Thankfully, I’m a Founder on LOTRO with a Lifetime membership, so that’s working out great. My super-awesome kinship has been very understanding that I didn’t want to get sucked into the “must.play.all.day.and.night” rut that I found myself in with WoW. I want to do the dungeons and raids with them badly, but I want to make sure I can keep things casual so I’ve been on break from LOTRO.
Turbine recently announced a special $9.99 per month plan for DDO which I jumped on. I’m also in a super-cool casual family-style guild in DDO and, while I love the adventures in the game, the problem with a totally group-focused game is that if I can’t find a group, I can’t play the game. I do look forward to playing the high-end content, and it sounds like some amazing and awesome content is coming this year. In the meantime, if I can save $5 per month to keep the subscription active and pop into Stormreach anytime I want, sounds great to me.
My final subscription was the SOE Station Access, where I have Everquest II, Vanguard, Star Wars Galaxies and Planetside active.
However…
I haven’t bothered to play Planetside in months because I never saw more than 10 players on a server and it has an atrocious UI along with horribly flaky mouse movement in the menus. I understand it was great in its day, but apparently that day has come and gone so even as a curiosity, Planetside was a failed venture for me.
SWG. Whoah. Not that I necessarily mind adding quests and all but SOE did such a poor job of it in their misguided NGE overhaul. I could even adapt to that but, much like Planetside, the game has serious population issues. To date, I’ve encountered a grand total of six players and have seen not a single line of chat from anyone. The graphics are badly dated and I truly resent being hard-locked at 30 fps when I could be having a much smoother experience. SWG was my first MMO and I have fond memories that nothing else will ever replace, but I guess it’s true: sometimes you just can’t go home again.
EQ2. I have created several characters of different races and classes and the farthest I’ve managed to advance any is level 9. Other than the random bit of music, I have struggled to find even a single enjoyable element to the game. EQ2 is quite popular and arguably has more content than any other MMORPG on the market. Originally, I decided I would put up the fight and work my way towards whatever quality content surely must be out there, but I finally had to be honest with myself. With other games out there willing to “show me the money” with quality content from Moment One, why should I have to punish myself wading through this muck? It’s a shame, and I wanted to like EQ2 but it just wasn’t in the cards.
Vanguard, surprisingly, I’m having a blast with and I’m in a friendly, fun and helpful guild. Even though Karen has abandoned us like red-headed step-children to go adventure in Norrath. 
Grouping has been incredibly fun as well as challenging, and I’m thoroughly enjoying being the “Rock Star Tank” again. Actually, I may be enjoying tanking more in Vanguard than I did in WoW, because the Dread Knight class simply oozes coolness and I enjoy the challenges it presents. I also have a real-life friend playing Vanguard now (also a new guild-mate, yay!) so that’s an additional compelling reason to play. Well-known population problems aside, I can honestly say I’ve seen quite an influx of brand-new players over the past few weeks since GU3 was released, and it’s been wonderful. I’m seeing players in nearly every town I visit, the chats are active, friendly, and Chuck Norris-free (well, mostly).
I wasn’t having any financial issues, but I finally had to come to terms that I was paying an extra $15 per month to play Vanguard, because as wistfully nostalgic as I may have been, I’m not going to return to SWG, nor can I tolerate being logged into EQ2 for more than a few minutes, so it’s wasted money.
So, as of a few minutes ago logging out of the Java chat with an SOE customer service rep (thanks for the help, by the way, Eric) I am now left with only a normal monthly subscription to Vanguard and the new 33% discounted subscription to DDO. Should another game roll down the pike, I can add it without batting an eyelash as the total cost would be close to what I’ve been paying anyway with the Station Access and full-price DDO, but right now there are no titles current or in the immediate future that are piquing my interest whatsoever.
Tags: DDO, EQ2, LOTRO, MMO Gaming, MMORPG, SWG, Vanguard
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So why did you have to talk to a rep to get dropped down to regular VG sub? Were you having problems switching down?
I know I was having problems switching. I finally ended up canceling entirely, then subscribed to just EQ2. I couldn’t see myself getting back into VG; it is a cool game and the classes are neat (show me another game where the healer does the group’s scouting, summoning group members into the dungeon, pulling, CC and healing), but overall, it’s not as challenging as you think
I also didn’t have a lot left to look forward to in that game.
DDO? Meh… it will always be meh. I have no idea how you can like that game but have no interest in EQ2. It must be a visual turn off for you or something.
Lifetime subscription is a cool idea, though they miss out on the monthly after about a year or two – assuming they keep you that long, if they don’t then they’re laughing.
Yeah, when I first got EQ2 and Vanguard and signed them up the same day, it was all activated under Station Access and despite what all the Help and Knowledge Base articles were telling me, I was not seeing any other subscription options available other than re-subscribing the full Station Access. The CSR told me I’ll need to let the Station Access expire then resub only Vanguard. That’s fine, I think I’m off work that day so I can catch it first thing in the morning.
DDO… I just don’t get hung up on the whole “it’s instanced, there’s no open world to explore, blah blah blah.” I try to look at each game individually instead of placing them inside this plain brown “an MMO must be XYZ” box. DDO has, hands-down, some of the best group-based content I’ve seen. I love the active combat, the meta-magic system is complex and the DDO (ie. D&D) wizard is the only “mage” caster class I’ve ever been able to tolerate playing. Maybe it’s not a “true” MMO, maybe it is by today’s standards… I don’t care. It’s a fun game and that’s what’s important to me.
Oh, as for Vanguard and challenge, it’s there for me for a couple reasons:
1) I don’t play it safe and tackle only mobs and zones below my level. I crave adventure and excitement and I’ll just jump right in. Nearly every dungeon I’ve been in recently (actually, ever) has been slightly above my character’s adventuring level, and I love tanking mobs a few levels higher than me. As long as they’re not so high that my healers can’t out-heal the hits I’m taking for them…
2) Because of current glitchy behavior with my rescue moves and “taunt” abilities, combined with 2H weapons having a slower attack, it’s very challenging to maintain aggro. I’m much busier with the DK in Vanguard than I ever was as a protection warrior in WoW.