Forsaken World & World of Warcraft - It isn't always about the price.

One of the things I've noticed about the F2P model is that some peeps seem to think that F2P (P2W) games are inherently inferior to subscription games - and that the only reason why people could possibly be playing F2P games is because they haven't got the cash for a subscription.

<.< Let's ignore that F2P games can cost a lot more if you aren't careful.

I'm not playing Forsaken World because it's F2P.  I do use the cash shop - but I make sure that I don't spend more than a subscription would cost (in fact, I spend less right now, but that's just me).

The thing is, even if FW and WoW were both subs, or both F2P, I'd play FW over WoW in a heartbeat.

I am, however, a jaded ex-raider, who won't even pick up an MMO if it has 'endgame PvE raiding' as a feature. I'm also self-reliant to the point of neuroticism in MMOs. XD

So for me, FW is better than WoW. Not just 'better because it's free'.

Outright better.

Oh yah, for those who want 'support' for my statements about WoW... I played it for 3 years, starting in Vanilla. Stopped for 2 years just before WotLK came out. Had 10 70s at that point. Some very geared - since I mention raiding, that's a given. Went back for one month when Cata came out, levelled a holy priest from 1 - 85 on a fresh account. Cancelled after that one month. So I'd say I have a fair amount of knowledge when it comes to WoW. ;)

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I think this comes from what the people arguing the point expect or demand from their MMOs. A lot of these folks consider end-game raiding the point of MMOs, and so they look around and see that of the F2P games out there, none are really offering the end-game raiding experience of say, WoW or Rift at the moment, especially with the rate that Rift adds endgame content these days, and they think "aha! Since that's what a good MMO is to me, you need a sub to maintain a good MMO!"

If you're explicitly not looking toward a raiding end-game, you want an MMO to provide something different/better in lieu of that, or not focus on endgame at all, or provide a better leveling experience, or remove levels entirely, or etc. etc. etc. and F2P games offer a wide variety of "other" that can satisfy those itches as good or better than a typical sub model.

Of course, those arguing against F2P don't care about any of that and won't hear your points because to them, raiding endgame = MMO. I mean, I just read on another forum a WoW player talking about how GW2 won't really be an MMO to him not because he still thinks it'll be an instanced co-op RPG like the first, but because to him MMO = raiding endgame and GW2 won't really be providing that.

Takes all kinds!

— Randomessa
Oo. That is troo. I never considered that for some people raiding IS what MMOs are about. >.>

And that's not really something I can understand with the loot drop models as implemented in WoW.

Waaaaay back when, in LegendMUD, we'd get groups of 10-15 people going to an elite area called the Shadowlands, and also the Paris Opera Sewers. Usually, in such a group composition, 1/3 of the people would be going for gear - which, btw was guaranteed to drop, if you didn't destroy it in the process of fighting the mob (the mobs wore their gear drops, you see). Anyway, the gear drop was guaranteed, and people had no problem rolling for it if two or more people wanted it. The rest of the 2/3 of the group, without whom the group would not be in any shape way or form possible in a normal situation, were going for the pure joy of it.

The *joy* of it.

I think in many ways, LegendMUD spoiled raiding as MMOs implement it for me. Call me cynical, but people say they raid for the 'camaraderie' and all that, but it is my firm belief that if you removed drops altogether, most raiders would not raid. Witness, in WoW, how much a nosedive raiding takes before EVERY expansion. How near no one runs AQ20 anymore (that was one of the few raids I truly loved). It's not about the 'camaraderie', it's not about 'seeing the content' (which you can only see a few times and have it feel new, anyway. It's about loot. Pure and simple. But then, I am a cynugget. (Not to be confused with Cynn!)

So maybe it's a nugget who came to WoW with the wrong mindset. Coming directly from a system that allowed incredible ingenuity with character builds (I think I had 50 max level chars when I left LegendMUD after 8 years), where people really did do hard content for the sheer joy of it... to WoW - which in many respects was the polar opposite of that.

Maybe it's that a part of me was never really happy with what WoW was on a fundamental level. But being my first MMO, I didn't know they could be any different. That they could be something... closer to what I loved about Legend. That people could play for joy.

I have to say, that with the original War in Kryta content, GW gave that back to me for a few glorious months. Go and kill things for sheer joy. Content so beautifully tuned, mob teams so amazingly set up. And since gear and drops really don't truly MATTER in GW beyond a very very low point of entry...

...fast forward to 5-6 years later, and I've dipped in and out of soooo many MMOs - now I know what I like. Or at least, I know what I most certainly don't like - and that there are alternatives out there.

Maybe it's just a question of perspective. Of having seen enough to realise what you prefer. I'm sure there are peeps out there who have gone through the same ridiculous number of MMOs, at least for a few weeks before deciding they didn't like them - and that raiding was the way to go for them. I am, however, curious as to how many of those for whom raiding defines MMOs have tried playing in environments where raiding either doesn't exist, doesn't matter or is done for... joy. The last I'm not even certain really exists in MMOs the way I saw it work in LegendMUD but hey... anything's possible right?

-_- Jeesh this should have been a post in and of itself. XD

*squees*

— Glorious McNugget
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