Wednesday 29 January 2025
I am currently conflicted about the future of MMOs. The MMOs of right now have been Spawn for the last 10-15 years they have been on for so long what's Next? Like there are common problems that I have been hearing and it's getting louder and louder.
Runescape creator has been monetizing all sorts of crazy shit that make the veteran and casual players tear their hair out of their heads. I have been hearing these sorts of problems since 2019. when Runescape 3 was more properly playable. The monetization is out of control.
I am pretty sure you know what the FFXIV deal is right now. Currently, FFXIV is in this phase since Endwalker 6.2. where content is slow and not much is going on in some way. Hopefully, 7.2 will give us that spark or something.
That's why I hope that the technology in online gaming will improve, allowing content to update faster and filling the players with tons of content for months on end or login rewards with daily captures.
Here are what others had said about this issue
I play The Lord of the Rings Online which has a regular new content cycle. I also play Star Trek Online which releases episodic story content throughout the year and regularly has short term events. Hence there is always something to do in both these MMOs. New players will find 18 and 15 years' worth of quests and missions to play through. Both games do not require a subscription to play. You can make a few minor payments to gain "preferred" status which removes any minor impediments such as currency cap, character slots, etc.
A lot of MMOs are effectively communal RPGs. I think the scope of the genre needs to broaden. Raph Koster is striving to do this with Stars Reach, although a lot of what he is offering doesn't quite appeal to me. Also, a lot of existing MMOs have systems and game mechanics that come from an older gaming era and seem a little out of date. Things such as skills bloat, slow combat, and time penalties.
I think that MMO-adjacent games are the future of the genre. Also, bring titles to consoles. Star Trek Online has done this quite successfully. The MMO as a genre is not dead but their long development time and cost doesn't make them an immediately attractive option for studios. Especially when considering the current state of the video game industry.
Johnny Vash: How long do players in the lord of the Rings have to wait for the next content update? u feel or I guess anyone on here feels like 3 months is way too long to wait or does having monthly content updates make it better for each game to make the players come back? Because in FFXIV we have to wait every 3 months for a patch to come and by the 3rd month they hold a holiday event to grind on special items until the next patch rolls in.
LOTRO tends to have 2 free content updates a year and then an expansion. There are season events etc and plenty of systems that maintain a gear grind for those who wish to pursue them. I tend to wait for content to accumulate and then subscribe for 3 months and work through it. I last played SWTOR in 2022 for about 6 months. I returned last December and am working through stories I haven't completed. I don't know if I could play an MMO continuously.
The problem with MMOs is that some players always consume content far quicker than the developers can produce it. However, there are plenty of other players who pursue a more casual approach and have multiple alts that are not at cap who just pootle about and take a leisurely approach.
I would have said FFXIV's ability to deliver new content every 3 months is insanely fast by MMORPG standards... it's one of their main draws. The fact that they've kept that up for this long is amazing.
Johnny Vash :
7.1 November 2024
Dec-Jan-Feb
7.2 March 2025
April-May-June
7.3 July 2025
Aug-Sep-Oct
7.4 November 2025
Dec-Jan-Feb
7.5 March 2026
April-May-June
Ah, they've slowed down then, I haven't played in a while Still, if the state of today's MMORPG audience is that's a slow cadence then I doubt anybody's going to do any better.
I've noticed with my WoW guild that people get tired of "new" content pretty quickly. Fewer and fewer alt runs, once the main raid was fully defeated, no one wanted to do it again on a group of alts.
I'm at the point where I juggle so many games and real-life responsibilities that a slower content cadence is fine for me. Like, part of my frustration with FFXIV or Destiny 2 is that while the content cadence of every 3-4 months is great, so much of it is just the same thing with a semi-fresh coat of paint. I'd rather wait longer for fewer drops, but ones that feel substantial and more unique than "Go talk to this NPC, then this NPC, do a scripted battle, watch G'Raha Tia drool over you, and come back in three months". From branching out into Warframe, the story drops that come out feel different than endless hologram conversations, quest after quest of needlessly buzzing around to talk to NPCs and click on flowing stuff to start an easy fight.
I want something unique, something more compelling than the same quests ad-nauseam.
Johnny Vash: Unique and interesting?
Yeah, I'm a gameplay-above-all kind of person, so I want the gameplay to not feel like the same thing repacked for the 6347474784th time. The story, to me, is important, but NEVER more important than fun, interesting gameplay. Sure, the nuts and bolts are going to be the same, and you still hit buttons to do things, but the scenario has to give me something more mechanically engaging than "click NPC, hammer A, warp to another NPC, hammer A, sit through a cutscene, fight so easy I could win with both hands behind my back, repeat", or in Destiny, "click on NPC, walk ten steps to take a call from an NPC, run the same mission 364748 times, come back in three weeks, do it again, come back in three weeks, do it again, come back in three months".
I am so lacking behind in Lotro... But I can't really judge how good or bad the game is as I have a lifetime account (subscription) and I have no idea what it's like when you don't pay for a sub every month. But I am a casual player and I don't think I will ever see all the content the game has to offer. :p
Conclusion
I always thought it's I want more of this give us more!! For some, it's giving us the casual player experience by giving it a piece-by-piece happy meal for every 3 months or so new content.
But then the real Struggle in this MMORPG content is something we want. Something unique than the same old same old. Sometimes we don't know what we want or sometimes we can't get that sort of thing out of that MMORPG Online game. So we tend to go to the ends of the earth to find that feeling once more or just maybe come back to it and relive those moments that were once lost.
After chatting with them I realize it's not about the I want more part but giving us something interesting, give us something unique type of feeling.