I used to buy things on launch day, then I'd wait a week or so after and now I generally don't play games in the same year they launched. The games I'm looking forward to playing in 2016 mostly came out in 2015. I've found that a lot of games that would have disappointed me at full price are a lot more palatable when I spend ten bucks or less on them. It's not like I have more fun, I just get less disgusted at shitty design choices and crap aspects of the games. Laughable writing isn't so painfully bad when you didn't drop 60 bucks on it.
This does mean I miss stuff though. I let Dishonored and Bioshock Infinite hit 5 bucks in sales without touching them, despite really liking stealth games and generally liking the shock series, but that's because the time passing allowed me to learn more about them and decide they weren't for me. I also don't play modern shooters anymore because I won't buy a game twice with MSRP and season pass but that doesn't seem like much of a loss.
This doesn't work so well for MMOs as I always seem to skip em. Last I tried was Blade and Soul and gameplay as assassin was the best fun I've had mechanically playing an MMO but interest waned quickly given the rest of the game. I'll check out Tree of Saviour maybe, Rag Online never interested me visually but It won't hurt to check it out. Nothing else has seemed worth buying.
If nearly everyone either is playing a game well before launch or waits until long after launch to pick up the game, then why do games commonly have such a rush on the servers at launch day?
If it's a game that I'm curious about - I usually try out an early version to decide if it's worth getting interested in.
If it's a game I'm really excited about - I start playing at launch or soon after. I never genuinely play BEFORE launch, because I hate having my "full experience" spoiled by too much information.
Talk about a question where I could pick a choice at random and it would still probably be true (except for not liking games).
I have played Atlas Reactor in alpha, The Division in beta, I will buy dark souls 3 for launch, I bought fallout 4 a month late, I won't play xcom 2 until summer and it took me over a year to buy shadow of mordor.
If we talk about mmorpg's specifically, I usually try to play it for free during beta and buy it at launch or never play it at all.
Iselin: And the next person who says "but it's a business, they need to make money" can just go fuck yourself.
If it's a game I'm interested in I play it on Launch day. If it's one of few mmo's that offer one to play early, and it's a game I want to play" then I will play early.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
It really depends on how competitive I plan on getting with the game. If I've got a guild set up and a game plan, it's early access. If I'm just going to play casually, I'll wait a week or two til the bugs get hammered out.
I bought Black Desert early access, but since it had already been out in Korea for a year it made research pretty easy so I'm not sure that counts?
Didnt vote as none of the options dont cover how I buy games. I buy games after I try them. If I like them I buy them if I dont they get nothing from me. If I like them, I start really playing when my progress can be saved. If I really love the game I will beta test it to help give feedback.
I like to wait until the game gets some higher level players, then I roll a female character and stand around town in a bikini looking for free stuff.........
If nearly everyone either is playing a game well before launch or waits until long after launch to pick up the game, then why do games commonly have such a rush on the servers at launch day?
With single player games my guess would be that most posters here at mmorpg.com are experienced (jaded) gamers, and less likely to be caught up in the hype for new games than typical customers. Plus they know that prices will only get lower, and gameplay will only get better as patches and perhaps mods are released at later dates.
With mmorpgs, though, I'd suspect the answers got muddled in with that for single player games. Because your poll was a little non-specific. There sometimes are, of course, reasons to get in early in a mmorpg if you want to "win". Or perhaps experienced gamers care less about winning mmorpgs (an elusive outcome, anyway), and care more about just experiencing them at some point?
Thanks to the sad state of most games at launch, I wait. I wait for the patches to come down. I wait to see how players who enjoy the same types of games that I do say about it. I watch videos of the finished product (not alpha/beta videos).
I also get the added bonus of usually getting a lower price of entry by waiting, so my gaming buck goes further.
The above is for single player games. For MMOs, I watch and wait. Maybe someday, someone will remember about the RPG part. I've tried many of these "new MMOs" but they are just a waste of my time, not grabbing my interest nor desire to give them money at all. So many other genres do these experiences so much better.
I log in to find the game ... I start playing to find the higher levels ... Sooner or later I stumble across a competitive zone not made by players but the game support players ... and when i see chat spams of lies and all lies ... I generally quit
However, if the community is nice and helpful and chat is devoid of nonsense and the game is immersive enough for me with not being zerged at quest areas through PvP or being dragged into similar nonsense ... I keep playing ...
