Why MMORPGS Are Stagnant & Dying
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- čas přidán 17. 08. 2023
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MMO Theory Episode #1. In this premiere, we discuss the history, current state, and future of the MMORPG genre, specifically in regards to the "magic" it once held...
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Episode #2: Tribalism: czcams.com/video/tQRXBVYWRjg/video.html
Sure man, I will do your binding
I signed up with 200 accounts to scalp them all :)
Just wanted to say that I'm glad you continue to make content, no matter if it is about WoW or something else. I really enjoyed your Zelda video and am wondering if you have planned more N64 related stuff?
Here before bald reacts
@@holdinmcgroin8639 noooooooooooooo
Most MMOs I've played get caught in a destructive spiral that goes something like this:
1. The game is new and unknown, with simple systems. Players enjoy the heck out of it, and a constant stream of players flows into it.
2. Players master the systems, and a vocal minority who has plays in unhealthy doses grows bored and demands more complexity.
3. The systems continue to grow more and more complex as the insatiable vocal minority continues to clamor for more and more challenge.
4. The flow of incoming players slows as the complexity skews further and further towards the preferences of a narrower set of players.
5. The community begins to regard new players with disdain. Casual players are deemed "tourists" for not wanting to dedicate their recreational time to studying and practicing a video game as if it were a college entrance exam.
6. The game is no longer about fun. It's about presitge and gatekeeping. Exploration and experimentation is replaced with work and efficiency.
7. The influx of new players dwindles to a trickle because the game's complexity is simply too overwhelming for most normal people. Even long-time veterans decide they've had enough and go elsewhere to find a video game that still feels like a video game as opposed to a job.
8. The remaining players are left scratching their heads wondering why no one is playing a game that, in their opinion, only gets better and better.
Underated comment
That is I feel with Baldur's gate 3 and soon Palworld too, I got trashed for play warlock not spamming Eldritch Blast build on even easy difficulty and Palworld is slowly becoming meta obsess as my Katress is consider shit and I need legendary or another pal that is close enough for the "meta".
No game is safe, especially mmos.
Couldn't of said it better myself I remember finally reaching endgame of a certain mmo and applying for 12 man instances and they would always respond asking for me to show gear and if it wasn't from the instance I applied for they always skip me for someone with the gear even though my dps testing I linked was well above recommended for the instance.
@@CowSaver-yc3nj It's crazy that you should even have to apply to participate in video game content and that you should be forced to demonstrate your DPS testing as if you were trying to get a salaried position. Players just take games way too seriously these days, and developers are just as much to blame for tuning the content for players who act like this.
@@greenchilistudioz4537they're both singleplayer games. why do you give a shit what others consider "meta"?
For me a big part of the wonder was the very idea these were all real people playing around me was simply incredible to me, I’m so used to it that its no longer a novelty
This is something we've not even begun to plumb the depths of in gaming, as AI becomes more powerful and intelligent. Multiplayer games are about to become a LOT more automated, botted and AI driven/controlled. You won't know who or what is real inside them anymore, because why deal with complicated people when you can have a perfect simulation of exactly what you want.
@@cattysplatthis is kind of already a thing in multiplayer games.
Often developers will sneak in bots especially in battle Royale games to pad out the numbers.
Maybe it's not the fact that it's no longer a novelty, but that even though you are still playing with a lot of people online you feel isolated. Back when I started playing WoW I had to find a guild, join a Teamspeak and the whole game was built around social interactions. Nowadays, most games (WoW aswell) try to appeal to anyone. They want everyone to reach every goal, even if they are playing on their own, which completely destroys the incentive to play as a group. I mean WoW completely died when cataclysm released with the raid browser and you could play the whole content without talking to any guild members.
@cattysplat It already is, you're just not fully aware of it yet. Approx ~48% of 2022s internet traffic came from bots. Unless you mean that NPCs will be more interactive, gaming is fairly dead due to monetization being put on a pedestal
@@aboringdyst0piathis. All modern mmo and mmo style games (Diablo 4) feel completely single player. I say to friends oh let's join up! They just say, oh it's faster if we just do our own quests until max level... Like OK, that sucks the fun right out of it for me.
The decline of MMOs is indeed depressing, but there is something special about the experience we all shared of having the magic, watching it fade, trying to recapture it, failing, then watching CZcams videos discussing the decline of the genre while remembering the glory days. It’s so ubiquitous that everyone who played an MMO pre ~2010 can describe the exact same experience. It’s cheesy, but that’s kind of beautiful
That is the most beautiful thing I've ever read on CZcams.
While not are dying most are and irs sad to see. Them go
No. When they die its just plain depreessing and sucks in every way. Period.
@@AgentLazarusEverything dies bro, gotta find the beauty in it. Or be bitter about it.
