As things are I'm really looking forward to Blue Protocol due to the concept of my favorite JRPG franchise's publishers working on an action MMO, and partially as something to work on other than Genshin Impact while waiting for more content. Aside from that nothing has particularly caught my attention yet. Really looking forward to BP, though. The visuals take me back to good memories, the story is hopefully going to be as in-depth as a Tales of game, and I'd love to introduce my friends to a Bandai Namco game like it!
I'm looking forward to this really cool one called Em8er where you fly around in mechs and blow up kaiju. 
But otherwise, no other new ones grab my attention. I was a WoW addict until Cata, then I moved to private WoW servers and still play on them to this day (WotLK and below only). Also FF14.
To me what makes an MMO good is high stakes co-op gameplay where you need a dedicated team of people who learn to work together well, like endgame raiding in WoW and savage raids in FF14.
But otherwise, no other new ones grab my attention. I was a WoW addict until Cata, then I moved to private WoW servers and still play on them to this day (WotLK and below only). Also FF14.
To me what makes an MMO good is high stakes co-op gameplay where you need a dedicated team of people who learn to work together well, like endgame raiding in WoW and savage raids in FF14.
Likes:
Wyntyr and Pandagnome
To be very honest: None.
Most of them do not interest me because they all look like the same old bland formula we had for years now. I haven't seen many multiplayer games that satisfy my Sci-Fi or Mecha itch. I've been getting that from single-player games like M.A.S.S. Builder or Outriders (yeah yeah it has co-op but played mostly solo). Hell, even Anthem with all its flaws was conceptually better than what's coming out now.
I currently play FF14 and GW2, not because they are the best games out there but because of the community and friends I made while playing it.
Most of them do not interest me because they all look like the same old bland formula we had for years now. I haven't seen many multiplayer games that satisfy my Sci-Fi or Mecha itch. I've been getting that from single-player games like M.A.S.S. Builder or Outriders (yeah yeah it has co-op but played mostly solo). Hell, even Anthem with all its flaws was conceptually better than what's coming out now.
I currently play FF14 and GW2, not because they are the best games out there but because of the community and friends I made while playing it.
Likes:
Pandagnome
Blue Protocol. While it is Bandai Namco's first MMO, Bandai Namco has always delivered in their action games for me so this got my interest real quick. The footage we have so far from their closed betas shows that it might deliver on the hype. The combat is smooth and I like that you can switch classes on the fly. I think the reason why I'm really hyped about Blue Protocol because its visually beautiful and has a combat system that looks fluid and action-y enough that isn't made by Koreans... and because Bandai Namco more often than not delivers.
Phantasy Star Online 2 : New Genesis has my attention because I play PSO2 JP on and off. Also because the combat system of NGS (often what the game is referred to in the community) is a step up of the vanilla game's base classes but I fear that it might not live up to the hype gameplay of the successor classes (Phantom [Rifle] main here). The combat so far I've seen in the closed betas showed that mobs are actually more responsive this time to your attacks and status effects actually has meaningful visual effects now.
Phantasy Star Online 2 : New Genesis has my attention because I play PSO2 JP on and off. Also because the combat system of NGS (often what the game is referred to in the community) is a step up of the vanilla game's base classes but I fear that it might not live up to the hype gameplay of the successor classes (Phantom [Rifle] main here). The combat so far I've seen in the closed betas showed that mobs are actually more responsive this time to your attacks and status effects actually has meaningful visual effects now.
Likes:
Wyntyr and Pandagnome
I 2nd the idea of none. Part of me is cheering for Pantheon to bring mmo's back to their roots, but not much faith in that reality for any developer. I'm still heavily stuck in builder games right now.
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Likes:
Wyntyr and Pandagnome
Just this one, because I miss Firefall and I'm still hopeful that Em8er will feel alot like it. ✌️
Likes:
Wyntyr and Pandagnome
Pretty much just Em-8er.
It's taking inspiration from Planetside 2 - which is literally the only MMO I've ever genuinely enjoyed. Everything else has been a zero-effort knockoff cashgrab at best.
I'll probably give Blue Protocol a shot just because it looks nice, and I wanna tool around with the character creator, but I doubt it'll hold my attention for very long.
It's taking inspiration from Planetside 2 - which is literally the only MMO I've ever genuinely enjoyed. Everything else has been a zero-effort knockoff cashgrab at best.
I'll probably give Blue Protocol a shot just because it looks nice, and I wanna tool around with the character creator, but I doubt it'll hold my attention for very long.
Likes:
Wyntyr and Pandagnome
Just Em-8ER. Pretty disappointed in most releases in recent times, and the ones I did enjoy have changed too much or shut down.
I loved original WoW because it felt like such a large world with so much to see and do. The awe-inspiring environments (at the time) and enemy designs. The guilds where players actually talked to each other and made communities within communities, player events and such. Didn't get into WoW much after WOTLK.
With Firefall, it was the community, surpassing anything I saw in WoW. The devs, the mentors, the random players you'd run into on the roads, there was a sense of belonging. Bosses were very disappointing (played from 1.3-1.7), and while I enjoyed Defense of Dredge, it needed work. The Amazon was my favourite place to be, then Devil's Tusk for thumping and that huge event that happened on at the 3 bases.
Anthem? The flying was liberating. Dropping into combat, felt good. Events were fun enough if you had players nearby in the main map, emphasis on if though. The raids worked, but reminded me that is was a AAA game. Shame that it's gone, it could have been really good.
