I play Tabula Rasa while WoW destroys MMOs
January 14th, 2008 by Colin Temple
I’ve been playing Tabula Rasa lately, and this weekend I got my character to level 10. Not a huge accomplishment, but I’m happy about it. I’ve been playing for about two weeks, although somewhat infrequently — I’ve been too busy with work to spend much time with the game.
Tabula Rasa is supposedly meant to reduce the level grind you get with games like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI, but so far I haven’t noticed much difference. As far as I can tell, the only feature that really cuts back on the grind is the cloning — you can ’save’ your DNA at certain levels and then create a clone of yourself at the same level, but with a different job class. That’s great, but you still need to grind your way through the first time it seems.
Here’s my character so far. Woden Vallero is currently a Soldier on the Pegasus (NA East Coast) server. I’m probably going to take the Ranger -> Spy route in choosing my character’s specialty class, but I’m not sure yet.
Meanwhile, Dana Massey over at WarCry comments on the state of the MMORPG. More specifically, how World of Warcraft has a stranglehold on the genre.
Essentially, Massey’s argument is this: Although WoW has made great strides for the online RPG, its 9-million player monopoly is stifling the growth of the genre as a whole. As long as World of Warcraft exists, few players will venture away to try other MMOs — that unless games are able to attract players with a free-play model or similar gimmicks (which may not be best for the game), players won’t be swayed. Other excellent games, like The Lord of the Rings Online, are already out but won’t be able to grow in the way that WoW did because Blizzard already has a hold on the available market.
In a sense, I agree. It’s certainly true that once players establish themselves in an MMO, they tend to play for years without playing other games. For example, I started playing Final Fantasy XI in 2004, and continue to play it today (although less than I used to) — and was reluctant to try other MMOs even when World of Warcraft came onto the scene.
Leveling up your character in an MMO is a huge time investment, and starting from square one can be a bother. What’s more, players often develop online friendships (studies show that MMO players are actually very social) within their game of choice. So with this dedication to a game, it could be years before players migrate away from WoW in any significant volume. And that does make it difficult for other MMOs to thrive.
But, while they may not explode in growth the way that World of Warcraft has, they can be sustainable, viable games. After years, Final Fantasy XI continues to have a strong population, and newer games like Tabula Rasa have pulled together decent player bases.
Both these games offer something different than WoW — Final Fantasy XI is a cross-platform game that plays very differently, for better or worse, in terms of teamwork and strategy, while Tabula Rasa takes the WoW-style interface into a sci-fi world. And while I don’t see Tabula Rasa hitting the 9-million mark, I think it will operate very well within its niche.
So what do you think? Can other MMOs exist alongside World of Warcraft — and can any of them hope to take it down? I’m certainly enjoying Tabula Rasa and I’ll keep playing to take Woden up to the later levels (expect a full review of the game when I get there), so I’m glad other companies aren’t folding under the pressure to bring down Blizzard’s behemoth.
#1 Joe
January 14th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Why must WoW be “taken down”. It’s a good game, better games will come along and then you will see a mass migration. But until the game play is better, and not just the same, you are absolutly right, why would anyone leave. One reason will be the cool factor, people want to be cool and if “anyone” can be playing WoW, well then it’s just not cool anymore. I think it was brilliant to get celebraties to do endorsement commercials for WoW. Athough Mr. T and Shatner are seen as cool with a much older crowd. But just like everyone hangs out at the cool nightclubs, everyone will want to be playing the cool MMO. Now developers just need to figure out how to market their MMO as the one where all the cool people hang out. Maybe no monthly fee for women. If Blizzard was smart they would do the “I’m Paris Hilton, and I’m a Blood Elf warlock” commercial.
#2 Colin Temple
January 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
By “take it down” I mean can any of the MMO ventures become strong enough to pull WoW users away and take over — I don’t mean that WoW should come down to make room. It’s a market, after all. Blizzard was just really good at it.
I really like the idea of getting rid of the monthly fee for women (…and so would my wife!) I think a lot of online games suffer from a lack of women.
#3 marnok
January 17th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Other developers often act like WoW has some kind of unfair monopoly. The bottom line is they are blaming WoW for their own shortcomings. Make a game better than WoW and we will all play it. Nobody has done that yet. Simple as that.
Wow’s size isn’t stifling the MMORPG market. The lack of other good MMORPGs is.
#4 Colin Temple
January 17th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Well, you’d have to make a game significantly better than World of Warcraft, and have a well-made marketing strategy. (Let’s not forget that — you could make the best game in the world and sell 5 copies if you don’t get the marketing ball rolling).
There are plenty of games that are about as good as WoW, but people won’t switch until they’re either bored with WoW or that the next game is SO good that they’ll abandon their WoW progress to start fresh.