@@Mcgif21 wrong. No it doesnt. It can be kept up from generation to generation. Quit trying to pretend you have a soul or something
There's been a huge resurgence in single player games as the mmo/multiplayer games are all becoming carbon copies of each other and it shows. Granted their player base is still massive. It's just moving with trends vs creating them. Thats my point of view at least
In a fictionary world where Mad would post 20 videos a day, i would still sit down and watch all of them once they released! Quality, entertainment, it's all there and more.. It's too little to say thank you, for the many hours of fun you gave us, but thanks a lot Mad, wishing you all the best! Cheers!
Really glad you like them so much, thank you for watching
@@madseasonshow
Hey Mad, have you thought about making a meme channel, I'm saying this because compared to my main channel with short videos, you put so much more effort into yours and get slightly, more consistent views, but you would get so much more views per effort you put in, or do you enjoy making these videos only regardless if they take a long time to make?, thank you for the good content, I know it takes a lot of effort.
First he was the personification of my wow nostalgia, now I just kinda feel at peace when I watch his videos. (&he says what we all think, I fucking miss the old WoW times)
@@madseasonshow your content's always golden no matter what the subject is bro, keep on entertaining us very please :D, sincerely ~ Frostpepsi
Fictionary lul
Hey madseason!! I finally got my friend to try classic after 15 years last month lolol. We got to level 30 in our first month sub together and he got to experience Deadmines. SFK and gnomer. It wasn’t the dungeons I’ve ran a million times. It was me and him in disc enjoying the fun together!!!
Awesome! Those are special moments, enjoy them
❤
Thats what makes mmos great, the player interaction, just not enough of that nowadays
The big thing to me back then was the fact that everyone was a real person. It was a new concept to be able to play with people online and it was so cool that the horde player you just mashed into the ground after they attacked you was what a real person just did. After classic Blizzard had pretty much ruined the MMORPG for me. I tried other ones but they didn't have "the magic" to me. I got into sim racing and I love iRacing as you still play against real people and skill is a major factor in winning as you just can't buy a faster version of the car you are using just to beat the competition, they have to out skill you.
Or send you to the straight to the shadow realm
ur videos are always so cinematic and captivating man, starts as watching a vid about games but makes u think about life! thank u for the content
I've found that the happier I got in life, the less I valued MMOs and competitive gaming. It was a crutch I needed growing up, but I can walk on my own now. I'll always play the genre, but I will never lose myself in it like I used to. It's not the fault of the genre, it's the growth of the player. A lot of people just don't recognize that yet.
This.
ur words opened my mind ,ty except i dont enjoy both
100% With you
Absolutely this. I kinda wasted my teens on wow. Now I’m 27, don’t even play videos games that much at all anymore and focusing 100% on myself, getting proper sleep, exercising, trying out new hobbies. You know…leveling my real life character.
I Still want to play video games, but I prefer single player experiences where I can take my time end enjoy the content in my own pace.
World of Warcraft for me was a way to socialize. Now I want to socialize in the real world.
I've been struggling to find words for why I don't enjoy games as much anymore, but I can identify with this. Spot on.
I see your videos pop up and I instantly have to watch. You are transparent and one of us, and that means a whole lot. You're also very thorough, and I always walk away from your videos thinking about the subject long after they end.
Thanks, bud. Take care. ❤
yes! the only youtube channel where I actually use the bell icon :D
Thanks glad you liked it. I have lots more to talk about actually, this is me holding back lol. It'll be a fun series for me
Same. I saw the title and was like "meh, not interested", then saw it´s from Madseason and instaclicked :D
@@madseasonshow Please do, friend! Your channel is a catalyst for critical thinking and civil discussion. You have a meaningful and lasting impact with your content. Any and all of what you think and how you feel is very valuable and always worth sharing. I eagerly and patiently wait for all the 24-karat content you have to come!
@@madseasonshowkeep going. Ur rationalizations are top notch. Great perspective my guy!
So glad XIV actually made me love it, became my favourite FF game.
Things that are mysterious are awesome. I remember checking my local game shop to see what they had every week and bought random used games from them.
Always feels like Christmas came early when I see a new MadSeason upload. You’ve really transcended what I’d consider a usual content creator - you are a historian and the editing and monotone voice will forever feel like home to me ❤️🍻
Yes
@@Dualities nah that is genuine praise
What a stupid comment. Comparing Christmas (which in your mind probably has lost its real meaning of the Birth of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour) to a youtube video.
Sad.
I started at release and raided endgame content with the same people 4 days a week until the Lich King died -on a quite high Niveau. I think this was literally ideal to be left with positive MMO memories. A simply good part of my life which I still like to remember. That’s why I watch madseason!
Very similar for me, except I started a bit later in classic, I think I was lvl 50 when bc released, and I slowed down in cata, and stopped almost completely before the expansion ended
God, watching old wow videos gives my this really sad nostalgia, games have changed, wow has changed and most importantly I have changed
But I wouldn't trade the time I spent playing wow for anything
Incredibly thoughtful discussion man. Followed your vids through the years. Great stuff.
Instantly click and watch all your videos, love the insights and beautifully laid out realities however sad or disappointing they may be. You give voice and eloquent formulation to the feelings and thoughts I have regarding the issues you cover. So yeah, like someone said earlier " thank you is simply not enough" , you're awesome , Mad :) ❤
Mad's videos always fill me with joy, nostalgia, and bittersweet.
