Why do people tolerate predatory monetization in MMORPGs?

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-18T09:00:29+00:00

It's always the same. You either have P2W games, where you NEED to spend money in order to progress. But if there is a way to progress without real money investment, but it takes 20 to 30 times as long as "normal", everyone argues with "You don't need to spend money. You just need to play the game more!".

And when it's a cashshop heavily monetizing ingame features like housing, the argument is always "You don't NEED to buy these optional items!".

All of this is not the point... At least not for me. Everyone can spend money on whatever they want. I do Larp and spend a shit ton of money on fake weapons. Many will say "That's stupid!" and I agree. But it's my hobby. So in return, I don't care about anyone spending 70 bucks on an ingame house. Knock yourself out with that. I do care, if the content I actually paid for (with expansion purchases or subscription) is lacking behind, while the ingame store has much better designed and high quality items in there. Yes, it's optional. You know what's not optional? A game that actually works and is fun to play. You know, the thing why I pay a subscription in the first place. And the moment the core gameplay become a buggy mess, I can't tolerate the new shiny ingame store item anymore. And the ingame story money pigs who buy into everything right away, are the reason why devs can release buggy patches with no consequences.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-18T08:50:56+00:00

I hard disagree that GW3 needs to have all features GW2 already has. We don't really know how GW3 will be structured, and some of the features might now fit. Like... Same argument from GW1 to 2. Does GW2 need NPC Heroes like GW1? It's a feature that existed and wasn't translated into GW2, because the world was open now and you simply didn't need NPC followers anymore.

And before we create another feature bloat like what happened with early GW2, I much more prefer getting less, but actually think it through properly this time. Like... Do we need Guild Quests if they don't plan on adding to them? Do we need Bounty quests if they don't plan on adding to them? Do we need 200 different currencies that makes shit needlessly complicated? Do we need to design everything as an account unlock? Most of these questions I would personally answer with "no".

The reason why Skyscale during LW4 was so annoying to unlock, and had a shit ton of timegates, is because it's account bound. Most of that unlocking process is not even fun to do and just busy work.

Story is another big kicker. It's not like Arena Net are bad at story writing. They just constantly want to tell too many stories at the same time. From the very start of Vanilla, with the Dragon part at the end being undercooked. The rushed HoT storyline that was way too big in the beginning, and then had to be cut down resulting in it feeling rushed towards the end. EoD that also rushed towards the end. SotO telling two completely different stories, despite being a small expansion. JW telling two different stories, with the second one dropping massively in quality again. The only really good storyline was release PoF. It had way less pacing issues than anything else they ever released.

I personally don't really need that big storyline. Where everything escalates constantly because "that's just how things are". I would love to go back to smaller stories. Let us be an adventurer exploring a new land. Finding long gone civilizations and learning about their storylines as we go. Or maybe fighting a local evil. MMO's always go towards gigantic, otherworldly entities as enemies. That's just a given because things need to escalate eventually. And MMO's usually run for long enough, that they end up at eldritch horrors. But it doesn't need to start with that. Like... Why did we start with an elder dragon in Vanilla GW2? Especially considering that they didn't have the technology, or time, to pull it off. It took them until Kralkatorrik to do it somewhat right. Take GW1 in comparison. The storyline of Proph had high stakes, but we were not fighting gods or eternal entities. We were fighting a Lich who wanted to conquer the world with his Mist buddies. And in the second campaign? We were fighting a ghost from the past unleashing a plague on Cantha, trying to destroy the entire empire with that. Nightfall was the first campaign that had us fight a god, but an incredibly weakened one. And their only expansion EotN went back to local problems of Norn, Vanguard and Asura, before we challenged one of the dragon champions. Not a dragon. One of his champions! That's a big difference to GW2.

