Dunno if it was mentioned, but way back in the early days we did have to pay per hour for our online games..Quantum Link, AOL, Compuserve...et al...premium content and charges per hour out the back end...some people really do have no sense of history.
You know the article was about "Ways MMOs Could Be Worse", not 'Ways MMOs USED TO BE worse"....some people really do have no sense of reading comprehension.
If you spend $2000 on a computer system and then spend $70 a month on a connection and $15 on fees monthly, along with $50 a month on electric bills and you play 30 hours a week, how much money are you losing for every hour over the course of a year?
Solution: $2000 + ((70 + 15 + 50)*12) = $3620 (Total money spent after a year)
30 hours * 52 weeks = 1560 (# of weeks played in a year)
3620/1560 = $2.32/hr
This doesn't count cash shops in games, expansions for the game you are playing, DLCs as well as situations where parts break or you choose to upgrade a machine in order to continue playing the same game that has been bloated through an example.
$2.32/hr is your "minimum bound" value and since we will never be stuck at the minimum bound, chances are it will be around $2.50 - $3 an hour.....
Pay per hour? thats not a good idea. How will the game sell and players will all disappear. We all know that players prefer playing F2P to test how good the game is and if it fits thier gaming. I disaggre that F2P games are poorly made they are mad F2P to attract players.
It has been a part of the game industry.... Play to win thinggii... well inside the game we usuallu up for leveling of cahracter and next to win on pvp and be the strongest.. and to be able to do that you need to have an excellent armor for your character, To achieve this you also need to buy from their item mall or for some engage to RMT or real money trading to be abl to win for the game.
Pay per hour? thats not a good idea. How will the game sell and players will all disappear. We all know that players prefer playing F2P to test how good the game is and if it fits thier gaming. I disaggre that F2P games are poorly made they are mad F2P to attract players.
Thanks for clarifying, Charlie
F2P: Duh, winning.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
I don't see why MMORPGs need to be Pay-to-Play at all. These giant corporations like Blizzard are, I feel, going a little overboard with pricing.
World of Warcraft: $20 for a box, first month free (European version is free to download, but no first month free, so you save $5), $15 a month from there on out. Let's just say someone plays 3 years; that's $545 in American dollars. I say 3 years because that's how long I've been playing Guild Wars. $20 immediately for the first campaign, $10 for the expansion, $20 per other campaign (expansion requires a campaign already, and you only need one campaign to play). That's $70 at the most; right now, you can get the first campaign and the expansion for $20, so $60 at most.
I know people who support Blizzard say that it's because the players of World of Warcraft keep playing, but it is sort of a huge money siphon. You'd expect them to take this money and churn out games either quickly or cheaply, or both. But that isn't the case. Starcraft II took a helluva long time to come out, and costs $60 still; the next two campaigns will cost $60 each, so you spend basically $180 for one game until the price drops, or you lose units in multiplayer. Diablo III still isn't out, and its engine I heard isn't that different from Starcraft II's engine (engines normally take the longest time to code). Considering that RTS and MMOs aren't too much more complicated to code than, say, FPS, Blizzard is slower at developing games than several Free-to-Play companies, yet a lot richer.
(please note this is addressing 3/5 of the points concerning money in the article; basically I'm saying that companies don't really need to charge incredible amounts for games at all, let alone advertise them on Facebook, advertise on them, or make them pay-per-hour)
I think publishers make games F2P because the games are not as good as pay to play. I have played several F2P games, and the quality is just not as high. The gameplay is uaully very grindy too.
Paying 50 cents a day to play is so cheap its ridiculous.
I dont want to sit at my desk worried about how long ive been playing, that would ruin the immersion, which is the reason to play online games in the first place isnt it?
Hourly would probly work well for the Carrot chaser crowd, then not only could they brag about having done X dungeon 500 times on expert mode, but they could brag that they paid 20,000 dollars to do so.
And now we need the counter-part article. Five Ways MMOs Could Be Better... unless of course I missed it.
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
I think publishers make games F2P because the games are not as good as pay to play. I have played several F2P games, and the quality is just not as high. The gameplay is uaully very grindy too.
Paying 50 cents a day to play is so cheap its ridiculous.
