sides of the same coin, chase ratings to sell commercial time).
They were never big on twitch games, you don't see many boomers playing first person shooters because their mind is not wired like a younger (information age) persons mind. Their mindset is slower, more contemplative, less impulsive. They reach decisions slower than the younger generations. They did long division/square roots without calculators.
It's not that their brains are better, or worse, it's just they're wired different because of the technology Boomers grew up with. The world moved at a slower pace back then. Boomers minds didn't need to be wired for fast response twitch action.
So to say Pantheon will crash and burn because people are not interested in old style games is not really accurate. Gamers younger than boomers may not be as interested in an old style game, but, if marketed at boomers, Vanguard can still pick up quite a following.
Retiree gamers don't need the "Golden Path" game that plays itself. Social interaction is a plus, they no longer get that at work, which is why many join senior centers.
They also don't need a pay to win cash shop, they have the time to work through the encounter and eventually solve it.
Granted, it's like Bill Knapps, doomed to die out in 10 to 20 years.
But today there is a "Boomer" market.
Often when I read something interesting I'll pick up on something to say. But in this case it's just a nice read
You may have a point. If production produces the wrong kinds of games this will eventually open up a window for someone else to produce what they want. However, I don't thinik that'll be pantheon. I absolutely agree with what you said about Pantheon being new all over again. I think many people here underestimate what that means. It means some of that magic all over again. Having to learn the ropes all over again. It's not a science yet. Pugs. Free love. Theorycrafting. Learning together. This is one of the reasons I refuse to watch those update videos showing gameplay. This is why I'm not in the Pantheon forums. I intentionally want to be ignorant. I'm waiting until release.
This is a nice one too. I like the part "Free love, Theory crafting, learning together".
None of us have the faintest clue how the player will take this. People stereotype age brackets from young to old rich or poor and everything in between, I don't. @margaretaville above painted a nice picture of how it was in the beginning with the history and mindset of long ago. People are still the same, others feel different.
Where most here are wrong is Big Business changed the industry to their liking, what fit their mold. They looked at Blizzards money and decided to capitalize on huge profits of building for profit only. It's not an X File or conspiracy theory it's what they do to everything....Basing everything on "they did it not the players" NO ONE KNOWS what will be accepted. If everyone drank the Kool Aid here and believe the charts, well I can't help that. Because everyone plays everything, sure the numbers will look good.
ArcheAge is proof, Trion took an Asian game re-tooled it for pure profit… Guess what it worked !.... From what I've seen, it wasn't a bad game, but it was used to trick the players.
Black Desert, they took an enjoyable family style game re-tooled the cash shop for the west to trick the player.
So their you have it, both -Nice game -Trick the player
Where most here are wrong is Big Business changed the industry to their liking, what fit their mold.
This is not necessarily bad, as long as Big Business does it's job correctly, and meets the market's expectations, which really isn't happening in the case of MMORPGs.
Big Business is still chasing that WOW market niche as being the next great big thing.
It isn't, MMORPGs have been around long enough to stratify into Boomers, Gen X'ers, Millennials, and the up and coming youth generation. Each has different expectations, and one size won't fit all.
For example, I know of a 70 something Boomer who has grandchildren in another city that he can play Eldar Scrolls Online with. To him the game is more of a social platform, providing better/quicker feedback with the grandkids than Facebook. Grandpa and grandkids bond.
Kill 10 rats and turn in to quest giver isn't as important. What today's game designers are aiming for, golden path auto play with flashy graphics and pay to win cash shop complete with loot lottery boxes, doesn't meet his market needs. So he has sat out until he found a game that he can tolerate. Even a $20/month per subscription option is a better choice for him than the current crop of FTP garbage. But the industry believes FTP garbage appeals to all market demographics.
How many Boomers and Gen X'ers from the Wizardry/Ultima days are sitting on the sidelines because the current crop of MMORPG's just don't move them? How many Millennials are not moved by the current crop of games? Where has the industry evolved to re-capture those on the sidelines? What is the priority, flashy graphics or social platform? Solo or multiplay? Why are we left to pray for innovative gameplay from Asian designers (oxymoron alert)?
