Building a Bridge
Posted March 14th, 2008 by Gaston
The bridge that I speak of today is the most important of all; the bridge between FPS and MMORPG. This structure was launched with a fizzle by Sony's poorly implemented Planetside. In a Moreau-ian manner of mad science, Sony haphazardly mashed these two genres with reckless aplomb. But like most mash-ups, it was stupid and once the novelty wore off we retreated back to our respective comfort zones.
One of the big faults with Planetside was that, while it was a First Person Shooter with strong RPG elements, there was no real reason to level. You could start off with enough skill to pilot a whole variety of ships, or use any weapon in the game. So you were left with an enormous game of capture-the-controlpoint. Which in itself is not bad in a game where there's variety in the maps, but in PS you assaulted the exact same base over and over again.
Thankfully, this experiment was not the end of the genre, and wiser companies have wiped the slate and begun taking baby steps towards a greater vision. This vision tickles me in a place that no other thing can tickle me.
Like the rest of the jaded WoWaholics here, I can't seem to play any other MMORPG for more than a few weeks. Every month a new MMORPG comes along that makes me think "now that's a cool concept that I could get into", and every month I waste $50.
It all boils down to the slightly depressing fact that Warcraft is the best MMORPG out there. But even with it's superior model, it eventually gets terribly boring. There are currently many things that keep me from putting in the hours that I used to, but one of my greatest qualms is that it's hard to be good at it. You can spend the time to get the gear, or join the right guild, or do the right quests, and all of these will make you a "good" player. But being "skilled" at the game means very little.
Battlefield: Heroes
Don't get me wrong, WoW doesn't need to change. They've discovered the perfect equation and they would be ill advised to fix that which is not broken. After all, they still get my 30 bucks a month, and I go weeks without playing. On the rare occasion that I do log in, it's only for an hour or so; just long enough to remind myself that I have nothing to do.
Call me an old romantic, but there's just something special about laying your crosshairs on someone's forehead and blowing their head off. Grinding in WoW wouldn't be nearly as boring if there was more to it than click, punch key, punch key, punch key, click... ad nauseum. I want to strafe and take cover. I want to zoom in from a mile away and get a head shot. I want to actually participate in the game that I'm playing.
In Tabula Rasa, you can choose from any Power Ranger to train you
Another up-and-comer Battlefield: Heroes, has recently landed on my very exclusive gaydar ("gayme radar"). BH looks like a confident step towards making an MMOFPS that's silly and - gasp - fun. Team Fortress 2 introduced me to a colorful cartoony world with graphic explosions and BH looks like a wonderful continuation of the TF2 trend. If exectued well, BH will take the slapadoodle fun of TF2, with a greater sense of accomplishment. If executed poorly, I'll be farming Nazis for motes (actually, I probably wouldn't mind that).
Oh, and did I mention that it will be free to play?
But I guess I shouldn't complain, I've spent the last three years dividing my time between WoW, a random FPS, and the MMORPG du jour. FPSs provide me with all the instant gratification that I need, and my monthly MMORPG gives me a sojourn into a slightly less well-conceived world. WoW is WoW, and she's a demanding mistress.
But a man can dream, can't he?
omg fanboi wtf bbq lol
flamed :(
1. Link to the video please where one t5 warrior and a druid are holding 10 alliance.
2. I think that Hellgate London had quite good success to build that bridge you were talking about, I am suprised you didnt said a word about it.. or I might have missed it. And well, even if it is made for singleplayer mostly, it have even miltiplayer mode.
Tabula Rasa is actually just a shittier version of WoW.
1. This video may or may not exist. But I have been in many a similar situation in matches of AB.
2. Do you actually aim your weapons in Hellgate London? It looked more like Diablo 2 with guns to me. Also, the game was widely panned for performance issues, undelivered promises, and stability issues.
Sources: f13.net
metacritic
I've said it before and I'll say it again...
WoW is not a great MMO. It's a great multiplayer game. But not a great MMO. MMOs are about longevity. Random encounters with other people. Player politics. Persistent worlds that players have an effect on. WoW little in the way of these things. It's a game where you mill around in a big chat room for a while, then go off into a smaller area with a set group of people where no one can randomly intrude on anything and everything is scripted.
In short, instances suck ass, and I'm highly depressed that the popularity of WoW is going to make them the norm.
Myself, personally, and *several* people I know, only played (or are still playing WoW) for as long as I did, waiting on something new and better to come along. I didn't play WoW because it was a great game. I played it because it was all that's out there. I think once a fairly semi-successful game that's also semi-accessible and doesn't require a brand new monster rig to play it... comes along... I think WoW is gonna get dropped by a LOT of people. Now, I'm not gonna say WAR is the next WoW killer, or AoC is a WoW killer, or any of that crap. But I do know that there are many, many people who are really sick of playing WoW, but find nothing else to do with their time where they get to hang out with the friends they've made in the game... so they keep going back to it. That has nothing to do with the quality of WoW, only with the addictive mechanic of MMOs, and the lack of competition.
WoW gets way too much credit for being a great MMO. Quite simply, it's not. It has an engaging leveling period, but the end game is lacking, and repetitive, and the majority of content there is unaccessible for the average player. And imo, an MMO should be about the leveling process more so than it is in WoW, but certainly if the leveling goes by so quickly, the end-game needs more substance for it to be considered a great MMO, does it not?
Meh. I'm done playing WoW. Have been for months. Quit a few times before for 4-6 months at a shot and came back a time or two. This time I know I'm done. I simply have absolutely lost complete interest in the game. In truth, I did a year after launch. The biggest point is now, my friends who didn't start until a year after launch finally lost interest as well, allowing me to detach and move on. Now we're all just waiting on something new together, and trying to figure out what the hell to do with the spare 2-4 hours we have most nights. The writer's strike sure didn't do shit for the watchability of network television. :(
@Gaston
I have hard to believe that about 2v0, but lets forget it :p
Yes, you aim the weapons in hellgate, atleast when I played it for about half a year ago. It gives actually quite a good feeling of an fps.
Hellgate=awful
Very helpful, thanks!!
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