New World: FOMO or FOTM?

A long, long time ago, in a different blog, I was frustrated with myself for trying and abandoning so many MMOs. Every new MMO that came along — I’d try.

So I started the MMO Challenge. The challenge was simply this: to play a MMO as my main game for at least a year. I’d join a guild, I’d level up, grind gear, go on raids, see all that I could see and make some memories along the way. Really dive deep. If I made that challenge, I’d know what to do when I sat down to game. I’d log into that MMO.

Adventurers in the MMO Rift attack a giant.
Rift

As it turned out, the first major MMO that was released after I made this pledge was Trion Worlds’ “Rift”. I dove right in. I played the beta and loved it. I played it when it went live. I joined a guild and became a raider. I think I left just before it went free to play, but I really enjoyed having Rift be part of my gamer identity.

I did the same with Cryptics’ Star Trek Online (a game I’d been waiting for, for years). I played that alongside one of their other MMOs, Neverwinter. I eventually left STO to focus entirely on Neverwinter. I was in a guild, had a lot of friends, did some raids. I didn’t get in many dungeon groups, so I wasn’t able to gear up sufficiently to raid. Still, I discovered their Foundry, their gateway to player-created quests and dungeons. I busily started translating EverQuest into Neverwinter, even once winning an award for best player-created quest. There was a great community of quest developers that I joined with much excitement. I gained some experience in level design and gained a real appreciation for those who do that for a living. When Neverwinter started abandoning the Foundry, I didn’t stay much longer.

I get it — the most popular quests were trivial quests that gave easy awards. Same thing that had happened with EQ2’s player quests.

I felt it was super important to get in on MMOs when they first launch, if possible. There’s the feeling that everything is new and never before seen; a feeling I get that I could actually be part of the story of that MMO.

I was there at the beginning of EverQuest and EverQuest 2. I wasn’t there quite at the beginning of World of Warcraft, but I did take a leave of absence from EQ2 to try it out, and I stayed there (go Kirin-Tor! For the Horde!) until the guild I was in dissolved due to players bitching at each other in guild all the time, a little before Burning Crusade came out. That was a good time to leave, and I’ve only played now and again since then. I’d missed out on WoW.

I was there at the beginning of Dark Age of Camelot, too. (Go Black Oaks! Go Hibernia!) I was there at the beginning and the end of Spellborn. I was at the beginning of Final Fantasy XI, and I was there at the beginning of Final Fantasy XIV, though I left before they did the big reset. I came back a few years ago just after the Heavensward expansion came out and played through until the first few months of Shadowbringers. I played EVE Online until my high sec fleet dissolved. I tried null sec, but it wasn’t for me and I quit. Now my training would be so far behind that it doesn’t make sense to ever return. I played Lord of the Rings Online for awhile, but I didn’t really know anyone there and left once I needed a guild (I didn’t commit hard enough).

A player character stands on a road in Spellborn
A rare sunny day in Hawksmouth, the starting zone of the Chronicles of Spellborn.

Beyond that, my static Sunday group has been doing its own MMOs for years. We’ve played Dungeons & Dragons Online and Guild Wars 2 for about a year each. For about seven years now, we’ve been playing DC Universe Online.

What I don’t want to do, is start a MMO and then not follow through.

As such, I’ve been avoiding new MMOs for awhile now. I backed Star Citizen, but my bad experience with Elite Dangerous (is that even an MMO?) where I couldn’t get through the tutorial stopped me from even installing Star Citizen (what there is of it). I backed Crowfall, but the beta made me realize it wasn’t for me. I backed Shroud of the Avatar, but couldn’t get into it — it didn’t have that “Ultima feel”, and though I had some housing stuff, there were no houses I could buy.

Now, there’s Amazon’s New World. From what I understand, it’s an “Age of Exploration“-set MMO, where three factions (like DAoC) compete to exploit a new land and its inhabitants. It reminds me a little of Greedfall, a really fantastic little RPG that came out a couple years ago.

