Starting from Scratch, Again: Old MMO Gems Repolished

Many MMO fans have been eagerly discussing the pro’s and con’s of legacy servers and the differences in gaming experiences offered between newer versions of the games. With all the discussion going on I felt it high time to hit the keyboard and start on some of my favourite MMO’s from scratch and compare the experiences. Recently I went back to playing World of Warcraft, Star Trek Online, and DC Universe Online to compare how it feels for a new player to get involved.

A bit of history on my MMO life might be in order before we begin. I finished High School at exactly the same time that World of Warcraft came out, meaning that my gap year was spent grinding out levels in Azeroth. I was a part of both the DC Universe (2011) and Matrix Online (2005) Beta. I pre-ordered Star Trek Online in 2010 and spent way too much real world money on cosmetic items. For me a great deal of the experience was spent roleplaying, as become important later. I am an avid supporter of legacy servers and have had accounts on many private servers for various games.

To get an authentic experience I have truly started from scratch again. Logging into a new server and making a new avatar quickly becomes a scary process. You realise that you no longer can rely on the resources used in the past: no alts, no sneaky transfers from old characters or legacy items. Just you and the new player experience.

It became apparent to me that one thing all these games have shared is a streamlining of the process to get you up and running. There is a great deal more effort put into the telling the story to new players and much of which is catching them up on the changes that have happened since the games started. Looking at these games individually we can see their respective styles of evolution.

World of Warcraft still has the same flying voice over. However, now you are immediately introduced to the greater politics at play in the world. The talk of the leaders and their personalities gets you straight into the story. After a very short run of basic class missions I was being shown visions of the great leader Vol’jin and why he was refusing to fight alongside his horde brethren.

Helping to build the racial pride for my character, the seeds of lore planted here would later come to guide my decisions in later end game missions. Unlike the good old days the story was not shared by reading an awkward quest scroll, but instead with animation and conversation from the NPCs. A real focus on the story helped drive my desire to quest and get involved. In no time at all I was out of my starting zone and zooming through the plot towards my heroic storyline. Having taken a character through the full World of Warcraft, I wondered what other games of my past would benefit from a revisiting.

Star Trek Online shocked me at how much it has grown since I last played. The plethora of races was borderline overwhelming at first, but as a roleplayer helped me get involved in the story. Unlike the other MMORPGs, Star Trek Online opens its world up much faster to new players, giving them options to proceed down quest arcs and pursue the storylines of previous seasons of the game. If you were keen to do your research ahead of time, you could guide yourself to pick and choose your storylines to suit your personal play styles. Were I to do this progression again I would structure my story around my favourite race, the Romulans. I would research the storylines that guided my character through the plot arcs in order to get the whole picture of their deceptive and machiavellian villainry. The open feel of the game world added to the idea that you are in the final frontier, but the gameplay interwoven with cinematic storytelling made it feel like a real story was being told. None of the layers of storytelling existed when I first logged onto the original version in 2010.

DC Universe Online began with a powerful story tie in when it was released in 2011, and has not changed much in that sense. What has changed, however, is the pace at which the game progresses. Most apparent is the pacing of the action packed combat system, which feels nothing like the turn based game it once did. Fast paced, button mashing progression gives the game a sense of urgency and excitement. Often you find yourself respawning and realising if you had just coordinated your abilities a little better you could have beaten the boss. There are also many quests that link into the main characters of the universe, and of course, these require you to get together with teammates to accomplish.

These three examples highlight the shining achievements of the evolving genre, but also demonstrate the parts of former selves they are leaving behind. Whilst story has become a driving force in each of these games, the speedy pace at which it rushes by is a stark contrast to the older versions of the games. In many ways this is a blessing. I, for one, am glad that I do not have to fight for cactus apples or hunt down a specific Borg NPC to progress my story. However, the pace can also mean that you don’t get to fully explore the nooks and crannies of the settings. There are whole segments of quest arcs that are skipped if you are aiming to progress quickly and there is little reward to hang around and complete them fully. Whilst the quality of the story is far superior, the level of immersion seems to be targeted at a much shorter attention span.

There is a price that must be paid for a level of quality of life that we have come to take for granted in the modern MMORPGs. My strongest draw to MMORPGs has always been the role-playing element of the genre. I can remember grinding for hours and hours trying to get the drop that would give me the green santa hat at christmas time. I have spent hundreds of dollars perfecting my Movie Era starfleet uniform for my Andorian Science officer. The struggle to progress far enough for my blizzard berserking villain to finally have enough power level to no longer just throw snowballs ate up a whole summer holiday I should have spent with my family.

These days many of these elements of the game have been simplified: The way in which loot drops is much more personalised, the inflation of in-game microtransactions is now greatly diminished, and the leveling systems now feel smooth and no longer require the meat-grinder between the peaks and troughs of quest progression. Having myself recently returned to legacy servers, I can tell you that it is exactly these quality of life elements that we miss when we remove the rose-tinted glasses looking at the past versions of the games we so fondly remember.

Another victim of quality of life tends to be the community that formed. It used to be a requirement that you talk to random strangers in order to form groups strong enough to complete the best content in the game. Whether players were high end raiding, or simply getting three people together to be able to take down Hogger and his cronies, you needed to be able to talk to people. This is clearly no longer the case. In many ways the changes are a good thing. Far too often ninjas and trolls ruined the experience for all.

But some of the greatest long running friendships I had through the games were formed by simply asking for help. In the past many of the same players would be leveling and progressing together. You would see the same faces and names around the areas you were progressing through. There was a real sense that you knew the people you played with, whether that was true or not. These days it is completely possible to go from level 1 to the end game without having to actually talk to a stranger. The expansion of the game has meant that you no longer see the same names appear with you. Even within a Corporation, League, or Guild it is rare to see the same level of personal connection grow between players that we once shared.

In order to wrap up, I think it is clear to say that returning to these games from a new perspective is a rewarding and worthwhile experience. In the very least, it has made me appreciate my high-level privilege: the things I take for granted such as flying mounts, faster ship upgrades and the ability to enter endgame content. But on a much deeper level it has also shown me just how far these games have come and given me an understanding of what defines the game’s core values. It shows me the progress we have made and the potential for the next evolution of the genre. If you are feeling like your game is stale and boring I would highly recommend giving the new player experience a try, again.