I found this topic on the Warhammer Vault message boards that posed this question to that community. What 3 MMORPG mistakes will you never make again? At first it seems like a simple game or perhaps an outlet for some creative thinking to create humor among those who understand commonalities in MMORPG’s. When you look deeper and really think for a moment you can actually discover that this question can cause you to think back and evaluate your play style, your experiences in MMORPG’s, and how much you have grown since you first began playing.
For me the question was not easy; not at all. I had trouble deciding how I would narrow down the mistakes I have made in MMO’s and pick three that would actually cover a broad enough spectrum. I have chosen three things that I consider mistakes and wanted to write about them briefly.
I won’t play for anyone but myself
When I say I won’t play for anyone but myself I do not mean literally playing for someone else. I can approach this topic from a few directions. Too many times in the past I have made choices that are not necessarily in the best interest of my character or myself. I have made these choices to keep friends, guilds, and to give myself a ‘good name’. I have given up my spot on a raid, chosen to pass on an item, let someone else get ahead, and so many other things in the name of being a ‘good person’. The result has always landed me feeling bitter and my fun factor has been sucked away as I watch these players never return the good deed to myself or anyone else. I’ve been used far too many times now. Another way to look at this would be from a ‘sticking around’ point of view. I won’t continue playing a game after it is no longer fun simply because I feel bad about leaving my friends or guild behind. I have to quit a game when I feel ready.
Blindly believe that raiding is the only solution to end-game
Never going to happen again. In World of Warcraft I was fooled into believing that the center of the MMO gaming universe revolved around the never-ending struggle for gear, uber guilds, and being better than others. It sucked away time, fun, and the soul of the game for me when I made the choice to raid blindly for over a year. There are so many other solutions to “end-game” (I despise that term) than raiding that can and should be explored by a company. So far the leader in this venture, and developer of Warhammer Online, is Mythic.
Play a Flavor of the Month Class
I’m tired of being nerfed dangit! Too many times I always pick the class that is obviously overpowered and due for a nerf. I just can’t help myself! It’s too tempting to play a class that’s actually fun and doesn’t have to work too hard. :P I liked my early Zerker in DOAC, my beta Bard in Vanguard, my Hunter (when they were OP’d) in WoW, etc etc. They were fun but ultimately ruined when It was decided by the gods that they were too strong or overplayed.
There are plenty more mistakes that I could go into. I won’t really talk about them but I think I should list them for the heck of it. I won’t: Lead a guild, continue playing a game that is broken with hopes it will be fixed, play the game like it’s a job (unless it is a job!), pick a server with a cool sounding name, be an elf, and not pick up crafting (it’s too rewarding later!). There I think I summed them up nicely!
What 3 mistakes will you never make again in a MMORPG?
What are we twins separated at birth? I’m sure alot of people share those three experiences as well but it is freaky because I went through the same classes as you.
– Waiting for a pickup group to fill up. I used to spend ages waiting and waiting for a pickup group to find all the necessary players. Mostly the leader would reassure us that people were coming and that we needed to be patient. Usually this would end with the leader him/herself leaving just as we found the last person we need, ending in the goup disolving before it even got started.
– Expecting people to care as much about their time as I do, in-game of course. All to often people will go afk delaying everyone in a group from reaching their goal. How many times have they also done this while standing right on a spot where an elite will respawn leaving it to us to keep them alive. (I don’t try to keep them alive anymore, usually I tell the group to back off let the mob agro and kill the afk’r. Easy enough to rez them and it teached them a lesson. Of course this is only for repeat offenders)
– Believing that a game, no matter how good it is, can fill the need to have a meaningful relatinship with people in real life. All too often I would put my gaming desires about people and relationships in real life and would pay a price. To an extent I still do that but I try not to let it get out-of-hand.
Oooo good one. Expecting people to care as much about their time as I do… I like that one.
Expecting ppl to learn from their mistakes is a mistake I reapeat alot(ohh the irony :P)
Never group with anyone who has a bed time, has to go to work, has to go to dinner or any other reason to leave the game. If you can’t stay in a group for the long hall don’t join a group. Stay solo. I like to end groups where someone has played so long they have fallen asleep in their chair. When I play, I play. If I have something else that I need to do, I do it and play the game later.
Maybe this should have gone into the rant article.
Never group with anyone who has a bladder control problem. If I had to take 6 bio breaks in an hour I would move my PC into the bathroom or wear a depends.
Maybe this should have gone into the rant article too.
Being nice and helping everyone never works. There will always be someone who will take advantage of your generosity.
1) Not having a drink when I consciously know everyone else in my group is drinking. Its no fun being the designated rezzer.(Don’t try that IRL kids)
2) Recommend a game to a group of friends before I have had a chance to play it for more than an hour.
3) Choosing to use Skype for a voice chat substitute (atleast until they add the Push to Talk function). I simply do not want to hear everybody’s bodily functions because the mic happened to be close enough to pick that tremor up.
[…] I was reading Keen’s site as I usually do every day, and ran across his article by a similar title. In the article he posed this question: What 3 MMORPG mistakes will you never make again? […]
Your first point is definitely an important one. It’s a game, and it’s supposed to be fun. There’s no point in playing a game if it’s frustrating, boring, or whatever.
hrmm funny, i made same character choices third egg here. I am seeing more folks be invested in the quality of there play time over accomplishment (lvling) and talking about what is fun? over signing up for 3 weeks for a spot on a raid (DAOC days) good to see:)
[…] Keen wrote a great piece by on Keen and Graev’s Gaming blog that really caught my attention. Obviously Keen has been “around the block” like I have and has his share of regrets just like the rest of us who have been chained to the MMOG genre for any length of instance. He reaches back to some of the past games he’s played and talks about some of the mistakes he’s made that he won’t ever repeat. […]
[…] Keen wrote a great piece over on Keen and Graev’s Gaming blog that really caught my attention. Obviously Keen has been “around the block” like I have and has his share of regrets just like the rest of us who have been chained to the MMOG genre for any length of time. He reaches back to some of the past games he’s played and talks about some of the mistakes he’s made that he won’t ever repeat. […]
“The result has always landed me feeling bitter and my fun factor has been sucked away as I watch these players never return the good deed to myself or anyone else.”
choose wisely:
a) why do anything good if it doesnt benefit you in some way?
b) its just that we’ve been returning the good deed to yo moms.
Wow. Being my first MMORPG ever, I’ve been burned by a couple of things I’ll never do again:
1.) Try to level up fast just to catch up and play with my friends. One reason is,I missed a lot of old content. “What’s Dire Maul? What’s Molten Core like? What’s this talk about a live and undead side to Stratholme? Huh? What’s a ZG? What boss’s head is this in the middle of Orgrimmar?” To this day I can’t get people to participate in old content runs. I didn’t figure out how to raid until I hit 70, I didn’t figure out 5-man strats because someone always ran me through instances to help me complete quests. On top of that, I’m suffering serious burnout because friends have stopped playing now that I’m 70, and my professions are so far behind. All the fun of the game: GONE. Which takes me to my next regret:
2.) Basing the path of my character off the opinions of what other people in my circle would think to be ‘cool’. Let me spread my talents all over the place and learn the hard way of how to make the best personal use of my character. Figuring out your char is the most rewarding thin in the world and believe it or not, it seems like it creates some kind of relationship or bond between you and it. That’s alson an awesome fun element to the game.
3.) Helping every new person get gear or attuned for instances regardless of how good it may make me feel. I guarantee that when that when I have to resort to a pug because I can’t get any form of favor in return, it brings me back to the reality that a majority of players in the game play selfishly. It’s not like South Korea where gaming is networking as well, here it’s “hello. Thank you. Goodbye.” for the most part. Every now and then you meet a new person to chat with while you’re grinding.
The only person in a group guaranteed to value your time is yourself.
[…] Keen wrote a great piece over on Keen and Graev’s Gaming blog that really caught my attention. Obviously Keen has been “around the block” like I have and has his share of regrets just like the rest of us who have been chained to the MMOG genre for any length of time. He reaches back to some of the past games he’s played and talks about some of the mistakes he’s made that he won’t ever repeat. […]