Future MMO Prospects

[Rinette]

Wildstar... I'm not that big of a fan of NCSoft to begin with so even before I saw their idea of female characters I didn't like the game. After seeing the art style I swore I wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole. As someone else mentioned it's exactly like Saturday morning cartoons and that does NOT appeal to me at all. I would give it a chance if I got a beta invite or something similar but I would never leave FFXIV for it.

 

I'm honestly surprised that no one has mentioned The Elder Scrolls Online yet, it's coming out in about four weeks. I've been doing beta for a little bit of it and really enjoy it. FFXIV is the perfect game for me, graphics and mechanic wise, but it's lacking a certain something that might push me into leaving it for ESO. I have always been a fan of Elder Scrolls and had gotten into it before I did FF (not like it's a competition or anything).

 

I'm going to have a lot of fun searching for the MMOs that everyone else suggested though. :3

[No Longer Exists]

I recently moved from here to SWTOR and quite frankly am glad I did. The story in SWTOR is unlike any I've seen in any MMO before (FFXIV's story, by contrast, bored me to tears). I also like the combat quite a bit, which also is rare in MMO's (again, FFXIV's combat was just.... zzzzz)

 

If another MMO coming down the pipeline can replicate SWTOR's storytelling prowess, than definitely I'll check it out, as that's a huge part of me actually liking a game. But that seems rare as most mmos don't seem to want to put in the time or money for quality writing and plots.

 

My only regret is I desperately wish I could transport this community to my new home ._. People here are so much friendlier and social.

 

Some of us had been trying to get a dedicated SWTOR group together for a night or two a week, Asgarn was one of us and he seemed to need a little break BUT I'm still totally up for SWTOR play. 

 

As to the other MMOs, I've given up on waiting for World of Darkness. CCP can't keep its stuff together and they teaser a brief, snail-pace effort now and then. The Phoenix Project has made more progress with their development than CCP has in years on WoD.  If I had to bet which will come out first with better effort, my money'd be on TPP and City of Titans.

 

Wildstar looked entertaining to me and I'm not so much of a stickler for the aesthetics. It was nice to see a sci-fi MMO that didn't take itself too seriously. My gripe with EVE and such is exactly that. ZOMG, it's a video game, not life 2.0. Still, the reviews thus far have been pretty "meh".

 

I've never been an EQ fan. WoW was fun for awhile and so was LOTRO, but it loses its appeal over time. I'm always aware that FF14 will get to that point too with its endgame. (I mean, c'mon. We can see the signs already, admit it.) This Landmark thang just seems like desperation. No offense to the franchise.

 

Never heard of Bless until now. Took a look at the videos and I don't see much staying power in it. Cookie Cutter, despite touting epic storyline design and lush graphics.

 

Anywho, that's my take on things.

[Magellan]

 

I still play a little SWTOR. There are a lot of things that irk me about it, and the combat is NOT my favorite, but overall I don't think it deserves all of the criticism leveraged against it. I will say that it's EXTREMELY unfriendly to anyone who doesn't subscribe; hands down, the F2P option in this game is the worst I've seen in any MMO.

 

With that being said... what server are you on? There are a few of us from the RPC pokin' around on Ebon Hawk.

 

...awwww, I'm on Begeren Colony

Still, if there's a large enough group over there a couple nights a week, I could consider a server transfer.

 

I also agree with what you said with the caveat of; 'fun' is completely in the eye of the beholder. We all want something different from our games... FFXIV failed to deliver an enjoyable experience for me, but I can see why others like it so much. Plus... it helps keep SE in business so yay! I've found that every game has a group of negative critics who focus solely on what the game didn't provide as opposed to what it did. Even though swtor is by far my favorite MMO I've played, I'd still give it a 'B'. MMO's in general just don't seem to deliver everything they could.

 

@Black Hat

"Some of us had been trying to get a dedicated SWTOR group together for a night or two a week, Asgarn was one of us and he seemed to need a little break BUT I'm still totally up for SWTOR play."

 

As stated above I'm on Begeren Colony, but would consider rolling on a different server to play a couple nights a week!

[Ignacius]

Actually, I've got some experience here.  I've played MMOs almost since the beginning, Everquest, Everquest 2, FFXI, WoW, and then a slurry lately, as I've given EVE Online nine months and now FFXIV for a month at least.  I also managed to beta Conan back in the day.  I'm getting the first bit of my updated rig soon (not by choice, my motherboard finally kicked the bucket and I had to order parts to do my core upgrade, so I'll be out of the game until I get my PC sorted out).  I've also done some research here.  So, some thoughts on coming attractions:

 

Final Fantasy 14:  A Realm Reborn

 

 

Obviously, most of the people here aren't playing the game as a sort of trial-sideline.  I am, WoW being my first game and FFXIV being an experiment to see if I can find a new game to engage me before the new WoW expansion gets another crack at owning my soul.  I'm giving FFXIV a shot to get my attention, and at the very least it's earned itself a subscription, as I am still interested in pretty much everything in it.  However, more importantly, I'm kind of interested in what it might become.  Eorzea is understandably small compared to other MMO worlds (it's much more highly detailed and is trying to keep people packed together ), so I can't wait until the game starts to expand beyond its boundaries.  That seems to be something they're eager to do at Square.  In all, I'm sort of excited to see Ala Mhigo and other places hinted at, but that must exist.  So FFXIV, for me, is probably the game I'm looking forward to most, even though I play it.