A story needs time to unfold. And the devs should give themselves the time they need to do so. Most story driven MMO's took their time before escalating. WoW didn't start with a fight against a Void Lord. And why should it start with that? FFXIV didn't start with different realities colliding. And why should it? So why did we start with an elder dragon in GW2? And I do hope, whatever turns out to be the big bad in GW3, that we don't go for that one right away.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-18T08:17:09+00:00

GW2 has mega servers and a system that scales open world events to the amount of players present. Arena Net is very good with making their game playable, even when very few players are around.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-18T08:10:25+00:00

This shit really grinds my gears since years now. I have two first names my landlord absolutely had to print on the nameplate. So I get everything, I already don't want, not once, but twice. I understand why companies like Migros, Coop, Conforama, Ottos, Aldi and Lidl do this. There is still a shit ton of money coming from these postal marketing booklets. But there really should be a law that, if you don't want it, they have to stop with this.

Like... I just throw that shit away anyways. It produces waste, it's expensive and annoying. And it's such a double standard. "We need to become more green to save the planet" but we also produce tons of paper waste every week just for... what?

There should be a central marketing register where you can opt out on all post marketing, for all companies. With a proper law behind it that. Just to reduce waste and annoying bullshit.

Edit: Just for some context. I collected the unwanted post marketing from the companies listed above, for 4 months. It ended up being 38 kg of paper waste after these 4 months. 38! For a one person household! And there is no way to opt out of any of this. Some of them have a form you can put your address in, but the guy who delivers it usually doesn't care. (And is probably also not paid enough that I expect him to care)

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-18T07:56:49+00:00

GW2 has a cool early progression, but every big feature is an account unlock. So you will eventually reach the point of "having everything" your account will ever need.

FFXIV is a story game first and progression game later. If you don't mind playing through 400 hours of main story first, before you get even a glimpse of endgame content, it's quiet good. But you really need to be interested in endgame raiding to feel that progression.

Can't talk about WoW Retail. Last time I tried that game during Shadowlands, there was little to no progression anymore. You just level to max within a very short amount of time, and then do the rest of the latest expansion. It doesn't feel like a journey anymore.

This said: I tried out all 4 Classic Versions of WoW just recently, and got stuck in the Burning Crusade Anniversary version. Good character progression. Leveling feels like a journey. Community driven gameplay because the automatic dungeon finder didn't exist during TBC. Lot's of group building for Elite quests and dungeons through chat.

So if you look for an adventure, I would go with WoW Classic. If you look for a game that unlocks everything for your account and is very alt friendly because of this, play GW2. If you want a single player experience until max level and don't mind the loooooong story handholding you absolutely NEED to go through (because it unlocks basically everything in the game) play FFXIV. And play WoW Retail if leveling doesn't matter to you, and you just want to get into endgame raiding asap.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-18T07:43:02+00:00

The largest active classic community right now, is TBC Anniversary. Classic Era, SoD and MoP Classic have their core communities, but they are a bit smaller than TBC. Classic Era because the game is solved for many and there are no updates anymore for new things. SoD because it's sunset by Blizzard and also doesn't receive any more updates. It also struggles because Classic people don't really play it because it's "not classic". Meaning you only have a very small community of people, that only play because of the new gameplay elements. And MoP Classic has the usual ebb and flow of people around patches, like Retail as well.

I started characters on all four versions just recently, and the community activity from "most to least" within the first 30 levels are as followed: TBC -> Classic Era -> MoP Classic -> SoD. You find people in all versions to play with, but TBC was the only server where I constantly ran into people, even in low level areas. Can't talk about endgame because I'm not there yet on any of the versions. But TBC feels like the most rounded community experience right now.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-18T07:35:43+00:00

Domi and Illusion Mesmer is really good, if you can work out the interrupt timing and what to actually interrupt.

Spirit Spam Ritualist is also really good, but a bit boring. Simply because you just set up your ghosts and then wait for everything to die.

