MMORPGs How they have changed for the better? or worse?

[Amelia_Pond_Behemoth]

My only other MMO was FF11. With that said, progression was PAINFUL unless you had friends available. Need help clearing an instance but your buddies aren't on? Or they're on but busy doing something else? You shout in Jeuno or Whitegate for 5 other randos and hope for the best. And leveling could be super fast or painfully slow. I soloed most of MNK while doing the books.

[Xatsh]

My only other MMO was FF11. With that said, progression was PAINFUL unless you had friends available. Need help clearing an instance but your buddies aren't on? Or they're on but busy doing something else? You shout in Jeuno or Whitegate for 5 other randos and hope for the best. And leveling could be super fast or painfully slow. I soloed most of MNK while doing the books.

The magic of FFXI happened in the guilds and guild stuff done at endgame honestly, The pug scene in ffxi was utter garbage. Your guild was your key to that game. Without a decent one your progression grinded to a complete halt outside merit grinding or leveling alt jobs.

Leveling was well slow and painful, especially if you were not on an optimal party job (which made up like 1/4th the job pool at best). I leveled mainly with my guild in that game so never minded it much was in ventrillo talking the whole time.

The FFXI leveling method would never work anymore I feel at least not on a large scale. I wish mmos would look at how FFXI did endgame, expansions, and gearing though and bring that into the current era... cause that game use to have more valid progression based endgame content available at one time then any other mmo on the market by several magnitudes. Content was just never fully negated. Would be like FFXIV's endgame consisting of everything from ARR to Current with all gear still having its place in some situational BIS build, Instead of having 1 raid to rule them all type endgame. Yea would not work with FFXIV's design but I do wish the WoW model did not become the default design. (Linear content and Ilvls are bad in my opinion).

[gumas]

MMOs used to be about exploring huge worlds, character progression, community and challenge. Now it is mostly just AFKing in town

true, most of the time i keep thinking that future mmorpg might become a hub based type with this one huge town hub and a lot of instance/hub to explore (like PSO2), there is no use to put a lot of town where most of the traffic reside in 1 or 2 town only. yes you might miss the scenery/vista but for how long? 5 times circling in that place and iam sure majority of people didnt bother to explore anymore.

might as well put the effort to make more exploration/dungeon hub, and keep improving this one only town.

i come from very old school mmorpg where map didnt give you waypoint, no quest marker and when you need to search someone or some place you really need to look for landmark and actually search and explore the area, stuff like that, i kinda miss that actually. it still exist in some way but they also keep the graphic like back in 90's era which hurt my eyes lol

[Liam_Harper]

The only thing I miss in gaming is games that weren't afraid to be complex or difficult.

Like the mmo's where your quest npc's would be among high level mobs and you'd have to find what to do from the quest text alone. MMO's where they weren't afraid to ask you to make your own arrows, poison for your blades, find the ingredients. Games like the old pokemon or other rpg's with those labyrinth mazes that you'd spend hours lost in, barely making it out with your team at their limit. Those old Tomb raiders with the few save crystals buried hidden in dangerous spots in the zone. Those puzzles where there was a single hard to see switch or trigger somewhere in a huge area and you were expected to find it. Those ccg's that weren't afraid to include all sorts of indepth strategies and no explanations as to how to utilize them.

Nowadays gaming can sometimes feel insulting, like your intelligence as a player is constantly being severely underestimated. Developers seem afraid that almost anything that involves figuring out will be too complicated for players. I can understand why they do it and making games accessible probably sells them to a wider audience, but it's still a little sad. Anything not seen as straightforward is inevitably nerfed or simplified. FF is far from the worst game in this regard, but it's one reason I left WoW. That game constantly felt insulting.

I still enjoy gaming quite a lot, so it's a little nitpick, but I do miss the days when it felt my intelligence and patience was actually being tested and the developers expectations for me felt high.

[Nixxe]

but it's one reason I left WoW. That game constantly felt insulting.

I never felt insulted because I'm simply not inclined to ever feel insulted, but the steady decay of WoW in the name of "accessibility" is certainly one of the great tragedies of video game history.

[FunkYeahDragons]

I'm actually not a fan of most of the QoL changes the past few years: GC freelancing, cross-server PF, world visit, instanced zones, etc. They've streamlined the game while also making it very lonely because there's no real benefit to FCs, Linkshells, etc, outside of chat. There was a point where you could solo, but it was more beneficial to call on someone. The pool of players has become both very large and very diluted.

I started out on servers that were small- to medium-sized in Heavensward, like Zalera and Cactuar, and I built up pretty sizeable pools of familiar faces and Linkshells. People who were either teaching me or being taught by me. A social Linkshell I started with one friend that slowly became filled with other people new to Cactuar (still running today!). PVP Linkshells because it was better to Frontlines with other scrubs than alone.

No longer a thing. Rebuilding my old Linkshell as a CWLS is a much longer, slower process than it was the first time because we're now encompassing an entire datacenter. I'm holding out for some actually meaningful FC content. All I do with mine is make a little small talk while I fish.

[Ayer2015]

I also remember how much of a time sink MMOs were.... time I no longer have, or want, to dedicate to a game.

[Barraind]

Amen to this - not saying strong friendships aren't formed, but honestly I've found it harder to make those bonds - especially in the last 10 years of gaming.

There are more people I talk with from my EQ and wow days than people I talk to I've met in GW2 / 14 / any newer games.

The feeling of games creating a community is long gone at this point. You dont need one, just press the queue button and never say anything all day every day.

[MonteCristo]

There are more people I talk with from my EQ and wow days than people I talk to I've met in GW2 / 14 / any newer games.

The feeling of games creating a community is long gone at this point. You dont need one, just press the queue button and never say anything all day every day.

Exacttttttttly!

[Windsun33]

I still remember my first group boss kill in EQ. How many remember their first in this game, or any recent game?