At what point does an MMORPG turn into a clicker game? Brighter Shores aims to streamline the genre but swings too far in that direction that the game is so, so simple and ends up being very shallow.

• Every single skill boils down to clicking on something and waiting for a bar to fill up. Gathering items, cooking, alchemy, combat, everything is so automated that it doesn't feel like you're doing anything.
  
• The game is comically grindy for no reason and there's no real reason to level anything up in general. You'll be doing the exact same thing on level 1 of gathering vs level 200. The only difference is the icon you're clicking on is different.
  
• The map is grid-based and relatively small-scale. It doesn't feel like a world, more like a set of connected hallways.
  
• Every quest is either a fetch quest or asks you to go talk to another NPC. There is no story to redeem this either, the writing is poor and full of fluff. The devs seemingly created the most generic fantasy world ever on purpose.
  
• The progression system means none of your grind and effort carries over between acts.
  
• Saying this is an MMO is a stretch. There's zero group activities, and people you meet disappear between rooms, so communicating with others becomes impossible.

I had hopes for this game, but my 4 hours of playing Brighter Shores were completely dull. I have a hard time seeing why anybody would play this compared to any other MMORPG in the market.

At what point does an MMORPG turn into a clicker game? Brighter Shores aims to streamline the genre but swings too far in that direction that the game is so, so simple and ends up being very shallow. [list] [*]Every single skill boils down to clicking on something and waiting for a bar to fill up. Gathering items, cooking, alchemy, combat, everything is so automated that it doesn't feel like you're doing anything. [*]The game is comically grindy for no reason and there's no real reason to level anything up in general. You'll be doing the exact same thing on level 1 of gathering vs level 200. The only difference is the icon you're clicking on is different. [*]The map is grid-based and relatively small-scale. It doesn't feel like a world, more like a set of connected hallways. [*]Every quest is either a fetch quest or asks you to go talk to another NPC. There is no story to redeem this either, the writing is poor and full of fluff. The devs seemingly created the most generic fantasy world ever on purpose. [*]The progression system means none of your grind and effort carries over between acts. [*]Saying this is an MMO is a stretch. There's zero group activities, and people you meet disappear between rooms, so communicating with others becomes impossible. [/list] I had hopes for this game, but my 4 hours of playing Brighter Shores were completely dull. I have a hard time seeing why anybody would play this compared to any other MMORPG in the market.