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Why I (probably) won't be playing this game after all.
BaneShade
Member Posts: 33
After finally getting the game installed and patched, I was ready to play.
I made a mage, did the tutorial and hopped into the game world.
At this point I was still getting used to the interface, but the game looked pretty and had me interested in trying more.
I did all the quests in the pioneer village, went to Logar, did a few quests and decided to quit the game.
What? My opinion can't possibly count, because I only played a few hours at most. Right?
Well, here's what I noticed in my brief time...
1. The game revolves around crafting and refining. Every item has 6 star slots, that apparently can be filled by expensive refining. This refining apparently takes a lot of trial and error, especially to get the last few stars.
2. The quests thus far seem run-of-the-mill type stuff. I wasn't expecting an epic story line, but people generally have very few interesting things to say.
3. The game is limited in many ways.
a) You have limited inventory slots, but you're teased that you can have more by showing you the slots grayed out.
b) Your house, despite being a HUGE room, apparently can't fit more than ten pieces of furniture - unless you "upgrade the house energy" uh, right.
c) A permanent mount (good one) costs 299 Diamonds, let's round it to 300 for sake of calculation. The price at auction house for one diamond is 20.000 Gold. So to afford the nice mount, without buying with real money, you have to spend 300 * 20000 = 6.000.000 gold. 6 Million. I don't know how much gold you start making later in the game, but to me it seems like I'd be spending A LOT of time grinding and running loot back to town (due to the limited inventory) in order to simply afford a mount.
d) Not to mention all the other things that require you spend money. Pretty much artificially, invented solely to make you spend.
4. The game feels like plastic. Uhm.. or like I'm just a set of statistics running around slowly increasing as I kill stuff and hand in "quests". By that I mean I cannot simply grab something I see in the game world and take off. I'm completely limited. Wanna steal a horse? Nope, can't do. Grab that sword that's leaning on the side of the wall? Nope. My "house" is just an instance that I alone can see. Whatever happened to having lots that actually influence the game world?
5. The same with the people. They're all incredibly boring to talk to.
So as I was playing I noticed these things, and more, but I guess for a lot of MMOs they're fairly standard. Then I asked myselv...
Why play this MMO if I'm not into PvP?
If I play something like morrowind, there are meaningful quests, interesting people. There is a lot of freedom in interacting with the world and doing whatever you want. Except it's offline. There are not many other people running around. But why do I need these people if not to fight them or compete with them?
Why grind and try to get the best gear, if it's not to battle other people? If I'm just battling the environment, I don't need all that advanced loot. Plus I can get a MUCH better experience, with better interactivity, better story and more freedom, by playing a single player game. And actually, better loot too - in a natural way.
There may be a few good MMOs out there that have meaningful quests and a properly interactive world that isn't limited in many artificial ways, but I haven't tried such one yet. Eventually I hope to though, and when it happens I'll be there 
Comments
You are completely right about the "plastic" feel! If you feel this way about MMOs then you should really just stick to single player games. All mmos have a "cycle" on content so that no matter when a player joins the game, he or she will have the same chance at experiencing similar things. So "cycles" are longer so players may feel that they are affecting the game world, but usually they eventually roll back so other players will be in the same position to experience it.
So, first of all, nothing against anyone, but just some comments of my own.
1. I don't really know too many mmos that are not revolved around some kind of equipment or skill chase. I don't think anyone would play a game where no matter how long they play, they will be the same as a newbie. Some chases are longer... some are better hidden, but they all are the same.
2. Quest types are all the same, no matter which game. "Interesting things" is relative to each player, so hopefully you find one that has a story you like.
3. Limit - i wonder how many slots wow gives, or other game gives. RoM give 120 backpack slots, 60 bank slots, and 20 slots in chest for house from the start. I wonder how many games give you free housing? I wonder how long to get a mount in other games (ofcourse other games may cost you monthly fees)?
d. Hmm.. inviting to spend money... I believe RoM is one of the very few games where a player can actually get everything without spending a dime if they spend enough time.
Well, I do encourage others to try it out. Its still one of the better f2p.
I agree with you about everything really.
I guess if there's a game with a true sense of freedom, it would be a world with a lot more involvement. People could actually make quests for others to complete and do meaningful things other than bash monster heads and harvest ingredients.
As far as cycles go, not every MMO has them, but the better ones do, so something actually happens in the world. Perhaps having a completely solid world might be refreshing. One where everything is permanent, yet where there are challenges for everyone.
For example.. high level players could be able to build keeps and castles of their own in the world. However, they would have to defend these keeps from monster attacking, invasions by other kingdoms, other players trying to loot them, and so on. Basically GOOD end game content. Not like it is today in a lot of games, where players simply walk around ganking newbies because they're bored.
Oh you say, but all the real estate will be gone. Not a problem! People desiring the lot could lay siege to a castle or even assassinate the owner and steal the deeds. Endless possibilities. Heck, you could even have super advanced players progress to become Liches or Demigods. Again, with appropriate challenges to their position by other gods and generally unwanted attention by powerful forces. Keeping them busy rather than bored.
This could work both for a f2p game and a p2p.
As for the limit. Yeah some games have very low limits, but usually these games don't have the same ridiculous needs to acquire tons of different ingredients. Those that do, like Perfect World, also offer ways of expanding your inventory. I find it unncessarily limiting and quite boring. I have a house, right? I should be able to just dump all my crap on the floor, and go off to hack some more monsters. I'm a messy person. Why would I have to put it in a neat little chest?
I know for a fact that one day there will be an MMO developed that does things right. Just like Pong was the most advanced game once upon a time, the MMOs of today will seem ridiculously dated and incredibly boring and grindy when compared to those released in ten / twenty years from now. Of course, that's a long wait
Ok don't take my responses are being condescending... that's not the point. I just want to give you food for thought...
The stars represent item rarity, nothing more. As you upgrade it, it becomes less common, that's why the stars increase. Refining (i.e. modding) your gear is actually an exact science, but it is somewhat complex... there's no trail and error. Increasing the "plus" value of the item does have a chance to fail, if that's what you're referring to.
That's fairly typical of a F2P game where they don't have the capital to hire people for backstory and plot. Perhaps a P2P would be more up your alley?
Well obviously they want you to spend money. Would you rather they gave you those things for free and have to shutdown the servers due to lack of income? You can always rent horses for 3000 gold per 2 hours (I believe). That's fairly cheap. Considering the game costs you nothing to play, I think you're setting the bar a bit high. Again, perhaps a P2P is more up your alley?
It seems to me you're looking for a "sandbox" MMO. Again, you're expecting way too much out of a game that costs you nothing. There are some sandbox P2P games though.
You mean real people or the NPC's?
I think the main reason to play an MMO is to interact with other people playing the same game... otherwise we'd all just play Morrowind or something like it. I don't find the game itself all that interesting. It's the people I meet and get to play with that make it so.
Keep an eye on Final Fantasy XIV (2010 release). That might be more like what you're wanting in a game.
Your comments are just fine. I guess I don't see the difference between f2p properly done and p2p. The means by which f2p gets money are simply different from p2p, but in the end both models need money/subscribers to survive.
As far as the things being given for free. No, of course I don't want them to shut down the servers. On the other hand, my ideas for how a f2p game can be lucrative probably wouldn't work for Runes of Magic, because the game is so limited and ties your hands in what you can do. A f2p game can be profitable in many ways. I think companies have barely scraped the surface on that one.
As for community vs game. I want a good community AND an engaging experience at the same time. It's entirely possible.
I think a game that successfully involves mechanisms for politics, power and consequences - like jail time - would make for a really cool game. Obviously it would need more mechanisms for making the game world tangible too.
I apologize to RoM fans. This really isn't the best place to discuss ideas for another game, since they'll be interpreted as attacks or whatever on RoM. RoM is good for what it is. No mistake. It's simply not what I'm looking for at this point.
What it really boils down to is starting budget. You don't have big guns like Blizzard making a F2P game, or you might see the things you're looking for in one. The P2P model gives the company back a large portion of their development costs in box sales, whereas F2P has to recoup the costs over time... I think that's why the P2P model is more appealing to the big budget games.
What it really boils down to is starting budget. You don't have big guns like Blizzard making a F2P game, or you might see the things you're looking for in one. The P2P model gives the company back a large portion of their development costs in box sales, whereas F2P has to recoup the costs over time... I think that's why the P2P model is more appealing to the big budget games.
P2P games are adopting the F2P model on top of their P2P, like Champions, DDO, and WoW(character transfers/recustomizations).
As for the OP, F2P fails on a lot of levels for typical gamers. It's a decorative money tree. RoM is probably the most polished in the western market. Unfortunately, it still isn't fun unless you're into grinding stuff. You should give Eve a shot, its deep and a true world run by players(mostly). It and Ryzom are the only good sandbox games out there right now.
Hey there,
I see what you're saying. I've been playing for a few days now, level 14 now and loving it possibly much more than I did WoW when I began playing that.
What everyone has said in their replies is completely right, but I do have a couple of points to add;
I think you may be judging the game a little too early, levelling up to 10, and even 20 in some cases, in any mmorpg, let alone rpg (this is in my experience) is tedious, and frustrating. Just bear with it, you'll reap the benefits after lvl 11 and you get really nice gear. Also, have you tried the game in every class? Maybe you're just not enjoying what you've chosen?
Also, I get what you mean about the "plastic" thing - when I moved on to MMO's from RPG's like NWN, and also newer MMO's from Ultima Online, I was like....dude why can't I loot this? why can't I pick this up? why can't I throw this? why can't I wear this twig as a hat????
But when you think about it, how much interactivity has WoW got? I'd say its on a par with RoM, theres nothing to play with in it and thats a £120 quid a year, £60+ (if you buy all of it) game....this things free and like a year old. It's lacking a few things in the way of RP but thats my opinion in biased of my love of D&D rules.
I just think you should give this the benefit of the doubt, and try it for another 5 levels, and also try the expansion after th 15th...then see what you think
My two cents
I love this game!!
Laura.
the original FIVEDOLLAR - now every time i try a brand new game someones tapped my proper name
a lot of the ways to make gem as been found and are at the wiki but the top one are still being researched
Please, reword that, some how. 'Gem'? I have no clue to what you are referring.