 

World of Warcraft:  Warlords of Draenor

 

Can't help it, I love World of Warcraft.  It seems to do everything just well enough to keep me hooked.  If it wasn't for how long I've played the game, I'd probably still be playing even while waiting for the xpack to drop.  I think Pandaria is the best expansion WoW has ever had; I even bombastically liked it better than Burning Crusade.  I've also played Warcraft games since 1990, so I'm very interested in how they'll do this sort of throwback lore.  The only reason I'm looking at other games is because I've played WoW nearly since launch.  I need SOMETHING to do that isn't WoW (and no, playing Diablo doesn't count, even though I do that, too).  Unfortunately, WoW is the only game I know of with dedicated RP servers, so I'm not likely to leave it anytime soon.  I'm a roleplayer that plays games, not a gamer that roleplays, so it's very important to me.

 

EVE Online

 

I played this game for about nine months.  At one point, it might have sounded promising, but it taught me one thing:  MMOs need to knock this FFA PVP shit off.  After playing for nine months, I realized something.  I hated seeing anyone else in the game.  Seeing another player immediately sets you on edge and makes you want them to go away.  That seems to me to be a complete misuse of the promise of an MMORPG, that you can see other people.  In fact, FFXIV attracts me by doing the opposite, rewarding me for stopping and helping people regardless of whether it's something I need to do.  Between syncing levels for FATEs, equalizing levels for all dungeons so you can run them with your friends at lower levels, and giving you bits of experience without detracting it from the people you help, FFXIV means I'm constantly hoping someone comes along, even a complete stranger.  EVE, at this point, just proves that free for all PVP doesn't work.

 

Star Citizen

 

 

Speaking of FFA PVP you can't avoid, this game would be amazing if they'd have KNOCKED THIS FFA PVP SHIT OFF!  It sounds fantastic, with gear-bending graphical prowess, flight-stick starship piloting, and a lot of game depth anyone would love.  I'm disappointed to conclude that it won't be quite so open as anyone wants, and it will be absolutely impossible to avoid running into PVP pirates anywhere.  Another game where I'm going to want to have nothing to do with random strangers.  Completely wasting the possibilities of an MMORPG.

 

Wildstar

 

 

I'm somewhat interested in seeing where they go with this.  It looks like a very explorable game and seems like something I'd be interested in.  I'm also entertained by their trailers, jokes, and game footage.  It seems fun, which is another thing some game developers are forgetting.  However, it also seems like the kind of thing that comes as a huge gamble.  The stylized graphics and gameplay might be the most entertaining thing in the world when it comes out, or it could fall flat on its face and become exceptionally annoying.  I'm reserving judgement until I see it, but since I'm playing FFXIV now, Wildstar has to jump some higher hurdles.  It was definitely always going to be more entertaining than EVE, but I'm not sure they can get the complete fun you get out of FFXIV.  We'll see what happens.

 

Elder Scrolls Online

 

 

This is the problem with being the next "WoW-killer", that term is always a misnomer and sets the bar at an impossibly high level of success.  Even then, ESO just didn't impress me.  I had some family beta the game and I got to take their characters for a spin.  Where FFXIV's combat is deliberate and yet incredibly engaging, I felt divorced from the game world somewhat and the combat was boring.  REALLY boring.  I just can't see myself playing it like I play FFXIV.

 

World of Darkness Online

 

 

I'm very, very, VERY skeptical that the company that made EVE and Dust is going to turn a tabletop/LARP game that focuses primarily on drama into an MMORPG video game.  I know the World of Darkness franchise games are very good and very popular, but these are games that focus almost essentially on dramatic interactions between relatively small numbers of individuals.  You have to really fight these games to make them fun, action-oriented affairs (my favorite kind of RPG).  I'm sure it's possible to make a WoD game fun and to give you excuses to boil people's blood in their skin rather than manipulate them into giving you control of the Kentucky National Guard, but CCP is NOT the company that can do that.  Both of their games are highly numerical affairs, EVE especially being the MBA's MMORPG.  I would need to hear some spectacular things about this game to make me think it would be any good.

 

EverQuest Next

 

 

I haven't been following it, though I probably should.  I'll reserve judgement until I have more information on it.

 

Monster Hunter Online

 

 

I'm... conflicted.  Monster Hunter is, without a doubt, my favorite video game franchise of all time.  This is despite me hating a lot of the more Japanese elements of the games; charging your sword for a glowy slash kind of hurts the idea that you're staring at a giant drake that can kill you in two good smacks.  They have a new MMO coming out, but it's being made by Tencent, not Capcom.  It's being made for a Chinese audience, not Japanese, and no one is talking about a western release yet.  I'm not even sure that we'll have free hunt, so it might not even be an MMORPG.

 

Mark my words though, if they ever give an American release to a Monster Hunter MMORPG that they do even half-decently, you won't see me again until you all inevitably migrate to it, for it will be the most awesome game of all time.  I'm keeping my eyes in Capcom's direction, wondering if they'll ever make my dreams come true.

