What MMORPG: Exploring the MMO Industry

Analyzing FF14's Pay to Play Transition

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0600

Square-Enix offered an official apology for the state of FF14 shortly after release. Now they feel that the game is worthy of charging a recurring subscription. What does that mean? (click title to read the full article.)

Hyper Realism

Mon, 20 Feb 2011 14:30:00 -0600

5 Lamest MMO Races

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0600

The downside of more race choices in MMO games is that some developers will go too far and cross the line from "unique" to "ridiculous." Of course, what constitutes a lame race is all in the eye of the beholder, so we can’t call this a definitive list, but with apologies to their fans, we now present the races that we just can’t see ourselves playing. (click title to read the full article.)

Meaning of Life

Thu, 16 Feb 2011 14:45:00 -0600

Belief

Mon, 13 Feb 2011 15:00:00 -0600

Reward

Thu, 9 Feb 2011 16:30:00 -0600

Socializing in The Old Republic

Wed, 8 Feb 2012 14:00:00 -0600

Part of what made the 'Knights of the Old Republic' games as successful as they were was how deeply-involved they were. The games could easily draw the player into the worlds they presented and create one of the deepest single-player RPG experiences out there, but how does such an experience translate into an online game? (click title to read the full article.)

Battle Tactics

Mon, 6 Feb 2011 15:30:00 -0600

Talky Talky

Thu, 2 Feb 2011 12:00:00 -0600

WoW Killers (That Didn't Kill WoW)

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 18:00:00 -0600

World of Warcraft is the undisputed king of the MMO world. It has millions of subscribers –far more than any other MMO – and rakes in the almost unimaginable profits. But success breeds jealousy. Developers, gaming journalists, and consumers have spent years searching for the mythical WoW-killer, the game that will end World of Warcraft's reign and become the new juggernaut of the industry. Many games have been given the crown of WoW-killer before their release, but yet Warcraft still reigns supreme. Some WoW-killers crashed and burned spectacularly, while others went on to their own modest successes, but none have toppled the king from his throne. (click title to read the full article.)

Good Samaritan

Mon, 30 Jan 2011 13:30:00 -0600

Education

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:45:00 -0600

Top 5 MMO Developers

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:30:00 -0600

There are many MMOs in our world, each with their own colorful history, but they all have a common source: development teams slavishly working behind the scenes to create epic and inspiring virtual worlds. Developers are the foundation of the MMO industry. Nothing would get done without them, and so we have taken it upon ourselves to cover some of the more noteworthy developers of the MMO. Some are massive juggernauts, some are more modestly sized, some are ambitious newcomers, and others are veteran companies with years of success behind them, but all have left their mark on the gaming world in some way. (click title to read the full article.)

2012 Best Year Ever for MMORPGs

Tue, 22 Jan 2012 17:30:00 -0600

I am pretty pumped about this year. We will be seeing a slew of new innovative and evolutionary concepts coming to fruition this year in the MMO market. Truly new games with fresh concepts means a better experience for myself and fellow gamers. Here’s a quick rundown of the top MMO games scheduled to release in 2012 and why you should be excited about them:

whttp://www.whatmmorpg.com/blog/2012/01/2012-best-year-ever-for-mmorpgs/

Firefall

Team based, real time combat, shooter MMO with strong cooperative and competitive PvP elements. It’s sadly lacking open world PvP so don’t expect PlanetSide. It will offer competitive gameplay between clans and a slew of awesome cooperative content. Teamwork will be involve than healbots and taunts and should offer refreshing action-oriented gameplay. Oh, and the founder of developer was a team lead for the original World of Warcraft.

Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2 is bringing a new acronym to PvP: WvWvW. So many letters…WvWvW stands for World vs World vs World. You see, players are essentially divided into their own servers and will fight massive battles against other servers for supremacy and other rewards. Guild Wars 2 will also offer competitive, small team arena PvP. Guild Wars 2 is providing the coolest PvE content imaginable: dynamic events. Dragons will randomly spawn and possibly DESTROY local villages unless enough heroes gather around to stop them. There’s still plenty of things to collect too, but in every aspect Guild Wars 2 raises the stakes quite a bit higher. Without a monthly fee.

TERA

Basically you take World of Warcraft and you add real life reflexes to the mix. This is a fantasy MMORPG where you will level up, find loot, and do so while outmaneuvering your enemies, dodging their attacks, and hitting with precise movements rather than hotkeys. There is no limited faction based combat here. In it’s place is a free for all political system of sorts. Anyone can rise to power but in a game like TERA, quality of followers might matter more than quantity.

Salem

Salem is planning on being the most realistic, immersive MMORPG since….ever. Just to make sure I don’t excite you for no reason; this game has permadeath. As in when you die there is no corpse run. You simply lose your character. If you said ‘No corpse run? Genius!’ then there is still hope. In addition to the ultimate ‘your decision matters’ feature there is also open PvP where players must police themselves, mysterious magic that allows limited players to learn witchcraft, and a top notch crafting system which will rely on players to create items and buildings. MMORPG.com wrote a preview on it recently. If the Salem developers can deliver this is going to be much more than a game, it’s going to be an experience that is Legen- wait for it. Dary!

The Secret World

The Secret World is about three secret societies waging war on each in large realm vs. realm settings. The keyword is ‘three’. Where games like World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, and The Old Republic failed in faction based PvP is that with two sides one will always be better. You will never have balanced long term battles unless you queue for instances that don’t affect the overall world. The Secret World fixes that by adding a third faction, something that worked very well for Dark Age of Camelot a decade ago. Secret World also has skill based leveling which is typically reserved for more sandbox games, which this probably won’t be. Further working for it is that Funcom has developed two MMORPGs before. Working against it is that Funcom has had two of the worst MMORPG launches in history. Time will tell if I will find a home within the Illuminati.

Of these five games, I predict three successes for what they are setting out to accomplish. A MMORPG like Salem isn’t out to conquer WoW, but if done well, could easily find a strong and loyal niche like that in Eve Online. I’m happy to see some innovation and strong evolution in 2012. It’s been a while since something set out to change the genre and actually succeeded. We are rarely treated to more than one MMORPG with long term potential, but this year will be different. This is going to be a year full of tough decisions and lack of sleep for many MMO enthusiasts.

Bugfix

Mon, 23 Jan 2011 13:30:00 -0600

6 Worst Developer Decisions

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:40:00 -0600

Video games are a complex medium. If you were to gather together all the ways a developer could go wrong with one, it would fill a book. Many of these apply to all genres of game equally, but there are also some that are special to massively multiplayer games, unique ways to mess up an online game that are guaranteed to have the game's players foaming at the mouth with rage. (click title to read the full article.)

6 Legendary MMORPG Bosses

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:00:00 -0600

You've made your way past the low level zones of your favorite MMO. Your character has evolved into a mighty hero ready to defend the land from evil. It is now time to confront the mightiest of MMO opponents, the bosses. No MMO would be complete without mighty and terrible bosses for adventurers to pit their skills against. Some are hard, some are easy, some are fun, and some could only appeal to the masochistic. We decided to put together a run down of the ones that most stood out in our minds. (click title to read the full article.)

Pandora Saga Free Item Giveaway

Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:30:00 -0600

Atlus just sent over 1,000 promotional keys for their RvR centric MMORPG, Pandora Saga. We’re passing those on to our visitors for free, and it doesn’t take much to get them. You can either leave a comment and we will email you, email our support box, or post in this forum thread and we will send you a private a message.

So just what do these promotional keys get you? How about these goodies below:

Premium One-Day Ticket

When used, the following bonuses will be granted for 24 hours: experience gain will increase by 30%, your item drop rate will increase by 20%, and your death penalty will become 2%.

Short Sword +5

A weapon used by warriors-in-training.