Destiny 1 and 2 I enjoyed on release, but became very formulaic quickly. Not enough variety, all feels the same. Exotic armour effects don't change much for most, and sometimes restrict you to a certain class to use them. I find I feel the need to min/max, rather than play with what I find fun.
Defiance had some cool designs, but it felt dull and samey. Environments were cool though.
What I found missing from all the MMOs I've played is the sense of purpose. No matter how awesome you are, you just can't change the world. Your name on a leaderboard, but the core content doesn't change. If you weren't there, it wouldn't make a difference in most cases. Hopefully the AI commander and the world tiers will make up for this. I think it will.
I loved original WoW because it felt like such a large world with so much to see and do. The awe-inspiring environments (at the time) and enemy designs. The guilds where players actually talked to each other and made communities within communities, player events and such. Didn't get into WoW much after WOTLK.
With Firefall, it was the community, surpassing anything I saw in WoW. The devs, the mentors, the random players you'd run into on the roads, there was a sense of belonging. Bosses were very disappointing (played from 1.3-1.7), and while I enjoyed Defense of Dredge, it needed work. The Amazon was my favourite place to be, then Devil's Tusk for thumping and that huge event that happened on at the 3 bases.
Anthem? The flying was liberating. Dropping into combat, felt good. Events were fun enough if you had players nearby in the main map, emphasis on if though. The raids worked, but reminded me that is was a AAA game. Shame that it's gone, it could have been really good.
Destiny 1 and 2 I enjoyed on release, but became very formulaic quickly. Not enough variety, all feels the same. Exotic armour effects don't change much for most, and sometimes restrict you to a certain class to use them. I find I feel the need to min/max, rather than play with what I find fun.
Defiance had some cool designs, but it felt dull and samey. Environments were cool though.
What I found missing from all the MMOs I've played is the sense of purpose. No matter how awesome you are, you just can't change the world. Your name on a leaderboard, but the core content doesn't change. If you weren't there, it wouldn't make a difference in most cases. Hopefully the AI commander and the world tiers will make up for this. I think it will.
Likes:
Wyntyr and Pandagnome
Just Em-8er.
Honestly the only reason I played Firefall was because I was looking to play MMO with guns and FPS type movement and I was checking out the Global Agenda forums for the first time trying to see where everyone else was heading off to after GA died. I joined up with some mates in Warframe before getting bored and checked out Firefall.
I never paid attention to gaming news so I didn't even know about Firefall until then. And I really only liked Firefall because of the world events would give that false impression that my gameplay effected the world. Like jump in with others to take down an field boss, etc.
When Firefall died, I tried out Skyforge and got annoyed with how they gated progress and gated field maps. Tried out Destiny 2 and pretty much soloed that for awhile. Tried out Anthem only because I really like Mass Effect:A's PvP and hoped it's flight mechanic would be similar to Firefall. It wasn't but it was fun for a short time, but the small party size annoyed me too much to keep playing it.
I didn't even know about Blue protocol until this thread. But after playing solo games like Immortals Fenyx Rising and Genshin Impact... I don't think I want to try something similar to that.
Honestly the only reason I played Firefall was because I was looking to play MMO with guns and FPS type movement and I was checking out the Global Agenda forums for the first time trying to see where everyone else was heading off to after GA died. I joined up with some mates in Warframe before getting bored and checked out Firefall.
I never paid attention to gaming news so I didn't even know about Firefall until then. And I really only liked Firefall because of the world events would give that false impression that my gameplay effected the world. Like jump in with others to take down an field boss, etc.
When Firefall died, I tried out Skyforge and got annoyed with how they gated progress and gated field maps. Tried out Destiny 2 and pretty much soloed that for awhile. Tried out Anthem only because I really like Mass Effect:A's PvP and hoped it's flight mechanic would be similar to Firefall. It wasn't but it was fun for a short time, but the small party size annoyed me too much to keep playing it.
I didn't even know about Blue protocol until this thread. But after playing solo games like Immortals Fenyx Rising and Genshin Impact... I don't think I want to try something similar to that.
Likes:
Wyntyr and Pandagnome
Star Citizen & Em8er are the only mmo's I've been following...for years even.
I followed New World (amazon's mmo) for a short while but it looks like another GW2 world which I talk about later.
Crowfall was another game I followed because at the time I was interested in PvP but the Time to Kill seemed crazy big at times. I played the Closed beta momentarily. The character models are totally unique and look amazing but aside from that...idk it just kinda fell flat to me. Perhaps I'm just not in the mood for the combat style...or another Guild Wars 2 like game.
Excluding other multiplayer games such as Battlefield 1942 and Savage Battle For Newerth here's my thoughts.
Chronologically WoW was my first mmo when Burning Crusade launched. My high school friends pressured me into joining in and I did for a time. Retrospectively I enjoyed playing solo or with my twin cooperatively more than I ever did with my real life friends. The casualness of solo PvE quests, adventure, and leveling up was what I kept logging in for initially. I struggled playing with my real life friends because their pacing didn't match mine at all. My pace was rather quick I suppose, rarely pausing between fights or shuffling inventory, never stood around in town, I was always on mission...whereas my friends seemed to either be multitasking or often doing things that were not part of the mission; I was normally waiting around for them. Once I reached near max level and had a flying mount I stumbled on a guild and enjoyed backtracking to help guild members quest, however in all seriousness my assistance totally removed any challenge for the lowbies but they asked for help therefore I obliged. I also found some satisfaction and purpose in roaming around gathering jewels to jewelcraft for my lowbie guildmates for free. Eventually I reached max level and jumped into battleground PvP which was great when I wasn't outgeared by arena players. Eventually I stopped playing WoW because the guild faded, PvP queues were not fast enough, and I did not enjoy spending $15 a month to rarely play. All in all the fantasy world was great and I was excited to advance to each next zone and see what other mystical or wonderous visuals and challenges were to be had.