Well said.
I tried raiding in wow since i've been raiding in final fantasy for a few years now, but even 2 hours after release of the new boss people were already upset that i didn't know the strats on my first run ever. I thought we'd prog the fight but there is no prog, only installing a bot that backseats you and if you don't then you just get kicked :/ That really turned me off and made me give up on resubbing eventhough i raid almost every day. The people made it unable to enjoy it. In ff14 i have a group and we do basically everything in order in the game from start to finish over time, as much blind as we can and man.. It's a really good experience and we get to actually enjoy the game and playing together instead of just doing what a video tells us and then getting tf out. It's seriously refreshing and i highly recommend it. Also progging week 1 on new content in ff can be really fun ^^.
Like always a very well thought out and incredibly articulated and thoughtful video man. Every time you have me really reflecting on the subject long after the video. Always a pleasure watching your videos Madseason 💪
I feel like this is a very defeatist attitude on the issue. I started on mmos with GW2 cuz it's the one my parents were playing at the time, and had a lot of fun hanging out with a guild doing world bosses. I tried wow, played from WOD through to mid shadowlands (couple weeks after korthia dropped if anyone's curious) and picked up ffxiv when my friends got into it, and had a blast of a time playing through a well crafted story and all the amazing content. And now, I'm coming back to GW2 and finding it just as fun to run around doing world bosses with people in vc as I did all the way back at launch. Sure, there's a lot more access to information than there used to be (I played classic, not vanilla, and I know for a fact I didn't get the same experience my parents did when I used to sit on an extra chair in their office and watch them tank and heal ony when I was little) but the "magic" can still be there, not from a lack of info, but from good, solid, fun people having fun together in a shared digital space. All it takes is taking your eyes off the carrot a little, and looking at the people around you instead.
You view his perspective as defeatist, and I view yours as idealistic. I guess it's all about perspective.
Its kinda weird, that you often can see that people play for progression instead of actual fun at the game
Madseason ! Really happy to see you still making content!
While I personally don’t think MMORPGs are completely dying, I do agree they have lost that magic. Either way I still love the time I have with others I play with on this genre. The thing I’ve done is try to play other games to help prevent burnout, for me at least.
I love listening to your POV on these matters regardless of how I feel, mainly because I love your monotone voice and how you portray the matter. Thanks again for the videos!
Classic didn't have unknown, and re-experiencing it made me realize the "Massive" in MMORPG is what matters most. Each WoW expansion narrowed the scope of the game. Making a truly massively scoped RPG in 2023 would be amazing.
WoW was exceptionally good at cannibalizing its own content. In later expansions the power level jumps between patches were so large that they instantly invalidated any content that came out in a previous patch. I mean in Wrath, Cata or even MOP you would take your freshly leveled alt to an older raid that has been nerfed to get some gear going before you throw it into the newest raid. This isn't the case anymore, world quests give better stuff than this raid.
@@alewis514 all for convenience and to a lesser extend, the health of the game.
Those things were difficult to sustain because they required people willing to do it. If you were to start an expansion at its third raid, when no one had ANY interest in running the first, and thus you were stonewalled by not being able to get the gear needed to do the current content, that was an issue. There may have been solutions, but the one that would make the most players happy was catchup.
I played a few older MMOs years ago where they held strong to the fact of ZERO catchup. And I outright quit. there was legit a have and have not situation where you couldn't get into guilds to do the content you needed to do to be caught up enough to be invited to content. And not being in a guild? Well, lets just say strangers really don't tend to donate their time for nothing.
Adding flying and more portals helped make the world smaller.
Bg3?
@@savagedragn yeah bg3 seems promising
Every video you post gives me a nostalgic feeling of a time that I truly miss
Really? I'm bored of it.
go play era, it's popping
Well said, lovely to see you making more videos Mad x
one of the only channels that can release a 20-30 min video I’ll immediately watch fully on release.
I'm at work again. This is the second time you've posted a video while I was at work! I'm so excited to see what you've made dude. You're so talented and a genuine pleasure to watch
See this is an interesting discussion to make about the fixation that we make towards games and trying to capture those first times compared to the early 2000’s. I do wish I could relive my first time playing FF14, but I feel comfortable knowing I don’t have to play every second of every day. I’ve had a fun journey and plan to continue to do so, but I do miss those first couple hours.
Same, I'm still having an amazing time on FFXIV, everything new is an adventure and there's still so much for me to do even after clearing MSQ. I've found that watching new people play or react to the story fills me with the same joy, like having someone read a book that was meaningful to me.
@@Gillrien This is exactly me 2 years ago :) after playing WoW for many years, then playing ff14 for a couple thousand hours :D, now I've been playing Gw2 for 1k+ hours, and I can confidently say that there are still probably many new "first" experiences to have somewhere out there.
Long time no seen mate. Good to see you. Thx, for this and all other shenanigans over the yrs.
Not sure why this didn't show in my feed - glad you are back!
