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Forthcoming MMORPGs
-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."
I'm glad that Fallen Earth is on the list with its post-apoc world. But I wish someone would do a Wasteland off-shoot, that still ranks as one of the king turn-based RPGs.
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Hello Kitty RPG?
All i have to say is:
What the flippin fuc&?!?!
How many Swords and Sorcery MMOs are on that list? Does the term "also ran" not mean anything to these people?
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.
I read the internet for the articles.
"Many of the games in development look similar at a first glance, and developers will have to make their product unique and appealing."
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.
I currently am debating whether or not to renew my WoW account. If this weren't bad enough, I am waiting for ST: Online and the LotR game doesn't sound too bad either. But monthly costs are going to hurt if I wind up playing 3 MMOs (assuming I could find the time after work). I really think it wouldn't be too crazy to ask for a time based payment system for MMOs.
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.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
hello kitty online and naughty america.... where does the line start?
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."
Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
I should point out that the author of the Joystiq article is a grrl gamer. It's about time we saw more girls getting into gaming, and even getting good at it. I applaud this effort!
You can usually count on people beating it into the ground.
I've always wanted to sit around an pay money to run diagnostics on a Federation vessel!!! It would be just like work if my coworkers and I played.
Although I'm sure Star Trek Online will likely offer more than just that, I thought of that first and laughed.
>
> 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 what the fuck.)
> Naughty America: The Game
>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?
Which ones only charge you the price of the game and nothing to play? Or only charge you to play (minus those micropayment ones--which I don't think I'll ever get into). I only want to pay for one thing, not both. Or if they do charge for both, they better not charge more than $60/year (as I am willing to do that--as it's only about the cost of a new game--as opposed to three new games...) I don't have time to play games heavily, so I don't want to sink $200 to play one game for 1 year... This whole double payment system is what's made me avoid MMORPGs. I bought Guild Wars (the collector's edition even) mostly to support the idea of only charging for one thing and not both... although it was a pretty fun game (for a few months any way).
Read my blog posts on usability.
must...level to max...on all possible mmorpgs....can not resist....the wonderful grind....cause i hate the real world....
"I only speak the truth"
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For the first time in awhile I logged into SWG to see what's been going on. Although at first I couldn't because, apparently there's a conflict with Star Wars Galaxies and people running Logitech camera software that won't let the game run. SWG gives a misleading error message and barfs. After checking the online knowledge base, I couldn't find anything so I tried live chat and then I found out they knew about this issue... I guess you just needed to waste a few hours of your time before Sony would be kind enough to let you know their software suddenly doesn't run on a whole slew of PCs. Nice going Sony.
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.
I am looking forward to Stargate Worlds and Star Trek Online. Two very good shows, IMO at least, and endless possibilities. And WTF is up with Hello Kitty Online!? Man, talk about creepy. Next you will see a Pokemon MMO. Anywho, unless Blizzard does something stupid, I will stick with World of Warcraft and may only try Stargate Worlds and Star Trek Online for a month or so.
Click Click Bloody Click PANCAKES!
How many Swords and Sorcery MMOs are on that list? Does the term "also ran" not mean anything to these people?
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 instead of leveling, but I don't know what is keeping them now.
If someone would come up with something more original or at least less of the same old hack and slash leveling system, I'd be up for it.
Please... If any game devs are reading this... Many of us gamers have been leveling up sinc MUDs, then Diablo, then EQ, then WoW and then any other game that uses the same system... Sure its fun, but after 20 games with the same formula it gets old.
Give us something unique and that makes character advancment and role playing more than just number crunching.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
There was just something special about shooting the religious nuts in their hideout, and having them fire back with meson cannons and rockets.
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.
My mom says I'm cool.
My guess is that only RPGs appeal to gamers as MMOs. Or maybe its the only type of game they can successfully scale on tens of thousands of players at the same time ?
:) but the problem with games like that is what happens once you leave the game ? how do you protect your empire ?
... or stolen by WoW and someone will try something different.
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
That's why RPG are the perfect genre, once you leave, the world goes on like you never logged in to begin with. -- Not to mention Asian people just crave RPGs --
But I'm sure that at some point, someone will realize that the RPG MMO market is getting saturated
If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
With monthly fees meaning regular income, and a player base too addicted to stop, developers trip over themselves to enter this lucrative market.