The MMO business has lost sight of the market, they are not meeting market demands, just wash, rinse and repeat WOW with re-skinned graphics and cash shop. The market stratified, MMO's haven't.
Think of it as Harley Davidson. They marketed motorcycles to Boomers to play the Easy Rider movie role. As Boomers retired they went back to their youth days, and bought Harley choppers. Now they are aging out of being physically able to ride, so Harley Davidson US sales are in decline.
Will a Gen X'er or a Millennial buy a Harley Chopper? No, because those are "old people's" bikes.
Harley Davidson never recognized the market corner they were painting themselves into, just like Bill Knapps/Howard Johnsons failed to recognize the market corner they painted themselves into. General Motors painted Oldsmobile into that corner, at least they recognized that with Buick, and now advertise that "this isn't your father's Buick".
The MMORPG business is still stuck in their safe place of "This is your father's WOW". They are painting themselves into that corner, following Henry Ford's "You can have any color you want as long as it's black". I guess MMORPG developers must all drive black Fords, having never figured out there exists options for different market segments.
Their theory is not flying, to much of the market is sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a different color that meets market demands.
Pantheon may very well meet a 10-20 year market segment demand. Will it be a "WOW killer"? Gads, I hope not...….and that's not being said in a bad way.
What we really need is moderately "successful" market segment games to banish this WOW Killer mentality forever. Then we can have options other than black.
EQ is from a different era, and you weren't given *no* direction. That's what other players were for - the expectations were different back then. You logged in, and if you needed help you asked. Friendly players would help you.
The issue with EQ is that they made it almost impossible for the average person to become invested in the IP. They scattered lore across the map, and they made players go on massive treasure hunting time sinks, talking to every NPC to find them - then piece together the lore nuggets.
This meant that the game was very open to attack by other games that delivered content in a better way, which the next generation of MMORPGs did (WoW, EQ2, L2, etc.).
It also hurt EQ2 and EQNext, as it limited the impact of any marketing they would do for those games.
I don't think that kind of game is viable in the West, unless developed with quite low expectations. Most people simply don't want to play a low-value gaming experience like this; and I don't expect Vanguard to be any better. You don't need to log into a game to socialize. You can run discord and do that while playing any game. Sitting in front of a computer progressing at snails pace pressing the same buttons over and over while paying for it and getting very little out of your time investment is simply not a good deal.
This is why faster paced leveling experiences with better PvP and more brisk content releases have taken over the market.
No, what promoted a healthy play environment was the Play Nice Policy, which SOE had Volunteer Guides and Hired GMs to enforce.
Back in EQ's "heyday" if you sent in a petition, you'd probably get a personal response in-game within 20 minutes or so... for serious offenses, almost instantaneously. Guides would handle small things. GMs would handle more serious offenses. Even character name changes and server transfers would be handled personally by GMs in game.
GMs would log in and monitor disputes of open world raids, etc. even suspending or banning offenders.
EQ's community was heavily monitored, and this was possible due to its (comparatively) small size compared to games like WoW and FFXIV. Cussing at someone could see them report you, and you be infracted within minutes. Training people, Keal Stealing, etc. were all reportable and Guides/GMs would personally log in game to monitor and action perpetrators. If your surname was reported for being offended, they would log in and force you to change it. If your character was stuck, they would log in to move it (they later implemented the unstuck command which was like a super long Gate to get you out, IIRC).
This is literally impossible to do with the current large player bases of MMORPG Market Leaders. You'd need a literal army of GMs and Guides to implement such a system. The result is that the community can get away with a lot more, which means they will take that leeway whenever possible (human nature).
