Ive been playing MMO's since EverQuest in 1999. So I am a bit of an old fart/old schooler. Its probably no surprise to anyone with as much of -or- close to the amount of experience with MMO's as me that the MMO industry at this time is pretty much utter crap. There is only a very small handful (I'm talking maybe one or two) titles out there worth playing. The reason is for 2 reasons:

1. Excessive Grind
2. Level Scaling

I will talk about these two points now.

1. Excessive grind can be defined as forcing or enticing a player to do a menial or trivial task over and over for hours or days at a time, in order to achieve a desired result.
Most KOREAN BASED (black desert, perfect world, etc etc) based MMO's have an extreme amount of grinding, which - at first, is ok but then as you are just doing the same thing over and over again - the repetition gets to you. Fast forward 2 weeks later and either you are a corpse or your brain is scrambled egg. World of Warcraft also had this issue, but they started putting in other things (which watered down the rest of the game unfortunately) (battle pets, battle for azeroth) to make the grind not feel like it was such a thing. 

Let's face it, you can only do Molten Core or some of the newer raids so much until your eyes bleed. But this just isn't a WoW issue, its an issue as whole. Rift and ESO had the same issues here. More or less, MMORPG's by design have some level of grind to them. The problem is, "making the grind fun". Players need to feel like its fun, (carrot #1) and they have to feel like it means something, or it gives them a means to an end (carrot #2), otherwise - why do it? Let's take Path of Exile, for example - its intensely grindy, but with the sheer amount of loot and drops you get while trying to build your character into whatever it is you want it to be, you have a purpose and its fun because of all the drops its almost like playing a slot machine. When you have an exalted orb drop and you get that big smile on your face - it just makes you want more. 

This is a winning strategy by Grinding Gear Games, I think. Its a win-win, win for the player because he is having fun and playing more, and a win for the company because said player eventually invests real life currency into stash tabs and/or cosmetics. Because who wants to look like crap while you are facerolling content with a 300 ex build? So, in short (lul?) grind can be tedious, but if done correctly - it can also be rewarding and FUN!

2. Level scaling. My god, this is the utter bane to anything fun in any game - and I will tell you why. The reason level scaling was implemented was because "balance" and "lazy devs". These two horrible things both work hand in hand with one another and yet dont really achieve jack squat, and I will tell you why. You see, devs eventually figured out, that if you could put a sliding PENALTY scale on a player that when that player encounters a mob, that players stats and gear are "adjusted" to the level of that mob, then the devs don't really have to work around balance or fine tuning it. They can just spew out half-assed done content and collect money for that instead, having fun be damned, we want to give you CONTENT! 

This is because once players started getting better at games and learning the mechanics/strategies in order to win it made it a lot harder for devs to create more challenging content around that premise. So they were trying to balance instead of releasing content, because they realized what little content they were releasing - players were gobbling it up and face-rolling it before it was even finished downloading! Now the scales have shifted and now devs are churning out content faster than ever before but the players are complaining and doubling down on how much they utterly HATE level scaling. Level scaling was sold to the players in ESO:One Tamriel, on the belief that since there are basically no levels any more (because with scaling, why does having a double-digit number beside your name even matter any more??) that players could go kill stuff with their friends and it would all be good. But the real reason they did this was because, as mentioned before - lazy devs. 

Its more financially sound to make more DLC's and content thats needed to be bought, than to fart around trying to "balance" ANY game that's as dynamic as WoW or ESO, so screw balancing, lets just churn out content like never before rite? RITE??? But now players are complaining about level scaling too, because that badass sword that just dropped as a rare off of a world boss isnt gonna mean JACK in like, 5 mins lul. Players are only now starting to realize and complain about the very thing I complained about on day one. If content scales with your level, are you ever getting more powerful at all? Its like, lets say I am racing someone in a race. Well lets say at the end of the race I push as hard as I possibly can. I summon every ounce of spiritual strength and energy and I start blowing the doors off of my opponent. I see the finish line in sight and think, "yes! I am gonna win this!". Well what happens when MY OPPONENT DOES THE EXACT SAME THING? Did I actually win a race? Or did we just tie? And was there an artificial arbitrary difficulty curve put there for no reason at all? Well, welcome to the world of level scaling. 

That's like, that level 2 goblin you had trouble killing when you were level 1-3 but now since you are level 25 you think you can come back and just roflstomp him? Well guess what bud, he went to college as well and now he has a doctorate in killing players! Level scaling does nothing to reward any player of accomplishments. You eventually feel like you are on a treadmill and you've literally walked like 10 miles but the treadmill says, sorry - you have burned 0 calories, you're still just a fatass. Kind of like a hamster in a hamster-wheel. You run your ass off, but do you ever really "GO" any where?

So now you know how I feel about current MMORPG's and I have explained why and given two very valid examples. I've played almost every MMORPG in existence except a very few. I know "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder with such things and I also know with this post I will probably get flamed OR people who disagree with me, and that's perfectly fine. I also realize there will always be different viewpoints and opinions or counter-opinions, that's why I probably should have prefaced this post with "the content in this post is my opinion only", but I digress. 

I just feel like MMO's right now, in their current form are in a very bad place except a select few and Chronicles of Spellborn was definitely one of those very select few, and I am glad and blessed that I now have the ability to play it once again. Thank you all for reading.

P.S. I was playing TCoS back in 2013 when Acclaim had it and was I utterly shattered when they closed this project down. I am glad this has been revived and I feel like one of my dreams and desires finally came true, Thank you for that! <3

Hey, kind of off topic, but Guild wars 2 now has an 'action camera' mode, which makes the combat more similar to spellborn's.

I've been playing ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) for the last few days, and kind of liked it. The ranged combat has some resemblance with TCoS, and the 5-skillbar strangely reminds me of TCoS too.

Anybody else tried it too?

This is a sandbox MMORPG that's currently in development. We know almost nothing about it, except that it's being developed by some small, independent company, using the BigWorld MMO engine. The concept art looks amazing and it somewhat reminds me of Spellborn. There are some pre-alpha videos on Youtube.


You should check it out. I'll keep a close eye on this one.

http://www.ryzom.com/en/


Ryzom is a sandbox MMORPG I think you guys will love.


Released in 2004 by a small French independent studio, Ryzom has known its share of trials and tribulations. The original developer went bankrupt and the game is now managed and developed by a Cyprus-based company, with a lot of ex-employees of the original developer.


The Ryzom game world is masterfully crafted, and the setting is very "science-fantasy". Ryzom is not your traditional MMORPG. There are no classes and no levels, but your character can learn how to fight, use magic, forage and craft at the same time. These four basic skills have levels, from 1 to 250 - with a cap of 125 in the free to play version. Ryzom is a sandbox MMO, meaning that there is no hand-holding and no quest givers with pretty golden exclamation marks above their heads.


The lore is rich and the roleplayers will feel at home. The gathering and crafting are extremely deep and complex - and players can build their own abilities from scratch, using basic "building blocks" that can be learned from NPC-trainers.


The community is probably the friendliest community you'll find in a MMORPG, and while the game is very difficult at times, veteran players will go out of their way to help you as long as you ask nicely.


I really don't know why this is, but each time I play Ryzom it somehow reminds me of Spellborn. There are many similarities between the two, both in-game and in real life. Game-play wise Spellborn has more to do with WoW than with Ryzom, but I'm betting this community won't turn down such an original game.


Here's some videos showcasing the amazing environments on planet Atys, the place where everything in Ryzom happens:


- video 1

- The Living Planet

- video 3


The game is now free to play, at least the first half - that's days and weeks of gameplay. And if you decide to subscribe, the monthly sub is around EUR 8, while the game itself is completely free.


See you in game!

http://www.ryzom.com/en/

as the title says what mmo are you waiting, excited for?


Personally I'm waiting for Rift because they promise to launch with 2 raid instance and plenty of end game content, also its made entirely of HD graphics, the art style is awesome, only a few thing's i am not 100% on, but one of the big one's is how the music sounds. Im keeping a half eye on Tera because an aim and shoot kinda mmo sounds cool, but with it being Korean it'll probably be grindy with big bouncy tits that are unneeded.

So, since Spellborn went down, I was thinking what I liked the most about it.

And I think it is this: It had a dark touch to it, that kinda endtimish feeling, and at times even a little scary, horror like.


So I was thinking: Is there any mmo out there, that has something similar going?

Not that fantasy crap with elves, dwarves and goblins.

I want something dark, scary, with a story to immerse oneself in.

Sadly, the best MMORPG we have all found in a lonnnng time is now in limbo, hopefully not yet crossed over to the other side, game heaven




So, what are we all playing now?




I am waiting on LOTRO head start in a few days when it goes f2p, but honestly, it is way too "samey" for my liking and is only a way to fill in time, which I luckily have less of now as I seem to be acquiring a LIFE !!

 




When I am not studying for my ITQ (National Vocational Qualification for IT users) and while I await the start of various other courses, I hope to find "something" which is not your usual WoW clone or point and click send-you-to-sleep lazy game for the mentally challenged. LOL.




Let's see if we can find a diamond in the rough.  I am going to spend the next few days trawling through reviews of current games, wish me luck

xx