The man, the myth, the MadSeason. Always good to see a new video with your name on it pop up. Hope you've been doing well 😊
Ironically I think the end to sub based mmos is also the cause. They need to keep players constantly coming back as often as possible. When it was sub based anytime a player wanted to play they got money. So taking longer on content could work now they need new content as fast as possible and the easiest way to do that is the loot treadmill. Problem is people now see gearscore/item level and immediately turn away. Just look at the suicide squad game. I'd gladly pay $15 a month even if I only play for a week each month than pay $100 in MTX and skips every few months.
Here before assmoldsilver reacts
prob the biggest point is the attention spam and the lack of social rewards
I would pay 30-50 per month if it ment getting rid of all the other forms of payments. Assuming the devs made a game worth playing alot. Its just 3-5 movie tickets, or less than 1 night out.
Wow still has a sub fee and they milk it for all it's worth by making worthwhile things take 2-3 months and things like the trading post
I feel like there's some rose-tinted googles here.
Sub-based content that resulted in longer droughts between patch releases (but bigger patches) wasn't always looked at fondly. Warcraft itself has quite a history with multi-month long content droughts that were incredibly frustrating to the playerbase at the time.
So I don't think "the old way" is intrinsically better than a new way of pumping out content faster. I think ultimately, the quality still has to be there
The only reason a 6 month+ content drought was even tolerable was because for a lot of people, the game itself was still new, there was more unknown. And additionally, people with big social circles could certainly make content droughts more tolerable. It's why RP becomes so popular when all the content is finished.
Man, What an idea or edit this video? That was so so good ! Keep it up
This is the GrandpaSeason content that only seasoned oldtimers like you could provide. This was a nice wrap to an MMO historical edge that didn't quite know where the end of the rope was. What a nice clean cut of the MMO leash that has somehow lingered in our collective memories. Thanks MMOGrandpaSeason!
The comparables between similar MMO's definitely brought some of the spicy sauce into the fore and lets us escape that unknown, and in my case, escape the unknown before realizing the magic is completely ethereal and unavailable in our modern MMO quandaries.. Thanks MMOGramps!
Absolute incredible filmmaking. Thank you
loved every minute and speaks about the feeling of the first mmo
Yes Madseason. Hell yes Bro. It’s awesome that you’re able to get back into content more often. And it’s all good shit.
Your video hits so many nostalgia feels, I feel happy watching it. Thank you.
Amazing production, fun to watch, Keep it up!
I love the treadmill analogy, the better the game, the less the player realizes what's under their feet.
The concept of the meta has made MMORPGs about as entertaining as math homework. At some point a developer will create progression where the underlying math is unavailable to the player and can only be expressed via results of gameplay.
It would still be figured within a matter of days. Weeks at the absolute most. Never bet against weaponized autism!
@@e2rqey There is also money to be made in feeding a market that has high demand for your supply. Now you can monetise that content, turns out thousands of people want to make money from that like a very comfortable job.
What these games need is multiple difficulty levels and things worth achieving at each. Just because some guilds can mathematically solve a Mythic raid in WoW, doesn't mean everyone wants the game to be a second job like that, but there are enough things to do below that level to keep the vast majority of players entertained.
Theorycrafters have existed since the dawn of humanity. The problem is the accessibility, now everyone gets to min-max by copy-pasting guides and whatnot and Blizzard actively encourages it.
The player base changed more than the games did.
AMEN
excellent video madseason
Hit the nail on the head, unfortunately. One of the fondest memories I have from early WoW was when my buddy told me he heard about some kind of race track on the other side of the world and we trekked all the way there as low twenties. The magic was in discovering all these new places, but of course you can only do that once at most, and never if you've looked it all up before.
As they say, "you can never go home again".
2005 was a more simple time. Society required less of your time and effort in general. So we were able to stay online and escape into an MMO for hours and days at a time. Now we are older, most likely with families and careers. Life is more demanding of our time and energy than ever. We are only able to escape into a game for a fraction of the time as we used to if any at all. I still log in here and there if i ever get free time but its definitely not as magical as it used to be.
Kinda wild how adult life is less magical than being a kid, lol.
You'd think having a wife and kids would be inherently more rewarding than gaming, but for a lot of people, those goals of being an adult never manifested into actual joy.
The younger generation is still full of free time, and they're enjoying their generation's games. I think that's why Fortnite and Minecraft ballooned so hard. They're just the next gen's version of Warcraft.
I wouldn't say it's all about getting older. You likely waste just the same amount of time but on distractions like Reddit, CZcams, Netflix, Facebook that literally didn't exist in 2005. There is so much more things to waste your time on now, with so many more people to do it with. The kudos you got from spending all your time in a MMO isn't the same as it was, because there are quite literally less people who care now, less MMO players means the culture of playing MMOs dies. End of the day we all chose how we want to spend our free time and most no longer chose to play MMOs.
@@cattysplat hard agree
@@cattysplat Essentially this yeah, MMOs were often the easiest way to socialize online with massive amount of other people before the boom of social media.
