Originally posted by yewsef

 

The problem is with the design philosophy and the VERY predictable pattern.

 

Now almost every game is designed with such a linear content (Quests, Itemization and what have you). Which you will consume in no time. You KNOW all your effort is going to be trivialized soon (The WoW philosophy, your raid gear is reduced useless every expansion).

We also learned the pattern of "Every MMORPG is going to be Free to Play eventually." and usually after ~6 months. So, whenever you play an MMORPG you have this kind of though "I can't invest my time on this because I know it's going to go Free to Play with a cash-shop and this whole content and effort I'm doing is going to reduced to nothing very soon."

 

The designers lost track of what an MMORPG should be about. Unfortunately, the problem is due to the very core of the design concept (the WoW-approach) of Quest Driven, Hand Holding, VERY linear experience (whether gear progress or content spoon-feeding or even the world itself). With nothing else to do besides Combat, Combat and Combat!

 

If retards creating games or making the decisions still want to do such stupid and shallow game concept; then of course they're going to Trivilize the content eventually to attract new players and of course due to their game lacking depth they will turn it into a FTP in hope of grabbing more cash before their stupid game crash and burn.

 

Conclusion: The core of the design philosophy is the problem. MMORPGs need a designer with balls to convince these boring-suits why they should keep their mouth shut and just let the designer make the game.

 

This. MMOs now are generally ALL failing relatively soon after launch because they have nothing to hold players long-term. Quest-based content with dungeon and raid endgame is not enough to hold players for more than a month or two and the devs can never keep up with adding more. We need to see a genre-wide resurgence of player housing, deep crafting systems, and a general focus on making a player actually bond with their avatar as a character in the world rather than just a soulless puppet that kills things non-stop. Give players ways to find their own fun in the game rather than just following the linear paths given by the devs.

Yewsef I advise you to check out the rerelease of FFXIV; the new features being introduced there are giving players a huge variety of things to do besides combat, it's actually quite impressive compared to the majority of games on the market at the moment.

I think the extreme price changes of MMOs is an anomaly in the gaming world. Games in general do not drop that fast and in most cases you do get to see what you are buying before paying as a lot of reviews and 'lets play' youtube videos are available close to launch day. If you are convinced that you will like the game and you think the price is adequate then yes, you can buy it even if you know the price will decrease over time. Its the same for virtually every other product out there (see video cards).

As for your resolution: Good luck trying to play GW2 when noone is around anymore. Especially with todays short lived MMOs you have no choice but to play it when everyone else is playing it. It's either 65$ for a game full of players or 15$ for a game with low population (=hard to find groups, do dynamic events etc.).

Originally posted by Talonsin

I am currently thinking of starting a New Years resolution for 2013 and not buy any new games until they have been out for 6 months.  Think of all the things this saves you from, classes you trained for getting nerfed, first month server queues, high priced/low level items on auction house and terrible bugs following launch.  Sure I don’t get in on day one and level with people but on purely financial and entertainment value, at least to me, it seems that game companies continue to show us that waiting 6 months is the best idea.

1. This is sound logic.

2. I would never be able to do this.

I guess maybe I'm part of the problem.  I am trying hard not to get my hopes up for ESO.  I've had to actually try hard not to get my hopes up for a lot of new games since some of them have really let me down.  I'm getting better at not getting too excited about a new release.  I will still play ESO beta, early release, whatever gets me playing that game faster.  I'll probably do the same with EQN when that comes out.

Sure, if everyone waits 6 months after release, the game won´t even survive 6 months and will be shut down, therefore this idea is BS.

I see early purchases as support of a game, like a Kickstarter Pledge.

I purchased Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous, and I like the rewards for founders.

I purchased TSW+ grandmaster pack on launch, happy to be a founder of this game and see it getting better and bigger each month. Also the new veteran rewards made it a great deal again.

People whine way too much about MMO prices, forgetting they are getting hundreds of hours out of it, much more than any 60$ single player console title. If you worry about that kind of money, something is wrong with your income, not with MMOs.

To be honest its down to your budget and mindset. If your on a limited budget then a wait and see approach is probably best i.e. if your budget limits you to one maybe two new games a quarter then your probably going to want the most bang for your buck. In which case a wait and see approach is for the best.

On the other hand if your budget allows you one to two new games a month you can afford a flutter so to speak and take a gamble.

With mindset if your the type who likes to be on the edge and getting there first then waiting 6 months is not going to help you. On the other hand if you like having lots of online quest helps and optimum builds pre-determined then waiting 6 months will be of benefit.

For myself I like being in the first rush partly because at that stage everything is relatively new to everyone. I say relatively bedcause of the current mass Beta phase mmorpgs are going through a lot of people have seen and done the content before release. Making the Beta stage often the exporer stage.

