Questions

[Lyra-Stone]

At the risk of taking a lot of heat over here again, I wanted to ask this community some questions.

What I'm wondering about, is I've heard several people mention that they don't bother to play MMORPG's with a monthly subscription. So the question is, what MMORPG is free that is worthwhile? Or more specifically, what next generation MMORPG with a decent graphics engine and interesting gameplay doesn't have a subscription fee? (Yes I do know about Guildwars.)

How can a company be expected to offer an MMORPG and not charge per month? Maybe there's something I'm missing. I would like to know if there's any middle ground on that; is there a game you -would- pay a monthly sub fee for?

Other thing is, I thought the idea in the SWG thread about game companies rewarding players who report major bugs was excellent. It only seems like the logical thing to do, to me.

-Stone

 

[Tiliqua]

To generalise is a bad move.

Some people don't pay monthly fees because they can't afford them or are against them in principle. Myself, I have no probs with monthly fees but have yet to find a mmo that I want to play. I don't want to grind, I don't want to have to play 20+ hrs per week to have a decent character and I want good PvP and combat.

So are you suggesting I pay money for games I don't enjoy?

 

[Lyra-Stone]

Oh, not at all. I'm more directing that line of questions toward people who have said that that is a deciding factor in whether they will play an MMO or not. Of course if a game isn't to your liking, you shouldn't pay.

I am curious about the market of mmorpg players who don't want to pay. Is it mainly because it gets too expensive, or because no mmo has come out to really be worth paying monthly for it?

I know I've paid for games for probably no more than 3 months at a time, then moved on. I think mmorpg's are meant to be long term games, often made for players to play for multiple years, but often don't include enough to do for that long. I would get frustrated when I would have paid 60 bucks (SWG) for a game, then I have to pay the 15 dollar monthly fee. On top of that, purchase expansions. As a consumer that's a bit much. SWG isn't as bad as some for expansions (EQ), but obviously if you add it up it gets to be a lot of money. Even shooters are getting bad, I bought battlefield 1942 when it came out and not long after there was an expansion, and then another one.

So, I can understand not wanting to pay to play a game once you've burned through the content and found the gameplay was just repetition, but I don't really understand avoiding all pay to play games.

 

[Tiliqua]

I think pay by month is some of the best value you can get. I've got 2 of my boys (11 & 9) playing Runescape. I think the game's crap but they like it. They play it obsessively and for $8 each per month it's great value. I've bought them $90 games that they play for a week and never touch again. As soon as they get bored with Runescape I'll cancel their subscriptions.

I'm sure that if a mmo came out that people liked, then unless they couldn't afford it, they would pay. I pay for cable TV and internet, mobile phones etc, what's one more monthly bill?

 

[Human Shield]

If one comes out with gameplay besides meaningless advancement then maybe it could be worth the money. I ain't paying money to waste time. I posted desired elements in this thread, get rid of the threadmill.

Guildwars will provide a free threadmill that actually has fun gameplay and pvp.

 

[Araanor]

I became pretty turned off to MMORPGs after my experience playing UO 6 years ago. A few hours with the SWG beta cemented this view. Everything else I've seen is about the same dreadful gameplay.

I don't have enough time to play all the games I want to these days, this makes me exclude MMORPGs right off the bat since they demand a constant flow of time and cash.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'm looking forward to Guild Wars. It is, in my opinion, the evolution of what Diablo started back in 97. Good gameplay, fun for casual gamers who aren't interested in slow treadmilling and killing the same monster over and over, interesting standalone missions with objectives and subquests related to quests elsewhere, an excellent crafting and dye system, different modes of gameplay from King of the Hill, to CTF, to Team Arena and most importantly - FREE!

Great stuff.