General Discussion

SWG offered amazing depth and customization and the graphics were sooo ahead of their time, specially for a total seemless game. It seemed like the future for mmorpgs and the game that mmorpgs would take inspiration from.

PS was again another innovation being the first mmoFPS (not including ww2 online cus it sucked) and I thought we'd see new mmorpg sin the future taking ideas from this mmorpg.

EVE Online again offered something totally different and was the first mmorpg I knew of that really had a main focus on mass PVP and being really harsh with the death penalty to. It had such an amazing market and trade system to the game.

Then we had EQ2 which while it wasn't that great it did advance the genre in graphics again (though lacking art direction and being very generic) and it brought full voice overs into the genre and just made that technology leap. It seemed to me even over the years that it was a mmorpg that kept on bringing new things into the genre.

WOW was just a mmorpg that was like the greatest hits of the fantasy level based mmorpgs which combined amazing polish with great PVE and PVP to a package that made it the most played mmorpg of all time.

This is where the genre died for me after this because since these days it's just taken a step back and produced crap thats if anything has just devolved. All we've had since is poor WOW clones and thats no fault of Blizzard because they made a great mmorpg but everything thats trying to copy it just doesn't realise that we don't want another WOW as Blizzard has perfected it. But noooooooo they keep pouring out crap WOW clones and it's getting very boring.

I dunno I'm just bored of the genre going backwards and I want the Half-Life 2 for mmorpgs.

I think it's because back then no one ever thought MMO's could reach 10 million, so they were more lucrative with design. With the release of WOW and its huge player base and cash Blizzard takes in; it has all changed. Everyone wants a piece of the Money pie.

What year did WoW come out again?

Oh yeah, that's why.

     They used to design games for the sake of making great games....now it is a business and the dollar is the bottom line......

SWG created a 3d world in a well known IP with an economy that boomed, unfortunately it wasn't perfect, it missed some of the aspects that we take for granted today. 

EVE proved how a PVP setting in space could create a player made-goods economy that could boom.

EQ2 had a rocky start due to technical problems, this caused enough of a slow down in population growth that gave WoW time to deal with ITs own issues and surpass EQ2 in popularity.

Wow did so well because it had features which no previous MMO had managed to accomplish before, an example being quests throughout the levels completely.  Not forgetting it had good marketing, good overall performance (after the initial issues) and the fact that it launched during a time when many non-MMO people were buying new "off the shelf" pcs.   Sure, it had serious server issues at the start which were addressed in a timely manner.  WoW showed the general population of the world what an MMO was.  The world warmed to the formula Blizzard created because to THEM it was new and exciting. 

However, since WoW, such "features" in MMO's have become the "norm".  Unfortunately, new MMO's are measured against WoW as it is NOW, not necessarily as it was in the beginning.  This is why a lot of people are unforgiving when todays MMO's struggle at the start.  They expect the same standards of performance as they get in WoW now.  Regardless of whether it's the correct measurement or not.

Unfortunately, I bet even when Blizzard finish their second MMO, they will find that it too will be measured against their flagship product, and the new one might struggle to measure up due to the same issues that plague ALL MMO's at launch.

Basically put, a new standard of creating MMO's has to be written by the development companies.  One that ensures a game launches as polished and "complete" as it can be at launch.  Otherwise, more and more MMO companies are going to struggle getting their games off the launch pad.

Try Vanguard.

T

Originally posted by Theocritus

     They used to design games for the sake of making great games....now it is a business and the dollar is the bottom line......

Correct.  MMO development has moved from being a "hobby" in which a small select group of enthusiasts used to create their software projects, into a recognised industry that makes money.

Compare it to both back when Bill Gates first conceived DOS and the time when IBM said that its inconceivable that there will be a computer in every home, and also to now with the creation of different Operating Systems for different formats of computer.

Go further than 2003.

Originally posted by Netzoko

What year did WoW come out again?

Oh yeah, that's why.

Not sure what you're eluding to there....

WOW  made the genre more accesable but that's where it ends. Just like the others WOW benefited from cutting it's teeth on the fab four. (UO, EQ1, AC & DAOC).  2004 was great  because there was a rush to fill the void of a declining EQ1 and publishers took chances. Look at  the diversity available then and tell me there's been a better lineup since.

FFXI, Lineage II, City of Heroes, SWG, EQII, EVE, WOW and yes Ryzom. Oh and let us also remember Guild Wars and MxO were released early 2nd quarter of 2005.

WOW emerged the subscription leader and subseqent titles decided to follow the leader vs their own vision.

Dolts.