 

That's all I've got offhand.

[Adolar]

Anyone heard of Black Desert Online? A friend mentioned this game to me a while back. It's a Korean MMO (GASP!) but it actually has a lot of very sandboxy elements which is a pretty interesting direction considering the state of MMOs today. The game world looks huge and the graphics are pretty awesome. Combat looks like it'll be more action-oriented like how Tera was but that has never really bothered me much. It's probably the only MMO I'm anticipating right now besides FFXIV expansions. I'll hold back my judgment however, until it's actually released, or at least goes into beta. These types of MMOs can go bad very easily if not executed right and I'm just generally very skeptical about MMOs in general...

 

Anyway, here's a trailer of the game for anyone interested.

 

[No Longer Exists]

 

I still play a little SWTOR. There are a lot of things that irk me about it, and the combat is NOT my favorite, but overall I don't think it deserves all of the criticism leveraged against it. I will say that it's EXTREMELY unfriendly to anyone who doesn't subscribe; hands down, the F2P option in this game is the worst I've seen in any MMO.

 

With that being said... what server are you on? There are a few of us from the RPC pokin' around on Ebon Hawk.

 

...awwww, I'm on Begeren Colony

Still, if there's a large enough group over there a couple nights a week, I could consider a server transfer.

 

I also agree with what you said with the caveat of; 'fun' is completely in the eye of the beholder. We all want something different from our games... FFXIV failed to deliver an enjoyable experience for me, but I can see why others like it so much. Plus... it helps keep SE in business so yay! I've found that every game has a group of negative critics who focus solely on what the game didn't provide as opposed to what it did. Even though swtor is by far my favorite MMO I've played, I'd still give it a 'B'. MMO's in general just don't seem to deliver everything they could.

 

@Black Hat

"Some of us had been trying to get a dedicated SWTOR group together for a night or two a week, Asgarn was one of us and he seemed to need a little break BUT I'm still totally up for SWTOR play."

 

As stated above I'm on Begeren Colony, but would consider rolling on a different server to play a couple nights a week!

 

We're in the teens levelwise, so you should be able to catch up pretty easily. If memory serves, we ran the esseles and that was it. I don't know about a big enough group, considering it was Asgarn, LC and myself. We'd had a fourth, but that player never got back to us. 

 

I'm available most days and nights for SWTOR and I believe I have a small cadre of characters on BC already, so I'm flexible with where I play. I just love the atmosphere of the game itself. PM me with your preference.

[Magellan]

Anyone heard of Black Desert Online? A friend mentioned this game to me a while back. It's a Korean MMO (GASP!) but it actually has a lot of very sandboxy elements which is a pretty interesting direction considering the state of MMOs today. The game world looks huge and the graphics are pretty awesome. Combat looks like it'll be more action-oriented like how Tera was but that has never really bothered me much. It's probably the only MMO I'm anticipating right now besides FFXIV expansions. I'll hold back my judgment however, until it's actually released, or at least goes into beta. These types of MMOs can go bad very easily if not executed right and I'm just generally very skeptical about MMOs in general...

 

Anyway, here's a trailer of the game for anyone interested.

 

 I also had a friend put me on to this one, and it looked interesting enough to warrant a look-see

[TheLastCandle]

I was seriously disappointed with what I played of the Elder Scrolls Online beta. I found:

 

1.) Combat was boring and uninspired. Combat has always been a bit boring in TES, especially melee. However, offline TES games usually aren't built entirely around combat. ESO is.

 

2.) Character and enemy animations were janky and unnatural. This is something that can be fixed, to be fair.

 

3.) My fiddling for hours with character creation only produced bland (and often grotesque) results with every race I tried. These are some seriously ugly models. And I'm not even one of those people who has to play an attractive character: my go-to race for "classic" fantasy games is DWARF, for cryin' out loud! I did manage to make a Nord that looked amusingly close to Treebeard the Ent from the Lord of the Rings films, though.

 

4.) The exploration aspect has some potential, but seeing every single treasure chest had already been opened by whatever player had previously stormed through the area got old pretty quickly.

 

So yeah - definitely passing on ESO, despite being a fan of the world since Daggerfall.

[synaesthetic]

Zenimax used all of the mighty graphics prowess at their disposal, all the wonderful graphics tricks and rendering capabilities of DirectX 11 to make...

 

... Brown World.

 

Where everything is brown.

 

Everything.

[CalebAgron]

So I really don't see any games being released that catch my eye, or having me waiting on pins and needles to play. I've been playing MMORPG games for years now, starting out with Vanilla WoW and hitting most the games since. Granted there are some games I never played that seem to have large followings, but that never really struck me as interesting. Eve, Everquest are but a few. So here are my thoughts on where my gaming will be in the future.