EQ had very little community building aspects in its "heyday." A lot of quality of life improvements for this didn't even exist until several years later. The only community building aspect the game has was its design biased towards codependence. That is, you were largely dependent on other players to progress, unless you wanted to solo for bad XP (with few exceptions, some classes were OP'd in that aspect). This forced players to forge friendships, guilds, alliance, whatever.
EQ was when the whole Guild Website and "Magelo" system became a huge deal - primarily due to how badly the game accommodated these things. It didn't have a mail system. It didn't have an Auction House until the Bazaar in Luclin - which was badly implemented (Required you to stay online during an era where Dial-Up (and "Linkdead") was still quite prevalent).
What you're remembering is not accurate. It is the result of bias, time, and nostalgia.
EQ is from a different era, and you weren't given *no* direction. That's what other players were for - the expectations were different back then. You logged in, and if you needed help you asked. Friendly players would help you.
The issue with EQ is that they made it almost impossible for the average person to become invested in the IP. They scattered lore across the map, and they made players go on massive treasure hunting time sinks, talking to every NPC to find them - then piece together the lore nuggets.
This meant that the game was very open to attack by other games that delivered content in a better way, which the next generation of MMORPGs did (WoW, EQ2, L2, etc.).
It also hurt EQ2 and EQNext, as it limited the impact of any marketing they would do for those games.
I don't think that kind of game is viable in the West, unless developed with quite low expectations. Most people simply don't want to play a low-value gaming experience like this; and I don't expect Vanguard to be any better. You don't need to log into a game to socialize. You can run discord and do that while playing any game. Sitting in front of a computer progressing at snails pace pressing the same buttons over and over while paying for it and getting very little out of your time investment is simply not a good deal.
This is why faster paced leveling experiences with better PvP and more brisk content releases have taken over the market.
One thing in particular I'd like to comment on. The 'developed with quite low expectations' thing seems incredibly insightful, but as we can see on these forums, once the players learn of a game they form expectations. Often these initial expectations are far beyond anything the developers intend or are capable of delivering. This immediately escalates into a hype train, and the players are ultimately disappointed when (and if) the product ever appears.
In a nutshell, players indulge in a flurry of self-delusion that is unchecked by the developers -- they're too busy building a game to monitor and guide expectations (ideally). By the time the development team does hire community managers, it is rarely to help tune the player's expectations with concise facts. Instead, they develop elaborate web pages designed to market the game, hiding features behind prose, which only leads to more incorrect assumptions and misunderstandings.
My conclusion. There isn't going to be a new MMORPG that won't come without a significant set of preexisting expectations and a cloud of product misinformation. It's just the way the business works, and how the customers react.
P.S. - I do like your observations about EQ1. Unlike almost every game since, EQ1 just appeared on the scene with little-to-no preformed expectations. I suspect that is partially why is succeeded.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Comments
Players of EQ1 are old and moving on
New generation are playing On-line games
New generation have no choices
New generation games are 30-60 days of content
New generation games are loosing population for many reasons
New generation games are not being produced
New generation games are Asian outsourced
mmorpgs are dying because of the facts above. Players are moving on because of this. Point being it's not the players, but the management of it all.
It's imposable to predict how people will react in the future, its IMPORTANT to understand where we stand is because of production of mmorpg's …… NOT THE PLAYERS !
It's all an unknown, but one thing I can say... Pantheon will be new all over again.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Thanks for the dig jerk !
Roleplay hit the market around 1969, when D&D was an appendix in Gygax's Chainmail rules. It had a Gamemaster, multiple players, and co-operative social interaction.
Countless baby boomers grew up on D&D, played in high school, then through college, when FORTRAN and COBOL were the latest and greatest computer languages. Gary Gygax got rich off this market. Players bought and sat down and painted miniatures to play. They had time before jobs and families came along.
With jobs and families they switched to Wizardry games, and Ultima games, starting in the late 70s and early 80s, then moved back into social interaction with EQ in the late 90s. All these games have a common, evolving, basis.