Lord of the Rings Online was my second MMO and I wish I had found it sooner. The super laid back world and community was such a relief at that stage of my college life and perhaps the already aged combat system and graphics wouldn't have been as much of a problem. The world was expansive and near seamless. The art though dated was good enough. The combat did not feel rushed and you could queue abilities at your general leisure. The quests were in some ways comical in that I had never been told to bake pies or deliver pies or generally assist in quests to throw a hobbit town celebration. I really appreciated the player music instruments of LOTRO. I found it enjoyable to just log in and sit in town and smash my keys to play, imo generally terrible music, but every so often I'd get a small crowd and that was nice. I had very limited music knowledge and only practice piano for like 1.5 years at the age of 12 but LOTRO kinda rekindled it and other events in my life further pushed me and I have been consistently practicing for geez...7 years now (give or take a few months I didn't play in the earlier years) [shameless plug, all improv]. Eventually I stopped playing LOTRO not because it failed to feel like a fantasy game but because the quest lines were rather predictable and repetitive...bear pelts, wolf pelts, defeat X. Not long ago my twin finally tried LOTRO because he's now a fan of LotR but he too waned due to the repetitive nature of the quest lines. We had fun solely playing together, myself as a healing minstrel and him a damage dealing captain. (it was quite comical specing our points into shout abilities to defeat our enemies).
Firefall...omg Firefall, the sorrow and near physical sadness when I heard it was gone. The most amazing time in Firefall was the PvP modes of Orbital Com and eventually Blackwater. The fresh, tactile nature of the objective combat, the super short queues, ducking for cover, jetpacks, nonstop need for medic assistance in pvp. I've expressed how I felt about Medic pvp elsewhere. I logged into Firefall because there was almost always something to do and as a medic main I felt there was always someone to help somewhere. Thumping was not necessarily my favorite thing to do but roaming the landscape scanning for resources and keeping voice communications with my friends and twin to find the best spot and bring down the biggest thumper we could gamble was so much intense fun. Really the only time I logged off of Firefall was because the Chosen were wiped out and Copa was resting easy.
City of Heros was a short lived endeavor. I really just couldn't get into the world environment. I really enjoyed their hot take on how their Teleportation skill works. It made combat kinda twitchy and frantic. All in all I just didn't like the art style I guess...idk really...it just didn't stick
DC Universe was amazing at first. The ability to use superspeed to run up skyscrapers and zip around the world was great. Combat was cool though I'm not a fan of hit-stun and stun-lock combo systems. The quest lines were comic book entertaining and the Joker quest lines were hilarious. I thought for sure I would sub to DCU but I reached max level and...the game just kinda halted. I tried open world PvP and got some good laughs using skyscrapers as launch pads to attack flying players but the amount of Crowd Control spells totally nuked my enjoyment of pvp and subsequently the idea of sticking around.
Planetside 2, a first person shooter mmo. I was either doing medic stuff or jetpacking into enemy lines where I didn't belong. It was really reminiscent of my time playing BF1942. The pressure of avoiding bullets and being on your toes nearly nonstop was exhilarating to me. I eventually stopped because I was too busy to stay in first person shooter shape and not being a Subscriber was a drag. But I really enjoyed pushing objectives and watching the ...somewhat... teamwork either advance or gradually get crushed; win or lose it was fun.
Guild Wars 2 was cool for awhile. The graphics were clean and the fantasy world is well built and pretty. Quest objectives were generally unique in each area and the dialogue was consistent and funny. (I will say however that eventually the slap stick commentary gets old if every npc does it). My biggest issue with the game occurred rather quickly in that there are very few enemy character models. The world is super expansive but after you've been in a few zones you've seen every enemy in the game and anything new is just a recolor of the same models. The main storyline was somewhat annoying because it was always zombie horde doing zombie things which I suppose is accurate to the overall storyline of the game but It just didn't jive with me. PvP was fun and I really appreciated that arena pvp kept gear at base values while allowing some customization. A thorn in my side in pvp was the spells of the characters I chose to play were unreliable, they did not work as intended. For example damage cones did not hit targets on sloped surfaces, Touch spells had to lead the target rather than look at them, ect ect. Ultimately I just got bored of GW2 and I never 100% completed the vanilla world. There was always something to do in GW2 PvE but the TTK (time to kill) for zone bosses when dozens of players were participating made combat a slog; I was just a player amongst a dozen others doing damage and not really seeing my numbers mean anything.
Star Wars: The Old Republic was a game I spent a lot of time in. I really enjoyed the KOTOR series and SWTOR was a no brainer. The combat was fast, snappy, and was over quickly. The quest lines were a little engaging though ultimately the world was quite lifeless just like all other NPC towns in video games are anyway. And just like my experience with WoW I really enjoyed backtracking and helping guildmates through difficult areas. Early on however my biggest gripe with SWTOR was the oversized scale of everything. The hallways and town hubs were excessively ginormous; you could probably fly your personal spaceship through the hallways of some of the locations you visit. Understandably the oversized hallways and ceilings were to accommodate the 3rd person camera but it was eyesore-ly obvious to me. My other issue was enemies were always standing in groups of 3 or 4, always. Arena PvP was great when I finally had the gear to compete with the players who exploited the Valor system. Eventually the PvP queues were too long...11-20+ that I just couldn't wait any more. When SWTOR went Free2Play I jumped in again with new characters and so did my twin. Of course we had good coop fun with him damage dealing and me healing (Trooper or bust). But the enemy types were limited, combat was too easy and even more-so when we played together. We gradually lost steam because it seemed as we advanced through the game the downtime between combat increased...lots of mount time between locations.
