Originally Posted by
Selastan
So...I love the idea of the MMORPG. A fantasy world where you can leave your old life behind and live in a new, more fantastic reality. Trouble is, every single one wants to be an action RPG first. They might not start off that way, but the longer the games go on, the more they gravitate to skill-based action RPGs with a focus on endgame-instanced content.
It happened with WoW, of course. Torghast was an eye-opener for me. I expected a mode like Hades, where I could make endless progress and eventually power my way through. But Blizzard decided to make every run start with a blank slate, and nerfed any power that seemed too good. Like everything else, it became a test of skill in combat.
Now, I'm not too upset about WoW. War is in the title, of course it's going to focus on that. What I AM upset about...is Old School Runescape. My old go-to for my escapism. While there was very little to do that didn't result in a fight, fighting was always...easy. You right clicked on the thing, and as long as you were leveled and equipped right it died. Sometimes you ate if things got dicey. That's all it took for players who loved crafting to do what they did. They didn't need to master tick manipulation, flinching, or prayer flicking. But as the game went on and more players voted in new content, there was always a trend. New Dungeons, new bosses, new master level quests, all get voted in. But new skills? Not once.
It gets even worse with newer MMORPGs, like Black Desert, Final Fantasy XIV, and ESO. These games are almost entirely combat focused, they feature real-time dodging and character positioning. I'm not saying I'm bad at these things, and these games need to be dumbed down. I love Dark Souls, and have done complete playthroughs of Dark Souls III and its DLC more than 20 times by now. I just go to MMOs for different reasons. If it's a real RPG with a living online world, why is the only role one can play 3 different flavors of world-saving hero? What about those who want to be blacksmiths, or innkeepers, or horse breeders, or merchants, or potion brewers? Will these ever be treated as more than a side-job? Can we not have an RPG made for someone other than the hyper ADHD crowd who quit if they haven't slain a world-eating demon lord every five seconds?