Missing a week of Internet feels like missing a year of RL; lot-o-catching up to do.
I miss anything really major? I’m assuming the normal stuff like Turbine shutting down a game, SOE being SOE, and FFXIV being bigger than WoW all happened, but anything surprising?
Hardcore Casual 
It’s usually rare to know about trainwrecks ahead of time, but I am eagerly awaiting the Blizzard “Live” Q&A this Saturday. Even comes with BINGO cards!
EVE Online shipped a new expansion that, among other things, changed the icons on the overview, causing many a capsuleer complaint… so nothing surprising there.
Wildstar went F2P. So you missed a golden opportunity to rehash the whole issue and/or mock Carbine.
I do need to post a refresh on my stance with sub vs F2P, since I think people are still confused by what I’m saying, and Wildstar nicely furthers my point.
Yeah, I remember how you once said that Wildstar and Elder Scrolls Online will kill all f2p games permanently with their fancy schmancy subscription business model and I think I said that eventually they’ll both be f2p games as well, as soon as fools and their monthly subscription fees have parted.
I eagerly await how you will twist this into you being right and me being wrong back then.
But, Wildstar and Elder Scrolls are going and went F2P and B2P because they failed as a sub model due to Wildstar marketing the smallest group as if the biggest and ESO being buggy as hell (iirc).
It’s not their sub model that killed them but a subpar game that did. When a sub is offered, a premium game is expected and neither were that.
FFXIV’s continued sub model and continued growth shows that a premium game that actually releases like one and continues to update like one does in fact flourish in a sub model.
In FFXIV’s lifespan – 21 months (not counting 1.0), it has had 18 content patches because even patches like 2.51 or 2.28 had content in them adding to the game beyond hot fixes. Six huge content patches every 3.5 months and smaller content patches just about every month. All of them have quality and almost completely if not not completely bug free.
Enjoying my time in Hardcore Casual in Boom Beach. ;)
Oh and yeah Wildstar going F2P – can you see my shock and surprised face? Or not. :)
Yea I’m actually loving BB now with the most recent update and at a higher HQ level. Very fun game.
ESO still not PTWFTP? Worth a mention if you’re looking for an MMO that makes constant incremental improvements, has all the expected ingredients of an mmo, pretty decent large scale pvp, and looks amazing.
ESO is like a poor man’s version of FFXIV IMO.
FFXIV’s post 50 quests will reward gear once Heavensward drops so you won’t have to gear grind, quests in A Realm Reborn (I’m not sure if side quests or just main quests) will double in experience (post 50 main quests still won’t give exp), Duty Finder queues will prioritize first timers, and anyone that queues with a party will be able to choose to enter dungeons and trials with less players and no sync.
So, someone will be able to play the entire A Realm Reborn story without side quests.
This is all happening once Heavensward drops.
Also, in a slide, FFXIV says that the 4 million accounts are only by subscribers and while not active, you are not considered a subscriber until you pay a subscription which means most at least played for a month before paying a sub (the game does not consider you a subscriber until you pay one).
Also, WoW is having a Q&A on the sixth, and flying is driving players to try FFXIV since they said definitely no flight in Draenor and possibly in the future.
“(the game does not consider you a subscriber until you pay one)”
Is there any MMO company that handles this differently? I know that Blizzard and CCP (back when they reported numbers) only count people who paid as subscribers in their reports, anything else would not make sense.
There are some that believe the company is counting you as part of the four million registered users when you buy the box but it’s actually subscribers only – no free trials and no China either.
Basically, every single of the four million were subscribed at one point, and since most don’t actually subscribe until after the free 30 days means that around 4 million players bought the game, played for a month and then bought the subscription.
Fallout 4?
Pre-ordered, duh.
guild wars 2 had a beta with some content in it, pretty limited beta but it showed the new area.
oh wait…you mean drama…no drama in guild wars, as always.
GW2 is interesting in how not interesting it is. I mean, its far from horrible, but if FFXIV was $30 a month and GW2 was paying me $30 a month, I’d still play FFXIV and not think twice about it.
I agree, too much casual catering has made it a bore in most aspects of a MMO, without depth, but has a fancy cash shop.
I look at it like the special kid in the mmo park,
Nobody takes it seriously but it gets some respect for being good at art.