Forthcoming MMORPGs 102
-pms-mistletoe writes "Just in time for E3, Joystiq is taking a look at all the MMORPGs currently in development, giving a rundown of each one and an overview. From the article: 'Massively multiplayer online games, known by a series of acronyms beginning with MMO, are a rising trend among developers. With monthly fees meaning regular income, and a player base too addicted to stop, developers trip over themselves to enter this lucrative market."
Bring back Wasteland! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Bring back Wasteland! (Score:2)
I'm still dubious about "snake squeezin's", but it's probably better to not think about it.
Hell yeah. (Score:2)
But they need to have the 2nd FDD hack, so that you can start over, but with the same characters and all their gear. This way you're using the meson cannons against the rabbits.
Re:Bring back Wasteland! (Score:2)
Re:Bring back Wasteland! (Score:1)
Try Auto Assault (Score:2)
It is pure post-apocalyptic-voilent-mutant-biomek goodness.
Anyway, I'm not sure why more people aren't playing it - but I honestly sort of like the low population level - it adds to the "empty burning nuclear wasteland" effect.
Re:Try Auto Assault (Score:2)
I currently play CoV/CoH, but am only doing so untill the DDO client is less than $50 (MUCH less.. Like around $20 or so..)
I LOATH paying $50+ for a game I also have to pay $12 or more per month to play. Pisses me off.
I actually hate paying for the client PERIOD, but am far more willing to do so at around $20 than $50+.
Re:Try Auto Assault (Score:2)
Also, I can't put my finger on it exactly, but DDO lacks something. The graphics are great, the combat is decent, the rules are very true to classic D&D, but for some reason I just don't have a whole lot of fun.
Right now CoV and Auto Assault are the only games I have an active account on, and I really only play Auto Assault. Going to cancel my CoV account tonight I thin
Re:Try Auto Assault (Score:2)
I don't mind being forced to team up, for this particular instance, because that IS what D&D is all about.
Look at it this way -- how much fun do you have while ploding through an adventure by yourself?
Hello Kitty (Score:1, Insightful)
All i have to say is:
What the flippin fuc&?!?!
Re:Hello Kitty (Score:1)
See, if you go over here and talk to this guy, you can reset the quest and re-take it up to 38 times, and you can thus keep a whopping 14 heart generators going simultaneously.
Ironically, playing a master dancer (shouldn't that be mistress?) in SWG, with my own cantina and an R2 unit running around barfing a laser show was the only thing keeping me in that g
Why would I try most of these? (Score:5, Insightful)
I was also hoping to see more MMOs that deviate from the "beat up critters for loot, turn that loot into equiptment, chat if you like, it's your money" model. Sadly, that doesn't appear to be the case for most of the ones listed. It's like the RTS genre and FPS genres all over again. One or two companies make a really good game in the mold and suddenly dozens of copycats pop up in the hopes of cashing in, usually with inferior games.
Re:Why would I try most of these? (Score:2)
Battletech [wikipedia.org] MMORPG.
Not the MMO team combat game that never came to be (Multiplayer BattleTech 3025 [wikipedia.org]), but an RPG. Become a mechwarrior, a mechtech, powered infantry, combat vehicle crew... any of the roles in the paper-n-pencil RPG. Form or join a merc company, undergo a trial of position to join a clan, become a fabulously wealthy trader or pirate...
That would be too cool.
Re:Why would I try most of these? (Score:2)
That is an MMO I would want above all others. The universe is so well-developed and so well documented that it would match just about any kind of interest one might have. I can see meaningful paths for crafting, skills, player-run economy, player advancement in terms of command or hereditary title.
The scope and scale could run from individual infantry and battle armor fights up to mechs and to deep space battles with aerospace units and dropships.
That would be just be awesome.
Re:Why would I try most of these? (Score:2)
Bring back MPBT3025 !!!
MPBT3025 was a brilliant tactical fps. They made no compromises with the canon mech and weapon stats in the game, and it worked out as a perfect recreation. Good, if simple meta game and very intense 4 on 4 matches. Gameplay was terrific. The best of it was getting in a group of good pilots in Javelin 10Ts (iirc, been a while, the 4 ML 25 tonner) and swarming an opposing squad. That was so much fun, the 10T is fast, heavily armed and has jump jets. An
Re:It is not even that... (Score:2)
My problem with most MMORPGs is that they haven't come up anything more innovative than the "kill things, level up, kill more things" formula.
With the success of EQ, everyone went with their model. Personally, I found Ultima Online in 1998 to be extremely fun and interactive.
I always thought it was technical limiations of 3d egines that no one tried to copy them with PvP, housing, and skill systems
Re:It is not even that... (Score:2)
And yet you continue to pay for the same old crap, thereby eradicating the motivation for game developers to try something "risky" to warrant your attention. Why should game companies try something risky that *might* make them rich when they can try something tried and true that will make them profitable?
Re:It is not even that... (Score:2, Interesting)
After EQ I realized that I wanted more from my MMORPGs. However, the only reason I don't play WoW or anything else is because I don't have the time.
If I did have time I'd be playing WoW I'm sure. That doesn't mean an innovative company couldn't come along and gain market share.
In fact if someone manages to change the way magic works so that it's so stale and change the camp/loot or instances issues then I'd probably play and just get less sleep
No appeal ? (Score:2)
Personally, I'd love to see
Hockey MMOs,
Driving MMOs (actually, EA tried that one, I remember buying the game, playing it, it was fun but it never picked up as a whole - LOL cant remember the name either)
I'd also love to see games like Ages of Empires on a MMO level. I mean... *really* conquer the world this time
Re:No appeal ? (Score:2)
I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a MMO junkie, but I've been playing 'em forever. There is only one reason for them to focus on RPG above all other things: Profit.
Think about it...What other genre rewards you based on time played? Levels, new equipment, new spells, new skills, new crafting abilities. Planetside, in all other respects one of the few games to break from the pack, still had a strong leveling element. Even there, in the expansion content, they adde
Re:Why would I try most of these? (Score:3, Insightful)
Classes are known and easy to do artwork and abilities for (mages cast stuff and wear cloaks, fighters wear armor and swing swords, etc.). The good vs evil thing makes it easy to come up with a basic plot. There's a ton of other games out there that have been successful and unsuccessful, so you've got a great big pool of ideas to either be inspired by or avoid.
All of this is in
Re:Why would I try most of these? (Score:4, Interesting)
OK. So what DO you want to see? Don't tell us what you don't want, tell us what you do want. Aside from that it's pointless.
How about a decent MMO for the 360? (Score:2)
-Eric
Re:How about a decent MMO for the 360? (Score:2)
Oh. Wait. You seem to be forgetting THIS ONE [playonline.com]
Now, if you mean that none have been developed -specifically- for the XBOX360, you're absolutely correct. But there IS an MMO on the XBox. And yes, there's bunches of people playing it.
Re:How about a decent MMO for the 360? (Score:2)
-Eric
stuff I'd like to see (Score:4, Insightful)
Some areas I would like to see improvement:
More meaningful PVP. Definately a hard one. Turbine looks like they might pull it off with Warhammer (building on DAOC's realm vs realm).
Improved Guilds. I think EQ2 has made some strides with guild leveling and status rewards as well as the recently released (and still somewhat broken) guild recruitment screen. If guilds need systems like DKP, there should be methods in game to easily track it.
Less need to repeat dungeons/instances. Sure I enjoy running a dungeon zone 2 or 3 times maybe even 5, but 20+? Hell no! WoW's run this zone 20 times to get an item so I can run the next zone 20 times to get an item ad infinitum approach to the end game leaves a lot to be desired.
Someone please get NPC faction right. I haven't played a game that does it well. Kill 900 million Furbolgs to get faction so I can buy a recipe. No thanks.
Rethink the combat. A lot of MMOs use a very conventional breakdown of class roles in combat. Fantasy, sci-fi and superheroes all implementing the standard class rolls of tank, melee dps, ranged dps, healer, buff and crowd control. I actually enjoy this structure (well hell I must or else I wouldn't play MMOs) but I'm sure there are other takes on MMO combat that could work well.
Better quests or at least more variety. EQ2 has a few quests that involve puzzle solving that are pretty neat. There has to be more than just kill X number, fedex, find the clicky item or kill X to get a drop. I realize these are done so often because they are easy to implement. Obviously puzzle quests or quests with scripted encounters take more time to develop.
In terms of straight up genres here's some stuff I'd like to see:
A Sci-fi MMO done right. Oddly enough SWG is probably the best mix of space ships and ground action except for the fact that it is so broken. Eve is great but I want to be able to land on planets and walk through alien cities.
I'll second the call for a Fall out style post-apocalyptic MMO. Auto Assault is neat, but once again I want to be able to get in and out of my vehicle in the main world. I'm looking for something that evokes the sense of loss of civilization in the same way as Charleton Heston screaming at the Statue of Liberty in the end of Planet of the Apes. I really believe a setting can be emotionally moving and still involve weird mutants that eat only human flesh.
A genre mashup like Shadowrun or the old roleplaying game Torg would be cool. Even something like the Chronicles of Amber.
An MMO where exploration and colonization are the focus. It would be cool to do a "new world" type of MMO where you could actually carve player cities out of the wilderness. Doing colonial imperialism in the historical sense might not be politically correct, but sci-fi colonization of a new planet could be. And if they added in methods to contact and cooperate with natives rather than just slaughter them that could be cool. The colony could start out in the least hostile part of the planet and as it "leveled" could expand to the more hostile reaches. Implementing things like terraforming would be difficult, but if someone could pull it off it would add a whole new dimension to the game.
A non-kiddie non-Disney cartoon MMO. Something like the pen and paper game Toon. Wild flexibility in character creation ala City of Heroes. Bizarro cartoon physics. Not anime, but more Warner Brothers meets Cool World with all of that over the top cartoon violence. Quests could involve vignettes playing on the recurring themes in cartoon shorts.
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
It's nice to see that we'll be getting Pirates based MMOs and Africa as well. I don't know how successful they will be but at least it's something different.
Privateer (Score:2)
Re:Privateer (Score:1)
PLANETSIDE!! (Score:2)
It's the ONLY MMOFPS out there. And despite what one of your respondents said, while there is leveling available, it is NOT required to play anywhere in the game. You can start out as a new recruit, and using the (very well setup) default character loadouts, go and kick some butt right off.
Now, I would recommend spending some time in the VR training facilities to familiarize yourself with the weapons, how they fire, how quickly they reload, thier damage capabilities, etc. And the VR driving ra
Re:Why would I try most of these? (Score:1)
Alright shall I explain why? (Score:2)
First, The Princess Bride, the battle ontop the cliffs of insanity. Ten minutes of "believable" action. Attack, defend, counter attack. It works.
Next, Star Wars A New Hope, the "battle" in the Mos Eisley cantina. Either one will do. Notice something? Yup that is right, over in a flash.
So now we take say a fantasy MMO like ooh say Everquest and the endless fights make sorta sense. You can deflec
Re:Alright shall I explain why? (Score:2)
Re:Alright shall I explain why? (Score:1)
> Galaxies first launched. That Storm Troopers did not go down
> with 1 hit. You did but not the troopers.
And then there's the lovely fun wherein 8 people surround a dog, and 7 shoot advanced laser blasters at it, the 8th dousing it with a flamethrower continuously for 30 seconds, and the thing keeps fighting, much less running away in absolute agony, much less instantly dying.
Woo hoo! What a wonderful, Star Warsy feel!
Re:Alright shall I explain why? (Score:1)
ALIENS theme. (Score:2)
I think it would be neat if players can customize the missions as well, and of course has to be approved by the game company.
Not much variety. (Score:3, Insightful)
Well said. It still looks like the world of MMORPG is still 90% dungeons, dragons, and monsters. I will at least be looking forward to the new Phantasy Star and Star Trek offerings though. I'm also interested in Fallen Earth. Maybe some of these competing MMOs can price war each other down to a reasonable monthly fee.
Re:Not much variety. (Score:2)
Fantasy MMOGs are a subgenre that seems to work well. There were many casualties in the non fantasy setting MMOGs. And even craptastic fantasy MMOs like Lineage II seem to do extremely well vs some innovating none fantasy game like Eve Online.
- Anarchy Online: while it had some innovative features like instances it failed, mostly because of Funcom's botched launch.
- Star Wars Galaxies: butchered by SOE.
- Earth and
Re:Not much variety. (Score:2)
Eve Online is doing pretty well, actually, compared to everything except WoW and Lineage.
Damn costs (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, give me like $5-$10 fee a month for a set number of hours. If the model is setup reasonably well you can get people who are willing to play enough to warrant the smaller fee to pay while still having your die-hard full-time, unlimited subscribers.
This could even help draw more money to companies running multiple MMOs. In the end, I guess I will just have to decide which one or two MMOs to go with. It will probably wind up being WoW and ST:Online, unless of course the ST universe is screwed up as much as the SW one was with Galaxies.
