Logging in and seeing people I know, maybe someone I have grouped with a few times and exchanging /waves. Knowing that I am valued in the community because I'm a good tank or have certain craft skills which others will have need of. That sense of belonging as part of a guild within the wider server community and having the eagerness to help my fellow adventurers where I can, knowing that their /thanks are genuine...
Notorious/Rare Named Monsters that only appear once every 3-5 days and need 12+ people to kill strategically in the open world. I know it's not for everyone - but it's one of the things I miss. Those fights, and locating those monsters built some friendships that I still have and cherish over 13 years later.
This is one called Dark Ixion (from Final Fantasy XI), that I used to camp with my group from 2007-2009 - it used to required 12+ people to kill, and could spawn in one of 8 zones, in a random location. We went back recently as a trio to kill it for "old times sake" - the game has since moved on from such content; and players are now way more powerful than those monsters are... so it's no longer a challenge. It's that challenge I miss!
I miss so many things, I'm not really sure where to start.
I miss exploring the world in order to find the areas that are appropriate for my level. I miss testing theories, trying new tactics, and risking a total trainwreck that has the potential for a long recovery if I fail. I miss those nights where you just want to go look around in places you've never been, just to see if you can find hidden gems out in the wilderness that are not well known to the general population.
I asked my wife this question, and her two biggest things were games that were about community, and about meeting people, talking, cooperating, and just bs'ing. Even in guilds now it seems like people don't really make bonds, and instead it just feels like they are a means to an end. She also said she misses games that were challenging, both in combat and in intelect.
Discovering quests by actually talking to NPCs in the world instead of seeing big ass yellow ! everywhere. Also meaningful group experiences. Non-Raid focused end game. Non-PVP focused end game. Non-end game, game.
a Physical Ranged class that doesn't blow completely and feel like a mage. (Looking at you WoW Hunter....)
These are all pretty equal at the top of my list.
I just miss the feeling you got when you sat down to log in. Not always knowing what you were going to do, but knowing you and your friends would have fun doing it anyway. Getting lost in the world created, losing track of time because you're having such a great time.
Playing the game because I enjoy it, not because I feel obligated to.
A good guild. Small enough to be personal, large enough to mostly have at least a few people on and with an active typed chat. Without most of the members being younger than my daughter.
Haven't been in one like that for ages. Too many guilds use voice these days and my hearing isn't up to it.
Here's another one :
I miss wanting to investigate my options of play for a given night. What kinds of upgrades exist? Are they within my ability to obtain? What steps would I have to take to get there? What kind of resources are going to be necessary? How do I get to the right area?
These days you log in, blindly follow a trail of neon-glowing breadcrumbs gauranteed to produce multiple upgrades and probably a level or 2 in a night's play. "Just log in, we'll lead you forward." There's no forethought necessary at all.
And this leads to :
I miss personal goals that are accomplished over days, weeks, or even months of playtime. I miss the long self defined to-do lists that I can incrementally check off, and look forward to logging in to work on.
Feyshtey said:Here's another one :
I miss wanting to investigate my options of play for a given night. What kinds of upgrades exist? Are they within my ability to obtain? What steps would I have to take to get there? What kind of resources are going to be necessary? How do I get to the right area?
These days you log in, blindly follow a trail of neon-glowing breadcrumbs gauranteed to produce multiple upgrades and probably a level or 2 in a night's play. "Just log in, we'll lead you forward." There's no forethought necessary at all.
And this leads to :
I miss personal goals that are accomplished over days, weeks, or even months of playtime. I miss the long self defined to-do lists that I can incrementally check off, and look forward to logging in to work on.
Yes, and I miss one of my goals being "I'm going to finish this level this WEEK" as in the ability to complete a level in a single night much less multiple levels, is not a possibility.
