(06-10-2014, 02:41 PM)Hiroshu Wrote: I remember for a time after WoW came out, I found myself thinking, "Why can't more games be low-investment like this?" Be careful what you wish for, right? After FFXI, it felt like a good change. But now I feel the best path lies somewhere in between these two vastly different routes. I was wary going into FFXIV, having read some people complaining that all the new transportation opportunities have taken away something that made FFXI feel special, which was that sense of grand exploration. I remember sitting down with a meal to watch my character run across three different zones while occasionally course-correcting to avoid dangerous mobs. Sure, that became tedious sometimes, but that scale is a lot of the reason I got into the game to begin with (and I was young enough to have that kind of time). I don't entirely blame developers for having a tough time trying to find the right balance between this and convenience, and you're right, it feels like other genres are having to pick up the slack in the wake of the WoW trend.
I suppose I never had that feeling in an MMO. I played WoW many years ago for a brief time purely because so many offline friends started playing it, but I had a hard time getting into it. It was not my setting, my style, or writing I enjoyed. There tends to be very specific styles of fantasy that I enjoy, the genre as a whole is very hit or miss with me. For example, I do not watch Game of Thrones but I just read the first book because people would not stop pestering me about it. I found it dreadfully boring - obviously, this is not a reflection of Martin or the work itself, simply a preference of the reader.
Quote:Yup. I didn't realize how lucky I was to start FFXI, my first MMO, only a week after the PS2 launch. This meant I rode the wave of an influx of new players, so there was plenty of camaraderie in the trenches to go around. That really made the experience for me. I haven't actively played an MMO for years now, so I find myself trying to seek out another community of newer players to learn the ropes with together. That's what brought me to these forums.
That has been my perpetual frustration with MMOs in the past - I tend to come along late in the formulation of the community and it brings with it various obstacles. That and I simply do not have time to play for long, long periods of time anymore. So naturally, communities tend to revolve around those that do have the time to spend. That is normal.
I am hoping that ARR can be that game I play for a long time to come, sometimes logging in for an hour sometimes longer. See all the content there is to see, try to be more relaxed and less of a "gamer," and just meet some new folks along the way.
Everything's gonna be okay, bb. ♥
