Are there too many MMORPGs?

Sloth

I was just thinking, I mean of late the market seems to be getting flooded with mmorpgs, theres just too many to play these days. I'm still playing Ultima 3 years on and so the idea of investing all that time again in another game makes choosing a new one a very tough decision. I'll probably go for Galaxies depending on how good it actually turns out to be but I was also thinking about Phantasy Star Online, Neocron and Asheron's Call 2. I know theres a lot of people who just play them as normal games, ie stop playing after a few months but I find it very very hard to quit one of these games, mainly due to the great people you tend to meet in them. The only real reason I came back to Ultima wasn't because it had become a better on more interesting game since I left, it was just that I missed so many of the people I had met while I was playing it. If they left then I'd leave too but then that tends to turn the games into glorified chat rooms rather than actualy gameplay experiences.
How many mmorpgs have you played? Are they pretty much all the same?, I mean I've only played the one so I don't really have much experience with the rest of them and whats the best one to go for?

Funky

theres not enough great ones like ultima imo

Dr_Teeth

Like all other genres, there's loads of them but only a few worth playing.

Teeth.

Wook

neocron isn't worth playing , believe me ...

meglome

the publishers see a lot of money in these games so we are likely to see many more

Pugsley

After the success of UO many companies done the same idea, thats why a few years on all this genre is being flooded on our doorstep.

Thorbar

I remember reading an article somewhere that said there was currently over 50 MMOs in development. Of those they guessed around 10-5 would make it out of beta phase and get published and from that probably only 2 or 3 would return a profit. Its a fairly cut throat industry at the moment but that's good for us means we'll get more options to play and only the best will make it. I have a strange feeling that eve online is going to be the game for me. From what I've seen its an amazing game and its the kind of game I could play for years.

Barry

Hobbes

Originally posted by Wook
neocron isn't worth playing , believe me ...

When was the last time you played? The game is complety different to what it was a few patches ago.

The game is also the cheapest out there in monthly fee.

The same could of been said for say Asherons Call. I played it when it was released and the game sucked. I came back a year later and the game had totally changed and was full of content. More so they added more content every month. NC appear to be trying the same thing with thier patches.

Wook

played it last month (neocron)

Sloth

and...? What was it like?

Tusky

Have you tried DAOC ? tis a good larf and has luverly new graphics thanks to the recent add on shrowded ilses... id recomend it...www.daoc-europe.com !

Sloth

Well a lot of people I know that played it said it got boring very quickly. It doesn't really appeal to me all that much either as it seems to be another of those games obsessed with the leveling up treadmill.

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

It's going to be tough for any of the new games to maintain a playerbase needed for an MMORPG set-up to function.

Currently, only a very few games actually have PvE content balanced, and none are even close to PvP class balance. Everquest is undoubtedly the most successful game of its type out there, because the player-base has been built, and mudflation can keep that group of players happy. A PvE system that's balanced and works overall, and a superb last expansion (Planes of Power) has rejuvenated EQ beyond probably even the developers' wildest dreams.

If a game does knock EQ off the pedestal it'll probably be WoW- Blizzard always deliver when the pressure's on, although we'll probably have to wait a decade I'm always optimistic when they put their minds to something.

Sloth

I'm pretty sure that Galaxies is going to be the biggest success story in the mmorpg world. Just look at the number of people that signed up for beta testing alone (I think it was more than the numbers that play EQ atm) and you should get an idea of what a big game this is going to be, not to mention the fact that it's launching on no less than 3 platforms.

Evac101

Hrm - have to say that the Warcraft MMORPG is looking kinda interesting....definitely like to look of it..