Until you hit max level, give or take a few weeks?
Heck I'm still playing X after Y years?
I get bored after a few months then can't justify the payments?
What's your experience?
I'm already finding CoH a little dull after playing it since November, got one characte to level 26 another to 20 and a small host to lower levels. But it seems pretty repetative.
I reached maximum level with Guild Wars, and still play that occasionally, but then I'm not paying for it every month.
If seen other players (on CoH) that have got several level 50 characters, and have been playing for well over a year.
How long to MMORPGs hold your interest? Particularlly when you need to be paying even when you aren't playing.
Quote from: BagpussHow long to MMORPGs hold your interest? Particularlly when you need to be paying even when you aren't playing.
I have rather limited experience, but at some point the novelty of the game wears off, and at that point, it all depends on how much else I get out of the game.
WoW I found really tedious when I hit lvl 40 (out of 60, for the non-initiated), and hung in until around lvl 50 before I quit. Now, a big reason that I didn't feel very inspired to stick with it was that 90-95% of the guild played on different hours than I did, but a later attempt on EU servers with another guild pretty much confirmed my initial experience. When levelling became a chore, the fun was sucked out of the game, because the rewards for your effort became so much more rare.
I'm fairly non-typical though I think. Most people I've played with seem quite capable of sticking with it until they reach the "end-game".
Generally I find that my attention starts to falter after 2 - 3 months on any game as something fresh comes along. GW I play off and on since it's release and will play it pretty hard between other games for a few weeks. Then the creep starts to set in and I get bored again.
So we'll see how DDO stacks up. I've got it free until the end of this month and then I'll have to decide if I want to keep paying for it. So far it's looking promising for at least another couple months.
If I'm enjoying myself with friends, I play until they leave. We played Wow for around 14-15 months before running out of content. After most of the group left, there was nothing left I could do alone and I didn't want to find another group so I stopped playing. It was the people that held me, not the game.
longest game I played was eq, out of 5ish years, i had over a year of play time (they have a thing to where you can see your time played for the day and total and i was kicking 400+days)
I raided and such in that game after max level, then they put in AA which was something you could continue to grind for (cant remember what it stands for but it was extra abilities, new attacks, and new skills and powers)
I find a game that has trade skills and/or soloability I will spend more time playing
Well I played WoW for a good 5-6 months but then got bored when I reached 40th level with my main character.
With City of Heroes/City of Villains I started out with CoH when it came out and played 5-6 months before money problems caused me to have to cancel my account. I then started again when CoV went live and have been in it ever since. I have 12 different characters and plan on trying to get them all up to max level.
I started to get bored with WoW around level 40, but stuck it out to 60 to see if it got any better. Lasted only a couple weeks at level 60 before dropping it. About 6 months from beginning to end.
I'm getting into DDO now but have no idea how long it will hold my interest. Less hardcore than WoW, but will less complexity translate into faster burnout, or sticking around longer for the fun factor?
With Oblivion coming out at the end of the month DDO's april update will have to be significant. Fortunately you can cancel your subscription wait and see what the update brings and then reactivate it again without loosing characters.
I don't get bored with video games very fast, mostly because I can't stand to play anything for more than an hour at a time. It's just too nerve wracking for me.
I liked WoW got to the 40's but got pissed at the upcomming expansion and the gig of updates every few days (and having to make room)...
CoH was good too but gave it up because the game kept crashing after one of the big updates and so i moved onto WoW...
Star Wars...the combat nerf sucked and everyone left
UO only played on shards and was meh
AO, played on a friends account and was buggy as hell, but did like the mission machine (first game to have it i beleive) though they were bugged...go into a mission and every mob is stacked ontop of one and another and stuck in a cornor...
AC2, didnt like the cheese factor of my friends guild (they took over a cave with an exploit and pretty much got max level for the whole guild in less then a week)
SO played the most/longest would be EQ, WoW, COH, Starwars, AO, UO and then AC2....cant remember if I played anything else...all my friends buy games and we share accounts and such....though i didnt get to play DDO...