Club +5

A blunt wooden weapon.

Knife +5

A dagger that even beginners can use.

Wand +5

A wand that increases magical strength. Not intended to be used for physical attacks.

Gamebeson +5

Clothing typically worn underneath armor.

Gyanbose Cuisses +5

Quilted leg armor.

Quilted Gloves +5

Quilted gloves worn to protect your hands.

Quilted Boots +5

Quilted footwear worn to protect your feet.

If you’ve heard about Pandora Saga and want to play this is a pretty cool opportunity. If you haven’t heard of it, you can read our Pandora Saga review.

10 Common MMO Player Types

Wed, 4 Jan 2012 15:00:00 -0600

The MMO fan base consists of millions of players of all walks of life from around the world. They are as varied as humanity itself, consisting of all races, genders, religions, and cultures. But yet, despite that, they'll all start to fade into a blur if you play these games enough.... (click title to read the full article.)

2011 Ends and Talk 4 Games Contest Musings

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:30:00 -0600

<;p>;The end of 2011 is nigh. It’s a natural time to look back through the past year and to look forward to next year. Our average number of visits has grown by 1000% since the first week of January. I don’t expect that sort of growth to continue, but I do hope to see another good year. The question is how do we get there, and the answer, unsurprisingly, is you!<;/p>; <;p>;When this site was first created, the only goal was to create a site where MMO gamers could find new games more quickly and easily. We distill MMORPGs down to a few core bullet points and categories. No more lengthy reviews – YAY! Our mission hasn’t changed, but we have run into an inadvertent problem. We have created a site for people to get in and out as easily as possible. It’s not as pretty as some other sites out there (though we will be going through some minor redesigns in 2012), but it is super functional. This means people don’t stick around once they find their new game. Thus, a lot of our unique content falls by the way side and our forums are rarely used.<;/p>; <;p>;I set up a contest for the site to run for a month between November and December in order to raise the level of activity on the forum. We were giving away around $500 in prizes to US residents but under 100 people entered the contest. About 6,000 people read the contest page but only around 1% of those actually signed up. The process was pretty simple – requiring only to create an account on our site and then to click a check box. Was this too much for the type of visitors we attract? Perhaps since What MMORPG is still fairly new, there wasn’t a high enough trust level that we would actually give out the prizes? Is it possible people didn’t want to have to make one forum post a day to maximize their entries? I don’t think there were any technical difficulties and if there were, nobody contacted us about them. It’s a shame because the more successful these kinds of contests are, the more we can give back to the community in terms of similar giveaways.<;/p>; <;p>;Creating a real community has to be a goal for any website and it certainly is for What MMORPG. We may run some more contests in the future, but we’ll need to rethink how we do this. Certainly we are welcome to any ideas our visitors may want to share. In the mean time, we will continue providing the great, unique content offerings we always have. We hope you have had a great 2011 and will enjoy an even better 2012!<;/p>;

Ho Ho MMO: Celebrating the (Virtual) Holidays

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:00:00 -0600

The holidays are a time of joy and celebration for all, in which people from all walks of life take time to visit with loved ones, give and receive gifts, and eat unhealthy quantities of food. But such celebrations are not limited to the real world. The virtual worlds of MMOs also offer up a variety of Yuletide celebrations for one and all, with plenty of new quests, achievements, and special items. And, once again, lots of food, but luckily, you don’t have to worry about packing on the pounds from all the pixilated pie and turkey... (click title to read the full article.)

Semantics

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:15:00 -0600

Final Fantasy XIV Going Pay to Play

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:30:00 -0600

Anyone that says that Final Fantasy XIV has had a great history would be totally lying. A little over a year later the game is shifting from it's free to play model due to a poor release back to the intended pay to play schedule. Are they doing enough to justify the switch? (click title to read the full article.)

Good Ole Days

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:15:00 -0600

Dark Side of World of Warcraft's 10 Classes

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 15:45:00 -0600

World of Warcraft is a game with a reputation for having a terrible community associated with it. And while there are plenty of decent people in among the mouth-breathers and griefers, there is, unfortunately, a lot of truth to this reputation. So much so, in fact, that each of the game's ten classes has developed their own stereotype encapsulating the kind of dimwits and trolls they attract.... (click title to read the full article.)

Just Mining

Wed, 7 Dec 2011 13:15:00 -0600

10 Most Pointless MMO Abilities

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:45:00 -0600

Grow in power, become a mighty hero, and defeat terrifying enemies with your awesome powers – this is the promise made by all MMOs. Any online game will see your character equipped with feats of magic and might to astound and amaze. But then there are those other abilities. The ones that make you wonder what the developers were thinking, that sit in your spellbook until that uncertain future date when you find out what the heck they’re actually good for.... (click title to read the full article.)

Parties Come in All Sizes

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:45:00 -0600

Most games in the MMORPG genre contain content that makes it essentially impossible to complete without forming some sort of party. While the composition of these parties is equally important as how many people make them up, today's article will take a look at party sizes and the various arguments about appropriate numbers.... (click title to read the full article.)

Crafting Rules

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:30:00 -0600

11 Biggest Lies Told by MMO Developers

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:45:00 -0600

Let's say right off the bat that, as a general rule, MMO developers are honest, up-standing businessmen just trying to put out the best products for players to enjoy – and fork over large sums of money for. But nobody's perfect. Sometimes, they fall short and wind up unable to deliver on their promises. Sometimes, they oversell things or bend the truth in advertising their products. And, okay, sometimes they're just lying bastards... (click title to read the full article.)

Win Gaming Gift Cards by Talking About Games

Mon, 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 -0600

Months upon months of free World of Warcraft await one lucky winner. Might that winner be you? Oh, you play Rift you say? Have no fear for we are giving gift cards to the game of your choice. It’s pretty simple, really. We launched a contest that will be running until December 14th. As long as you have a user account on our forum you can sign up. If you haven’t used our forum, it’s free just like pretty much every other forum you’ve ever seen. That means the contest is free too! Winners will receive anywhere from 1 month to 1 year of their subscription paid for to their favorite MMORPG. OK, technically it’s 30 days to 360 days thanks to how these gift cards work but it’s damn close to a year. If you are currently playing a free MMO we are also willing to instead give out the equivalent value in gift cards to Aeria Games, Outspark, Perfect World, Runes of Magic, and gPotato games.

So what do we get out of it? We want to see What MMORPG rise in popularity as place for gamers, especially of the MMO variety, to discuss their games. To encourage greater participation, entrants will receive an additional entry for every day they make at least one, measly post on our forum.

If you are interested in signing up, read the overview and rules here. If you don’t have one, register for a forum account(free). Otherwise just head over to the contest entry page and log in to your account. You’ll see a friendly box that you will need to check and after that you are all good to go.

Nerfus Battimus

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:00:00 -0600

Intro to Crafting Systems

Wed, 9 Nov 2011 12:45:00 -0600

Crafting is an interesting beast. Crafting and upgrading gear is often an important aspect of games centered on adventuring or even player-vs-player combat, yet the degree to which this importance is carried out varies greatly from game to game... (click title to read the full article.)

A Round of Recent (Mainly Strategy) Games

Mon, 7 Nov 2011 11:35:00 -0600

The past month or so has seen the release of, and our review of, several new online, multiplayer strategy games. Certainly some are more innovative than others, some offer better usability, and some are just…well…at least new games to you and me. There are a few other MMORPGs of the non-strategy variety and a hybrid that could also be worth trying. Without further ado, let’s get this game show started.

As are expectedly pretty common additions, fantasy and medieval historical themed worlds dominate the browser based strategy gaming space. Castle Empire is a pretty cool rendition of the sim/strategy series, Settlers. There’s a bit more to the PvE stages of the game which is great for casual players and is a good learning experience for those that really want to get serious about the game. Golden Age has some typical strategy components but adds in some nifty RPG features. It’s a good choice for someone looking for a new hybrid. 1100AD is very similar to games like Tribal Wars and Travian but does a few things better and a few things worse. On the bad side, it’s mainly slow to load and sometimes unintuitive. However, it boasts greater strategic and tactical options than several free online strategy games. So if you can stomach it’s flaws you may find a hidden gem. I’ll also mention Godfather: Five Families. It’s nothing to special, but if you enjoy the Godfather movies and strategy games it could be worth playing.

Keeping up with the trend of new browser game releases comes Crystal Saga. The cute, cartoon style graphics are very impressive for a browser MMORPG. Crystal Saga offers an AFK leveling system which I’m generally not fond of, but is a great addition for a browser MMORPG. Crystal Saga is pretty generic feeling as far as MMORPGs go, but features like AFK leveling, fast travel, and pet evolution could really go a long way for a gamer looking for a easy, browser experience.

There are also a couple of newer large, download required releases. The first, Elsword, is a 2D side scrolling anime, action MMORPG. That short description should pretty much sell you on or turn you off from Elsword. Like other side scrolling MMORPGs, it’s heavily instanced based. It does provide harder challenges, and the animations on skills and special moves is impressive. Rise of Immortals will close out this blog post. It’s a MOBA/MMORPG hybrid where the majority of gameplay revolves around matches similar to Defense of the Ancients and League of Legends. Rise takes another step in this direction by leveling up individual champions to create further persistence between games as well as providing a graphical hub world for people to walk within between matches.

Hopefully one of these MMORPGs sounds like it will be worth a try and if not, there are plenty of other MMORPG choices available.

Cloud Computing in MMOs?

Wed, 2 Nov 2011 14:00:00 -0600

The idea of using 'the cloud' for online storage is certainly not a new one. What should be its place in the MMO world? (click title to read the full article.)

Weight Class

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:30:00 -0600

A City Besieged

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:00:00 -0600

MMORPG Achievements Unlocked

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:30:00 -0600

Life in an MMORPG world is not simply about leveling up and obtaining the rarest weapons. Achievements are finding their ways into almost all new MMORPGs as another component of the game for players to sink time into. Read about general achievements as well as three particular games that have brought some interesting innovation to the table in terms of unlockable MMORPG achievements. (click title to read the full article.)

One Size Fails All

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:30:00 -0600

5 Worst MMO Customer Service Flubs

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:00:00 -0600

When it comes to MMORPGs, customer service is an especially big deal. You're playing in a world filled with other players competing for resources, spawns, and everything else - if you lose time or resources you've already won fairly, you're screwed. (click title to read the full article.)

Silly Princess

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:00:00 -0600

Top 9 MMORPG Abilities

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 13:45:00 -0600

The top abilities by looks, effect, implications, reservations, salvations, and desecrations. More or less. (click title to read the full article.)

Racial Pets

Mon, 3 Oct 2011 13:30:00 -0600

Watching Return to School Patterns via What MMORPG

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:35:00 -0600

Last week I took a look at school starting patterns by week based on traffic levels at What MMORPG, which has a significant high school and college aged population. Ultimately, I think we pinned down most schools started the fourth week of August. There is also some evidence to suggest that the beginning of school is either more time consuming or more stressful than a few weeks later. However, the change in traffic isn’t as significant as we see from the first week in August versus the fourth week.

Continuing this idea, I created a similar chart for indexed traffic by day during the same time period as the chart from last week. My apologies go out to those who may have trouble reading the dates. The main date I will call attention to is August 30th, which is a Tuesday. As the the lowest point on the chart and as a day during, which I assumed earlier, is the week by which most schools have started I think this is the actual day most schools start.

Obviously weekends always produce higher traffic than weekdays. Weekends are rest days for everyone and there are few better ways to relax than a nice video game. What is intriguing about the after affect of schools being in session is the disparity between weekends and weekdays. It’s fairly intuitive that gamers are going to get their gaming in and that weekends provide full, free days which allow for that. It’s still a stark contrast between the high point of Sunday, September 18 vs Sunday, August 7 when few to no schools had started.

Certainly some conclusions could be wrong, and if so inclined, I could look up further data to support or disprove my analysis. Still, that doesn’t change how interesting it is to look at some type of a pattern like schools starting classes with something as nontraditional as a video game website’s traffic records. Hope this was worth the read and feel free to comment or contact our support for any other interesting things we can analyze with our traffic.

Coolest 7 Weapoins in MMORPGs

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:00:00 -0600

There are various ways to kill enemies and other players in MMORPGs. Physical weapons are but one of those ways. This is a list of some of the popular and cool weapons that can be found in MMORPGs. (click title to read the full article.)

Retro

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:30:00 -0600

Permadeath

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:15:00 -0600

Watching Return to School Patterns via What MMORPG

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:00:00 -0600

School is pretty much in full swing now and the reason I know isn’t because I’m stalking starting class schedules across the country. The traffic levels at whatmmorpg.com have continued to rise as a whole, discounting seasonality. However, in August we started to see a decline that has been steadily worsened around the end of August and early September. A drop of 10% isn’t the end of the world, but it’s certainly significant enough to indicate a major shift. Being the end of summer and a reasonable portion of What MMORPG visitors being high school and college students, I think we can surmise school starting is the culprit. With two full weeks in September behind us, I thought it would be interesting to take note of our traffic levels to see just what is going on around schools in the country.

All of these charts on done on an index basis so anything at 1.00 on the chart is the highest volume day or week. Everything else is a relative percentage compared to that max value. With that said, let’s get started. The first chart below is weekly for the past six weeks. You will see a small dip starting with week #2 (Aug 8-14) that dips again slightly at week #3 (Aug 15-21). I’m not aware of any schools that started as early as August 8 so I believe that’s more representative of getting ready for the school year to start, last minute family trips, and a general decrease in summer fun.

The second, and much more significant, drop is at week #4 (Aug 22-28). While some schools did start as early as the week of August 15, this data suggests that most schools started class sometime during the week of August 22. There’s probably some mix of college students arriving on campus starting as early as week #2. I assume that college students arrive roughly the same length of time before school actually starts so the weekly graph should still be telling of what week classes actually begin. With a final drop in week #5 (Aug 29 – Sep 4), I believe most schools have started classes. However, we see a rise in traffic in two consecutive weeks (Sep 5 – 11, Sep 12 – 18) immediately following week #5. As school has finally kicked into gear at this point it’s very possible gamers are looking to squeeze in some more gaming time to counter the drudgery of their educational woes. As such it is possible there were a few schools that started during weeks #6 and #7. I do feel that it’s safe to say the majority of schools in the US (where we receive 80%+ of our traffic) start class the fourth week of August.

Within the next week I will follow up to this post with a look at our daily chart during the same time frame. That should give us a few more areas of interest to poke around. Kids, enjoy your classes!

6 Unique, No Subscription MMORPGs Available Now

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:00:00 -0600

As MMORPG veterans tire of games that feel way too similar to one another, they look for something new and refreshing. These 6 games all offer a truly different experience - without any subscription fees! (click title to read the full article.)

Rogue School

Tue, 6 Sep 2011 16:35:00 -0600

5 Historic Assassinations of Character and Guild

Sat, 3 Sep 2011 14:00:00 -0600

If you thought assassinations, internal organizational strife, and spies were limited to the real-world then think again. Here we will take a look at some of the more famous accounts of powerful virtual leaders of men falling to individuals, groups, or even to their own foolishness. (click title to read the full article.)

Priceless

Fri, 16 Aug 2011 16:45:00 -0600

Klass Kombat

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:30:00 -0600

Exploring WoW Starter Edition

Sat, 13 Jul 2011 12:50:00 -0600

World of Warcraft is at last joining the free to play crowd. Well…sort of. The game is still pay to play but the World of Warcraft Starter Edition does away with the limited time trial that Blizzard used to offer and replaces it with a new 100% free experience. How does it hold up versus other free to play games?

Overall, it’s an OK experience but unless you are using this as a quick and easy WoW fix it’s going to provide a lot of long term enjoyment. All race and class combinations are available which is a leg up on games like Lord of the Rings Online. So starting out you really won’t notice a difference from pay to play World of Warcraft. There’s no limit to questing and your character is just as powerful as any other noob.

It starts to go downhill when you want to experience the main crux of an MMO: socialization. You can’t mail other players (probably for spam reasons) but worse is that you can’t even form a party! I know World of Warcraft is solo friendly but really that’s pretty lame. You’ll need to find a party leader under level 20 who is willing to invite you if you want to experience WoW’s grouping. Oh and you don’t get access to public chat. You might as well pretend all the other players are NPCs with as much human interaction as you’ll be getting.

In fact it becomes pretty clear just how limited this free to play World of Warcraft really is. Below are some of the most major limitations:

- A player can only have a maximum of 10 gold.

- A player cannot trade through the Auction House, mailbox, or player-to-player.

- A player can’t speak on the public chat channels. The chat is limited to whispers, /say and party chat. (If the player can find a person he can party with.)

- A player can’t create or join a guild.

- A player cannot ‘whisper’ other players unless that player is on the friends list.

- A player can’t form a party but can be invited in to parties from a full WoW player.

- Voice chat is disabled.

- Starter edition players will be pushed back in any log-in queues.

Clearly a lot of the above is to prevent spammers from ruining the experience for other players. Yet there are plenty of free to play games that have solved this problem without such harsh measures against it’s free players. While the World of Warcraft starter edition is an improvement over the week long free trial, it’s a barely.

If your goal is to find a good free to play game, look elsewhere. If your goal is to play World of Warcraft just buy the game. The Starter Edition is not going to drive repeated logins.

Hunger Games

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:40:00 -0600

Gear Gambling

Tue, 9 Aug 2011 14:40:00 -0600

Gear Gambling

Sat, 6 Aug 2011 01:40:00 -0600

Spawn Tactics

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0600

Federation No Longer Seeking Drama Queens

Mon, 1 Aug 2011 12:40:00 -0600

Everyone who has been a part of any sort of online community (forums, a Wiki, an online game, etc.) is well aware that virtual environments are just as prone to drama as the real world. My experience with that has always varied over the years. Normally when it comes to being a part of a Wiki, a forum community, or any other related entity I simply post what I want to and interact with others on my own terms. I see little need to get overly personal on a site or blog about Mega Man games. Online games tend to be a bit different. In past games like Guild Wars I've simply enjoyed the game and interacted with guild-mates within the context of the game and left it at that. That separation can be nice with no one guilting you into playing with them or listening to all of their personal issues. In other situations, I have taken the time to get to know some of the people with whom I regularly interacted. Discussing story ideas for our role-playing guild and other activities requires a certain coordination that developers personal relationships. Being a part of a more personal community certainly has its advantages and disadvantages, but the greatest disadvantage has to be the drama. (click title to read the full article.)

Attention - Testing New Layouts

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:20:00 -0600

This is more of an FYI than anything else. Over the next couple weeks we are going to test some new site designs and layouts. Some changes will be bigger than others. Feel free to give us any feedback you would like but we’ll be monitoring how the new layouts get used.

With that said, we currently have the first new layout/theme up and running. Hope it’s well received but if not it will only take a few minutes to revert back to the old site so no worries!

Quest Markers

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:00:00 -0600

Adventure MMORPG - Choices, Choices

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:00:00 -0600

Anyone interested in playing an adventure MMORPG can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by the vast number of games available. Even within a specific genre of adventure games such as fantasy MMORPG or space MMORPG, the sheer amount of options available can leave any player wondering how to choose between them. So how can you avoid wasting time playing the wrong adventure MMORPG? (click title to read the full article.)

July Updates

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:20:00 -0600

July is such a great month for celebrating independence and burning up in sweltering heat. Sit back, watch some ID4, and lather up that sunblock while you grill. Like any other month there’s some specialty additions that define it. For What MMORPG, we have our own additions that define July.

You may have noticed several new country flags in the top right corner. Up until last week they were all for show, but now we have specialized listings for certain categories for Italy, Australia, France, and Poland. There’s not a ton of international traffic to the site relative to what we see in the US but anything to help make finding games faster is an exciting addition.

Outside of that are just the regular updates with new games, new comics, and new articles. The featured article this month looks into the closing of Star Wars Galaxies and the possible correlation to the launch of The Old Republic. Our most popular recent comic pokes fun at the inventory management systems in MMORPGs. The biggest hit for recently reviewed games is definitely Battle of the Immortals. This is a great Diablo clone with a lot of added depth that can be played for free so check it out!

Not really an addition but I also wanted to point out that we have 100 fans for our Facebook page. We’ve only recently taken an active interest in promoting this further so it’s promising to see we have some early adopting fans. Thanks!

Phoenix Down

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:30:00 -0600

Sony Closes the Gateway to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Fri, 8 Jul 2011 15:00:00 -0600

Star Wars Galaxies is set to close at the end of 2011. Has it merely 'run its course' or is the game being pulled in order to bring more focus onto BioWare's upcoming title, targeted for release around the same time? (click title to read the full article.)

Soulbound

Wed, 6 Jul 2011 13:30:00 -0600

Not All Spam is Bad

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:00:00 -0600

When you run a MMORPG site you are going to get lots of spam about people advertising their various video games. When you run a blog of any kind you are going to get spam about everything. At times, it’s an annoying process to clear out the post queue of the garbage tossed into it. However, it also provides an amusing list of absurd sentences that are pretty fun to analyze and rarely have anything to do with the related topic. Spam is pretty awful in general but when something makes you laugh, it can’t be all bad can it?

Engrish Would be an Improvement

One spammer, in the past 2 weeks, has commented not once, but twice on my very first blog post (from early April). That post is basically an introduction of things to come. Spammer’s response?

“I was probably part contented to rove this web-site.I wanted to thanks in behalf of your date in the exhausted to of this wonderful mean to!! I certainly enjoying every two secs footprints of it and I partake of you bookmarked to into veldt bushy-tailed possessions you blog post.”

Followed shortly thereafter by…

“I was infinitely contented to wallowin this web-site.I wanted to thanks in behalf of your provisions in the palpable estate of this wonderful allot to!! I certainly enjoying every little map of it and I partake of you bookmarked to into visual bushy-tailed possessions you blog post.”

I could understand a mad libs approach to leaving spam comments where you insert adjective A in one spot, noun B in another, etc. In his second spam post this guy/robot just replaces random words from his first post with random dictionary words in his second post. It doesn’t make any less sense though because the first post equally reads like it was written by an illiterate chimpanzee on meth. Way to go!

Misssppelinng

There must be a code among spammers to misspell at least one word in every sentence. I suppose this helps get past spam detectors. It also helps me block the comment. The following have shown up at various points in the blog’s history:

“Thats really srhwed! Good to see the logic set out so well.”

“It’s sopoky how clever some ppl are. Thanks!”

“Real brain power on display. Tahkns for that answer!”

Ironic that none of the people that compliment intelligence have enough of it themselves to spell elementary vocabulary words.

Repetitive Redundancy

This one was very creative:

“I would really like to thank you so much for your job you have made in writing this piece of writing. I am hoping the same most reliable job from you later on as well.”

I hope I don’t fail Mr. Spammer! Lastly, I’m not sure if the one below belongs in the misspelling category or this one. Either way, it’s my favorite:

“That’s not just the best answer. It’s the bestset answer!”

