Starwars Galaxies
Probably the biggest disappointment in MMORPG history. The Starwars universe just screams MMORPG, how can you possible mess up a game like this. Well we all got the answer when the game was released on June 20, 2003. No Jedis, no space combat and boring quests. Seriously, are you sure this is based on Starwars? It would be 7 MONTHS before the first player unlocked the Jedi class and another 9 months for the first expansion, Jump to Lightspeed, allowed players to finally jump into the pilots seat of an X-wing or TIE fighter. Future changes to the combat system and a reduction of playable professions would completely lay waste to what was so far a decent game. However there is no arguing that even it you consider Starwars Galaxies a good game, it should no doubt have been one of the best MMORPG of all time.
Matrix Online
What can I say about the Matrix Online, another franchise that should feel right at home being a MMORPG. However when The Matrix Online launched it seems Agent Smith was wreaking havoc because the game was extremely buggy. Reports of crashes, random disconnects, being stuck in walls and falling through the world are just a few. Aside from the bugs the missions were painfully repetitive. Go here, find something or someone, perhaps kill them, come back. Rinse and repeat. To make things worse all the buildings looked similar and were very boring to explore. However the biggest disappoint was that you don’t actually fight the machines or agents. Seriously that’s like Starwars with no Jedis, oh wait. :?
Planetside
This is one game that definitely did not reach its full potential. Hundreds of players in a FPS fragging each other for territory with a crap load of weapons and vehicles to choose from, whats not to like. Unfortunately this game wouldn’t be on this list if there wasn’t anything wrong with it. Planetside’s problem was that the terrain was boring, all the bases looked the same and no one ever won. It was just a three way tug-o-war battle that would rage on forever. Future expansions added new mech vehicles that altered the games balance and not in a good way. Planetside unfortunately never recovered and is a dying game. Perhaps the upcoming Huxley or Earthrise can fulfil all our MMOFPS desires.
Dungeons & Dragons Online
For many D&D fans, this was the MMORPG they were waiting for, too bad for them it was just an average game. D&D Online concentrated on group play, the problem with that is many players that were looking to solo couldn’t and unless you were in a large guild or had a lot of online friends you would spend almost as much time looking for groups as you would playing. Lack of content and repeating quests is also a major issue. It doesn’t matter how good the dungeons look, after a dozen times your going to get bored. Speaking about dungeons I think they should have called the game Dungeons & More Dungeons Online.
Auto Assualt.
How on earth can you go wrong with Autoduel, the MMO?
Well, one good way is instead of having it be Autoduel the MMO, have it actually be a very typical EQ style turn/ level based MMO with a Mad Max skin. Another solid way is to optimize the game engine for physics cards that almost no-one owns, or really wants to own. Yet a third way would be to make the crafting/ vehicle upgrade system as cumbersome and arcane as possible. Such a disappointment.
This is great. Another problem would probably be Runescape. It was at first a very nice game. When the graphics craze came along, Runescape was left in the dust. NO expanctions, huge new features, nothing. It went from being an OK game to a frozen platform. When they expand something, It remains to be seen what happens.
Mig i cant really argue with u because i wasnt in rs from the beginning but i did join a couple years ago and was normally playin every now and then but wen they got rid of pking that was like killin pvp i cant see every playin it again and good review thanks for talkin about D&D i was thinkin about startin up now i kno better
I would think that the reviewer would need to go through DDO again…and I mean all the way through to current end game. While at launch, the game was depressingly lacking in a lot of areas. It has improved, considerably. Much more content now than even a year ago, let alone three years ago when it launched. And while the focus is still on party play, soloing is now more feasible. And there are actually dragons, you just have to work you way to them, as per table top Dungeons & Dragons, no level 5 character is going to face a dragon of any kind with any hopes of survival…