Andrew White

Personally, I'm okay with $15/mo. I agree with some of the comments above: $10 feels more like the sweet spot to me.

What I feel are overpriced are the games and expansions themselves. That was one of the main things that kept me from getting into MMOs for so long. I play two games with a modicum of regularity: Guild Wars and WoW. Guild Wars is a great game; good, in a different way than WoW. The content is every bit as polished, though. So WHY are the game clients generally cheaper on release than WoW when the game has no subscription fee?

Why does a balance *need* to be struck? That guy who dinged in just over a day probably had a lot of fun getting so much exposure. At the other end of the spectrum is little old me. I've been playing for a year, though with huge gaps, and my main just got her first blue yesterday. In the Western Plaguelands. I have fun taking my time, checking out the scenery, and reading the quest text. At the same time, I'm learning Lua so I can write some add-ons. I'm in the UK, and my friends are in Canada, so its unlikely I'll ever raid with them. I really enjoy playing the game my way.

It is really driving me nuts that people seem to be forgetting that games are fun when it comes to the MMORPG. If all you want to do is chat and fish, hey: go nuts! Its a game. Don't play it if its not fun.

I suck at PVP, and am okay with the fact that I'm going to be killed often. I don't mind it. I try hard, and have had some surprising successes. Getting killed teaches me what works and what doesn't. However, getting corpse-camped, /spitted, rude gestures, dancing ... that's just obnoxious. And its the thing that makes me want to hang up my mouse more than any repeated failures on my part. Why make the game unfun for your fellow players?

Ooh, SLURL for that cool Trek-looking area, please?

My alts both stick to the gathering professions, but my main is well on her way to leveling up leatherworking. While it would be nice to have some gear for her before endgame, its kind of fun equipping my alts. I've really enjoyed crafting, and wish there was a bit more depth to it. When I hit 40 on my main (this weekend, fingers crossed), I plan on tooling about on my mount, collecting some cooking patterns I've missed.

I could see myself as playing some kind of merchant trader. Of course in most of these MMO worlds, that would entail hiring lots of combatant-types to keep you alive. But really, aren't these stock-trading competitions or browser games like Jennifer Government: Nation States a kind of non-combat MMO?

The thought of porting GW to the PS3 makes me weep. I *love* GW, but I've left it for WoW. WoW is uglier, has a looser story line, but the social aspects of WoW kick GW into a cocked hat. I'd very much fear that bringing in the console crowd with their general lack of keyboards would further degrade the social aspect.

Alright, I'm back to take my lumps. I sincerely apologize for the tone of my original posts. This is a particular beef of mine. I very much feel that mischaracterizing that gaffe was the beginning of a trend that has brought us to "John McCain has a black baby" and Swiftboating. These are the most disgusting new features in political "discussion", and they're now being exported around the world.

Secondly, it drives me nuts that so many tech blogs insert swipes at progressive figures that have nothing to do with the post. I've actually written Yahoo Pipes filters to remove authors from group blogs since so many of their postings took that route.

As to being a troll, I'm demonstrably NOT, since I've contributed positively in the past to this and other Weblogs Inc blogs. Furthermore I did respond to something in the post.

Now I don't apologize for everything, Eli, since the tone of your reply was less than professional, but I do apologize.

Anyway, whatever: I just didn't want to descend into total d-baggery. I could use some blasted sunshine.

You're damn straight they're all corrupt. However it has to do with politics when you use an old Republican misquote.

... wait ... you want ME to bring something fresh? Sunshine, that joke dates back to 1999.

Signs you are not smart enough to post for Massively: you trot out that tired and thoroughly discredited Republican smear that Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet.