Kilsin said:First impressions - How important are they to you in an MMORPG, how much time do you give an MMORPG before you make your decision to stay or move on?
When I first logged into EQ I was instantly immersed in a new world just through the window of my sony monitor. When I first logged into World of Warcraft the same thing happened but with the addition of animations so liquid smooth and natural that it felt like my character was an extension of myself.
So, I'd say first impressions are pivotal to a successful sale.
And I think you guys are aware of that as evidenced in the interview at the gaming summit. With an urgent focus on optimized innovation, class interdependence and a state of the art game engine, it sounds like Pantheon is well on its way to achieving good first impressions.
First impressions go a long way toward determining how you approach the initial "feel out" stage. For me, I know within an hour or two whether I'll give it a week, and I know within a week whether I'll stay or not.
For me it's a combination of factors. I need to feel imersed in an exciting new world, one where I work up from nothing on my own merits, not as some pre-rolled hero. The game has to be visually appealing. The game mechanics need to be intuitive, not contrived. The content needs to flow without feeling like I'm being lead around by the hand. Give me lore based gameplay - why is that there, how did that get there, who put that there, why does that snow bunny have a two handed sword as loot? Why did that wolf ignore that snow bunny yet attack a plate armoured sword weilding Ogre? Why do I need to hit a normal wolf 15 times with a mace before it dies? Why didn't it flee before it died? Why can i stand 20 yards from a goblin and he'll ignore me, but at 19 yards he'll attack? What happened to LOS, and perception (hear noises etc.)?
Game feel: I want to feel challenged. I want to feel like I beat the odds and worked up from nothing on my own merits. I want to feel like my hard earned gear is actually meanful and not obsolete in 2 levels. I want the journey to end game to be meaningful, not an inconvenience. If something moves behind that bush, I want to hesitate while weighing my best options. I don't want to feel invincible. I don't want to feel like lunch all the time either. Mix up the danger levels within an area, but base it on logic. How many apex preditors could live here? How do they interact with each other? Having an area with 6 different apex mobs ignoring each other only to attack me as I walk past just doesn't make sense. One or two such mobs that had killed off any competition in a given area and had sufficient prey mobs remaining to survive, sure. I need to believe that a given situation is at least plausable. Having mobs interact with other mobs is a definate plus in the imersion scale.
Visually appealing: If I'm grinning from ear to ear and wanting to look behind every bush and over every hill to see what's there for no other reason than the graphical beauty, I'm likely to persevere through learning the mechanics. With the hardware available these days, a second rate graphical experience will have me asking myself what other corners have been cut? I'm running a rig with a 5960x cpu, a Titan X, 32 Gig of DDR 4, a R5E mobo and a 750 series SSD. I expect to be able to crank things up.
Game mechanics: If I find myself asking "why does that work like that" too often, I'm out. This can be simple things such as climb and fall dynamics, swiming in plate armour, running out of sprint stamina in 12 seconds flat (seriously?), artificial constraints that make no sense in the physical world. I prefer free, dynamic combat rather than a tab lock and engage macro skill rotation. If I can see it, I want to be able to reach it. Also, a biggie, do NOT give me a play by numbers sequence of stop watch monitoring, evade x effects, defeat y spawns etc. Make mobs unpredictible, give them a skill set and allow them to make decisions that react to the moment, and demonstrate planning.
Content: Please, please break the mould. If I'm sent to collect 10 of this and kill 5 of that - 50 times in a row to get my first 10 levels, don't expect me to stick around for that. That's just lazy progression. Give me meaningful story based tasks that are not just variations on the same tired old theme. Keep in mind that we've had many many other games that has done this quest style to death. Freshen it up.
Finally, I want to feel as though I'm in with a chance, no matter how slim, of stumbling across that "OMG" item. Generally, items should reflect the effort in gaining them. Raid loot at the top, given that powerful items will over time gravitate toward the most powerful beings that can take them by force. However, albeit a tiny chance, in a dynamic game world, you're eventually going to have a goblin that stumbles across the warlord that got hit by lightning, or that trips over an ancient artifact uncovered by a shifting swamp etc. or that dragon hoard with a dead dragon on it and the cycle of items gravitating from the weak to the powerful begins with you liberating said artifact from said gobbie. Make it 1 in 100,000 chance, but allow a chance. The solo players will have an incentive to keep playing.
I should prolly call it there, log off works comp and go home :)
One really rather humble item populates my pre-release check list; a means to create a character I can relate to. No presence to fixate on is a no go; like a duckling imprinting on whatever happens to be in front of it. ^_^ There have been a number of MMORPGs that I've passed on purely on that basis. Far more than being just a playing piece, an avatar is my personal channel – within that genre, that is.
Oh, class I suppose affects me pre-release too. If I don't feel at all attracted to the roles then it gives me apt cause to reconsider dipping a toe in. So... good character building tools and solid class systems... and combat – I'm not fussy as to what form it takes; traditional locked targets or free-form action, just so long as it looks nice and somewhat fulfilling. :p
After that and I'm in a game, I'm willing to give anything a good go. My typical trial period is never merely a week; more usually it drags on to a month or even more.
