Some thoughts on online games

Hello

I am quite an old PWI player, been playing for about 3 years then quitted a couple of years ago, and recently come back just to have a quick glance on how things were going back here.


I kind of felt nostalgic but also very unpleased on the development of this but also nowday's MMORPGs in general.
I've been playing another MMORPG in the last couple of years, and recently kind of quitted that as well, and felt like thinking of what the two"quits had in common", and why I didn't start to play other similar games (been trying quite a lot recently, even pretty popular about-to-be-released ones).

(Does this forum still have that rule which you can't name other games? whatever, it doesn't matter the names).

Well, of all the factors that made me quit or not playing games in general, there are two major ones:

- Changes
- Complexity

-Change-
Things change everywhere, that's an universal law that nobody can do a damn about it, but how changes are administrated in games makes me really frustrated and annoyed.
Let's get to the point: There's hardly any real improvement into a game, most changes are "disguised as" improvements, while they are, in fact, changes.

For example, when you change the crafting system of a game, to make it either harder or more complex or more limited you aren't really improving your game, if you want to make the crafting system better, you have to make it more flexible(e.g. able to craft a greater variety of things, without increasing its complexity, or make the same thing being able to be crafted in different ways and not just one), not more limited, not harder, not a grind-feast, were you have to run a dungeon 200 times to get enough crafting materials for an equipment set.
This was a generic example off course, but if you apply the same concept to other systems, you can see its just the same mechanism everywhere.

There are also changes that looks good apparently, but they aren't, the most obvious example comes from equipments(again, generic reference to pretty much any rpg game), adding stronger equipments in a game, makes player have to push forward for not being left behind, you known, like when a certain equipment's level becomes the standard, and you can't just join random players anymore because everyone looks down at you, and this is especially true when it comes to do the same things as before this equipment was added.
Let's make a PWI-friendly example, I haven't been playing this game for long, so excuse me if its quite outdated, let's suppose that whatever company is behind this game release a new dungeon which drops lv.80 equips that are superior to the standard TT ones, now let's image that this new set becomes the standard for level 80-99 people that do FCC runs (does FCC even still exist?), means that most casual players(players that run dungeons without a fixed group or that doesn't belong to a certain faction / community), won't accept anyone under that standard, nor they will join your squad if you're below that, and so, suddenly, a player that was perfectly able to do the same dungeon just fine, it becomes an undergeared noob. I want to underline this point again: the dungeon its the same, the player can still perfectly run it with the equips he always used ,but the player suddenly isn't suitable for it anymore for the community, result: player have to do XYZ dungeon and farm XYZ to keep doing what he always used to do.Means, extra work for the same results.
Yeah you could say that's not the same result since with the new standard the dungeon runs are supposed to be faster, however in most cases the difference its marginal, and the player's individual skill still makes the difference over gear, but a standard its a standard, and doesn't matter how annoying its to farm an extra dungeon or buy new gear, you either have to do that or stay behind.

This applies even worse with endgame gear, what happens when a company release a new dungeon with new gear?,suddenly people will ask for THAT gear even for running the pre-patch/older dungeon, and I happened to see that a lot in the other game I have played, the standard goes up, and players either adapt or they can forget to do anything close to endgame, like, ever.
Now you may say that the players can still run the previous dungeons anyway, right?, nope, aside from the fact that endgame players have their standard raised even for the older dungeons, you will hardly find anyone to run them anyway, simply because, with the new gear the older become worthless, hence nobody cares to run the older dungeons again, which even get removed in future patch.
Now you may ask, where do people get minimal gear to run the new dungeons, if they remove old ones?, the answer its simple, with every mini-expansion there's a new "starter gear for endgame" which its usually easy to get, and its stronger than the previous top-tier gear, that's right, not only you're being obsolete, but you also see people obtain stronger gear than yourself with no effort, while you stay behind. Off course you can get that starter gear and do dungeons then, right?, nope, the community its usually closed to casual players that aren't very well geared, which means that if you want to join a squad or even make a squad for an endgame dungeon, you already need to have as minimal standard the gear that the dungeon which you are running drops, which makes much sense I suppose.
But even this aside, let's consider the main factor that comes with every new gear, I simply call it "Frustration", that's the feeling I get every time there's gear, no matter how good your gear is before the patch, with every new patch,you're back to squad one, back to grind, back to refining/enchanting, back to everything you already did over and over again, do that or fall behind, and stop being able to do anything as casual player, because the standard keeps raising, and old dungeons gets deserted, you have no choice but to run with the flow or quit.

Now what does new gear actually does?, for someone who used to have decent gear like I was, it only means more grinding, more struggling to keep up with others, even if I don't have much time to play, even if I like to play multiple alts, speaking of which: alts, how un-friendly online RPGs are with alts nowdays?, everything its calibrated in a way that you need to spend really a lot of time to gear up an alt, so with each alt the time needed even for average gear increases dramatically, making you either over-stressed or just give up on alts, which is sad as I do like each of my alts and I wish I could play each one but I just can't!, I would need 50-hours long days to be able to keep even with average gears on more than 2-3 alts, and I am kinda tired of that, I wish I could just stop playing an alt, then play it again one year after and still have plenty of possibilities, and just having to pass some tiresome trial only to get some minimal gear and then spend several days only to get average gear, just no.

