Would you like if WoW became a "sandbox MMORPG" instead of "theme park"?

[Deleted]

ok ok, WoW is the king of "theme park" MMO's but hear me out.

I just had a wonderful experience watching a certain streamer playing "Project Gorgon" a "sandbox" MMO made by a husband and wife.
At the start of the stream i was like "man this graphics and gameplay suck, i couldnt play this"...but before i knew it i spent 2 or 3 hours watching him play a immersive game where the player creates his own adventure and progression in the game is made without any kind of "handholding".
It was magical because it was the first time i was seeing a "sandbox" MMO in action.

I saw him solving puzzles by taking notes and reading every hint he came across.
But i also saw him solve a puzzle just to open a empty chest at the end full of surprises

The closest thing i have played to "sandbox" was maybe the "Elders Scrolls: Skyrim and Oblivion" but "Project Gorgon" is on another level of immersion.

The closest thing in WoW to "sandbox" was WOD's hidden quests, events and rares, where exploration rewards the player with a "spontaneous adventure" that is NOT linear and the game doesnt handhold the player.
No yellow exclamation points of any kind. No handholding. Just a spontaneous adventure without direction.

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Would you like to see WoW implement in its gameplay "sandbox" progression?
Not entirely, but maybe some elements?
Do you think it would be cool for the game?

[Soon-TM]

ok ok, WoW is the king of "theme park" MMO's but hear me out.

I just had a wonderful experience watching a certain streamer playing "Project Gorgon" a "sandbox" MMO made by a husband and wife.
At the start of the stream i was like "man this graphics and gameplay suck, i couldnt play this"...but before i knew it i spent 2 or 3 hours watching him play a immersive game where the player creates his own adventure and progression in the game is made without any kind of "handholding".
It was magical because it was the first time i was seeing a "sandbox" MMO in action.

I saw him solving puzzles by taking notes and reading every hint he came across.
But i also saw him solve a puzzle just to open a empty chest at the end full of surprises

The closest thing i have played to "sandbox" was maybe the "Elders Scrolls: Skyrim and Oblivion" but "Project Gorgon" is on another level of immersion.

The closest thing in WoW to "sandbox" was WOD's hidden quests, events and rares, where exploration rewards the player with a "spontaneous adventure" that is NOT linear and the game doesnt handhold the player.
No yellow exclamation points of any kind. No handholding. Just a spontaneous adventure without direction.

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Would you like to see WoW implement in its gameplay "sandbox" progression?
Not entirely, but maybe some elements?
Do you think it would be cool for the game?

I'd love to see that, but imo it's highly unlikely for Blizzard to steer WoW that way. Maybe on another game, provided that Blizz can give pause to their "e-sports" obsession m

[MoanaLisa]

Sandbox MMO's are cool but once you go down the road of being a theme park MMO it's difficult to do that.

Blizzard gave it a nod though with Timeless Isle which a lot of players disliked at first because they didn't really know what to do when they first got there. Blizzard has since played around with the idea in the ways you mentioned.

Once players get used to directed play though, which is just another name for theme park, undirected play is usually not well liked. The word 'lazy' gets tossed around a lot since players are mostly just set down somewhere and need to find their own way.

Another example: Take the dailies in Warlords where you were set down in some area and filled up a bar. You could literally do any sort of thing you wanted within that area to get the thing done. It was a slight nod toward sandbox thinking and people loathed it. Many, many thought that the old quest givers and a selection of quests that tell you to get X number of specific things, kill Y number of something else and destroy Z number of special locations was much better. Directed versus non-directed.

[FoxyAnatoliy]

wow is already a sandbox game

[Wildstars]

I would like it but Blizzard will never do it. They care about their casuals too much.

wow is already a sandbox game

Nice joke.

[Pull My Finger]

ok ok, WoW is the king of "theme park" MMO's but hear me out.

I just had a wonderful experience watching a certain streamer playing "Project Gorgon" a "sandbox" MMO made by a husband and wife.
At the start of the stream i was like "man this graphics and gameplay suck, i couldnt play this"...but before i knew it i spent 2 or 3 hours watching him play a immersive game where the player creates his own adventure and progression in the game is made without any kind of "handholding".

I guess a "sandbox" WoW is something that would appeal to people who are also able to spend 3 hours passively watching other people play some shit.

Also, what you were watching there was essentially a solo gameplay experience and games like BotW will always be able to do that 1000 times better than an online game.

[33kamous3]

I guess a "sandbox" WoW is something that would appeal to people who are also able to spend 3 hours passively watching other people play some shit.

Also, what you were watching there was essentially a solo gameplay experience and games like BotW will always be able to do that 1000 times better than an online game.

I would tend to think the opposite; I very much prefer sandbox-style to theme-park, but I absolutely cannot stand watching other people's gamer videos or streams. Sandbox games are much more active, since the player is actively making decisions rather than passively following directions.

The expansions where most players seem to feel things went south were Cata/MoP/WoD, which is also where they started doing more "CLICK TO COMPLETE" quests and dungeons that were heavily chaperoned by npc dialogue and raid-warning-style instructions.

However, as much as I prefer the sandbox, I doubt it would make sense for Blizzard to lean back too heavily in that direction. Many players get frustrated or intimidated when they don't have clear directions, and many probably would miss some of the "toasts" (QUEST COMPLETE!!!) and similar elements.

