Wynncraft's Design is an MMORPG about player freedom(and how it is limiting)

Woo-ie, get ready boys and girls for basically an article about me ranting about Wynncraft. So, Wynncraft was my first MMORPG and technically, my first experience on Minecraft Java Edition. It felt amazing all the way back in 2016 (around version 1.15) to see this cool server and all the things that were possible after only playing Console Minecraft on a Wii U. It gave a grand sense of a new world to explore and interesting world-building to take place. I am a huge fan of medieval fantasy games like older Final Fantasy games without the focus on sci-fi. I joined a guild and made many memories with guildmates. When Corkus dropped, it felt so cool to see this new place, and the steampunk aesthetic was amazing. However, around guild wars burnout and interacting less with my guild’s community, around 1.18 really sucked for me since Professions were so much of a grind, as a person who wanted to 100% of all quests and be a completitionst. 1.19 was really cool, but I felt kinda bumbed that it was over and there wasn’t much to do after it. At this point, I really fell off with Wynncraft. Then 1.20 came out, and I actually really liked it. It loved the new storylines they made, the characters and arcs, and the new lore, and I started getting really interested in all of hte lore within Wynncraft. However, having part of later Gavel not be revamped left be a bit sour, and Raids weren’t my thing, even if they were really cool. However, the stories and lore it tried to tell me is what makes it beloved to me (also, I love holy themed stuff) however, it was at that moment that I realized what makes me really like 1.19 and 1.20. They have linear stories with added lore in an area.


Now, generally, when you hear the word “linear” in gaming, you think about how a story forces you to play this certain way and doesn’t allow you to explore. However, for me, I’ve come to really appreciate linear stories. It’s how most MMORPGs operate since they tell a main story full of characters, arcs, developments, cutscenes with important information and character interactions, further the worldbuilding, etc. etc. With a linear story, you are threadpiped, but also are told a concise story. Wynncraft, is not like other MMORPGs. You don’t have a main storyline, you just get to go, in whatever direction you want. What made me interesting in Silent Expanse is that I looked at these Lv. 100 characters like me get them get slaughtered, thus heightens the atmosphere and mystery of this area. It made me more curious and goes to show how twisted this place is, and is fan service to old fans that theorized about Dern. Without being streamlined, you could have never had that same obvious immersion. In 1.20, you see characters, Lari, Ava, and even see Axelus in a quest, which shows their characters, and their struggles, how their environment and actions made them think the way they do, and enhances what we know of those areas and have arcs, or with Axelus, shows us more of that character and how that is reflected in his storyline. The focus is on them and the world and their interactions, and we are left to think further about this, beyond the surface level. That and the new lore to Gavel shaked up a couple of things that make knowing the lore all the more enticing to players. These are examples of Wynncraft being linear, and yet leaving room for the player to think about things their own way, for a storyline that you have to follow, but it’s an enjoyable one.


Now, where am I getting at with linearization? Well, as mentioned earlier, Wynncraft is not a linear MMORPG. You can do things the way you want, in nearly any order. It’s kinda like Skyrim, you see that island over there? You can climb that. If you want to start a quest out of hundreds and basically none of them are required, you can do that. Do you want to be a Tanky Mage? You can do that. Wynncraft, falls flat on having a gripping narrative since doesn’t have a main story. You get to come across Quests and do what you want. Your knowledge of an area that could have payoff, is never there since you doing a Quest or Discovery could be at any point of “progression”. You are not hand holded or told what is and isn’t a sidequest, you are a blank slate. This is reflected in the gameplay, where most of the time, it’s not so much your Spells that matter but are a key point in playing the game (Thank gods 2.0 is giving us more Customization with how our spell/gameplay works), it's mostly about the items and how they definte your character and your gameplay. It’s all your choice, not the game telling you or pushing you to do. However, this does have a downside. Items are generic, and basically, none makes you curious to want to use this item, or that this item is unique or interests me to play a certain playstyle. This leaves little room to want to experiment towards a playstyle or use items and just use what you want to use. This makes it feel as if there isn't player choice if it doesn’t spark curiosity, but it is still a very free form of player choice. Also, the atmosphere is only good when you really look at it. Like, The Corruption. It is a threat that is constantly seen throughout Wynn, and is an echo to how the war between Light and Darkness has caused havoc to the lives of everyone in this world. It isn’t outright mentioned that Corruption is bloody everywhere, it’s subtle that you see it as you explore, always looming, showing the doomed fates of the people of this world, like how the people in the sewers of Ragni and Nemeract live in fear for their lives into a state of depravity and desperation with the constant fear of death… However, as good as it isn’t being shoved in your face, most people will not appreciate this subtleness, it is only up to the player if they look hard enough, and most people won’t. Even then, there is kinda of a tonal whiplash with people in Rangi and most cities living just fine. Speaking of, let’s talk about the world of Wynncraft.


It’s an open world like Skyrim… except it’s honestly an even worse open world than Skyrim. You know how people have started to distaste Open World Games for how empty they are with nothing to do in the spaces. Wynncraft doesn’t do much to fix this issue. If you had access to warping wherever, whenever, it would be fine, but from a 1st Person view, it feels painful to spring through empty areas. There’s no real reason to want to explore since there is basically almost no payoff when Items in chest are generic garbage. It has some interesting builds and cool enemies as you explore, but it’s mostly a bunch of nothing. What makes a huge lake in Dernal Jungle different from a lake in Olux Swamps, or any other lake? Pretty much nothing. What makes one Dungeon feel like it’s worth doing or is a lot of fun? Other than the aesthetics, there’s not much to write home about. Most enemies have a limited pool of Mob Abilities and are very boring to fight. And, while you might say that other MMORPGs are like this, Wynncraft executes this worse in my opinion, since there’s often no objective to want to kill certain mobs that are unique to an area, and there is a lack of truly significant landscape sights or the benefit that 3rd Person view has, being able to awe at the scale of structures of things in the background. What makes a cave significant to make you want to explore it? Some sub-par loot? A cave that could become monotonous if you're a loot runner? And that thought at the back of your head that goes on and on as you question why do you even explore, what is the payoff, grows more and more until you realize that it feels pointless. Wynncraft’s overworld is a hollow experience with almost nothing to do in terms on the fields of areas. Sure, you have the freedom to go across the world, but what’s the point when it feels like nothing has an impact for exploring. Sure, there is discovery lore, but most people won’t discover or go out of their way for the Secret Discoveries unless they are willing to look it up. Speaking of hollowness.


Remember how I mentioned how good the questlines are. Well, that’s because like the world, there is no impact on the "main story". Our character is a blank slate, a common trope in games, however, most MMORPGs have us interact with dialogue choices or recurring characters in a storyline. Even in stories with minimal storytelling, Skyrim has dialogue options that have an impact. Monumenta, another Minecraft server has dialogue options that gives a couple of chuckle and give some character in how we act and puts lore and an interesting plot in front of you. Dark Souls has characters speak to us and gives interesting dialogue that sticks with our minds that expresses minimal and yet key and enduring character interactions. Wynncraft really lacks in both meaningful characters and your character interactions. Nothing feels like it really sticks, or gives room to feel like you would say or do so and so. Nothing feels like it has an impact, and that adds to the feeling of hollowness to Wynncraft. A story is a sequence of events, to arrive at setups and payoffs, and reflect on themes. And the thing is, Wynncraft has come great set-ups, like with Fate of the Fallen and the Nesseak region, and the constant themes of Corruption. However, do you want to know why many of us are hyped about Dern or Fruma? Because they feel like a payoff for the years of waiting without substantial story beats. Dern being the endgoal of resolving the conflict of the lands. Fruma covering the origins of our characters. All that gets us more interested in the lore, since honestly we’ve been left breadcrumbs and these crumbs are starting to get stale over the years. Sure, the Theory Crafting with the community is nice, but it gets exhasting to get few answers and even more questions as the updates go by... As for the player character, they are nothing. In the terms of the Three Acts narrative or beginning/context, middle/conflict, end/climax, and conclusion, our player character has almost NONE of that, with nothing about the context, nothing that meaningful happens in the middle except for the questions and it feels like there’s no real incentive to do something or have any goals, so all we have to look forwards is the end or the gaps. Our character feels even more limited than other MMOs with not way to express ourselves or text to do so, we feel no attachment to our character or the world around us. They are a silent protagonist, but when most RPGs has recurring characters to create bonds and see who they are to supplement that in, and show how you take action. There is nothing interesting in our player character, and nothing worth self-inserting ourselves into. So that leaves the player with a question. What’s the point of going on an adventure, if it’s bland?


