Rabbit had a great comment in my “Worst. MMO. Player. Ever” post, and it’s one well worth addressing.

Asks the Murdoch:

“I do understand where you are coming from, but here’s the thing: if it’s not all that different from WoW, but looks a little better and feels a little better, why is this not a stunning achievement? It’s a bit like saying “well, the BMW M3 is just another $50,000 sports car, it’s just a little faster and I like the interior.” Doesn’t that still make it an amazing car?

To some extent I think all MMOs require a substantial time commitment to even get the feel. I know in LOTRO I didn’t get a sense of it until maybe 20 hours in. I didn’t really get hot and bothered about AoC until I hit the harder group content around level 30-35, and some of the instances from there have blown away Moria and the Balrog, my previous high spots.

But ultimately, if it doesn’t work, eh, that’s OK. We’ve got lots to play with.”

So, from back to front … I completely agree about ‘lots to play with’. I’ve been opening my eyes more and more of late to games I previously didn’t think were all that interesting. Silk Road is probably the one I’m most surprised by. I actually had quite a lot of fun playing that one. A rundown on my experience in that game is going up on Massively later this week, and I’ll link it here.

I generally agree with the idea that MMOs taketime to ‘get’, and I’ve been trying to push forward with that. I’m thinking I’ve forever put myself into healing mindset. I started an alt in the priest overclass, and it’s a texture I’m much more comfortable with. Maybe I’m just ‘that guy’ now, the dude who always has to wear a robe and shout funny words at his holy symbol.

Ultimately, though, I come back to the same point: beneath the paintjob of different attack mechanisms, it’s the same old diku-inspired game that I’m playing in World of Warcraft. And I need to be clear, here … Age of Conan is only meeting my expectations for WoW if you go back to the launch days. See, this is where Blizzard gets you. It’s all fine and good that the game is polished, but in a month players are going to have hit the level cap and find there’s little to do besides meaningless PvP. Two guesses where they’re going to go.

You can’t just compete with WoW as a concept. This is the really trick bit with these new games. You have to compete with WoW + patches + the Burning Crusade + (if you want to stay on top of things) Lich King.

I can think of precious few new games coming out that have this kind of ambition.

Who knows, maybe I’ll find more “there” past level 30, as Rabbit suggests. I’m hopeful, and I want to stress again: this is just from my perspective. AoC has had a really great launch and looks like it’s in a good place to deliver. Now Funcom has to move the ball down the field. It’s all up to them.