MMO combat is fun. It is. I love trying out combat skills, grouping with friends to take down bosses, and hearing the sound of smashed bones when I bash a skellie with my mace. For the vast majority of gamers, combat is harmless fun.
But like… I don’t want it to be all I do when I log into an MMO. I “grew up” in Ultima Online, where combat was a large slice of what I did, but not all of it. Not even half of it. I surely spent more time playing guild politics, gathering and crafting and merchanting, working on my houses, and guarding noob dungeons against gankers than I actually did hunting mobs. Hunting was just one more thing I did in a long list of things, not the main thing.
And that set the stage for what I expect from MMOs. Since then, few MMORPGs have met that standard – Star Wars Galaxies being one of the few. Most MMOs expect that you’re fighting most of the time, and if you’re not fighting, you’re in town cleaning up after a fight or getting ready for the next one. I’m just tired of it. I want more out of MMOs.
What percent of your MMO gaming should be combat? If you have 10 hours to play in a weekend, how much of it should be actual overland fighting, combat-centered questing, dungeons, or raids?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
