After.. (yes I know it should be before), playing a game for a time to see if I enjoy it...
I ask myself the first of several questions: In the end what is there for me once I finish all these levels? That's something that I really weigh out upon deciding if a game has lasting power for me. I'm not one to keep leveling up a zillion alts.. I passed that phase years ago.
Is there high end content? After picking up at least two big sellers out this fall I just jumped in thinking about how fresh and new and fun they were! However after reading and playing, I found out there really wasn't much at all at the top. Why bother getting to the top if there is really nothing there? I will admit I do play one game like this Free Realms.. however that is my secondary game when I want to blow off steam. I don't expect Free Realms to have high end content, after all it is aimed towards kids. If it did.. well I may have to reconsider playing it more!
Games such as Champions felt sort of flat. Sure you get to the top, what really are the rewards? I must admit Cryptic is hard at work adding in more content for players. But for now? Those thoughts kept me from really caring how far I got in the game durring the first month. It was just something fun to mess around on, after finding out there really was no end game.
So, I've left Aion.. I am sure one day I may return. If they get things in order and westernize it more ect..ect.. Sure I'd give it another shot. Right now I don't want to 'putt' around in the Abyss at high end. Boring.. same ol same ol.. Come on give us some instances. I don't want to PvP all the time, I could do that in WoW. I think NCSoft is making some dire mistakes right off the bat in many areas. Perhaps they think if this falls short everyone will be back for round two with Guild Wars2. Who knows?
These are two examples, the list could go on, last year there were some really rough releases but I'm not going to go there. It really depends what you as a gamer are looking for. Do you want PvE, PvP, crafting or just something to blow off steam? It's something you should look into when you decide if you should spend the time on the game, seriously it can amount to a lot of wasted time. Sometimes it's better to wait a month and see what the reactions are. I did that last year, this year I wanted to get my feet wet and see for myself.
I don't think some gaming companies have realized that to KEEP players you have to offer things to do after that climb to the top. I don't want to just hit the top to do it over again to keep playing the game. I would like to be able to advance in a game with people and on my own. The latter isn't always the case in many games.
The next question I ask myself is: What cool things are in it for me? Mounts, Pets, easy travel, achievements or titles? This is a sure way to keep people interested. People like to show off all that fancy gear, that's a given, they also like to show off special pets and mounts. Titles make players feel more unique. These tie the player to the character. Games that offer such things as 'Appearance tabs' really are making a step in the right directions, as well as housing. I use to think housing was silly, I've come to really love player housing. Everquest II did well with all of these. I often wonder why I'm not playing it.. hrmm maybe next month ;)
And the final Question: (I could keep asking them, but I'd never decide if I should play or not!) How is support and community interaction with this game? You can tell a lot about a game simply from reading the games website news and forums. Is the company in touch with the community? If not then you might want to be wary. You don't want to pay for a neglected game, it only causes heartache in the end.
Even popping into the forums you can tell a bit. Sure WoW has it's amount of rants but really it's not all rants about the same thing, mostly trolling. Sometimes you just need to understand the difference. I'm not saying the game doesn't have issues. I was browsing a game's forums today and it was full of complaining about issues and it wasn't just one or two, it was pages upon pages. Cries for help, falling upon deaf ears. This right here is a red flag. You can probably guess what game I'm talking about.
Does the game offer in-game support? This never was a question until Aion came out! A subscription game with out in-game support, outrageous! More like lazy. Sure.. yeah, we know it's in the works just like everything else. However some games such as DDO only offer this type of support to paying members, even if you spend the money on the cash shop. So watch out, you might need support you can't find for days. A huge hassle.
So those are just some thoughts. I do not regret any games I have tried, as that's my thing, playing games, trying new ones out. For those that are not big on hopping around and are looking for something they can stick with I hope those tips might come in handy!
Safe adventures in whatever you play!
-kaozz
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