@@cattysplat part of the reason younger people don't play MMOs is because, like Mad said, the "treadmill" is so easily visible now. But for a lot of people time is a major factor. Yeah, if you're still single and all you do is go to work and come home, you probably have plenty of time for MMOs. But if you're the stereotypical dad with a job, family, social life, etc., then it's hard to find those hours and MMO requires. That's why Classic basically devolved into a raid log game after the pandemic restrictions lifted. And for a lot of people, it's still too much. Needing to be at your computer at the same times every week for months on end starts to feel more like a job than a game.
Man… that first clip in the undead starting zone just made me smile with nostalgia. I’m not sure if that was from vanilla or classic launch, both were incredible.
I was wondering if you posted or not. welcome back!
That unknown feeling is the best. I'm glad for the most part FFXIV players dissuade datanining.
There's always such insane excitement around expansion launches when job changes, new skills, new zones and new MSQ comes around. For a majority of the players, they are walking into the unknown and I'm glad it still exists.
dissuade is not the same as saying it doesn't happen, rocket science is easier than naming one upcoming game that hasn't been leaked
I also love the doing raids blind is the norm in this game its some of the most fun I ever had figuring mechanics out on my own and coming up with a unique strat to solve issues
@@Fabriciod_Crv leaks only matter if you look them up. Mine away, I will still enjoy the surprise when I come across it
@DoctorPlato probably top #1 reason mmos can't be what they were is the unknown thing.
having to ask people for answers was the magic, the mysterious zones and items and quests of vanilla are utterly pointless if a wiki says: "these are nothing. avoid them."
To me the bizarre unfinished feeling of vanilla and the mystery stayed with me, I always felt there were unexplored areas and things I could go back. the areas I explored 24/7 still felt like they held a mystery. wikipedias and youtube definitely take that mystery away.
luckily there are still so many of us who enjoy reading long quests and can't stand min maxing or quest helper.
A voiceover truly indicative of the industry as a whole. Always love your stuff, Madseason.
Once again a masterpiece of video that kept me hooked on the topic.
Glad to see you producing content!
I started playing Everquest and remember those days of naked corpse runs more than any of the time in WOW or any of the other MMORPG that I played. Was Everquest painful? Hell yes; questing was a pain because it was so hard to find a good group but being a necro I had a better chance at a group, loosing a level because of a death was perhaps the worst thing. However, making it to max level really felt like an accomplishment because it was! My memories of WOW are very different than those of EQ. I enjoyed all of the MMORPG's but eventually, like you said, the magic would end and then I would play just to play, at which point I would quit. I drop into EQ still to make a few runs in the empty zones that I grew up in and that reminds me of why I quit playing. Still it's fun to see the the creation date of my necro and scary to see the number of hours I played him.
I remember making a dwarf in wow when i first started, I wanted to play with my Human friends and didn't know about the deeprun tram. So my dumbass tried to run from lochmodan to badlands. Well after dying to a wolf 400 feet away twice. I got the big brain idea to just run as a ghost to a spirit healer in elwynn and take rez sickness. Not know it resurrects you at the gy closest to your body. Boy was a Pissed.
EQ necros were so cool
I would personally pay for you to make a video on the good and bad stuff on literally every wow expansion or infamous raid/dungeon that happened in each expansion I love your videos so much
Another lovely piece from MadSeason ❤..
Wow that’s a very incredible way of explaining things - thank you
Comical, concise, coherent. Another banger my man.
Hey Mads, glad to see you putting out videos still. Loved your stuff during WoW Classic....I think the fact is all the old MMO heads are, well...we're getting old. Most don't have time like we used to, and the slower playstyle of classic MMO & sense of community just aren't part of dev's goals these days.
But at least we got Baldur's Gate 3.
BG3 is easily the best RPG since Dragon Age Origins IMO.
Oh man the outro nostalgia is hitting hard, welcome back.
My dude uploads when I needed it the most. Missed your content!
I have always thought if a company could keep to internal testing, and find a way to encrypt patches such that information could not be datamined prior to release, you could get back some of that magic.
I lost all this in WoW years and years ago. I've recently found the magic again with Final Fantasy 14 Online. It's. . . Been so wonderful to recapture that joy! There is so much in this game that doesn't revolve around being the "Best" at something. I literally haven't touched most of the raids (All of which remain relevant in some form or fashion into end game) and have recently started a group with my friends to actually do some of them at-level/synced down and we're not trying hard, no one has to have best gear or best consumables, etc. We just wanna have fun and share that magic together. It's been amazing!
If you get to raiding you must try blind raiding.
It kind of saved mmorpg pve raiding as a whole for me, turns out figuring and puzzling about a fight with 8 people is infinitely more fun than "READ THIS WOWHEAD GUIDE OF THE BOSS IN DETAIL AND INSTALL XY WEAK AURA AND ADDON OR YOU ARE A LIABILITY!"
To this day I don't get why there are almost no blind raiding guilds in WoW, I'm confident it could easily be the most fun part about raiding for so many players like it is in FF14, it would however require Blizzard to step up their boss design to be completely independent of addons.