I dont want to sit at my desk worried about how long ive been playing, that would ruin the immersion, which is the reason to play online games in the first place isnt it?
Hourly would probly work well for the Carrot chaser crowd, then not only could they brag about having done X dungeon 500 times on expert mode, but they could brag that they paid 20,000 dollars to do so.
Aion china had a little reminder in the chat box stating how long you had played for in that session and your remaining already paid for allowance.
To - ads a number of games have used them, a MMO I'm very familiar with Football Superstars has PUMA on a jumbotron in the lifestyle world, will soon introduce Domino's pizza to a number of the eateries around the world, advertises upcoming movies on several billboards and thats just the UK guys, Ad's are geo-ip based so countries could be different.
In match that same jumbrotron sits pride and place either end of the stadia running a PUMA advertisment and all billboards are dynamic advertising space.
In the right setting (thats the key) then in game advertising can add to immersion rather than break it and can be good for the player as any additional form of revenue CAN (not will) mean lower costs to the player.
"Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"
I'm surprised Fatigue/Stamina Systems haven't been brought up in this article. Remember FFXIV? It was released with a system allowing you to EXP ONLY 8 hours a week on a single class. You could change classes if you want... but that was it. Once you EXP a certain amount, you get no EXP at all.
Nexon's (pretty much the Activision of Korea) Dungeon Fighter Online popularized this in Korea, and now almost all their games have it. Some games have also brought this system over, namely DFO itself, and Elsword, which is being brought over by Kill3r Combo. Atlantica just removed theirs, actually.
Well, these systems exist, and so far, I don't see them bein removed from DFO, Elsword, or the upcoming Dragon's Nest. Just wait, soon they'll have curfews built into single player games. As for Pay By Hour, hah. Just give that pay plan to people, and a flat rate to those that have the time. It could work well unless pay per hour is the ONLY system available, and only if the hourly rates are terrible. Just hope they put in a system that auto-logs you out if you fall asleep at the keyboard.
I don't mind advertising,as long as the developer gives us the effort using that money to make a better game,upgrades,updates whatever.So far i have seen piss poor efforts by developers.I am sure a site that hopes to gain potential profits from adverts wants to only hear positive things,but i prefer the "truth" over lying anyday.That is where i stand when commenting on games,there is no fanbois or hater labeling only true facts.
We can Never win the f2p battle,as soon as a game allows anyone to pop in and out freely,it is asking for huge amounts of trouble.First off cheating galore,as there is nothing to lose ,people can get the boot and come right back and start cheating again.Just as we have seen in free trials,the chat would be nothing but chaos and probably contain massive amounts of rmt gold spamming.
It is no secret to anyone that has played a f2p game that botting is EVERYWHERE and rmt activity pretty much overrides the legit players.I remember playing SRO and it was absolutely insane,40 or so servers and probably about 2k players in total all olthe rest were bots.So can it really get any worse?I don't think so.I remeber also playing games like RFO or L2 and watching bots waddle back n forth right in front of me like nobody cared,really sad.
There is yet another problem with f2p,it is a guarantee there will be horrible gm support if any at all.
Imo there is very little to make our games worse,we already have all the blemishes amongst our gamess,there is only one way and that is up.I hoenstly cannot play most of the games out there,extreme shallow gaming and very poor effort in game design.If these games are already not playable in my books,how can they get any worse,or does it really mattter if they get worse since i'm not going to play them anyhow.
The other aspects mentioned are again already in our games,we really don't know who is lurking behind that keyboard.As far as pay to win coming...LOL,it is already here.It really only matters in pvp,but for PVE purposes,we have to deal with those elitist ass hats that like to talk about players being GIMP or not worthy of partying with,so yes pay to win also bothers pve as well.I also remeber tons of times joining parties way back in Eq days having to watch elitist and their dmg parsers,i just couldn't believe how shallow some players are.
Worse?How?Everything mentioned is and has been around for a long time,there is only one way and that is eventually up, or continue to watch stagnant game design make it lucky once in awhile.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
You know, I really don't mind commercial breaks in MMOs as long as they are short(around 15 seconds), and related to gaming in terms of PCs/Consoles, along with technology as well.