I miss all kinds of stuff, like having actual night time where I could not see, having food and water required, needing reagents for spells, class trainers, actually having class strengths and weaknesses. The things I miss the most are requiring a group while leveling, and having an open world that is not instanced. Modern MMOs have lost a lot over the years in the name of fast/easy/convenient.
Fulton said:Feyshtey said:Here's another one :
I miss wanting to investigate my options of play for a given night. What kinds of upgrades exist? Are they within my ability to obtain? What steps would I have to take to get there? What kind of resources are going to be necessary? How do I get to the right area?
These days you log in, blindly follow a trail of neon-glowing breadcrumbs gauranteed to produce multiple upgrades and probably a level or 2 in a night's play. "Just log in, we'll lead you forward." There's no forethought necessary at all.
And this leads to :
I miss personal goals that are accomplished over days, weeks, or even months of playtime. I miss the long self defined to-do lists that I can incrementally check off, and look forward to logging in to work on.
Yes, and I miss one of my goals being "I'm going to finish this level this WEEK" as in the ability to complete a level in a single night much less multiple levels, is not a possibility.
Which leads to, I miss thinking about the things I'll do over the next few days that will help me be better able to complete this level over the coming week(s).
I miss the "going home" feeling I got when logging into eq. The familiar music made me feel that I was heading home to Norrath and everything was going to be great.
I miss the small guild where we all knew each other and the funny thing is, we only met in eq,never in RL.
I sure hope I can get those feeling to return.
Logging into p1999 I get the same music but the "home" feeling is not there.
I miss the challenge of fighting mobs that are a threat. Knowing that if something goes wrong, like you run oom because of resists or if you get an add, that you may die or have to escape.
I miss a world where there are not solo players taking on large groups of mobs and killing them with little effort and no threat of dying.
I miss playing a game that does not require that I run from quest hub to quest hub to level since it's the fastest exp in the game. I want to go back to the times when you would get a group and you would all kill mobs for experience.
I'd like to play a game that I have to travel across the world and worry about what nasty mob I may encounter on my journey. The caution and thought that goes into being aware of your surroundings are hard to find these days.
I would also love to see the long-term value of items being a thing again. Most modern games have you replace your hard earned gear as soon as an expansion comes out, but back in the EQ days, I remember spending a ton of my time on Allahkazam looking at the items in the game and daydreaming of someday acquiring them. Tons of the older content gear was still relevant through multiple expansions. Not to mention, you would see a higher level player geared out in rare items, and it would leave a lasting impression. Those were the type of things that kept me wanting to log in every day and push for more. I think the last time I even remotely felt like that from a game was way back in vanilla WoW when 40 man raids were still a thing. Although, that ended up being shortlived.
Kilsin said:What is the one thing you miss the most from older games that you wish newer games brought back? #PRF #communitymatters
I Miss Epic Quests - feeling and process both being EPIC and the Reward truely being something that you held on to for YEARS to come in some form or another.
I also miss the group process where having your group getting flagged/key'd/quests togehter was also something of note (Seb Key's or working your way up TOFS was an experince that you can't force or re-create, it was something you built towards and every single groups experience was different than the next.)
I also miss the journey - that 1st run from Freeport to Highpass Hold through Kith was mind blowing and felt so much more than a "waste of time" it was the experience, both the journey and desintaion meant something.
I couldn't think of what I missed the most, since it all blends together. So here's 10 things :)
1) Actual challenge in terms of combat encounters, not just at bosses and on level-cap raids, but throughout the entire game.
2) Multiple paths to take - the ability to branch out in the world and see/do different things, not being forced into a single content progression.
3) Reputation, friends, and guilds actually mattering to your ability to accomplish things in the game.
4) Downtime, so you have the opportunity to build friendships and socialize.
5) Shared and coinciding objectives, helping someone get a drop or finish a quest because it helps you too.
6) Secrets and hidden things. Puzzles and riddles (that lead to meaningful things) that you really had to think about and even research to solve.
7) The feel of every level mattering, not just being a step along a path.