@@k9tirion927Come on you know why. If you spend weeks/months longer defeating bosses. It's less loot (usually time limited loot) to go around. Patches with better gear and new raids are typically 6-10mo apart. So people grind for the best gear they can while it's still prime.
Finding a group willing to stay a month or more behind in progression (due to blindness) is way harder, than finding a group that far behind; because they don't play functionally/mechanically well
I loved ff14, started when HW launched, but the community was so weird and toxic that I slowly drifted away from the game. I couldn't say something I didn't like about the game that I was met with people flaming me like the game was perfect. I still log to do the quests and do the savage modes once, but thats it. Hopefully your experience will be different.
@@user-fv7jd4xj5n That's really interesting. I've been playing since 1.0 (off and on) and never had anything but positive things to say about the community.) sure, you get the odd grumpy duck, but overall? Very sweet people! Much better than WoWs imo
@@user-fv7jd4xj5n Yeah, the community is really toxic. Full to bursting with extremely hateful, extremely angry, extremely gay people, who won't even wait for you to say anything before they let you know they think you're shit.
I'm glad that you've been talking about this in a more candid way over the last few years
Good to see you doing content again
This is why I feel so lucky to have met wonderful people who encouraged me to go in blind for the first raids I ever did in FFXIV and learn not through videos or online research but getting my ass beat! Community is everything!
One should never underestimate the enjoyment you get out of getting your ass beat lol
doing new savage content blind is a blessing in that game.
It was Coils of Bahamut I wanted to do when I started looking for folk and surprisingly there were allot willing to help! :D
I have that problem of too much online research ruining my fun. Last night I googled that I need 21 quests more to start Shadowbringer, so I better did crafting and leveling-up that continuing with the main quest.
@@Lbird1993i remember people actually prob killed most of my love for FFXIV I still love the game but I've been told so many times to use guides on raids and stuff that it made me feel so discouraged to play because I wanted to go in blind and do things the way I wanted to do it yet I was told so many different things people just suck I was told I needed to do this then this then this and it got frustrating so I just ended up stopped playing out of frustration and burnout because players kinda kept telling me to do things and it hurts your love for a game I'm only in shadowbringers which it sucks so hard it honestly ruins your fun alot
I think the attitude of players has changed a lot in the last 20 years, as well. Gamers were more friendly and accepting back then (of course there are always exceptions) and now they are toxic and awful. You can't build communities when people aren't friends. MMO players are more like mercenaries now, grouping together occasionally to accomplish a specific goal, but moving on at the first sign on conflict or at the sight of a better opportunity. People in WoW tend to join a new guild every raid tier, a new server every expansion, play a new character, etc. Building communities, characters, guilds, etc. isn't rewarded.
Amen. The problem isn't the games at all. It's the people who play them.
True, but that was largely due to the shift in game mechanics that made the server community irrelevant. One of the roughly 9012389012379812371029873612089 bad moves Blizztard made while ruining WoW.
I am sort of a semi casual player who went back into classic knowing a decent amount but got constantly mocked for not knowing extremely intricate high level mechanics and literal enclyclopetic knowledge of every fight in every instance. Like... you would think the attitude would be, "wow, someone who is new, cant wait to share all this info with them!" and not outright hositiliy for making mistakes. It made me kinda stop playing because no one wanted to drag along "dead weight" to the max level content. Like, what a way to kill your own community of players by gatekeeping less skilled players. Less skilled beacuse Ive only dumped 200 hours into the game and not 2000 and I dont spend every waking moment im not logged in on wiki pages and forums.....
I play GW2 and FF14 and I don't see this toxicity you're talking about.
I think many people in this comment section actually haven't play MMO game in a while. Especially when I see comments that are like "MMOs are all the same now" or sth like that xp
@@emzdanowicz2775 I've played WoW, GW2, ESO, FF14... Some are worse than others in terms of toxicity. WoW is basically an open sewer at this point. And, by and large, MMOs function very similarly.
Another brilliant video - Tank you SeasonShow!
Your insights are always spot on, whether it be for good or bad. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for another great video! I could not agree more. I played WoW Classic and TBC, and for a brief time, recaptured that orginal, "Magic." But it was fleeting. I keep getting asked to rejoing for WoK raiding and I cannot bring myself to commit. Not only is the mystery element gone but so is that time of my life when I could just focus and enjoy running on the "entertainment" treadmill. Now I have to run on a REAL treadmill to keep as ass alive from all those years of troglodyte life!
Id never played the original Wow before (I started in Cata) so i was mad excited to explore the world and all its different quests and storylines. I barely did any research on classes or anything so it could go in blind and man it was fun. But Now when i start a character in classic era or classic Wrath I basically already know everything so its more just a Grind to get to fun things like dungeons and more interesting zones. So the unknown aspect really does make it feel much better.
Always great videos! When are you gona play and talk about Valheim?
Very nice look at a topic that often gets very simplified. Thank you
I LOVE it when a video actually has a thesis it is trying to prove. STELLAR work, Mr.Season, sir.
