A common complaint RE: this genre is crafting...e.g SW:G has one of(if not the) most complex crafting systems out there. Apparently so does EQ2; for a lot of ppl this is a HUGE drawback as they dont want to be bothered with finding 8 Tiberian Gas + 3 Dewback hides + 2 Advanced Biological Effect Controllers(which themselves are comprised of 3 minerals + 5 animal hides + 4 Corellian water and can only be made by the Doctor class) to make 1(!) Widget. Especially when in order to 'level up' in their crafting skill, they need to make 3,748 Widgets.
Other people absolutely love going through the process and at the end cranking out something truly well-made, and (potentially) worth its weight in gold.
In the middle we've got WoW; you have some of the aspects of SW:G in that if you find better components you can make better stuff. However, unlike SW:G you really dont have much control over what you find, and the grind in WoW is to Keep.Killing.More.Stuff. until you (finally) get the drops you need. SW:G says, 'There stuff is all there for the taking, you've just got to be motivated enough to 1)deal with other players and get what you need from those specific classes and 2)be willing to literally, travel the galaxy attending to harvesters, moisture vaporators, etc. to cull the components you need.
Pros and cons to both there, obviously. WoW lets you keep doing that which the game is really centered around, and that's combat. SW:G allows you to play the game sort of like a small business simulator(it can be said WoW has that aspect as well, though I think given that in SW:G componets can be readily had(even if they are a PITA to acquire), you're more likely to be able to keep customers happy; wheras WoW is 100% dependent on drops from mobs, which is far less reliable).
At the other end of the spectrum we've got CoH. No skills, no economy, no houses, trading is limited to enhancements and everything XP-related is dependent solely on combat(well you can get the occasional 100 xp for doing FedEx mishs...but given CoH's steep XP reqs, those are essentially negligible).
I think it's interesting to note that CoH is, reportedly, coming out with some sort of 'skills system'...what that will entail, Ive got no friggin' idea(which superhero was it that made Robin's tights?....yeah, not exactly what *I* wanna be known for). So I think the demand is there, in some form or another.
personally, there was a long period of time(about a year) that I loved SW:G's system. Made it all the way to Master Bio-Engineer(which, as anyone who's ever played that game can tell you, is either a study in masochism or a damned impressive feat of dedication). However, eventually I felt that the game was more like work, and I finally gave it up. Now Im playing both WoW and CoH and Im finding that I like both, and Im frustrated by both.
At times I wish there was something else I could do in CoH besides lay the smack down(when buds arent on, and my available mishs are too tough(dont group with the ppl i dont know as a general rule)). Meanwhile, in WoW, I often find that relying on mobs for stuff(Im a skinner and tailor), *especially* when Im *just* about to lvl a skill and only need a few more items, can be incredibly frustrating.
Any thoughts?