[Deleted]

I guess a "sandbox" WoW is something that would appeal to people who are also able to spend 3 hours passively watching other people play some shit.

Also, what you were watching there was essentially a solo gameplay experience and games like BotW will always be able to do that 1000 times better than an online game.

With age i have become more of a "watcher" than a "player".
I dont know why but i cant play for more than one hour without taking a break and tire myself out.
And its starting to pissing me off to the point that i decided to buy and play Bless Online and level up a character to max level (day 30) just so i can prove myself that i can still "play".

I dont know what is wrong with me, i just have a hard time having fun with games nowadays.

[Pull My Finger]

I dont know why but i cant play for more than one hour without taking a break and tire myself out.

I can relate to that. I'm not able to play games for several hours any more either. I tend to get tired and unfocused. I don't know what exactly changed. Maybe it's simply the age and the fact that you get les singularily absorbed by things than a teenager. Or it's the fact that one just gets drained from working all day. Or perhaps it's the fact that you've been already staring at screens for 8+ hours in the office by the time you're free. Maybe it's all of the above.

[Kokolums]

Wow is not an MMO. There are no MMOs on the market. An MMO focuses on social play. WoW focuses on raiding and achievement. What you're describing doesn't sound like an MMO either since it sounds like a lot of solo puzzles without any mention of playing with others.

[Deleted]

Wow is not an MMO. There are no MMOs on the market. An MMO focuses on social play. WoW focuses on raiding and achievement. What you're describing doesn't sound like an MMO either since it sounds like a lot of solo puzzles without any mention of playing with others.

WoW is a MMO. Heavily focused in instanced content but still a MMO.
In Project Gorgon i saw the streamer doing the first dungeon of the game and before that a NPC warned him about a "Mega Spider" (lol) inside the dungeon.
He spent at least 30min inside that dungeon with other players.
Once he found the "Mega Spider" (lol that name) it was impossible to kill it alone. He needed the help of all the players around him....and still he died

So what im trying to say is that this sandbox MMO promotes "grouping".
And because a sandbox MMO is so open ended and without any kind of handholding its really nice to ask for help to the players around you.

[cparle87]

WoW is a MMO. Heavily focused in instanced content but still a MMO.
In Project Gorgon i saw the streamer doing the first dungeon of the game and before that a NPC warned him about a "Mega Spider" (lol) inside the dungeon.
He spent at least 30min inside that dungeon with other players.
Once he found the "Mega Spider" (lol that name) it was impossible to kill it alone. He needed the help of all the players around him....and still he died

So what im trying to say is that this sandbox MMO promotes "grouping".
And because a sandbox MMO is so open ended and without any kind of handholding its really nice to ask for help to the players around you.

Kinda reminds me of iRO. Bosses that can one shot you can appear out of nowhere, many mobs, even normal ones, are unbeatable at level, or even above them, without a group.

[Cyero]

Wow is not an MMO. There are no MMOs on the market. An MMO focuses on social play. WoW focuses on raiding and achievement. What you're describing doesn't sound like an MMO either since it sounds like a lot of solo puzzles without any mention of playing with others.

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not but /r/gatekeeping is that way.

[dlld]

I do want wow to be more 'sandbox' but that term tends to come with a bunch of baggage from a string of failed mmo's from small companies who created full pvp full loot sandbox games with 0 pve content beyond basic mob grinding. Which is not what I want at all.

I was a big fan of the direction GW2 took, with it's more alive world, with dynamic events and stuff that just occured while you were out there in the world. But I only saw it as a stepping stone as it was still a far cry from my 'dream mmo', hoping for the next gen mmo to take it further as gw2 proved to be a success. EQnext seemed to be that next step, sadly it died along with soe and now the only mmo i can think of that is pushing in the same direction is ashes of creation, but.. kickstarter mmo..

[Marrilaife]

No because for me "sandbox" = "poor excuse to not put any content in the game because players should make it up for themselves", I don't care to play a game where you only wander aimlessly, gank people and maybe grind mats and craft.

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I do want wow to be more 'sandbox' but that term tends to come with a bunch of baggage from a string of failed mmo's from small companies who created full pvp full loot sandbox games with 0 pve content beyond basic mob grinding. Which is not what I want at all.

Yep, this.

[Fumu]

I dearly miss sandbox MMOs, especially the ball-bustingly hard late 90s/early 00s ones, and honestly would ditch WoW in a heartbeat if one came out. However, the MMO genre is basically dead and the few survivors adapted by becoming (or releasing as) theme parks. It's what the people want I guess.

[Pickynerd]

wow is already a sandbox game

Hahaha-times infinity.

And Yes, I'd love it.

[Super Kami Dende]

God no, Sandbox MMO's are cancerous. I like some structure in what I am doing.

[Wyrt]

WoD was Blizzard's attempt at sandbox and it was fucking awful. So no. No 1000 times.

[Super Kami Dende]

Wow is not an MMO. There are no MMOs on the market. An MMO focuses on social play. WoW focuses on raiding and achievement. What you're describing doesn't sound like an MMO either since it sounds like a lot of solo puzzles without any mention of playing with others.

Lol, People still spout this drivel. Being Massively Multiplayer doesn't mean you have to be Social 24/7 to be an MMO. The fact you said "it focuses on Raiding" which in itself is a large multiplayer activity kind of kills your own argument.

4000+ people existing in the same world/server is what makes it massively Multiplayer.