A Green Mushroom

Turbine Entertainment has done it again with the LotRO switch to free to play.  They are amazing at making the free to play plus an option cash shop pricing model work for them.  Their revenues have doubled already. After the success of DDO's switch to the same pricing model I guess it was a no brainer to do the same with their other MMO.  Turbine is a great example of free to play done right.  I hope more MMOs follow their example in the future. Subscription MMOs seem to be the exception lately.  When so many games are launching or switching to a free to play model why would MMO players still want to pay $15 per month to play a game?  World of Warcraft is the exception since they have market dominance and a 6 year track record with players.  Almost every other subscription MMO on the market is struggling. I think that the free to play model with an optional cash shop is the future of MMOs.  With the occasional exception, we should see most ...

Last night I did as promised and re-entered a MMO.  Dungeons and Dragons Online was my game of choice and I ended up making this badass. He's a Monk so watch your face... it might get punched. As you can see, he's a Monk and I managed to get him to level 2 last night.  Level 2 is actually an accomplishment since DDO only has a total of 20 levels.  Last time I tried DDO I would only play with my brother, I didn't do a single quest or dungeon by myself.  This time is no different and you can check out his impressions over at Lost In Neurons .  Last time we played until about level 6, so a lot of this content is familiar since we ran it once already. This time I rolled a Monk instead of a Ranger (which is what I played before).  The best part about being a Monk is that I get to punch things - lots of things - right in the face.  POW!  It just makes me feel like a badass.  My brother, on the other hand, rolled a Rogue because sensing, dete...

What is the pull of an MMO over a traditional RPG?  The stories are weaker or lacking entirely.  There's a huge grind to get from the beginning of the game to the end.  At the end of an MMO everyone works for hours on end to increase stats ever-so-slightly.  If PvP is worldwide then all the experienced players gank the noobs.  All of our achievements can look lackluster as soon as a new expansion comes out.  Groups can take hours to find.  Certain content is locked out except for one time each week when we can attempt it.  Other players can treat us like shit.  And for all this we pay subscription fees or dole out our money to microtransactions. Despite all of that, I want to play an MMO.  I've been burned out on MMOs since about a year ago when I canceled my WoW subscription.  I dabbled in a few that released this year but none of them held my attention for longer then the first month trial.  I know I was burned out and to...

The summer slump of game releases is here in force.  The only game I'm looking forward to this summer is StarCraft 2.  Nothing else coming out looks to be worthy of a purchase.   The palm tree is StarCraft 2 in the wasteland of summer releases So, what should I do with my free gaming time this summer?  Well, fallback games are always an option.  My 2 fallback games at the moment - Team Fortress 2 and Modern Warfare 2 - are still extremely fun.  I plan on wasting some summer hours on Kongregate playing through flash games that I haven't tried yet.  I love how much free content is on that site. I'm also contemplating starting up a MMO again.  I haven't been hooked on one since about this time last year.  The summer slump seems to encourage me to pick up a new - or old - MMO most summers.  Despite what I wrote the other day, I may still check out LotRO before it goes free to play.  I suppose going back to WoW is always another ...

The big news today is the announcement that Lord of the Rings Online is going to be free to play.  There has already been a ton of coverage on the subject so I'm not going to rehash all the details or what other people have said.  Instead, I just want to come out and say that this is all my fault. I'm their target audience.  I've been secretly holding out for this day for a while.  I've been extremely interested in LotRO but never felt like paying the monthly subscription fee.  I knew that Turbine had huge success with DDO switching to the F2P model and I figured it was only a matter of time until LotRO did the same. So, it's all my fault.  Me and people like me at any rate.  Sorry lifetime subscribers, my bad.

I've had a busy week.  Between getting married and starting my summer hours at work I haven't had much gaming time.  That's ok.  Real life always needs to take precedence over hobbies like videogames. I thought I'd throw out an update on what I'm playing and what I intend to play since I'm feeling overwhelmed by my backlog of games at the moment. StarCraft 2 Beta - Still loving it and working on Newbie Guide posts. Bayonetta - Working my way through the crazy story.  I may not finish this game, but it is highly entertaining because of the ridiculousness of it all. Halo 3 Reach Beta - Only a few days left.  I really like the arena and invasion playlists. Trine - Indie game I own but haven't gotten around to trying out. Osmos - Indie game that inspired me to buy an indie game pack on steam the other day.  I really like the gameplay. Guild Wars - Giving it another chance.  It has interesting dynamics because characters can only have 8 ski...

By all accounts Dungeons and Dragons Online has resurrected itself by switching its business model.  Since it has gone free-to-play over one million players have joined.  Before the switch over DDO was in its death throes. Pretty awesome business move if you ask me. This made me think, which MMOs would I be playing right now if they were F2P?  Well, probably quite a few.  I wonder why more companies don't try this out? I know new games are coming out designed around the F2P model, but maybe some of our current stock of MMOs could be saved - or expanded - if they were switched to F2P.  You could even throw in some micro-transactions and I wouldn't mind. I want to know, what games would you be playing right now - that you currently are not - if you didn't have to pay a monthly subscription for them?