Basically if the community is nice ... I keep playing the mmo and if the community is not civilized ... i log out and uninstall ... My playing time thus depends on the community rather than the game itself.
Cheers Sourajit Nandi
" Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you can't play this or that. That's nonsense. Make up your mind,and you'll never whine or repent about gaming hours anymore, then have a go at every Game. Open up the Internet, join in all the Mmorpgs you can. Go make the Guild. But never, never let them persuade you that things are too difficult or impossible. "
I cant answer on this question with generalization. Some games i will try to get into ASAP, some games i'll take my time to research before i get the game (like BDO) saved myself some money there. Some games ill wait for f2p like Dying(wild)star. Some games i start once they release like Blade and Soul, since everything before release was wiped no use to play before release.
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For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
This does mean I miss stuff though. I let Dishonored and Bioshock Infinite hit 5 bucks in sales without touching them, despite really liking stealth games and generally liking the shock series, but that's because the time passing allowed me to learn more about them and decide they weren't for me. I also don't play modern shooters anymore because I won't buy a game twice with MSRP and season pass but that doesn't seem like much of a loss.
This doesn't work so well for MMOs as I always seem to skip em. Last I tried was Blade and Soul and gameplay as assassin was the best fun I've had mechanically playing an MMO but interest waned quickly given the rest of the game. I'll check out Tree of Saviour maybe, Rag Online never interested me visually but It won't hurt to check it out. Nothing else has seemed worth buying.
If it's a game I'm really excited about - I start playing at launch or soon after. I never genuinely play BEFORE launch, because I hate having my "full experience" spoiled by too much information.
I have played Atlas Reactor in alpha, The Division in beta, I will buy dark souls 3 for launch, I bought fallout 4 a month late, I won't play xcom 2 until summer and it took me over a year to buy shadow of mordor.
If we talk about mmorpg's specifically, I usually try to play it for free during beta and buy it at launch or never play it at all.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I bought Black Desert early access, but since it had already been out in Korea for a year it made research pretty easy so I'm not sure that counts?
Industry Games
http://www.kingsandheroes.com/
I like to wait until the game gets some higher level players, then I roll a female character and stand around town in a bikini looking for free stuff.........
(just kidding)
With single player games my guess would be that most posters here at mmorpg.com are experienced (jaded) gamers, and less likely to be caught up in the hype for new games than typical customers. Plus they know that prices will only get lower, and gameplay will only get better as patches and perhaps mods are released at later dates.
With mmorpgs, though, I'd suspect the answers got muddled in with that for single player games. Because your poll was a little non-specific. There sometimes are, of course, reasons to get in early in a mmorpg if you want to "win". Or perhaps experienced gamers care less about winning mmorpgs (an elusive outcome, anyway), and care more about just experiencing them at some point?
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
I also get the added bonus of usually getting a lower price of entry by waiting, so my gaming buck goes further.
The above is for single player games. For MMOs, I watch and wait. Maybe someday, someone will remember about the RPG part. I've tried many of these "new MMOs" but they are just a waste of my time, not grabbing my interest nor desire to give them money at all. So many other genres do these experiences so much better.
VG
However, if the community is nice and helpful and chat is devoid of nonsense and the game is immersive enough for me with not being zerged at quest areas through PvP or being dragged into similar nonsense ... I keep playing ...
Basically if the community is nice ... I keep playing the mmo and if the community is not civilized ... i log out and uninstall ... My playing time thus depends on the community rather than the game itself.
Cheers
Sourajit Nandi
" Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you can't play this or that. That's nonsense. Make up your mind,and you'll never whine or repent about gaming hours anymore, then have a go at every Game. Open up the Internet, join in all the Mmorpgs you can. Go make the Guild. But never, never let them persuade you that things are too difficult or impossible. "
Once An Addict Always An Addict .
Played: EQ, EQ2, Vanguard, WAR, WoW, LoTRO, CoX, CO, GW2, FFXIV: ARR, AoC, Rift, TSW, SWTOR, TERA, BnS, ESO