If it's commercial breaks about a kiddie movie, a grocery/laundry item, an opera show on a television channel, political ads about a canidate, even sports related, then yeah it would be some what annoying in an MMO.
But if it's a commercial from Sony, Intel, Dell, any company related to technology/gaming/consoles, then it would not bother me as much.
Some people would be annoyed with commercial breaks of any type. Hopefully there should be an option to pay a subscription fee to no longer see ads.
But this would actually be a brilliant idea for a free to play game(or free accounts) if it actually generated revenues but it has to be done right.
---------------------- Give me lights give me action. With a touch of a button!
There is yet another problem with f2p,it is a guarantee there will be horrible gm support if any at all.
Have to disagree on that one WIz I have consistently better support on western F"P titles than I have on P2P titles.
The big difference I generally find is a F2P community management and GM side of things is generally made up of employees who genuinely give a shit about the community and the product compared to your ten a penny call centre staff of a large scale P2P company.
Everytime I've required support on a F2P title the support has been swift and has felt a lot more personal than the "canned response" you get elsewhere.
We were never going to get a cash shop in pay to play MMO’s were we? So commercials are only a couple of year’s away.
Social networking syndrome is already in MMO’s. Look at how tied in to Facepalm and Twitless a new MMO like Rift already is. Look at how WoW was going to show real names on their forums, an obvious move towards a social network. You may not need a friend to do things yet, but that is because needing help goes against solo gaming supremacy. So if you think like me you think that solo gaming in a MMO is a waste of time there is one benefit for you.
More realism, a bad idea? Not really, not enough MMOs attempt to create a realistic magic system. It is most certainly possible and if done properly would be a huge blast!
I think you are confusing realism with believabilty.
We don't want the mundane realism of our lives in our games - you don't want to have to unclog your virtual toilet before you go on a raid and have to leave early to go pick up your virtual kids.....that's reality....
It seems like a lot of people are misunderstanding the author's intent and many are misusing the word 'real'. Magic isn't real. Neither are fantasy worlds. But they can be believable.
It is quite obvious that the person you quoted was talking about a believable magic system.
There is no use for a discussion about semantics here. But if you really want to, 'realistic magic' doesnt have to be an oxymoron. Because magic doesnt exist in real life, doesnt mean it cant be realisticly represented in a virtual world.
Within the context of the virtual world, magic can be real. Its only virtual or not real when you look at it from outside the virtual world. So what you call believable, can also be called realistic from within a virtual world's perspective
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Nice article, but I dont understand why it is written. And even less so, why we should be thankfull that its not reality. The MMO market is a commercial business, which means that the customer calls the shots. If you as customer accept whatever this business throws at you, then it is your own stupid fault if something would happen like is described in this article.
I think its a better idea to write an article about why some players (customers) act like certain payment models are the only valid payment model, or why they think it is normal for an MMO to be released in an incomplete or even very buggy state. Somehow the MMO business can get away with bad quality if there is enough hype for their product. I even notice this in reviews where a reviewer makes up excuses on behalf of the developer. This apologetic behaviour is what intrigues me. As customer it is not your business to worry about the poor developers job. Thats just insane.
There are more ways yo be worst: cut&past (instead the same MMO), photocopy games, WOW 2.0 syndrome (not only WOW, The Rift seems a WAR's good copy, with the same public quests system) and so on.
IMHO there are too many games, with some good games (EVE, LOTRO, EQII and so on) and a lot of worst titles.
Lotro has become pay 2 win with the latest update, you can buy items that directly improve your combat skill (Legendary scrolls, instruments, potions that have sep cool downs from normal potions, stat increases).
Its funny I never had a problem with power management in raids before f2p, but now that these new power potion are on the store I never seem to have enough power to make it through any of the new raids.
The worst was the recent change that removed the ability to remove relics in game at reforging unless you bought a scroll from the store.
I have to see a commercial on every loading screen for the Lotro store despite the fact that I 'm a subscriber and they recently redesigned the character sheet to add another store button, like we could not see the store button they force on us on the UI.
Turbine holds secret game lotteries that you can only find out about if you use twitter.
Cryptic already did the Zynga thing when they had players recruit 5 friends for a special space ship, that they then turned around and added to the store.
