First, an extremely good post about why Fixing MMOs is Hard, by Scott Jennings. I loved this bit:
9) Listen to, and engage with, players
The players are often WRONG.
Whats more, they will lie to you.
DIRECTLY.
TO YOUR FACE.
No, really, their class is horribly underpowered, any fool would know that if they only played the game and that bug youre talking about is really a feature and anyway you shouldnt remove it because our entire side is underpopulated so its only fair.
The players are not the ones at financial risk if your game fails. They simply move on after consuming all you have to offer.
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I’ve been lackadasically playing LotRO a bit, but it’s been…boring. Oh, sure, it’s a gorgeous world, and they really brought the IP to life. But it’s not as fun as a less polished game, Warhammer. Ardwulf’s Lair put it very well here: “The problem is that there are actually other games on the market. In comparison to at least a few of them, LotRO offers a more polished and full-featured experience. But what you have in LotRO today is pretty much what you will have next year, or the year after. Youll just have more of it. Stability appeals to some people, including myself. But I want to be surprised now and then, or even impressed, and I have a very strong feeling that any subsequent content release for LotRO will be good but not surprising or impressive.” For me, it’s polished, it’s lovely, but just not different enough to be fun. Another grind, another escort quest? Yawn.
It’s the same problem that I’ve been having with Runes of Magic. For a free to play game, it’s very well done. If I wasn’t playing a “proper” MMO, I’d quite like it. But free-to-play game experience is (of course) much different than a well-polished, multi-million dollar AAA title…as one would expect it to be. In the end, I think I’m that stereotypical WoW player who tries other games (and sorry, I can’t remember who originally said this): I want a WoW experience, with new content. Sad but true.
So, what I think I shall do is sign up for EVE as soon as my Warhammer subscription ends this month. I’ve already cancelled one of my WoW accounts, and consolidated some of the characters. EVE would be a totally new gaming experience, which would sidestep a lot of the MMO burnout that I’m currently feeling – I just need to stick with it for a while, without succumbing to the initial feeling of being overwhelmed that I normally feel when resubscribing to EVE.
And Lord of the Rings? I have the same feeling that I had when I first tried it…I really, really wanted to like it. But it just wasn’t different enough, fun enough, exciting enough. :(
Milady, you need to write a book. That one you were talking about writing and illustrating.
Good feeling of accomplishment, followed by the possibility of actually getting paid.
Yes, that was the original plan. You know how people say “if I just didn’t have to spend all this time at work, I could write that book, etc.”? Well, in reality I’m so stressed that I can’t create. I’ve pretty much stopped doing my digital art pieces, since they just turn to crap. Escapism gives me some time away from those un-fun conversations like what we should do about the house (our nearing negative-equity house) in case we don’t get work asap. :(
But yes, whining aside, I’d love to do something productive aside from just trolling Monster. :)
Greetings.
I came across your blog by coaccidence. I see similarities (well apart from me being married with two kids) on the MMORPG front. I’ve been playing WoW for 4 years now, have a good group of RL mates in a non-guild environment, was with a lovely guild until last year when the raiding end started gazumping the social aspect and I quit in a fit of pique.
So I started a toon on the achievements end of things and was doing fine (dazed plaid /14) until I found I couldn’t finish off Loremaster EK because of the recent patch. So I went to TBC at level 64 and after 1 hour in HF just hated the stupid waste of time this game is.
So I downloaded EVE and well, I would love to run a Culture novel of my own ship ‘Not on my watch’ but I just don’t think the environment suits my personality.
I did try Lotro for about a month but the excitement of being in prof Tolkien’s world was let down by pastel hues and anaemic toons. In principle I should like it, but I don’t.
So maybe you can help with some acid mouth drops of wisdom?
I need:
A game that takes up no more than 10 hours per week
That you can raid/instance once per week if you so desire, but you don’t need to group in general
A community that cares and is helpful and mature in outlook
A class that heals or benefits others thanks to my inner altruistic self
A guild/group that I can benefit using my pedantic powers of fishing/grinding
People who can cope with my weird diction and prose, tendency to fly off the handle once every 6 months, and reinforce my fragile personality and need to be loved.
Can’t seem to think of anything else, I’m sure that’s enough to go with doctor. What do you think?
All I can say is, if you find that game, let me know because I want to play it as well. :) I’ve played games that I really liked, except I hated the people that I played with, and vice versa. I suppose the best game is one that you play with a group of rl friends and loved ones…but I’ve never been lucky enough to experience that.
I’ll get back to you. First impressions of GW are, underwhelming, however this may be down to my current disenchantment. I’ll persevere.
In the meantime, nice blogsite, and as someone once said, hope the lifestyle comes together, earthwoman.