The troubles with modern MMO's...

[Dunes]

Okay guys, this is off topic, and dangerously close to being a Rant post (which I try to avoid). However I would be interested in your thoughts on what it is about modern MMO’s that drive old-time MMO’ers like us nuts. Alternately, I would be interested in specific features that you feel make a game great. My hypothesis is that we will have similar likes and dislikes given that we all know/love EQ and for the most part curse modern MMOs.

Ill start, and even if this thread goes nowhere, I think Ill still feel better for shouting out in despair and rage at the current gaming scene (okay… not really, but I am pretty perturbed by it all [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.])

Things I dislike about modern MMO’s:

1. Lack of interesting itemization - What ever happened to wielding a sword or mace that you can identify, by name, by appearance alone? Randomly generated loot with nonsensical stats have dominated MMO’s since vanilla WoW. Rare world drops are great motivators (vanilla WoW got this right), but known “camps” and rare spawns are an excellent motivator to explore and occupy your time. If your willing to commit to something (a camp), you have a shot at getting the item you’ve been dreaming about. Modern MMO’s require you to blitz content repeatedly hoping for “RNG_SWORD_A” with strength on it instead of intelligence…
2. Item Appearance - Other aspects of itemization is the look of items and armor – when every single player of a certain class at a certain level looks identical, something is wrong. The games guilty of this are too numerous to list (Age of Conan, Elder Scrolls Online, etc etc), but it’s a major sticking point for me. I don’t care about graphics all that much (I'm playing a 15yr old MMO…), but there is a certain pride in the differentiation of a player through unique gear. I don’t mean arbitrary, cosmetic changes in appearance either (all chain looks the same, all cloth looks the same, etc) – each individual item that is equipped needs its own color scheme at the very least!
3. Multi-classing/Hot-swap “Respec” – Whats happening here? Are we, as a culture, unable to make a decision and commit to it? Do we really need to be able to fundamentally and completely change our class/skills/attributes on the fly on the same character? Trion games are the biggest culprit of this (Rift, ArcheAge, etc), but there are plenty of other examples to varying degrees (WoW, etc). A player should take the time to master a class through the leveling process, so that when you see a max level tank, you know that person has ground through the levels and should know what they are doing. When you can respect from healer, to rogue, to tank in the same afternoon, it’s a sad day for MMO’s.
4. No Death Penalty – Who cares if you die? Sure it costs some time, and maybe a bit of currency, but there’s no real penalty for being a bad player or not paying attention to detail. Eating a death in EQ is brutal, and its tempered by the availability of %xp res’es. But there’s still a damn good incentive to survive too.
5. No Grouping – I admit to soloing in EQ once in awhile, but is it my preferred play style? No. Can all classes in EQ solo? No. Players of the majority of classes find themselves LFG because they need to. Forced interaction isn’t necessarily a bad thing either, although it does make quick pick up-and-play harder. Modern MMO’s have made grouping a quest-completing convenience at best, and the majority of the group members don’t even talk to each other
6. Too Linear – I don’t need hand holding. If I want to be a fool and wander outside of the noobie area at level 2 and get destroyed, that’s my own fault.. but I want that option. That’s how we learn after all, and the fear makes the game more fun too. Modern MMO’s have mostly made it very difficult, if not impossible, to get ahead of yourself. Neverwinter Online is a major culprit in this area – the entire game plays on rails. Every character you “roll up” is going to replay the exact same content at the exact same level. Supposedly its “massively” (from MMO), but if you cant wander and explore (and die), then what kind of RPG is that?

Now, there are a few things that I like about modern MMO’s, but it’s a short list:

1. Integrated intelligent voice chat – I think DDO was the first one (I could be wrong), but this is a really nice feature that brings a group closer together. No longer is a PUG as random when your talking to everyone, and it eliminates a lot of misunderstandings and hard feelings.
2. Graphics – Sure, I'm not all about the graphics, but its hard to say they are a bad thing either. Standing on a cliff-side trail and looking out at an ocean and feeling it, in a wide open RPG is a wonderful thing.
3. Atmospheric Details – People wander around and stay busy in a believable way. Sure, there is a lot of room for improvement (actual AI rather than predetermined pathing and actions), but its fun to hang out in a tavern, talk to your group members and see NPC’s laughing and toasting.
4. Engaging Boss Encounters – Games have come a long way from “Raid vs Dragon” or “Raid vs Dragon + minion spawns”. The evolving dynamics of an encounter are entertaining, especially with the more fluid your actions are and how many degrees of motion you’ve got (ability to jump to avoid a leg trip, etc).

I know this is a TL;DR for a lot of folks, and I apologize. I think we all secretly hope that the next great game developer will read our comments and take them to heart, but sometimes its worth venting for the sake of venting.