Kendricke at Warcry reports that Jason “Dymus” Roberts has left his position at SOE of EQ2 Lead Designer. It’s rumored that he may join the crowd at 38 Studios in their unannounced MMO.
38 Studios has some great talent. But if they come out with another generic fantasy MMO that tries to be everything for everyone, count me out.
Here’s hoping all that high power gaming talent has the vision to try something NEW. The design of pick a class, grind to max level, start raiding used by all current fantasy MMOs has already been done. A lot.
You won’t get eight million players by copying WoW. Or EQ2. Or Vanguard. I figure LotRO is going to be the last traditional model MMO I ever plan to play. Nothing new there, but it’s cheap and I like the IP.
38 Studios, if all you have is that “OUR Elves have better spell casting animations and at level 20 all characters can fly!”, just give up now. Great things are expected from you.
Plaguelands comments on a Brad McQuaid posting on the FoH forums about how Vanguard’s message of supporting all styles of play from casual to hardcore was somehow lost (though that has been his core message all along), and that they will be adding features to Vanguard to make it even easier to play (like faster travel and lessening of some penalties in the game).
I venture that Vanguard isn’t doing better because people expected something radically new, and what they got was something very much tired. Even his long posting points that out — this bit should be familiar to EQ1, we got this bit from WoW, this part looks similar to EQ2.
I would have been more heartened if he had said, “We’re so hardcore it will take you TWO YEARS to get to max level and at level 7 we toss you into the wilderness naked and you either come back a Spartan Adventurer or not at all!” Toss away those xp bars and levels and rise in stature as you meet and defeat challenges. Something TRULY hardcore and different. Just … NOT more of the same, please.
5 thoughts on “38 Studios better watch itself”
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Problem is even if an MMO isn’t not set up where people grind to the top.. A large portion of the players have the mind set for every MMO that the goal is to be the top level and then raid.
You’re right on with making a TRULY difficult, hardcore game. The graduation of the EQ1 players paved the way for the influx of WoW players. We, the old EQ vets, want hardcore and we do it with games like EQ2.
Wait til the 8 million WoW players “graduate”…where will they go next when they want the same hardcore veteran action that us oldschoolers have now?
Vanguard didn’t have to be radically different for me to like it, just deliver on their promises. And even if all the features where there, the bugs and lag over-shadowed them and I unsubscribed.
It could be me, but I’m bored with everything that I have in my possession right now. Maybe I’m moving past my MMO phase?? Gawd forbid. I hope LOTRO will light my fire but it has that lack of sugar rush that EQ2 suffers from IMO.
I’m starting to think that you can’t have them both in the same game. It’s either the depth and detail of an EQ2-like game or the bum rush adrenaline race of WOW content. I like them both and some days feed on the latter but would enjoy being able to wander off to the former when I just want some quiet downtime.
Well, that was my point — MMO makers are so certain we only want exactly what we’ve played before — with maybe a minor difference or two — that they feel that is the only way make one.
How can we not be bored?
The people who develop these games are extremely creative, know exactly how to make a game, are the best in the business and could give us something new if they felt we would play it.
So, since we’ve heard nothing from 38 Studios about their game and they’re still in the early stages, this is my heads-up to them: Take a chance and do something new. And don’t forget that you’re making a game.
LotRO plays with the standard MMO classes a little but is pretty much been there done that and though I’ll play it, I don’t know if I’ll stay with what is essentially WoW 2 or EQ 4. Warhammer and Conan are shaping up to be substantially different while still being familiar, and Gods & Heroes looks to be the game that will really shake up the MMO world.
If after these games, 38 Studios comes out with yet another WoW/EQ2 clone…
I agree with you! It is time for something new. I love fantasy, but quite frankly I am tired of it in mmo’s. Something new needs to be done. A new way to level, a new way to gain xp. Something innovative. More interaction with the enviroment and the people in the game.
They need to create a mmo that is like a “Chose your own adventure book” so it is different for everyone, and there won’t be all walk thru’s and guides.