Everytime I discuss WoW, I feel a pull. I've got WoW pics on my desktop that cycle, and they all give me special feelings. It's doubtful I'll go back, but I have no regrets for the fun times it offered.
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The Next Big MMO?
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Everytime I discuss WoW, I feel a pull. I've got WoW pics on my desktop that cycle, and they all give me special feelings. It's doubtful I'll go back, but I have no regrets for the fun times it offered.
Based on what I've been reading here is my guess on the next big MMO to look forward to:
StarWars: The Old Republic. According to PC Gamer:
"There are plenty of single player RPG fans who are put off by the level-grind, cookie-cutter quests and forced camaraderie of the ever-increasing number of MMOs, and these are the gamers BioWare seems to have had in mind when it designed it's first MMO, ST:TOR. It plays more like Dragon Age:Origins than WoW,complete with a huge, unique story-based campaign for each of the eight player classes and AI-driven companions that will accompany you on difficult quests if you don't want to party with teenagers (nothing against teenagers) or maniacs."
In WoW I partied about 25% of the time for routine questing. I've got my name on the beta list. Fingers crossed.
StarWars: The Old Republic. According to PC Gamer:
"There are plenty of single player RPG fans who are put off by the level-grind, cookie-cutter quests and forced camaraderie of the ever-increasing number of MMOs, and these are the gamers BioWare seems to have had in mind when it designed it's first MMO, ST:TOR. It plays more like Dragon Age:Origins than WoW,complete with a huge, unique story-based campaign for each of the eight player classes and AI-driven companions that will accompany you on difficult quests if you don't want to party with teenagers (nothing against teenagers) or maniacs."
In WoW I partied about 25% of the time for routine questing. I've got my name on the beta list. Fingers crossed.
The ability to have Bots group with you for quests sounds interesting.
90+% of my time now in WoW is Solo. I am working a new char up to 80, VERY slowly. I get on maybe 8 hours or so total a week, sometimes with week or so breaks, but I have fun going through the old areas as a Alliance.
Really looking forward to hitting Outlands on him. I have never played Alliance in the outlands. We switched to Horde when that came out. I wanted to play Horde before, but the wifee didn't like their looks. LoL.
Then BC came out and they have the Blood Elves.
Always played Hunter and Rogue. Having a blast playing a Pally now. Highest one I had before was in the 30s.
I will try the others out, but will be interesting if they can hold my attention. WoW has such depth to the story IMO. And it fullfills my casual play style.
I got SERIOUS MMO burnout while playing Everquest. I vowed I would never get that possessed with a game.
90+% of my time now in WoW is Solo. I am working a new char up to 80, VERY slowly. I get on maybe 8 hours or so total a week, sometimes with week or so breaks, but I have fun going through the old areas as a Alliance.
Really looking forward to hitting Outlands on him. I have never played Alliance in the outlands. We switched to Horde when that came out. I wanted to play Horde before, but the wifee didn't like their looks. LoL.
Then BC came out and they have the Blood Elves.
Always played Hunter and Rogue. Having a blast playing a Pally now. Highest one I had before was in the 30s.
I will try the others out, but will be interesting if they can hold my attention. WoW has such depth to the story IMO. And it fullfills my casual play style.
I got SERIOUS MMO burnout while playing Everquest. I vowed I would never get that possessed with a game.
Yeah, it really depends on the person’s preferred form of entertainment. In the end, mostly all of us need something to waste time on. And women are more and more getting into this class of entertainment…especially since they are making more and more non-testosterone-pumping killing games.
But too much of anything while you sacrifice responsibilities is no good, video game or not. Not many people think that wasting time watching TV is a “problem” because TV is mainstream so it’s not a “disease”. But if you ask me, I think TV is one of the biggest culprits in destroying personal productivity and achievement…much higher than video games. Although many people still think video game is for kids but TV is more “adult”.
The original “video game stigma” and “women disapproval” stem from the nerd stereotype. It’s mostly among American pop-culture and perhaps exaggerated by Hollywood to a certain extent. Originally, computers were used by “smart people”, and although lots of these people played the original amazing flashy lights creative programs, they were also the kids who the class hated because they answered all the teachers’ questions. And since on average, they grew up to be much more successful than the “football players” and other kids, mainstream ppl were still knocking these people, in the images of “corporate oppressors”, “warmongers”, “evil upper class”, etc. So Hollywood being a capitalistic entity itself, built on this mentality.
Anyways, “interactive entertainment” is reaching a lot of the “dumb people” more and more, courtesy of FaceBook…LOL! But even as we speak, firms are working toward content-delivery video games that attach right to your TV. The guy who invented Quicktime happens to be one of the major players. Onlive, Gaikai, OTOY, and whoever will jump on are claiming they will change the video game industry forever. No need for PC’s and consoles. Video games right over the internet in super ultra graphics directly from an attachment or over a browser...and perhaps your future cable box.
Browser console / PC games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-w56hQxmnY
Some graphics demos:
OTOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nydW9XUA5VQ
Second Life 2.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxoUwdJQbrw
It's kinda funny that I said 20hr per week is to much for playing a video game. But I probably watch that much tv each week or more. Before computers and computer gaming came along I was one of those who rushed home to watch Dallas. Yes, I just dated myself.
It's kinda funny that I said 20hr per week is to much for playing a video game. But I probably watch that much tv each week or more. Before computers and computer gaming came along I was one of those who rushed home to watch Dallas. Yes, I just dated myself.
LoL! Then it was all a DREAM! WTF! I remember all the build up of "Who Shot JR?" over that summer. Then it turned out to be a dream. L A Z Y !
Yeah I hear yah rasmasyean in regard to the stigma of gaming compared to the TV watching crowd. I only watch a few shows, and a couple movies on netflix a week. Though when I am on the puter, the TV there is usually on Food Network... or Family Guy...
My parents would ask "How can you play on the Computer so much?" Though they couldn't answer the same question about the TV.Also, I love the folks that can't believe I pay around $14 a month for a game. Yet they don't mind going to the Movies regularly. I think $14 a month is cheap entertainment, and it allows the developer to continue developing and expanding the game. Blizzard has done great things with both expansions IMO.
Second Life is mostly a online social outlet. Last time I looked at the games there, they were not competitive with dedicated MMOs. It's hard to believe there are people (only a couple) who have grossed $1m in sales of virtual objects.
lol at second life: "ralph pls go"
diablo3 will probably be the next big exp grinding game, though i think many players are getting tired of such games (at least i am). you spend weeks or months leveling, then more time acquiring items, and then you start to pvp. in my opinion games like dota, heroes of newerth and league of legends are a better solution which takes much less time leveling, and goes straight to pvp. there's also competitive play, and large communities dedicated to these games.
diablo3 will probably be the next big exp grinding game, though i think many players are getting tired of such games (at least i am). you spend weeks or months leveling, then more time acquiring items, and then you start to pvp. in my opinion games like dota, heroes of newerth and league of legends are a better solution which takes much less time leveling, and goes straight to pvp. there's also competitive play, and large communities dedicated to these games.
i think diablo 3 will be much easier to max out and be more casual than a mmo because of its dungeon crawler nature. in diablo 2 you could max out in hours
the problem with dota-like games is the community. the community is horrible. because your allies can be a detriment to the team, it encourages flaming/bad manners. i really love dota, but i don't see it having a future because it is extremely spectator and newbie unfriendly. compare dota to something like tf2 is terms of newbie friendliness, and compare dota versus starcraft in spectating, and you see just how much it is lacking
the mmos that are on my radar are: star wars online, torchlight, and guild wars 2
diablo 3 is my most anticipated game, but you can't really categorize it as a mmo
max out as in "end game" i guess. in d2 before patch 1.10, you could hit end game (like level 80+) in hours and hit 99 in less than 24 hours. not sure about after 1.10, but it can't be longer to reach end game than 200+ hours can it?
Instead of the next big MMO, here is PCGamer's list of the 12 top current MMOs. Don't know if they are ranked based on subscriber numbers. None of them currently appeal to me. Eve Online seems interesting, but not enough for me to install. Right now I'm waiting on Star Wars: The Old Republic.
1. WoW- well this is No.1 in subscriber base. (Mac Version)
2. Aion- reported high levels of grind.
3. Eve Online- space based. (Mac Version)
4. Fallen Earth
5. Everquest II- from the makers of the original successful MMO.
6. Wurm
7. Champions Online
8. Lord of the Rings Online- I played the beta, ehh.
9. Warhammer Online- dropping subcriptions and server consolidations.
10. City of Heroes
11. Dungeons and Dragons Online- mostly instanced questing space?
12. Age Of Conan- dropping subscriptions and server consolidations.
And here is MMORPG.com's giant list of all MMOs. Notice that most of them list "item mall" as a fee. That means that although there is no subscription, you must buy in game stuff to be competitive.
1. WoW- well this is No.1 in subscriber base. (Mac Version)
2. Aion- reported high levels of grind.
3. Eve Online- space based. (Mac Version)
4. Fallen Earth
5. Everquest II- from the makers of the original successful MMO.
6. Wurm
7. Champions Online
8. Lord of the Rings Online- I played the beta, ehh.
9. Warhammer Online- dropping subcriptions and server consolidations.
10. City of Heroes
11. Dungeons and Dragons Online- mostly instanced questing space?
12. Age Of Conan- dropping subscriptions and server consolidations.
And here is MMORPG.com's giant list of all MMOs. Notice that most of them list "item mall" as a fee. That means that although there is no subscription, you must buy in game stuff to be competitive.
Wow browser based- Rhetorical questions: will it be fast and will it look good? Could this be the future of MMOs? No downloads is very attractive and I assume like Onlive you don't need the latest hardware to play such a game. Note, in the video link, mention of BGO does not appear in until about half way into it
Got email from Blizzard giving me 10 free days of WoW to try Lich King, but didn't get sucked back in. Found the new stuff to be just "more of the same".
At times I miss MMOs, despite not really having enough time for such huge time sinks anymore. Really need something to come along that does something similar to the genre as what original WoW did, before I get sucked back into MMOs.
At times I miss MMOs, despite not really having enough time for such huge time sinks anymore. Really need something to come along that does something similar to the genre as what original WoW did, before I get sucked back into MMOs.
Bottom line you are right. When I came back after 2 years away from WoW, it was "just more of the same" in a new place. It's just that I missed it at that point.
Yeah. Mac players rejoice! rofl.
If they can server you HD, and you have the bandwidth, they will. I'm sure there are step-downings like the nbcolympics. It's like an RPG so it's not action twitched based so these games are already kinda slow.
Curious query: Whats with the "Rhetorical questions:..."? You've been dreaming about HK droids in SWTOR? lol
Second Life is mostly a online social outlet. Last time I looked at the games there, they were not competitive with dedicated MMOs. It's hard to believe there are people (only a couple) who have grossed $1m in sales of virtual objects.
Second Life is not just a game anymore. Its becoming a sort of movement. There is serious business that goes on in there that involve real objects. Many major corporations have a presence in Second Life and facilities for marketing, and other business dealing.
Thanks for clarifying. I did know that retail businesses were setting up store fronts within SL, just overlooked mentioning it.
I wasn't actually thinking of a "store" but perhaps there are many of those too. Think like IBM...the Defense Industry...etc.
http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/
If you think $15 / month is a lot for a game...hows this?
SL Enterprise Beta - Pricing Starts at $55,000 USD
http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/products/
lol
1. HUGE Grand Canyon like cliff.
2. Yes, but it is actually a really great thing IMO. After you get started it's not hard to make back lost $$, and if you are paying attention you never lose what counts - skills points (a little like xp, build over time to improve your abilities). The benefit is that the Epic weapon hoarders are more rare, and you get a certain "real" feel to interactions. People have something to lose, so they act more economically. Camping has to be done intelligently. Being a jerk thief/annoyance/etc will cause you to lose something when people get wise to it and gang up on you.
On the other hand, it basically makes corporation membership an absolute necessity to really enjoy.
Not true. I know some people who are in a tiny "friends corp" of like 2 or 3 ppl who do things like camp wormholes and farm it. And there are soloists who ferry cargo to trade, manufacture goods to sell, and play the arbitrage game to make tons of more money than most corp pawns.
It all depends on what you want to do to blow off some steam in space. You can even have multiple accounts and play them at the same time by yourself. I mean, you always see these massive slow cargo ships floating arround on auto-pilot. It's prolly some dude AFK / alt-tabed / dual screened or on another account fighting while ferrying raw materials / arbitraged opportunites / resupply equipment / contract shipping / whatever else someone thought of to do that many people never imagined.
I assume Eve players know all about the Council of Stellar Management, a group that meets every 6 months to decide where the game (Eve) should go. Most intriguing is that his council includes 9 player reps that are elected by other players and they are flown to Iceland to meet and in some cases scream at the developers. Apparently this council has real developmental weight.
Good report in the June 2010 of PCGamer, p56 about this process. It makes Eve sound like an interesting place to play. This virtual space seems to be a good example of anarchy with lots of drama- bank heists, infiltrating corporations to wholesale pilfer them, the story of Goonfleet, a huge corporation (player guild) whose leader goes off on a real life vacation but forgets to set up fund transfers for property holdings and as a result, they loose most of their property. The owner loots whats left and skedaddles to another part of the galaxy. It all most tempts me to try it out. But my logical side says "another huge time sink".
Good report in the June 2010 of PCGamer, p56 about this process. It makes Eve sound like an interesting place to play. This virtual space seems to be a good example of anarchy with lots of drama- bank heists, infiltrating corporations to wholesale pilfer them, the story of Goonfleet, a huge corporation (player guild) whose leader goes off on a real life vacation but forgets to set up fund transfers for property holdings and as a result, they loose most of their property. The owner loots whats left and skedaddles to another part of the galaxy. It all most tempts me to try it out. But my logical side says "another huge time sink".
Ive been playing WOW a long time and it gets boring everytime. Its simpler with every patch and dull. Recently i deleted it and will not return especially with cataclysm around the corner.
For me TERA will be nice because of the non autolock on creeps.
And i think a lot of people will opt for APB.
the down side to both of these games is that there will be no Mac client
For me TERA will be nice because of the non autolock on creeps.
And i think a lot of people will opt for APB.
the down side to both of these games is that there will be no Mac client