Is the MMORPG genre in decline?

[Voidgaze]

Question in thread title.

Yes, at least from my perspective.

My first MMORPG was Star Wars Galaxies after the NGE updates. Then I moved on to City Of Heroes/Villains and played a little of both. I was still in my preteens during that time so my mother would kick me off the computer before I could ever hit max level on either one. My older brother however, got to play as much as he wanted lol.

During my senior year my friend gave me his gaming PC and I finally got to play Star Wars The Old Republic. I played that for a good 2 years until the devs completely disregarded quality game updates to cater to SWJ"s and add same sex relationships to the game. I wouldn't have had a problem with it if they had added it after addressing the main content, but I could see where their priorities were after that. PVP declined and I moved on to Black Desert Online. I was so hyped and the game was beautiful with a large world. Unfortunately the game followed the typical grindy Koran MMO formula and I could never find the time to grind for max gear for PVP. The cash shop was ridiculously high priced as well. Star Wars Galaxies has a few emulators out, but the developers have let petty politics get in the way of development.

At this point I've given up on finding an MMORPG to scratch that itch. SWG and COH were the only ones that did it for me, and it seems every game seems to be following the B2P/Cash shop model. Bless online releases at the end of this month and while it is a Korean MMO, they're self published so hopefully it doesn't turn out to be P2W. They've also reworked the combat so I'll be buying a founders pack and hope for the best.

I've been thinking about giving ESO a try, but I need to do my research first.


All that being said, I don't think they make MMO's like they used to. I've been thinking about giving ESO a try, but I need to do my research first.

[TurkBrah]

yes it died after WOW: BC. If you didnt play EQ and WOW you missed out on life.

[Barcode120x]

I don't think it's in decline, but it's just that there hasn't been a good MMO that has come out as of late. I'm talking about within the last 2-3 years. As always, there has been numerous Korean/Eastern MMO's that have always looked promising but didn't live up to the expectations. Black Desert Online is the one Eastern MMO that came close to being really good, but being a Korean MMO, the greed of the cash shop and pay-to-win overcame BDO. It also had it's fair share of problems should as the enchanting system and the fact that it was a solely, grindy PvE mode (no raids, no dungeons). We should all have seen it coming. I still play BDO passively, but it's not worth my $/time to play it competitively. Another MMO that looked promising within the last year was Albion Online. I did not care much for the game, but from what I've briefly seen/read, it too did not live up to expectations and dropped out of the air fairly quickly after release. The next MMO that looks promising is Crowfall Online. Same can be said with Bless Online but that fact that it is an eastern MMO is keeping my skeptical. I'm gonna play it for sure since it drops in NA/Steam end of this month, but I'm not keeping my hopes up too well. Unfortunately, playing older MMO's never really fills the MMO-thirst either, simply because they're old and you are behind on gear and money.

I too will try ESO when Summeset comes out. I never really fully got into ESO when it first came out simply because of the weapon-based skill system (I know there is much more to it now), but I'm willing to go all in and get my hours worth of the game. Plus, Summerset comes with Morrowin and I get to try out the Warden.

[matthew2474]

After years of playing wow and trying to find other mmos to replace it with... nothing comes close...

Tried star wars, eso(biggest disappointment ever), Wildstar, Rift(Surpisingly really good), BDO, final fantasy( second biggest disappointment)

WoW just does most things right.. I missed Warlords of strange expantion and came back into legion with low expectations and it blew me away how much fun I can still have with that game.

In my opinion, play wow or don't play an mmo at all.

Save you time and money.

[RoroCwalker]

I think it has to do with the general shift towards action-combat fighting and the evolution of graphics. It's now harder than ever to create that kind of perfect game.

Only a few games survived, such as WoW and Runescape (OSRS) that shift.

The closest thing we've gotten to "good new-gen MMOs" were Blade & Soul and Black Desert, both having their glaring flaws.

It might also be due to how the market for video games has shifted through the years, essentially diluting the player-base for MMOs. We're talking about the shift towards MOBAs, then Survivals, then Battle Royals, and who knows what's next.

[FearThisjake]

yes it died after WOW: BC. If you didnt play EQ and WOW you missed out on life.

final fantasy 11 was pretty good when it came out, but then 2 years later WoW came out so I dont even know how it was after that

[Destor]

Fukn lol @ not getting into Star Wars Galaxies until post-NGE

Pre-NGE pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies was the apex of my gaming life

[adang92]

yes. everyone keeps looking for a better WoW with the graphics of God of War


and then faster paced games are in (ie. battle royale/fortnite)

[Avalanche3319]

I love ESO, but I’ve never been a big MMO player so ymmv.

[LFAesthetics]

you give me a Destiny 2 type of game with real open world and actual character development depth, you have me at hello.

unfortunately destiny 1 and 2 were so wrong on so many other levels that the MMO aspects were never really fleshed out as it was supposed to be in the original advertisement.

not necessarily FPS but I liked the concept of a deep MMO in the destiny universe, could have been third person over the shoulder like gears/fortnite as well.


I'm looking into anthem for this reason.

[Voidgaze]

Fukn lol @ not getting into Star Wars Galaxies until post-NGE

Pre-NGE pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies was the apex of my gaming life

There's currently multiple pre-CU emulators out for SWG but dev drama has hindered progress. I may comeback to one of them if they implement JTL.






I wouldn't complain if City Of Heroes had an emulator out.