All in all what makes a good MMO to me is the potential for meaningful cooperative play, an expansive believable world, and there being something to do most of the time but not all the time. Sci-fi is a big bonus. Time To Kill should not require a full gun clip. Enemies should not predictably be standing in 3s and 4s. Crafting should be streamlined and easy to build something on the fly for someone. ... I feel like I'm missing something; maybe I'll remember later.
I followed New World (amazon's mmo) for a short while but it looks like another GW2 world which I talk about later.
Crowfall was another game I followed because at the time I was interested in PvP but the Time to Kill seemed crazy big at times. I played the Closed beta momentarily. The character models are totally unique and look amazing but aside from that...idk it just kinda fell flat to me. Perhaps I'm just not in the mood for the combat style...or another Guild Wars 2 like game.
Excluding other multiplayer games such as Battlefield 1942 and Savage Battle For Newerth here's my thoughts.
Chronologically WoW was my first mmo when Burning Crusade launched. My high school friends pressured me into joining in and I did for a time. Retrospectively I enjoyed playing solo or with my twin cooperatively more than I ever did with my real life friends. The casualness of solo PvE quests, adventure, and leveling up was what I kept logging in for initially. I struggled playing with my real life friends because their pacing didn't match mine at all. My pace was rather quick I suppose, rarely pausing between fights or shuffling inventory, never stood around in town, I was always on mission...whereas my friends seemed to either be multitasking or often doing things that were not part of the mission; I was normally waiting around for them. Once I reached near max level and had a flying mount I stumbled on a guild and enjoyed backtracking to help guild members quest, however in all seriousness my assistance totally removed any challenge for the lowbies but they asked for help therefore I obliged. I also found some satisfaction and purpose in roaming around gathering jewels to jewelcraft for my lowbie guildmates for free. Eventually I reached max level and jumped into battleground PvP which was great when I wasn't outgeared by arena players. Eventually I stopped playing WoW because the guild faded, PvP queues were not fast enough, and I did not enjoy spending $15 a month to rarely play. All in all the fantasy world was great and I was excited to advance to each next zone and see what other mystical or wonderous visuals and challenges were to be had.
Lord of the Rings Online was my second MMO and I wish I had found it sooner. The super laid back world and community was such a relief at that stage of my college life and perhaps the already aged combat system and graphics wouldn't have been as much of a problem. The world was expansive and near seamless. The art though dated was good enough. The combat did not feel rushed and you could queue abilities at your general leisure. The quests were in some ways comical in that I had never been told to bake pies or deliver pies or generally assist in quests to throw a hobbit town celebration. I really appreciated the player music instruments of LOTRO. I found it enjoyable to just log in and sit in town and smash my keys to play, imo generally terrible music, but every so often I'd get a small crowd and that was nice. I had very limited music knowledge and only practice piano for like 1.5 years at the age of 12 but LOTRO kinda rekindled it and other events in my life further pushed me and I have been consistently practicing for geez...7 years now (give or take a few months I didn't play in the earlier years) [shameless plug, all improv]. Eventually I stopped playing LOTRO not because it failed to feel like a fantasy game but because the quest lines were rather predictable and repetitive...bear pelts, wolf pelts, defeat X. Not long ago my twin finally tried LOTRO because he's now a fan of LotR but he too waned due to the repetitive nature of the quest lines. We had fun solely playing together, myself as a healing minstrel and him a damage dealing captain. (it was quite comical specing our points into shout abilities to defeat our enemies).
Firefall...omg Firefall, the sorrow and near physical sadness when I heard it was gone. The most amazing time in Firefall was the PvP modes of Orbital Com and eventually Blackwater. The fresh, tactile nature of the objective combat, the super short queues, ducking for cover, jetpacks, nonstop need for medic assistance in pvp. I've expressed how I felt about Medic pvp elsewhere. I logged into Firefall because there was almost always something to do and as a medic main I felt there was always someone to help somewhere. Thumping was not necessarily my favorite thing to do but roaming the landscape scanning for resources and keeping voice communications with my friends and twin to find the best spot and bring down the biggest thumper we could gamble was so much intense fun. Really the only time I logged off of Firefall was because the Chosen were wiped out and Copa was resting easy.
City of Heros was a short lived endeavor. I really just couldn't get into the world environment. I really enjoyed their hot take on how their Teleportation skill works. It made combat kinda twitchy and frantic. All in all I just didn't like the art style I guess...idk really...it just didn't stick
DC Universe was amazing at first. The ability to use superspeed to run up skyscrapers and zip around the world was great. Combat was cool though I'm not a fan of hit-stun and stun-lock combo systems. The quest lines were comic book entertaining and the Joker quest lines were hilarious. I thought for sure I would sub to DCU but I reached max level and...the game just kinda halted. I tried open world PvP and got some good laughs using skyscrapers as launch pads to attack flying players but the amount of Crowd Control spells totally nuked my enjoyment of pvp and subsequently the idea of sticking around.
Planetside 2, a first person shooter mmo. I was either doing medic stuff or jetpacking into enemy lines where I didn't belong. It was really reminiscent of my time playing BF1942. The pressure of avoiding bullets and being on your toes nearly nonstop was exhilarating to me. I eventually stopped because I was too busy to stay in first person shooter shape and not being a Subscriber was a drag. But I really enjoyed pushing objectives and watching the ...somewhat... teamwork either advance or gradually get crushed; win or lose it was fun.
