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Edit: I'm well bored, and this is well long, and hell, wouldn't read all that if someone else wrote it to be honest haha, so I don't expect you to!]
I'm a relatively newcomer to the MMO scene, missed (thankfully) the whole EQ1 thing. I say thankfully because I swear it seems everyone who played that game for more than 6 months is permanently mentally scarred in some way.
So a few years back, when at EB Games, I saw this game called Horizons. The fella behind the counter explained it was a pay monthly game, and seeing as I finally had some spare cash I thought I'd try it out.
(leaving out betas)
Horizons
I played this for about 9 months primarily due to the fact I didn't know any differently. I actually started playing a couple of months after the game was released.
Quit due to:
*Horrid graphics engine
*Lag
*Lack of progress, lack of achievement
*Lag
*Initially fun, but essentially repetitive and generic (GenericSwordType#254763B etc) crafting system.
*Stayed as long as I did due to great friends and community.
*No uniqueness or customisation when I played.
Moved to
Saga of Ryzom
Still love this game and what it tried/tries to do.
Found the prospecting a lot of fun, crafting was too but was somewhat lacking. Awesome community to be found here too.
Quit due to:
*Lack of purpose at that stage. No quests, nothing to build up to really.
*Combat was fun but grew repetitive in the end.
*Mainly just quit due to doing the same sort of things over and over.
Moved to
Everquest 2
This game.. god.. Now I know why SoE has the horrid reputation that it has. They remind me of politicians, as in "Yes, you the public voted against this, but we really know what's good for you, whether you realise it or not. So we are going to do what we think is better for you and you will agree once it's done, maybe a year or two later". ie They have a vision and don't let any measure of commonsense get in the way.
Quit due to:
*PvE grew extremely repetitive. I really felt no sense of achieving anything at all by playing more PvE there.
*All the 'epic' items were items that anyone could quest (read grind repetitively) for, so there's nothing 'unique' about it.
*Everyone looks the same, and plastic. Did I say the same? Due to everyone being carbon copies due to class, this totally kills immersion in my eyes.
*Community grew repeatedly worse as the WoW rejects slowly filtered over to EQ2; more-so when PvP was released.
*PvP... Trying to write PvP into a year+ old PvE game is going to have so many problems. If you need a case study as to why, use EQ2.
*SoE has absolutely no dignity and "balls" at all. This is very apparent in the fact that SoE let Guilds like Ebonlore etc completely overrun and ruin the PvP server within a week of release and did nothing to counter it. Pathetic.
*Absolutely zero customisation. Even the Achievement Points are so simple that it's choose one of four lines. And there's usually only one or two lines that are best. So customisation means you're either Paladin A or Paladin B...
when playing EQ2, also tried out
World of Warcraft
WoW, aka MMO Greatest Hits 1980-2000. It's a sure winner, take all the things that work (as in take, copy, plagiarise) in other MMOs and make them the base of yours. There's nothing unique about WoW, nothing that pushes the MMO boundaries.
To be honest, I had more fun running around solo with my Hunter and snow leopard doing stuff than grouping up etc with my Priest. I honestly spent 80% of the time playing WoW solo, doing quests solo. To me this game is as much an MMO as a glorified single player RPG.
Quit due to:
*The entire base element of the human gene pool conglomerating in one place. Has to be the biggest majority of ****tards I've ever seen in an MMO. Period. The community alone is enough make me not resub again, or get the next expansion. I spent any time played with all channels bar Guild and Party turned off. No exaggeration. The community here is just astonishingly poor.
As I've said on numerous occasions; if Barrens Chat is the future of Mankind, we're all doomed to Hell.
*Possibly the worst gameplay for "Click 1, 2, 3 while watching a DVD". Even as a Priest I found I was reading forums and posting while doing instances. As a Hunter.. jeez.. Pet Attack, press Shoot, watch DVD.
*The Crafting system isn't. It's laughable. I actually did the first time I tried "crafting". It's a real case of why did they bother? They should have just left it out and used the resources elsewhere.
*Complete lack of equipment customisation. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH FOR ANY MMO!!!
**I did like the 'build setup', but you're still only really one of three different types of generic characters.
*PvP.. never really bothered with it much. Played BGs a few times.. same map over and over. Grind for ranks. Oh the joy.
*I really think WoW should have been a new direction in RPGs for Bliz, like Diablo, by Warcraft. I know I probably go against the grain, but if anything, I think WoW has done a LOT of bad for the MMO genre. It's simplified the crud out of it, and bought a lot of undesirable types of people to the genre. But then, just call me elitist.
Since tried
DAoC
Erm.. people rave about this game... I was honestly bored stupid and lasted probably two months before just not logging on.
RvR = /stick... heal... "Erm, what's happening?" "Defend the fort" "Erm.. ok." /stick... heal.
Generally just did not like this game.
Guild Wars and Guild Wars Factions
Only 'MMO' I'm still playing at the moment. Hardly an MMO, but good fun none the less.
Playing Factions and having a good time again.
Mindless fun, kind of like FPS fun made RPG. Mindless. Slaughter.
D&D:Online
Well, I was bored and thought I'd give this a try *sigh*. Wasted $80 AUS as far as I'm concerned.
Haven't logged in in two weeks now.
*Laggy as crud.
*Confusing, and feel somewhat left out if you didn't roleplay an Elf Lord when you were 14 while your school mates were drinking beers and trying to hit on girls. For the record, I was playing in a Heavy Metal band when people were playing PnP D&D.
*Clunky controls, just doesn't feel smooth.
*Didn't expect much in the way of customisation, and there doesn't seem to be. Seems to play by the 3.5 book in the sense that you know exactly what to expect from the game.
*Should have saved my money and used it to get NWN2 when it comes out instead.
*Doubt I'll log back in, let alone use the rest of the 'free month'.
I'm sure there's others, but you get the point. If not, I'll scream it.
LACK OF CUSTOMISATION. LACK OF BEING UNIQUE!!
For now, I'm casually playing Dragon Realms (which has been awesome for many reasons, one of which I have a much better understanding of where Simutronics are coming from with HJ, and what to expect. Empaths!!) and playing GW:Factions and single player games.
Will probably get Titan Quest next month.
Future MMOs? Well... I won't be in a rush to buy any more MMOs. Hero's Journey is a given of course, though sadly I'll be back at work and will have probably 2 hours every couple of days to play
. Can't believe it's 2007 for HJ...
Might try LotR:Online, but after playing D&D:Online, I doubt it.
I laugh at Vanguard, and think Conan won't half achieve what people are expecting. Might try Darkfall.
All in all, it's rather sad and depressing looking at the MMO genre as it stands presently.
It's VERY generic and stale in my opinion.
Hmm.. wonder how much an EQ2 account would sell for...
h34r: ... :lol: