Look we all like games, after all isn’t that why you came to this site? We all have opinions about games as well, what types we like and what we think does and doesn’t work. Just like you guys and gals I have my preferences and views, and guess what. I get to share them.
Currently I’m pretty much exclusively a MMORPG player, I don’t get into First Person Shooters, I’m not big on RTS games, for me MMO’s is where it’s at. Unfortunately there are some serious issues with the MMO market that developers simply either cannot find and answer to, or are simply not being allowed to address by their publishers/studios. Let me count a few of the ways the current MMO market is filled with square pegs, trying to be forced into round holes.
1. Games are supposed to be fun not work.
It seems that “Theme Park” MMO’s are the standard, there hasn’t been a really exceptional Sandbox model MMO in around a decade. I know there have been some, but in all seriousness name more than 5 that came out in the past 10 years that was a success. Star Wars: Galaxies has shut down, and Ultima Online is still chugging along, though with no where near it’s peak popularity, and both of those were released 10 years ago. Today’s MMO Market is filled with the level and grind filled, brain numbing, quest to quest nonsense that games like EQ and WoW used to conquer the market during their respective early years. In most of the games I try, and I try my fair share of them, I am unable to get very far past the “Noobie” zone simply because the game feels like work. I play games to have fun, to explore, to be social. Not to go out to kill [X] number of [Y] creature so I can get [Z] resources and currency, just so the NPC’s friend in the next village can ask me to go out and kill [Y] number of [Z] creatures so I can get [?]. Probably the most unfortunate causality for MMOs like this is once you reach level cap this problem doesn’t change. You do Daily quests, and otherwise have the same half dozen or more Raids you can run. On top of it all, everyone does this now, where is the concept of innovation and the desire to create the “Next Big Thing”. Most developers are recycling the “Last Old Thing” in a fancy new wrapper and expecting people to be blown away.
2. Bind on Pickup equipment.
Want to see me mad at a game? Fill it with Bind on Pickup equipment. I don’t mind some BoP gear, but when every Raid, and Dungeon is filled with it (and I’m looking at you SWTOR) it is plain annoying. Look I always either play Solo or with a Guild, I’m not one for random grouping to be honest I have the worst luck with random groups (Why do I always find the DPS that thinks he can tank?) and prefer not to do them. So typically I do all my grind to End Game solo then run with my guild for Raids etc. What gets me is when doing this the loot drops are all BoP or only able to be traded with people in the Raid for a fixed period of time. This sucks…. Why can a guild not save up extra gear to help up and coming members approaching their level cap get geared and engage in End Game content? Isn’t that part of what being a good Guildmate is all about? Helping your fellows. Sure we can and will grind up all those Raids again since there isn’t much else to do, but getting him up to scratch quickly matter because of…….
3. Patch Obsolescence .
Every so many updates new gear is introduced pushing older gear down the pipeline in usefulness. This is natural and fine honestly, but it needs to be done at a moderate pace. I’m big into SWTOR, though I don’t get as much play time as I’d like and the devs are pumping out new tiers of gear at an alarming rate. Not variations on the different tiers for appearance but entirely new tiers. For PvE we’ve seen Tionese, Columi, Rakata (The original Three), Blackhole, Campaign, Basic, Classic, Elite, and Ultimate gear sets. Tionese has been removed, as well as the Basic, and Classic being renamed and re-skinned versions of older tiers but seriously 9 sets in under 18 months? This is Patch Obsolescence. I see it all the time, you have a guy who busted his hump to get a full set of Tier [X] gear only for the next patch to come out and now he can’t find a group for a raid unless he has Tier [Z] equipment. I’ll admit part of this is the attitude of players, but pushing End Game equipment out too quickly can have negative effects on the player community.
4. Idiots in General Chat.
We’ve all seen them, the trolls that love to trick you into feeding them. Not a day goes buy I don’t see someone in some game intentionally trying to pee in another players wheaties in a chat channel. This is a two fold issue. First it takes away from the fun factor of the game when you can’t use the social functions because some 8 year old is cheating on this bed time. Secondly, why do studios allow this nonsense to start with? There are limits you know, I’ve seen discussions on everything from the infamous R word that rhymes with tape, to racists comments, why is this tolerated? People can shout “Get a thicker skin” all they want, and you know what for the bulk of things said in chat I’ll agree. But never should something like what I mentioned above be allowed.
5. Ego-centric Players.
This is the big one that falls on us. We think because we pay $10-15 a month to play a game we should be deciding what goes into the game. It may seem a bit hypocritical for me to talk about where I think failings are in the industry and then say this but it’s not. You see people are by nature creatures of self-interest we can’t help that. What we can try to do is take a step back and view the issues we have with a game from multiple angles. If we champion a change to better our class or skill set on a toon and it is done, how did your cause just screw someone else? Ever take a moment to think about that. Try it a few times, you might find your idea is making the game worse not better.
The absolute worst about all of this, we only have one way to vote on the issues we have with games. We can refuse to open our Wallets. Instead most of us simply accept what is given to us, we don’t question or provide Feedback in any form. That is what kills me the most, hardly anyone provides good feedback, instead we have the feedback threads filled with whines about “This class needs Nerfed”. Ok they need to be Nerfed, why? What are they doing, how is this an unfair advantage, did you research any way to counter them? Seriously the “Nerf” stick should be a last resort not a battle standard.
We all need to take the time to provide some type of feedback positive and negative. We also need to take the time to ensure that the feedback is informed and well written and if possible documented. This will help the studios make a good decision and providing that feedback is entirely on us.