Am I going about this MMO thing all wrong?

[Andrew Wonser]

I've always been hesitent to get into the whole MMO thing because of the monthly charge. But I'm wondering if I'm going about this the wrong way. I'll typically pay about 35 - 45 for a new to newish game and if the story holds onto me long enough I will probably finish it in a month max.

So I'm wondering if I should just view this as a very cheap game that I keep buying every month until I get bored with the concept and count it as beaten and move on. In which case all I've lost is my time which would have been taken by some other game. I think the one thing I am afraid of is that I will equate all the time vested as a precious commodity that I cannot possibly leave to just be wiped away which is, I imagine, were the addicition factors in for some people. But seeing as how I hate spending money in the first place I'm, hopefully, somewhat guarded from this.

So I guess I'm in the market for my first MMO. I'm thinking about picking up Guild Wars because it doesn't cost anything beyond the initial investment and maybe City of Heroes. I might have thought about WoW but the universe never did much for me and Blizzard doesn't seem to have a handle on their server issues yet. I think my biggest issue would be, can I solo? As I would rather not have to worry finding some party every time.

[Octavious]

Almost any online game doesn't wipe characters. So if you want to play for a few months. Take a break and then come back it's not a problem. I'm personally burned out of them completly. The only thing that really draws me to those games is to play with a bunch of people that I enjoy being around.

I can't keep up with any of them though because I just don't have the time to play like most of them do. Guild Wars is tempting though as you can just jump in and create a pvp character if you don't have the time to level up your character.

[yossar]

Moving to PC Gaming in General....

So I'm wondering if I should just view this as a very cheap game that I keep buying every month until I get bored with the concept and count it as beaten and move on.

Except that most of them have an initial cost similar to that of any other retail game. So any new MMORPG is not going to be "very cheap".

But otherwise, I don't see the harm in giving one a shot. Even if you just play for the free month, most MMORPGs have enough content at the start that you can easily get your money's worth. I haven't tried Guild Wars, but with the right character soloing is very possible in CoH. I think the game is infinitely more fun in groups (I've even had really good luck with pick-up groups), but soloing is fun when you don't have a lot of time to play.

[Andrew Wonser]

Except that most of them have an initial cost similar to that of any other retail game. So any new MMORPG is not going to be "very cheap".

I know that right now I could get CoH for about 30 which isn't too bad. Though it would be better if the initial investment was for more than a month, which might make the price of a new game more worth it.

I haven't tried Guild Wars, but with the right character soloing is very possible in CoH. I think the game is infinitely more fun in groups (I've even had really good luck with pick-up groups), but soloing is fun when you don't have a lot of time to play.

While I might try to hook up with people, it's nice, like you said, to just pop in and play. One reason I didn't like to do groups alot is that I always feel it was my fault if the party was killed, even if it wasn't.

[YellowKing]

I've never really understood the negativity towards paying a monthly charge to play a game.

People pay monthly charges for internet access, cable television, movie rental services, and never bat an eye. They'll pay $20 for a 2-hour movie, but won't pay $15 for a game that provides them with 20 or 30 hours of playtime per month (and that's if you're very casual).

It's really illogical.

[yossar]

I've never really understood the negativity towards paying a monthly charge to play a game.

People pay monthly charges for internet access, cable television, movie rental services, and never bat an eye. They'll pay $20 for a 2-hour movie, but won't pay $15 for a game that provides them with 20 or 30 hours of playtime per month (and that's if you're very casual).

It's really illogical.

Well, in some situations it makes sense. I have quite a few games that I'll play for a few hours every month or two. I'm still not done with Half-Life 2 and I got that for Christmas. If I were paying $15/month for it, I'd have paid about $95 for ~15 hours of gameplay so far. Some games I play straight through but most games I pick up every now and then. I have a whole bunch of games I played a bit and eventually want to get back into, but if I had to pay $10+ to resubscribe to them, there's no way I ever would. If an MMORPG isn't your main source of gaming entertainment, it is a bit pricey to pay for it every month. Also, I sometimes feel a compulsion to play City of Heroes just "to get my money's worth". It's not a big compulsion since it isn't a huge monthly fee, but it still isn't a good feeling.

The bottom line is that a monthly fee is a committment to a game, however small. It's easy and affordable (for me at least) to make one or two such committments, but if every game had a monthly fee, we'd have a problem.

[J-Straw]

Who pays $20 for a movie? The most I've ever paid is something like $10 in NYC, everywhere else I never pay more than $7.


As for the MMORPG question, it all comes down to how much you play. If it's your main game and you play it for at least ten hours a week then it's going to be be cheap compared to other games. If you have time to kill there's nothing like a MMORPG, the things are just time-sinks.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Who pays $20 for a movie? The most I've ever paid is something like $10 in NYC, everywhere else I never pay more than $7.

Methinks he was referring to DVDs, or possibly he was including the refreshments costs in with the ticket.

[Misguided]

I know that right now I could get CoH for about 30 which isn't too bad.

Amazon has had the dvd edition of CoH for 20 bucks on multiple occasions, which includes a month of play (15 dollars). I strongly suggest you go that route if you can, because you'll still have to download Issues 3 and 4, so having 1 and 2 on the disc will help.

[hentzau]

I know that right now I could get CoH for about 30 which isn't too bad.

Amazon has had the dvd edition of CoH for 20 bucks on multiple occasions, which includes a month of play (15 dollars). I strongly suggest you go that route if you can, because you'll still have to download Issues 3 and 4, so having 1 and 2 on the disc will help.

And my local Target has the CD version for $10. Get that, add in the free month, and it's almost like you're making money!!!

[Gedd]

... and Blizzard doesn't seem to have a handle on their server issues yet

It seems that a lot of the server issues that were so common before have cleared up, but I can only speak for the server I'm playing on (Whisperwind) and my own experience. The only issue that I've had in the last month or so was getting disconnected once or twice, but I was able to get back in quickly.

Again, I can't speak to the other servers, but I haven't seen a server queue in several months, "loot lag" is non-existent, and server restarts are farily rare as well.

In response to the original post, I've found that I've actually saved a lot of money playing MMOs. Prior to starting with games like SWG, I was a bargain hunter, typically buying just about anything that remotely interested me when it hit $20. At the end of the month I'd have one or two games that I played, and then three or four that went in the backlog. To this day I still have something like 50 games that I'll probably never play.

When I started playing MMOs my purchases outside of them dropped dramatically. I now only buy something else if it's something I'm really, really interested in and if I can get a good deal on it. Since buying WoW I've bought nothing else.

Even with my wife and I both playing ($30 a month), it's totally worth it. I'd rather have one game that I play with my wife than 2-3 games only I'm interested in.

My suggestion? Give it a shot. Try out either CoH or WoW, both of which are somewhat casual and newbie friendly, at least at the start.

[Dramatist]

If I'm doing a MMOG that I enjoy it actually helps me save. I bought EQ2 in November when it came out and I just recently bought my first PC game since then. Almost all my PC free time has been taken up by EQ2. If not for it, I'd have bought several more PC games (more than one a month, I imagine). That $15 a month is less than the price of a new game. Having a MMOG to play also gives me the strength to wait for a game to either be patched or go down in price. I used to be bad about buying games when they first came out and getting bitten by some lousy products.

The game I bought this week (first in almost 6 months) was Rollercoaster Tycoon 3. It was on sale and has been patched into a pretty fun game.

[Bad Demographic]

Oops - this belongs in PC Gaming in General. Whoosh! and away you go.

[Kelric]

Is it time for me to suggest Guild Wars and joining the OO Guild (which cuts down on worrying about partying, except when it's 4am and nobody is talking to you when you ask if anyone needs help on quests )? No monthly fees was key for me to get my first MMORPG (and according to some bad reviews, it's actually a CORPG). You can solo on the lower levels for sure, but I don't know how effective you can be soloing when you get into some of the more difficult areas.

[Gedd]

No monthly fees was key for me to get my first MMORPG (and according to some bad reviews, it's actually a CORPG).

Actually, that's the developer's term for it. From the official FAQ:

Rather than labeling Guild Wars an MMORPG, we prefer to call it a CORPG (Competitive Online Role-Playing Game).

That review may have been awful, but at least that much was factual.

[CGMark]

guild wars was originally billed as a MMORPG, but its not. Plain and simple. While I suppose if you dont play on a RP server in ANY online game they could really be considered NOT a MMORPG. WoW, is nice. You level to 20 pretty fast, even as a casual player. As for monthly fee. Yes, GW does not have one, but I found the game rather boring. While there are quests to do, they seem very vanilla and not all that interesting to read. I have done a bunch, and couldnt tell you much about any of them that I have done. In WoW, I read almost all my quests unless its something that I pick up and see its going to give me no XP, even then sometimes I give it a read. You said though that you didnt like the Warcraft world, is that from the original RTS games? cuz even then, the only thing like that, are names and places. From what i understood, City of Heroes is kinda bland, but can be fun. Matrix Online right now is doing a friends and family thing for a week coming up, you might want to see if anyone has a key they can give to you, for the trial. I find i save LOTS of money by paying a monthly fee for WoW. Since I started playing Wow, about 4-5 months ago. I have bought Midnight Club on a trade in, and Guild wars simply for something to do on tuesdays. And the last two weeks, I havent played it. My interest in it has already waned.

[ChrisGwinn]

CGMark - have you gotten to post-searing Ascalon yet?

[Andrew Wonser]

You said though that you didnt like the Warcraft world, is that from the original RTS games? cuz even then, the only thing like that, are names and places.

Didn't really like the backdrop in the RTS. Just didn't feel as fleshed out as Starcraft. But I do agree that a rts and mmorg are two completely different beasts.

I'll usually play some form of spellcaster (shooter, whatever) when dabbling in any kind of rpg (Whether it's with a NWN or an old school mud) for the single reason that I don't have to really focus on gathering armor and weapons and can instead concentrate on strategy. It makes it a bit difficult at the start, especially since I'd rather solo, but in the end I can hold my own. But on that topic I also don't want to have to worry about having all these components in order to cast a spell in the first place.

I will plead ignorance in that I know nothing about WoW or CoH. I just always got the vibe that WoW was a bit more involved than I would prefer hence me leaning towards CoH. But seeing as I haven't ordered it yet, I'm open to arguments for or againt either one.