I feel like the future of MMORPGs is in loot shooters and survival games

The social side is dramatically better with VR, which will lead to much more diverse gameplay straight away. You have to realize that in MMOs today, characters generally tend to be pretty static; they stand around in a city not doing much, and while you have exceptions, the exceptions are usually routine.

The only time this changes is when players and communities drive events themselves, like the Eve Online heist, players kiting bosses to cities, outfit competitions, gambling, and all that stuff.

With VR, you'd be able to see everyone's body language, so there would be no such thing as a city with 100 people standing still doing nothing; everyone would be doing something and you could (unless the game limits voice channels) easily walk up to someone and naturally start talking to them.

As such, this creates infinitely more space for player-driven events to occur. They'd be incredibly common infact, and that wold lead into all sorts of diverse gameplay scenarios.

/r/MMORPG Thread Parent