Is the MMORPG dead or dying?

[Tombstone]

A new MMO in today's market could definitely still work with a strong IP behind it along with realistic expectations of market capture.

I'd love a new sandbox MMO even though I wouldn't be able to invest the same amount of time as I did when I was younger. I often see the argument from people I know who used to play games like Everquest or Star Wars Galaxies just don't have time to devote to a MMO now they are in their 30's and 40's with families, yet they still game for 30+ hours a week often hopping from one new game to the next never really satisfied from their experience.

Build a solid game with depth which involves strong social gameplay and known IP and it'll sell. Hell give me SWG2 and I'll buy a yearly sub, sorry SWTOR but I never wanted you.

Oddly enough, with me (and indeed most of my online friends), its actually the case that for the first time in a while we DO have enough time to devote to an MMO now. We were in our early 20s when we started in UO and EQ in the late 1990s and then came marriage and kids which meant less time to MMO. Now however, we have come through the other side of that, kids are now grown up, off doing their own thing or left home entirely, which means that here we are in our late 40s early 50s and once again we have the free time to put into an MMO.

 

[NZXT30]

There is still demand and money to be made in MMOs but I'm so glad that they declined as they were sucking the life out of pc gaming.

 

[Mr Plow]

Some of my fondest memories in gaming were during my Everquest 2 days (I played from release until around 2010 on Splitpaw), it was such a great community and some of the raid encounters were a real challenge. The good-old "let's pull it one more time" at 1AM and getting the kill to clear a zone for the first time gave you a real sense of accomplishment. Nothing has come close since for me to be honest.

 

[Raumarik]

DAoC was certainly up there, Camelot Unchained however is taking donkeys and I don't see it coming out much before Star Citizen at this rate.

Long story short don't back games I back..

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Black Desert is pretty big globally. Nowhere near 10m like WoW at it's peak, but it's a huge game and ppl still go crazy for it. I think they sold a couple million copies world wide

 

[Rroff]

Hah this thread has made me really angry about the shutting down of City of Heroes all over again.

 

[DEL 707]

Hah this thread has made me really angry about the shutting down of City of Heroes all over again.

1st MMO I thought off.
Miss playing my Controllers and Masterminds.

 

[Rroff]

1st MMO I thought off.
Miss playing my Controllers and Masterminds.

I'd been scratching my head for a few months as to what the Hunters in The Division was reminding me of - it was Paragon Protectors in COH.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

DAoC was certainly up there, Camelot Unchained however is taking donkeys and I don't see it coming out much before Star Citizen at this rate.

Long story short don't back games I back..

Great. Now you tell me :/

 

[Zenduri]

Hah this thread has made me really angry about the shutting down of City of Heroes all over again.

Lol same, City of Villains player here. But they killed those games off when they introduced the Architect patch which caused everyone to drop the actual world **** and instead farm optimized played made missions.

MMORPGs now have a lot shorter life span compared to the days of old. There is still a healthy market for them, especially in the east. The problem we have is that eastern MMO's have kinda poisoned the western MMO market as eastern MMO's go for no sub but tonnes of P2W micro transactions, where western MMO's were more about the sub and less about the transactions.
You then end up with a western market that wants no subs like eastern MMO's but also dont want to pay for micro transactions so you end up in a losing situation and MMO's tank..... hard.

For MMO's in production which look vaguely interesting:

• New world (Amazons MMORPG)
• Ashes of creation
• Chronicles of Elyria
• Project TL/Lineage Eternal (Lineage MMORPG)

Some of the above are crowdfunded so....... see what happens

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Lol same, City of Villains player here. But they killed those games off when they introduced the Architect patch which caused everyone to drop the actual world **** and instead farm optimized played made missions.

MMORPGs now have a lot shorter life span compared to the days of old. There is still a healthy market for them, especially in the east. The problem we have is that eastern MMO's have kinda poisoned the western MMO market as eastern MMO's go for no sub but tonnes of P2W micro transactions, where western MMO's were more about the sub and less about the transactions.
You then end up with a western market that wants no subs like eastern MMO's but also dont want to pay for micro transactions so you end up in a losing situation and MMO's tank..... hard.