 

Final Fantasy 14:  A Realm Reborn

 

 

I gotta say so far I'm pleased with this game, its graphics are amazing, the game play is spot on, and they seem to come out with new content at a decent rate. Granted the last patches FC housing was a complete flop for those of us that don't BUY gil or were rich prior to ARR coming out. The lack of player housing is probably my only complaint of the game so far. This game still holds potential though and I'll be interested to see IF they add more classes, more races, and more lands beyond Eorzea. The release of Leviathan is a good start, lets keep the content coming and they will keep my subscription. Praise given..I am feeling a little burn out from all the "Daily's" I've NEVER been one for grinds, be it for gil, armor, or anything else.

 

World of Warcraft:  Warlords of Draenor

 

So I am ashamed to admit that I will likely TRY this expansion just to see where they take the story and how the "player housing" in the game pans out. I am interested to see how the other race's model remakes turn out, cause god knows the human male model right now is perhaps the worst thing EVER in mmo history. I have a love hate relationship with this game, I find the world, setting, races etc to be epic amazing! But there are also some lore crap that I disagree with and that I thought they epic failed at.

 

High Elves not being added to the Alliance is my #1 bitch about the game! And not 2 fucks were given that they look identical to Blood Elves, I am an Alliance player through and through and my favorite race is High Elves so no playing a Blood Elf is not an option. Lore wise, to everyone that has more then 1 brain cell they would make sense to add too, just hoping one day in the future they are released.

 

Sorry rant on High Elves, happens every time I talk about WoW. Gameplay wise I was pleased with what they did in Cata even though it got a lot of anger from the "hardcore" players, making the game more accessible to everyone should be a no brainer and I'm glad they went that route. The grinds in the game however have always been a turn off, as has the "rare drop" mounts.

 

City of Heroes/Villans

 

Rest in peace CoX, the customization, the classes, and MOST the game play was amazing. The copy paste instances however were NOT, in fact the same damn mission in the same damn building or tunnel is what made me peace out. Still it was an overall good game, RIP.

 

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

 

This game really set the bar for all future MMORPG's when it comes to questing and stories. Let's face it, regardless of how "expensive" voice acting can be, after SWTOR there is NO and I mean NO reason why we should have to read quest shit again...ever. I don't buy into it being "expensive" especially since I know voice actors don't have 1 voice. I mean yea SWTOR hired some famous people and that shit of course would get expensive, but I'm sure you can hire much more affordable voice actors. The multiple choice replies your character could give and the absolutely FLAWLESS stories they did for each class made leveling in this game beyond a joy, it has no equal in this department period.

 

Praise given. I have also never seen a game release new content at such a slow pace, 2.5 years after the games release people will finally be getting player housing. Their expansion was meh, and they still have a host of stuff they still have yet to deliver on. Not the least of this is same gender romance options that was promised "shortly after release" nope...still not available. Needless to say I grew tired of waiting for content and gave the 1 finger salute to a game that doesn't follow up on its promises.

 

Wildstar

 

 

I've heard a lot about this game from several friends who are excited to play it. I for one don't even have a slight interest in the game, graphics are way too cartoon looking or my taste,this coming from someone who played WoW. I also have no draw to any of the races, or classes. The mixture of technology/magic has always been a big -nope- for me.

 

Elder Scrolls Online

 

 

Hummm very torn with this game, I -might- try it out depending on how their pvp looks. From what I could gather it seemed like it would be "GW2esq" in that you would be able to upgrade towers, fight in a 3 way fight, take over territory etc. Graphics fall short for me though, it looks like it's trying a little too hard to be realistic, and that is as much a turn off as something that is too cartoonish. There has to be a balance, SWTOR, GW2 and FF14 provide that perfect balance. Meh I don't know about this game.

 

World of Darkness Online

 

 

So I use to play the tabletop game with friends in HS and shorty after, I even gave an online group a shot and had a decent time with it. I LOVE their books, their system, etc..but from what I hear they are slow on making the game...and that's pretty much a nail in the coffin...ha see what i did thar!? Aint nobody got time to wait 5+ years for a game, come out with a game or gtfo of the industry lol. *cough* Blizzard's "Project Titan" *cough*.

 

Guild Wars 2

 

 

Think I'm pretty much done with this game, it was fun while it lasted and a pretty good game for F2P. Their WvWvW was so much fun, though their recent changes in the maps..not so much. The story was decent, I liked the races and classes for the most part. I might jump on from time to time but it's not a game I'll put much investment in anymore.

 

Marvel Heroes

 

So a lot of people complain that they want to play their own "unique" hero, I for one much prefer being able to play some of the heroes I use to read about all the time. And I still purchase heroes and try them out from time to time so I guess you can say I'm still invested in the game. It is however a secondary game for me, it's largest mark against  it is the lack of RP in the MMO. It is a very anti RP game in it's design, and the game is VERY grind heavy with end content and leveling.

 

The graphics are nice, and the rapid rate at which they come out with new costumes and heroes is nice. While I don't really mind that there are a bunch of nightcralwers or cyclops etc, I think once the game has a large 60+ hero selection it might become more appealing. That and they need to add more RP friendly content.

 

 

 

So yea all in all no games I'm crazy about playing, FF14 is holding my attention so far, mainly because of the RP I've found. And I will play WoW and Marvel Heroes for some "break time".