Another madseason video, another 20+ minutes of realizing I’m old and the magic will forever be gone from my life
You'll find something else that brings you happiness!
@@KontrolStyleawww, appreciate the sentiment ❤
Don't be sad that the ride is over; be happy that you got to be there when it started.
I wasn't expecting to hear Steeet Fighter 4 Chinese stage music lol
and the training stage too! Oh the memories...
bro i love treefitty thanks for using his clip he is one of the most wholesome streamers ive ever seen ever. i used to watch him blood dk tank in cata
I remember the time my brother introduced me to Guild Wars 2 in 2012 or 2013. I had played WoW and found it to be bland but the unknown world of GW2 rewarded exploration and I was fully captured by it's magic.
Guild Wars 2 Expansion tomorrow PogChamp. So excited!
It is worth playing now for PvP guy?
@@Jackfromshack I'd say it's still worth it, yes. You can at least try it out; the main game is free and the expansions aren't that expensive and there's so many viable builds, you can really play around with it.
Gachas.
No, really. The grinding of old MMOs have been replaced by grinding in gachas. They have crews and guilds just like MMOs too. The illusion of free to play is a strong one.
By illusion you mean "you pay with your time instead of money"? Because in a literal sense many gacha games are free.
This is MINDBLOWING, I am adding this video to favorites to watch it in the next years remembering those words.
The way that you described it just grounded me in the thoughts that that times are never coming back. I am so glad that my childhood was full of gaming MMOs.
The unknown is what drives us, in the future there is going to be more spoilers (more products, more marketing needed). So at the end we will have identical few games of selected genres with no point of playing it.
Really sad for me as a piece of gaming culture, a gamer ['sob']
Your voice is why I subscribed. Perfect for videos.
it's sad to see this happen to mmos. times change 😔
I remember my first few days with Classic. I avoided all the websites and videos to immerse myself in the lie that it was the same as before. The nostalgia was enough to make me happy. Then I noticed everyone ignoring certain quests, dungeons, items, consumables, and entire questing zones. They kust “weren’t efficient” enough. PvP quickly devolved into engineers slapping sappers and stun grenades against each other. Chats filled with rage about problems no one used to care about.
I was happy to shut my eyes and enjoy the magic. Every else just wanted the carrot. Their overwhelming desire to get it ended up destroying the entire experience for everyone.
And this is why I never touched classic. I knew this was exactly how it was going to go down.
The problem with refusing to use all the guides out there is that you will be left in the dust as Mad Season pointed out. People won't want to play with you. I remember Asmongold trashing someone in his raid group on stream for having sub optimal gear. Then he kicked him. Such behaviour is encouraged by our influencer overlords.
Same thing applies for private WOW servers. Except those are even worse. Insane gear requirements for any non-solo content. Complete p2w.
Maybe one day technology will advance far enough to allow us to simulate old online games using AI to make them play like they were back then. Bots acting like people, talking, interacting, creating guilds, posting on forums, having to learn the game as they go, playing only X hours a day at different times of day. Maybe you could set at which point in the game's lifetime you join. Maybe day 1 or after 1 year.
All of this ecosystem must be self contained from outside interference with me as the only human player. Or a few other like minded human players. That would be a dream come true for me. Unlikely to happen in my lifetime.
Love your videos man. Hope you're doing well.
Seems like Dungeons and Dragons will never lose it's magic, perfect game for MMO addicts
What do you think about BG3?
@@float32 I hear great things and apparently all my friends will be playing it but I'm a WoW addict, if i'm not playing wow I must do more productive things than play another game, I've still got elden ring and divinity 2 backlogged
@@platinumfactory Divinity 2 is a great intro to BG3 since it's made by the same company
Wow was magical the firsttime, happy to be part of the journey. But even 1 year after release community already changed, people were less willing to help strangers. Wow classic shows there is demand for rpg's, but the next big hit will probably be when VR gets realistic.
Gamers aren't trying to move around for real. I play vr and if I had a nickle for every heavy breather I come across I wouldn't have to work.
It doesn't help that WoW was always selfish in design. There's little to no benefit to helping other people out so almost nobody does, at least until you can raid.
@@Shmandalfat least when servers were isolated you got to know the nice guys, the bad guys and so on, there was more sense of community more likely to be nice.
Same as how people in big cities don’t even talk to their neighbors but I’m smaller towns everyone knows and helps each other.
Next big hit will probably be Ashes of Creation honestly.
@@PherPhur I'm so looking forward to it. I play most new MMOs that come out and Ashes is looking really promising.
It's always a good day when Mad Season posts a new video
14:00 Final Fantasy bans addons which i feel helps get rid of that min/max toxicity especially with having no dps/healing meter
I wish more mmos focused on the social aspect of the genre. I was never really into mmos, but I gave classic wow a shot and enjoyed it up until phase 2, but there were so many bots and min maxers it became pretty toxic. Glad I got out when I did.