We live in some dark days, I just hope the light at the end of the tunnel is not the front of an oncoming train.
More realism, a bad idea? Not really, not enough MMOs attempt to create a realistic magic system. It is most certainly possible and if done properly would be a huge blast!
HuH realistic magic system ?!? WTF where do you live ??? in a harry potter book
Yes, a "realistic" magic system, do you understand what that means? Or not?
Comments
You know the article was about "Ways MMOs Could Be Worse", not 'Ways MMOs USED TO BE worse"....some people really do have no sense of reading comprehension.
I just want to say ... SHUUUUSH, "they" are reading along and getting ideas
5 amen. 4 huh what is the difference between montly fee or hourly fee ?. 3 again shuuush. 2 amen. 1 I am not on facebrook. 0 Boom.
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
We already deal with pay per hour...
If you spend $2000 on a computer system and then spend $70 a month on a connection and $15 on fees monthly, along with $50 a month on electric bills and you play 30 hours a week, how much money are you losing for every hour over the course of a year?
Solution: $2000 + ((70 + 15 + 50)*12) = $3620 (Total money spent after a year)
30 hours * 52 weeks = 1560 (# of weeks played in a year)
3620/1560 = $2.32/hr
This doesn't count cash shops in games, expansions for the game you are playing, DLCs as well as situations where parts break or you choose to upgrade a machine in order to continue playing the same game that has been bloated through an example.
$2.32/hr is your "minimum bound" value and since we will never be stuck at the minimum bound, chances are it will be around $2.50 - $3 an hour.....
Revision: I meant to say (# of hours played per year)
and for the eletric bill...I consider it the bill portion only to pay for the Monitor and Computer + speaker system to play the game.
Sorry for the doublepost.
Pay per hour? thats not a good idea. How will the game sell and players will all disappear. We all know that players prefer playing F2P to test how good the game is and if it fits thier gaming. I disaggre that F2P games are poorly made they are mad F2P to attract players.
It has been a part of the game industry.... Play to win thinggii... well inside the game we usuallu up for leveling of cahracter and next to win on pvp and be the strongest.. and to be able to do that you need to have an excellent armor for your character, To achieve this you also need to buy from their item mall or for some engage to RMT or real money trading to be abl to win for the game.
Thanks for clarifying, Charlie
F2P: Duh, winning.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
I don't see why MMORPGs need to be Pay-to-Play at all. These giant corporations like Blizzard are, I feel, going a little overboard with pricing.
World of Warcraft: $20 for a box, first month free (European version is free to download, but no first month free, so you save $5), $15 a month from there on out. Let's just say someone plays 3 years; that's $545 in American dollars. I say 3 years because that's how long I've been playing Guild Wars. $20 immediately for the first campaign, $10 for the expansion, $20 per other campaign (expansion requires a campaign already, and you only need one campaign to play). That's $70 at the most; right now, you can get the first campaign and the expansion for $20, so $60 at most.
I know people who support Blizzard say that it's because the players of World of Warcraft keep playing, but it is sort of a huge money siphon. You'd expect them to take this money and churn out games either quickly or cheaply, or both. But that isn't the case. Starcraft II took a helluva long time to come out, and costs $60 still; the next two campaigns will cost $60 each, so you spend basically $180 for one game until the price drops, or you lose units in multiplayer. Diablo III still isn't out, and its engine I heard isn't that different from Starcraft II's engine (engines normally take the longest time to code). Considering that RTS and MMOs aren't too much more complicated to code than, say, FPS, Blizzard is slower at developing games than several Free-to-Play companies, yet a lot richer.
(please note this is addressing 3/5 of the points concerning money in the article; basically I'm saying that companies don't really need to charge incredible amounts for games at all, let alone advertise them on Facebook, advertise on them, or make them pay-per-hour)
APB tried to charge hourly. I hope the idiot that thought of that never works on another game again
Hahaha @Cecropia - Yes Sheen answers it all...
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
"Love can be innocent and can be sweet, but sometimes about as nice as rotting meat."
I think publishers make games F2P because the games are not as good as pay to play. I have played several F2P games, and the quality is just not as high. The gameplay is uaully very grindy too.
Paying 50 cents a day to play is so cheap its ridiculous.
