Please, no more bears!

No matter what it's still a forest
I’m no overly sensitive animal rights activist but I’m really sick of killing animals in the woods.  For starters, I find killing non-aggro mobs very boring.  There’s no strategy involved.  I get to safely decide where I want to stand within the herd of them wandering aimlessly about, until I take my first shot.  Secondly, sending me off to kill animals almost always takes place in the same sort of location – THE WOODS!!!

I don’t care how pretty or scenic you make a woodland area, doing a dozen or so quests there is monotonous.  It’s lovely the first time I roam through it and do a couple of quests, but once you send me there on a Nesingwary slaughter crusade, I’m bored out of my mind.  A tree is a tree. Grass is grass.  Rocks are rocks.  Flowers are flowers.  And bears are f’n bears!  There’s nothing you can do to make killing animals in the woods feel inspired so give it up already.

Villages, towns, encampments are more engaging
I want to fight humanoids set in cities, towns and villages - whatever.  I want to engage in combat within an area that seems to have a purpose and therefore, my presence is to defend or conquer.  It can even be abandoned areas, where nefarious humanoids are up to no good.  As pretty as the League zone was in Allods, this whole sending me to kill shit in the woods is why I tired of it very quickly.  Luckily, in the case of Allods, I liked the Arisen as an alternative to playing an elf.  More importantly, their Empire zone used Steampunk combined with fantasy which was fantastic.  This is what I enjoy in MMOs – fantasy but given a twist, such as the Steampunk + urban settings found in Allods.

Sure, Empire was still kill-10-rats but the opportunities for diverseness in the combat areas are VASTLY improved when you take the scene out of the forest.  There are buildings, alleys, tunnels, caves, streets, parks, etc. in which to stage encounters, all of which are 100x more fun than running around in the woods.  Besides which, psychologically, when you pair me up against a bear - I have armor, potions and weapons, regardless of how meager they are, I EXPECT TO WIN.  Even though the higher level “bears”, especially elites, can win, I am still not excited about the encounter.  I don’t really care how uber the brown furry guy is he’s still just-a-bear!

What on earth are you thinking?
What sparked this post was an article on Massively  several days ago. I can’t find it now but the article linked to a game that was coming out.  Mildly interested - well actually I was bored at the time, I followed the link to the game’s home page.  What do you think was featured there extolling the merits of their game?  A huge screen shot of characters fighting bears.  I immediately closed the browser.  Inwardly, I sighed, “WTF is wrong with these people."

If that’s the best you have to offer, no thanks.  I know original ideas and settings are hard to come by – I get it.  Regardless, please get your heads out of Tolkien’s ass.  I’m done fighting bears, trees that move and Orcs just because they're Orcs.  Sure, I love fantasy but you’re going to have to take those elements somewhere new, like the Empire zone in Allods. 

You can't beat the incumbents
Please wake up.  There are too many fantasy MMOs out there for you to think I’m going to give you money for the same ole thing. Especially when, the same ole thing in a new game, CANNOT compare to the quality, consistency and breadth of content that already exists in the top fantasy MMOs.  You can’t complete with them directly.  Why do you insist on trying?  What are you providing that is better than or so very different from WOW, EQ2, GW, AOC, LOTRO or Aion, in the purchase/subscription space?  What are you doing better than or differently from DDO, W101, ROM, etc. in the F2P/ Freemium space?  Notawholehellofalot.  Ktnxbai.  L2Bcreative. 

I don’t mean to be insulting to anyone developing in the industry.  I’m know you work hard every day like I do at my job.  I simply do not understand where you’re going or why anyone thinks I’m going to play, much less pay, for a game that is too much like but not as good as, any of the games I’ve mentioned.  And there are a dozen more in each category - at least.  I think it’s safe to say that anyone who wants to play in a more traditional fantasy MMO setting, can easily find something entertaining within the payment model of their choice at this point.  Yet you insist on pumping out more of the same.

CCP already accepted that Oscar
Can we also agree that innovation isn’t the answer either? I know people like to claim it’s what they want.  BUT innovation wrapped in the same stale, but pretty wrapper, isn’t working either - Ryzom and Spellborn.  Both of these games had innovative aspects as a core part of the game play, yet both continue to struggle.  Therefore, you can’t convince me that making a game wrapped around innovation is going to equal a successful MMO.  CCP has already claimed that award x-times over.  Let's move one.

