If all MMOs were subscription-free ....

But i have tried it, hence my opinion

call me crazy, but i dont find virtual walking simulators very interesting
and the quests consist of "Kill X of Y" or "bring me A of B by killing C" over and over
wow feels like work, its supposed to be a game

You missed my whole point: I don't view it as grind. Of course I realize I'm doing the same thing over and over... but as long as it's fun, I don't mind.

The key is subtle changes: Enemy AI starts doing different things, (running away, calling for help, mixed mobs, etc.) and you gain new powers to help deal with the new threats.

But, yeah, if you want to strip games down their basics: they are ALL repetitive. Build the same units and bases over and over in RTS. Shoot different monsters with different guns in a FPS. Hack monsters in a RPG.

I dare you to find a game that when boiled down to essential gameplay, is not made up of repetitive actions.

Again, Grind is not defined by the actions, but whether the actions are considered "boring", which is a totally subjective view.

I would EVE online without a doubt. I'd actually be playing Pirates Online if the free version didn't disconnect every time I tried to make a character. But since TF2 is free, it > GW atm

I'd be playing more EVE, mainly because I like the space setting with all the ships. Though I do feel a bit on the outside wanting to be a miner with a Rorqual. =(

I'd choose World of Warcraft but been playing it with subs so no problem with that, have many friends there & love the atmosphere/lore. Never have I found it grind to play that game, with a bunch of friends it has more variety in gameplay than Guild Wars.

Yesterday decided to go back there after a six month pause with a friend of mine and start whole new characters on Talnivarr-EU, night elf rogue (me) & night elf druid (she). Just gonna take it slowly just hour or two night max. PvP servers ftw!

Wow, I'd have to say I've been playing 10 years of MMOs total. If all the fees went away, I'd have to hop back into Ultima Online. I've spent more money on that game than any other. I've bought every expansion pack since 1998 and I played until I saw the World of Warcraft Previews. Then I hit a major budget slump and found Guild Wars instead, which I've been playing since beta.

I guess if I couldn't get back into Ultima I'd go with that new one Richard Garriot has out now. Tabula Rasa, right? If It's made by him it's gotta be good.

Have to disagree with you there. The benefit is called "having fun."

I define "grind" as any repetitious, boring activity. I agree with Mordekai. Grind is thus highly subjective. What is a "snorefest" (i.e., "grind") for some may well be fun for someone else.

As such, people are not "mindless zombies" just because they are having fun doing something you or I might find boring. (Yeah, I think that most of the titles in GW are pretty boring, too. But so what?) Areas are not "pointless", people are not "falling for anything" if players there are doing something they enjoy.

For myself, I was never bored by WoW. I was, however, put off by the subscription fee and by the fact that so much of the content in WoW required a very tedious, time-consuming, and annoying process called "WoW LFG".

The truth is, I find most games reasonably entertaining, so long as they're solo-accessible and a good value. Rare is the subscription-based MMO, in my opinion, deserving of whatever fee it charges. It isn't that WoW isn't a good game; I think it's just fine. I just don't think it's good enough to charge an admission fee (purchase of the original game/expansion) AND a monthly rental fee on top of that.

That said, desperation and boredom with GW (I'm not there yet, but it's coming, I can feel it ) may lead me to cough up a subscription fee once again. If WoW (or Tabula Rasa) were free, of course, I'd already be gone.

EDIT: Didn't see your followup post, Mordekai. Guess we were thinking along similar lines....

You had a bad experience with a game. You won't be the first, and you won't be the last.

Like I stated previously, EVE isn't for everyone. They offer plenty of free trials, so I'd suggest to anyone who is interested to pick up one of those before purchasing.

Typing in caps just makes you look retarded. I wasn't even going to reply, but EVE is better then you're poorly constructed post makes it out to be.

EVE is very interesting game, few friends of mine have been playing that since the beginning, been observing every now and then. Colossal battles between fleets, trading, mining...

I would try that out but schedule is so full atm =(

The pre-BC beginner quest areas still suck for the most part in my opinion. They completely revamped the idea with BC for the Draenei and Blood Elf starting areas. They are great, even including a central storyline that you can follow through.

As far as games, currently I play GW (since it doesn't cancel), WoW, and Tabula Rasa, with a splash of Shadowbane, Dungeon Runners, and Minions of Mirth every few months. I don't have a whole lot of time to play so I switch between what I'm in the mood for. This means that I play in bursts, and sometimes go a bit without doing anything significant in one or two of them.

Having no fees wouldn't make me play wow more or keep playing it when I get bored. I've learned to stay away from ALTs and that will only get worse when the level caps go up again, but playing one char is still fairly fun.

