As the title suggests I've come to a
conclusion concerning MMO style games. In short I think they're for
the most part not worth it. Right now you have two models the free to
play / no subscription model and the subscription based model. They
both have their good points.
Free to play is free which is good.
There are still things that you'll have to pay for eventually though.
If you want vanity items, extra bag room, or character slots then
you'll end up paying. There are some games that still require you to
purchase expansion content which is actually true across both models.
But, for the most part these games would have you pay to take
shortcuts for achieving most of the goals of the game from crafting
to pets and mounts.
Subscription based games are probably
going to end up being a little bit better. This is because the people
that make the game are for the most part obligated to keep adding
quality content. They can also give you pets and mounts from various
achievements. World of Warcraft I would say has a great balance of
vanity items for real dollars and others that you can earn.
By the same token developers are also
making content that requires you to spend a good bit of time to
achieve certain things whether it's mounts, pets, achievements, or
even just leveling up. It's a delicate balance though because too
long or short of time invested can lead to people leaving the game to
go play something else that will reward them at a better interval.
At the end of the day I see this (just
my personal preference) as just a big mind game. There are a lot of
other games that I find to be better because these games actually
have an end to them. Still though, modern games come out with a lot
of DLC which I find (again just my preference) to be a better method
of delivering content. There is DLC out there that feels like a whole
new game (Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry for example) too, which I find
to be a serious plus as the developer is giving people more bang for
their buck when it comes to buying a season pass for something.
Of course content is added to MMO games
all the time. I'm simply saying that the motivation is to keep you
grinding away for something that seems less personal than other types
of games. I know I've said before on this blog that I don't mind the
grind, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately and that's what
these games eventually turn into for me. To me it's either a ploy to
keep me paying a subscription, or to have me pay for quality of life
be it from short cuts or extra features.
I just think it's not my thing. Moving
forward I think my focus is going to be on more single player games.
I will miss multiplayer, but there are a lot of single player
narrative games that have a multiplayer aspect to them, so I don't
think I'll be depriving myself of that kind of play either. I know
some people might think I'll be paying more money for less content
because new games are upwards of 60 dollars or more. I'm an older
gamer though, and I'd like to think I'm more patient than most. I can
wait for a game to go on sale, or catch it in a humble bundle.
I think I still might keep a couple of
these games installed at the end of the day. You never know when I'll
get the itch to just mindlessly grind mobs. MMO's are alright
sometimes. I just don't see myself dedicating a lot of time to them
the way I used to.
Well if I go too much further with this
rambling it's going to turn in to a specific rant, and That's not
really what I'm about. So, I'll be dropping the last of my first
impressions on the rest of the games I've been playing soon. From
here on out this blog will be more about my [semi] collected thoughts
from playing single player games. I still didn't touch much on my
social anxiety when it comes to multiplayer games. I think that's
best saved for another time.
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