Guild Wars 2 was cool for awhile. The graphics were clean and the fantasy world is well built and pretty. Quest objectives were generally unique in each area and the dialogue was consistent and funny. (I will say however that eventually the slap stick commentary gets old if every npc does it). My biggest issue with the game occurred rather quickly in that there are very few enemy character models. The world is super expansive but after you've been in a few zones you've seen every enemy in the game and anything new is just a recolor of the same models. The main storyline was somewhat annoying because it was always zombie horde doing zombie things which I suppose is accurate to the overall storyline of the game but It just didn't jive with me. PvP was fun and I really appreciated that arena pvp kept gear at base values while allowing some customization. A thorn in my side in pvp was the spells of the characters I chose to play were unreliable, they did not work as intended. For example damage cones did not hit targets on sloped surfaces, Touch spells had to lead the target rather than look at them, ect ect. Ultimately I just got bored of GW2 and I never 100% completed the vanilla world. There was always something to do in GW2 PvE but the TTK (time to kill) for zone bosses when dozens of players were participating made combat a slog; I was just a player amongst a dozen others doing damage and not really seeing my numbers mean anything.
Star Wars: The Old Republic was a game I spent a lot of time in. I really enjoyed the KOTOR series and SWTOR was a no brainer. The combat was fast, snappy, and was over quickly. The quest lines were a little engaging though ultimately the world was quite lifeless just like all other NPC towns in video games are anyway. And just like my experience with WoW I really enjoyed backtracking and helping guildmates through difficult areas. Early on however my biggest gripe with SWTOR was the oversized scale of everything. The hallways and town hubs were excessively ginormous; you could probably fly your personal spaceship through the hallways of some of the locations you visit. Understandably the oversized hallways and ceilings were to accommodate the 3rd person camera but it was eyesore-ly obvious to me. My other issue was enemies were always standing in groups of 3 or 4, always. Arena PvP was great when I finally had the gear to compete with the players who exploited the Valor system. Eventually the PvP queues were too long...11-20+ that I just couldn't wait any more. When SWTOR went Free2Play I jumped in again with new characters and so did my twin. Of course we had good coop fun with him damage dealing and me healing (Trooper or bust). But the enemy types were limited, combat was too easy and even more-so when we played together. We gradually lost steam because it seemed as we advanced through the game the downtime between combat increased...lots of mount time between locations.
All in all what makes a good MMO to me is the potential for meaningful cooperative play, an expansive believable world, and there being something to do most of the time but not all the time. Sci-fi is a big bonus. Time To Kill should not require a full gun clip. Enemies should not predictably be standing in 3s and 4s. Crafting should be streamlined and easy to build something on the fly for someone. ... I feel like I'm missing something; maybe I'll remember later.
I'll just echo what has been repeated here: None.
The last MMO I played for any significant period was Firefall, for reasons discussed to death. Dabbled in a bit of BnS, loved the art and combat, but the questing system was absolute dross and I dropped it. Tried a bit of Tera; again, enjoyed the combat, but the questing was your standard fare, dropped.
Honestly, I have lost faith that there will be an MMO that truly innovates and brings an alternate world to life. Developers/Publishers/Suits, play it far too safe. One should not blame them too much, MMOs are a massive investment, and the risk of failure is too great. And yet, the MMO crowd has been fed the same standard fare for so long, anything, any form of innovation, would be welcomed with open arms.
Since there are no MMOs that I look forward to, I'd rather address the second part of the discussion here: What do I think makes an MMO good, which I will get to by listing things that I hate about current MMOs.
1. A Discovered World: The first issue I have with MMOs is that everything is defined and set up for you, the player, to come along and challenge it. All I need to do is open up a map and I have everything laid out for me. From the shop next door, to that top-secret-bigevil-that-has-not-been-seen-for-millenia-and-just-awakened-in-time-for-you-to-give-it-a-proper-beatdown, I can see everything the world has to offer. Immediately, the game no longer exists as a world to explore and enjoy, it becomes a theme park, where I start to prioritize which quests I want to tackle, so that I can maximize my xp gain. Move from point A to B to C, preferably fast travel, so I can avoid all the 'unnecessary' content in between, because it's not worth my time.
Give me a world to discover myself. Not every bit of content needs to be highlighted with the biggest exclamation mark you can code in. Give me mini bosses to stumble into, powerful items that are not tied to a quest chain, hell, even some crumbling castles with unrecorded lore tied to it. An MMO world should be a getaway from the monotony of real life. The more you repeat the same thing, the more it becomes a chore. Allow the player to find things for himself, with each new bit adding to your understanding of the world.
This was one reason why the SiN Imprints in Firefall were such a joy. It gave you an insight into the world of Firefall, but not all of it, just enough to get those gears churning. Leaves you wondering about the history of the world. Makes you want to find the next piece of the puzzle. Such elements gets you invested in the world. That feeling of a kid on christmas eve, unwrapping presents, and with each piece of wrapping that comes off, your excitement grows. I'll take that every single day of the week, thank you. I'll point to Horizon: Zero Dawn (not an MMO, I know) as a masterclass in storytelling. You start in a world you do not understand, and each step, each item you find, adds and unwraps a new layer. Straying from the beaten path rewarded you with more lore and more content to sink your teeth into.
