Couldn't' Have Said It Better Myself
"People might ask, why not just stick with single-player games then, like Oblivion or Titan Quest? Why bother with MMOs? Simple answer: I love being in a game world populated by other real people. It makes the world seem that much more real and alive."
-Scott Miller
Me too Scott. Me too.
Scott Miller recently posted about the solo experience in WoW and how it not only fit his playing style but was actual one of the biggest reasons for the success of the game. Thanks Scott because I'd been meaning to delve into this topic since I hit the level cap and found out I couldn't really play anymore.
I like to solo in MMORPGs as well. Ok, maybe not solo, but I like to hang with a few friends and I like to be able to play even if no one else is on. I guess you could say I'm a lone wolf in WWIIOL but that's not true and that's because I look at WWIIOL differently than I do a game like WoW.
WoW was great through lvl 60. I am a quest junkie. I did every quest that ever hit my quest log. I also liked to do dungeons and I did a lot of them. The fun ended though when I reached lvl 60. My guild is an RP guild and has decreased in active membership since the death of large scale terrain based PvP. We were the kings of that and the Battlegrounds just don't cut it. Raids are great, if your guild can manage them, mine isn't big enough. Battlegrounds are repetitive and spending the insane amount of time in one to reap any of the awards is ridiculous. That same amount of ridiculousness is inherent in everything WoW outside of the basic quests. Take for instance a recent addition. The Argent Dawn faction recently decided to make having faction with them have a point. They added some new trinkets you could get from them if they liked you enough. Collect 30 whatsit and you can trade that in for a thingy. When you get 180 thingies you can get a trinket! Woohoo. The breaking point for me was that it takes about 3 hours to collect the whatsits, so yeah if I play for a year maybe I can get a trinket! Great.
This theme carries over to all things post 60. Run a hundred 5 man dungeon runs and you might get a matching set of armor that is ok but not great, otherwise you can look like a clown who got dressed in the dark like everyone else. Get 40 guys together and you can do a raid, don't bother if you only have 30. Play the battlegrounds, it can be fun the first 500 times but gets kinda old after that.
Scott misses what I think is the central conclusion to this whole thing called WoW. Sure, everyone can love it, for a while. Once you hit 60 though, you are either going to be doing repetitive boring camps for faction or you need to have a dedicated hard core guild who uses point systems and DKP to finally get to the uber loot! I'd love to play that game I just can't. And I think a lot of the "Six Million Subscribers" are likely in the same boat as I.
Game Matters: The REAL secret to WoW's success?
-Scott Miller
Me too Scott. Me too.
Scott Miller recently posted about the solo experience in WoW and how it not only fit his playing style but was actual one of the biggest reasons for the success of the game. Thanks Scott because I'd been meaning to delve into this topic since I hit the level cap and found out I couldn't really play anymore.
I like to solo in MMORPGs as well. Ok, maybe not solo, but I like to hang with a few friends and I like to be able to play even if no one else is on. I guess you could say I'm a lone wolf in WWIIOL but that's not true and that's because I look at WWIIOL differently than I do a game like WoW.
WoW was great through lvl 60. I am a quest junkie. I did every quest that ever hit my quest log. I also liked to do dungeons and I did a lot of them. The fun ended though when I reached lvl 60. My guild is an RP guild and has decreased in active membership since the death of large scale terrain based PvP. We were the kings of that and the Battlegrounds just don't cut it. Raids are great, if your guild can manage them, mine isn't big enough. Battlegrounds are repetitive and spending the insane amount of time in one to reap any of the awards is ridiculous. That same amount of ridiculousness is inherent in everything WoW outside of the basic quests. Take for instance a recent addition. The Argent Dawn faction recently decided to make having faction with them have a point. They added some new trinkets you could get from them if they liked you enough. Collect 30 whatsit and you can trade that in for a thingy. When you get 180 thingies you can get a trinket! Woohoo. The breaking point for me was that it takes about 3 hours to collect the whatsits, so yeah if I play for a year maybe I can get a trinket! Great.
This theme carries over to all things post 60. Run a hundred 5 man dungeon runs and you might get a matching set of armor that is ok but not great, otherwise you can look like a clown who got dressed in the dark like everyone else. Get 40 guys together and you can do a raid, don't bother if you only have 30. Play the battlegrounds, it can be fun the first 500 times but gets kinda old after that.
Scott misses what I think is the central conclusion to this whole thing called WoW. Sure, everyone can love it, for a while. Once you hit 60 though, you are either going to be doing repetitive boring camps for faction or you need to have a dedicated hard core guild who uses point systems and DKP to finally get to the uber loot! I'd love to play that game I just can't. And I think a lot of the "Six Million Subscribers" are likely in the same boat as I.
Game Matters: The REAL secret to WoW's success?
7 Comments:
"I love being in a game world populated by other real people."
I think this is the same phenomenon that allows one to be happy watching "Aliens" on TBS with editing and commercials, but have no interest in watching the "Aliens" DVD sitting on the shelf 10 ft away.
I tend to solo in MMOGs as well, and usually end up playing games like EQ2 and WoW for about 6 months before changing to a single-player, non-subscription RPG (usually Neverwinter Nights).
