Journey game structure is really not good for an MMO

[Bambi]

Very cute game, but some serious problems.
You are always moving forward, and it gets harder and harder to even find people as you move forward, there are not consistent hubs that you can return to or areas that cross paths and wind back on themselves like in good MMO's.

The instancing is particularly bad and groups aren't really that persistent because you are constantly moving zones. I lost the first friends I met in a zone transition and never saw them again, so you can't really build a bond because you are always losing people to instancing.

There needs to be a stormwind or ironforge type of location, somewhere people will want to go at all stages of the game, there needs to be connections between earlier and later levels of gameplay and reasons for higher level players to return to lower level areas, Blizzard understood all this decades ago. Journey's linear progression is not a good fit.

I understand the game has been out for consoles for a while so I think this is not something realistically that will ever be addressed.

[Excellent Man]

I'm not sure how long you played the demo for, or if you've played previously on mobile/console; But there are in-game solutions to all the issues you raised here...

[Tim Drake's Depression]

OP, you're are the only person I've seen bring these specific points up even though they are, as Excellent Man stated, addressed in the game itself, you most likely just haven't reached them. The 'Journey game structure' as you put it works perfectly fine for Sky. Your points are not the game's problem, they're a you problem.
Maybe you should progress in the game more and make it through Eden, your qualms with the game should be mostly ironed out by then. Even if they aren't, you'll have more solid points to make with the experience of having played through the game and not thee things you just haven't reached.

I don't mean to come off as rude of sound like I'm trying to be mean here, I'm just giving my honest thoughts.

[Jon]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bambi:

Very cute game, but some serious problems.
You are always moving forward, and it gets harder and harder to even find people as you move forward, there are not consistent hubs that you can return to or areas that cross paths and wind back on themselves like in good MMO's.

The instancing is particularly bad and groups aren't really that persistent because you are constantly moving zones. I lost the first friends I met in a zone transition and never saw them again, so you can't really build a bond because you are always losing people to instancing.

There needs to be a stormwind or ironforge type of location, somewhere people will want to go at all stages of the game, there needs to be connections between earlier and later levels of gameplay and reasons for higher level players to return to lower level areas, Blizzard understood all this decades ago. Journey's linear progression is not a good fit.

I understand the game has been out for consoles for a while so I think this is not something realistically that will ever be addressed.

1. Use home. In the new season a huge new home location is going to be added. But for now you can use home and join youru friends from the constellation tree. You can also hold their hands and move through maps.

2. There is a middle path between many maps, called wind paths.

3. "there needs to be connections between earlier and later levels of gameplay and reasons for higher level players to return to lower level areas" - I have above 200 wings, I play for a long time. I visit all maps (a few daily) when collecting lights (farming) or wings.

I agree that long time players need motivation to progress though - 200 wings should feel more special in my opinion. Meaning, through levels something more should change. Light regeneration speed, running speed, flying speed (somewhat) and similar things. This way we would have more motivation to reach 200 wings, as it would be more rewarding (200+ is current max).

[mkl]

Genuinely curious, what is it with WoW players and being physically unable to understand how other games work?

[Tim Drake's Depression]

Oprindeligt skrevet af mkl:

Genuinely curious, what is it with WoW players and being physically unable to understand how other games work?

As a WoW player, I'm just as confused as you are and I wish so many of us weren't brain-dead. Istg, most WoW players just have never played anything but WoW and can't comprehend anything different from it.

[827]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bambi:

The instancing is particularly bad and groups aren't really that persistent because you are constantly moving zones. I lost the first friends I met in a zone transition and never saw them again, so you can't really build a bond because you are always losing people to instancing.

yeah, there are lots of complaints about server splitting. it's a huge hindrance to the game's attempts at being social.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bambi:

there needs to be connections between earlier and later levels of gameplay and reasons for higher level players to return to lower level areas

the game's built so you lose progress you've made (winged lights) by losing enough health, so you're supposed to revisit areas to get that progress back. you're also incentivized to replay two different levels every day to farm normal & seasonal currency. so there are reasons to return to early areas.

but...i think it's a bad system. you go back to get the same WL from the same place you lost it from, over and over (and you probably can't find it without a guide). and you go back for daily quests, which just means scouring every area of a level to find what on earth the quest is talking about (again, unless you use a guide). and you go back for a few candle cakes to make a little bit more money, which means going through the (not clearly) indicated level to search for them (assuming you don't, uh, use a guide). and even if you want to google your way through all of this like i have, the end goal is...currency. to buy cosmetics. to wear while you replay the levels.

but hey, at least it's pretty.

[TheShadowHatter]

Oprindeligt skrevet af 827:

but...i think it's a bad system. you go back to get the same WL from the same place you lost it from, over and over (and you probably can't find it without a guide). and you go back for daily quests, which just means scouring every area of a level to find what on earth the quest is talking about (again, unless you use a guide). and you go back for a few candle cakes to make a little bit more money, which means going through the (not clearly) indicated level to search for them (assuming you don't, uh, use a guide). and even if you want to google your way through all of this like i have, the end goal is...currency. to buy cosmetics. to wear while you replay the levels.

but hey, at least it's pretty.

I agree with this to an extent, the extent being I'm happy with the current system, but at the same time I agree it's going to get to a point where it becomes mundane, and so it would be nice if they started considering creating a new world with new zones to explore that gives us more to do than the usual "follow the light to see stationary ghosts" objectives. I could think of a few things like maybe racing or something to do with riding those manta rays and whales or other things they could do to switch things up.

[Bambi]

Oprindeligt skrevet af mkl:

Genuinely curious, what is it with WoW players and being physically unable to understand how other games work?

Because WoW was the first and last MMO to really understand how to design a game world in a way that fosters player interaction instead of hinder it, the basic principles of how to design progression, social hubs, and endgame content don't change just because it is a nonviolent exploration game instead of a fantasy RPG.

[Tim Drake's Depression]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bambi:

Oprindeligt skrevet af mkl:

Genuinely curious, what is it with WoW players and being physically unable to understand how other games work?

Because WoW was the first and last MMO to really understand how to design a game world in a way that fosters player interaction instead of hinder it, the basic principles of how to design progression, social hubs, and endgame content don't change just because it is a nonviolent exploration game instead of a fantasy RPG.

WOW, that's literally the only comment you reply to, the only thing that causes you to say anything to anyone commenting here about your post? None of the other ones here? Yeesh.

Get out of here and go back to being a WoW-obsessed ass who doesn't accept other games that don't follow its formula to the letter. Sky doesn't need players like you.