So what you are saying is that I am just slike some osrt of retarding alcoholic when I play Guild Wars ? I don't think that it's funny to make jobs about addition like this on a website that smoaney people visit on a regular basis! >:(
-- The One --
Seriously. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet. A pokemon MMO could totally work. Instead of camping for that Awesome Mallet of DOOMX0RS! you camp out for the super-rare Winsallfightsaquil.
I thought that everyone was too busy playing WoW to care about any other mmorpgs? Don't they have like millions of subscribers while other mmorpgs are struggling to keep thousands of even hundreds?
Planetside.
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 range where you can drive / fly anything you want without having to be "certifed" in it's use. But again, you DO NOT HAVE TO.
Just USING the equipment will usually get you a pile of points that will "level you up" but that isn't even necessary. You can hit the "Intstant action" button, and be immediately transported to a hot battle arena anywhere in the universe. No waiting, no training, no spending 3 days killing rats in a dungeon just so you can go look at the scenery without getting ganked.
I have even known some newbies to certify in the fast air transport (the Mosquito) and just use that to go sightseeing. it's usually fast enough to get away from just about anything, and as long as you stay away from hot battles with lots of Anti-Air firing off, you can see all the world in Planetside with no great risk to yourself.
If you like FPS'es, but are sick of fighting in a 8vs8 fight, Planetside is probably for you. You can make an account FOR FREE and play FOR FREE over at www.planetside.com right now.
If you chose to play on the Emerald server, look me up. I'm Bishounen, and I play with the D2A outfit.
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I haven't seen anyone mention Warhammer Online yet, but it's the one on the list I am most looking forward to. It's made by the same people who made Dark Age of Camelot, which featured such things as Realm vs. Realm combat, and Warhammer Online will be heavily focused on player versus player action.
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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 the action at the level cap is raiding. You fight through the same dungeons, with the same monsters and the same bosses, and once you learn it that raid instance is on "farm status". This becomes boring quickly as the encounters never change.
Some of the previews I've read about Warhammer Online said you can progress through the entire game solely through PvP based quests against real human opponents. You can choose to do some side quests, gathering supplies and the like, but you do not have to. I imagine the end game "raids" for this game would be storming another factions castle, full of human players of the opposing side, and would certainly prove to be different every time.
A nice preview of the game can be found here:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/warhammeronline/ne
I'll re-up with Everquest when they get the new 'progressive' server up. It'll start with just the original EQ world, and (hopefully slowly) add in the expansions over time. I'd rather bash moss snakes in cloth armor than go through the twinkfest that EQ has become now.
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? Sure, every now and then you'll find a company willing to risk it all - but how often does that happen and for how long?
Stop playing MMOs; Vote with your wallet.
Auto Assault is one of the best MMO games I have ever played. The combat is fun, the story lines are well written, and there really isn't any grind (unless you count running over a bunch of screaming scavs who are trying to flee from your spiked car from hell).
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.
Drinking habits can be dangerous. You can choke on the cloth and the nuns will wonder where their clothes are.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I think of it as "something is better than nothing."
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 in a day.
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 deflect a sword blow or catch it on your armor so you can indeed hack away at each other.
Now take EQ, put it in a Star Wars jacket and all of sudden it don't make sense anymore. You can shoot somebody in the face with a rocket launcher and they will remain standing!
The problem with "modern" settings is that the weapons are to lethal. Current game design has few enemies requiring that each one takes a bit of time to go down. So we got FPS shooters where baddies need 2-3 rocket up the nose before they collapse.
It was one of the things people complained about when Star Wars Galaxies first launched. That Storm Troopers did not go down with 1 hit. You did but not the troopers.
Magic "works" because it is magic and doesn't have to obey the rules of the real world. You can do an awfull lot of stuff if you just say it is magic.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
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 going to catch all the fish/bugs until winter.
Maybe I am just weird but I sorta like it. The problem I got with MMO's is that people are so fucking serious about it. Who cares if mob x has more xp per second. I play for fun. Yeah I know I am not keeping up with the guild in level. Is there a timelimit or something? What is the rush to level up?
