Over the past weekend I had a chance to goof off in both TERA and Diablo 3. Since I am making a concerted effort to get back to gaming, I figured new stuff would be the right way to go.
TERA was first up. Not a true typical MMO, but an MMO none the less.
The action combat was the selling point. It does deliver. I appreciated the ability to use my Xbox 360 controller (which had some minor weird mapping issues). I always use a piece of software called Xpadder to play all of my MMO's with the controller. To have it built in to the game was great.
Aiming could be a problem at times, as you need to watch a reticule on your screen. It would change from silver to gray (and become slightly thicker) to let you know the skill would work on the target.
Yea...silver to gray.
Some classes also felt sluggish because of this aiming feature. Any melee class became troublesome as you ran after mobs or avoided their attacks. I would then get confused as I was learning the odd mapping. (Some skills would be on a button, yet one would work with a trigger...etc. Just did not flow well).
But, eventually I got used to it. Made some adjustments and I was good to go.
After about 2 hours in, it was after my 5th or 6th fetch/kill 10x quest that I eventually lost interest. It just did not feel like enough to me for a sub. I also got this feeling that a "sub" based game may not be right for me anymore. What with my schedule, being so full with work and life, my gaming is minimal if existent at all.
This really hit home when I tried Diablo 3. I had my wife and son join along with me on this ride...and it was a win. We were struck by the simplicity; dropping in and playing an hour or so to have fun; the camaraderie as we discussed our drops together and did trades...and how we handled fights was great.
We argued a lot less than when we are in MMO mode. It seems the stress of getting stuff done in groups with others would cause more stress for all of us. The "you must tank or heal" attitudes always led to in home strife. Here, we only needed to rely on each other.
This started me thinking of our future game...Guild Wars 2...and how THAT has no sub as well. I then started discussing using what would have been our monthly fee for the "cash shop" as a stipend. As to grouping, thanks to the "no trinity" system of GW2 combat (which, btw, when you think of it...Diablo 3 is the same), it is believed that we can leave the stress of "who is healing...who is tanking" issues behind us.
This past weekends beta's were a real eye opener in the next phase of my gaming lifestyle. Guess I need to apologize to my Rift'ers of Simple Complexities, as at this time I do not expect to step back into that game.
What has been your outlook on the monthly sub versus free games (or buy the box, then play as you wish type of gaming)?
3 comments:
Is this the part where I get to say "told ya so?" about RIFT? LOL Just kidding man. Glad you got more time out of it than a lot of people did.
I don't do much PC / MMO gaming any more but the only ones I really do (mainly Star Trek Online) don't have subs. I tried SWTOR planning on playing one class' story then canceling but I didn't even make it that far. What gets me is that I can easily afford the $15 per month and not even notice it, but it's that psychological knowledge that it's out there and I was playing SWTOR (or any MMO really at this point) way too casually that I was not getting what I perceived to be my money's worth out of it.
For me, there are just too many choices out there. It's not 2000 - 2005 anymore where there's only a scant handful of MMOs to choose from and stick with. No one sticks with one game anymore, we like to dabble and tour. Subs are very inhibitive of that behavior so I just don't bother anymore.
And honestly, I like games where I can just join in and it doesn't matter who with and we can all have fun, try our best and hopefully succeed. Trinity games prohibit that as well. STO and CO don't have the Trinity, and of course normal PvP and Co-op games on consoles (where I do most of my gaming now) don't have that limiting crap.
I have X time for gaming and I want maximum enjoyment out of it. Trinities and subscriptions and LFG spamming just waste my time.
Is this the part where I get to say "told ya so?"
NOPE!
You misread. It is SUB-BASED MMO's in general...not specific to Rift.
Rift was a damn good MMO...one of the best available for those that like MMO's...
But, I do agree with the sentiment of the "trinity" and it's detriment to fun. So many days we spent arguing over who did what job...sucked.
And I (though I loved it) was relegated to healing, so, I usually ended up soloing any other class.
But, please...no digs on Rift. The game is quite impressive for what it is, and Trion is by far one of the best MMO developers there is..
Cheers
Funny, I played both BETA tests this past weekend also but came away with almost opposite feelings.
I was looking forward to using a controller with TERA. After having played 20 min as my mystic (support class that is mid ranged) I found that having to aim at players to "lock" my heal and aim at mobs to shoot at them was a pain.
An analog stick is just flat out NOT as accurate as a mouse. The level of performance I demand of myself basically requires the increased accuracy.
The subscription....had me thrilled. I feel like I am the only one these days who likes the flat fee model. I am so glad I won't have to log in and worry about purchasing health potions, xp boosters, equipment enhancers, extra bag space, (insert other nickel and dime tactics here), etc
Diablo felt...well first off there was almost no content to the beta. I can understand why people have complained about it. I'll set that aside since that isn't the point here.
I played a bit with a friend while on voice chat. I started to feel like we were each playing our own versions of a single player game and talking to each other about it.
I didn't come across anything that required any type of team work or strategy. Our skills didn't seem to have any synergy, or even effect each other in the slightest. Separating the loot made for less headaches and stress over looting, but also cut down on the need to really talk to each other. No more, "Hey man there's a staff for you over here."
I guess my being a support type player is directly opposite what this new breed of game is going for (breaking the trinity and all) it has turned everyone into self functioning units and left me without a place.
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