That’s not to say that WoW’s monopoly is unfair. They got to the scene first and in business that’s often what counts. I think the trap that a lot of the newer MMO developers fell into is that they’re saying “me too”. They saw WoW skyrocket and realized there’s a strong market for this… but they’re mostly just trying to reproduce WoW under different circumstances, which can’t succeed. (Or, rather, they can’t be a runaway success in that way… but they can still be financially successful.)
#5 Jeff
January 26th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Why should women have free gameplay simply because of their gender? WoW charges a monthly subscription fee. If anyone, male or female, objects to the fee, they shouldn’t play the game. If Blizzard ever did adopt a discriminatory policy such as allowing female players to play for free while requiring its male players to pay, I would cancel my subscription and never play again. The game should either be free for everyone, or everyone should pay the subscription fee. It’s the only fair way to conduct business.
#6 Colin Temple
January 27th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Ha. well, i sort of took that one jokingly, but… for example, some dating services make it free for women to join because women are harder to get on board.
Dating services are different, of course, since they need an ample supply of men and women to succeed, whereas MMOs don’t -really- need that, it’s just better if we have both.
There are plenty of things (haircuts, dry cleaning) that cost more for women than men, I might add. (Not that it’s really justified for an MMO in the same way.)
#7 Joe
January 31st, 2008 at 11:46 am
Dude, Jeff, chill out. I just suggested it because bars let the hot babes in for free (ever hear the ads where ladies have no cover and free drinks) to get more guys to go , which gets more ladies to go and so on. That’s how they create a popular club or bar. That’s why VIPs get special treatment, because they bring in more people. My guess is that Shatner can play WoW for free, so you better quit playing now because he gets a special deal and you don’t. Maybe WoW could create a gay server, for guys who are gay, and then they would let you in for free, since you are so obviously not into women, but maybe you’re so cool you would attract other gay guys like you (not that there is anything wrong with that).
#8 Valenna
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
As a WoW player and blogger, I found this to be very fascinating. I think that WoW does have a strangehold, but unfortunately, if the public is getting what they want, is it necessarily a bad thing? Those who aren’t enjoying WoW or want to play something else are probably benefiting MORE from WoW being around than otherwise, because those games have to set themselves apart to try to compete with WoW OR know they can’t compete and come up with a concept that doesn’t attempt to compete, i.e. a completely different type of experience. Also because of the “mainstreaming” of MMOs occuring because of WoW, it may just expand the online gaming market because of the growing acceptance of an online game as a normal leisure activity.
Blizzard currently is “winning” the game of online games at the moment. By being so successful, they have more money for marketing, R&D, content, servers, etc. which allows them to be more successful and it continues the cycle. Blizzard will have to fumble or someone else will have to devise a completely new and more fun (and we all know that fun is subjective) type of online game to steal the players away from WoW.
But you are right, I’m not even going to try another MMO because of my social investment in WoW. Another game would have to be so amazingly outstanding that I would have no doubt that my friends would follow me to it.
#9 Colin Temple
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I think it’s bad for the competition at the moment, but it’s only really bad for the gamers (and market) if the competition gives up entirely.
#10 BubbRubb
February 16th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hilarious.
A company makes an absolutely horrible game like Lord of the Rings Online and blames WoW for doing poorly.
WoW is a good game, but it doesn’t offer everything.
I’m waiting for Warhammer, hopefully it can deliver what WoW doesn’t. But if it doesn’t, I won’t blame WoW.
#11 Trey
February 16th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
WoW is an awsome game i pump out around 60 dollars a month playing FFXI the sonyonline package and WoW. The best idea i have to compete with WoW is what Starwars Galaxies has. flight and ground combat with its own leveling and to boot you can do either at any level, its a monotony breaker from running around and grinding and you can still make money off of it which keeps it from being like a mini-game. You have to face the reality of it all the MMOs are basically the same just with a little difference in each, but SWG always has and will stand out in my head as being unique in its own way cause of the piloting
#12 Colin Temple
February 17th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Star Trek Online might offer that spaceflight-and-ground mix of gameplay like you describe… if it ever gets done. (And if the Trekkies welcome outsiders.)
#13 Valtameren
February 26th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I completely agree with you! I started playing Final Fantasy XI in November 2003. I have SEVEN job classes at 75. I needed a break, so I decided to play World of Warcraft. In part… I like FFXI better. I hated WoW. I thought it was boring and repetitive. But even TV shows like X-Play are saying, “Nine-million people can’t be wrong!” They even go as far as to say games like FInal Fantasy XI isn’t worth anyone’s time. How much do you want to bet that WoW is giving them a stipend for the game-bashing of all other MMO’s and only promoting their game?
