What Makes an MMORPG Good?
Someone commented to me this morning that they had seen SW:TOR gameplay and they felt it was lacking.
Y'know, I've been thinking that since the videos I saw back in July. Jumping Jedi spinning with their lightsabers and everything, it all just looked... well, kinda of hokey. But is any other MMORPG actually better? You lock onto a target, initiate auto attacks, activate abilities in sequence or response to condition, and move around as the situation dictates. There really isn't a whole lot of variance you see in these games as far as how play goes during combat. And yet, some of them work surprisingly well.
Tangent: What I've seen of GW2 actually looks a lot more active than I'm accustomed to. Part of me wonders if it's necessary to be hopping and rolling all over. Part of me worries that it might be too "actiony/twitchy." But I'll reserve judgement.
So if they all play roughly the same through combat (and let's face it, you're going to be in combat a lot), why are some fine and some dull?
Personally, I think a lot of it boils down to distraction and variety. If the game can mix things up a little with how you handle mobs and how they react to you, that helps. Of course, there's only so much one can do there. Bigger in my mind is the distraction. If the game can (via quests, lore, promise of reward, or whatever else) keep you from thinking about how you're doing exactly the same thing you have a thousand times before, then combat doesn't necessary feel reptetitive and dull. It's trickery, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.
I tend to think that's why I've been able to plow through content with my first couple characters in WoW, but my interest wanes on my third or fourth. My warlock is still level 77 and not really advancing right now because 1) I don't feel any great need to get him to level 80, 2) Cataclysm-level inscription training only requires level 75 and 3) questing with him means doing things I've done three times already.
Sometimes, the goal itself is actually enough. My warlock isn't a character I regularly play. He's one I made to do inscription with. Now that we have another player in the guild who plays a scribe, I might not be so driven to get him updated come Cataclysm, but at the end of Burning Crusade I made a push to level him just high enough to get to Northrend to get access to inscription patterns. I had a goal, I played to that goal, and because my gaze was fixed on that end point I wasn't so daunted by repetition.
Right now, I have just enough faith in Bioware to think they might be able to make a Star Wars MMORPG that's interesting enough in story and atmosphere to overcome the familiarity of what looks to be pretty typical combat.
Of course, this reasoning only necessarily holds true for me. Other people play differently and want different things out of the experience.
So what makes MMORPG gameplay "good" for you?
Y'know, I've been thinking that since the videos I saw back in July. Jumping Jedi spinning with their lightsabers and everything, it all just looked... well, kinda of hokey. But is any other MMORPG actually better? You lock onto a target, initiate auto attacks, activate abilities in sequence or response to condition, and move around as the situation dictates. There really isn't a whole lot of variance you see in these games as far as how play goes during combat. And yet, some of them work surprisingly well.
Tangent: What I've seen of GW2 actually looks a lot more active than I'm accustomed to. Part of me wonders if it's necessary to be hopping and rolling all over. Part of me worries that it might be too "actiony/twitchy." But I'll reserve judgement.
So if they all play roughly the same through combat (and let's face it, you're going to be in combat a lot), why are some fine and some dull?
Personally, I think a lot of it boils down to distraction and variety. If the game can mix things up a little with how you handle mobs and how they react to you, that helps. Of course, there's only so much one can do there. Bigger in my mind is the distraction. If the game can (via quests, lore, promise of reward, or whatever else) keep you from thinking about how you're doing exactly the same thing you have a thousand times before, then combat doesn't necessary feel reptetitive and dull. It's trickery, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.
I tend to think that's why I've been able to plow through content with my first couple characters in WoW, but my interest wanes on my third or fourth. My warlock is still level 77 and not really advancing right now because 1) I don't feel any great need to get him to level 80, 2) Cataclysm-level inscription training only requires level 75 and 3) questing with him means doing things I've done three times already.
Sometimes, the goal itself is actually enough. My warlock isn't a character I regularly play. He's one I made to do inscription with. Now that we have another player in the guild who plays a scribe, I might not be so driven to get him updated come Cataclysm, but at the end of Burning Crusade I made a push to level him just high enough to get to Northrend to get access to inscription patterns. I had a goal, I played to that goal, and because my gaze was fixed on that end point I wasn't so daunted by repetition.
Right now, I have just enough faith in Bioware to think they might be able to make a Star Wars MMORPG that's interesting enough in story and atmosphere to overcome the familiarity of what looks to be pretty typical combat.
Of course, this reasoning only necessarily holds true for me. Other people play differently and want different things out of the experience.
So what makes MMORPG gameplay "good" for you?
My problem with the video was that the combat didn't look like Star Wars, it looked like generic space MMO with lightsabers. The bounty hunter stood right out in the open and blasted things, while taking scores of shots. Two jedi go running into combat, getting pelted with blaster bolts (not parrying, just getting peppered), and then do generic martial art moves on their opponents who stand there and take it. Does that feel like Star Wars? Or is that every single action MMO we've ever seen? I like the dodging and weaving in GW2 that I've seen. Dynamic combat is nice.. but actually what I wanted to see was people moving for cover, crouching and popping out to shoot and crouching again.. or the jedi deflecting blasts as they approach, and parrying one another in combat. You have the means to do that with a lot of modern video games, why not move it into an MMO? You know.. Star Wars.
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