Tabula Rasa I'd keep playing with or without a fee. The idea that I don't have to start alts (read: clones in TR) from scratch but rather at the same point as my main is really great. No more starting new characters from scratch, which I also thought got old (don't repeat the shared experience of the chars, but rather play the branches, but not all games are made for it).

I'd probably give EVE another try without fees. I don't feel compelled to play the games I subscribe to any more than I feel compelled to watch at least XX hours of cable tv or talk XX minutes on the telephone (of which both greatly outweigh the costs of my games). Everyone's different though. They are all there for my convenience when I am 'in the mood' to use/play them.

With no fees, I'd probably have an account on most online games and MMOs and alternate between them based on moods. I'd never get anything done in any of them lol.

I would probably get back into Ultima Online every now and then without fees though.

EDIT: On the other hand, I plan to always come back and play GW every now and then because of the time I've invested in it, regardless of how happy I have been with the changes. I decided some time back I probably wouldn't buy GuildWars 2 even though it has no sub as I don't want to invest that much time in another game by ArenaNet, although I'll give the beta and preview a go as I have nothing to lose. The money isn't the biggest issue with some of us. The time spent in the game is worth more to me than the money I spent (games don't really cost very much in the grand scheme of things, even subscription games). I think Star Wars Galaxies proved that with the NGE updates when people left, not because of the cost, but because of the major changes after they had already invested a good amount of time in the game.

I agree, even though I loved all character interactions with the exception of most anything with River.

Yes, I'm sure it did. Do you have a video of Anet co-founders saying that? No? Oops, turns out I do.. of them saying otherwise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmnEWvo1Ugw


On topic, were there no monthly fee, I'd be playing Aion.. as soon as it comes out.

I think I'd still stick with GW since it has so much to offer and with no additional cost to me. And if I feel like taking a break I don't have to worry about my account getting cut off.

On top of that many "new" and "exciting" MMOs these days just follow the standard Korean MMO concept, that for some reason is so popular, even though people have actually died to these games because they were so addicted. I remember some story of a kid committing suicide because his character died in some Korean MMO in which if your character dies it's like Diablo Hard Mode.

I'd play Guild Wars primarily, with WoW dashed in - basically, i'd play WoW when a content patch breaks, burn through the content, then come back to GW. WoW really holds no interest for me - high end raiding is an exercise in musical chairs, PvP is entirely rocks->papers->scissors and Blizzard doesn't fix glaring imbalances ever, and if you're not raiding... well, general PvE is bland.

Conversely, high end PvE on GW is pretty fun, general PvE in GW is fun because you can tackle it in a variety of different ways, and PvP here is pretty solid.

I'd probably play WAR. And WILL play the BioWare and 40K MMOs when they're out, regardless of fee.

There's this thing, called, y'know, a storyline...

Who said my interview was in a video? Let alone, a YouTube video. Oops indeed.

"3. PvE grinders destroyed a PvP legend and turned the GW franchise into the new WoW...thanks Anet."

Yeah. This is turning out to be a highly intelligent video.

That needs some explanation.

Mostly because it blows "traditional" SF series and approach to pieces.

---

Anyway, Hmm ...

Removal of monthlies would mean that feeling of being forced to play not to waste money disappears.

Which is good, but since their whole structure is based on giving people who feel pressured to play something to do: Little content, lots of grind with now added bonus of being more accessible to kiddies it still means majority of them is no-go.

Stargate: Worlds
Star Trek: Online
Possibly LOTR
And that nifty Firefly MMO I just found out about

Sadly I'm one of those people for whom a monthly fee is a deciding factor above gameplay, so I won't be able to touch any of these with a ten foot pole. :/

It depends on what you mean by free. If its like GW, then there are several I would like to try out and see how they are.

But if its "free" but you pay for ingame items all the time...then no.

I'd rather pay one upfront fee than have to pay by the month.

re Firefly: Kick the Serenity and bro crap out and it was a better show. At least funnier.

No fees...I'd go with LOTRO now, Age of Conan when it comes out. Actually, I'm going Age of Conan, anyway. "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you. To hear the lamentations of the women."

That's one great thing about GW. You can play any other game you want, and still come back to play casual or chill with friends. It's the main reason they went with this model, according to Strain. They wanted a game you didn't feel obligated to play all the time, and that you could play along with a subscription game.

I used to play RuneScape, and now I'm also getting bored with GW.

I'm sick of MMO's taking over my lyfe, so I'm transitioning over to console gaming until GW2 comes out.

Plenty of good console games like Trauma Center:New Blood, Brawl, Assassin's Creed, Rock Band/GH3, COD4, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Resistance:Fall of Man, etc...

Yeah, Eve Online is probably what I'd be playing. At least it would be the first I tried. In the fantasy genre, maybe LOTRO. I'm a little tired of Guild Wars' level cap and title grinding. I'd probably seek out one that had higher levels and item maxes, further character development. I know many here lament that, calling it grind, but to me GW evolved to a state now that is more grindy, given characters/armor/weapons plateau so soon.

