Wednesday, January 04, 2006

In who's opinion

I've read around recently and have come to the realization that people don't know what they want when it comes to a MMO. They seem to want their bread buttered on both side then toast it, no wait they toast it and then butter... Or is it..... Ok you get my point. I recently read this and it's the little summary at the end that really tweaked my calm side.

In summary, I think EverQuest 2 started off trying to emulate EQ success by carrying over many of its features and game play elements. The broader and more diverse player base railed against this lack of innovation and narrow focus, and Sony has responded by making EQ2 more accessible, and just plain better. This should serve as a lesson to upcoming games (Vanguard, this means you), that what gamers want has changed since the days of the original EverQuest. Thanks for reading.

I've played EQ from 1999 and EQ2 from the start give er take a week. First of all I can say the moment I logged into EQ2 the only feel that was the same to me was the UI and commands. Their Archetype system to me is flawless and I am sad they are cutting it out to now go back to what was EQ's (success?). There was great innovation and what seemed to be focus but not on the raid scale which is what a lot of people railed against.... The fact this game was really easy and button mashy without any sense of a vast world to be conquered is why people quit... EQII.com a former shadow of what is once was all because there was high hopes it would be similar to EQlive.. If you read through these boards you will learn more why the huge following soon disbanded and stopped playing EQ2 shortly after release. It's because up untill LU 13 EQ2 was a joke and now it looks to be going back to the pre LU13 mentality... Easy come Easy go!

What lesson should Vanguard learn form EQ2? Oh yeah! I got one here's what really not to do make a half assed game release and try to please everyone. You will never be able to please everyone and what's more irritating about EQ2 then it's crappy death penalty is the fact it Hem-haw's. When you make a MMO you do it for the Working man or the basement kid not both... It's Impossible to make a game to please both, EQ2 did prove that when it was group centric with death penalty enough to make most not want to die it rocked. Now it's a Solo game calling itself an MMO for the sake of getting that monthly fee. Yeah there is some Group content and some crap raids but those aren't enough to keep people around like EQ1 did.

You need to go one of two ways with a MMO WOW or EQ1. You have a hard time filling in the blanks of a Group oritntated game if it's easy to solo. You will be stuck without a Healer, DPS, or Tank and it's probly because they are out soloing. That leads to frustration for those that want to group and they get bored and quit. I don't think it shouldn't be soloable at all just that it's not as good as a group.

Look at this little post on Vanguard forums. Read around for yourself a lot of them seem clueless as to what they like in a game. Now I can point out a million things I don't like about EQ2 but the small stuff that pisses me of is easily overlooked when I want to keep playing. Then I read stuff like this

Really, if they combined WoW's gameplay, with EQ2's graphics, music, and stability, and maybe DAoC's or EQ1's end game content, then it would make an amazing MMO.

Wow's Gameplay? EQ1's End game? Ok seriously then you have the balls to say Hear that Sigil?
There is a million ways to go with that but I'll say in all trufullness EQ2's gameplay is similar to WOW; though EQ2 is more fun to watch. The funniest thing about all of these MMO's there game play all initially is pretty much the same. Change what ability's and how they look vs what race/class/job that uses them they all pretty much play the same. They all have Auto attack, magic and some sort of combat ability and pet classes. Every group needs a Tank, Healer.... (that is when you aren't out soloing.) .... It's a never ending cycle of stat boosting by getting levels to get better items to so you can get more items.. (Save for COH)

No I think if people want the semi best of both worlds they should play EQ2. If they want solo they should go to WOW and if they want to Group play Final FantasyXI... at least untill Vanguard comes out. I truely believe it's verily impossiblee to make a game be both Soloable and Group with out making sacrifices on either side but EQ2 is close.

I say if you want to make a good MMO don't do what's already done, do something new. Vanguard looks to be that promise and the world of MMO's is in for a treat when it's finally out.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

5 million+ players in WoW can't all be wrong, but you think you are right. Ok, think you are right, but WoW still has 5M+ customers and EQ2 has ?? Oh that's right, they didn't say.

People just don't have the time for these consuming 24/7 games any longer. Times have changed. The customer has chosen. And they didn't chose timesinks.

As an after thought. Whoever said people don't group and only solo WoW? You CAN solo more in WoW, but that doesn't mean people don't group constantly. All you hear is LFM for DM, Gnomer, SM, etc. ALL DAY LONG!

Oh and that net rumor about leveling to 60 in WoW in a week is B.S. too. It's been done, but it's not the norm. Hardly. It should take you a good 6 months if you play a few hours a day or more if you don't play everyday.

In EQ2 it will take you a year of hardcore playing to get to the same level.

It's a matter of preference and I don't see where people don't know what they want. I see people who run to games like WoW because it lets them progress faster. That says to me that people aren't interested in timesinks anymore, especially when there are alternatives.

4:10 PM  
Blogger Quylein said...

I really dont understand the post was mainly about choosing to be Solo or group.. Yeah it is a matter of preferance..

5 million people know they want Wow then great.. all the more power to them. I'm supprised they just dont join these free servers and just /summon whatever they want. Seriously that's why Game shark has been so popular people love Easy.. so be it.

11:41 AM  

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