No.
Are MMOs actually good games?
- Thread starter jerd
- Start date
No.
MoonLightWave
Member
One of my favorite genres, however it have become quite stale as of late. FFXIV:ARR, Here I come(Hopefully it won't suck).
I grew up playing mmo's and it's definitely the genre I've spent most time on.
I grew up playing mmo's and it's definitely the genre I've spent most time on.
Just_myles
Member
You kidding me? Have you played CoH/V? They're awesome!
Finaika
Member
No.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
In a large party, everyone jumping into a speeder and going bounty hunting
in Star Wars Galaxies is some of the most fun I have had in gaming.
in Star Wars Galaxies is some of the most fun I have had in gaming.
I had a lot of fun with Asheron's Call. Any game recapturing some of those elements would get my attention right away.
Sentenza
Member
Yeah, encounter design is seriously something where WoW could teach even to most single player RPGs around...
...and DAMN IT if this isn't word for word the same idea I was brooding for years at this point.
It's refreshing to read I'm not the a lone crazy man in thinking it could be awesome.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
It has been argued that one of the few "true" MMORPGs is Ultima Online. Being an actual world the player can build and invest in. I suppose Eve Online would qualify for that as well, but is hyper-focused on a particular aspect, economics.
IMO there's nothing keeping an MMO from being a great game but they linger under the Shadow of Everquest - a core game built around making players perform a repetitive task to build up a sense of investment to keep users subscribed.
Plus there is the fact that MMORPGs are about the social aspect to a degree. If you don't like people (lol) you're probably not going to see why MMOs can be good and enjoyable.
IMO there's nothing keeping an MMO from being a great game but they linger under the Shadow of Everquest - a core game built around making players perform a repetitive task to build up a sense of investment to keep users subscribed.
Plus there is the fact that MMORPGs are about the social aspect to a degree. If you don't like people (lol) you're probably not going to see why MMOs can be good and enjoyable.
Umm.
Hari Seldon
Member
MMOs are not good games at all in terms of game play, although at times WoW did sometimes become good in that respect (boss fights, pvp). They can be great experiences though, provided the game has an active community. In this last regard, I wouldn't bother starting up WoW at this point, the community is dead. Wait for the next big thing before jumping in.
I completely disagree. The only reason I play MMOs is because of the gameplay.
Yes, they are full of fetch quests, grinding, and slay x monsters. But there's a reason people are so happy to do these. The end result is a sparkly reward that sets off a successful action synapse collection in their dorsolateral prefrontal association area. Many users express a "warm" and "fuzzy" feeling every time they finish a quest, level up, or obtain a sought after item.
Hari Seldon
Member
The only game play element that an MMO does better than other genres is large scale co-op tactics.
Fighting and melee are done better in actual fighting games
Shooting is done better in FPS or TPS
PvP is done better in FPS, MOBA
Puzzle design is done better in strategy games
Story is done better in single player RPGs and Action/Adventure games
MMOs are fun. Talking about whether or not they have good gameplay in an absolute sense is a little deceptive, since much of the gameplay you see in an MMO is built to serve the needs of the genre. An MMO has very different requirements than a single-player game, and the gameplay tends to reflect that. I find the experience fun.
Perfect Cha0s
Member
I'll agree with this as someone who played from vanilla to MoP.
As for the OP, it's hard to say if MMOs are really good games. I can say that GAF tends to generalize and play reductionist cards a lot with things they don't like. Your best bet is to give them a shot. A lot are F2P, so you can try those, but WoW would be a fine place to start as far as subscription games go.
Pretty much the same for me, as said elsewhere in this thread MMOs (and especially WoW) are some of the only games still doing a lot of fun and challenging boss fights from a purely mechanical standpoint. It's why the Brawler's Guild has been pretty much my favorite thing added to WoW since... um the launch of the game I guess. There is a lot of fun to be had with figuring out how enemies work and shit, especially layered on how fun classes have became to play in WoW since the wrath era.
I think so. Dungeoneering and raiding are great in MMO's, and probably one of the most fun thing's I've done in games. If I could just do that then I'd be happy. I miss raiding, challenging raiding of course where chances of success depend a lot of player performance. If I could skip the gear grind I'd still raid occasionally.
Yeah I thought the raid boss fights in WoW were done extremely well because each of them were unique, and required a different strategy in order to defeat them. Part of the fun of WoW (aside from the social aspect) was encountering a new raid boss for the first time and everyone pitching in to figure out how to approach the fight without getting completely wiped out.
Mechanically speaking, MMO's don't really introduce any new gameplay elements that hasn't been done in previous games. They do however, add a social dynamic to their games making them less about the individual experience, and more about how you and your friends experience the game together. If you don't have a reliable group of friends to play it with, or even find a guild needed to enjoy some of the better parts of the game, I can see why some people would find MMO's boring or generic.
sixteen-bit
Member
Sometimes it's all about the journey, not the destination
Of all the ideas I would put into reality if I could that I've had over the years, this is the one I want to see the most. It seems so obvious a fit to me that I wonder why it hasn't been done yet. I wonder if the WRPG revivals coming up will try to incorporate this level of design into their encounters. I doubt it simply because not even the old classics approached what WoW accomplished in Ulduar and the like, but they're the only titles on the horizon I can see that could it integrate it appropriately.
Sometimes it's all about the destination and the journey is so tedious and lengthy no one ever comes to reach and, thus, recognize the value of the destination.
MMOs are good games that are limited by the tech. Auto-attack probably never would have been created if we had 0 latency 100% of the time, and then MMOs would resemble more traditional types of games. As the tech gets better the gameplay falls more in line with other genres but there's still a pretty big discrepancy.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Developers talk about how the constraints of a platform (handhelds, for example) can spark creativity and curb feature-creep. My preferred platform currently is 3DS, because the focus in a lot of games tends to be more on mechanics and less on cinematics, probably in part because of restrictions of developing and playing games on handhelds. The result of the limitations on MMORPGs is a genre that is different from the rest, social aspect aside. And there are many who like that type of game (that is, opposed to just accepting that type of game in exchange for being able to play with large groups of people).
MMOs are good games, or at least they can be. I played Final Fantasy XI for roughly 6 years, and probably still would under different circumstances. I didn't care for WoW, but there's a reason why it's so popular. If you find WoW not to your liking, you might want to check out Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, or Tera.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Developers talk about how the constraints of a platform (handhelds, for example) can spark creativity and curb feature-creep. My preferred platform currently is 3DS, because the focus in a lot of games tends to be more on mechanics and less on cinematics, probably in part because of restrictions of developing and playing games on handhelds. The result of the limitations on MMORPGs is a genre that is different from the rest, social aspect aside. And there are many who like that type of game (that is, opposed to just accepting that type of game in exchange for being able to play with large groups of people).
MMOs are good games, or at least they can be. I played Final Fantasy XI for roughly 6 years, and probably still would under different circumstances. I didn't care for WoW, but there's a reason why it's so popular. If you find WoW not to your liking, you might want to check out Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, or Tera.
Some MMOs out there (WoW, GW2, The Secret World, sure there's a few more I've missed) have created the biggest worlds out there with tons upon tons of content. Because their worlds are huge, because of multiple storylines, because the worlds evolve as the game is being supported and because there are real people running around, the worlds of some MMOs feel much more complete and real than most single player games.
As to the actual gameplay, some are great, some - not so much. Personally, I really like the MMO combat, for me it's sort of like a slower, more tactical take on a hack'n'slash. I enjoy it and the gameplay and immersive worlds are enough to have me coming back for more quite frequently.
As to the actual gameplay, some are great, some - not so much. Personally, I really like the MMO combat, for me it's sort of like a slower, more tactical take on a hack'n'slash. I enjoy it and the gameplay and immersive worlds are enough to have me coming back for more quite frequently.
Lordwindowlicker
Member
If people are able to derive pleasure from them, then they are good to those people at that time.
I personally do not care for them.
I personally do not care for them.
Haunted
Member
The only one with solid gameplay I know of was that Korean one based on the Source engine but that ended up being ruined by microtransactions around lvl 30 or so.
I haven't really had much experience with MMOs before wow, but every one I've seen or played since wow has had bad gameplay and was clearly designed as a skinner box trying to keep players around by appealing to their compulsions and manipulating them instead of making the core game fun to play.
I heard Guild Wars 2 and Tera were good gameplay-wise.
I haven't really had much experience with MMOs before wow, but every one I've seen or played since wow has had bad gameplay and was clearly designed as a skinner box trying to keep players around by appealing to their compulsions and manipulating them instead of making the core game fun to play.
I heard Guild Wars 2 and Tera were good gameplay-wise.
I can confirm that Guild Wars 2 is well designed. And the combat is excellent, in my opinion.
MAX PAYMENT
Member
They're not good games. They ride so heavily on the massive multiplayer aspect that, once removed, the games would be awful.
SparksterMeta0
Member
It all depends on how it's handled, how much content is updated and replay value that convinces players to continue grinding.
They would be RPGs.
MAX PAYMENT
Member
Not good RPGs.
Like, racing games riding so hard on the racing and if you removed the racing from a racing game it'd be awful.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
They have the potential to be the best games. They are the closest we have to virtual reality. It's when they take the focus away from player interaction and instead put the focus on the single-player experience that they become less interesting.
Games like Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, Final Fantasy XI, and Dark Age of Camelot were incredible in their prime. For those who were truly invested in them, it was like visiting another world or reality when you were logged in. A bit of an exaggeration perhaps, but it was a totally unique experience.
Games like Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, Final Fantasy XI, and Dark Age of Camelot were incredible in their prime. For those who were truly invested in them, it was like visiting another world or reality when you were logged in. A bit of an exaggeration perhaps, but it was a totally unique experience.
IMHO you can have quite a bit of fun giving it a go with your bro'. You can solo many, many hours away in WoW, so the two of you should be able to quest away to your heart's content - for instances you'd have to look for larger groups, but that's totally pain free and easy now a days in WoW.
SiegfriedFM
Member
90% of RPG:s have really shitty combat. World of Warcraft is actually interesting in many places, with enemies with unique abilities that you need to plan around. Of course, you can always overlevel yourself or bring in other players, but the challenge is doing stuff before you're supposed to.
And I'd like to see the complex, intelligent quests that apparently fill every non-MMO RPG. If fetch quests are lazy designs, there goes all the Elder Scrolls games.
I've never really enjoyed PvE (raiding or otherwise) in an MMO, with the possible exception of questing in TOR. Feels like too many artificial gates and ways to pad playing time, far more than a single-player RPG in some cases.
PvP is right up my alley, though. Have tons of fun memories from DAoC, WAR (even with as bad as it was at times), and Rift.
Either way, the growing trend of diminishing the social/community aspect -- by incorporating tools like auction houses and dungeon finders and random PvP instances that add "convenience" but reduce "interaction" (and politics) and, to some extent, the development of rivalries -- is turning me slowly away from the genre.
PvP is right up my alley, though. Have tons of fun memories from DAoC, WAR (even with as bad as it was at times), and Rift.
Either way, the growing trend of diminishing the social/community aspect -- by incorporating tools like auction houses and dungeon finders and random PvP instances that add "convenience" but reduce "interaction" (and politics) and, to some extent, the development of rivalries -- is turning me slowly away from the genre.
terrisus
Member
And, this.
And yet none of those other genres come close to having all the different gameplay elements of an MMO. When you can show me a fighting, shooting, PvP, puzzle, farming, crafting, questing, exploring, etc. genre that does it half as well as an MMO and adds that large scale co-op tactics, maybe I'll stop playing them. Until then they are not only good games, they are some of the best games with content that most other games can't hope to touch.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
"This isn't challenging, it stumped me and got my character killed, but it's not challenging!"
NameGenerated
Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
Uh yes? WoW is the greatest game of all time.
influentzar
Member
Why is it no one talking about Guild Wars 2?
MMO is a polarized genre so they can be good or bad depending on what you expect from the MMO.
ex: Half of the players are usually scumbags, you can see it as an opportunity to PK them, having a competitive fight, or you can downright hate them because you play to enjoy the environment.
MMO is a polarized genre so they can be good or bad depending on what you expect from the MMO.
ex: Half of the players are usually scumbags, you can see it as an opportunity to PK them, having a competitive fight, or you can downright hate them because you play to enjoy the environment.
ihearthawthats
Banned
it's funny that many people have to justify mmos with the multiplayer component. it's almost like saying monopoly and other board games are fun only if you play with other people. that's kind of an obvious point.
influentzar
Member
Because walking around in a huge world is lonely.
And why we have to justify MMO with other things than multiplayer component? It's an MMO, its keyword IS multiplayer component, yes? It's kinda saying 'no, you can't justify a puzzle game because of the puzzle'
saveweyard
Banned
I never played any MMOs (outside of a brief look into LOTRO when it went F2P) until this year, but I've actually enjoyed Guild Wars 2 and the combat of TERA quite a bit. The latter is lacking in setting and character design for me, though. Especially, the Elins, which almost make me embarrassed to play the game.