If there were an mmo with the social aspect of EVE Online with mechanics that isn't runescape combat, I would be playing it right now.
Maybe you should actually check out high lvl osrs combat or check out rs3 Ironman mode which takes away all mtx
Final Fantasy XIV is still pretty fun lmao
Getting screeched at during a 15 year old raid is what helped me not wanting to raid or do dungeons at all. Fishing, crafting and exploring is fun. Unfortunately it is tough finding folks who want to do just that. Battlegrounds are fun too, forget the PvP/Arenas
bro this is why I love your videos, the blow up dolls representing EVERY single dumb youtube video on a game doing the wow or OMG face! love it, thought i was the only one
always grateful for a madseason video. keep up the great work, king
This one kinda made me feel weird. I originally subscribed to this channel because I enjoyed the nostalgic WoW content. Now you’ve obviously strayed from playing it, yet you’re still making content about it and the tone has changed to where you’re just talking about why you don’t. I get it because I think everyone goes through phases of being enamored with the game then losing interest; but I’d rather watch content of stuff you’re passionate about rather than justifying why you no longer care for it
Oh man, glad im not the only one that’s noticed it, it was a hell of alot worse back in BFA, madseason would not shut the fuck up about dailies.
Yea it's getting old. And he never talks about the real reasons for the declines in these types of games. He, like everyone else just blame the developers and deny the players any agency in creating the stage 4 cancer ward that occupies 80% of MMO player bases.
I feel like it’s a bit reductive to conclude that New World didn’t succeed because it tried to deviate and innovate the MMO experience.
Yeah, it had a lot of bugs and other problems that gave it the a game that releases bad is always bad treatment.
I have a lot to say about New World actually, too much for this video
@madseasonshow really? Could you do video about New World? I'm really interested about your experience in this game.
New World felt really unique to me, especially the atmosphere, sound design and etc. Such a shame the game wasn't a success
I had a lot of fun playing slow and steady on the hardcore PTR earlier this month. Just doing stuff at my own pace. What a concept.
Great video ! This is key to a lot of things in this life. 👍
The BG3 owner said it perfectly in a updated news article. The shareholders of game studios have absolutely ruined this space. The only way it gets better is if independent studios make enough money to make game we once all knew and loved with no systems like BDO or cash shop items that increases X amount or skins with stats, extra bag space, extra mounts. MMORPGs are all but dead. Which is absolutely wild. Perhaps in 5-10 years when the shareholders loose interest and move onto something else like mobile games we’ll get back to normal but I highly doubt that will happen
Social media made MMO a part of our daily lives. My hypothesis as such suggests they made the MMO part of MMORPG games redundant, as everyone already feel like there's a MMO going on already. Sometimes you just have to name and define the concepts, for people to realize what's really going on. For some strange reason, it's difficult for the human brain to comprehend something there's no defined term for. So, with that said, consider my hypothesis that social media killed the MMORPG genre, and realize you've already known it all along. You just lacked the terminology to think it.
That doesn't explain why Classic is insanely popular.
according to who? Classic is only popular when there's something hype coming out like hardcore, after that period is over, everyone is back to not caring about it, classic andies seem to really overestimate the popularity of their old ass game@@xanmal7042
@@xanmal7042
Popular with bots lol.
I don't have any social media. Maybe that's why I liked classic so much.
@gandalf8216 had this exact same thought brother. It's like people are already getting their social fix from social media and don't need it in the game.
Social media is the mmo killer for sure. I'm sure this is much more psychologically deep than we imagine. I remember the magic of knowing these people in game as CHARACTERS, not really connected to our IDs or discord #. I remember meeting people from WoW and it's like an adventure. nowadays you can just do a 1080p video call and meeting them isn't a big deal. This idea that we don't have a defined term for will come to light soon IMO. The entire psychology of human brain dealing with social media arriving overnight is something we'll find out about for decades. Maybe even historically worse than any other technology like when radio or television arrived cuz smart phones legit came overnight. What is the point of sending an ingame wow mail if I can just discord or text someone or some shit.
Mad, your monotone glorious voice makes me want to stop what I'm doing and log in right now. Your videos (specifically with regard to vanilla) ignite nostalgic wow memories in my brain, as if you were actually there making those videos at that time (which you weren't, and there wasn't even a CZcams).
Thank you for the time energy and passion to put into your videos. They continue to inspire me today as I continue the journey on private servers 👍👊
Another gem of a creation, thanks for everything you do Mr MadSeasonShow
It’ll be interesting how Ashes of Creation plays out. With their node system it seems like every server is going to be very different. I’m intrigued how the player base reacts and how it all ends up.
Ashes of Creation is a scam lol.
@@Civman-yr8lbtime will tell 🤷🏼♂️
that is how it has to be. Things have to be non-static. Like, the more people us a spell, the less powerful it gets and vice versa. Encourage divergent behavior. The amount of experience gained from monsters is based on how often they are killed etc. Non static world mitigates the issue of lack of discovery and the follow-a-guide problem. Loot chests spawn everywhere, so if you are in an area few people have been in, there is more rewards etc.