Not only does this spammer invent a word, he/she/it fails to spell it correctly.

Thanks spammers…you’re the bestset.

Gaming Blogs You Didn't Know Existed Part III

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:30:00 -0600

The third in an infinite series of articles exploring new or unknown gaming blogs. Today we discuss MMO blogs written by female gamers - not only are the blogs awesome to read but more girls in gaming is always good. (click title to read the full article.)

Inventory

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:50:00 -0600

June - an Interesting Month for Sci Fi MMORPGs

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:23:00 -0600

It’s been an unfortunate while since a blog posting has been written. I feel that some readers may have been let down but really I know as long as the game listings are up and running people will stay happy. I’m going to make it up with a special next week…

June has been pretty interesting when it comes to space and sci fi MMORPGs. Eve Online was attacked by the same group that took down the Playstation Network, resulting in an inoperable login server temporarily. This was one of the first attacks by the group to target something a little closer to gamers’ hearts and forums in various MMO communities were not taking it too well. It’s one thing to go after a corporate entity that seems to hate their customers, but going after an indie gaming company? That brought a bit of a rage – not that I imagine the hackers care too much.

Firefly Universe Online is making a comeback and is now under development again, this time by the indie crew DarkCryo. Hopefully this will live to see a release as there are many die hard Firefly fans. Unfortunately it seems like this will get shut down by legal issues before it gets anywhere, but perhaps will see a product where they can make some money. They do love their money.

Lastly, Star Wars Galaxies will be shutting down before 2011 ends. One can only speculate that Lucas Arts has no desire for this game to compete with Bioware’s upcoming “The Old Republic”. Also, the game has been a shell since a complete revamp outraged the player base. Perhaps this will be a lasting lesson for developers to enhance gaming experiences, not slop together something nobody asked for.

Language Barrier

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:30:00 -0600

A Real Hero

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:00:00 -0600

Storytelling in MMORPG Worlds

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:10:00 -0600

One important aspect of the immersion into the game world is the way that players are invited to interact with the story of the game as they play. While storytelling is an important part of a game of any genre, game developers have a unique set of opportunities and challenges in MMORPGs. How have game developers contended with these challenges? And what is in store for the future of online role-playing games? (click title to read the full article.)

New Spells

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:30:00 -0600

MMO Advisor and Facebook

Thu, 9 Jun 2011 12:13:00 -0600

It’s always fun making changes and new additions to the website. Seeing the website grow and evolve is a rewarding experience, and I’m pretty happy with the changes since What MMORPG launched about 1.5 years ago. Over the past couple of days there are a couple new additions to the site. First is the addition of the Facebook ‘like’ button placed above every page. Now that the website is fairly deep with content, I feel that it’s important to start building a community. Facebook and the forums are both great ways to at least get that process rolling. By ‘liking’ the Facebook, users are helping to show their support for the work invested into the site. The Facebook group also serves as a way to highlight top articles and comics on our website. It’s especially useful if you don’t use our RSS feed.

The second addition is more of a tool to help gamers find their new MMOs quickly and easily. It’s called MMO Advisor and it works by offering up several selections by which to sort MMO games. After you hit submit, your query will search through our database of roughly 150 games to see which games best fit your criteria. It’s more or less a beta version and there’s more work to be done, but I don’t feel like plastering beta on something just cause it’s new. I’m accepting comments and opinions on what to improve, and I feel like that’s what’s most important.

PS – Today’s Google doodle is a guitar you can actually play. That’s awesome.

Perception

Tue, 7 Jun 2011 13:00:00 -0600

Virtual Currency Exchange

Mon, 6 Jun 2011 12:30:00 -0600

Players have the opportunity to make out of game transactions with real world currency, and then return to the game world to have the goods delivered to them. As these transactions have become more and more common, the laws of economics have caused approximate exchange rates to emerge between online and offline currencies. (click title to read the full article.)

Age of Conan a Little Late to Freemium

Sun, 5 Jun 2011 16:00:00 -0600

Funcom has finally announced that their most visceral MMO, Age of Conan, will be converted to a freemium model this summer. It’s also going unrated, whatever that means. I find it amusing that at the end of their PR announcement they glorify Age of Conan as a smashing success by shipping over 1.4 million copies around the world. Despite such a “smashing success”, we are seeing forum posts like this one that depict Age of Conan as a ghost town 3 years after it’s release. Freemium has worked for other higher profile releases such as Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons Online, and it will work out for Age of Conan. The only question is why did it take Funcom so long to switch the game over?

There is certainly an element of fear for gaming companies to give away their subscription based product for free. For one it’s possible to make less money as players who used to subscribe can now technically play for free. Secondly, there’s a perception that free games are poor quality and by going to a free model Funcom may feel that they are saying that Age of Conan is not a high quality game. In reality the freemium model gives underpopulated games the feature they most need: players.

Age of Conan offers players a world with a combat system that is different than a typical MMORPG. The depth of content pales in comparison to games like World of Warcraft however. Different isn’t enough to keep an MMORPG running long term, but compared to many other free MMORPGs, Age of Conan will be a breath of fresh air. This should have been done around winter 2010 when lack of population started to be more noticeable. By the time this free version goes live, games like TERA and Guild Wars 2 will be hot on it’s tracks and perhaps not give people enough time to get drawn into Age of Conan. Nonetheless, it’s better late than never but I think MMO game publishers have a lot to learn in how to best market their products. MMORPGs are living entities and the pricing structures should be no different.

Level Requirements

Fri, 3 Jun 2011 17:00:00 -0600

Quest Rewards

Tue, 31 May 2011 20:30:00 -0600

Famous MMORPG Hacks, Bugs, and Glitches

Sun, 29 May 2011 14:00:00 -0600

The world of MMORPGs, like the rest of technology, is constantly moving forward. Even as new games are being developed, game studios are releasing additional content, updates, and patches for their games continuously to keep up with the changing and advancing landscape of online gaming. The constant modification and advancement of these games has allowed for a myriad of bugs and glitches to arise, as would be the case with any computer program. Most of these glitches have minor effects and will be noticed by only a minority of players. Others, however, have had much broader effects and have been noticed and even exploited by masses of players. These are a few of the most famous MMORPG hacks, bugs, and glitches.(click title to read the full article.)

There is no Treasure Room

Fri, 27 May 2011 15:00:00 -0600

MMORPGs Need More Niche

Thu, 26 May 2011 18:30:00 -0600

The MMORPG genre is one of the fastest changing genres that feels like one of the slowest changing genres. When Ultima Online launched we had a full open world where everyone was catered to, but that meant carefree crafting and monster hunter folk had to interact with dangerous player killers. Then EverQuest came along and provided an outlet for greater questing and PvE challenges. Eve Online offered the open world (well..universe) experience that Ultima Onlne offered but provided a safe place for players who absolutely hated PvP. They also offered a leveling experience that never required players to be online to advance their characters.

Later on, World of Warcraft would provide an experience that anyone could get in to. They combined usability with a near perfect element of hanging carrots on a stick, in terms of character advancement, in front of their players. Then Guild Wars proved you could provide an AAA MMO (albeit one heavily instanced) that provided content on par with subscription based MMOs. Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) launched popular IPs into the MMO space and provided almost no meaningful PvP content but were strong on PvE. LOTRO also offered an in depth and ongoing story for players. DDO gave us an action oriented combat system with a game that was entirely instanced. LOTRO and DDO would shake things up again by merging a reduced content version of their games for free players with the regular content available for paying players.