I dont want to sit at my desk worried about how long ive been playing, that would ruin the immersion, which is the reason to play online games in the first place isnt it?
Hourly would probly work well for the Carrot chaser crowd, then not only could they brag about having done X dungeon 500 times on expert mode, but they could brag that they paid 20,000 dollars to do so.
And now we need the counter-part article. Five Ways MMOs Could Be Better... unless of course I missed it.
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
Aion china had a little reminder in the chat box stating how long you had played for in that session and your remaining already paid for allowance.
To - ads a number of games have used them, a MMO I'm very familiar with Football Superstars has PUMA on a jumbotron in the lifestyle world, will soon introduce Domino's pizza to a number of the eateries around the world, advertises upcoming movies on several billboards and thats just the UK guys, Ad's are geo-ip based so countries could be different.
In match that same jumbrotron sits pride and place either end of the stadia running a PUMA advertisment and all billboards are dynamic advertising space.
In the right setting (thats the key) then in game advertising can add to immersion rather than break it and can be good for the player as any additional form of revenue CAN (not will) mean lower costs to the player.
there should be only 3 ways MMO's can be worse
1) Copy SOE's Combat Upgrade
2) Copy SOE's New Game Enhancements
3) Be Owned by SOE.
"Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"
I'm surprised Fatigue/Stamina Systems haven't been brought up in this article. Remember FFXIV? It was released with a system allowing you to EXP ONLY 8 hours a week on a single class. You could change classes if you want... but that was it. Once you EXP a certain amount, you get no EXP at all.
Nexon's (pretty much the Activision of Korea) Dungeon Fighter Online popularized this in Korea, and now almost all their games have it. Some games have also brought this system over, namely DFO itself, and Elsword, which is being brought over by Kill3r Combo. Atlantica just removed theirs, actually.
Well, these systems exist, and so far, I don't see them bein removed from DFO, Elsword, or the upcoming Dragon's Nest. Just wait, soon they'll have curfews built into single player games. As for Pay By Hour, hah. Just give that pay plan to people, and a flat rate to those that have the time. It could work well unless pay per hour is the ONLY system available, and only if the hourly rates are terrible. Just hope they put in a system that auto-logs you out if you fall asleep at the keyboard.
I don't mind advertising,as long as the developer gives us the effort using that money to make a better game,upgrades,updates whatever.So far i have seen piss poor efforts by developers.I am sure a site that hopes to gain potential profits from adverts wants to only hear positive things,but i prefer the "truth" over lying anyday.That is where i stand when commenting on games,there is no fanbois or hater labeling only true facts.
We can Never win the f2p battle,as soon as a game allows anyone to pop in and out freely,it is asking for huge amounts of trouble.First off cheating galore,as there is nothing to lose ,people can get the boot and come right back and start cheating again.Just as we have seen in free trials,the chat would be nothing but chaos and probably contain massive amounts of rmt gold spamming.
It is no secret to anyone that has played a f2p game that botting is EVERYWHERE and rmt activity pretty much overrides the legit players.I remember playing SRO and it was absolutely insane,40 or so servers and probably about 2k players in total all olthe rest were bots.So can it really get any worse?I don't think so.I remeber also playing games like RFO or L2 and watching bots waddle back n forth right in front of me like nobody cared,really sad.
There is yet another problem with f2p,it is a guarantee there will be horrible gm support if any at all.
Imo there is very little to make our games worse,we already have all the blemishes amongst our gamess,there is only one way and that is up.I hoenstly cannot play most of the games out there,extreme shallow gaming and very poor effort in game design.If these games are already not playable in my books,how can they get any worse,or does it really mattter if they get worse since i'm not going to play them anyhow.
The other aspects mentioned are again already in our games,we really don't know who is lurking behind that keyboard.As far as pay to win coming...LOL,it is already here.It really only matters in pvp,but for PVE purposes,we have to deal with those elitist ass hats that like to talk about players being GIMP or not worthy of partying with,so yes pay to win also bothers pve as well.I also remeber tons of times joining parties way back in Eq days having to watch elitist and their dmg parsers,i just couldn't believe how shallow some players are.