I’m “this” close to quitting MMOs.  I’m so tired of re-hashed settings and games with excellent potential being mismanaged into the dirt.  You promise me the stars and deliver dust.  I love fantasy, so I’m certainly not opposed to more fantasy MMOs but please STEP UP YOUR GAME.  If you can’t get existing IPs for whatever reason, at least look at how fantasy is treated in stories like Wheel of Time, Amber Chronicles and Night Watch.  I'm sure most die-hard fantasy lovers, including developers, have read one or more of these novels.

Take a different risk
I realize that MMO development is a multi-million dollar risk for a company.  If you're willing to take that risk pumping out more of what people aren't swallowing, isn't it worth the risk to try a new type of fantasy setting, progression model and questing system?  Keep the magic.  Keep the races.  Keep the classes that at times cause exclusionary situations, if you insist.  Keep the levels that divide the player-base, if you must.  But please, please depart from Tolkien’s vision and stop sending me into shire-like zones to kill bears.

From 7 to 0 subscriptions
In the space of about 2.5 years, our household has gone from usually having 5 to 7 MMO subscriptions simultaneously to NONE.  None, not a single subscription running now.  It feels unfathomable to me, that my whole family was bored to this level of MMO apathy.  Yet here we are playing a whole lot of ... Oh yeah, nothing.

Comments

[Graham]

Amen to all that you have said. I think we have almost progressed through several turgid years of people doing their best to beat Blizzard at their own game by creating sub-par copies of Warcraft.

Honestly, does it really take a marketing genius to realise that if you copy a game that is as good as it can get in its themepark style, do you really think you can make something similar but better? I mean....really?

It tells me that they realise they cant beat it but a lame copy of it will at least return a modest amount of cash via box sales and a few months of subscriptions. A risky but innovative venture on the other hand might not even make back their initial investment, or it might become the next big thing but its still a risk.

Not looking for innovation myself really. I just want fun, diverse classes to play, a real world to explore (not just a series of linked camps that I am hauled through one by one) and yes, please for the love of Gawd, no more freakin woodlands for me to commit mass animal genocide in!

[Yarr]

So... you probably won't be interested in playing the new MMO I'm creating called Runes of Bearcraft, where ALL the monsters are mutated bears? Hee hee. Or maybe I need to switch things so you play a bear and the monsters are those animal killing humanoids.

Seriously though, I tried Allods for about 3 hours before I had more than enough. As far as new MMO games coming out, I think probably the only thing that sounds remotely interesting is the LEGO one, but I have a bad feeling it will be more of the same, but with a platform game thrown in. GW2 will be worth getting if NCSoft don't get too greedy by then and keep it as a buy once, play free game like GW.

[Saylah]

@Yarr - Thanks but no thanks. It's Allods or back to The Sims for me. Wow, what a full circle.

Edit: I might peak my head in and out of ROM. It's unfortunate that changing your secondary class, which finally arrived as a feature, forces you to also re-level that side. Bleh. I did spend some money to replace some of the items in my house aka crafting workshop but I left upstairs empty. No point in spending that much until I see if I get 1/2 of myself back to level 36

[Yarr]

My ROM characters are all on Osha or else I'd love to pop in and see your house Saylah. You are on Artemis, correct? :( I so hate separate servers and that is one thing I'd really like to see done away with in all MMO games. Or at least set things up like Free Realms where you can easily log onto any server you want, even jump to another one to be with friends.

Hm, maybe I did create a char on Artemis, probably a level 1 if I did? I'll have to check next time I play.

[Saylah]

Yes, I'm on Artemis. You create on just to go see it. Others did back in the day. :-) W101 was the first MMO I played for any length of time where you could switch servers and it was great! It's just another one of those things that limit players, I'd have expected to have been "fixed" by now and supported as a standard feature.

[openedge1]

Interesting that this one feature turned LOTRO into my most hated MMO of all time.

Uber bears everywhere. Sucked.

AoC at least had me fighting "Werewolves" or some such creatures...Tortage at least was 90% human mobs. Bears were minimal or non-existent. Crocodiles though...and Wolves...well...ARGH.

I think the next MMO that will change things is The Secret World. I mean, modern setting, real world rules, fantasy beasts..of course, rats may be a concern...or how about snakes? Well, I guess if they allow us up North in the US, then we may see bears in the woods...

For now I will play Guild Wars, where as long as you do not play the first chapter, there are NO BEARS (but lots of grotesquely sized insects and other weird creatures...oh and LOTS of human mobs)

Cheers

[Yarr]

With GW's Ursan Blessing skill, the bears get some revenge! :D

[Saylah]

I disliked LOTRO for the same reason, along with the fetch-n-tell quests in the early zones.