My first MOs (pre-massively) were MUDs, and every one of them was destroyed by the introduction of non-consensual PvP.
These experiences (combined with my experience with persons running amok in paper & dice RPGs - see my letter in Dragon #143) firmly established my distaste for PvP in general, on principle.
If someone states they prefer non-con PvP, I automatically deduct 100 points from their IQ, 30 years from their maturity level, and assume their real-life alignment is Chaotic neutral at best, and hide my wallet.
PVP Games like Guild Wars revolt me on a primal level, and WoW isn't much better, since the whole level treadmill seems to be set up for the express purpose of becoming a PvP character (And, you hear the news of the Chinese player revolt in WoW brewing over bad customer service?).
That said, I've actually been playing UO for 3 years, and have not found an end to enjoyment yet. I don't HAVE to go to the PvP areas, the characters are mutable enough to change over time (no levels or classes, and soulstones allow swapping skills between characters on the same account, so trying out a new skill template idea is easy - and I play some of the most "flying in the face of convention" templates ever seen in the game, and make them work), and the recent expansions are not too many, not too fast (though the game is starting to have power creep problems). Plus, they've been averaging 6 weeks between update publishes, for the last 3 years, 22 in 30-36 months, compared to 17 in the first 5 years of the game (upside-down compared to how most games, where the updates get slower as the game ages).
And, I actually PREFER 2D overhead view over any 3D or first-person view games (especially 3D first-person games), from my roots playing things like X-Com, JA2 and Fallout. When I have a full immersion environment, THEN I might like them - but until I have a game on the level of "The World" in ./SIGN, complete with VR gear, that's not an issue.
However, There is a movement afoot in the new Dev Team to institute a massive equipment nerf to back down from the item-based game that PvP has become, but it may have a chilling effect on those of us who chose to be PvM types exclusively, as the good pieces of equipment come from the PvM and Crafter players.
I started playing UO when it was in beta, and then became a regular subscriber. Have been ever since. I play it a few hours a week, usually.
I started playing EQ when it was in beta, and then played it religiously for 9 months. It consumed my soul as the wife and I would come home, play until late, go to bed, get up, go to work, come home and do it again. Weekends were a long, continuous EQ game session. We finally had to just drop it, and since then, we have hardly played any other MMOs, though I have beta tested several over the years.
We did get Guild Wars, though, mainly because it carried no monthly fee and we could just play it whenever. We have not fired it up in a while, but when the expansion comes out soon, we may pick it up again.
One thing about Guild Wars is that even though the end game is PvP that doesn't hold up through the general game. Plus like other PvP games it's almost played out more like a sport. You don't get to kill other players and take their stuff. You form your guild go into the arena and duke it out. The winner is then declared the victory you shake hands and play again. You don't have to go recoup all the equipment you lost nurse your wounds and suck an egg to get back in the game.
I've never been a lover of PvP, back from experiences on MUD's and other MMO's. However Guild Wars the way they've set up PvP is really, completely enjoyable. Plus you don't even have to partake in it, to get full content out of the game.
Quote from: kryystOne thing about Guild Wars is that even though the end game is PvP that doesn't hold up through the general game. Plus like other PvP games it's almost played out more like a sport. You don't get to kill other players and take their stuff. You form your guild go into the arena and duke it out. The winner is then declared the victory you shake hands and play again. You don't have to go recoup all the equipment you lost nurse your wounds and suck an egg to get back in the game.
I've never been a lover of PvP, back from experiences on MUD's and other MMO's. However Guild Wars the way they've set up PvP is really, completely enjoyable. Plus you don't even have to partake in it, to get full content out of the game.
PvP in other games used to make me sick to my stomach, losing all that stuff I fought hard to get. However, like you said, Guild Wars was more suited to my style, it was for fun, not profit.
I've not played one that I stayed interested in for more than a month. It's making me seriously consider abandoning PC gaming and getting a console.
I played WoW for about 14 months or so. I may go back if they change their what they are developing.