And you know what? There’s maybe a certain novelty to that. Some people don’t care about a story, and focus on the gameplay… Unfortunately, I have come to learn that gameplay is a mixed bag. Now, in Wynncraft 2.0, this might shake up what I say, however, I doubt it will change what I’m about to say. Wynncraft is a hack-and-slash game, that feels like it has no impact. You constantly click or spam spells on your mouse, what else is there? There are only like 10 different types of Spells for mobs, enemies are damage sponges, and often enemies don’t have interesting mechanics. Bosses can either be a joke, boring or deal way too much damage. Being able to always have an evasive move on 2nd Spell is actually really good since it feels dynamic in how you move and position your character. However, it sometimes doesn’t really matter when in melee range, a shotgun blast can be a KO. Items, feel like they definite how you play your character both significantly and not at all. If you have underleveled gear, your going to be slaughtered. Yet item IDs feel so little incentive or are just texts of numbers to where it feels like they don’t feel unique, they just feel like fodder items. Very rarely is there an item that makes me want to go “Yes, I want that” and even then, that item might suck with how you try to make a build to accommodate for it. It feels like items and combat has no impact. Nothing feels meaty, or this dodge or choice in the way I play is reflected greatly to the way I play, so without the feeling of impact or choices of your items matter, it feels disappointing. Major IDs are a huge plus since they made items have special properties that heavily incentives players to use this item and get excited and how it will change the way they play… if only half of them weren’t regulated to Mythic Items, items that only a very exclusive few get to have or even find, at the end of the game, where most players sick of the gameplay would quit. However, Skill Points are pretty nifty, I will give them that, it makes unconventional builds like Rainbow Warrior a thing and while it much not be optimal, you do have the freedom and player choice to make your class an archetype you want, and I am excited to see how Wynncraft 2.0 expands on this. (Mage, Cleric Archetype maybe? owo)


All of this is very, very frustrating, however, there is a different approach to looking at this. You just play it as it is. Just with what you want to do. All of this boredom and tedium is most drove most of us players who ran out of content to do, left, and I’m sure many midlevel players left because of these feelings. However, as strange as it may sound, I guess there is a novelty to having freedom in almost everything. You get to choose how your character does quests, you choose to see parts of the story, and you get to build your character. If you just simply experience the world and do as you can, ignoring the objectives or looking at that sweet sweet 100% Quest completion, you’ll have a much better time. At the same time, those of us wanting more from Wynncraft is unfortunately not really going to find it here. The lack of impact, choice in events, progression, direction, and purpose, can feel you feel lost. Seeing a game that allows you to put the reins of what you can and cannot do, is interesting. Albeit, half-baked because if you want to do that, play Skyrim or Fallout with character interactions, but soaking in the worldbuilding by your actions and appreciating the complexities of Wynncraft is interesting in of itself. However, you cannot deny that the structure and pros of Wynncraft and player freedom, inhibits what makes most MMORPGs great. It’s the direction of giving player choice and leaving too much space for the player to do their own thing, which makes for a weaker experience in my opinion. I’m come to appreciate Wynncraft as a different experience than most games for its feeling of choice and environmental themeing, but at the same time, I have just grown to distaste the game after realizing all of this, since I’m more into games that feel like they have a narrative focus.


And, that is my whole rant of Wynncraft, the lack of impact in exchange for leaving the player to choose, is why I’ve grown to not like Wynncraft but appreciate how it might appeal to different people. I’ve gone to Forums to make a couple of posts as I felt like discussing the game was more fun than the actual game, and I’ve found other MMORPGs and other MC servers that I feel like they have more impact and satisfaction than Wynncraft. However, the feeling of first exploring the world of Wynn and seeing new people and being in awe that all of this is in unmodded Minecraft is magical. Here’s to hoping Wynncraft 2.0 will be something that feels like it’s satisfying to play and experience for all the new and old players. :3

Edit: A few grammar issues and clearing up some of what I wanted to say.

 

Hmmm... it seems you have acquired a "distaste" for Wynn.
If you come back in 10 years or so, there should be a main storyline and some more different items.

Your points all make sense from the point of view of a veteran player who finished the game but didn't stop playing. I remember when I started playing wynn, I wasn't really looking for a main storyline, I was playing a fun progression based game and helping random people out as I grew stronger and more skilled.

Yeah, it's been a few years since then, and I've come and gone, and yes, Wynncraft could do with more variety here, and some sort of conclusiveness there, but ultimately, Wynncraft is unique in it's approach to being an MMORPG, as you have pointed out. If you wanted a linear MMORPG, go play one. If you wanted a compelling, continuous story, it's not here.

Here we have people that don't yell at each other, a game built by the game's own community. Wynncraft has no sense of accomplishment, or a crowd cheering you on at the finish line. There isn't a finish line. Wynncraft is a place to dwell, waddle around and meet new friends.

Wynncraft is unique, and that's why I always return 6 months later; if you're gonna sit down and do nothing productive, you may as well do nothing productive with everyone else on wynncraft; the playerbase who is content with doing not much, together.

 

I'm not the smartest guy, or know much about all this game designs stuff, but I'll just put my opinion on a part of the arguement. You say theres no reward for exploring or thats it's bland but for me I find it fun to explore, the exploration IS the reward. Every nook and cranny doesn't need to be filled with special content and with wynns team I don't think they can exactly do that, but it's still fun to walk into random homes and look around, there doesn't need to be a special item or secret minigame in ever corner of the map. It would be nice but I don't think thats really possible. I don't go into loot caves for the loot exactly I find it fun to see the mechanics and details of the caves, the older caves don't have this but the newer caves do, I'm interested in them way more, it's fun to see what things I'll find, a ice skating rink? A cool looking mob? This view is probably not shared by most but I find the details interesting and satisfying, compared to if there was a amazing reward everywhere. I don't think the world feels empty, because theres still a lot of detail and variety in different parts of the map, you claim theres a lot of "empty areas" when most of them have all sorts of builds. Take kander forest for example, it's not just a random collection of trees, theres different ruins and landmarks, theres the bloody visceral pits or the mines of kanderstone. This is all my opinion and how I feel, maybe you don't have the same satisfaction and feelings towards these things but for me I find it more interesting than other games. Maybe I'm extremely biased, maybe I'm blind to the reality of things but for me, It feels much more interesting and fun to explore. As I said, the exploration for me is the reward, not some special weapon or unique item.

 

This is why I like the rework updates just as much as the new content updates, it shows the dev team's working towards improving and streamlining the existing game. More content like Dern might be more hyped, but adding new high-level stuff only caters to the old-school players; while reworking older areas impacts both older players, who get to replay the more improved experience, but also makes new players much more likely to get engaged and stick with the game, helping to build the community and the server as a whole.

 

Ye, I can see how ya like all of this. I forgot to mention in, but the nice thing about Wynncraft being really free and open is that your enjoyment comes to how much you place interest to exploring and doing the things you want to do. Canyon of the Lost has some really interesting sights, like Chained House, and the Elemental Caves, that makes discovery from your accord interesting. And Wynncraft does has a lot of interesting background builds. However, my main problem is that it feels like it just comes off as "huh, neat", rather than feeling like this thing is memorable or significant. It mostly comes down to how much you give food for thought to things. However, when I compare it to other games or other MC servers, my sense of immersion and awe just isn't up to par to most of the moments in Wynncraft for me, since you don't really feel attached to this world or your character. Sure, there are a ton of interesting things around Wynncraft, but it feels like most of it is just filler areas. Mesa and Olux Swamp beings pretty big empty zones. Like sure, Mesa has the canyon people, and upper areas. But like, is there anything particularly noteworthy or something to tie your interest of how these places are? Not really. The Secret Discoveries do actually help fill in the lore and interest of these areas, but most people, aren't really going to feel an attachment to most of the areas. There's nothing to really latch on to say this build is memorable in the overworld, with some exceptions. In 1.20, I always remembered this one cave in Rangi Plains that was like a minidungeon, with each floor having trials and enemies that are 10 levels higher. This is really interesting, a fun challenge, and interesting to experience. Sure, there wasn't much of a reward or story/lore tidbits, but the spectacle in gameplay and the concept made it memorable. I can see your point of view, of simply just enjoying the sightseeing, but I would just like to have more depth into general traversing of the world to feel more unique. To give incentive to players to want to explore more, to get sidetracked for hours, wondering what this area is like and what challenges and loot lies within it. I do agree that having that point of view makes Wynncraft a better experience overall, and honestly, that's really respectable. Not having the expectation of every area has to be significant is healthy. However, I just feel like having more depth would make it go the extra mile. After all, I mentioned how the constant themes of The Corruption really adds to the overall narrative of Wynncraft, and seeing all of these areas makes it click inside and you start appreciate that and how Wynncraft subliminally adds atmosphere to an area. It's just for me, I just get the impression that most areas feel shallow in terms of giving the player memorable moments. And the average new player who wants to explore and get lost into the world of Wynncraft, isn't going to find much in terms of meaningful overworld moments other than "huh, that's neat", and that is acceptable. It just feel like something that can really be worked upon when you have to travel between cities that feels like it wastes time and Emeralds to get more lost in discovery of the overworld. That and since that's the only thing you can kinda get attached to in terms of immersion of Wynncraft, since the story and lack of feeling of progression isn't going to do that. Wynncraft has the grounds t o make some very dark moments, like the poor people of Wynn, and the slaughter of the people in Kander Forest, it just feels like it's shallow for most people and can really go the extra mile in exploring the consequences and devastation it has on the people of providence as a whole. That's why I love Realm of Light so much and the Western side of Gavel. However, most of it is just there, when it is brimming with potential with stories and exploring the impacts of this world, unlike Silent Expanse where it's supposed to leave you confused and scare at the special of the areas to hit home the theme of twistness and forces you cannot comprehend. It's not that I necessarily want rewards from side areas, I just want areas to have more impact to be more memorable by having more depth.

 

Yea I understand, there could be a lot more done for visual storytelling, and atmostphere creation. It's being done in newer built areas some more and they could give mobs more variety, but they've really used what they have to make really cool stuff. They don't have the most amount of resources so making these things isn't as priotized but I think they are improving at it, but overall theres bigger issues they have to work on. As many ct have said they would love to make cooler stuff and put more work into things like world events, which I really like since they bring life into the world. But they have bigger things to fix, I think theres a lot of potential they just need some time. I think wynn rn would really benefit with newer and better mob spells and attacks, to add more variety to mobs. They introduced dialogue options in the events so maybe they can do that for quests too?