Re:Damn costs (Score:2)
Re:Damn costs (Score:2)
Re:Damn costs (Score:2)
Re:Damn costs (Score:2)
You stop looking at porn after the first pull??? I usually wait until the last pull before turning it off.
hello kitty... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:hello kitty... (Score:4, Funny)
Hopefully, the line exists between those two genres, never allowing the two to mingle... ever.
If you'll excuse me, I need to take a brillo pad and scrub my brain now.
Re:hello kitty... (Score:2)
Please, No More... (Score:3, Insightful)
I recently came off of a year-and-a-half-long WoW-kick and bought a PS2. Since then, I've rediscovered exactly how fun that games with actual gameplay, storylines, and dynamic worlds can be. No MMO to date has had even two out of these three things (the gameplay is usually "push certain keys at certain times, and then wait for your enemy to die"; the storylines are non-existant; and the few MMO's with dynamic worlds, like Shadowbane, have been buggy commercial failures.) Yet they keep coming out, and gamers keep buying them. Why?
But what's even sadder is that all of the trends in gaming point to MMO's being the future. Maybe I'll be one of the few dinosaurs many years from now bemoaning the "good old days" when the majority of games were tailored to be fun, rather than "massive" and "multiplayer."
Re:Please, No More... (Score:3, Insightful)
I still like the idea of a MMOG though. I just wish there were some that weren't dull RPGs, and that didn't require such a huge time investment. I'd like to see a Privateer style MMOG, for example. I've been wanting that ever since I first played
Re:Please, No More... (Score:2)
Re:Please, No More... (Score:1)
The game looks rather promising right now.
Swi
Re:Please, No More... (Score:1)
Re:Please, No More... (Score:2)
Re:Please, No More... (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong, I like some of the ideas and I play Battlefield 2 every once in a while but come on, give us a break already. I mostly play 80's arcade games because the current games suck.
I miss Quake3. I don't have time to make a monthly fee game worth playing. And fantasy worlds... ugh, come on, some variety please.
Don't know (Score:2)
If you ever played Everquest 2 you might feel a bit of similarity between EQ2 collections and AC:WW museum.
Hell, last time I went fishing was in Star Wars Galaxies.
Considering how popular AC:WW is and how it was welcomed as a breath of fresh air I think there sure enough is a market for mindless grinds.
Hell at least in MMO grinds you are only dependend on time. AC:WW simply tells me that I am not goi
Grrl gamer (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Grrl gamer (Score:2)
Re:Grrl gamer (Score:2)
In the MMO world it seems female players are much more common than anyone realises. (outside of WoW from what I hear) in CoH O have meet many vetran MMO players who happen to be women (not guys who make only female charecters) and are not there just to play with there significant other.
I see less women playing games that have very little or zero socal interaction (real or simulated) maybe there is something to that.
Re:Grrl gamer (Score:2)
I'm female, and I play MMOs for the MM part. I also prefer PvE to PvP, as I prefer challenges where I go up against something hard with my friends, rather than listen to guys swear at each other during PvP. Ditto for non-online gaming; I vastly prefer co-op to head-to-head gaming.
Ah, the good old days of arcade cabinets. X-Men, how I miss thee.
Re:Grrl gamer (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Grrl gamer (Score:1)
Still, the future's bright.
When you find something that works... (Score:3, Insightful)
Star Trek Online (Score:1)
Although I'm sure Star Trek Online will likely offer more than just that, I thought of that first and laughed.
Re:Star Trek Online (Score:1)
That, and saying things like "It's the neuroplasma temporal injector coil assembly Captain, it's 2 microns out of alignment, I can hear it."
Re:Star Trek Online (Score:1)
***** You have been given permission by the Academy to set your phaser on "2 hits to kill a rat", up from "5 hits to kill a rat".
You click on Bartender Demoto
Bartender Demoto says, "I've been having problems with tribbles in the store rooms at the back of the station. Can you help?"
(you click "yes")
**** loading....
** A tribble hits YOU for 3 points of damage!
** You shoot at a tribble. You miss!
** A tribble hits YOU for 4 points of damage!
** You shoot
Sometimes it just writes itself. (Score:2)
>
> MMO History: Neither a Hello Kitty MMO nor a Sanrio-based MMO have been seen before...
What the fuck? What the figgety-fucking fuck??