[Ignacius]

 

High Elves not being added to the Alliance is my #1 bitch about the game! And not 2 fucks were given that they look identical to Blood Elves, I am an Alliance player through and through and my favorite race is High Elves so no playing a Blood Elf is not an option. Lore wise, to everyone that has more then 1 brain cell they would make sense to add too, just hoping one day in the future they are released.

 

 

Sorry to jump on this of all things, but I kind of agree.  I play both factions, and tend to lean towards Alliance, but having the Elves join the Horde annoyed the everloving Hell out of me.  It wasn't just that one of the pivotal races of the Alliance ended up joining their bitterest enemies for a VERY inadequate reason, it was that, for the poor Horde, THEY'RE STILL MISSING ONE OF THEIR OWN RACES!  Seriously, I can understand the Alliance getting the Elves because they don't have anyone else, but outside of the Elves they have the entire Alliance (Humans, Gnomes, Dwarves).

 

The Horde, on the other hand, finally got their Goblins in Cata, but I'll be eternally annoyed that they got Elves instead of Ogres.  Ogres are all over every expansion of WoW except the last, they were an original Horde race!  Instead, they sent one of the Alliance races over and still haven't gotten around to adding the Ogres back into the mix.  It's a sad state of affairs.

 

I still love World of Warcraft, but I remember that being eye-roll-worthy during Burning Crusade.  "Seriously?  The High Elves go emo, call themselves Blood Elves, and join the Horde?  But not Ogres (or at the time Goblins)?  Seriously?"

 

Maybe that's why I lean Alliance still even though I play both.  You could see them trying to make the Horde a prettier faction, or at least hoping to give them something less ugly.  Interesting choice for your ugly faction.

 

We'll see how it goes.

[UltraFennec]

I agree with LastCandle as regards ESO's combat, it was never going to be particularly interesting, though the leeching abilities in the Nightblade inspired a new Skyrim character, so...not all bad? LOL.

I must disagree as regards the animations though. Every single one of them was leaps and bounds ahead of even Skyrim IMO. The Gamebryo engine (or Creation, totally-not-a-rehashed-Gamebryo-we-swear engine) is just terrible for animation apparently.

[LandStander]

I agree with LastCandle as regards ESO's combat, it was never going to be particularly interesting, though the leeching abilities in the Nightblade inspired a new Skyrim character, so...not all bad? LOL.

I must disagree as regards the animations though. Every single one of them was leaps and bounds ahead of even Skyrim IMO. The Gamebryo engine (or Creation, totally-not-a-rehashed-Gamebryo-we-swear engine) is just terrible for animation apparently.

 

Just how high were you when you played the game?

 

One word for you... /dancedrunk

The worse done emote in the history of emotes

I honestly think that they had an intern rush through their animations overnight. 

 

I don't think the character models are ugly, but they all pretty much look the same, face wise. The slider for the face doesn't change it enough.

[Dogberry]

I'll be playing ESO with my wife. I will say that at first I found the combat clunky, but then discovered that there's a rhythm to it. The closest analogy I can think of was using the DMR in Halo Reach. You couldn't get an effective, quick kill by firing rapidly. You had to take your time, wait for the bloom to go down, and control your shots. Five slow shots would get you a quicker kill than ten rapid ones. It's the same way in ESO. The combat is set up so that one animation leads into another, and you have to time your attacks right or the animations start over again. The most obvious example of this is with archery, where each shot ends with you nocking another arrow and drawing. If you miss your timing, your avatar goes back to a resting state. Once I got the hang of this, combat became a lot more fun.

 

Graphics wise, and lorewise, I'm not the biggest Elder Scrolls fan there ever was, but I'm looking forward to face rolling chumps in AvA.

[Magellan]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

 

This game really set the bar for all future MMORPG's when it comes to questing and stories. Let's face it, regardless of how "expensive" voice acting can be, after SWTOR there is NO and I mean NO reason why we should have to read quest shit again...ever. I don't buy into it being "expensive" especially since I know voice actors don't have 1 voice. I mean yea SWTOR hired some famous people and that shit of course would get expensive, but I'm sure you can hire much more affordable voice actors. The multiple choice replies your character could give and the absolutely FLAWLESS stories they did for each class made leveling in this game beyond a joy, it has no equal in this department period.

 

Could not agree with this more. Half the reason I could not get into ffxiv's story at all was the amount of reading required. I love to read, but when you're forced to read paragraph after paragraph of mundane story and tedious questing, it just gets old. Giving npcs voice breathes life into even the most basic of quests,, and adds character, flavor, and depth.

 

From an rper's perspective, having meaningful dialogue options (such as light and dark side) is an absolute dream, cuz its like having your own personal canon going on while you play through the game.

 

I wish more games would focus more of their attentions on making the actual playthrough of the game fun and exciting, rather than focusing so heavily on endgame.

[Ignacius]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

 

This game really set the bar for all future MMORPG's when it comes to questing and stories. Let's face it, regardless of how "expensive" voice acting can be, after SWTOR there is NO and I mean NO reason why we should have to read quest shit again...ever. I don't buy into it being "expensive" especially since I know voice actors don't have 1 voice. I mean yea SWTOR hired some famous people and that shit of course would get expensive, but I'm sure you can hire much more affordable voice actors. The multiple choice replies your character could give and the absolutely FLAWLESS stories they did for each class made leveling in this game beyond a joy, it has no equal in this department period.