You claim there are no story lines in MMO's well I claim that there are but most people are to busy power grinding to read.
MMO's can be fun but you need to find a group of people who are willing to take their time. Not roleplayers perse but people who just want to do the quests as the writer wrote them down and enjoy the game.
If you can play games like AC:WW without feeling pressure to get all the items then you can enjoy some of the MMO's. Even PvP games like Guild Wars still got a lot of story. Just that most people are to much in a rush to enjoy it. Kind of like life in general.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Try Puzzle Pirates. Yes, it may look cartoony, but it really rewards team play, but you can play solo if you want by taking on missions with the Navy rather than a pirate crew. In addition, if you don't feel like setting sail one day, you can play any of a number of parlor games with a pirate theme (like poker, spades, rumble, swordfighting, drinking -- check the Games link on the Puzzle Pirates page for explanations of the last three.)
As a bonus, you can play for free or you can buy doubloons if you want to get different clothes, equipment, ships, etc. faster.
I would like to see a MMORPG based on ALIENS, but humans vs. aliens only. The controls and vision would be like Aliens vs. Predator games. There also should be multiple places, classes, etc. Maybe something like Natural Selection mod, but in a bigger place. Add more elements from the Aliens franchise as well. Each mission would be like instance/quests.
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.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I could go on and on about game mechanics I'd like to see implemented in MMOs - some realistic, some pie in the sky but that would ramble on forever.
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.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Finally! A developer listening to what players really want....
You start out in a small bedroom with only a few pairs of ripped jeans and t-shirts. Early missions involve looting mom's purse for money to go to the local hotspot to see your friend's crummy band.
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?
The Internet is generally stupid
I found out about Tabula Rasa a while back when i was looking for a non-fantasy, non-ship based sci-fi MMO. Of course Galaxies fits the bill for what i want, but it still sucks. I read a little bit about it and i've been eagerly awaiting it, but the new stargate MMO sounds intriguing.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I want Privateer, online. Not a lame turn-based/dice-roll, level and XP based World of Warcraft set in space, but actual dogfighting like the original game. There would be no artificial restrictions like levels or experience for ships and equipment. What is required is cooperative play. PVP would be faction based, between a neutral commerce guild (for most players), and then military and pirate factions for PVP. Pirates can raid other player's cargo ships at will, so players will need to hire escorts. Guilds will have the option of using capital ships, which require a minimum crew to operate. I would pay good money for this.
A lot of people prayed to the MMO gods that Bioware would enter the space. A lot of people pointed out that World of Warcraft did very little that was revolutionary. They just did what Blizzard does best: they took the best that everyone had come up with over time, they didn't rush it, and they delivered a perfect product with a little of their magic.
Bioware, however, has demonstrated that they can deliver a lot of things:
And, like Blizzard, they have literally millions of fans who eagerly await their work.
In other words, they have all the ingredients for massive MMO success, and they are just now getting started. Take a development timeline - say, 3-4 years. Ask yourself which MMO you know currently has massive amounts of subscribers and a marquee pedigree, but might be feeling pretty damn stale when the Bioware MMO ships?
Did I mention that Bioware merged with Pandemic and has massive investment capital, too?
I don't want to say "look out Blizzard", because I honestly think the MMO market has legs to run. But I think of EQ as the first age of MMOs, and I think of CoH as being the dawn of a new casual-friendly, easy to learn MMO "second era", that WoW followed right behind and absolutely obliterated the competition in. I think Bioware's may be the dawn of a third era.
http://www.atriarch.com/
Looks very promising and the background information isnt the usual, orcs/dragons. Its a few different planets and such, with exotic creatures.
9/10ths of the entries into the MMO market are there because they like the MMO business model. The developers don't stop to think "does making this game massively-multiplayer actually improve gameplay?" They don't want to consider that the game they have created might be more appropriate in a traditional, no-monthly-fee, non-massive online setup.
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 multiplayer servers for The Sims 2. They could have sold the "multiplayer expansion" and made a killing.
We should move away from the FPS and RTS-style lobby system. Guild Wars is a great compromise IMO. It'd be nice if Diablo 3 ripped them off in this regard.
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience