i feel like something is missing...

[Seriah]

Have any of you guys got the same feeling with regards to mmo's as of late? I feel like theres nothing to look forward too except more of the same.... Is it burn out? I dont know but it isnt a great feeling when its a genre i love. Ive never been a grat star wars fan but i feel like im going to have to watch the back catalog to get excited about something.

[Bartlebe]

I certainly have.

I think the "golden age" that we remember, the days of journeys and adventures that last for years on end, are over.

MMO's just aren't made for that anymore. All we can ask for now is a few months of entertainment before we get bored with the grinding and move to something else.

My suggestion, find some new types of games that you enjoy.

[Damage]

Have any of you guys got the same feeling with regards to mmo's as of late? I feel like theres nothing to look forward too except more of the same.... Is it burn out? I dont know but it isnt a great feeling when its a genre i love. Ive never been a grat star wars fan but i feel like im going to have to watch the back catalog to get excited about something.

This is why I am playing Everquest on the Time Locked Progression Server, Fippy Darkpaw.  We just unlocked Kunark about 2 weeks ago.

[Keen]

SWTOR and GW2 will be more of the same.  I think they can be enjoyed if we look at them not for what they will do differently but for how they will entertain us with what they bring to the table.  For example, GW2 will be themepark pvp but maybe it will be a fun take on it.  SWTOR will have the same questing but maybe with the story it will be interesting.

I still believe there's going to be a 'crash' in the MMO market.  It's going to continue to spiral downward until developers with the money realize they went down the wrong path.  Until then, I'm just making the best of a bad situation.  Looking forward to BF3 and hoping SWTOR and GW2 don't completely fail.

[Kodo_Beast]

I still believe there's going to be a 'crash' in the MMO market.

Agreed, I just hope it doesn't take too much longer  .

[Rawblin]

I know exactly how you feel.

I haven't been excited about the release of an MMO since... well... a long long time ago. Everything that has come out has been a let-down, in some form or another. And to varying morbid degrees.

I know people have hopes pinned on GW2 because they claim they loved DAoC and want to reignite that form of gameplay for pvp. I do not believe them, considering their first game was a completely instanced arena-pvp game. And everyone hopes SWTOR will be great, and I have no faith because EA has their claws in it, and Bioware is a single-player company dipping their feet in MMOs. It smells of let-down.

I do see one possible, flickering light in the darkness. Tera. My hopes are not high, but at least they are trying a different approach. Lack of tab-targeting seems interesting, their political system sounds good. And the game has already been released in Korea. They do not however have a release date, so for all I know the NA launch is vaporware. As I said though, the game sounds interesting. We shall see.

[Misaligned]

I too know how you feel. I'm in an MMO-slump atm. I've been desperately looking for something to play for the last month or so and just can't seem to find anything that really captures my interest. The closest I've come is Vanguard but it's really hard to get into a game with such a low population and total lack of developer support.

I too have high hopes for SWTOR and GW2. I worry that we're all going to expect too much out of these games though and ultimately set ourselves up for disappointment.

Oh well, like Keen said I'll try to make the best of what it is and hope that at some point the industry shifts into a different direction.

[Valkrysa]

I haven't been able to get into an mmo for months and until they realize the value of building a living, breathing WORLD (not game, world) then I believe this lethargy will continue. Guild Wars 2 will be fun, and it will be on the table for a long time with no monthly fee, but it is not going to be the game changing mmo.

Due to the attitudes of the modern game developers as well as the industry as a whole I believe that the mindset for creating true virtual worlds has been lost to a previous generation. I still hope for one to come about, but I'm not holding my breath.

This is a big part of why I decided to start building my own games, because no one else is going to build them for me.

[Gringar]

Yes Valk, just... yes

I was talking about EQ today, for like 2 hours, and the comparison to MMOs of today. That living, breathing world is definitely very important. I mentioned Plane of Hate, (and referring to the original version) this zone was designed with the denizens of hate in mind only. How will you attack this plane? I don't care, it's their home and it will cater to them. It certainly was hard, yes, but you really got a sense that you were invading their home. Compared to zones now that have clear entry points, maybe you can leisurely pick up some quests while you buff up and summon people in. Now there's nothing terribly wrong with this, and WoW does do it the best, but it really seems to detract from the whole invading an enemy's home feeling, and replacing it with the feeling of just doing a loot run.

If anything should be kept in mind, it is that designing a dungeon should cater 99% to the denizens' needs within it. It should have everything they need to survive. It should appear to give them a clear advantage, since you are in their territory. I believe there is a good article on dungeon building on, actually, mudconnect.com. All these well designed dungeons and areas contribute to the living worlds that should be and surely there are other factors, but this stands out as extra important to me.