Will SOE make a single or multiplayer MMORPG?

I think it's fair to say we're in a bit of a lull as far as excitement levels for Landmark go, and many of us have been looking around for something to scratch our MMO itch as we patiently wait for the game to mature. This is totally understandable; it's all part of the peaks and troughs of open-development – we, as mere mortals, cannot keep up the levels of hype some commenters seem to believe is required for months on end.

With WildStar and The Elder Scrolls Online both floating about there's plenty new MMO to go around, but games of this type just don't excite me like they used to. You may feel the same if you're as excited for EverQuest Next as I am; the sandbox elements and the prospect of the open world having meaning were just as much of a draw as the new systems the team at SOE are bringing to the table.

With that in mind, I've been playing a new game that scratches that itch and then some. I can happily say that I'm excited to log in to a (finished) MMO for the first time in years.

These last couple of weeks I have been playing the 'western' alpha of the Korean made MMO ArcheAge. It's mostly sandbox in structure but comes with many of the trappings of a more themepark style game. While quests and dungeons feature heavily, they are used primarily as a teaching tool and supplemental activity; the focus of the elder game is set squarely on the open world, emergent systems that the sandbox can support.

As you can imagine, the economy is a major factor in driving the necessary conflict of the game; to attain the most highly sought after items in the game, players are encouraged to move goods around the world in bulky 'tradepacks' that slow player movement and make them vulnerable to attack, although you can stay in safe zones to receive a diminished reward.

This is where the debate begins. We are all individuals, we all have different ideas about what we want from games, and there are many people who do not want to feel like they are forced into direct competition or cooperation with other players. So far in ArcheAge it has been possible to take a slow-and-steady, risk averse and solo route to acquiring the currency used for the big ticket items, but that route is set to disappear.

I'm sure those of you who are familiar with my views on MMOs will know where this is going.

Some players have welcomed the changes, they believe that without taking the biggest risks players should not be able to reap the greatest rewards, others are disappointed that in a game built around choice they are strong-armed into a type of content they would not take part in if they were given the option.

Around and around the PvE vs PvP argument we go as players pick their camps and insults are slung on message boards and the cesspool that is AA general chat (pro tip for new players – you can turn it off).

This has been a huge mental barrier of MMO players for a long time, and I hoped in this more sandbox world players would see through the fallacy and we could all have a laugh at the irony together. AA does such a good job of marrying systems between sandbox and themepark, but we're so blinkered we can't see that the solution to our problems is each other.

If one group of players wants high risk adventure, exciting battles and constant threat, while another group wants to farm, craft and trade in a safe environment, surely they would both be better off if they worked together?

The farmers farm, the crafters craft, the bulky tradepacks are loaded up onto the merchant trader's ships guarded by the PvP junkies to be taken to their destination behind enemy lines. Everyone gets what they want, no one has to spend time on an activity they don't like; if you want to do it all you still can, everyone's a winner.

The problem is that this type of organization is not the path of least resistance; some people just want to log in and farm in peace without having to worry about cooperating or competing, and who can blame them? After a hard day at work sometimes we want to unwind and not deal with another kind of stress.

This is fine, and to be expected. There have been many days when I've logged in just to sit in the capital, chatting with friends and indulging in some light farming and trading. On the other hand, I didn't expect to get any epic drops from this activity.

Playing a multiplayer game solo is fine, playing an open PvP focussed game when you don't want to fight is understandable, but expecting the game to revolve around or make allowances for these desires is bizarre.

It's this attitude towards MMOs that took the depth out of crafting systems. It shoved group content into instances, it took what used to be a tutorial and made it the bulk of the content in a static and pointless conga line of wasteful levelling zones, it ripped the context from PvP, and turned raids into loot piñatas. It gave us Looking For Raid. 

So forgive me when I say what you've heard a million times before: if you want a solo game, go and play a solo game, because you are ruining this genre for the people who actually want to play it. I will stand by any decision that encourages reasonable cooperation at the expense of convenience, and I applaud the team at Trion for having the guts to make the tough call to swim against the tide and do what's best for the game and the genre.

While at its core EverQuest Next is being crafted in a different way, and systems like the Storybricks based AI system will make a difference, it's easy to see parallels in the 'sandpark' design of both games. With such a groundswell of support for ArcheAge and so much positivity around the title despite the staggeringly high cost of the alpha-access founder's pack, I'd say it looks like the audience is most certainly there for EQNext. I just hope the people at SOE can stay strong like the folks at Trion.