Quote:
Originally Posted by Woolygimp
Why is every new game built around the EQ model that centers around grinding and time sinks?

Ultima Online is in the Guinness Book of world records for being the longest continually running MMO. There are thousands of players who still highly regard the original game as not only one of the most critical games to developing a untapped frontier, but a pinnacle which no title since has satisfied.

If you were unfamiliar with UO or want to see what people think of it 10 years after it's release read this:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1110934

UO had more features than the last generation of MMO's put together. Why hasn't it been emulated?

*Mounted Combat: None of this pay 900gold for a mount that sits in your backpack and is invincible. You could buy a horse, and it was yours...but it could tire, it could die, and it could be replaced.
*In-depth Housing System: Castles, Keeps, Towers, Villas, down to the meak shack.
*Fully Empowered Player Economy: Players NOT vendors were in charge of every aspect of the economy from supply/demand to resources.
*Fully Functional Crafting System: Everyone depended on one another. Miners mined. Smith's bought those ingots to smith. Adventures brought the weapons from the smiths. Woodmen would fell trees, and sell their wood to furniture crafters to make hundreds of furniture peices for houses. It was the only MMO to have an authentic economy.
*Difficulty: I don't need to elaborate here for those that played the game.
*No Grind: There was no level grind in UO.
*No End-Game: A person was always busy in UO, even after max skilled. There were no need for "raids, quests, or other nonsense."
*I could go on... read the linked post above for a more detailed summary.

The game revolved around the community, not some fantastical ruleset like so many other games. Games now hinder the player, and make the MMO into nothing but a linear travesty. Go here. Do this. Complete this quest. Kill this monster. Enough is enough, I've played Vanguard CB and I can't discuss the game because of the NDA but you get the picture. I'm not fed up with Vanguard, so much as I'm fed up with all the other stuff that has been released recently.

There are tens of thousands of people who hearken to a day that a company will release something resembling the game that started it all (Darkfall doesn't count it's underfunded and probaly won't be released within 3 years).

1. You still grinded in UO, you just grinded for skills, not levels.

2. Vanguard incorporates many ideas from both UO and EQ (houses, ships, etc.)

3. EQ is still going relatively strong at 7 years, so is a relatively close second to UO. And we didn't design EQ for this type of longevity and also made mistakes and introduced needless grind/time sinks. With Vanguard we have learned from our mistakes and also the mistakes of others (as well as learned from the good aspects of other games and also built a solid EQ/MUD foundation on which all of these new features will be built upon).

4. We are doing everything we can to minimize the grind and time sinks in Vanguard -- check out the many posts that have been made of the subject. We very much believe that we can make a fun and challenging game without the tedium experienced in earlier MMOGs but also make a game that is more focused on longevity and with more things to do (the spheres, etc), more ways to advance your character, etc.


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