Fast forward today, those same boomers are now entering retirement at ever increasing numbers. That means they have no careers, no kids, and plenty of time on their hands. At 60+ something years old their mind goes back to their younger gaming days. It's either that, or sit on the sofa all day and watch FOX/CNN blood pressure central (choose preference, they're both the same format, just different sides of the same coin, chase ratings to sell commercial time).
They were never big on twitch games, you don't see many boomers playing first person shooters because their mind is not wired like a younger (information age) persons mind. Their mindset is slower, more contemplative, less impulsive. They reach decisions slower than the younger generations. They did long division/square roots without calculators.
It's not that their brains are better, or worse, it's just they're wired different because of the technology Boomers grew up with. The world moved at a slower pace back then. Boomers minds didn't need to be wired for fast response twitch action.
So to say Pantheon will crash and burn because people are not interested in old style games is not really accurate. Gamers younger than boomers may not be as interested in an old style game, but, if marketed at boomers, Vanguard can still pick up quite a following.
Retiree gamers don't need the "Golden Path" game that plays itself. Social interaction is a plus, they no longer get that at work, which is why many join senior centers.
They also don't need a pay to win cash shop, they have the time to work through the encounter and eventually solve it.
Granted, it's like Bill Knapps, doomed to die out in 10 to 20 years.
But today there is a "Boomer" market.
But in this case it's just a nice read
Thanks
This is a nice one too.
I like the part "Free love, Theory crafting, learning together".
None of us have the faintest clue how the player will take this. People stereotype age brackets from young to old rich or poor and everything in between, I don't. @margaretaville above painted a nice picture of how it was in the beginning with the history and mindset of long ago. People are still the same, others feel different.
Where most here are wrong is Big Business changed the industry to their liking, what fit their mold. They looked at Blizzards money and decided to capitalize on huge profits of building for profit only. It's not an X File or conspiracy theory it's what they do to everything....Basing everything on "they did it not the players" NO ONE KNOWS what will be accepted. If everyone drank the Kool Aid here and believe the charts, well I can't help that. Because everyone plays everything, sure the numbers will look good.
ArcheAge is proof, Trion took an Asian game re-tooled it for pure profit… Guess what it worked !.... From what I've seen, it wasn't a bad game, but it was used to trick the players.
Black Desert, they took an enjoyable family style game re-tooled the cash shop for the west to trick the player.
So their you have it, both
-Nice game
-Trick the player
It's new, it's brand new all over again.
Big Business is still chasing that WOW market niche as being the next great big thing.
It isn't, MMORPGs have been around long enough to stratify into Boomers, Gen X'ers, Millennials, and the up and coming youth generation. Each has different expectations, and one size won't fit all.
For example, I know of a 70 something Boomer who has grandchildren in another city that he can play Eldar Scrolls Online with. To him the game is more of a social platform, providing better/quicker feedback with the grandkids than Facebook. Grandpa and grandkids bond.
Kill 10 rats and turn in to quest giver isn't as important. What today's game designers are aiming for, golden path auto play with flashy graphics and pay to win cash shop complete with loot lottery boxes, doesn't meet his market needs. So he has sat out until he found a game that he can tolerate. Even a $20/month per subscription option is a better choice for him than the current crop of FTP garbage. But the industry believes FTP garbage appeals to all market demographics.
How many Boomers and Gen X'ers from the Wizardry/Ultima days are sitting on the sidelines because the current crop of MMORPG's just don't move them? How many Millennials are not moved by the current crop of games? Where has the industry evolved to re-capture those on the sidelines? What is the priority, flashy graphics or social platform? Solo or multiplay? Why are we left to pray for innovative gameplay from Asian designers (oxymoron alert)?
The MMO business has lost sight of the market, they are not meeting market demands, just wash, rinse and repeat WOW with re-skinned graphics and cash shop. The market stratified, MMO's haven't.
Think of it as Harley Davidson. They marketed motorcycles to Boomers to play the Easy Rider movie role. As Boomers retired they went back to their youth days, and bought Harley choppers. Now they are aging out of being physically able to ride, so Harley Davidson US sales are in decline.