(Obligatory bash.org: that's [bash.org] what the fuck.)
> Naughty America: The Game [naughtyame...hegame.com]
>A cross between online dating and an MMO, Naughty America: The Game is primarily a social space with added sex. Cartoon sex, that is.
Because after I put on my robe and wizard hat, what could possibly go wrong?
Price... (Score:2)
Re:Price... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Price... (Score:2)
It all comes down to "do you play it"? If you only play an hour a week, then probably no. But if you actually play it a few hours a week then it is definetly a cheap form of entertainment. After
Re:Price... (Score:2)
Re:Price... (Score:2)
but I still think it's a terrible policy
That is the idea that I do not understand. While MMORPGs are more expensive than other forms of gaming, they are definetly not unfair to the consumer. How is $15 a month unfair for any hobby? I spend more money than that with one meal at a decent restaurant, and like I said before I spend far more than $15 every time I go to a movie (bring a date next time).
/drool (Score:3, Insightful)
SWG will leave an open space (Score:3, Informative)
After finally checking out SWG, it's still the huge mess it was left in from the plethora of redesigns and patches. There seems to be players hanging out at major starports and bars, but interestingly enough, most of them are either AFK or auto-barfing some promotional message. A cursory glance of the entire galaxy-wide marketplace reveals just how barren the game now is. I respect'd to a crafter and could not get a lot of the basic resources I needed to continue. SWG is finally on its deathbed. On the bright side, after almost 3 years of subscribing I'm rewarded with a holographic model of an Ewok. Yippie! Better luck next time Verant/SOE.
Another Comment (Score:2)
Actually, a pokemon MMO could totally work (Score:1)
Blizzard Got It Too Right (Score:1)
Re:Blizzard Got It Too Right (Score:1)
Re:Blizzard Got It Too Right (Score:1)
Re:Blizzard Got It Too Right (Score:2)
You would think that from the press. However there are a lot of relatively sane people who left the game (and more every month). I know some friends who still play who have 3 or more level 60 characters. Others play but only at scheduled raid times.
I loved WoW, but now I'm glad not to have to deal with the bs (instability, needs for ui mods, repetitive end game) any more.
How About Warhammer Online? (Score:1)
One of the best ways to keep an MMOG interesting is to utilize the best AI you can for the game, another human opponent. I play WoW, and while there is limited PvP through their Battlegrounds system, most of
Re:How About Warhammer Online? (Score:1)
I'm really looking to Warhammer. Mythic will be able to use their years of MMORPG and PvP/RvR experience to make a great game.
Re:How About Warhammer Online? (Score:1)
I love DAoC but it needs some serious changes in pvp so that it's not about who gets the first mez off or who has the higher mastery of concentration. Basically everyone does too much damage too quickly. And stupid hib casters that can quickcast a stun which lasts long enough for them to nuke you to death before it wears off.... (anyway I digress
I quit daoc for WoW (and then went back for classic servers and then quit again). I'm going slowly in WoW, I'm finding the EQ style PvE enc
I'll be going for nostalgia (Score:1)
Re:I'll be going for nostalgia (Score:2)
I'm not sure I understand... what prevents you from bashing moss snakes in cloth armor in EQ now? G'head, g'head... It's not like the newbie garden outside Freeport is over-crowded and laggy or something. Play your game, there's no stopping you. Or tradeskill up and sell what you make, hiring out a small party of mercenaries to watch your cloth-covered back as you farm those rare furs or fish those rare catche
Re:I'll be going for nostalgia (Score:1)
It's about time! (Score:1)
Still waiting for the true "slacker" MMORPG (Score:3, Funny)
As you go up in levels, you are given the skills needed to talk mom and dad into letting you move into the basement, and eventually at higher levels you'll reach the elusive status of 'Van Ownership'.
Challenges you might face include losing your skanky girlfriend, getting busted for pot, or discovering that preppy button down dude down the street is smarter then you after all.
I dunno. Too close to home?
Re:Still waiting for the true "slacker" MMORPG (Score:2)
Tabula Rasa (Score:2)
Not listed: Bioware MMORPG (Score:2)
No Atriarch Listed? (Score:1)
Looks very promising and the background information isnt the usual, orcs/dragons. Its a few different planets and such, with exotic creatures.
Why I hate MMOs (Score:2)
I'm sure Maxis would have had higher net profits if they'd skipped the entire Sims Online venture and simply added the ability to create and run your own multiplaye