 

Could not agree with this more. Half the reason I could not get into ffxiv's story at all was the amount of reading required. I love to read, but when you're forced to read paragraph after paragraph of mundane story and tedious questing, it just gets old. Giving npcs voice breathes life into even the most basic of quests,, and adds character, flavor, and depth.

 

From an rper's perspective, having meaningful dialogue options (such as light and dark side) is an absolute dream, cuz its like having your own personal canon going on while you play through the game.

 

I wish more games would focus more of their attentions on making the actual playthrough of the game fun and exciting, rather than focusing so heavily on endgame.

 

I have to say I disagree with this, personally.  I really don't mind reading quest text (then again, when you're in architecture, you read a LOT).  If development resources are limited and the choices are between adding cutscenes and spoken dialogue or adding improved gameplay elements, I'd go with the latter.  As an RPer, I've found that I know a good dozen or so roleplayers who write more interesting stories for RP than the actual developers.

[Magellan]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

 

This game really set the bar for all future MMORPG's when it comes to questing and stories. Let's face it, regardless of how "expensive" voice acting can be, after SWTOR there is NO and I mean NO reason why we should have to read quest shit again...ever. I don't buy into it being "expensive" especially since I know voice actors don't have 1 voice. I mean yea SWTOR hired some famous people and that shit of course would get expensive, but I'm sure you can hire much more affordable voice actors. The multiple choice replies your character could give and the absolutely FLAWLESS stories they did for each class made leveling in this game beyond a joy, it has no equal in this department period.

 

Could not agree with this more. Half the reason I could not get into ffxiv's story at all was the amount of reading required. I love to read, but when you're forced to read paragraph after paragraph of mundane story and tedious questing, it just gets old. Giving npcs voice breathes life into even the most basic of quests,, and adds character, flavor, and depth.

 

From an rper's perspective, having meaningful dialogue options (such as light and dark side) is an absolute dream, cuz its like having your own personal canon going on while you play through the game.

 

I wish more games would focus more of their attentions on making the actual playthrough of the game fun and exciting, rather than focusing so heavily on endgame.

 

I have to say I disagree with this, personally.  I really don't mind reading quest text (then again, when you're in architecture, you read a LOT).  If development resources are limited and the choices are between adding cutscenes and spoken dialogue or adding improved gameplay elements, I'd go with the latter.  As an RPer, I've found that I know a good dozen or so roleplayers who write more interesting stories for RP than the actual developers.

 

Story is tantamount to my enjoyment of a game. I know people have different 'lists' for the top things they look for in a game, and I completely respect that but personally, if I'm going to invest a hefty chunk of time in a game, it will be because the story keeps driving me forward and I want to find out more. On a whole, mmo's fall well short in spinning compelling narratives.

 

I agree in most cases rpers come up with better stories than the devs, and that's part of the problem for me! I guess coming from a console rpg background where it was all about story, I just expect a little more from main storylines.

[Ignacius]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

 

This game really set the bar for all future MMORPG's when it comes to questing and stories. Let's face it, regardless of how "expensive" voice acting can be, after SWTOR there is NO and I mean NO reason why we should have to read quest shit again...ever. I don't buy into it being "expensive" especially since I know voice actors don't have 1 voice. I mean yea SWTOR hired some famous people and that shit of course would get expensive, but I'm sure you can hire much more affordable voice actors. The multiple choice replies your character could give and the absolutely FLAWLESS stories they did for each class made leveling in this game beyond a joy, it has no equal in this department period.

 

Could not agree with this more. Half the reason I could not get into ffxiv's story at all was the amount of reading required. I love to read, but when you're forced to read paragraph after paragraph of mundane story and tedious questing, it just gets old. Giving npcs voice breathes life into even the most basic of quests,, and adds character, flavor, and depth.

 

From an rper's perspective, having meaningful dialogue options (such as light and dark side) is an absolute dream, cuz its like having your own personal canon going on while you play through the game.

 

I wish more games would focus more of their attentions on making the actual playthrough of the game fun and exciting, rather than focusing so heavily on endgame.

 

I have to say I disagree with this, personally.  I really don't mind reading quest text (then again, when you're in architecture, you read a LOT).  If development resources are limited and the choices are between adding cutscenes and spoken dialogue or adding improved gameplay elements, I'd go with the latter.  As an RPer, I've found that I know a good dozen or so roleplayers who write more interesting stories for RP than the actual developers.

 

Story is tantamount to my enjoyment of a game. I know people have different 'lists' for the top things they look for in a game, and I completely respect that but personally, if I'm going to invest a hefty chunk of time in a game, it will be because the story keeps driving me forward and I want to find out more. On a whole, mmo's fall well short in spinning compelling narratives.

 

I agree in most cases rpers come up with better stories than the devs, and that's part of the problem for me! I guess coming from a console rpg background where it was all about story, I just expect a little more from main storylines.