I stay subscribed to WWII Online because there is an actual use for the thousands of other players. In combat games, it is a lot more rewarding to fight players than AI. However, I know the history of MMORPG players shows I'm in the minority on that thinking.
OMG you hit the nail on the head about WoW, i gave up after level 40, while my brother still plays level 60, does all the guld rubbish, and battlegrounds which seemily looks boring as hell.
"going to kill Ragnoros again?"
bro " Yep"
"whats that the 20th time now?"
bro "yep"
"going to be one of 40 people just standing there firing away with little actual skill involved because you use a stupid script"
bro "yep"
I'll stick with WWIIOL, back when most dungeons were 5 man only or so it was fun, you could get involved, you spoke and new everyone involved and there was always someone you could take the piss out of "Poor Tauco where are you now" Thats right you lost your account due to cheating :D
I would maybe go back if you didn't have to pay for the WWIIOL forums, but because you do i'd prefer the forums :P
WWIIOL changes and grows, i look forward to every patch. WoW doesn't it was made pretty much complete. All they've added is weather, big whoop.
If any of it were fun the first 50 or even 5 times, to say nothing of 500, I'd still be playing.
I was explaining WWIIOL to a friend yesterday, and was comparing it to some of the laments on the MMORPG.com boards regarding lack of dynamic worlds in other MMOs.
It's been said before, but one of the amazing things about WWIIOL is how you feel part of something bigger, regardless of what "level" you are. The truck driver resupplying a bunch of ATGs behind the front. Flying recon and discovering an enemy TT in the Zeelands. Grabbing a rifle and protecting the last tank left from enemy sappers. These are small roles, but when that town is saved or lost, or that convoy is sunk, you know that you've shared in making an impact on something that is permanent in that world. All without even being the "hero" in the story, and a player-driven story at that!
However, there is something not quite there in the dynamic aspect of WWIIOL, that I can't put my finger on. It involves communication predominantly, and the flow of information to the individual player. People have often asked for an "insta-action" button. I think what is needed is an "insta-quest" list of player-generated missions that gives more clearly defined goals and player interactions than just "attack town A".
An example of this is if an Army mission leader could place a "request air support at this location" marker on map. All friendly pilots have this mission appear on their "insta-quest" list, perhaps ranked in order of proximity or with further qualifiers, e.g. CAP, anti-armour, supply interdiction. They can then choose to select that "quest", and get a direct radio channel to the mission leader for further target info/attack channel/etc.
The important thing is the info provided to all players involved:
(i) the mission leader knows which pilots are currently active on that "quest" and their current location/town.
(ii) the pilots know the map marker location and the mission leader as well as the other pilots that selected the same "quest".
(iii) the pilots are informed when the "quest" is completed, and it gets added to their list of completed sorties.
Basically, a mission leader wants to know who is on their quest(s), how many, and how well are they doing it. A player wants to know who is in charge, what to they have to do to complete their current quest, and who else is with them.
I've been thinking it over since I rejoined WWIIOL after the "Welcome Back Solder" program. Before this I've played WoW, WWIIOL, and EVE, as well as looked at several others before deciding that it would just be more of the same. Each of these lasted a mere month or so before I just wasn't interested anymore - I suppose it's a bit of ADD on my part, but the games just didn't justify paying for them if they were going to be dropped as easily as a less expensive solo game.
After I rejoined, I went out of my way to join a squad - the Iron Wolves to be specific, but that's beside the point. While I was thinking over why this time was going to be different, because it certainly feels different, it occured to me: WWIIOL is the only MMO that actually requires you to play with other people.
WoW: Do quests, ignore others, etc. I actually know people who play this way, and there's no disadvantage to doing so. It's a single-player game, but there are others in the same world.
EVE: Ditto.
Whatever other MMO: Probably the same.
WWIIOL has a distinct advantage in its "playing with others instead of simply around them" mentallity: You are a part of the greater whole. It's a different mentallity than many FPS, multi- and single-player alike, and that's probably hurt its popularity a nice amount; but now that I've been introduced to the good sides of playing this kind of game, I wouldn't it for any other out there. (I will admit that EVE continues to tempt me, but I shall not let my WWIIOL subscription lapse in favor of any other.)
I've been playing a fair ammount of EVE as well and it does reuire a good team for any of the interesting stuff but like WWIIOL in the early days there are no easy ways to determine what or where that interesting stuff might be so I end up at a station, running missions for an agent and after a while it just gets a bit stale. I think that if they can focus on formalizing some of the tools in their vastly overcomplicated UI they might be able to foster better group play. I'd sure like to see it.
I'm curious to see how EVE plays with a tightly-knit group, though. WWIIOL didn't really get my attention like it has now until I joined a squad, so I'm curious if EVE - also a very open, player-based game - would have that same effect.
I guess what I'm wondering about is how tightly knit it can be. In WWIIOL you're sort of forced to work together because, ultimately, there are only two sides to work with - you work together, or you might as well play another game. There aren't any real debates about who's in charge since the ranks are directly listed, and that whole "chain of command" idea adds a lot to the game, in my oppinion at least.
EVE, though, doesn't have that - it's open to an extreme. It's ultimately a completely different game, even though it has the one quality that makes it different than other MMOs. It works for WWIIOL, but I'm not sure how well it works in EVE.
Hmm... Maybe I could get some WWIIOL players together... ^_^
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