I’ve been wondering about Tabula Rasa. I’m not a science fiction fan, which would be a problem. But… how is the customization? Every screen shot I see, the characters look the same in gray suits.
And… “Woden” your TR name… Sounds like a character I used to play with in my server in FFXI, “Wodan”.
#14 Colin Temple
February 26th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Tabula Rasa lets you customize your character with whatever coloured gear you want, and then as soon as you get better gear its destroyed.
You can colour your gear through crafting, apparently, but I haven’t done it yet. There’s not that much customization… although they’re adding the ability to create hybrid alien characters to diversify things a bit. I find Tabula Rasa more fun than WoW, personally — but I’m getting bored with it now and I find myself going back to FFXI more.
#15 Valtameren
February 28th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I’m in Garuda. What what about you? What are your job levels?
75 SAM
75 WAR
75 THF
Everything else is at least over 30. EXCEPT Dancer and Scholar. I haven’t had the oppertunity to go and get the expansion since it came out during my WoW experience. Are either of those jobs any fun? I was so hell-bent on them implementing Necromancer and was thuroughly disappointed when PUP turned out to be FFXI’s version of it. Man, did that blow. xP
#16 Colin Temple
February 28th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I’m a 75 SAM on Cerberus. Haven’t really done any other job all the way, but I have a handful midway. I hate exping too much, though.
Dancer is actually a pretty solid job, with some good benefits. It’s especially nice to have a Dancer in party when leveling.
I don’t think too many people understand Scholar yet, but it looks like it has some advantages. I think it’s mostly a matter of whether or not people figure it out or if they stick with what they know.
#17 Valtameren
March 14th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Hey maybe you can help me with something. I have to play on dial-up because broadband isn’t offered around here. This just started happening last week. Everytime I try to log on… it will go as far as dialing up and then get to the verification process and then give me POL Error: 1029. I’ve checked the phone line, username, and password THOUSANDS of times. Everything is the way it’s supposed to be. Yet it still denies me. I tried calling the dumbasses at Squeenix tech support and they kept telling me stuff I already know. How can I get it to start connecting again? It’s maybe connected twice since the first time I got this error two weeks ago.
#18 Blizzard: MMO games can succeed alongside World of Warcraft | Roleplay: The Galbadia X Blog
May 19th, 2008 at 9:26 am
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#19 JC John SESE Cuneta
May 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I work for the Asean (formerly: South-East Asia) Online Gaming Industry, and I agree that WoW’s dominance is hurting the MMOG space more than it benefits it.
But, can WoW be neutralized if not defeated? A big Y-E-S. In my opinion, and I believe my colleagues share this PoV, is that WoW simply set the standards way up high for it’s time - ie. Closer of 2nd Gen MMO to Starting of 3rd Gen MMO.
Also, it wasn’t just WoW, Guild Wars is another online game usually overshadowed by WoW, but in itself is a standard setter. GW opened a whole new world and many developers took notice of that, even the WoW Team. In fact, if you watched WoW’s and GW’s development since their commercial launch, you will notice how they copied each other’s features and compete head on (which of course they won’t admit they copied - but the timing is just right for it to be copied).
These two power-Duo shook the online gaming space. We started to see (mainly) WoW-Clones. We also started seeing old standard-setting MMOs like Lineage II updates their UI to closely match GW-WoW. (L2 is a standard-setter of its time, and in a way still is today.)
The question now is, when are we going to see non-GWoW clones? When are we going to see real “new” MMOs? They’re coming. First, Tabula Rasa, next Age of Conan, then Warhammer Online. The 3rd Generation MMOs are here, and they improved upon the styles and features of the 2nd Gen closers - namely GW-WoW, as much as these two closers improved upon L2’s styles and features and the rest of the 2nd Gens.
Too bad Vanguard, being the 3rd Gen opener, didn’t introduce much, eventhough they’re one (other than Richard Garriott) of those who categorizes MMOs into Generations.
Finally, what does it take for a WoW player to stick to a new MMO? I can not answer that for myself because I’ve been into MMOs long before WoW, and thus I’m do not have the same attachment to it as much as most WoW players today have.
Oh, Western GameDevs should consider targetting the East Asian market, especially Asean (South-East Asia), gamers here are not as GW-WoW spoiled as the gamers there in the West are. And watch out for China developed Online Games
MMO or casual, they have high potentials to beat Korea as the Online Game Capital of the world :p
#20 dagon
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 pm
dude…WoW is a great game,but i still tried playing tabula rasa…ofcorse when i pressed enter battle,it said there was a nerror,so i moved on to other games.