I'd probably play Tabula Rasa

I'd have to agree with you there. UO had a great craft system and i liked the way you skill-progression was. Not to mention the custom houses and magic system (like runes and whatnot)...

if gw was gone, then I would stop playing computer games and go back to reading books and watching all that anime my husband keeps pestering me to watch with him.....if I NEEDED a fix then it would be something 1 person like civ or middle earth or alien crossfire (actually 2 player).....since we already OWN them and I dont have to worry about eula or /report or stuff like that when we play them.

If world of warcraft was subscription free....

i'd be playing it over Guild Wars

Guild Wars main atttraction was the no monthly fee

I would try out WoW and FF11, but probably wouldn't stick with them because the battle systems are so slow compared to GW. I would also get into Tabula Rasa, Firefly might be interesting, Warhammer, Conan, and LOTRO would be a must.

I'd go with Warhammer if it were feeless. I'm a huge fan of the lore for both medival and 40k. I already play WoW nearly endlessly, so that's off the list.

Gonna agree with Mordakai that I too am having fun with the "boring" quests in WoW. Most of them are chained, and provide some pretty cool little backstories. And also, right now would be the best time to start getting into it, since they've made leveling go ZOOM in patch 2.3. It's quite awesome.

I would play... Ragnarok Online. That game is a lot of fun, great pvp (massive GvG), events like 15 players trying to kill one boss, battles 60vs60vs60 players (sometimes more), A LOT of monsters, weapons, armors... Nice and relaxing after playing slower, more tactical GW.

The absence of a monthly fee is not the reason why I play GW. I have played WoW, EVE, LOTR Online and I found that they all suck when compared to the mechanics of GW. GW has:
-no "forced" grind,
-projectile realism (no heat seeking bullets or arrows),
-nice visuals,
-good, relatively balanced PvP,
-low level cap
-no gear based discrimination

All that to say that... I would still be playing GW!

Regardless of fee or any other options, I will still be playing GW1 until GW2 comes out. I have so much still to do, with 3 charas filling HoM, not to mention the other 10 sulking in the Guild Hall because I'm neglecting them -.-

I might try that Firefly MMO, Warhammer Online looks to be good. A new Final Fantasy, GTA and Starcraft2, as well as Stargate Worlds are all coming in the near future. The gaming future is quite bright if even half of those deliver on half the promise they show.

Don't care about charges, in fact I think charging would improve GW, since ANet would have the resources to fix the many outstanding issues, like say, being unable to complete a HM Heroes Handbook because the Scrying Pool doesn't have the DD or AtfH. Only outstanding since October....

As much as I admire ANet for the attempt they have made with GW to pioneer totally Free to Play MMO's, I think the list of outstanding bugs and annoyances proves that it's not an idea with a substantial future.

On the other hand, the number of people who bought GW gold online to get obsidian armor shows that there is a market for "elite" items for real world cash. The token system of many korean games springs to mind as a possible way forward for GW2, even to the point of making the elite items non-exclusive, allowing players to acquire them for ingame money (as in GW) OR buy them (or the in game money) for real cash.

I didn't know anything about a planned Firefly MMO until reading this...and now I want it :/ Fees or not I'd get it cos Joss is a God amongst men.

Other than that though, I'd probs try out Tabula Rasa, or stick to something more fantasy like with LoTR. I played WoW for quite some time and wouldn't go back when there's better games out there, including this one.

^^ Agree, Joss was a GWAMM before Anchorman was made

Caught 5 minutes of an episode of buffy on some random channel the other day. One of my least fav too, the Xander focused one with the undead guys. I forgot how good the writing was on that show, it puts everything today in the shade.



Xander :"..And now you're going to tell me.."

Zombie being dragged outside car gets head taken off by letter box..

Xander: "Maybe I should have left out that whole middle part."

Lol...how cool would it be if he had a hand in a Firefly game? ^^

He's meant to be working with Eliza Dushku (Faith) on a new show...but damnit, I want the Firefly game now

LOTR for the story of crouse

i would still play guild wars, because it is so similar to MTG and thats the reason i started in the first place.

No actually its NOT. Unless of course your one of those people who like ruining other peoples fun in games, in which case please DO play eve so the rest of us know which game to avoid. FYI if your so retarded that you don't know that the caps are for emphasis then thats YOUR problem.

I'd play EVE if it was free. If I ever decided to pay for an MMO I'd probably play EVE. The others don't really appeal to me.

It really is a problem with lack on new content in GW1 isn't it? Feels like we're all just waiting for GW2 to show up. Either that or let forgetfulness come due to boredom...

I would give it a try to EVE online, maybe also the upcoming Conan MMO which is advertised as for adults only.