Time to do this again I think, have a poke at the MMOs due for release in the next year or so;
Guild Wars 2
Looks like it's taking all the good bits out of Guild Wars, and combining them with all the good bits of other games, with a healthy dollop of original things. Unlike other sword and magic MMOs out there, it looks as if they've actually got a good combination here, and not another bad Warcraft clone.
Dog Pants anticipation level: Jiggly
Star Wars: The Old Republic
An MMO that isn't about swords and goblins is massively refreshing to begin with, the fact that it's Star Wars makes it even more likely to succeed. With Bioware behind the game it's got good pedigree in the RPG stakes too. All the ingredients are right for success, but as Han Solo says, "I've got a bad feeling about this".
Dog Pants anticipation level: Nail biting
The Secret World
Not a great deal is known about TSW, ironically, but the setting of a Lovecraftian underworld in modern world urban environments is interesting. As is the action look of the trailers and promise of level-less character progression. However, action MMOs are tricky beasts and APB has shown how easy it is to get wrong.
Dog Pants anticipation level: Peering from behind my fingers
Jumpgate Evolution
Things have been very quiet in relation to JGE after the closed beta revealed some bugs which caused them to pul the game and almost start over. The combination of direct control space combat and Elite-style trading though is still appealing.
Dog Pants anticipation level: Peering
Stargate Worlds
In beta apparently after a particularly troubled development. If this even sees light it will be a miracle, which doesn't really bode well for the quality.
Dog Pants anticipation level: Whatever
The Agency
Action MMO that looks to me a bit like TEEF. Interesting concept, but again another action MMO which seem to be doomed to failure.
Dog Pants anticipation level: 4
Huxley
The FPSMMO has been indevelopment since the book its name is taken from was written it seems. Didn't do itself any favours by having a rather close open beta. Not great for first impressions.
Dog Pants anticipation level: Meh
Torchlight
The Diablo-esque single player game of the same name was a tester to see how an MMO version would be received. Fairly well would seem to be the answer. With some interesting features and a lighthearted play style it could be a surprise, but its proximity to Korean models are a little concerning.
Dog Pants anticipation level: Glancing over occasionally
World of Tanks
An MMO with tanks? How could it fail? Well, fairly easily actually (see Blitz 1941), but even so with the right pay model (ie free) and some 5punkers it could still be entertaining.
Dog Pants anticipation level: Pouty
Forthcoming MMONG Roundup 2010
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It's may be worth noting that most/all of BioWare's games so far have been developed out of it's original Edmonton studio, SW:TOR however is being made at it's Austin studio which was set up specifically for the game. Obviously I don't know in detail the differences between the development teams, but there is perhaps reason to doubt the experience and skill behind SW:TOR compared to all their other hit games. It's still BioWare of course, and it's unlikely even at Edmonton that every previous game was made by the same set of people anyway.
Probably a non issue, but food for thought
Probably a non issue, but food for thought
Interesting to look back at this. Note that only one has reached release (World of Tanks, as of yesterday), and most have vanished off the radar. Also that a couple have appeared which weren't picked up here.
World of Tanks
Like a persistent Counterstrike with tanks. Which sounds shit, but it's bizarrely compelling. I've not played it since release day, but I'm hoping for a few more game modes for variety. I'd also hope that heavies no longer have a better view distance than light tanks in order to make lights more useful when they're outgunned and heavies less omgraep, but it looks like that's a deliberate (im)balance issue designed to spur people into wanting heavies (and hence spending money to get them).
Rift
This pretty much appeared out of nowhere, but initial reactions are good. Very good in fact, with pretty much everything I've read and heard point to this taking the best bits of the old formula MMOs and combining them into something lovely. Whether it can carry off the long game yet remains to be seen, but it's good to see a new MMONG released in a good state. Hopefully it'll set a trend.
Guild Wars 2
Most recently previewed in this month's PCG, GW2 is shaping up to revolutionise the genre. Persistent world group quests, long-game personal story mode, player housing, sub-free model, and dynamically allocated missions all sound like huge and obvious progressions on paper. Playtests apparently support that they work in practice too. My anticipation level is more jiggly than last time.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Always in the public eye to some extent, there have been lots of trailers and screenshots released but not a huge amount of information about the gameplay. As with GW2, PCG previewed it this month after a marathon 17-hour playtest (over two days). Seems like, for me at least, my reservations were entirely warranted back in august. The overall impression of the preview is that they were searching for reasons to like it - the story missions seemed out of place and unnatural, there was a lot of personal identity issues due to lack of customisation and identical followers, combat was balanced for groups but the story discourages team play. Apparently there's a cover system for some classes and not others, and when the journalist tried to take cover without being one of those classes the boss he was fighting reset and went back to full health. I hated that in Warcraft, and that has the excuse of being six years old. I also spotted a few problems myself. All the races are different coloured humans, some with bits stuck on. A massive waste of such a rich selection of aliens. The game is set 3,500 years before the Battle of Yavin, but has an Imperial side when the Empire was only formed about 20 years before. That's a pretty gaping continuity hole. Overall impression was that is was a generic MMONG in a lacklustre Star Wars setting. Anticipation level is now slightly above meh, only because I can't help but feel it still might turn into a good game.