Is this easy to do in an MMO? Hell no. You have a world with thousands of players running about, and no dev in the world can create endless content. It is simply not sustainable. At some point players will discover everything there is. All the tidbits, all the secrets, will be laid out for easy access on the forums. And you eventually fall into a cycle of running from point A to point B with nary a thought in the world. But, what if you had.......
2. Consequences: Oh bother, we failed to beat that boss in time, got wiped.....Eh, no worries, it's gonna be back next week, same place, same time, until then please enjoy the regular fare. No, just no. I want a living, breathing world. MMOs these days are far too static. Players know exactly what boss spawns when and where, what NPC to find and where. The core issue is that you, the player, cannot screw up. Everything is static and permanent. And that is mind numbingly boring.
Instead, how about, oh look, you just delved into a cave, fiddled around with some arcane runes, and voila, you have just released a vicious demon that was sealed away. Fail to defeat it, and now you have a demon running rampant and attacking towns, NPCs, players that wander too close to the cave. Defeat it, and you are good. If not, the demon continues to grow in strength until you have an archdemon that is now a global threat.
Does everything need to be a world changing event? Absolutely not. Failed to protect a town from a raid? You just lost access to a valuable NPC that sells Thawing potions. This then creates a shortage of thawing potions, making the nearby boss fight all that more difficult. Is it a world-ending event? No. But what it does, is mix things up. It affects the economy: you now need to trade thawing potions between each other; it affects gameplay, enemies in the area are tougher now. One small event with several knock-on effects.
What this also does, is make the journey important. The target is no longer simply the quest chain. You have distractions now. A new event popping up, a new quest available cuz somebody failed at something. And immediately you find that the 'available content' has depth. There is a limit to the breadth of content that can be created. But a world with consequences can have amazing depth and interactivity. But all that means nothing, when you have....
3. The Massively 20-man-instance experience: I won't lie, I am not a fan of instancing. Instanced bosses that pop up on a regular schedule, with a fixed loot table, and the elitist hardcore culture that it cultivates, is not my cup of tea. Players eventually find the perfect team to run with, and interactions become limited to that group. Of course, I can see hundreds of players in the hub area, but how often do they interact with each other?
Fixed spawns/ timed events introduce routine into the game. Eventually the game devolves into a waiting room for these 'events'. And when you do play, it's with the same 10 players you have played with. A world with instanced/gated content is a static world. Gameplay becomes a series of running X dungeon Y times, until you are geared and levelled enough to do Z dungeon, rinse repeat ad nauseam. And you couldn't blame players. They are always looking for the optimal path to endgame. The problem here is that the developer enables such gameplay with their design decisions.
Content needs to be developed with the intent of bringing players together, not segregating them into multiple smaller playboxes. Encounters or event needs to prioritize the social experience. MMOs need to move away from being Massive Multi-sandbox Experiences into true Massively Multiplayer Experiences. And a true Massively Multiplayer Experience cannot be achieved when you have....
4. An Inconsequential Journey: It's always an exhilarating feeling, starting off as a noobie in the main city of this brand new MMO. You are armed with barely a stick, clothed in rags, and vulnerable as can be. You go out to kill a few rats, level up a few, so you can wear better gear, equip a better sword. And as you step out into this brand new world, grow in power and improve yourself, you start to leave the world behind. After the first few levels, everything, the world, the NPCs, the story becomes inconsequential. There's always a certain threshold past which you are flying past levels, dungeons and content, never stopping to look around. At that point the player becomes laser focused on the endgame, the ultimate weapons, the ultimate gear, and everything you do is driven by the sole aim of getting to that 'endgame'.
Players chew through content when they have that fixed goal in their sight. A developer can create the most fantastical landscapes, craft the most wondrous lore, entertaining NPCs, exceptional encounters, but all that is left by the wayside, once the player 'outlevels' them. All of them are just another stepping stone towards endgame. Current endgame-based MMO design has created a subset of 'wanderers' that move from game to game, finishing off available content and moving on. This does not help with player retention, or player investment. They are simply around long enough to tick something else off. If all your 'good' content is in endgame, then you run the risk of players rushing through the game/world, finishing off endgame content, and being left with nothing to do.
Instead, give players a reason to return to old content. Places, cities that you pass through shouldn't just be markers that you cross off on your journey, they should be constants that keep you coming back. A world with consequence, going back to my previous point, would alleviate a lot of this issue. When something that happens in the starting city has a direct bearing on what happens on the frontlines, the player has to 'return' and involve with the NPCs and places he journeyed through. It creates a world that is engaging, close knit and interactive. And as a result, all that time invested into crafting the world, the NPCs and the lore become worthwhile. It also encourages developers to pay attention to the content that they develop. Effort needs to be taken to produce good content across the board, not just the endgame.
Now, I'm quite aware that all that is not easy to implement. It requires a re-invention of everything MMO. Everquest Next had some good ideas. It actually had my interest for a while, until they decided to cancel it. Was it difficulty in implementation, risk involved in such an undertaking, or fear of failure, we may never know. But if you want me to get invested in a world, you need to create a world that is brimming with life. Sadly, none of the MMOs out today have shown even the slightest inkling of even trying to innovate. A turd log coated in gold, is still a turd log. Chew it whichever way you want, it still tastes like shit. And honestly, that's all that is out there these days.
Well, that was a rant and some. And I feel there is still more I can add to the list, but I'll stop here.
P.S. Reading through all that, all I can think of is: Damn, I miss Firefall and what it was shaping up to be.
The last MMO I played for any significant period was Firefall, for reasons discussed to death. Dabbled in a bit of BnS, loved the art and combat, but the questing system was absolute dross and I dropped it. Tried a bit of Tera; again, enjoyed the combat, but the questing was your standard fare, dropped.
