Surprisingly, The outdated MMO is WOW, not FFXI/XIV1.2

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

No, I mean Vanilla FFXIV.

Back when you made an ingot out of 4 ore instead of 3 Ore + Sand -> Nugget and 3 Nuggets + old ore -> ingot etc etc.

1.x crafting was even more complex than it is now. You had to make the ingots and rivets, and then the parts (helmet padding, coif chain, faceplate) and then the finished part.

Heck, I think it was ore-> ingots -> wire -> chain -> then parts. It was ridiculous!

[Maeka]

No, no, I mean 2.0.

When I say "Vanilla", I mean "Before Heavensward".

I am not talking about 1.0 Pre-ARR.

[loreleidiangelo]

There are more than two companies making mmo right now. Archeage is probably the newest MMO out currently that has the Old MMO feel, but it is heavy into PvP. All the new stuff coming out is. Even Star Citizen which will probably be the next great MMO will be mostly PvP.

Most companies are not even considering making MMO's anymore; it is an outdated format. The upfront cost is huge and if it fails it's a massive hit, (see: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning).

The hot thing right now is Arena style games and Open World Survival. They are cheep to make too (most OWS arn't even finished).

Will there be a great MMO in the future? Maybe, just not right now.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is probably the closest thing to what OP is looking for that miiiiight come out in 2018. Personally, I question the longevity of such a game, where the bulk of what the devs have showcased is just a leveling grind, but it could be that they're holding out on the most interesting dungeons/open world content until a later date to generate more hype.

I'm eyeballing the game to see how the "social experiment" as it were pans out, but I'm not sold that people won't just join exp trains like what they did in the old days and rather than socialize with their party members through chat just rip some music on their PC and only make imperative statements about the pulls they're doing rather than small talk. I feel like technology has come so far these days that there's less incentive to talk to others for camaraderie/entertainment when you can literally just suit up some anime on your second monitor and watch that while you're afk sitting trying to regen mana.

[SicariusSeven]

WoW was great in its heyday but it's seriously starting to show its age with that engine. FF XIV had a very awful start but it was good to see it rise up again. It has its ups and its down but I find it to be a very solid MMO. While I could do without the MSQ gating, I always find myself enjoying myself. Unless it's housing. *goes insane*

[Lokier]

Sadly I think the "old" MMOs of yesteryear (Everquest, XI, even vanilla WoW) are not going to be made again.

I dunno if this was said to you or not (so forgive me) but Vanilla wow was confirmed to be re-released in the next 2-3 years. So it will make a... kinda? come back??

[Maeka]

I dunno if this was said to you or not (so forgive me) but Vanilla wow was confirmed to be re-released in the next 2-3 years. So it will make a... kinda? come back??

I still think that's a bit of a LOL or "Told you So" on Blizz's part. I think they are ONLY doing that to shut the vocal minority up, and it probably won't last all that long.

When people fire that up and see how bad the Vanilla world really was compared to Live, they'll get tired of it and leave. There'll be a few diehards, but back in Vanilla you needed a stinking group to do dang near anything, even some normal quests that had terrible rewards.

And without a group, you're sunk.

[Lokier]

I still think that's a bit of a LOL or "Told you So" on Blizz's part. I think they are ONLY doing that to shut the vocal minority up, and it probably won't last all that long.

When people fire that up and see how bad the Vanilla world really was compared to Live, they'll get tired of it and leave. There'll be a few diehards, but back in Vanilla you needed a stinking group to do dang near anything, even some normal quests that had terrible rewards.

And without a group, you're sunk.

Oh no, I REMEMBER vanilla wow. I played that shit to death back when WoW was first released. I know for a fact these people will play it for five seconds and LOATH the mofo thing. I will literally only play it for maybe a month to re-live the old hunter pet system and then quit. I didn't like raiding with 40 people, I didn't like spending months grinding minimal rep off of like 16-20 mobs everyone else is trying to kill.

[Maeka]

Oh no, I REMEMBER vanilla wow. I played that shit to death back when WoW was first released. I know for a fact these people will play it for five seconds and LOATH the mofo thing. I will literally only play it for maybe a month to re-live the old hunter pet system and then quit. I didn't like raiding with 40 people, I didn't like spending months grinding minimal rep off of like 16-20 mobs everyone else is trying to kill.

I was more referring to the people who will swear up and down that today's WoW is just horrible compared to how "awesome" WoW was back during Vanilla, lol.

[Zojha]

[...], but back in Vanilla you needed a stinking group to do dang near anything, even some normal quests that had terrible rewards.

The only thing I can remember requiring a group for were elite quests and dungeons, with the prior usually having fairly decent rewards. Hunters could also do some of the elite quests solo. I also remember soloing a dungeon once, but I'm not sure if that was still classic or already BC/WotLK.

Personally, I'll probably check out their classic server when it comes online solely to remind myself just how bad it really was. The classic forums are already pretty fun to read, what with people arguing what constitutes as "vanilla" and what not.

[RiyahArp]

I liked FFXI better because for a dated game, it was far more massive than FFXIV. FFXIV is MMOing pared down to the bare minimum, almost to the level of an action game. Something as simple as going on airships and ferries in real time, and having meaningful travel time adds so much to an MMO. Fishing on the mhaura/selbina ferry and having to duck into the ships hold to avoid the sea horror was so much more immersive than the little static ship out in Costa. Seeing people leveling in the world was better than everyone just hanging in limsa and only gatherers and the occasional quester in FFXIV zones.

Endgame is just no contest, even coil was tiny compared to sky or dynamis. The 24 mans in this game are just bosses strung together. The sad thing is that crafting and gathering is probably more involved than actual combat in FFXIV, in a sense.

I play this game ,but I think if they don't improve on the whole "solo everything, group up with strangers for tokens" aspect, I can't see lasting much longer. You don't really get the same level of stories and experiences here. Like you say "valkurm dunes" or "garlaige citadel" and ffxi vets will tell you stories. Or "run to Jeuno." Here all the edges are sanded off to the point where there's little memorable.