The Secret World
TSW has had a slow release of gameplay videos recently. It hasn't had the effect on me that the producers probably wanted. What was promising to be a bold and revolutionary MMO looked for all the (secret) world to me like every other MMO, just with a few guns and burnt out cars thrown in. Kill x of y quests were the first things in the video, and a Tabula Rasa approach to group quests made me think that the bosses will go largely unmolested as they seem to need a small group to take on. Inevitably in this sort of game you'll have either nobody around to help, or dozens who will be competing against you. There's still potential there, but not as much as there was.
World of Tanks
Like a persistent Counterstrike with tanks. Which sounds shit, but it's bizarrely compelling. I've not played it since release day, but I'm hoping for a few more game modes for variety. I'd also hope that heavies no longer have a better view distance than light tanks in order to make lights more useful when they're outgunned and heavies less omgraep, but it looks like that's a deliberate (im)balance issue designed to spur people into wanting heavies (and hence spending money to get them).
Rift
This pretty much appeared out of nowhere, but initial reactions are good. Very good in fact, with pretty much everything I've read and heard point to this taking the best bits of the old formula MMOs and combining them into something lovely. Whether it can carry off the long game yet remains to be seen, but it's good to see a new MMONG released in a good state. Hopefully it'll set a trend.
Guild Wars 2
Most recently previewed in this month's PCG, GW2 is shaping up to revolutionise the genre. Persistent world group quests, long-game personal story mode, player housing, sub-free model, and dynamically allocated missions all sound like huge and obvious progressions on paper. Playtests apparently support that they work in practice too. My anticipation level is more jiggly than last time.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Always in the public eye to some extent, there have been lots of trailers and screenshots released but not a huge amount of information about the gameplay. As with GW2, PCG previewed it this month after a marathon 17-hour playtest (over two days). Seems like, for me at least, my reservations were entirely warranted back in august. The overall impression of the preview is that they were searching for reasons to like it - the story missions seemed out of place and unnatural, there was a lot of personal identity issues due to lack of customisation and identical followers, combat was balanced for groups but the story discourages team play. Apparently there's a cover system for some classes and not others, and when the journalist tried to take cover without being one of those classes the boss he was fighting reset and went back to full health. I hated that in Warcraft, and that has the excuse of being six years old. I also spotted a few problems myself. All the races are different coloured humans, some with bits stuck on. A massive waste of such a rich selection of aliens. The game is set 3,500 years before the Battle of Yavin, but has an Imperial side when the Empire was only formed about 20 years before. That's a pretty gaping continuity hole. Overall impression was that is was a generic MMONG in a lacklustre Star Wars setting. Anticipation level is now slightly above meh, only because I can't help but feel it still might turn into a good game.
The Secret World
TSW has had a slow release of gameplay videos recently. It hasn't had the effect on me that the producers probably wanted. What was promising to be a bold and revolutionary MMO looked for all the (secret) world to me like every other MMO, just with a few guns and burnt out cars thrown in. Kill x of y quests were the first things in the video, and a Tabula Rasa approach to group quests made me think that the bosses will go largely unmolested as they seem to need a small group to take on. Inevitably in this sort of game you'll have either nobody around to help, or dozens who will be competing against you. There's still potential there, but not as much as there was.
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I'm really enjoying it myself. Like you, im not sure if it will have long term staying power, but it is the absolute perfect standard that all future MMO's should hold themselves to as far as the launch is concerned.Dog Pants wrote: Rift
This pretty much appeared out of nowhere, but initial reactions are good. Very good in fact, with pretty much everything I've read and heard point to this taking the best bits of the old formula MMOs and combining them into something lovely. Whether it can carry off the long game yet remains to be seen, but it's good to see a new MMONG released in a good state. Hopefully it'll set a trend.
I played SW:G for a short while it was ok. Jedi took a LONG time to get to, then it was changed to a separate class and the world was full of the cunts, and then the world wasn't full of anyone any more. TOR will similarly be full of jedi/sith and bounty hunters, which is shit.
I hope they got their balance sorted too. The 8 classes appear to be different to each other which is going to add fuel to the "omg, xclass is op" breed of forum troll at best, at worst it is going to lead to complete imbalance and pvp faceroll to victory tactics as one side falls over its shoelaces and soils itself. To be fair to canon, can a smuggler really take down a sith? Really? But how shit is that if you are playing the smuggler and someone ganks you?
This has also slipped down my anticipation scale - now residing at 'midly intriguing'
I hope they got their balance sorted too. The 8 classes appear to be different to each other which is going to add fuel to the "omg, xclass is op" breed of forum troll at best, at worst it is going to lead to complete imbalance and pvp faceroll to victory tactics as one side falls over its shoelaces and soils itself. To be fair to canon, can a smuggler really take down a sith? Really? But how shit is that if you are playing the smuggler and someone ganks you?
This has also slipped down my anticipation scale - now residing at 'midly intriguing'