MMO's for beginners! (Sorry all you experienced folk)

[Fecklar]

i dunno if its bein mentioned but watching people rage quit can be really funny

rage quit: means someones ****ed that they keep dieing or something is taking to long and they quit the party in the middle of an instence or right beforehand

[Captain Bob]

Originally Posted by yodummy

HMMM. I wonder who or whom you might be talking about?? The guy comes in here for advice, and ya had to post that. Just couldnt help yerself could ya bobby. Let him read the threads himself, Im sure hes intelligent enough to separate the b.s. from genuine concerns.

What the hell are you talking about? Talk about out of left field.

I'll tell you what I'm talking about since you seem confused. Over in the CO forums there were endless stupid threads about the game dying and failing. Its very easy to miss the fact that it was the same handful of posters agreeing with each other and starting new threads repeatedly, claiming and reclaiming that they knew something no one else did, which they certainly did not. This tiny handful of people were so loud and their threads got so inflated that some other people who didn't know better started thinking the doomsayers might know something.

That's a trap a newbie to the MMO scene is easily going to fall prey to because they don't know any better. They may believe the idiots who claim the game is failing and quit prematurely, thinking that these doomsayers had some inside information that they do not. They never have access to that information, and an MMO newbie is not going to understand that. That is the sole point I was trying to make.

So chill, eat a taco, because I have no clue what you think I was talking about.

[Durakken]

Originally Posted by Captain Bob

What the hell are you talking about? Talk about out of left field.

I'll tell you what I'm talking about since you seem confused. Over in the CO forums there were endless stupid threads about the game dying and failing. Its very easy to miss the fact that it was the same handful of posters agreeing with each other and starting new threads repeatedly, claiming and reclaiming that they knew something no one else did, which they certainly did not. This tiny handful of people were so loud and their threads got so inflated that some other people who didn't know better started thinking the doomsayers might know something.

That's a trap a newbie to the MMO scene is easily going to fall prey to because they don't know any better. They may believe the idiots who claim the game is failing and quit prematurely, thinking that these doomsayers had some inside information that they do not. They never have access to that information, and an MMO newbie is not going to understand that. That is the sole point I was trying to make.

So chill, eat a taco, because I have no clue what you think I was talking about.

The game is fail though... so they were right. >.> Just saying.

[Captain Bob]

Originally Posted by Durakken

The game is fail though... so they were right. >.> Just saying.

Thank you for providing a good example to dissect.

What you have to realize about a statement like this is first off, the person apparently doesn't like the game. That is an opinion, obviously, and is naturally valid for them. Everyone has their own opinion. Some people like tacos some don't. Those who don't like tacos are obviously wrong, but they are entitled to hold and express their opinion.

However, the more relevant issue to what I'm talking about comes about when this person implies the game is failing. For an MMO to fail, it would get shut down and go offline, thus making it impossible to play anymore. For that to happen it generally would have to have too little revenue to sustain it.

There is no possible way to tell this, however, from a player's perspective. Only the company has this knowledge of whether the game is doing well financially or not. This goal also varies from company to company, even game to game. But again, the player base is not privy to that information, and the company will not state that unless there is an actual decision made to shut it down, so no one stating that the game is a failure has an actual clue what they are talking about, and thus such statements should be disregarded. It is simply wild speculation.

[Durakken]

Financially anything that doesn't meet and exceed expectations is a failure and trust me, it doesn't and won't.
Critically it's also a failure.
It's also a fail based on majority opinion.

As far as "it's your opinion" Well financially, no it's not. Critically in some manor sure. and in majority opinion those are an awful lot of opinions ^.^ Opinion isn't a bad thing like you seem to think. What's bad is that people don't know when it is appropriate to go by opinion. This is one of those times when opinion is what you go by.

[brenatevi]

Originally Posted by Durakken

Financially anything that doesn't meet and exceed expectations is a failure and trust me, it doesn't and won't.
Critically it's also a failure.
It's also a fail based on majority opinion.

As far as "it's your opinion" Well financially, no it's not. Critically in some manor sure. and in majority opinion those are an awful lot of opinions ^.^ Opinion isn't a bad thing like you seem to think. What's bad is that people don't know when it is appropriate to go by opinion. This is one of those times when opinion is what you go by.

How do you define "majority"? By the message boards? Message boards are a tiny fraction of the total player base, something that every new player should understand. So when you say "and in majority opinion those are an awful lot of opinions" are you speaking for the real majority of players that have never stepped foot into a message board? Even within your broader framework, I take critics opinions with a grain of salt. Just because something isn't WoW doesn't make it a failure.