I play until I cease to have fun. I will not play a game if it stresses me out. They are for fun.
Quote from: VarajI play until I cease to have fun. I will not play a game if it stresses me out. They are for fun.
That is exactly what ended EQ for me and teh wife. The guild we were in was full of drama queens, and the real guildmaster never claimed the title back from the guy who got a GM to set it up for us. He started adding all his friends, and was not making them go through the proper guild joining procedures. The wife and I had to do it, and we were the newest members, so of course we complained that if we had to do it, so did they. It turned into a major shouting match in guild chat. We left the guild immediately, and started playing on our own. It was a few weeks later that we left EQ behind for good.
I also play games to unwind, not get wound up.
Quote from: NightfangThat is exactly what ended EQ for me and teh wife. The guild we were in was full of drama queens, and the real guildmaster never claimed the title back from the guy who got a GM to set it up for us. He started adding all his friends, and was not making them go through the proper guild joining procedures. The wife and I had to do it, and we were the newest members, so of course we complained that if we had to do it, so did they. It turned into a major shouting match in guild chat. We left the guild immediately, and started playing on our own. It was a few weeks later that we left EQ behind for good.
I also play games to unwind, not get wound up.
EQ was horrible for guilds....stuff I hated, stepping stone/proving guilds....I was in a very old guild it was mid level, and we had a rep of being a good guild for training and such, so the bigger guilds would send their newbies to us to get trained and keyed and equiped and such then they would get called to the majors....it sucked ass....I also hated guild leaders who abused their position by letting new people in, messing with raid points and such...
Quote from: Reefer MadnessEQ was horrible for guilds....stuff I hated, stepping stone/proving guilds....I was in a very old guild it was mid level, and we had a rep of being a good guild for training and such, so the bigger guilds would send their newbies to us to get trained and keyed and equiped and such then they would get called to the majors....it sucked ass....I also hated guild leaders who abused their position by letting new people in, messing with raid points and such...
My guild is still running in Ultima Online, and has been since they put in the guild system. The only members are me, the wife, and a few close friends who I met playing the game and turned out to be lasting friends. Other than that, no one joins. I also hold the guildmaster title, so no one gets in without my final okay. Which is fine, since those of us in there don't want anyone else in there. :D
It has been lonely lately, though, on UO, since most of the guild is currently in Iraq.
Quote from: NightfangMy guild is still running in Ultima Online, and has been since they put in the guild system. The only members are me, the wife, and a few close friends who I met playing the game and turned out to be lasting friends. Other than that, no one joins. I also hold the guildmaster title, so no one gets in without my final okay. Which is fine, since those of us in there don't want anyone else in there. :D
It has been lonely lately, though, on UO, since most of the guild is currently in Iraq.
I love the small guild of tight knit friends. If I'm required to be in some large guild to get the most out of a game I am very unlikely to stay with it long.
Yeah I hate when a game makes the high end game only for the top 5-10% of players, but not baised on their levels....
Three or four months; by then, I feel I've explored most of the game world and I'm finding it monotonous being on the treadmill, always striving for the next level and seeking to upgrade the equipment in my slots. That's about the time I cancel my account and take a long break from MMORPG's.
I love the first six weeks of a MMORPG, though - it's like a honeymoon! :D I am so totally emmersed in the game and challenged by it, and my thoughts between sessions are often preoccupied with the game.
Depends on the game. EQ held my interest for a year just because there was nothing else like it. I got bored with it after I got to level 38 and was being forced to group for my XP and rewards.
City of Heroes was fun for a month or so, then the lack on content kicked in. I've been thinking of going back to it now that City of Villains is out and it's had some time to get better.
WoW has held my interest like no other. The combination of soloability alongside decent raid areas and easy to master skills made it a great combination.
All in all, after a while I'll get tired of any game. Some have what it takes to keep me ponying up the money while others fall flat.
Quote from: Basara_549PVP Games like Guild Wars revolt me on a primal level
Guild Wars has a PvP aspect? :eek:
You know I've completed it with two characters and never even noticed. :rolleyes: