I’m tired of getting excited about an MMORPG and after playing it for a couple hours realizing that it’s the same thing as every other free MMORPG out there. It’s as if every single game runs off the same system, but each game has its own character models, classes and setting. Other than those three things, almost every game plays the same way. I’d love to see developers try and innovate rather than using the same rehashed themes and systems. Why not try changing the way uses gain skills or the way players can gain attributes rather than leveling up?
One major complaint I have is that almost every MMORPG has the same slate of character classes. The least developers can do is invent a few classes rather than using the same rehashed variations of Warrior, Mage, Priest, Thief and Archer. I’m sorry, renaming the classes doesn’t count as creating a new class. You can go ahead and call a warrior a fighter, barbarian, berserker, swordsman, knight, or mercenary, but it’s still a warrior. It can’t be that difficult to create different classes. Even combining two or more classes to make a hybrid would be unique. Take a “pirate” class for example. They can be a hybrid swordsman and a marksman with swords/pistols. Most MMORPGs also never utilize the necromancer class or any class that relies on summoning pets, which would be a welcomed addition to the usual slate of classes.
Another feature I’ve seen overused is the standard quest system. How many times have you been presented with a quest that says “Go outside town and kill 10 scorpions “ or a quest that sounds a bit like this, “Take this note and give it to Joe who is standing 15 feet away from me”. I mean come on! I’m not saying the developers should scrap the kill quests, but I’d love to see some variation! MapleStory actually did a remarkable job with its quest system. The game introduced platforming quests to the MMORPG genre. Players actually had to master jumping through a map while avoiding obstacles in their goal to reach the end of the map. Sure this wasn’t exactly a revolutionary concept, but it’s definitely a welcomed change from the usual quests you’ll run into in an MMORPG, and it’s actually fun. No matter how you look at it, killing 10 scorpions for the local butcher shop isn’t fun.
I’m also tired of seeing the leveling system in 99.9% of MMORPGs. Why are developers so afraid of breaking away from the norm? Sure it’s easier to use an already established system, but players definitely want to try new things. I for one would give ANY game a shot if it looked unique to me in some way, even if the game was pay to play, but even pay to play games lack uniqueness. The only game I see in the pay to play market that seems at all unique is Eve online, and I congratulate the people over at CCP [the developers of Eve Online] for taking a chance and avoiding the entire leveling system and focusing rather on a skill system. I’m not at al claiming that games with a leveling system are bad, as if the system is very well polished and balanced it can still be fun, but I’d love to trying something new.
Lastly, I’m tired of seeing the fantasy genre over used. I’ve already written about this, so i’ll keep this short. I’d love to see developers try out new genres. The Sci-fi theme definitely hasn’t been fully utilized yet, as there really aren’t any free MMORPGs that have a large community yet that are sci-fi themed. One game Luckily, there are companies out there that are trying to innovate. Gravity for example, has released Requiem: Bloodymare which labels itself as a “horror game”. Although Requiem feels a bit like fantasy, I’d like to congratulate Gravity for at least trying something new, and would like to encourage all game developers to try something new for a change.
First of all thanks for this in my opinion great comment of the simplicity of todays mmorpg’s.
I totally agree with you that it would be nice if developers try to come up with some innovations, although i have to admit that quite a few difficulties would come along, like the succes in todays gaming community. I can imagine that if you work like 1 - 2 years on a game and in the end nobody wants to play it, you are shattered about its failure and therefore won’t try to come along with such game again.
Nevertheless, I think at least some aspects are still doable like changing that stereotypical grinding issue or these ”highly individual” quests. I’m looking forward for the spirit of todays developers to varify the simplicity of todays mmorpg gaming market.
Thanks for your attention and this well done article
(sorry for my bad english^^)
Once again, agreed. There seems like no developer out there that wants to take a risk and try to make something different. 9Dragons was somewhat different but the Quest systems are annoying. Voyage Century I think will succeed the most.
Voyage Century doesn’t really have a leveling system either. In Voyage Century you have to level each individual skill. There is no lvls, you basically have to look at another player’s clothing and weapons to determine their level. The Quest system is alright but you got job quests which can be very fun because questing hasn’t been done at sea.
