The writing really does seem to be on the wall for pure subscription MMOs, or at least for big-ticket, would-be triple-A theme park MMOs. There may still be some wiggle room for niche operators and the MMO sandbox market, such as it is, retains a natural affinity for the kind of dedicated and loyal audience that benefits from a monthly rental, but with virtually every major player now intent on tearing down any barrier to entry, perhaps the day of the subscription MMO is finally done.
My Storm Legion plus 12 months play, which looked like such a good deal a month ago is beginning to look like money down the drain. Not only would I now bet on Rift going to some form of F2P before those twelve months are up but I don't find I have time to play Rift anyway. And now that I can log into TSW if I don't feel like playing GW2, finding time for Rift looks even less likely yet.
That's the key, really. I spend a lot of time playing MMOs and I can barely scratch the surface of the ones I want to play, with more good new ones cropping up all the time. MMOs that I might have given a look a few years back now don't even get downloaded. Others get no more than a cursory glance before being forgotten.
There's a glut and a cull will come. In the meanwhile I'll try and sample as much as I can and enjoy the bounty while it lasts.
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That's my problem witrh MMO's anymore -- there are simply so many I want to try out, but if they have a monthly sub cost, I can't justify having more than 1 or *maybe* 2 going at a time. Even with decent F2P options I still can't devote enough time to the various ones I really enjoy to feel like I'm progressing in all of them, which is another reason I limit myself to at most 2 at a time. Otherwise it becomes less of an enjoyable pastime and more of a job that I'm paying to do. Blech!
ReplyDeleteThey can make them free - they could even pay me to play, if they were that crazy. What they can't do is add hours to my day. I only wish they could :P
DeleteWhen last I checked, Rift Lite is still capped at level 20. However, lapsed accounts are allowed to return and play any characters that are not yet level 20. (You can also create new characters, subject to the Rift Lite cap of 2 per server.)
ReplyDeleteI'd been happily using RiftLite before I bought Storm Legion - had two characters just under 20th I was playing. It was in-game post-Storm Legion that people were talking in general chat about the Lite cap being extended to 50 but since I'm "subbed" for a year now I didn't immediately go and look into whether they were right. Just checked (as I should have done before) and you are quite correct - it's still 20.
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