Everyone has an opinion. To me, MMOs have some of the best combat game play anywhere.
I’m not drawn to MMOs for the social aspects, or guilds, or even story. I enjoy the PVE combat and leveling up, gearing up, etc.
Some of my favorite times in gaming:
- Quad-kiting as a Druid in EQ
- Group killing as a Frost Mage in WOW.
- Multi-boxing in WOW, EQ, and EQ2.
- Almost all of the zerg killing in Black Desert Online
- Mission running in EVE.
None of these are replicated in regular RPGs. Sure, the story and quests can be superior. I’m still a huge fan of all things RPG, but don’t discount MMOs.
There are a ton of people that push developers to make MMOs more solo friendly too. I get why some people say they should force the social aspects, but I’m one who disagrees. There’s nothing wrong with having solo game-play available in a social environment. I like to compare to what others are doing with their class or gear, or how they take on certain challenges. I also like casual conversation with people while playing a game. That doesn’t mean I want to spend my evenings in groups or dungeons with them.
My ideal MMO would be if someone made a game where I could control multiple characters (not multi-box) and fulfill several roles myself, while still having guild chat and other socials elements available (auction house, crafting, etc). There was one called Granado Espada a while back, but it had too many other issues.