Honestly, I have lost faith that there will be an MMO that truly innovates and brings an alternate world to life. Developers/Publishers/Suits, play it far too safe. One should not blame them too much, MMOs are a massive investment, and the risk of failure is too great. And yet, the MMO crowd has been fed the same standard fare for so long, anything, any form of innovation, would be welcomed with open arms.
Since there are no MMOs that I look forward to, I'd rather address the second part of the discussion here: What do I think makes an MMO good, which I will get to by listing things that I hate about current MMOs.
1. A Discovered World: The first issue I have with MMOs is that everything is defined and set up for you, the player, to come along and challenge it. All I need to do is open up a map and I have everything laid out for me. From the shop next door, to that top-secret-bigevil-that-has-not-been-seen-for-millenia-and-just-awakened-in-time-for-you-to-give-it-a-proper-beatdown, I can see everything the world has to offer. Immediately, the game no longer exists as a world to explore and enjoy, it becomes a theme park, where I start to prioritize which quests I want to tackle, so that I can maximize my xp gain. Move from point A to B to C, preferably fast travel, so I can avoid all the 'unnecessary' content in between, because it's not worth my time.
Give me a world to discover myself. Not every bit of content needs to be highlighted with the biggest exclamation mark you can code in. Give me mini bosses to stumble into, powerful items that are not tied to a quest chain, hell, even some crumbling castles with unrecorded lore tied to it. An MMO world should be a getaway from the monotony of real life. The more you repeat the same thing, the more it becomes a chore. Allow the player to find things for himself, with each new bit adding to your understanding of the world.
This was one reason why the SiN Imprints in Firefall were such a joy. It gave you an insight into the world of Firefall, but not all of it, just enough to get those gears churning. Leaves you wondering about the history of the world. Makes you want to find the next piece of the puzzle. Such elements gets you invested in the world. That feeling of a kid on christmas eve, unwrapping presents, and with each piece of wrapping that comes off, your excitement grows. I'll take that every single day of the week, thank you. I'll point to Horizon: Zero Dawn (not an MMO, I know) as a masterclass in storytelling. You start in a world you do not understand, and each step, each item you find, adds and unwraps a new layer. Straying from the beaten path rewarded you with more lore and more content to sink your teeth into.
Is this easy to do in an MMO? Hell no. You have a world with thousands of players running about, and no dev in the world can create endless content. It is simply not sustainable. At some point players will discover everything there is. All the tidbits, all the secrets, will be laid out for easy access on the forums. And you eventually fall into a cycle of running from point A to point B with nary a thought in the world. But, what if you had.......
2. Consequences: Oh bother, we failed to beat that boss in time, got wiped.....Eh, no worries, it's gonna be back next week, same place, same time, until then please enjoy the regular fare. No, just no. I want a living, breathing world. MMOs these days are far too static. Players know exactly what boss spawns when and where, what NPC to find and where. The core issue is that you, the player, cannot screw up. Everything is static and permanent. And that is mind numbingly boring.
Instead, how about, oh look, you just delved into a cave, fiddled around with some arcane runes, and voila, you have just released a vicious demon that was sealed away. Fail to defeat it, and now you have a demon running rampant and attacking towns, NPCs, players that wander too close to the cave. Defeat it, and you are good. If not, the demon continues to grow in strength until you have an archdemon that is now a global threat.
Does everything need to be a world changing event? Absolutely not. Failed to protect a town from a raid? You just lost access to a valuable NPC that sells Thawing potions. This then creates a shortage of thawing potions, making the nearby boss fight all that more difficult. Is it a world-ending event? No. But what it does, is mix things up. It affects the economy: you now need to trade thawing potions between each other; it affects gameplay, enemies in the area are tougher now. One small event with several knock-on effects.
What this also does, is make the journey important. The target is no longer simply the quest chain. You have distractions now. A new event popping up, a new quest available cuz somebody failed at something. And immediately you find that the 'available content' has depth. There is a limit to the breadth of content that can be created. But a world with consequences can have amazing depth and interactivity. But all that means nothing, when you have....
3. The Massively 20-man-instance experience: I won't lie, I am not a fan of instancing. Instanced bosses that pop up on a regular schedule, with a fixed loot table, and the elitist hardcore culture that it cultivates, is not my cup of tea. Players eventually find the perfect team to run with, and interactions become limited to that group. Of course, I can see hundreds of players in the hub area, but how often do they interact with each other?
Fixed spawns/ timed events introduce routine into the game. Eventually the game devolves into a waiting room for these 'events'. And when you do play, it's with the same 10 players you have played with. A world with instanced/gated content is a static world. Gameplay becomes a series of running X dungeon Y times, until you are geared and levelled enough to do Z dungeon, rinse repeat ad nauseam. And you couldn't blame players. They are always looking for the optimal path to endgame. The problem here is that the developer enables such gameplay with their design decisions.
Content needs to be developed with the intent of bringing players together, not segregating them into multiple smaller playboxes. Encounters or event needs to prioritize the social experience. MMOs need to move away from being Massive Multi-sandbox Experiences into true Massively Multiplayer Experiences. And a true Massively Multiplayer Experience cannot be achieved when you have....
