Here’s how busy I’ve been — I knew Cataclysm was due to come out in December sometime, but I had no idea it was today. I haven’t been in the Twitter-stream much and I never really was in the Facebook-stream (don’t ask me why but I find FB vaguely creepy), so I haven’t seen the frothing.
Nonetheless, there’s a teeeeny tiny part of me that keeps thinking I should get this almost-brand-new-game. And try it. And maybe even like it.
I’m not sure I actually want to play or like WoW again.
Decisions…
~
In the meantime, am still enjoying LOTRO though I’m less and less sure about the monetisation aspect. I know they have to make money, and I know that being bought by WB is kind of like being bought by Disney (they both know how to wring every last drop of income out of a franchise), but… I dunno.
Example: used to be you could spend Destiny Points for a quick infusion of rest-xp, which was a nice option. I don’t remember to use it often, but I did want to use some the other day. Now, however, such expenditures are time-limited — it seems you can only do so many in a certain period of time. I don’t remember that being the case before, when I could happily cha-ching my destiny points (which I don’t use otherwise) until my rest-xp bar was full again.
Is it cynical of me to think this change has been implemented because the LOTRO-store now sells exactly the same thing only for real money and not “destiny points”?
Well anyway. Have a shiny screenshot to balance the cynicism; it’s my wallpaper right now.
Stylish Corpse 
Well for me Cataclysm breathed new life in the game, I have to relearn some things. I’m trying new challenges, like creating my own guild.
As for LOTRO, I played it, and I just didn’t have any fun.
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My suggestion for the WoW itch is to get a resurrection scroll from someone (10 free days) and just check out the changes they made for everyone. Unless you’re dead set on playing a Worgen or a Goblin, or you have capped characters that you want to level more, I don’t think you really need to purchase Cataclysm in order to enjoy the shattered world.
(I reserve the right to be wrong in this..I don’t have Cataclysm yet.)
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I actually think my old account was hacked a few weeks back, so I’m not sure I even want to touch that. There’s nothing on there that I really desperately wanted anyway, I suppose…
If I do play it would be with a brand-new account. Seems fitting with the Cataclysm theme anyway 😀
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I’m pretty sure the limited number of rest-xp infusions was already there in the past, way before the whole F2P thing.
It was only possible to get five infusions on 24h (or something like that), but they would become available after that, at a rate of one each eight hours or something.
On the whole, I think the game often offers you the choice between “Pay more or Play more”… which is not totally a bad thing for me, at this point.
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I am with RIVs. LOTRO just is NOT satisfying…while you have 6 years of solid gameplay built into WoW.
I am not a WoW fan, but LOTRO is bottom of the barrel to me in regards to fun compared to WoW. Especially with the cash shop “pay to win” system…just feels annoying.
WoW is THE MMO that all others have to beat, and Cataclysm shows why!
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I’ll be the voice of dissent. LoTRO is a solid game, if you are having fun there I see no reason to jump on the bandwagon. I left WoW for it back in the Burning Crusade days, never regretted it. I won’t go into why I considered LoTRO a superior game back then, but the reasons are numerous. I’d still be playing it if I hadn’t completely burned out on it (was my main MMO from open beta until Mirkwood).
I am having a lot of fun in the shiny new post shattering WoW. But as someone else pointed out, you don’t need Cataclysm to see that. Get a resurrection scroll from someone, or just sub up for a month and check it out. If the revamped leveling game and streamlined classes grab you, then consider buying Cataclysm.
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You can actually see a big chunk of the new stuff with just some free ten day trials. New racial starting areas, new race/class combos, that sort of thing. Sure, there’s post-20 content that’s new, but noodling around for free should scratch the itch well enough.
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Like Tim says, the limit on destiny perk uses has always been there. Back in the middle of Volume 1 when leveling was slower and there was a distinct lack of quests in the late 30s, I used rest XP boosts extensively to get a few alts over the hump, and I not-so-fondly remember burning my 5 rest XP boosts and then having to wait until the next day for more…
When it comes to destiny perks the store has actually improved things in my opinion, because it gave them an excuse to add new ones that are actually somewhat useful to max-level characters, like the IXP boosts. They could have made those store-only, but they didn’t.
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Oh the WoW expansion is released today? Did not know that, but I really do not care TBH.
Game companies will probably monetize the items and features that are nice-to-have, but perhaps not essential or used very often. That will likely not upset people who are going for the subscription options (not enough anyway) and it adds another small source of income.
Had LOTRO used the current payment model already from start it would probably never have been an issue.
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Yeah, there has always been a limit on rest-xp infusions in a certain timespan. I know I hit it when I went into moria for a weekend of powerplaying with my captain and I was frustrated as well. Also. I, too, feel WoW calling back to me. Love is so difficult to handle. Even when the object of your affection does things to you that you never want to (and should never) forgive them for you still find yourself desiring their company. Especially when they basically redid everything and finally released a true expansion (as opposed to the previous game extensions: BC, WotLK)
So to give myself a proverbial cold shower I leave you with this sentiment: “Give me WarCraft4! The wait begins…”
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*OOPS* I meant “should never forgive” in the sense that you don’t take back a hubby that’s a long-time serial cheater. I believe that the necessity of forgiveness is one of the ultimate truths in life.
end post.
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I think I’m pretty much done with WoW despite having really enjoyed it for 5 years. The ubiquitous hacking, the sometimes hateful pug community and misgivings over Blizzard’s intentions regarding player privacy put me off.
I may as well let a load of content build up for when it goes free to play so I will have lots of new stuff to do then.
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The fact that WoW has a subscription is sufficient to keep me away from it, being mostly broke, so I have no real comment to offer on that score except to say that if WoW upset you before, chances are the same elements are still there from comments I’m seeing from others. If you do go, it seems likely you’ll go just long enough to experience the new content.
There are only two monetization elements I’ve seen so far on LOTRO that really bothers me:
1) Reputation items should not appear in the store. Every game does put them there, though often with inferior stats. To me, it should be the other way around. I’d be fine with store items that are equal in stats to the rep items, but they should have a different name and different art so that it’s clear which ones were actually worked for. Unless it’s a PVP game, I don’t care so much whether someone buys their way to a well equipped character. Unless I’m fighting them, it isn’t a competition for me. But things you have to grind for to get are visual badges of honor, and should not be bought. It’d be like allowing anyone to buy a Congressional Medal of Honor.
2) The cosmetic pet idea. I don’t think we can stop it happening, and it won’t end the game for me, but I don’t like it.
2)
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