The Real Catacylsm

Cage The Elephant - In One Ear

The MMO world is in chaos. World of Warcraft, the undisputed dictator of the genre for the past six years, is experiencing a Mubarak-style loss of faith with the general population. Part of this is from the changes made in Cataclysm (it’s most recent expansion), but the primary reason regularly agreed upon is simply burnout. The game is old, and it’s starting to show its age. This, naturally, has would-be MMO developers all over the world pissing themselves in excitement. With World of Warcraft going down, could it be possible for another MMO to take its place? Could another company develop a game that won’t be swallowed whole like so many others during the peak reign of WoW?

Probably not. Warcraft will fall like Rome, dividing its player base amongst many different MMOs, one of which will be Blizzard’s own creation. In the meantime, MMO fans who have already burnt out from WoW have been subjected to a lineup of “wanna-be” games that have ranged on a scale of gimmick to horse manure. People have filled forum servers trying to explain what it is that their newest and greatest MMO is going to offer and how it will be so much better than that monstrosity of Warcraft. They tell us we should play this game because we won’t have to grind. They say we won’t have to run long distances. They say we won’t have to waste time in general chat trying to find groups. It’s linear. It’s got a story. It’s a war. You can PvP or PvE and never do the other. They tell us that the casual gamer will be able to keep up with the hardcore gamer.

I’m not sure if the development teams are being run by Helen Keller or if they simply have never played a video game other than Call of Duty before. To break down how far these people have their heads up their asses, let’s take a look at the basic principles that have made super-MMOs just that:

-Open world. This doesn’t just mean I can run anywhere I want. If you don’t get that concept, you shouldn’t be allowed near a computer (I’m looking at you, Warhammer Online). This means that the world should be continuous. I should be able to explore exotic jungles, wander giant cities, dive into deep oceans, and (most importantly) see all the crap that’s in between these areas. The five-mile stretch of dirt road and farms? Yeah, that’s supposed to be there. You know why? Because it’s there in the real world. Removing the “boring” part reminds me that it’s a video game. Not what you’re going for.

-Freedom. Liberté, égalité, fraternité. If I don’t want to do quests for the weirdo Undead, do not make me. If I want to grind ogers to level, I should be able to do that. If I want to do nothing but sit in a city and sell really rare crap I bought for less, let me do it. In fact, reward me for doing it. Runescape has entire classes that don’t fight. Instead they craft stuff and are merchants. That’s cool. It adds an entirely new level of complexity to the game that makes it that much more addicting. That does not mean make a half-assed “everyone has one” alt class. Make “merchant” or “politic” classes primary classes that get experience and level up just like warrior classes, they just do something else in the game. They also have to be needed. It’s not that hard. There are mines scattered in high level zones. These mines hold a material that is used to make epic stuff for combat. Only engineers can mine it. Imagine the complexity of that economy?

-All players are not equal. Casual players do not hold the key to your money. Hardcore players do. Yes, there should be stuff for casual players. There should be more stuff that is hard to get, and it should be only achievable through dedication to getting it done. I’m not talking about ludicrous players (14 hours a day). I’m talking about players that log on once a day for a few hours, more on weekends. And for raids. That’s a hardcore player, and those are the players that are actually going to make it to max level and grind out that cool thing that helps. So give them stuff. Don’t also give that stuff to casual players in a bit to “keep them in play”. I can’t go back to school and earn a second degree in Engineering in only two years because I’m “rested”. If a player wants to work their ass off for something, give them something better than the three that hacked a tree for an hour because they were chatting about their next failed podcast on Skype.

-Non-linear. It’s a world. No one should be holding your hand and leading you to the next town or quest after the first couple levels. Did you forget there are other players in the game? Lots of them? Bring back mentoring. Make players seek out more experienced players to find out where that cool item is, or what area is best after the one their in. It’s adds significant depth when your leveling experience is full of wandering and exploration. It gives it a kind of “coming of age” feel. If I want a narrator to tell me what to do every ten minutes, I’ll play Ocarina of Time.

The point of an MMORPG (full acronym for added effect) is to create another world you can live in to escape boring real life when you have some free time. Adding queues for battlegrounds from anywhere, sectioned off worlds, free points, and instant travel everywhere wrecks this concept. Make us grind stuff. Make us walk. Make us explore. Let us chose more than just our race and class. Go back to your roots. That’s where World of Warcraft started. It deviated, and it’s collapsing.

And what the hell happened to free for all PvP?