In about 15 years we have seen everything the MMORPG genre could offer us. Other games, in addition to the above, such as Planetside and Darkfall added something unique on their release. However, at this point developers are never going to revolutionize the genre. What developers, and probably more importantly publishers, need to realize is the power of the niche. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead mix and match features in an effort to garner 200k subscribers. Developers already know how to do a feature well because it’s already been done. There are so many of these key features that can be combined to attract players that developers have thousands of different product possibilities. Eastern MMO developers with smaller budgets have already realized this. Games like Allods and Aika are nothing substantially new. Even compared to each other the big difference is Aika’s large scale nation war vs. Allods effort to clone World of Warcraft’s gameplay. Yet that is enough to separate and create two different playerbases.

If big budget publishers and developers got behind reusing and combining already perfected features then THAT would be MMO revolution. MMOs would have less total features but the ones pushed out together would be the only ones that the target audience would care about. Players would have hundreds of significantly unique worlds to choose from without any degradation in quality. Publishers would have more commercially successful ventures.

Remember, 200k in sales for a non-MMO is considered a success for pretty much anything outside of major IPs such as Halo, Mario, Zelda, and Call of Duty or games by Blizzard and Bioware. Why should 200k subscriptions or a revenue stream from a F2P cash shop that equals 200k subscriptions be any different? In fact, it’s worth more because of the ongoing revenue. Target niches and see a higher ROI. The blueprints for success have already been laid.

Dark Lord's Gold

Tue, 24 May 2011 15:30:00 -0600

New Games, New Comics

Sat, 21 May 2011 14:30:00 -0600

It’s been a great week with some cool additions to the site. The biggest of which is the reinclusion of Digital Dragons as the primary comic at what mmo. Comics 17 and 18 were both posted on time during the afternoon on Tuesday and Friday. We’re still working on the direction for the comics so feel free to contact us and give us an opinion on which you like best. Hopefully the comics will serve as a good distraction or comic relief from the daily grind of both life and any MMO where you may be leveling.

A few new games that have been added over the last week are Eden Eternal, Last Dynasty, and Eredan. I would say Eredan is the most enjoyable for me as I’m a fan of more strategic and tactical gameplay. Last Dynasty is probably only going to be for those that like a lot of grinding and enjoy end game RvR. Eden Eternal offers some cool town building opportunities as well as the option to learn new classes to change to on the fly as you level up. It splits up regular levels and job levels which does help make the grinding less tedious. The cell shaded style graphics are pretty cool too.

Lastly, I want to reiterate that in addition to true MMO games (those that are massive with hundreds to thousands interacting simultaneously), we also offer many an online RPG. That means a smattering of games which you do play online, do still interact with players, and do level up or advance in some other way to improve a character or avatar. Online RPGs are not always a good fit, but if they are unique enough like the persistent world CCG Urban Rivals that has levels, guilds, and more then we try to include it.

That does it for this week’s update.

What's Left

Fri, 20 May 2011 12:00:00 -0600

Introduction to Open Ended Games

Thu, 19 May 2011 22:00:00 -0600

One of the major trends in computer and video games in the last few years has been the rise of open ended games. These games, also called non-linear games or sandbox games, are known for the open nature of their environments and storylines. They can be overwhelming to the uninitiated so this article serves to assist new open ended gamers whether it be for single or multi player RPGs. (click title to read the full article.)

Roleplaying

Tue, 17 May 2011 16:30:00 -0600

Are Free Multiplayer War Games for You?

Fri, 13 May 2011 17:00:00 -0600

By taking characteristics from both the MMORPG and strategy game genres, free online strategy games can be a lot of fun for a wide variety of players, even those who might not have originally thought of multiplayer strategy games as something they would be interested in. By taking a look at a few of the things that make these games unique, we will try to answer the question, are free multiplayer war games for you? (click title to read the full article.)

What's New on 5/9 Week?

Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:00 -0600

Yes…the title is boring. I am blogging lazily today. In some part it’s because I am actively working to improve the site. In other parts it’s because I’m busy leveling up various virtual characters.

The big changes this week will be the addition of at least one country (Germany) with France and Poland coming soon. As they become available, you can access the country specific sections by using the flags in the upper right hand corner. You may only see flags available on certain parts of the website for a while during the testing period. The website will remain in English, regardless of the country chosen. As stated last week the real difference is going to be game selection and localization segmented by country.

I’m excited about adding Germany and getting some feedback on the experience as a whole. For example, clicking on the German flag then clicking on Fiesta Online will bring you to the German language based website. Based on what users find as the most interesting games I will continue to adjust the listings to provide better user experiences for our international MMO friends.

The other announcement is the continuation of Digital Dragons which appeared as our first 2 comics: Monster’s Way and Fantasy Armor. There are a couple things left to finish up before that comic hits it’s stride, but we should be good to go with an actual regular schedule starting next week! We’ll either be releasing them on Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday – more to come!

And for now I am going to get back to playing some MMORPGs…for research! Yeah!

Toppling the Giant: Where is WoW's Competition?

Tue, 10 May 2011 11:30:00 -0600

Whether you tried to play WoW and didn't like it, or if you burned out on it, you may still be interested in checking out some of the most similar and recent pay to play MMORPG titles - or at least ones that started out as pay to play MMOs. (click title to read the full article.)

Flash MMORPG Optimization Tips

Wed, 4 May 2011 18:30:00 -0600

Thanks to breakthroughs in Internet bandwidth and flash graphics in the past couple of years, browser games have seen new levels of success in the gaming community, particularly in the field of flash MMORPGs. (click title to read the full article.)

Hello UK MMORPGs

Tue, 3 May 2011 17:15:00 -0600

Now that What MMORPG has conquered the hearts of millions in the US (well..rounding up), it’s time to move onto the UK and start gaining an international presence. Obviously, people have been able to and have been accessing our site from the UK for a while. So what does it all mean when I say What MMORPG is moving into the UK?

The most recognizable visual change to the website that are some flags on the top right corner of the website. They look like this:

These flag selections allow you to change your selection of games to be focused either in the world (default listings), US/Canada (mostly default listings), or the UK. All you have to do is click the flag! These listings change several of the categories at What MMORPG to focus on UK MMORPGs, games either localized to UK/Europe or that are simply more popular in the UK. For example, you’ll see Football Superstars ranked much higher in the related UK pages than you will for US pages. Considering most US visitors think of Football as the game with quarterbacks and not the one with a goalie, it’s no surprise that UK visitors find Football Superstars more interesting.

This is the early stages of our UK addition so expect more games and better tailored listings to follow. As always, we’re welcome to suggestions either via the blog or by contacting us directly.

On Page Game Ratings and New Content

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 14:45:00 -0600

Today is another big step in continually adding more content and features to What MMORPG. You will now find game ratings on every game listing page. Below is an example of the updated game listing:

To add your input to the rest of our community, all you need to do now is click “rate game”. In addition to this new feature brings the ability to sort games by ‘rating’ in addition to the unique categories that What MMORPG provides. We will still be maintaining the individual ‘user reviews’ pages for more detailed rankings and reviews. The other big difference between these two is that you need to be logged on to add a ‘user review’ but to rate a game you do not need to be logged in. These two review/rating features available side by side will provide yet another way to quickly and easily find the MMORPG that’s right for you.

For those just looking for an interesting read you can check out our new article on virtual goods. Free games depend on a virtual economy to succeed and the article goes into how that’s not going to change anytime soon. In addition there is a new comic in graph style available here.

That’s it for now. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Virtual Goods - Why the Virtual Market is Here to Stay

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:30:00 -0600

Game studios have started to monetize their games by offering virtual goods and content to purchase. It's an interesting development that only continues to grow in popularity. (click title to read the full article.)

Armor Efficiency

Apr, 18 Mar 2011 12:30:00 -0600

Items Malls and You

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:15:00 -0600

Item malls are starting to pop up in the online gaming community like lemonade stands in the summer. Where do these item malls come from? For those unaware, they historically have appeared in games with a free to play model. The basic concept behind them being that you can buy virtual items to help improve your character or improve the speed at which you level up and develop your character. They have at times been controversial, but adoption has gradually increased over time.