For MMO's in production which look vaguely interesting:

• New world (Amazons MMORPG)
• Ashes of creation
• Chronicles of Elyria
• Project TL/Lineage Eternal (Lineage MMORPG)

Some of the above are crowdfunded so....... see what happens

City of Heroes was the MMO I spent most time playing. Really enjoyed that game.
I think it started to go downhill when they released City of Villains. That's not to say CoV was bad (I don't think it was as good as CoH, personally), but I think in the EU, this split the playerbase too much. That and having 2 English EU servers just spread the players a bit thin.
Although you're right about the Architect patch spoiling things too. Seemed to be a theme with those Devs, they couldn't anticipate what the community would do with things. They didn't think Regen Scrappers would take the Stamina skill AND the Regen set's Stamina skill in order to have enough stamina regen to run Instant Healing constantly. They didn't think anyone would 6-slot Haste to make it permanent.

What I loved about that game was that generally everyone was friendly and finding random teams was easy (depending on class) and usually fun.
Not having to grind for gear was also nice, although possibly limited the end-game for those that played a lot of the endgame content.
I wonder how many of us there are on these forums and if we knew each other in-game? (Don't want to de-rail this thread though)

 

[Rroff]

They didn't think anyone would 6-slot Haste to make it permanent

Heh - I had a ridiculous perma-haste setup but it was really enjoyable to play with on harder content - they actually stopped people being able to do it around the middle of the game's life but anyone who was setup for it on a character got grandfathered ability to still do it which was a bit odd.

 

[Zenduri]

City of Heroes was the MMO I spent most time playing. Really enjoyed that game.
I think it started to go downhill when they released City of Villains. That's not to say CoV was bad (I don't think it was as good as CoH, personally), but I think in the EU, this split the playerbase too much. That and having 2 English EU servers just spread the players a bit thin.
Although you're right about the Architect patch spoiling things too. Seemed to be a theme with those Devs, they couldn't anticipate what the community would do with things. They didn't think Regen Scrappers would take the Stamina skill AND the Regen set's Stamina skill in order to have enough stamina regen to run Instant Healing constantly. They didn't think anyone would 6-slot Haste to make it permanent.

What I loved about that game was that generally everyone was friendly and finding random teams was easy (depending on class) and usually fun.
Not having to grind for gear was also nice, although possibly limited the end-game for those that played a lot of the endgame content.
I wonder how many of us there are on these forums and if we knew each other in-game? (Don't want to de-rail this thread though)

.

Have to agree finding a party was so easy in the game. I used to love the Hero/Villain base building in that and kitting it out so that everyone could use for their crafting etc.

 

[arknor]

Black Desert is pretty big globally. Nowhere near 10m like WoW at it's peak, but it's a huge game and ppl still go crazy for it. I think they sold a couple million copies world wide

considered highly pay2win though

 

[TonyTurbo78]

considered highly pay2win though

It doesn't have to be though. Plenty of BDO gamers are not interested in PvP

 

[NZXT30]

It doesn't have to be though. Plenty of BDO gamers are not interested in PvP

That's a fair point and to be honest I have no sympathy for tryhards getting skinned.

 

[Narj]

City of Heroes was the MMO I spent most time playing. Really enjoyed that game.

Nothing has come close since for me.

Ship of Heroes and/or City of Titans may fill the gap though.

 

[UberGinge]

Runescape (specifically old school Runescape) is still doing relatively well, especially with the release of Mobile coming out end of next month. Old school alone is pulling in about 75K users at any one time.

 

[bakes0310]

It doesn't have to be though. Plenty of BDO gamers are not interested in PvP

Isn't their a remastered edition now what's all that about. I bought the expensive 100 quid version and put a month into it. Really thinking of having another go. Not interested in PvP so will I be okay?

 

[MorleySA]

Black Desert is pretty big globally. Nowhere near 10m like WoW at it's peak, but it's a huge game and ppl still go crazy for it. I think they sold a couple million copies world wide

Didn't they just celebrate having 10 million accounts? It seems as much as it's pay to win right now it's still a popular MMO.