That's probably where we're different.  I played a lot of console RPGs, but my developmental roleplaying experience comes from tabletop and open forum gaming where we had to make our own stories and, often, our own game worlds.  Game stories disappoint me so frequently that I thought the problem was me; I just had RPed with people who told better stories than game developers.  I especially don't like when developers make me feel like I'm acting the part in someone else's movie... not naming any names capcom....

 

 

Still, a game can't have a completely crap story, I'll grant you.  That was one of EVE's problems.  It seems like CCP was well aware of how shit they were at storytelling and decided to outsource pretty much all the game's meaning to the player base.  That doesn't work either.

 

 

I will say that I'd prefer a dynamic and dangerous world with a mediocre story to a mediocre world with a dynamic and dangerous story.  Mostly, it's because I can make dynamic and dangerous stories; I've been doing that since I was twelve.  But I'm crap at coding and I need developers to make games for me to play.

[CalebAgron]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

 

This game really set the bar for all future MMORPG's when it comes to questing and stories. Let's face it, regardless of how "expensive" voice acting can be, after SWTOR there is NO and I mean NO reason why we should have to read quest shit again...ever. I don't buy into it being "expensive" especially since I know voice actors don't have 1 voice. I mean yea SWTOR hired some famous people and that shit of course would get expensive, but I'm sure you can hire much more affordable voice actors. The multiple choice replies your character could give and the absolutely FLAWLESS stories they did for each class made leveling in this game beyond a joy, it has no equal in this department period.

 

Could not agree with this more. Half the reason I could not get into ffxiv's story at all was the amount of reading required. I love to read, but when you're forced to read paragraph after paragraph of mundane story and tedious questing, it just gets old. Giving npcs voice breathes life into even the most basic of quests,, and adds character, flavor, and depth.

 

From an rper's perspective, having meaningful dialogue options (such as light and dark side) is an absolute dream, cuz its like having your own personal canon going on while you play through the game.

 

I wish more games would focus more of their attentions on making the actual playthrough of the game fun and exciting, rather than focusing so heavily on endgame.

 

I have to say I disagree with this, personally.  I really don't mind reading quest text (then again, when you're in architecture, you read a LOT).  If development resources are limited and the choices are between adding cutscenes and spoken dialogue or adding improved gameplay elements, I'd go with the latter.  As an RPer, I've found that I know a good dozen or so roleplayers who write more interesting stories for RP than the actual developers.

 

Story is tantamount to my enjoyment of a game. I know people have different 'lists' for the top things they look for in a game, and I completely respect that but personally, if I'm going to invest a hefty chunk of time in a game, it will be because the story keeps driving me forward and I want to find out more. On a whole, mmo's fall well short in spinning compelling narratives.

 

I agree in most cases rpers come up with better stories than the devs, and that's part of the problem for me! I guess coming from a console rpg background where it was all about story, I just expect a little more from main storylines.

That's probably where we're different.  I played a lot of console RPGs, but my developmental roleplaying experience comes from tabletop and open forum gaming where we had to make our own stories and, often, our own game worlds.  Game stories disappoint me so frequently that I thought the problem was me; I just had RPed with people who told better stories than game developers.  I especially don't like when developers make me feel like I'm acting the part in someone else's movie... not naming any names capcom....

 

 

Still, a game can't have a completely crap story, I'll grant you.  That was one of EVE's problems.  It seems like CCP was well aware of how shit they were at storytelling and decided to outsource pretty much all the game's meaning to the player base.  That doesn't work either.

 

 

I will say that I'd prefer a dynamic and dangerous world with a mediocre story to a mediocre world with a dynamic and dangerous story.  Mostly, it's because I can make dynamic and dangerous stories; I've been doing that since I was twelve.  But I'm crap at coding and I need developers to make games for me to play.

 

See I could not get into the lore in FF14 because for me, ain't nobody got time or the desire to read quests. I've pretty much quick clicked out of every quest I've been given in this game. The cut sceens are pretty much the only in game lore I know, and will remain so. Ain't nobody got time for that reading bs.

[Magellan]

Lol. I wouldn't go that far personally, but... I do not play games to grind. Ever. It defeats the whole purpose of playing games for me, which is to have fun and relax. Ergo, the quest system NEEDS to be fun for me to want to play the game. And the story needs to be involving. Otherwise, it becomes a grind.

 

Which is why when games focus solely on endgame content and the gearing grind, it shows in lack of innovation and playability in other key areas of said game.

 

RP... well rp can happen anywhere, at anytime. You can skype or forum rp in eorzea without once launching FF:ARR. RP should be a nice benefit to a fun game. You should not NEED it to make the game fun. I've learned that lesson the hard way, by dragging myself around games for months that just.... weren't very fun nor interesting to me.

[TheLastCandle]

The quest grind in SWTOR is exactly the same as it is in World of Warcraft or any similar MMO made in the last decade, with the addition of fully-voiced dialogue. After a while, the novelty wears off and non-story quests become even more of a chore because of the extra time taken up by the dialogue trees. I can read much faster than the NPCs speak, so if it wasn't related to the story, I found myself skipping through these non-essential voice-overs at a pretty fair clip. On some of the more quest-heavy planets (I'm looking at YOU, Taris) I wondered just how much longer the planet was going to drag on. This was compounded by the fact that most quests give a pithy amount of experience, meaning you pretty much have to do most if not all of the quests if you want to be at an appreciable level for the next planet.