But as I eblieve someone else has pointed out one of the MAJOR reasons for being in the first wave is ythis simple fact the first six months make or break a mmorpg. If it doent make a resonable amount of cash on the initial six months its going to have difficulty so if you like the concept if you believe it has merit you need to invest in it. If you dont that concept may never see the light of day.

just my 2 Cents

Gadareth

It's been this way for awhile. Games charged for expansion packs and if you played from the start, you paid for every one of them. Later, to get into the game, the latest expansion got you all the previous content. It wasn't always like this, but when game makers saw how expensive, in one shot, it was to get into their games, they started to just charge for the latest one.

Look at Everquest. They are now announcing their 19th X-Pak. $30 - $60 bucks a pop adds up. Talk about a barrier to entry :) I am not sure when they started to NOT make new players buy all previous X-Paks, but it has been awhile.

Games, like many other tech related things, tend to go down in price over time.

Patience is not a common thing amongst gamers. Many players usually wait for years for a game to come out and drool quite heavily thinking of when they finally get to play it. You see this with almost every game's launch with server wait times on opening day.

I would say patience is key. Let the unforeseen bugs get worked out. Let the game drop in price. See what others are saying about the experience they are having in the game.

Originally posted by Talonsin

Are game companies teaching us that it is wrong to invest in new games right away? 

Clearly they aren't, as the minute a new pre-order comes out with a fancy hat and a headstart, MMO gamers jump on it like white on rice. To date, it doesn't look like we've learned a damn thing. Let's see how the next AAA pre-order fares.

Is Buying a Game at Launch a Bad Idea?

Depends on the psychology of the individual players, clearly.

Ever run into the guy who blows his stack if he encounters too many bugs?  And wonder just what the hell he's doing playing a game during early release?

The guy who hates every new game he tries, yet never fails to purchase a box?

Hype/crash self-defeating fanboys?  No one is more bitter than the ones who talk themselves into the greatest expectations. 

Fanboys of Game X who bought a (clearly very different) Game Y, that any casual bystander immediately can tell they're going to hate for being different?

Personally, I don't find buying a game at launch to be as much of a mistake as attending a message board at  launch.

   The last game I bought at launch was WoW 8 years ago...Since then I have taken a watch and wait approach with every MMO and have not regretted it at all.....The savings is substantial, especially considering the number of MMOs out now..... It takes some patience, especially when you visit boards like these where everyone is saying how great this game or that game is, but in the end you win by waiting....ALmost always within 6 months it will be considerably cheaper (if not free) and often you learn that the game was crap and how angry people are taht paid for it.....

      As for the OP's example, TSW, I was glad I got to try it in beta....I knew right away it was a total cash grab and not to touch it with a ten foot pole....ALso I just didn't think it was a very good game regardless of the price.

No, most gamers these days pre-order or have some access to an open or closed (with 93,000,00 invites) beta so they have a legitmate idea of what the game will be on launch. I feel the only time a player then as the right to say "Unfinished" is if beta greatly restrcted access to later content such as Cap level 10... Aside from those who make that complaint after trying the game for months for free

Yes buying a game at launch is always a good idea. I feel it allows you to establish yourself, become known in your community and earn a spot where someone else would already have one if you waited. Of course theres the steady decline of players from month to month that eventually opens spots but doing things in a game where you can use chat to ask for all the answers is easier... but not the same as being amungst the first when most people are still unaware of the secret to beat said  boss or conquer said tricky quest/item location. 

Originally posted by Kyleran
Funny thing, the two MMOs I've played the longest, DAOC and EVE I joined 6mo-3yrs after they launched, while only WOW had any longevity from launch.

6 months after launch seems like a great time to check out an MMO with the way they have been released the past few years. By then, either most of the problems are fixed and the first content delivery is on its way, or it's on life support and you saved yourself the time and money.

I think buying a game at launch is a good idea. It helps the company get that needed money to finish off the content it didn't have ready at launch.

I am starting to think buying games for betas is truly the worst decision I have made though. Recently with age of wushu (holy garbage).

Originally posted by HeroEvermore

I think buying a game at launch is a good idea. It helps the company get that needed money to finish off the content it didn't have ready at launch.

I am starting to think buying games for betas is truly the worst decision I have made though. Recently with age of wushu (holy garbage).

That has to be one of the worst reasons to buy a game at launch.  If the dev's did their jobs properly, the game will be complete at launch, as much as an MMO can be.  If they can't successfully manage the project in a way that major features and content launch as intended, they deserve to go down with the ship (Bioware, I'm looking at you).