Since this is our first issue of MMO Co-Opportunities of the year, I thought we could look at the MMOs that are on the rise for this year. As a member of the MMO community for the past eight years or so, I’ve seen years that have provided a veritable bounty of MMOs, years where the pickings have been paltry, years that have contained huge disappointments, and years that have contained an MMO or two which pleasantly surprised me. For me, at least, 2010 was a slow year for MMOs. Cataclysm dropped at the end of the year, which is fantastic to all the WoW players out there, but for many of us who don’t play WoW, we look ahead in anticipation to what the next year holds. 2011 looks to be a year when a lot of highly-anticipated MMOs will launch. My list is, of course, not exhaustive, but I wanted to highlight some of the heavy hitters that are on the table for this year.
DC Universe Online (DCUO)
Release Date: Jan 11, 2011
DCUO takes place in the world of DC comics, complete with many of the fan-favorite heroes and villains. The story goes that Lex Luthor and a bunch of other villains managed to kill off Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman amongst other superheroes only to crushed by Brainiac shortly thereafter. To avoid a terrible future, Lex Luthor goes back in time to warn the heroes of this grim future as well as unleashing microbes that will grant normal humans superpowers. This is where you come in. You can design either a super hero or villain to join the fight. Both sides are trying to combat the failed future, but their means are different. You can pick to follow Wonder Woman, Superman, or Batman on the hero side or Circe, Lex Luthor, or the Joker on the villain side. You can also choose a weapon (e.g. one-handed weapon, bow, staff) and a power set (e.g. nature, fire, ice). It is also bleeds traditional MMO gameplay with action game gameplay (e.g. there are combo systems).
Potential Co-opportunity: From what I can tell, immersion are going to be one of the really big draws for this game. I’ve never really been into comics, but from what I’ve heard DCUO takes you to a lot of important places from the various comics that will make any fanboy squeal with glee. Another factor of note is their interesting role system. Each of the power sets has a damage stance so all characters can easily dish out the damage, but each power set has one of three other possibilities for more intense group play. For example, the fire power set can settle into a tank role and the nature power set can settle into a healer role.
RIFT
Release Date: 2011
Another faction-based game, RIFT has players pick a side: the spiritual Guardians or the technology-driven Defiant. Story-wise, both Guardians and Defiant are trying to prevent the destruction of the world (weird how a lot of MMOs are going this way, isn’t it?), and both blame the other side for all the bad that’s happened. Whichever side you pick, you start off as a recently slain hero who has been resurrected to get back into the fight (for the Guardians, you’ve been resurrected by a god, for the Defiant, you’ve been resurrected by Defiant-created machines). Unlike most MMOs, RIFT does not feature a traditional class system, which is the biggest potential co-opportunity I wanted to address.
Potential Co-opportunity: When you create your character in RIFT you can choose one of four major archetypes (or Callings, as they call them): Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, and Mage. This archetype controls what armor type you can wear and what basic mechanic you’ll be using. Most importantly, though, it determines what Souls you have access to. Souls are kind of like classes of the traditional MMO. Each archetype has 8 different Souls, for a total of 32 Souls. Once you have them unlocked, you can have up to 3 Souls equipped at a time. The Soul Trees are similar to the Talent trees you may see in a lot of MMOs, like WoW. The biggest difference, however, is that whichever Souls you have equipped completely determine what skills you have. As you level up, you are granted points to spend in the “Branches” of a Soul Tree. By doing this, you are first customizing your character (e.g. when you first start spending points in a Soul tree, you may be faced with a choice of armor % or attack rating %) and you are automatically unlocking different skills in the “Roots” of the tree. It’s somewhat a build-your-own-class system. Say you like the Ranger’s pets, but you want some more ranged skills so you throw in some Marksman. Then perhaps you like some of the buffs Bards have. You can throw together a Ranger/Marksman/Bard class. Better yet, you can unlock Roles (up to 4) which allow you to make additional combinations, then swap between them whenever you want to (so long as you are not in combat). Say you’re playing a Cleric archetype and your friends need you to heal. No problem, switch to a healing role. Another friend gets on who really likes to heal, so you add them to your party and switch back to a damaging role. A little while later your tank has to split, but no problem, Clerics have access to a tanking Soul, too (Justicar), so you switch to that. This system is something that I’m very excited about, because often one is faced with the choice of going for the ideal group comp, or play with more friends regardless of group comp (or make decisions about who gets to play what based around this idealized group comp); this system makes it so you don’t have to do that. People who like to focus on support characters while grouping don’t have to struggle when they’re playing by themselves: they can set up a grouping role and a solo role.