4. An Inconsequential Journey: It's always an exhilarating feeling, starting off as a noobie in the main city of this brand new MMO. You are armed with barely a stick, clothed in rags, and vulnerable as can be. You go out to kill a few rats, level up a few, so you can wear better gear, equip a better sword. And as you step out into this brand new world, grow in power and improve yourself, you start to leave the world behind. After the first few levels, everything, the world, the NPCs, the story becomes inconsequential. There's always a certain threshold past which you are flying past levels, dungeons and content, never stopping to look around. At that point the player becomes laser focused on the endgame, the ultimate weapons, the ultimate gear, and everything you do is driven by the sole aim of getting to that 'endgame'.
Players chew through content when they have that fixed goal in their sight. A developer can create the most fantastical landscapes, craft the most wondrous lore, entertaining NPCs, exceptional encounters, but all that is left by the wayside, once the player 'outlevels' them. All of them are just another stepping stone towards endgame. Current endgame-based MMO design has created a subset of 'wanderers' that move from game to game, finishing off available content and moving on. This does not help with player retention, or player investment. They are simply around long enough to tick something else off. If all your 'good' content is in endgame, then you run the risk of players rushing through the game/world, finishing off endgame content, and being left with nothing to do.
Instead, give players a reason to return to old content. Places, cities that you pass through shouldn't just be markers that you cross off on your journey, they should be constants that keep you coming back. A world with consequence, going back to my previous point, would alleviate a lot of this issue. When something that happens in the starting city has a direct bearing on what happens on the frontlines, the player has to 'return' and involve with the NPCs and places he journeyed through. It creates a world that is engaging, close knit and interactive. And as a result, all that time invested into crafting the world, the NPCs and the lore become worthwhile. It also encourages developers to pay attention to the content that they develop. Effort needs to be taken to produce good content across the board, not just the endgame.
Now, I'm quite aware that all that is not easy to implement. It requires a re-invention of everything MMO. Everquest Next had some good ideas. It actually had my interest for a while, until they decided to cancel it. Was it difficulty in implementation, risk involved in such an undertaking, or fear of failure, we may never know. But if you want me to get invested in a world, you need to create a world that is brimming with life. Sadly, none of the MMOs out today have shown even the slightest inkling of even trying to innovate. A turd log coated in gold, is still a turd log. Chew it whichever way you want, it still tastes like shit. And honestly, that's all that is out there these days.
Well, that was a rant and some. And I feel there is still more I can add to the list, but I'll stop here.
P.S. Reading through all that, all I can think of is: Damn, I miss Firefall and what it was shaping up to be.
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Starwars the old republic was fun have not played it for a long time i did remember how much i enjoyed the stories.
Firefall is another with good stories and the npc's with their own personality, the enviroment is good i like the ones with caves in the desert too also Copacabana.
Global agenda the open world was fun and ava too even though it could be stressful. Ava made other groups wonder who would get control of the region and it could affect the team from building other structures.
Apb reloaded its fun at one time racing cars/vans stopping criminals or becoming a cop. I really liked the customization of vehicles and some folks were talented enough to create their own outfits and music too.
The one currently playing is Warframe that is because like my railjack and doing the odd sorties.
Like most of the folks i am waiting for Em8er because the planning is thoroughly done at each step.
I would add mario kart but its not an mmo still i like it very much
Firefall is another with good stories and the npc's with their own personality, the enviroment is good i like the ones with caves in the desert too also Copacabana.
Global agenda the open world was fun and ava too even though it could be stressful. Ava made other groups wonder who would get control of the region and it could affect the team from building other structures.
Apb reloaded its fun at one time racing cars/vans stopping criminals or becoming a cop. I really liked the customization of vehicles and some folks were talented enough to create their own outfits and music too.
The one currently playing is Warframe that is because like my railjack and doing the odd sorties.
Like most of the folks i am waiting for Em8er because the planning is thoroughly done at each step.
I would add mario kart but its not an mmo still i like it very much
Likes:
Wyntyr and Valaetoshiru
Is it too on the nose to say this one? I like mechs and I love Firefall. Mucho hopeo.
Likes:
Mahdi, Wyntyr and Pandagnome
this bit is what I liked about Destiny2 and GW2. Because there would be these treasure chests scattered about in hard to reach places that wasn't immediately obvious that something was there for some of those chests.
It was cool to find them and I lost interest in both games as there are so few of that type of experience.
Like I liked Tera too because it sometimes had field bosses that would spawn either because of guilds or etc. And randoms could take down those bosses even though you wouldn't get anything out it. I just thought it was interesting.
Hell that point of Maven's is the whole reason why I was so interested in the failed Project Genom MMO.
they had a lot of lofty ideas on how to setup content such that high level players would end up back in low level areas to access previously locked content. Ah well.
It was cool to find them and I lost interest in both games as there are so few of that type of experience.
Like I liked Tera too because it sometimes had field bosses that would spawn either because of guilds or etc. And randoms could take down those bosses even though you wouldn't get anything out it. I just thought it was interesting.
Hell that point of Maven's is the whole reason why I was so interested in the failed Project Genom MMO.
they had a lot of lofty ideas on how to setup content such that high level players would end up back in low level areas to access previously locked content. Ah well.
I only play and love Grinder Mmoprgs and hate Mmos where everyone have the same endgame Stats on his Equipment. I dont like the Award-Grinding and become Awards like Emotes x.x I love Shiny and rare Equipment + Skins. Thats why i play this Games. Biggest PLUS become Games, that are Focus on PvE and Koop-Gameplay. I love Games, where the Community (Or Clans) must work in Epic Battles against an AI. Games with the Mechanics like Second Instinction
Likes:
Pandagnome
There are a few things I'm looking at for that sci-fi game feel I'm looking for atm. With the biggest one on my radar being PSO2:NG
Likes:
Pandagnome