@massivelyop does our own Internet nickname count as a "pet's name"? (I don't have a pet)(but my - other - Internet nickname is based on the randomly generated name of my first character in #LOTRO - which also inspired the name of my mains on the subsequent MMOs I played)(and yes, I answer to it 🐕)
@massivelyop To a certain degree, challenge is necessary to give a sense of accomplishment in overcoming. However, I was a little disconcerted when Yoshi-P said they had made #FFXIV too easy in recent years when I know the solo experience has not been. Difficult content and great rewards belong to groups. I don't need the best gear to play solo.
So I think MMOs need a mix and mine do. After a challenge, kick back for crafting, or events etc. There's always something to break up the harder bits.
@aaaaaa_ They just mean that when players kill you, they can loot all your stuff too. Compared to open PvP in most themepark games. It's a kinder way to say "gankbox." :P
@massivelyop I get very frustrated when people expect MMO expansions to always include new races/classes. Unless the game had them conceived from the start, they always feel unbalanced, tacked on or don't fit with the world at large.
Expansions should be about new discoveries, a change in world events or new features that fit within the broad scope of the world. I don't know... I feel old, but MMOs just don't feel like virtual worlds because of this modern design philosophy.
@massivelyop for FFXIV in particular, I think job balance isn't an issue within each role, things have basically always been fine. I think the bigger issues are:
That achieving balance has been done by creating a fairly locked, similar playstyle for most jobs. Revolving around 2 minute buffs and 1 to 2 minute burst windows.
Role balance is contentious. Ranged DPS and their mobility tax, casters and the rez tax. Healers are dull ouside of the hardest content.
@scopique@massivelyop They have gone all out for their monthly rewards this year celebrating their anniversary! I also like that it feels like their strategy for rewards like pets or mounts or skins has shifted from twitch drops to login rewards. Which I appreciate. I think I can be in and out of ESO in under 30 seconds if all I’m doing is logging in for the daily reward.
@massivelyop two-handed clubs (I don't remember having seen anyone use one - even as a cosmetic weapon) in #LOTRO
Halberds are also a niche in this game, being limited in use to one single class (and only being an option, contrary to the staff for LMs or stone for RKs), but they see some play...
@massivelyop This the game that started really killed off Trion after Trion was to focus on this then there other games they build. After that frist lunch people just lost fate and trust on Trion it was the last nail.
@massivelyop I seldom wander off to other MMOs. But I sometimes feel the urge to do something else computer-related, do that extensively for a couple of days/weeks, then head back to the calmness of my main MMO :D
@massivelyop I think that the main difference between the smoothness in #LOTRO 's progression servers and the rift around #WOW 's Classic is that LOTRO didn't make a "classic" experience and only gated content (plus a few options that eventually went live), so that the community didn't split around the differences of gameplay...
@grootheodd This might be the only exception I've ever seen, since the crypto version is apparently still being developed by that other company (and nobody wants it?). There's a bit of hype for the return of the non-crypto version!
@massivelyop Ragnar Tørnquist and Joshua Deutsch, for the time they were on #TSW (Joshua even works on the PnP RPG project that is being out now, based on the IP, which I find especially cool )
@massivelyop it depends, cos I've played games where I've gone from zero to endgame ready in like 3 days, and other games where it takes 8 to 16 months to scratch endgame.
I feel like if it's going to be more like a modern western mmo, I shouldn't take more than two weeks to be endgame ready. Older eastern mmos on the other hand? Preferably 5 months, but it really depends on what catchup mechanics you have in place.
@massivelyop I don't like the "endgame" concept because what's endgame? level cap? raiding? at which tier? Are dailies endgame?
Plus, I like MMORPGs that are about the journey (#LOTRO, #TSW)
That said, I liked the #GW2 approach that let you experience some of the "endgame" content (mostly the PvP/WvW experience) while still lower level (I did most of my levelling there...)
@massivelyop the worst I've played is, hands down, Granado Espada/Swords of the New World, but my best arguments have been with the French localisation team of #Lotro back when it was done by Codemasters ( we had a fight about wether one should say "Le ouargue" ou "l'ouargue" 😇)
(Plus the hilarious translation bug on "chest armour" translated to "armure de coffre" - coffer armour - or the longer lasting "traqueur de loup de crépuscule" for dusk wolf tracker )
@massivelyop (I eventually switched to full English because of the French voice acting that went downwards with horrible accents - a very sad story, as I learned a couple of years later. I still think it's missing an option to de correlate audio language from the text...)
@massivelyop Thank the Valar, I have an abundent enough phonebook (and a subsequent stock of popcorn) so I can follow all the drama without actually being a protagonist :D
I think a certain amount of drama is healthy, and necessary.
Any young guild has to go through the growing pains of learning to work within the bounds of the community they're creating.
You end up with either a guild that falls apart (which is fine, not everyone is compatible), one that's thriving and supports each other, or a toxic hive that everyone learns to avoid.
@massivelyop So many! I love to explore old MMOs that have a small dedicated fan base and there is a sense of melancholy when engaging in mechanics and ideas that can't live up to their full potential due to a lack of active playback. You see how this game was intended to play and there is not much you can do to instill that passion in others to capture even a glimmer of the games potential. That's sad.
@scopique@massivelyop I often refer to this as "the golden era of MMOs" because being online was still novel at the time let alone playing a game... crazier to think the game was an actual world. We'll never be in that timeline ever again. What I miss most is just the concept of the internet being cool and possibilities endless. Thats what made UO special and I'm with you that we can't get it back.
The ADHD urge to play World of Warcraft, WoW Season of Discovery, WoW Classic Wrath/Cata, Guild Wars 2, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars the old Republic, Final Fantasy XIV, The Secret World, The Elder Scrolls Online, Skyrim, Dragon Age 2....... Yes I am fine why do you ask? 🤣
@Tipa@massivelyop I believe it was fairly early on in the progression. I remember the immediate arear around the tower and the bridge and all that, but not exactly where it was on the map.
