Well kind of.
There's something about the scale of an MMO that calls to me in a primal way. I don't understand exactly what it is but I know I do enjoy the gameplay. Most of the time anyways.
Rarely do you find a multiplayer game where so many people understand the idea of working as a team. There's something almost Zen like when a party comes together in an MMO and stomps a raid/hnm/stf into the ground. You also get to feel that unique joy of the first time you beat one of those impossible battles.
Not everyone can understand the phenomena either. If you've never enjoyed one before you can't understand it. There is a sense of community, commitment, and belonging in an MMO that is unique.
The worst parts about them though are those exact things. That is what hooks you and keeps you there. That is how people get into trouble and do terrible, stupid things.
There's another problem too. The first one you were hooked on will be the best one you'll ever play. No others will ever measure up to your experiences in its digital playground.
I've played many different MMOs over the years. Including a few of the oldest ones. They all have their own flavor, and each stands out in its own way. My "first" MMO though was Final Fantasy 11. Technically I played some Everquest and some Ashernon's Call before then, but I didn't get hooked on them.
Final Fantasy 11 still holds a special spark of magic for me. Its flaws helped make it unique and entertaining. As much as the players complained about this or that with the system they never left it. The amount of time, effort, and skill invested in it was worth it to us.
The best thing about it though was the community. In order to level effectively you had to join a party of 6. Once you got in a group you had to work as a well oiled machine. If each of you did your job well you could pull off ridiculous experience chain bonuses (xp chains were killing things quickly enough that you got a percentage bonus based upon how many were chained).
Every person had to learn to do their particular role well. You also had to not be a dick. Reputation on each server was important. If you had a bad rep, you didn't get parties.
The job system was nice too. Each single toon was able to change over to each "Job" or class. You also had your sub-job which determined some secondary abilities which helped shape your party role. Yeah, you'd need to level everything separately, but you kept your gear and money all on a single character. There's nothing like this system anywhere else.
Anyways, as you can tell I sometimes miss the game. It's kind of expected though, I played it for over 3 years and spent over 4 months of actual time in the game. As I was trying to say though. There's nothing like your first MMO.
I've tried to go to others. Dungeons and Dragons Online, City of Heroes, Champions, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, Star Trek Online, and EVE to name the ones I tried longer than a weekend. Nothing fit. EVE and STO are the only ones that I truly played longer than a couple months. I'm still technically playing STO right now, since I'm the co-founder of one of the fastest growing, and well known Fleets in the game now, and it's free to play so no fiscal commitment to keep me from coming back (I'm on hiatus from it for IRL timing reasons).
Really, the only reason I think I'm even playing STO is because of running the fleet with one of my best friends who I haven't been around physically for 6 years (I'm getting old...). I want to capture that spark and wonder of my first again, but I don't think that'll happen. Can it ever really happen?
It's like playing a tabletop rpg with your first gaming group. No other group is ever quite like that mix that you had. Sure your games might have been extreme adventures in noob gaming, but they were YOUR adventures dammit. Just like your first MMO, you first gaming group sets your expectations.
Anyone else got some thoughts on this? I'm just rambling about this here because I got disappointed by yet another MMO I was looking forward to.
I got to play the beta release and had my hopes shattered by a terrible and annoying combat system. Everything else was perfect. The free to mix and match skill system, the augmented reality side games/puzzles, the art style, the setting. The combat just blew goat balls. Turned me off of it in the tutorial mission and it just never got better.
I'll bitch about that later though, after its release.
Anyone else have a thought on any of this?
There's something about the scale of an MMO that calls to me in a primal way. I don't understand exactly what it is but I know I do enjoy the gameplay. Most of the time anyways.
Rarely do you find a multiplayer game where so many people understand the idea of working as a team. There's something almost Zen like when a party comes together in an MMO and stomps a raid/hnm/stf into the ground. You also get to feel that unique joy of the first time you beat one of those impossible battles.
Not everyone can understand the phenomena either. If you've never enjoyed one before you can't understand it. There is a sense of community, commitment, and belonging in an MMO that is unique.
The worst parts about them though are those exact things. That is what hooks you and keeps you there. That is how people get into trouble and do terrible, stupid things.
There's another problem too. The first one you were hooked on will be the best one you'll ever play. No others will ever measure up to your experiences in its digital playground.
I've played many different MMOs over the years. Including a few of the oldest ones. They all have their own flavor, and each stands out in its own way. My "first" MMO though was Final Fantasy 11. Technically I played some Everquest and some Ashernon's Call before then, but I didn't get hooked on them.
Final Fantasy 11 still holds a special spark of magic for me. Its flaws helped make it unique and entertaining. As much as the players complained about this or that with the system they never left it. The amount of time, effort, and skill invested in it was worth it to us.
The best thing about it though was the community. In order to level effectively you had to join a party of 6. Once you got in a group you had to work as a well oiled machine. If each of you did your job well you could pull off ridiculous experience chain bonuses (xp chains were killing things quickly enough that you got a percentage bonus based upon how many were chained).
Every person had to learn to do their particular role well. You also had to not be a dick. Reputation on each server was important. If you had a bad rep, you didn't get parties.
The job system was nice too. Each single toon was able to change over to each "Job" or class. You also had your sub-job which determined some secondary abilities which helped shape your party role. Yeah, you'd need to level everything separately, but you kept your gear and money all on a single character. There's nothing like this system anywhere else.
Anyways, as you can tell I sometimes miss the game. It's kind of expected though, I played it for over 3 years and spent over 4 months of actual time in the game. As I was trying to say though. There's nothing like your first MMO.
I've tried to go to others. Dungeons and Dragons Online, City of Heroes, Champions, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, Star Trek Online, and EVE to name the ones I tried longer than a weekend. Nothing fit. EVE and STO are the only ones that I truly played longer than a couple months. I'm still technically playing STO right now, since I'm the co-founder of one of the fastest growing, and well known Fleets in the game now, and it's free to play so no fiscal commitment to keep me from coming back (I'm on hiatus from it for IRL timing reasons).
Really, the only reason I think I'm even playing STO is because of running the fleet with one of my best friends who I haven't been around physically for 6 years (I'm getting old...). I want to capture that spark and wonder of my first again, but I don't think that'll happen. Can it ever really happen?
It's like playing a tabletop rpg with your first gaming group. No other group is ever quite like that mix that you had. Sure your games might have been extreme adventures in noob gaming, but they were YOUR adventures dammit. Just like your first MMO, you first gaming group sets your expectations.
Anyone else got some thoughts on this? I'm just rambling about this here because I got disappointed by yet another MMO I was looking forward to.
I got to play the beta release and had my hopes shattered by a terrible and annoying combat system. Everything else was perfect. The free to mix and match skill system, the augmented reality side games/puzzles, the art style, the setting. The combat just blew goat balls. Turned me off of it in the tutorial mission and it just never got better.
I'll bitch about that later though, after its release.
Anyone else have a thought on any of this?
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