 

SWTOR does some things right, though. Battle animations, for the most part, are done extremely well. I loved seeing my friend's Jedi expertly parry a blaster bolt behind his back, or perform a flourish when finishing an enemy with a lightsaber strike. My smuggler rolling behind a rise for cover before returning blaster fire made PVE pretty satisfying, from a cinematic point of view. The recent Galactic Starfighter added open-ended PvP dogfights, which is something that should've been in the game from the get-go, and is hopefully a step towards some free-roaming travel by flight. Some of the class stories (Smuggler, Imperial Agent, and what I played of Bounty Hunter) are pretty exceptional and are where SWTOR really shines as a game that otherwise lacks truly unique features outside of the focus on story.

 

Going back to the topic of RP, here's a bit of irony for you. In my experience, SWTOR's stories were actually somewhat detrimental to the community in that far, FAR too many players were roleplaying as if the events of their given class's story happened to their characters IC.

 

Anyway, it's great that you're having fun in SWTOR. Enjoy the story, and be sure to tell groups beforehand that you want to see the conversation parts in flashpoints if you're doing them for the first time. A lot of players in the party finder are going to be bugging you left and right to "spacebar through" everything.

 

I'll be interested to hear how you feel about SWTOR after playing it for a month or two.

[Ignacius]

The quest grind in SWTOR is exactly the same as it is in World of Warcraft or any similar MMO made in the last decade, with the addition of fully-voiced dialogue. After a while, the novelty wears off and non-story quests become even more of a chore because of the extra time taken up by the dialogue trees. I can read much faster than the NPCs speak, so if it wasn't related to the story, I found myself skipping through these non-essential voice-overs at a pretty fair clip. On some of the more quest-heavy planets (I'm looking at YOU, Taris) I wondered just how much longer the planet was going to drag on. This was compounded by the fact that most quests give a pithy amount of experience, meaning you pretty much have to do most if not all of the quests if you want to be at an appreciable level for the next planet.

 

SWTOR does some things right, though.  Battle animations, for the most part, are done extremely well. I loved seeing my friend's Jedi expertly parry a blaster bolt behind his back, or perform a flourish when finishing an enemy with a lightsaber strike. My smuggler rolling behind a rise for cover before returning blaster fire made PVE pretty satisfying, from a cinematic point of view. The recent Galactic Starfighter added open-ended PvP dogfights, which is something that should've been in the game from the get-go, and is hopefully a step towards some free-roaming travel by flight. Some of the class stories (Smuggler, Imperial Agent, and what I played of Bounty Hunter) are pretty exceptional and are where SWTOR really shines as a game that otherwise lacks truly unique features outside of the focus on story.

 

Going back to the topic of RP, here's a bit of irony for you. In my experience, the stories were actually somewhat detrimental to the community in that far, FAR too many players were roleplaying as if the events of their given class's story happened to their characters IC.

 

Anyway, it's great that you're having fun. Enjoy the story, and be sure to tell groups beforehand that you want to see the conversation parts in flashpoints if you're doing them for the first time. A lot of players in the party finder are going to be bugging you left and right to "spacebar through" everything.

 

I'll be interested to hear how you feel about the game after playing it for a month or two.

 

To be fair, I do somewhat enjoy the story in FFXIV, it just is the kind of thing that seems to be happening to "another player".  It certainly isn't happening to Orleans Ignacius, the Scions wouldn't touch him with a hundred foot pole and he doesn't seem like the kind of person who has supernatural empathy with other people.  That's sort of my problem with stories in RPGs I RP in.  No matter how good they are, they probably aren't about "my" character.

 

That said, I really enjoy FFXIV gameplay as well as setting.  Particularly when I finally get to throw Life Surge into a True Thrust.  There just isn't any other game I've felt as awesome in throwing in your average JRPG glowy weapon attack.  They at least made the animations feel like they had some bollocks about them.

 

Also... I think I'm now spoiled.  It's actually fun to craft stuff in FFXIV and to try to maximize your quality before your durability runs out.  Crafting systems in other games just aren't as awesome.

 

Also, FATE quests are the best thing ever.  I've never been so happy to have to dismount and be interrupted on my long ride to wherever.

 

FFXIV has a lot going for it.

[TheLastCandle]

I probably should have clarified that everything in my post was about Star Wars: The Old Republic.

[Magellan]

I think the entire point of this thread, and to reference Candle and Igna's last post is: the perfect mmo doesn't exist :c one person's trash is another persons treasure. I actually strongly disliked ffxiv's crafting system. My favorite so far has been gw2. That neat, compact, ACCOUNT WIDE storage system was drool-worthy o:

 

I guess the best we can hope for these days is an mmo that holds our attention 6 months or so. It just stinks having to leave friends and awesomme communities behind

[TheLastCandle]

I think the only MMO I've actually purchased and haven't spent at least 6 months on was Neverwinter. Long-time fan of Forgotten Realms and Neverwinter Nights, so I was one of those people who actually spent money on the mid-tier starter pack. Never been more disappointed in an MMO.