Worse?How?Everything mentioned is and has been around for a long time,there is only one way and that is eventually up, or continue to watch stagnant game design make it lucky once in awhile.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
You know, I really don't mind commercial breaks in MMOs as long as they are short(around 15 seconds), and related to gaming in terms of PCs/Consoles, along with technology as well.
If it's commercial breaks about a kiddie movie, a grocery/laundry item, an opera show on a television channel, political ads about a canidate, even sports related, then yeah it would be some what annoying in an MMO.
But if it's a commercial from Sony, Intel, Dell, any company related to technology/gaming/consoles, then it would not bother me as much.
Some people would be annoyed with commercial breaks of any type. Hopefully there should be an option to pay a subscription fee to no longer see ads.
But this would actually be a brilliant idea for a free to play game(or free accounts) if it actually generated revenues but it has to be done right.
----------------------
Give me lights give me action. With a touch of a button!
Have to disagree on that one WIz I have consistently better support on western F"P titles than I have on P2P titles.
The big difference I generally find is a F2P community management and GM side of things is generally made up of employees who genuinely give a shit about the community and the product compared to your ten a penny call centre staff of a large scale P2P company.
Everytime I've required support on a F2P title the support has been swift and has felt a lot more personal than the "canned response" you get elsewhere.
We were never going to get a cash shop in pay to play MMO’s were we? So commercials are only a couple of year’s away.
Social networking syndrome is already in MMO’s. Look at how tied in to Facepalm and Twitless a new MMO like Rift already is. Look at how WoW was going to show real names on their forums, an obvious move towards a social network. You may not need a friend to do things yet, but that is because needing help goes against solo gaming supremacy. So if you think like me you think that solo gaming in a MMO is a waste of time there is one benefit for you.
It is quite obvious that the person you quoted was talking about a believable magic system.
There is no use for a discussion about semantics here. But if you really want to, 'realistic magic' doesnt have to be an oxymoron. Because magic doesnt exist in real life, doesnt mean it cant be realisticly represented in a virtual world.
Within the context of the virtual world, magic can be real. Its only virtual or not real when you look at it from outside the virtual world. So what you call believable, can also be called realistic from within a virtual world's perspective
6th way mmo's could be worse
Have a bad community
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Nice article, but I dont understand why it is written. And even less so, why we should be thankfull that its not reality. The MMO market is a commercial business, which means that the customer calls the shots. If you as customer accept whatever this business throws at you, then it is your own stupid fault if something would happen like is described in this article.
I think its a better idea to write an article about why some players (customers) act like certain payment models are the only valid payment model, or why they think it is normal for an MMO to be released in an incomplete or even very buggy state. Somehow the MMO business can get away with bad quality if there is enough hype for their product. I even notice this in reviews where a reviewer makes up excuses on behalf of the developer. This apologetic behaviour is what intrigues me. As customer it is not your business to worry about the poor developers job. Thats just insane.
There are more ways yo be worst: cut&past (instead the same MMO), photocopy games, WOW 2.0 syndrome (not only WOW, The Rift seems a WAR's good copy, with the same public quests system) and so on.
IMHO there are too many games, with some good games (EVE, LOTRO, EQII and so on) and a lot of worst titles.
My blog about (no more)MMORPG Addicted - a bog about videogames, cinema, politics and other things (in Italian)
Lotro has become pay 2 win with the latest update, you can buy items that directly improve your combat skill (Legendary scrolls, instruments, potions that have sep cool downs from normal potions, stat increases).
Its funny I never had a problem with power management in raids before f2p, but now that these new power potion are on the store I never seem to have enough power to make it through any of the new raids.
The worst was the recent change that removed the ability to remove relics in game at reforging unless you bought a scroll from the store.
I have to see a commercial on every loading screen for the Lotro store despite the fact that I 'm a subscriber and they recently redesigned the character sheet to add another store button, like we could not see the store button they force on us on the UI.
Turbine holds secret game lotteries that you can only find out about if you use twitter.
Cryptic already did the Zynga thing when they had players recruit 5 friends for a special space ship, that they then turned around and added to the store.
We live in some dark days, I just hope the light at the end of the tunnel is not the front of an oncoming train.
"Onward to adventure".
Yes, a "realistic" magic system, do you understand what that means? Or not?