I want to reiterate to the new players out there: take everything you read on message boards with a grain of salt. Do not just swallow everything that is said, but decide for yourself. Even on gameplay suggestions, experiment, see if that advice is actually works for you. If not, try something else.

Never be afraid to die. Some of the most hilarious things that have happened to me was because I asked myself "I wonder what happens if I do this" and then ended up splatted over the landscape.

But ask your teammates before doing something "stupid." KEEP THEM INFORMED, even if it's something as simple as "Hey ya'll! Watch this!" That let's them know that death and destruction might be coming their way, and they can prepare accordingly.

And when things do go bad, don't get angry. Just chalk it up to a learning experience and go on. On the other hand, if things keep going badly, over and over again, to the point that you are annoyed... it might be time to go do something else. Unless you enjoy suffering, then keep doing it. Just don't expect people to be sympathetic to your complaints. Few people enjoy complainers.

If you find a way of doing things that you enjoy, then keep doing them, even if people say you're doing things "wrong." Play the game your way. For example, I hate leveling. So on my character in Aion, I hit level 27 and quit. I've been doing odd quests and crafting, and I'm content enough to keep playing. I reiterate: play the game your way, not someone else's.

On the other hand, if someone makes a suggestion about a better way to play, listen and try it out. Who knows, you might enjoy it. If not, oh well, go back to your way.

Sometimes though, a patch does something that breaks your preferred gameplay (or in extreme cases, kills it off entirely.) My advice: breath in, breath out, relax. Life is going to change no matter what you do, and the games do too. If you can't find a compromise that let's you still enjoy the game... Find a new game. It's harsh, but sometimes games do that to you. There is a sea of MMOs out there, including some very niche games. Or pick up a new hobby.

So that is my wisdom from almost 9 years of MMOing and 20 years of video gaming.

[Arsmajka]

LEEEEERRROOOYYYYY!!!!!


sorry couldn't resist lol

[brenatevi]

I've done that a time or two (OK, a lot more.) There was a cave in SWG that I NEVER walked out of alive, on purpose. My guildies (guild members, for those new players out there) would get me to the bottom, and then I would sample DNA from the queen spider at the bottom, and I would get splatted eventually. We've had lots of laughs about that cave, even after we all quit playing SWG.

But unlike Leroy, my guildies understood my odd playing style. :P When you find a good group to play with, cherish them.

[Durakken]

Originally Posted by brenatevi

How do you define "majority"? By the message boards? Message boards are a tiny fraction of the total player base, something that every new player should understand. So when you say "and in majority opinion those are an awful lot of opinions" are you speaking for the real majority of players that have never stepped foot into a message board? Even within your broader framework, I take critics opinions with a grain of salt. Just because something isn't WoW doesn't make it a failure.

I want to reiterate to the new players out there: take everything you read on message boards with a grain of salt. Do not just swallow everything that is said, but decide for yourself. Even on gameplay suggestions, experiment, see if that advice is actually works for you. If not, try something else.

I'm talking about the majority of everything I've heard or seen, in game, out of game, critical opinion, non critical opinion. The majority of everything I've heard is bad.

Most people are estimating that there are maybe 30k subscribers. No idea if that includes lifers or not and the numbers haven't been released yet, but more than likely it is under the expected which is about 100k for most MMOs produced by established companies...or whatever you want to call them. At least 500k-1mil for big named companies like Square Enix. WoW is just an aberration of human stupidity in my opinion which is why it has so many subscribers.

Though I do say that you should try it out for yourself and in a year you should try it again if it in anyway you like it but not enough to play it right now.

CO has a lot of potential from it's framework... and if handled correctly, in a year might be good, but at the moment is just trash...unfortunately it doesn't have that time most likely.

Also, like you said, newbies try it out and decide for yourself with everything in MMOs. Most times what you hear about a game is usually more based on taste of the person talking and not a critical review... and a lot of the "critical" reviews aren't critical either. They are narcissistic sell outs lying about the product in most cases OR with the more popular reviewers(like yahtzee) they aren't proper reviews. Adam Sessler talked about this a while ago and more or less what you need to do is look over the review, get the general information and then look for the off the record type stuff. Sessler's Soapbox for example is a far better source for his critical opinion than x-play...which is kinda funny cuz it's more opinion based.

Basically... Those people who are your average joe...their opinions suck. Those people who are professional critics what they say "professionally" is usually a sell out, but they often times think about it critically and so it comes out in their personal opinions so you want to listen to those more often than not.

[The_Cold]

OK I'm just going to come out and ask it instead of sitting here wondering......What is "IP"?