An audience of players watches virtual actors on stage in Final Fantasy XIV.
Stellazzio Virtual Theater’s production of “A Starlight Carole” in Final Fantasy XIV. I’m the Blue Mage in the front.

I watch my Twitter stream explode with every new MMO that comes out. Each time, I ask myself if this MMO is the one that I want to commit to for at least a year. Find a guild, explore everywhere and do everything. Take up the challenge once again.

Each time, most of the people who were so excited about the game are soon back to playing some different MMO (usually World of Warcraft). So I’d dodged a bullet there. It wasn’t sticky enough for the people I follow on Twitter. But, I’m prepared to be self-reliant and forge my own path in an MMO; look around and find people who are passionate about the game, and stick with them.

Since I’d really loved Greedfall’s setting, and Dark Age of Camelot’s three-sided faction war, this sounds like something I would really like. But I’m afraid to make the commitment. I’d do it in a second if my boyfriend wanted to do it, but he’s not excited about it (when asked: it bricks video cards and you get banned for milking a cow!)

I know that if I don’t do it at launch, I probably won’t do it ever. The new feeling just won’t be there. All the quests will be laid out bare. Eventually one faction will dominate the other two; as in DAoC and FFXIV (though in the latter, you can change your faction at any time, which makes it less of a burden).

So; am I just feeling the fear of missing out again? Is this just the new flavor of the month? Or should I be jumping on this as soon as I can?

I just don’t know.

10 thoughts on “New World: FOMO or FOTM?”

  1. My limited experience so far has been that when I’m playing New World I enjoy it. But when I’m not playing it, I’m not thinking about it (beyond all the Twitter discussion, which seemed to ebb fairly quickly), which is something I usually do when a game really hooks me.

    I think I’d love it as a single player game, or a “private server” kind of MP game. But the bits where you chop lumber and gather flint and such feels somehow diminished when there are 40 other people doing the same thing. Like “My dudes, perhaps we should build ONE campfire rather than us each building our own!”

    So I am waffling. I have it pre-ordered but can’t decide if I’ll cancel or not.

    I am also wary of (as we touched on, over on Twitter) having the entire game kind of built around the idea of promoting Twitch.

    • That. That right there. It didn’t occur to me until later that Amazon OWNS TWITCH. All their games are going to PROMOTE TWITCH. Based on your feelings and those of others, I think I will skip this one — though the Greedfall-meets-DAoC design really hits some sweet spots with me. But seeing how my favorite Twitch streamers do on the leaderboards (wait: there are LEADERBOARDS??? WTF?) means I will likely skip this one and save my free time for the next one. Hey, DCUO is about to completely transform itself, after all. (Damn, I should write about that…)

      • You SHOULD write about that (DCUO) because I hadn’t heard about this and y’know, I’m selfish and want you to write about things I want to read about. 🙂

        • I really should….!!! Actually I was kinda waiting until it went live next month, but I might give a preview as to why it is so exciting.

  2. New World reminds me of Valheim quite a lot, if that helps. By which i mean there are vast racts of countryside where you can lose yourself for hours just exploring and chopping down trees. The original alpha, when I barely ever saw anyone, was glorious for just getting lost in the woods. At the moment it’s like trying to get lost in a National Park about ten yards from the main car park on a public holiday but that will pass.

    • Well, I do have Valheim for that stuff. I guess what I’m wondering is, are there lots of dungeons with bosses and stuff that are deeply connected to the game lore. The New World twitter account seems to be focusing on PvP.

  3. I was in one of the NDA’d betas and … it was ok, I guess. Not so bad I’d discourage anyone from trying it, but not so good that I cared enough to even offer feedback in the beta forums. I thought about it, but just couldn’t be arsed” as the saying goes.

    I’m told that it plays almost completely differently now, but I still “cba” to look at it again.

    • I am still feeling a lot of the FOMO — because as I mentioned, the setting and the faction war really excite me — but I’m also getting a Pirates of the Burning Sea vibe from it. A decent game in a unique setting but nothing to keep people logging in.

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