The Fantasy genre is the most overused genre…. ever. A lot of these free MMORPGs try to be just like World of Warcraft, Guild wars, or Ultima Online. Sci-fi has some great potential as it was seen in Anarchy Online. Historical Realism/Realistic genres are good as well. It worked for Voyage Century so it has a lot of potential.
The point is that I’m trying to make is…. in the MMORPG world the more different the games are…. they better.
i agree with this, especially the quest the, only game i can recall that has a unique quest system i must say is runescape, i dont care if it lacks in basic graphic but they are trying,for being a web browsing game. it beats most of this games out their.your have to give it props its unique , simply , and addictive.plus it has a unique class system which has none but the one you choose( you can be wat ever you wanna be ) . and it wouldnt be bad if they came out with a game based like grand theft auto that would be fun and innovative, or a fun action fps that doesnt have different maps but one world.
if i should choose runescape could be one the top 5 mmo’s out their for its unique gameplay, and dediaction to their game.
I would have to agree with you on your comments as well. It would be nice to have more classes available in free MMOs. Actually there is one game that comes to mind with a good variety of classes, the game is called Sword of the New World (SotNW), and while I eventually left it for my own reasons I believe you guys should all give it a try. It has a European feel to it, the character visualizations are also pretty good.
If you want some examples of the character classes, there are your standard warrior, gunner, mage, priest but there are probably a total of 30+ other playable UPCs, unique playable characters which are in actuality the very NPCs you meet along the way as you play, each with their own set of skill traits. Once you obtain their cards, you will be able to create that UPC at the character creation screen and they may start out as being level 1 or anywhere up to 40. SotNW definitely would be your unique game for different classes because even your standard warrior has a ton of different skill traits that determine what weapons you may use, as example you have the usual sword and shield, rapier, polearm versions, known as “stances” of a warrior but as you mentioned yourself, the warrior also may choose a gun and sword stance. In this game the priest also has skill traits which may turn it into an assassin, so you have yourself a healing assassin :P.
In any case I made this way too long, but I still want to add a few more comments.
1) I agree with kalidou on Runescape, if you bumped up its graphics, people would see that it actually is quite a different gaming experience. The only reason for so much flaming on RS is because of the graphics issue.
2) The real problem I see with MMOs, now this is completely my opinion, is the grinding. Apparently most free MMOs are of the Korean kind, and unfortunately all follow the same path of a grinding system for levels. Its not to say that almost every game out there isnt grinding, but some games hide it well, and I know this isnt a MMO but I think they should have incorporated a leveling pace/speed similar to Diablo 2, and maybe gameplay as fast as D2. Now I know there are also many D clone games in the MMO world, so far as to use the isometric view and the dark themed worlds, but in the end they are the same grinding game. The major turnoff with these MMOs and the grind is that it may take you a month, all the way to a year just to create 1 fully capable character. And by fully capable I mean a character you can actually use to do pretty much 100% of the content of a game, meaning being able to actually explore all the maps, kill all the monsters and bosses of a game as well. If a game has even 4 classes, say Maplestory, which has fighter, mage, priest, assassin but which have “sub classes” or different end variations, like ice mage, fire mage, poison mage, you would literally have to play about 2-3 consecutive years for a casual gamer, just to get them all to be a high level, since you cant have all the 3 subclasses in 1 build.
Ok now I think I am done for now, criticize as you wish and I’ll leave a comment back
Can’t argue with you at all. Create character, learn interface, level grind, hit a peak where you have optimal items and gear, quit game, download next game, rinse, repeat; especially in fantasy. Requiem looks okay, but other then the added blood, it doesn’t look that different. Flying in Flyff; I flew in WoW, no need to fly anymore. I agree that a science fiction/FPS style game would be nice…maybe like a Gunz with quests that included bounty missions. Make real players actual targets, include some level of tracking in the game, and base the reward on how difficult the player should be to kill.
This seems rather interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiIY8tg2qBs
http://www.darkfallonline.com/
… and if you would like something totally off beat (and do not mind terrible graphics…) try Wurm Online
Cheers.
I couldn’t agree more!!
I mean, everything is the same!!
Even some of the settings are the same.
Of course some are made by the same company,
but they should make varieties of different MMORPGs
a perfect example is runescape.
It has an extremely unique and interesting layout.
besides the fact that you have to pay to get most things in the game and the graphics suck, I would be all over that game.