8) Exploration, entering a new area and not knowing what you'll find, not being led along a path, but finding it organically.
9) Complex group dynamics and utility, not having everything just be tank/healer/dps, but allowing classes to all have situations where they shine above the others.
10) Meaningful choices in character progression, having to choose what you emphasize and how and when, because there is no one single "right" way to do it.
More than anything, I miss *LIVING* in the virtual world. Completely and utterly living there.
I don't care about playing a game. I miss a real world to live in. Being so completely 100% immersed that *I* existed in that world.
It brings up a big metaphysical question of "what is reality?"
If a schizophrenic's brain constructs a person talking to them, did they still experience that conversation? In THEIR reality it happened and was real. They had the experience although "we" would say it wasn't real (to us).
So, the experience someone has in THEIR mind is what defines their reality. If a person spends all their time being very social and active in the virtual world, is that their experience? Did they live their life in a virtual world?
My point is that the idea of a virtual world blurs the lines of reality. A truly immersive world does that very well.
I miss that, more than anything.
The thing I miss the most, likely because I'm not sure it will ever be possible again, was the walk from Hobbiton to Bree in LoTRO and then later the first time making it to Rivendell
Yes, another game entirely, but I feel it fits here simply because the game was designed to feel mostly just like the written Lore from Tolkein, with the mechanics designed around it
Where that game was able to capitalize on famous fantasy literature, which it did very well in the early years, most modern games seem to build their lore and story around their mechanics, and most games seem be missing a story worth following
Krixus said:Feeling connected to a world.
A great story provides motivation to explore, discover and find more, and a rich, deep world with many nooks and crannies containing potential bits and pieces to a larger story puzzle is far greater than a game that requires you to level up by killing 1000 beavers or running countless fetch quests and solving every day problems for lazy townsfolk
The protagonists (and antagonists) in books by guys like Robert Jordan or R.A. Salvatore clearly "leveled up," gaining XP and skills over time, but the story drove that... obviously because those were books, not games lol... but I miss progressing through a game to find out what happens or where I get to go next rather than because I just want to feed my desire for better gear or access to a fireball spell
That, and I miss Control and DoT skills being viable playstyles
Being able to work together with a large group of guildies/ friends to overcome...or fail...in an encounter. Log in everyday with a large group of friends and pick which encounter is available. Social interaction at its finest.
Its the large quantity of people working together that I miss most. I'm unsure if Pantheon will provide this same feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment because I believe raid sizes will be capped (whether a hard cap or a soft cap).
Most games these days limit you to say 40 people or some such number. It just doesn't give the same feeling as a larger sized group working together.
In a game that is encouraging social interaction I was hoping we would see uncapped numbers where everyone can play together. That is the pinnacle of social interaction in these types of games imho. Large numbers of people working together in EQ is something I enjoyed most that I miss in games.
Seems like all these games out there, they all have only one path for everything. Everybody goes to the same dungeons, everybody follows the same quest paths, everybody has the same experience, everybody wears the same gear.
It's the gear I kinda miss the most. Not the looting or the acquiring of the gear, as much as the planning of it. Going on-line and researching from a long list of available gear, picking and choosing how I want me character to look, and function. Plan my next steps in the game for the purpose of acquiring that gear, without those steps already being planned for me. In these games we have now, there is no need to plan - you follow the same road as everyone else so you can wear the same thing as everyone else.
EQ definitely had BiS, sure - but they were so hard to get, and required so much more effort - and it was the gear in between, with all the available options, that I miss.
In LOTRO, I enjoyed my time a lot, but you knew exactly where to go for the best gear for whatever level range you were in - and the best gear wasn't difficult to get. It was like Vanguard, with the Hunters League quest. You knew that was your best move at that level range, so you did it. In most games, you have a "Hunters League Quest" every 10 levels. No variations. You go to the same place for every alt for the same gear.
I just want options, and the joy of exploring those options myself.