What makes me a keeper? I'm not very sure if I'm honest... or rather what cluster of identifiable aspects of an MMORPG enshrouds me in its fantasy at first glance. Some are just naturally better than others at grabbing me like that; and if that is the initial thing that dawns on me... then it's all the better in terms of my being able to appreciate one on more functional fronts.
For those that don't do it for me at first sight; playing on is a lost cause, normally. I do it anyway “just in case”. ArcheAge would've been a prime example of this. Didn't like it the moment I got in. Gave it a little more chance... came across some things that would have me exclaim “Neato” or something to that effect (it definitely wasn't the combat or class system, bleugh); but in the end those were just isolated instances and I really didn't like the scheme of the rest of the game and how disjointed and/or disharmonious it all seemed. >_> It took me 2 months to finally own up to that realization though heh; and no, I had no-one around to sway me, it was just one of those MMORPGs where I felt disinclined to interact when people around me would show likewise little interest in me anyway. Everyone left to their own devices. Y'know, that kind of vibe; ever so chore-driven. I didn't even like my character in it, it turns out; and when that detachment takes hold, it's really my time to go.
So, does my appraisal of a new and shiny MMORPG owe itself to a stunning first impression? I'd say so. Muchly so, mostly.
ED: Hum, how did I manage to do that humdiggerty thing of cutting off half my post there..?
For me it is very little about first impressions to decide if I stay in an MMO. Usually when I start an MMO I have done enough research to already know my way around the start and what to expect. I will say that when I stepped out of Felwithe into Greater Faydark for the first time and turned back and saw the gates it was an incredible experience for me. That said, in every MMO I have played I have always made it to max level before I have considered quitting. So I would say that for me it is the first impression of what I can do at max level that decides whether I stay. Maybe this is because I dont like to make alts, but if I dont have fun playing my main character at max level then I dont see a point in playing.
First impressions mean an awful lot. Spend 30 seconds in a well made vehicle that has been designed to soar beyond your expecations; see how it drives, how the steering wheel feels as you turn corners, and how responsive the brakes are when you apply pressure. Afterwards, step into an economy vehicle and notice the difference. I'm not a care salesman, hey maybe I should be, but I think we all can appreciate quality made products, and video games are no exception. I believe most people will be able to determine within the first hour if a game is hit-or-miss for them. If I had the reigns I'd be sure pantheon delivered this experience as soon as you stepped foot into the game.
Think back to the first time you stepped out into Nektulos. The atmosphere. The straining to glimps every movement, to interpret every sound. Somewhere along the way, this was lost in favour of seeing great graphics crystal clearly all the way to the horizon and being spoon fed an endless supply of fodder mobs.
A simple fog effect is not enough to creat atmosphere. Sometimes less is more. The sounds chosen, and the frequency of interactions is often what's important. If I wanted a hack n slash grind fest, I already have pleanty of options.
First impressions insaaaaaanely important, I logged into vanguard played about an hour and logged out for eternity. But I wish that I had gone back as it seemed like a game i would have ended up loving. I usually give things WAY more of a chance but it was so glitchy I was like NOPE im out.
I tend to have bad first impressions only if i spend my time fighting the controls or menus. If a game makes creating groups or finding friends an annoying task, then i tend to move on rather quickly. Everything else from bugs, to mechanics, to graphical abnormalities i tend to give an initial pass to. That of course doesn't last forever, but initially, i'm pretty forgiving.
Aldie said:I tend to have bad first impressions only if i spend my time fighting the controls or menus. If a game makes creating groups or finding friends an annoying task, then i tend to move on rather quickly. Everything else from bugs, to mechanics, to graphical abnormalities i tend to give an initial pass to. That of course doesn't last forever, but initially, i'm pretty forgiving.
I actually like it when the groups arent handed to you with the queues and stuff. No offense, I just hate the whole sitting in towns to get easy groups thing.
Taledar said:Aldie said:I tend to have bad first impressions only if i spend my time fighting the controls or menus. If a game makes creating groups or finding friends an annoying task, then i tend to move on rather quickly. Everything else from bugs, to mechanics, to graphical abnormalities i tend to give an initial pass to. That of course doesn't last forever, but initially, i'm pretty forgiving.
I actually like it when the groups arent handed to you with the queues and stuff. No offense, I just hate the whole sitting in towns to get easy groups thing.
Well that's actually not what i meant.
I've played MMO where actually forming a group with players standing right next to me was a pain in the butt. /invite wasn't an option and neither was right clicking them and inviting. They had to be added to my friends list first in order to invite, which again was buried in a sub menu where i couldn't find it. Situations like that really bug me.
First impressions are not about the art work or the newbie zones in my opinion. It is all about the technical side. Some very innovative games have failed and disappeared because they were released long before they were technically ready.
A great example of this was Warhammer Online. Extremely innovative ideas, public quests, open world pvp etc. but even with the great innovations in the game, it failed miserable after a huge opening. Technically it was not ready due to lag, and broken mechanics. People left in droves and was eventually shut down completely.
Make the game functional first and foremost, then draw in the people with the artwork and game play. If a player cannot immerse themselves into the game environment because they are constantly crashing or locking up, all the artwork and innovative ideas will be lost. MMO's are all about immersion.