I've been playing Project 1999 a lot recently and I realised why it was so amazing for the time. You had a sense of wonder for the world, you feared it, and because there was no map you imagined what you could find. It didn't feel like a game, a lot of those early MMOs didn't, I remember SWG feeling more like a chat room with tasks. I just loved being in that world, and you cannot ever really recapture that experience today. We always see these budget MMOs come out that tout how they're going to deliver a hardcore experience.... but the problem is you never have that sense of wonder because they already look 15 years old, and they play old. The MMOs we all loved... they were cutting edge!
I've been playing a lot of Rec Room lately, it has given me that sense of wonder that MMOs used to. I could really imagine a new MMO in VR that tries to be super immersive, and lets you live an alternative lifestyle like how we felt with the first MMOs. The amazing thing with VR is you do not need amazing graphics, the presence you feel overtakes graphics, which you totally rely on in standard games.
I really thing whoever can come along and make an amazing MMO in VR has latched onto the next big thing. Because today I bought an Oculus Quest (not my first headset) and I danced with a Robot in the tutorial, it felt AMAZING! I've played a lot of other games in VR since 2016, and stuff like that still amazes me. I felt like I was actually dancing with it, just such a funny experience. I've also had other crazy experiences where people touch me with their hands in game, and just some part of your brain freaks out. With the Rift controllers you just have this weird feeling of presence, and it's all done without canned animations, you feel and other people look so natural. You can see them dancing with just floating hands in Rec Room... but your brain fills out the details and it's the most immersive thing.
I really think Pantheon is an MMO waiting to die already, it's from some people who really should have learnt from making the same mistake 10+ years ago.
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Tbh I think VR (virtual reality) will remain niche for many years to come, and not the savior of immersive mmorpg experiences. VR is still i gimmick, and though it may have immersive qualities, the player base for an immersive mmorpg type game is not ready or interested in VR yet.. It is just not quite suited for long term play/progression..yet, and on a longer run it works against immersion on a practical level.
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I suppose if you enjoy playing MMO's in first person, it could be good, but again i don't.
Not sure how well that would work.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
I think VR is the only thing other than being the next Blizzard MMO, it’s the only thing that can offer how you first felt in EQ.
No no one is making a VR MMO, now it has to have the budget and scale... but the next EQ or WoW will be a full, proper MMO in VR.
What I’m not saying is add VR to this game, I think this game is DOA because it’s making the same mistakes we’ve had from everyone else who tried to make an MMO since 2005.... including Vanguard.
I am not sure there is any technological breakthrough that other games will not steal the march on MMOs before MMOs get launched with it now. They have longer development cycles which put them at a disadvantage in scoring such 'firsts'.
VR is about presence, it's about feeling immersed in another wold... and the is what the original MMOs captured. I have such a feeling playing certain VR games, and all I can relate it to is like when I first played EQ and a few other early MMOs. This is why I think it's a perfect fit for replicating that old feel we all used to have back in the day.
I actually found one game that claims to be an MMO today called OrbusVR Reborn. I'll give it a try if there is a demo or something, but I'd love to see what a real experienced developer could do as the world loos rather uninteresting in that game.
And VR has the potential to make the tedium in MMOs and turn it into something fun, but because it is novel to use your hands like you would in real life. I just imagine fishing, or crafting or even combat, in most MMOs it's boring, but in VR, suddenly you're actually doing it. The great thing is by using your hands and not pressing a button, it takes far long to do anything, so you can take the grind away too.
I'm really confident in my opinion here, and I've been around since the genre has started, and I've never been wrong on what MMO was going to succeed or not... mostly because they almost always die straight away. However I can guarantee you this game will flop and die, I just don't understand why these developers cannot see this. It's as if they get comfortable earning a salary, and they just don't ask questions as long as their family is secure.
For now a modern day MMORPG with classical game play and real challenge, coupled with a 4K large monitor is on my want list.
VR would more suited to this modern style of fast paced gameplay but there in lies the problem of motion sickness and controller freedom. I think the Anime concept of Deep dive / neural link is where a VRMMO needs to go, but were a fairway's off that.
For now Pantheon will succeed in what it wants to do, bring EQ1 up to date in a fashion for those wanting that type of experience. Will it be genre changing success? the next big MMO? not likely, but it was never meant to be. You just have to let those who what a more strategic style of game with group based mechanics, enjoy it for what it is. Like Vanguard was to EQ1, this will be again, changes sure, but the same underlying tenants that appeal to that player group.
Does it suck that there are no MMO's that are creating the next big thing? yep, but no MMO is going to please everybody, and after the last few years of eastern MMO's, its clear that gameplay/ style matters a whole lot more than graphics and fast paced realism. If you can have both, I'm all for it, but still waiting