MMOs and Me

I have been the biggest supporter of Star Wars: The Old Republic since before it launched of pretty much anyone I know. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one of my top three games of all time, Star Wars is probably my favorite franchise of any, and I loved that BioWare was bringing their 'fourth pillar' of story to an MMO.

For me, having a 'single player' MMO set in the Old Republic era of Star Wars was a dream come true. I loved that I could solo the majority of the game, and bring in friends whenever I wanted. I didn't even touch the endgame raid stuff for almost a year. I was so caught up in creating new characters and playing their stories, that I didn't really have a need.

Finally, though, having to burn through the same content (the non-character story side quests) started to wear on me a bit, and I joined a buddy's guild, and started dabbling in the endgame stuff. It was cool, I did enjoy it, but it didn't bring the same exhilaration that seeing new content brought.

Looking back, I think, for me, where things really started to fall apart was the transition to adding a F2P model. At that point, new development stopped being about adding more expansive story content, and became more about adding small bursts of new content, and a ton of nickel & dime microtransactions.

I've weathered this for two years, and over time, I've come to the conclusion that I'm much more willing to put time into an MMO if it's subscription-based, rather than an F2P microtransaction vehicle.

I've had an incredible amount of fun in SWTOR, and have gladly sunk more time and dollars into it than any other game I ever have, but I think my time with it is approaching its end. I plan to wrap up a couple character stories, and then call it a day by some time this summer.

Barring a substantial announcement from BioWare, I'm pretty sure I'll be jumping over to Elder Scrolls Online for my MMO fix. Between my new adoration for the franchise, and something I can't talk about, I'm very excited for this game.

I like having a go-to story-heavy MMO, and everything I know about ESO tells me it's going to fill that role nicely. Also, having all the areas of Tamriel opened up to me is tantalizing.

 

What really fills me with confidence, though, is that it's a subscription-based model. As I said, aside from the Guild Wars series, having an F2P, microtransaction-driven model discourages big releases, in favor of lots little nickel & dime releases. I'd rather pay a regular fee and get more substantial updates.

 

We'll see what happens, though. Turbine has done some okay things with the F2P model, with both Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, but they also don't feature a deep story the way SWTOR does, and the way ESO appears to. My guess is ESO is going to build on the what's come before in the series, which isn't a grand, overarching story, but a main story thread that you can leave and come back to at your own pace, while tackling really interesting side quests. If anything, the Elder Scrolls structure is ripe for being imported into an MMO.

 

Of course, a good friend over at Galaxy Next Door reminded me that the Secret World is still out there, and I really enjoyed the little bit of time I spent in that game. I like their model of regular expansions that are bought outright, or received as part of a sub.

 

Oh, and Guild Wars 2 is still out there. I'll admit, their model defies everything I've been saying here, and I don't know how they do it. At the same time, though, I pretty quickly lost interest, even though I love the franchise. GW2 isn't a bad game, but ... I don't know.

 

Oh, and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn keeps tugging at me. I may explore that one a bit more, while I still have sub time. I do plan to only carry one MMO sub after this summer.

 

Will it be SWTOR, ESO, or FFXIV? What do you think?

 

In closing, I am not, by any means, a typical MMO player. I'm pretty resistant to random grouping, and definitely enjoy soloing, if the content is good. SWTOR was perfect for me, but they've refused to release any new class-specific content, and most of their new content, with the exception of Makeb, has been pretty small. Some of it's cool, but I want more. I hope they announce something soon that'll keep me in the game.

 

Either way, I'm really looking forward to the ESO launch in April. I can already envision myself in my recliner, Alienware in hand, stomping around Tamriel, while watching the 2014 Cardinals destroy the rest of the NL Central. Good times, folks.

 

What do you need, story-wise, from an MMO? What's your favorite MMO play style? What do you play? Are you looking forward to ESO?

 

-Blaine