[stormlord]

Originally Posted by Lyzard [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Couldnt agree more... Everquest was my first MMO back when I was like 13 years old and i've played many other MMO's since. (Guild Wars, SW, Star Trek and mainly WoW) The problem IMO was that SOE (post Velious) and all other MMO's thereafter focused on making their games "solo" friendly... by introducing instances anyone could log on at any point in the day no matter whether you have 20 minutes or 24 hours to play the game and still get something done. This is fine although they failed to interpret the points that made Everquest such an amazing game.

Instancing may have in some small way helped people to solo, but instancing reduced costs as well. Keep in mind that when people are in those zones that the zone is the same for all of them. Instancing allows developers to mirror content for (n+1) users. So it was like having infinite content and nobody would have to compete to use it.

Furthermore, if you start making slight changes to each instance, you can have infinite varieties.

Here is a separate post I made about instancing: www.project1999.org ...

Over the years SOE implemented many things to help low levels reach the top: luclin spires, pok books, mudflated items, bazaar, defiant armor, haste/clarity potions (among others), mercenaries, rest experience, ooc regen, reduced experience curve for low levels, guild lobby summoners and rez services, retaining items on death (implemented in last few years), no coin weight, simpler items (you can't go wrong by choosing the wrong item to buy or equip), pok (one city, not several), in-game maps, the find function, etc. These things weren't applied to the game to make it easier, they were instead applied to make it easier for LOW LEVELS to reach the top. Why? Because all MMO's become top heavy over time. Most of the players in an old(er) game are very high level. This means that low level players will often find themselves to be alone or soloing to gain levels. The more group-dependent a game is then the easier it will get as time goes by for low levels to play the game and progress. I've made several posts about this, with more detail in some than in others.

But in some sense you're right. I think they spent less and less on EQ1. This is why we only had POK to bind in (where did all the cities and outposts like CC go?). Expansions seemed to have less and less zones as time went on with less factions/etc. This saved them money not having to make extra things. And spreadsheet items are an example. You can make sweeping changes and additions with a few database operations. Reduces costs. But it makes all items very similar as they're all connected to the same algorithm. However, these can also make the game easier to understand and debug.

Instead of building new relationships with people and later looking them up to form groups which lead to creating new guilds of genuine friends you could enter a queue of thousands of people whom you have never met or will probably never ever see again, group, get the instance done and leave.

This is somewhat true. This is even more true with the advent of cross-server groups. But I've always liked PUGs. Classic EQ had a LOT of PUGs! But the thing is, it always grew from there and friendships blossomed. That's no always the case in modern variants on this theme. Perhaps there's too much variation? (too many to know personally)

What's more is that while you are in said group no one types a single word to one another as the game is too fast to blink, there are hundreds of abilties/spells to use/cast without any downtime, and if you did happen to get some chat out of someone it's usually to flame another member of the group for "taking too long" or "being a n00bz0r".

They essentially turned the MMORPG into a single player online game...

I couldn't say it better myself. Although, I disagree that this necessarily makes it a single player game overall, I do concede that, from a social standpoint, it's very much like a single player game. People like convenience. I also hate how games increasingly are so fast-paced. There's not any time to relax and just chat-chat. Everyone wants to move a million miles per hour. I can't really enjoy most of the MMO's unless I solo because otherwise I'm rushed headfirst into everything without the opportunity to socialize or to absorb the content in a meaningful way. But I inevitably get sick of soloing because I like chit-chat and dungeon crawling with a friend. So, it always seems to end with despair and hopelessness. Even in EQ, grouping can sometimes become too fast paced. It's not as bad as DDO, though. DDO is a speeding bullet. BUT DDO has some great solo content and environments. It's just ruined by the game and the players.

(and ofc, if i want single player games, i have many moddable games far superior to MMOs)

Everyone mentions how downtime is so bad, but it gives us some time to cool down. I realize that it's not welcome in many cases, but without it I get the sense that we would never stop moving or using gamespeak (ru gtg? brt 1m)...

This is why I try to remind others that a game isn't just about leveling up... We get too addicted...