Returning to past MMOs: Why doesn't it work?

I never liked the idea of an MMO, at least from my experience watching how horrendously boring it must be to play EQ, to which my friend was addicted. Eventually I saw a trailer for WoW and tried to convince him to play that instead. He wouldn't budge.

I finally started MMOing myself with R.O.S.E. Online, a free-2-play Korean game that was cute and entertaining, but concentrated FAR too much on grinding for XP. It took me weeks and weeks to get to level 23, yet you had to be 50 to use the "mount" (called a cart), and I've seen items requiring level 150+. Far too much time commitment to be worth it. Once it became pay-2-play, I dropped it entirely.

Around the same time I'd started ROSE, WoW was released. Deeming my experience with ROSE, not too terrible, I picked up a copy for myself and for my friend for Christmas. However, I refused to install it until after I graduated once I'd seen what it did to almost every person I had seen play it. As it turned out, this was a very wise decision. I installed it in June of '05, and was heavily addicted until about March '08. I had a raiding Healadin and a feral Druid for farming. I also served as guild leader of a large casual raiding guild.

I wonder if that would have been different if I hadn't waited until after most of the early bugs were fixed, or if I would be playing MMOs at all...

Anyway, I eventually got bored with WoW's end game (stuck in progression, not willing to make the time commitment to join a hardcore raiding guild, and not willing to leave my friends) and twinked a mage for a while, which was awesome. But I got bored with that too and left WoW entirely. I had a new gleam: Hellgate London. Being an avid Diablo player, Hellgate was freaking amazing, even with its bugs and lack of visual variety. FSS quickly and consistently released patches, however, and I kept playing. I still maintain a subscription to show my support, even though I hardly play.

When Age of Conan came out, my roommate picked up a copy, only to discover his PC couldn't handle it. Against my better judgement, I installed it on mine to see if a better Graphics card would make the difference. It did. I was VERY impressed with AoC's launch and played through the newbie zone. Not wanting to continue on my friend's account, and not really having time to play anyway, however, I stopped there.

Now I don't play any games at all, except for DDR, due to lack of time and desire to get back in shape.

I Started MMOing in AC. Loved the size of the world, but the game always had logistical issues, immoveable monsters, and a clunky UI. Even with mods that broke almost every month, playing a Mage character felt like punishment. Pack space limited by mats, Unable to carry gold or armor, buffs that lasted too little time for cast duration, etc. Over time they introduced changes that made it better, but technical issues remained.
In time I moved on through AC2, DAOC, Anarchy Offline, Shadowbane, Horizons, SWG, Guild Wars and City of Heroes/Villians. I now play Eve Online, mosty for the awesome trade system, and WOW for the vivid colors, fast combat, and challenging PVP.
So far, WOW has kept my attention the best and longest. Although the trade system is still mostly useless and the high end content requres a commitment beyond the pall of most mature gamers; it's quest lines are entertaining, the breadth of environments is stunning and raid content varied and challenging, even when you reach the end game.
Still the same MMO issues seem to crop up.
1) Endless grinding for XP or drops
2) Repetition of the same quest types (genocide, shopping, escort, explore, boss-kill),
3) Gimped trade systems.
4) Keeping high end content enriched and alive without 1) outgearing the casual gamer and 2) forgitting the low levels. (Skill up & gear systems usually rewarded only the top 5% of ultra-committed players willing to game for endless hours.)
Where are the MMO's that allow me to create a mission for others? Where is the spell-design interface that lets me engineer my own magic? Why can't they let a true economy rise? (Where Mob Drops and Resource collection feed artizans who make useful items players need at all levels and where artifacting is possible with patience and effort. e.g: My apprentice Blacksmith makes nails and rivits for xp, but feeds these to Amrorcrafters and Carpenters as mats who are discouraged from taking the time) Where is the PVP system where ganking lobies grants dishonor and ends up generating kill missions against you? Where is the richness of warfare expressed? (Mounted combat vs Pikemen vs Infantry vs Bowmen vs Siege & Artillary? ) Where is the game where 60 level 1's can take down 1 level 60?
So I still look for new horizons as the MMO genere matures..