TERA
Release Date: 2011
To be completely honest, TERA is a game I haven’t been following very closely thusfar, but it’s for sure a highly anticipated title for this year. It labels itself as a true Action MMO. You aim your abilities very similarly to an FPS, not like normal targeting seen in most MMOs. Dodging, jumping, etc. come into play as well. This is a type of system that has been attempted by many MMO developers because it just seems like such a promising idea. In my opinion, however, most of those who have attempted it didn't quite succeed. It would be truly exciting if TERA were to provide a quality and enjoyable action experience in an MMO. Players can pick between 6 races and 8 classes.
Potential Co-opportunity: From developer videos I’ve seen of this game, TERA promises to feature some intense dungeons with a huge emphasis on teamwork. They describe complicated boss encounters with environmental effects, chaotic spawns of mobs, and enormous bosses. Tanks will have to shield their party members from harm, group members will have to avoid being pushed into environment effects like cruel spikes, so communication will be key. I've always been fond of dungeons which require a large amount of coordination of party members, so I look forward to hearing more about TERA.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Release Date: 2011
SW:TOR is being developed by Bioware, the folks famous for the Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series, and Knights of the Old Republic amongst many other games. Though they’ve done some multiplayer games before (Neverwinter Nights), this is their first foray into the MMO department. It takes place 300 years after Knights of the Old Republic and 3,500 years before the Star Wars films. Players pick between the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire factions (Light and Dark side) and their faction-specific classes (e.g. the Republic has Troopers and the Empire has Bounty Hunters).
Potential Co-opportunity: If you’ve ever played a Bioware game, you know they incorporate a lot of choices into the story. For SW:TOR they are also promising a strong, story-driven experience. One aspect that emphasizes this are the game’s “Flashpoints,” which appear to be like an average MMO’s dungeons. The difference is, these Flashpoints will have important stories associated with them in which your character will be able to make key decisions. There will be cutscenes where you get to make choices about how your character reacts or what your character decides to do (very similar to Mass Effect). Furthermore, if you are in a party, you and your other party members get to take turns making these pivotal plot choices. It sounds very similar to how one might imagine playing Mass Effect or Dragon Age with friends, which a whole lot of people have been pining for!
Guild Wars 2
Release Date: When it’s finished (Possibly 2011?)
You can hardly play any MMO or MMO beta nowadays without someone bringing up how much they’re just holding out for Guild Wars 2. It’s the game that’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue. It’s the MMO without traditional healers, where you go into a downed state before you die, and where your weapon choice determines what skills you have equipped. As I outlined in my Guild Wars 2 Preview a few months back, players get to pick between five races and eight professions. It takes place 250 years after Guild Wars. In the gap between the two games, the five elder dragons have awakened in the world and are wreaking absolute destruction on the world. The game focuses on combating these dragons and their endless, powerful minions.
Potential Co-opportunity: One thing that’s pretty interesting about Guild Wars 2 from a co-op perspective is its Dynamic Events. They take place in the open world and are triggered by the actions of players interacting with and exploring the area. They have multiple outcomes, with even the possibility of triggering a new event. This system was developed to replace traditional quests in MMORPGs. To prevent spawn-camping and and kill-stealing, Dynamic Events reward everyone who participated as well as giving them 100% of any gained experience, even if they were not in a party together. This promotes cooperation rather than competition in PVE. Furthermore, events will scale based on the number of participants: the number of enemies may increase, or the level of the enemies may increase, or the enemies might start using new skills. Even if players fail an event, they will still receive a small type of reward to ensure that they don’t feel like their time was wasted. Rewards include gold, xp, and karma rewards.
Again, this list wasn’t exhaustive, but these were some of the MMOs that I felt were among the most anticipated for 2011. Which MMOs are you looking for to?