Isn't Anyone Tired Of The Same Old MMO Classes Yet?

I get invited into beta's all the time, like, every week.  A lot of them are MMOs and I always get a little excited with each one thinking, "Is this the one that will break the mold?"

It never is.  In fact, as I review the game's pages my trained eye quickly seeks and invariably find not what is different about this new massively oersistent game, but what is identical, or changed only to address problems with a class or skill function  in another game.

 I shudder to think that the only driver for the development of new MMO's isn't innovation, but rather a quick fix born of someone's notion that perhaps the downfalls of another game might make the beginnings of a new one.

 How many worlds can you really be a 'ranger' in?  Sure, if you hide and use 'ranged' weapons you can really be a 'ranger' or 'assassin' or 'scout', but let's face it - you are almost unilaterally; weak in the throes of combat - you are able to do a lot of damage quickly so long as you don't take too much damage - period.

 You are basically a caster with weapons instead of magic.  Tanks?  You are slow, do good damage but can really take (yawn) punishment.  Anyone else tired?

 I can definitely see where already successful games that use these paradigms need to be very careful about how they are balanced, how the skills and systems contribute, etc.  But for new games, would'nt it be great if someone actually took a risk and pushed not the same envelope - but a brand new one?

 I have a lot of complaints about where MMO's are going.  I come from the world 'before graphics' and I can say with a fair degree of certainty that thus far the only advantage to graphical MMO's over the predecessors is well, graphics.  PVP/PVE is not better, customization is not better and certainly social accessability has if anything, tanked.

 Why all the focus on dumbing things down so much?  What happened to the challenge that complexity and depth brings?  Why do you need to know everything about everything to be good at a game, and where is the mystery?

I'm good friends with folks at a company that had for a long time a venerable text based MMO, one that still has players of nearly 10 years still hacking away at it.  Fact is, I still visit from time to time but the bastard that is graphical games has ruined me on most of the experience.

 I pine for that which has been left out, but thats not the story.  No the story is about when this same company went to make thier own MMO, one many of us hoped would 'save' the dying breed of quality persistent gaming experiences.

It was hoped that when they approached the graphical MMO that they would 'show everyone'  how to do it right and incorporate some of the elements so painfully absent in modern MMO's.

 Ultimately though, it came down to a popularity contest fueled by the desire to capture some of the WOW magic and money.  Pressure from publisher suitors, greed, whatever - not sure, but with dismay I realized as I worked on level design and world building that I was contributing to the continuance of the norm of MMO's and not the innovation.

Fast forward a year or so and the beat goes on.  I'm not here to bash, thusly I've mentioned no names, but conversely I can say that pretty much every MMO is guilty of failing to innovate where it counts, which isn't in middleware, rendering or cool new 'crafting schemes'.

It's in reinvention and new approaches to classes, skills, 'experience', leveling and everything else core to massively persistent role playing experiences.  These elements in our industry now are 'one size fits all', we're just changing themes and skins.

I'll have more to say about this and would simply love an engaging debate or comments.

~Edward Hunter