Now now, let's get to the core of the question: What does really players need?
I don't known about you, but I am looking to have fun in a game, I accept that in every MMORPG there's a certain amount of grinding, and I well accept the idea to have to do lots of dungeons before even having an average gear, what I DO NOT accept its the idea that I have to repeat the whole process every 6 months or so with every alt, what I DO NOT accept its to see my possibilities limited with each expansion, let's suppose I had fun running a dungeon? suddenly nobody runs it anymore, because the gear it drops its trash and has been replaced by stronger starter gear, there it goes my fun: I either have to "appreciate" the 3-4 new dungeons or just get along with it.
Now how should things be?
First, stop add new, stronger gears, I add alternative ways to get the same gear, but DON'T add stronger gears, now you ask: Why people which already have gear should run new dungeons that drops the same gear?, that's my second point:
Second:Fun, a wise man once said"When something its fun, the fun itself its the reward", now, how many players in mmorpgs run dungeons just for fun?, why we do all need some compensation?, do we really need that sense of satisfaction that comes from hours and hours of farming?, to have what?, gear that will be obsolete anyway next patch?.
Stop making things grindy as hell(e.g. need to run a dungeon 200 times to get a full set), start making things that players do for fun,because there is where you can see the difference between a good develop team, and a bad develop team

(A bad develop team does pretty much like this: Make a very simple dungeon, put some bosses with the same 3D models as others already in-game(maybe just add a different texture, very very little work involved), play with their stats so they hit hard unless players have XYZ gears(all it takes it changes values, you don't need to break a sweat to do that), and slap the tag "new" on them, oh, and off course, add new gear which use some templates that are already used in the game, so you don't have to make anything new, just change the values and TA-DA!, new!,exciting, uh?)

(A good develop team makes a dungeon that can offer very different challenges(e.g. have randomly changed elements every time, so its not always exactly the same), has an unique design and needs actual cooperation among the players, have traps that can one hit anyone (hence they cannot be ignored) , where the enemies and the bosses are actually new, and not some re-used existing models, have some unique mechanism that's has countless combinations(to avoid easy copy-paste solutions), and most importantly, that's fun for both beginners and veterans alike.
You think that's impossible? it should be the norm actually)

So yeah, **** the rewards, add cosmetic items as rewards, add some special potions as rewards, but stop adding new gears as rewards, stop making obsolete all older dungeons every time, if all you need is some sort of satisfaction, then add special titles for completing a dungeon 50/100/2000 times I don't care, as long as its just title and cosmetics, you think having a weapon with higher attack its any different than a cosmetic item?, in the end its just pixels, if what you want is to look important, get the title for 100 dungeons clears. Do not think that you're stronger because you have the top tier gear, in the next patch, when new dungeons, even the starter gear will far outmatch yours, its just a temporary illusion, want to be strong? then be a skilled players and beats others with the same gear, then you can say you're strong, but if you need stronger gear to beat someone, it just means you're the one weaker in the end.

-Complexity-

What made me quit some games even after a few hours its their complexity, I've logged in PWI yesterday after a couple of years of absence and OH MY GOWD, what the hell is all those windows / things / stuff?, there's so many new things that makes my head ache, reincarnation? what's that roulette?, what's those cards? oh please!

Now seriously, can we stop, like, for real?, I've played recently a soon to be released popular korean game and I was like this -> o_O the screen was filled with buttons, options, things, bars, can_we_please_stop_making_games_so_complicated? I am honestly tired sick to have to read a guide for EVERYTHING in a game, to make a single step, in other games after a few hours of gameplay you find your inventory filled with stuff, and you have no idea what's 80% of that its for, I am not talking about equips for another class, I am talking of items either used for crafting or for quests or for whatever else, items with no apparent use (unless you start to dig some guides), and there's tons of them.
Now, I've studied for like 20 years of my life between school/middle-school/high-school/university/specialization courses/bla bla's, and when I sit in front of my PC and I want to try a new game I would like to understand most of it in a few minutes, I don't want to stare at a screen filled with...things, things, things, THINGS!, what the hell is this thing for?, what's this?, what's that?, what's the XYZ function is?, WHERE'S THE LOG-OUT BUTTON I want to get out of here!

Seriously, 20 years ago RPG's had pretty much 3 things equipment wise: (1)Weapon(2)Armor(3)Accessory -> DONE.
Now we have(Generic example, no specific mmorpg intended):
Weapon,Upper armor,lower armor,greaves,gloves,rings, necklace, brooch, belt, fairy, charm, "weird-looking thing #1","weird-looking thing #2","weird-looking thing #3","weird-looking thing #4", and that's ONLY equipment wise, if we search for every function a modern game have(and I see even PWI has fallen into it), you will probably need around 30-40 pages of guides only to understand the basics, not talking about dungeon guides or class guides, just_the_functions.

Seriously, can we stop?, can we have back the simplicity?, can I have a game where the interface only have my Hp/Mp bar, the map, the chat box and my skill bar and not 200 other things?, what will be next, when 4K resolution monitors will be common for everyone? games that will look like this? URL="http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/7/8/9/1190987.jpg"]Image[/URL

And don't say a good game needs to be complex, when the PC mouse was invented, the person who first used it took 20-30 seconds to understand how it worked, and how many years have passed since its invention?