Is this an mmo or not?

[Nero]

I've seen tags on Steam that says this game is an mmo but is it really? I mean do you play in a big map with other players doing their thing and then randomly join you to beat a boss or something like that?

[FlyingTorcensoredWhale]

It's an MMO in the same vein Guild Wars 1 is an MMO.

It's massive. It's multiplayer. It's online.

But it's instanced. So if you go into content without party - you are doing it solo.

[I'm cucked]

No.

[serotoninpack]

no

[Nero]

Originally posted by FlyingTorcensoredWhale:

It's an MMO in the same vein Guild Wars 1 is an MMO.

It's massive. It's multiplayer. It's online.

But it's instanced. So if you go into content without party - you are doing it solo.

so how are players supposed to find to group up? is there a matchmaking for the instances like Warframe?

[serotoninpack]

Originally posted by Nero:

Originally posted by FlyingTorcensoredWhale:

It's an MMO in the same vein Guild Wars 1 is an MMO.

It's massive. It's multiplayer. It's online.

But it's instanced. So if you go into content without party - you are doing it solo.

so how are players supposed to find to group up? is there a matchmaking for the instances like Warframe?

No the only multiplayer activity is trade, staring at each other mtx in towns and coop with up to 6 other friends. Eventually a consensual pvp duel.

[FlyingTorcensoredWhale]

Originally posted by Nero:

Originally posted by FlyingTorcensoredWhale:

It's an MMO in the same vein Guild Wars 1 is an MMO.

It's massive. It's multiplayer. It's online.

But it's instanced. So if you go into content without party - you are doing it solo.

so how are players supposed to find to group up? is there a matchmaking for the instances like Warframe?

Content is instanced, but "safe zones" are not. At least they weren't in PoE 1.
Also, server chat is on (again, it was in PoE 1) and you could look for party there.

But it's fully playable solo. Again, like GW 1 is.

It's an MMO in a loosest sense, but we don't have another term for "Instanced Massive Multiplayer Games"

Instanced MMO, maybe?

[The_Driver]

There is the option to open your party to the public so anyone can join.

[Nero]

Originally posted by FlyingTorcensoredWhale:

Originally posted by Nero:

so how are players supposed to find to group up? is there a matchmaking for the instances like Warframe?

Content is instanced, but "safe zones" are not. At least they weren't in PoE 1.
Also, server chat is on (again, it was in PoE 1) and you could look for party there.

But it's fully playable solo. Again, like GW 1 is.

It's an MMO in a loosest sense, but we don't have another term for "Instanced Massive Multiplayer Games"

Instanced MMO, maybe?

oh now I got it, so it's solo unless you got friends that plays the game or you found a party doing exactly the things that you need to do, right? but instead of having a big map you got instances like you do in Warframe with missions

[Nero]

Originally posted by The_Driver:

There is the option to open your party to the public so anyone can join.

how does it works? random people join me when I'm playing even during an instance, like if I need help they can randomly join in?

[The_Driver]

Originally posted by Nero:

Originally posted by The_Driver:

There is the option to open your party to the public so anyone can join.

how does it works? random people join me when I'm playing even during an instance, like if I need help they can randomly join in?

Well, they'll choose your public party from the list and can then port to your instance. It's not random.

How likely it is depends on popularity of that play style, in poe1 it wasn't used much by the player base.

[Nero]

Originally posted by The_Driver:

Originally posted by Nero:

how does it works? random people join me when I'm playing even during an instance, like if I need help they can randomly join in?

Well, they'll choose your public party from the list and can then port to your instance. It's not random.

How likely it is depends on popularity of that play style, in poe1 it wasn't used much by the player base.

so it's not like a join in during an instance? they actually have to find my character and then decide to join my party? I mean it's not a matchamaking where you just find a party randomly by pressing a button, right? like a quick play button for joining random parties

[The_Driver]

Originally posted by Nero:

Originally posted by The_Driver:

Well, they'll choose your public party from the list and can then port to your instance. It's not random.

How likely it is depends on popularity of that play style, in poe1 it wasn't used much by the player base.

so it's not like a join in during an instance? they actually have to find my character and then decide to join my party? I mean it's not a matchamaking where you just find a party randomly by pressing a button, right? like a quick play button for joining random parties

They can teleport to "you" (portal or checkpoint etc) when they decide to join your instance. There is no automated matchmaking, they'd choose from a list which public party to join. The list is filtered by certain criteria (e.g. level, chat language setting), so there is some matching, but not making. You do get to Name the party to state an intent (say "need help with boss x" or "fast progressing").

[Cairn.L]

I remember the director Chris has made clear many years ago that the game is not an MMO.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/55086

[Fluxion]

Originally posted by Tony Snark:

Originally posted by FlyingTorcensoredWhale:

Content is instanced, but "safe zones" are not. At least they weren't in PoE 1.
Also, server chat is on (again, it was in PoE 1) and you could look for party there.

But it's fully playable solo. Again, like GW 1 is.

It's an MMO in a loosest sense, but we don't have another term for "Instanced Massive Multiplayer Games"

Instanced MMO, maybe?

There is already a term for what you are describing -- it's called a multiplayer game. Mind blown, I know.

For those who care... The MASSIVE in MMO is describing the potential scale of the multiplayer experience simultaneously. This game has groups of 6 and cities are like 24. That's the largest number of players that can interact together at once. This is not massive in any way.

It doesn't mean it's massively popular.
It doesn't mean it's lots of people are playing it online right now.
It doesn't mean it has a chat box where lots of people can interact.

This game isn't an MMO any more than Quake was an MMO.

I'm giving you a jester, not as a "slight" as most people use them now, but because that was actually funny AND a good explanation.

People "also" confuse the term with (since it's were it originated/was made popular) MMO "RPG". It's still mostly used in that context (yes, I know there are many genres attached now), but in many cases, quite improperly.