[mike.hunt]

just lol at talking about MMORPG and you never played WoW


that's like someone talking about being an alcoholic and never tried beer, gtfo m8

[GovermentCheese]

As someone else mentioned, pre NGE SWG was the greatest game ever made. I have so many great great memories from that game. They did everything right, and I remember he excitement of having a friend suddenly be able to become a Jedi and bounty hunters would start showing up. Such an epic game.

Close second was Dark Age of Camelot. Best PVP in a game and it's not even close. There are still around 2000 active members playing, and I log on occasionally and play but it's pretty much dead.

Currently I have my fingers crossed for Camelot Unchained. It's long been held up, but I am hoping maybe next year it will be ready to play.

[dmaaack]

I think Classic WoW release and success will reinvigorate the MMORPG industry.

[gymnemesis]

WoW battle royale wait wut?

[JaegerBrah]

I think there's just so much more variety nowadays and we oversaturated the MMORPG genre very early on. Add in the fact that the majority of them are pay to win/freemium games and people don't really want to invest their time into it.

Also related video:

[ErikTheElectric]

yes it died after WOW: BC. If you didnt play EQ and WOW you missed out on life.

This

[AXnyc]

Archage Alpha was an amazing experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The was the closest thing to WOW, honestly could be even more fun at times.....then of course release came and it became p2w and was completely ruined by bots. Fighting over lands and trees was so much fun, same with fishing. Best sandbox MMO iv ever played. FFXI was really good too for its time. Couldn't get into ffxiv.

I felt like MMOs where you had to travel everywhere and interact with other players was almost like character developing in movies and sucked you in. Once they released instant looking for group and no more world traveling and PVP ...its just another ADD game where it can't hold your attention span.

[CaliSuperSport]

yes it died after WOW: BC. If you didnt play EQ and WOW you missed out on life.

It was still thriving during Wrath brah. Cata saw declines and it was for more than just the changing of time.

Many factors though - from straight poor MMOs to the decline of WoW to the advent of micro transaction games that hook so many players.

[Bracket199]

Most places want to make MMO's a P2W service, and you cannot do that. MMO's strive on exclusion, and having the best rewards for the best players / most dedicated. Due to the shift, video games aren't meant to spend hours to play to advance, but easier access to most. This is why microtransactions took over.

I still think WoW is a great MMO. They made the proper shift that it's easier to get into and play, but doesn't require ridiculous hours/week to advance in the game.

[DavidL913]

FFXI and WoW were the best.

[Prose Edda]

I've been playing Tera for about 5 years now on and off, from when I started to now I would say the population has increased, always new content, new expansions that are free of charge. There is a cash shop but it's not necessary to buy anything just takes a bit of time, open world PvP with some areas contested, some areas not like WoW use to be. Decent graphics and skill animations. I haven't spent a thing on it, most of my Cashshop items come from events in game. Obviously if you fork out a lot of $ you have a quicker advantage, but not an overall advantage. Doesn't matter how much you spend, if you're a chit player you're gonna stay a chit player.

A bit surprised you have time for gaming with all the swamp ass you've been eating.

[Barcode120x]

Just waiting on vanilla WoW. But that's probably not for a long while since their focus right now is BfA.

Otherwise, I'll continue to passively play BDO until Bless Online and ESO Summerset come out.

[ohiostate124]

WOW basically killed it. No point ever playing new mmos because they’ll feel so unpolished compared to WOW that you’ll just go back to WOW. Then you get bored of the grind and stop playing mmos altogether.

[chrsschb]

WOW basically killed it. No point ever playing new mmos because they’ll feel so unpolished compared to WOW that you’ll just go back to WOW. Then you get bored of the grind and stop playing mmos altogether.

WoW killed MMOs but not because it was polished, but rather it catered to an entirely new market and type of player. Then every subsequent MMO tried to target the same market with a WoW clone and failed miserably. The MMOs that do well have a niche, something (or many things) that completely and substantially differentiate them from the WoW model. I think the future of MMO is smaller studios catering to smaller niche communities of like-minded gamers using subscription models. EverQuest is still making a lot of money. Pantheon will make a lot of money. And so forth.

[swoleyo]

WOW basically killed it. No point ever playing new mmos because they’ll feel so unpolished compared to WOW that you’ll just go back to WOW. Then you get bored of the grind and stop playing mmos altogether.

Pretty much this. Every major publisher blew there load trying to create a wow killer and they all failed. MMO's are extremely expensive to make so we're basically done until wow 2. You won't see a company like EA throwing 100mil at a MMO again for awhile

[GreenMintTea]

I think Classic WoW release and success will reinvigorate the MMORPG industry.

Do you honestly think this is going to happen? *IF* the launch is executed properly, the first few months will likely be great, and then it'll just enter a steady decline. The issue with WoW isn't changes to core game-play mechanics, and it wasn't the introduction of LFG type tools.

[dcbone30]

There's currently multiple pre-CU emulators out for SWG but dev drama has hindered progress. I may comeback to one of them if they implement JTL.
.

Aware me via PM. Always wanted to try SWG but never did

[rhadam]

As someone who played EQ, DAOC, WoW vanilla... there definitely has been a decline both in pvp and pve content-rich games. I can't think of a single game that compared to the 3 I mentioned.

[crsarellano]

its mainly age. I personally cant enjoy mmos anymore cuz I cant nolife it with 0 responsibilities anymore. however, ffxiv wasn't that bad. it wasn't tbc days but its definitely a good game.