The need for selling virtual items seems somewhat obvious. Game developers can either put ads in games or offer premium game enhancement experiences. Seeing ads for Mountain Dew in a fantasy MMORPG would kill any semblance of immersion. That leaves premium game enhancements as the alternative. The issue is that some games can go way overboard on providing virtual items that unbalance the gaming experience. That’s why we are slowly building out an item mall database here at What MMORPG. The idea is to give players knowledge about the items available before fully jumping into an MMO.

Premium programs are certainly starting to evolve though. Released as a paid subscription MMORPG, Dungeons and Dragons Online has successfully transitioned to free play. The program for DDO VIP members enjoy extra content that makes leveling faster and less repetitive. This item mall extension has even gone to the point of virtual item malls popping up in paid MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and EverQuest 2. World of Warcraft’s items are fairly tame and cosmetic in nature. Sony Online Entertainment went a step further by selling virtual equipment and even characters on specially marked servers.

The premium models will continue to evolve through trial and error. If developers want to stay ahead of the curve they will have to find a good balance of exciting items with fair play. You can’t drive off 100% free players because they are the lifeblood of the free to play population. However, you need to give reasons for some players to give you money. It’s a tough task but some game developers are really doing a great job by constantly looking at the big picture. Give paid players the ability to advance faster but allow equal maximum power between free and paid players. In that case, everyone wins.

DDO VIP and Premium Player Programs

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:30:00 -0600

While a huge amount of content can be accessed from a free DDO account, the DDO VIP program is considered by most players to be the pinnacle of what the title has to offer. (click title to read the full article.)

New MMORPGs Suck

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:45:00 -0600

New MMORPGs almost always start out like a dream come true. Features are going to be included that will revolutionize the genre. The setting is so fantastic I can’t wait to jump in and live my virtual there. Combat has some new quirks to it that are going to make things a bit more interesting than the rest of the competition. Then, as release draws near, features drop or are modified to the point where the word ‘feature’ sort of loses it’s meaning. I don’t have a specific game to tie this example to because almost every new MMORPG starts out with such similar offerings. Ultimately, almost every new MMORPG fails to deliver on any significant number of those ‘feature’ offerings.

That’s why new MMORPGs suck. It’s not really that the final product quality is worse, it’s that it isn’t any better. The underlying systems may be the same, but there is no way a brand new MMORPG can compete with a game that has had 5 years to develop and add content.

A great and fair example is comparing Warhammer Online, which released in 2008, to Dark Age of Camelot, which released in 2001. Three years later the only advantages it has going for it is the Warhammer setting (advantage to some), better graphics, and the larger player base that most newer MMORPGs enjoy for at least a little while. Dark Age of Camelot has a better, more balanced RvR system which is at the heart of both games. The wars are more epic, the classes more interesting, and there is simply more to do in Dark Age of Camelot. Balancing hundreds of skills between several classes and adding content for players just takes time and the 7 year head start for Dark Age of Camelot does a lot.

New MMORPGs are always going to suck unless developers take chances on providing and actually delivering on new, exciting features. TERA is an upcoming MMO that wants to provide more action oriented, reflex based combat in a large game world that isn’t heavily instance based like most action MMORPGs. Whether the rest of the game is worthwhile or they even provide this as a meaningful feature remains to be seen. Yet it is something different and something to keep an eye out on. Game developers, if you want to make a new game that is better because it’s better and not because people get suckered in by shiny new objects you need to stop reinventing the wheel!

MMO Game Longevity: An Easy Decision?

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:00:00 -0600

Maybe it’s because I’ve played over 100 MMOs, but I’m at the point where I can tell now within a couple hours of playing if this is going to be a game that stays on my computer long term. Almost every concept imaginable has been put forth into one MMO game or another. The difference between each MMO game is how they combine those concepts and how effectively they execute on each aspect.

One of the most common concepts that can be found in your typical MMO game is linear leveling vs. free form skill based leveling. Of course, within each there are a few different ways of going about things. For example, linear leveling could encompass gaining levels through quests, PvE, PvP, crafting, and more. Free form skill based leveling could allow broad experience points gained through the same activities as linear leveling, but with points put into individual skills and abilities. Another option could be skills that raise based on usage, such as improving sword fighting ability by using a sword in combat. You might even find a hybrid between the two. What matters is that you will find one of the above the most rewarding of the bunch. You’re going to be more likely to select the MMO game with your preferred leveling scheme. Since you are introduced to leveling in some facet early on that’s a pretty quick realization.

Another aspect of MMO game longevity that you will discover as soon as you engage in your first bout of combat is the fighting system. How action oriented is the game? How strategic? If it’s a full on massive first person shooter then you know ‘twitch’ skills are important. If combat is turn based and requires careful skill use then it’s a bit more strategic. You will find this out early in every MMO Game and is another thing that contributes to making an early “leave on my computer” decision.

There are a lot of the above factors to go into but my point is simple enough. Trust your first impressions after playing whatever game you play next. Don’t try to force it. Unless you’ve never played an MMO game before, you will find that this is a decision to be made with minimal pain. There are so many MMORPGs to choose from that if one doesn’t work there is a slew to choose from. If you’re going to devote hours and days of your life to an MMO game, make sure it’s the best MMORPG for you!

Work Week Wrap Up

Sun, 11 Apr 2011 13:00:00 -0600

The past couple days have brought a new article, a comic, and 2 new games released in 2011. If you are interested in games that you could literally start playing within a few minutes then you might find our browser based MMO feature. Every day the number that’s available to be played from your web browser grows. The entertainment runs from MMORPGs to strategy to more action oriented games.

I’m exploring new options in the comics department and thus the most recent comic follows comic #14 by continuing the chart trend. Hope you enjoy the most recent comic. In a few weeks I hope to find the set of comics that really fit the personality of What MMORPG.

If you interested in reading about the two new mini-reviews you can check out the Metal Assault review and MicroVolts review. Metal Assault is currently in closed beta, but you can sign up through our site. MicroVolts was released fairly recently and could be a good substitute for those looking for FPS gameplay. That about sums it up for the work week wrap up!

Wealth Distribution

Apr, 8 Mar 2011 14:30:00 -0600

Browser Based MMO Games on the Rise

Thu, 7 Apr 2011 14:00:00 -0600

Browser based MMOs continue to grow in popularity, bolstered by the appeal of limited to no downloads required. Now that comes with more and more variety. (click title to read the full article.)

What MMORPG Blog Launches!

Thu, 7 Apr 2011 13:00:00 -0600

This has been a long time coming. Today brings a new blog that will live on with frequent updates for great glory to all visitors of What MMORPG. The purpose of the blog will be to highlight new articles, new features, and new games that are posted to the website. The plan is to include all blog postings with our current RSS feed (which you can find at the bottom of any page). Updates will be given 3-4 times/week so don’t be afraid of being overwhelmed.

Similar to our intent in providing well suited MMORPGs with minimal effort, I want to provide concise blog posts that give you, the reader, exactly what you need. That means well summarized posts to assist in finding content that you would find interesting. If you want further that, I’m always open to having a conversation both in the forum and comment system.

One current limitation of this blog will be that login details between our site and forum are not linked to the blog. While you don’t need to register to post comments, they will be queued for moderation unless you do. This will be synced within a few months.

In any case, I hope you enjoy another new feature as What MMORPG continues to improve, following gradually increased support in the MMO community. After all, a website doesn’t do much good without any visitors!

Leeroy Jenkins Grouping for Noobs

Sun, 3 Apr 2011 22:00:00 -0600

Leeroy Jenkins, in his amazingly stupid but funny video, not only entertains we MMO gamers but shows us 5 things to better improve our game play. (click title to read the full article.)