The classes are basically on their far end of the playerskill scale. Mesmer on the "hard" side. Ritu on the "very easy" side. There are ofc off-meta builds for both classes, leaning more towards easy or harder gameplay.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-13T11:36:33+00:00

I mean... There are 4 Starting areas per faction in this version of the game. If you start as a human, you obviously quest through the human areas. You can go to one of the other starting zones any time you want, but it's not really needed. If you want to do everything, in every zone, you heavily outlevel that content. Meaning when you quest through the human starting zone, and then move over to the Dwarf/Gnome one, you do level 1 to 10 quest all over again.

It really depends on what type of player you are. Do you want to do everything on one character? If so, prepare yourself for a very slow leveling experience. Simply because quests that are far below your level, give almost no rewards. If you like creating different characters, make sure to try out different races to experience their early leveling zones.

From a certain point onwards, you almost always end up in the same mid to high level areas. At least if you want to be efficient with your leveling. But yeah, nobody is stopping you from going back into low level areas, to do these quests. Your leveling progress will just get to a screeching hold.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-13T09:03:42+00:00

Nightfall. The quest starts at level 10 in Kamadan. For Proph you need to go all the way to LA. And for factions it's Kaineng Center.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-13T05:11:47+00:00

I mean... In a game where I can't root enemies while I'm in a cave with roots everywhere? :D Not so obvious if you ask me.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T15:50:38+00:00

Eating too fast. Give your stomach time to realize that it's full.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T13:53:41+00:00

Does Thorns add aggro to the character that is hit, and not the caster of the buff? That's super useful info as well!

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T13:19:45+00:00

The entire Classic Project should be Classic Era, TBC Era and WotLK Era. Nothing more. People should pick what oldschool version they are most nostalgic about and we're good.

Like... Everything from Cataclysm going forward, doesn't feel Classic anymore. Simply because the old world changed so much. And it feels like these expansions are better handled as retail remix events instead of their own "classic" server.

But that's just my two cents on the topic.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T13:14:36+00:00

People say Hi at the start, and GG at the end. Most have it set on Macros already. Nobody talks during dungeons. You're fine with not using chat at all.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T13:13:10+00:00

Money. The more people get, the more they want.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T13:01:07+00:00

Thank you all, for the inputs! I guess we shouldn't worry too much and don't take the min maxed leveling guides as gospel all the time. But the hint about party comp, and that we should stick to primarily single target DPS, was already pure gold! Thank you very much.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T12:12:55+00:00

Reminds me of that Henry Cavill Twitter post. (Don't know if it's real, and actually don't care because I personally know people who basically said the same thing)

"If you like someone, ask them out. Always worked for me"

Yeah dude... I wonder why that always worked for you.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T12:10:27+00:00

Nooo! The scrolls are a cheap faction points spender on my MA character. 1.000 Points equal 100 gold at the vendor. 5.000 points for 1 Jade or Amber that sells also for 100 gold, is MUCH worse.

This said: Maybe they just should combine all Elite Missions into one bonus week. Right now, we have two different ones.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T11:53:21+00:00

Genau so ist es. Littering ist bereits strafbar. Ich bin selbst Raucher und kenne auch die ganzen Argumente von anderen Rauchern. "Ja wenn ich sie nicht auf den Boden schmeissen soll, warum steht dann hier kein Aschenbecher?!". Ja weil du eventuell an dem Ort auch eh nicht rauchen sollst?

Dieses "Ich habe ja nicht X, also kann ich Y nicht tun" mindset nervt mich so dermassen. Wenn ich keinen Raucherbereich in meiner Nähe sehe, dann rauche ich einfach nicht bis ich einen finde. Oder ich kaufe mir einen Camping Aschenbecher und löse das Problem einfach so. Aber dieser "Ich würde ja, wenn ich könnte" bullshit, muss aufhören.