Will a Gen X'er or a Millennial buy a Harley Chopper? No, because those are "old people's" bikes.
Harley Davidson never recognized the market corner they were painting themselves into, just like Bill Knapps/Howard Johnsons failed to recognize the market corner they painted themselves into. General Motors painted Oldsmobile into that corner, at least they recognized that with Buick, and now advertise that "this isn't your father's Buick".
The MMORPG business is still stuck in their safe place of "This is your father's WOW". They are painting themselves into that corner, following Henry Ford's "You can have any color you want as long as it's black". I guess MMORPG developers must all drive black Fords, having never figured out there exists options for different market segments.
Their theory is not flying, to much of the market is sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a different color that meets market demands.
Pantheon may very well meet a 10-20 year market segment demand. Will it be a "WOW killer"? Gads, I hope not...….and that's not being said in a bad way.
What we really need is moderately "successful" market segment games to banish this WOW Killer mentality forever. Then we can have options other than black.
The issue with EQ is that they made it almost impossible for the average person to become invested in the IP. They scattered lore across the map, and they made players go on massive treasure hunting time sinks, talking to every NPC to find them - then piece together the lore nuggets.
This meant that the game was very open to attack by other games that delivered content in a better way, which the next generation of MMORPGs did (WoW, EQ2, L2, etc.).
It also hurt EQ2 and EQNext, as it limited the impact of any marketing they would do for those games.
I don't think that kind of game is viable in the West, unless developed with quite low expectations. Most people simply don't want to play a low-value gaming experience like this; and I don't expect Vanguard to be any better. You don't need to log into a game to socialize. You can run discord and do that while playing any game. Sitting in front of a computer progressing at snails pace pressing the same buttons over and over while paying for it and getting very little out of your time investment is simply not a good deal.
This is why faster paced leveling experiences with better PvP and more brisk content releases have taken over the market.
Read more at https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/476310/question-for-eq1-players#uhFIgfEA2UE03E2l.99
No, what promoted a healthy play environment was the Play Nice Policy, which SOE had Volunteer Guides and Hired GMs to enforce.
Back in EQ's "heyday" if you sent in a petition, you'd probably get a personal response in-game within 20 minutes or so... for serious offenses, almost instantaneously. Guides would handle small things. GMs would handle more serious offenses. Even character name changes and server transfers would be handled personally by GMs in game.
GMs would log in and monitor disputes of open world raids, etc. even suspending or banning offenders.
EQ's community was heavily monitored, and this was possible due to its (comparatively) small size compared to games like WoW and FFXIV. Cussing at someone could see them report you, and you be infracted within minutes. Training people, Keal Stealing, etc. were all reportable and Guides/GMs would personally log in game to monitor and action perpetrators. If your surname was reported for being offended, they would log in and force you to change it. If your character was stuck, they would log in to move it (they later implemented the unstuck command which was like a super long Gate to get you out, IIRC).
This is literally impossible to do with the current large player bases of MMORPG Market Leaders. You'd need a literal army of GMs and Guides to implement such a system. The result is that the community can get away with a lot more, which means they will take that leeway whenever possible (human nature).
EQ had very little community building aspects in its "heyday." A lot of quality of life improvements for this didn't even exist until several years later. The only community building aspect the game has was its design biased towards codependence. That is, you were largely dependent on other players to progress, unless you wanted to solo for bad XP (with few exceptions, some classes were OP'd in that aspect). This forced players to forge friendships, guilds, alliance, whatever.
EQ was when the whole Guild Website and "Magelo" system became a huge deal - primarily due to how badly the game accommodated these things. It didn't have a mail system. It didn't have an Auction House until the Bazaar in Luclin - which was badly implemented (Required you to stay online during an era where Dial-Up (and "Linkdead") was still quite prevalent).
What you're remembering is not accurate. It is the result of bias, time, and nostalgia.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.