(04-02-2014, 01:05 AM)Zyrusticae Wrote: It's certainly true that the Korean market is by and large different from the Western one, but the whole thing is just blown out of proportion in insane ways. Not even taking chances with games coming from that region is just plain excessive. You should at least try, especially if you can try before you buy anything at all.
No, we aren't actually obligated to try anything at all. I gave Korean MMOs plenty of chance, and I've simply chosen to take my time and money elsewhere - especially as I've found games much more appealing to me in the scope of that elsewhere. On the topic of Blade & Soul, I have also seen what happens to specifically NCSoft-run MMOs, have experienced first-hand their horrible customer service, and I want no part in it. I gave GW2 a chance and am going to be giving WildStar a chance simply because ArenaNet and Carbine are capable of working largely independently from NCSoft. If it was "WildStar, created by NCSoft"... I wouldn't even spare it a single look.
F2P is another, just as frequently terrible beast. The only F2P MMO I actually enjoy is Rift, and that's mostly because I have played the game since the early betas and Trion managed to preserve the game experience almost perfectly in their transition to F2P. I have neither seen nor experienced such a good F2P model in any other MMO out there. I was extremely miffed when the transition happened, especially as it occurred very shortly after I purchased a 1 year subscription, and actually "quit" the game for some time out of anger. But I gave it another chance late last year, mostly because I needed something to assuage the anger SE has been causing me, and am glad I did.
Regarding Aion - I actually found it incredibly grindy while leveling. The XP loss on death combined with the dearth of quests that forced you to just grind mobs endlessly made me quit not long after arriving in that space zone. I miss its character creation tools, but I do not regret quitting that game.
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