bylam well done
v1rus You remember all the wrong things from it.. i would once again be offensive and go on about what this has to say about gaemz and their fucking retarded customers, but history is already written..
What CoS did that no one had before, or has since:
i) Combat wasn't buttonzzzz and mashing. Upon entering it, the ui opened up a new interface, where your combat abilities were listed. Said abilities were not triggered by clicking numerical keys, allowing for simultaneous movement, as your left hand was free. The interface consisted of rows and columns; using only the mouse wheel, the player would 'scroll' or 'slide' through them, choose the one they thought best for the given moment. Best for the given moment as each mob featured distinct advantages and disadvantages and as such recquired a different combat approach. This led to three bonuses:
- if not obvious, TIME. System gave you time to think*. Combat wasn't about fingers, a granny could be better than me in CoS
- there were both tactics and strategy; and i miss that so much since MMOs, no fucking exception in this, primarily address retards
- there was a diversity to approaches and builds that allowed for combinations of gameplays and styles that again, no exceptions, had and have never being seen before or after**. And mind you, that was on top of the stereotypical ones, which were offered as well.
So mages tanking? Check. Pet classes acting as pure "support" (read 'CC')? Check. Melees tanking without meat-shield characteristics in their stats or gear? Check. All up to the player.
2) The first MMO i can recall that split lore and story from grouped content. If you've played even one themepark in your life, you already comprehend what this means.
3) The first themepark MMO that grasped the concept of socialising vs antagonism and tried (but had no money to achieve) to accommodate it in its core gameplay, despite it being combat-centric. Grouping was emphasised in the open land sections of the game rather than inside instances; mat farming, exploration, objectives.. many of them recquired groups. Yet again in the spirit of socialising, rather than antagonising for whose pixelated dick was the largest, there was hardly any gear competing. You never ended up hating your co-players because of gear drops, competition for them, or lack of said drops (RNG) thereof. Instances (am not talking grouped content, am talking instances, technically) allowed for progressing a toon's personal story alone, keeping the freedom of choice without needing phasing. Group-oriented dungeons on the other hand were usually a culmination of thematic a nature. You walked and run and died and quested around the 'University' for months, hearing tidbits from NPCs, but never ever being sent in it. Curiosity. Eventually you went in anyway, because. You died, started wanting a group for it
Which is why it had a wonderful community, even though it lacked anything even remotely RP-friendly (as i said, their budget was tiny)
/sorely missed, buggy as fuck as it was. And it reaaaally was buggy.
* No, not like the original Final Fantasy online, 11 i think? No. That was just slow. Mentally slow. We're talking about time given so that the player may think their approach, real time.
** you might have some objections to this if you know your MMOs. So no offense to Secret World, but having a universal talent tree allowing everything for everyone and giving each-and-every-class a different, unique way to develop into whatever they fancied and -still- keep it immersive/thematically fitting are two very, very different things.
edit: Also, it didn't flop. Population-wise it seemed ok, but they were lacking the budget necessary, game wasn't even finished. So they tried multiple times to pair up with publishers, which is what eventually killed them. Was Capcom or whatever the fuck their name is that eventually pulled the plug. Studio had no choice but to file for bankruptcy ^^