Gaming Blogs You Didn't Know Existed: Part II

Sun, 3 Apr 2011 15:00:00 -0600

The second in an infinite series of articles exploring new or unknown gaming blogs. In this edition I look at Anime Sentinel, MMO Game Site, and Psychochild's Blog. That scales us from general online gaming to anime to game development! (click title to read the full article.)

Great Balls of Fire

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:15:00 -0600

That Special MMORPG with Pets

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:00:00 -0600

A more unusual, but gaining in popularity, subgenre in the online RPG space is the MMORPG with pets. Adding a pet mechanic to the game introduces another level of complexity in that players need to control not just their characters, but also one or more additional beasts or minions.

Not The Place

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:15:00 -0600

Feign Death

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:15:00 -0600

Rift Soul System Introduction

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 12:30:00 -0600

Developer Trion Worlds recently released Rift: Planes of Telara in the United States, Australia and Europe to rave reviews and some truly astonishing subscriber numbers. For a game that has taken some of the best ideas and features from Warhammer: Online, Lord of the Rings: Online and Aion, how is it managing to differentiate itself from the crowd while other titles languish? The answer lies in the Rift Soul System, a unique new twist on creating class archetypes for players.

Respawn

Wed, 17 Mar 2011 23:30:00 -0600

Top 10 Memorable MMORPG Music Tunes

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:20:00 -0600

Long after canceling your account and wiping a game from your hard drive, many memories of your old MMORPG may remain. One of the ways we experience those memories is through sound. Scores and compositions cooperate with visuals to craft the overall atmosphere of a game. Within those scores are the individual tracks and tunes that bring back waves of nostalgia. So come, stay a while and listen. Enjoy the top 10 (+1) most memorable MMORPG music tunes!

Chat Box

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:00:00 -0600

Five Benefits of MMORPGs

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:30:00 -0600

Frequently gamers are told how their hobbies are destroying society by not evidence, but conjecture. MMORPG players, however, can rest on science that there hobby brings many personal benefits.

Dragon Love

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:30:00 -0600

Cutey

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:30:00 -0600

Gaming Blogs You Didn't Know Existed: Part I

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:30:00 -0600

The first in an infinite series of articles exploring new or unknown gaming blogs. In this edition I look at MMO Symposium, Khushi, and Game Writer Central which should offer something especially for fans of EQ2, TERA, and scifi/humor, respectively.

Arenas in MMORPGs and E-Sports

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 23:30:00 -0600

Arenas in MMORPGs have provided the world with a new environment for gamers to compete in, winning in game items or sometimes real life cash and prizes.

Free Loot

Tue, 4 Jan 2011 02:00:00 -0600

BGG.con vs. QuakeCon - For The Love of Gaming

Sun, 5 Dec 2010 23 :30:00 -0600

BGG.con and QuakeCon are two of the largest, most entertaining gaming conventions in the world. The difference is one caters to PC gaming and one caters to board gaming. Both are great events with plenty of interesting similarities as well as differences.

Prince

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 02:00:00 -0600

Gaia Online - An Anime RPG Community Spotlight

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:30:00 -0600

Featuring graphics simple enough to play on almost any computer and a rich variety of games and activities, Gaia Online provides a reliable social hub for fans of anime and RPGs. The Gaia Online community is active enough to be seen at major anime/gaming conventions across the United States, where players convene to cosplay and get unique items for their avatars. Will you be joining their ranks in 2011?

Dreams and Realities: Four Intellectual Properties MMO Gamers Need

Mon, 16 Nov 2010 22:00:00 -0600

With fan bases already built up many publishers are looking at existing IPs before deciding to create their own. These are the ones fans need the most so read carefully!

Realism

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 14:45:00 -0600

Speeding

Thu, 4 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600

The Evolution of Fast Leveling MMORPGs

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:00:00 -0600

An editorial look at the factors that have led to the development of fast leveling MMORPGs that allow a player to gain levels at a speed like never before.

Deception

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:00:00 -0600

Community is More Than a Game

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0600

The most important aspect of games in the 21st century is community and that isn't going to change anytime soon. The genre of video games that incorporates it best is certainly the MMO genre. It has the power make or break a successful game.

Death and Resurrection: The Best and Worst Cancelled MMORPGs

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 10:30:00 -0600

Dedicated fan-bases just can't say good-bye to their favorite MMORPGs. This is the story of both: the games that deserved to die, and the games good enough to save. You will see old classics as well as games you just know should have been better.

Funcom: The Price of a Bad Launch

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:30:00 -0600

Age of Conan and Anarchy Online. Both games flopped their first year, yet both games continue to be played and have even become popular. Yet, how much was lost, and how high is the price of a bad launch?

Continuing the Legacy: The New Final Fantasy Game

Wed, 4 Aug 2010 15:35:00 -0600

Square Enix's new Final Fantasy MMORPG promises upgraded graphics, new play mechanics, and a commitment to the most popular tropes of the series.

What is Power Leveling?

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:30:00 -0600

Power leveling is a prevalent concept that has been around as long as levels have existed in MMORPGs - forever. If you've never been quite sure, discover it's definition here.

Pushing the Edge; Innovative and Unique MMORPG Experiences

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:45:00 -0600

To bring players a unique playing experience, MMORPG developers are pushing technology to its limits. It's a difficult task, but one with an epic payoff.

Fantasy Armor

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:00:00 -0600

PVP Combat in MMORPGs: the Thrill of the Kill

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:45:00 -0600

What is Player vs. Player combat? What is it all about? More importantly, is an MMORPG that focuses on PvP an MMORPG for you?

Monster's Way

Thu, 30 Jun 2010 09:00:00 -0600

World Cup Soccer MMORPGs - FIFA Meets Warcraft

Wed, 29 Jun 2010 12:15:00 -0600

The complete list of soccer and football MMORPGs. Be a player, be a manger, be a coach in a persistent, competitive soccer universe.

The Cost to Make a Quality MMORPG

Wed, 22 Jun 2010 09:00:00 -0600

MMORPGs must be expensive to make to charge $15/month, right? Read about the costs to develop both bigger and smaller name MMORPGs.

Women's Appearance in MMORPGs - East vs. West

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:30:00 -0600

Even in the earliest MMORPGs, players have had a choice to play female characters. This would initially seem to be a strong example of equality for women, but a closer examination of the female character shows a disparity, not only in the male and female gender within MMORPGs, but also in the way that females are depicted between eastern and western MMORPGs. Not only is the MMORPG clothing different, but even the body types of women are presented differently in the different styles.

Find a New MMORPG in 7 Simple Steps

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:00:00 -0600

Ready to find a new MMORPG? The choice was pretty easy back in 1999. You had Ultima Online, Everquest, Asheron's Call, and The Realm. If you looked really hard there were a few others such as The 4th Coming and Nexus. Fast forward to present day and over a hundred offerings clog the landscape. So, whether you are looking for your first MMO or have played dozens before, I recommend 7 simple steps that are worth following for a successful adventure.

Celebrity MMO Gamers - Who is Slaying Dragons With Me?

Tue, 06 Jun 2010 11:00:00 -0600

Read about the MMORPGs that popular celebrities, actors, atheletes, and rock stars play. They may not shout it to the heavens but they are there and some will definitely surprise you.

Indie MMORPG Develeopers Making Great Games

Sun, 30 May 2010 09:00:00 -0600

For every Blizzard Entertainment there are dozens of smaller indie developers that are creating enjoyable MMORPGs.

Good MMORPGs for Free? Yes!

Mon, 24 May 2010 09:00:00 -0600

Most people assume that subscription MMORPGs are the higher quality games, and that you can't find a good MMORPG for free. Wrong!