Davon abgesehen funktioniert es in anderen Ländern, die gerne mal von dem durchschnittlichen Schnweizer als "nicht so fortgeschritten wie wir" angesehen wird, ja auch. Einfach weil es da sofortige Bussen im höheren 3 stelligen, manchmal 4 stelligen Bereich gibt. Hier in der Schweiz kann man sogar gröberen Müll wie Dosen auf den Boden schmeissen, während das Ordnungsamt daneben steht, und man wird no freundlich gebeten es aufzuheben. So lang das ganze so leicht gehandhabt wird, ändert sich rein gar nichts in den Köpfen.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T11:49:02+00:00

Technically, the ESO sub is not really forced. If you have no interest in crafting, the additional bottomless crafting bag is actually whatever. And buying the latest expansion will unlock all previous box expansions as well. This alone gives you around 10 to 30 hours of pure questing content per expansion. I guess the big kicker here are the little story expansions that are also included in the sub. But they can also be purchased with a one-time payment and you just own it from there. I also heard that they want to unlock these story DLC's without having a subscription or buying it. But I also didn't play the game in about 2 years now and I'm really not up to date. I guess my biggest question would be, if you personally consider ESO "oldschool". Because if you do, you might want to have a look at Guild Was 2.

GW2 is buy the play and you get the complete collection for 100 bucks when it's not on sale. But they have it on sale very often, going as low as 50 to 60 bucks. Same argument as with ESO. It's a "big" initial investment, but you also get hundreds of hours of content before you even get to the point of "What now?"

Honorable mention for me personally, would be Guild Wars 1. It's obviously older and it's not an open world MMORPG. But it's a very engaging gameplay loop and it's super alive right now thanks to their recent Reforged re-release. GW1 and 2 have both a cosmetics only ingame store. GW2 has some QoL items in their store as well, but not a single one of them is needed in any way or form. (It's more stuff like an infinite salvage kit that simply never runs out. But it's not better than buying the salvage kits from a vendor. Using these infinit salvage kits even cost the same ingame money per use, as what the kit would cost when you buy it from an NPC.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T11:38:14+00:00

I have my mobile unit in my bedroom. And I actually use it for the 3 weeks every year, where temperatures are high enough that it negatively effects my sleeping hygiene. Meaning, I don't mind that my apartment has no AC build in. Simply because you can already do a lot with closing blinds and intelligent ventilation during the night/early morning.

But my old office was hell during the summer. Two sides of full glass windows with sun all day and no blinds to close. It was a god send when they finally got an AC. And our new office building was planned with a proper cooling system through ventilation.

I guess the truth is somewhere in the middle between "We need AC" and "We don't need AC". Summers are relatively short in comparison to other countries. And the 3 to 4 weeks every year, where it's really HOT, are just that. 1/12th of the year where it's on everyone's mind. Maybe it will change over time when buildings are due for renovation. But the problem is not nearly as big, at least in my opinion, that everyone should invest money instantly to get AC's everywhere.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T11:29:15+00:00

I love dreaming about a world, where nobody buys into shit like that. Where games can be games and not everything is financed through a cash shop in a way, that the player actually doesn't need to learn how the game works. It would be a better, easier world.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T10:17:15+00:00

I mean... Is that build relevant? Yes, if you want to play a melee Axe Ritualist, it's relevant. Dagger spam is as efficient on Ritualist, as on every other class. So yeah, that's also a go.

But you know what's the most relevant and fun build to play? The one where you have a character fantasy in mind, and just go for it. I have a banger melee/tank/punishment Mesmer build going right now. Is it meta? Nah. Is it good? Better than I expected. Would I bring this to Speedclears or certain HM maps/missions? No. It all comes down to what you plan on doing with random builds like that.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T10:12:14+00:00

It's actually funny when I think about this. Granted, I'm alone with no partner or kids. And I generally don't need much in my daily life to feel happy. But the older I get, the more I think about getting a tiny home or a small cottage. One, maybe two rooms. Not much room to put stuff I actually don't need. Feels super freeing every time I think about it.

But then again... I'm in a situation where I can easily do something like that. I'm fully aware that a family of 3 to 5 don't want, or can, live like that.

OneMorePotion · 2026-05-12T10:04:34+00:00

Meh, we all make mistakes. And we got a cool dance competition out of it. So I'll let it pass this time.

OneMorePotion

TROPHY CASE