I used to play Asheron's Call
On the Morningthaw Server
i got my mage to Lvl 247 but by then it was just to repetitive
turn on your macro and let it play all night and then u come on morning to see how much XP u got but that was it and then u had to get billions of xp to raise 1 skill that could takes days to get that kind of xp

I played from Patch Day April 2001 to October 2006 off and on between those periods.
AC changed way too much in that time a lot of it good but alot of it bad too

The one thing they Barely TOUCHED was the UI and it was ugly clunky only had certain options to how far u wanted the chat screen etc to show coul not move or customize it.Which Compared to WoW's UI which is very Customizable with different addons or there own options which is a hell lot better then the UI of AC

<tired just got off work and have no clue if i make sense above >

Not going to vote in the poll, because I'm actually giving the EQ games another try, as part of that promotion, so it remains to be seen if it "works" this time. However, I can say that it hasn't worked in the past. EverQuest was my first MMO, and I was pretty devoted for about 5 years. But the game has changed so radically - I started in the Kunark days - that its really not possible to "go back". The closest thing was when they launched a couple of "progression" servers, which started with only original EQ, and then "unlocked" the expansions one by one. That was a blast! The most fun I'd had with EQ in many a year. But once the Planes of Power opened, the Verant-era game became largely irrelevant, just as it is now. I don't see EQ pulling back many players, unless they really enjoyed the raid-centric game of the later expansions. EQ II is a different story - the changes made since launch are all for the better, and I'm really enjoying being back so far.

My first MMO was City of Heros, and I have tried to go back once or twice but keep seeing the same problem that made me leave in the first place. That is, there is almost nothing to do once you the level cap in the game. I know that most recently they have made some changes and added new content but it took to long and I do not want to give up on the friends I now have in WoW

uo wasnt the first although its probably made the biggest impression on me, there are a handful of us that have been around sense beta that go from mmo to mmo as new ones hit the market and catch our eyes.

Played Realm Online before UO Was in Beta, and a little bit of Meridian 59 also.

Pushing 3 years on wow right now and dedicate most of my gaming time to it these days, although Ive always had an active uo account for going on 10+ Years now.

Everquest was a wonderful concept when it came out, being the first of its kind. But there were problems with the implementation. The EQ world was too large, and it took a very long time to get anywhere or do anything. Travel was enhanced with later introductions like the Plane of Knowledge, but the world truly is too vast even with that shortcut. EQ also left casual players in the cold, forgetting them in forgotten and uncared for zones while attending to their top players and Raiding guilds, forgetting about taking care of making sure that new players (and returning players with new characters) would have an enhanced and ever-more-rewarding play experience.

When Blizzard came out with WoW, they improved greatly on game play concepts and gave us a game with more content than we would ever be able to go through with just one character. Starting a new game in WoW with a different class and race introduced new lines of play that more smoothly merged in later levels. It didn't take forever to get from place to place and progression has reachable goals for non-raid players. It is possible for a casual gamer to expect to see the upper levels and character progression goals of WoW.

I started out on Asheron's Call, and loved it. We had 3000 active players on a server. Now - none of my friends play and the last time I tried the game, fewer then 500 people were on, all high levels. There was no where to hunt that had lower level players.

The interface is clunky now compared to what you can get now in games, especially with UI modifications. And while I am mostly a loner when it comes to these games, I still like hunting and exploring occasionally with friends... it doesn't help that AC lost my characters, as I had a level 90+ tradeskill character with 5 kills total in her pocket. I had 1.5 sets of pack dolls (original not rereleased) a whole slew of rare weapons and armors...

Yes, it amazes me that with clunky grafix, few players, a crappy ui... they charge $15 a month for it. I might consider paying $7.50 a month, but not $15. I pay $15 a month for two WoW accounts and $15 a month for an AoC account. I have played DAoC, SB, EQ2, SWG, Hellgate, AC, WoW, AoC, AO, DDO, LOTRO. AC, my first was a love lost.

If AC gave away 1 month to returning players and gave me back my characters - plus only charged $7.50... I would come back at least for 3-6 months... but without new players... I dont see a point.

AoC is now my love in gaming "Uber" Age of Conan

They should have had an option called "Game has changed too much from original concept" That's certainly part of the reason why I don't play AC anymore. If they added a server that was patched only up to hollow weapons, I would resubscribe.

It depends for me on what features have been added.

I went back to WoW after leaving for 2 years. I went back to find all my serious issues with the game had been addressed in the expansion and subsequent patches.

I went back to Neocron after an extended absence and found their problems worth, all I spent was a month back.

first agen!

lol no