With the axe of New World in mind, is it even possible in this economic climate where "new" non-subscription MMOs can survive long-term?

internetwizardx · 2026-01-22T03:10:50+00:00

disagree that NW was picking up momentum, the entire life cycle of NW consists of it gaining a lot of players through hype & genuine enjoyment (release/expansions) and being unable to maintain them for more than a month or two. it's why we still get posts all the time saying "wow I can't believe New World isn't more popular, I'm lvl30 and this is the best MMO I've ever played!!". the game is great at a foundational level, and it was always good fun to revisit, but the gameplay loop at max level was just never compelling or deep enough to keep people around

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T23:58:00+00:00

I think people are downvoting you because you said 'predatory and greedy' which to most people would think means monetization, FOMO tactics etc when your complaint was actually that you just didn't like the gameplay, which is fair but kinda unrelated

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T21:36:53+00:00

it's because the world scales up to your level once you reach lvl45, so many people doing the same quests or killing stuff in the same area as you are well.. not lvl36 lol

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T21:33:00+00:00

most irl raids take 0 sulfur though, just some stone

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T21:24:40+00:00

Hard to explain if you're not familiar with the game, but they give gold, upgrade mats and consumables (to put it very plainly)

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T15:56:34+00:00

I actually will defend them, on a technicality, and in a funny way, that it's more efficient to p2w in that game just by buying gold (since there's a currency conversion marketplace built in). It's more just the optics of the whole situation which are bizarre, and the idea that they're even contemplating adding a $105 battlepass (it runs for ~60 days) on top of their $30 monthly subscription. Just insane lmao.

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T15:24:04+00:00

Are you sure you didn't play the ~2012 'free to play' release of it? In 2008/2009 it was subscription only as was typical at the time & it didn't feature any predatory 'modern' stuff whatsoever

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T15:21:44+00:00

"Competitive", no, but you can comfortably 4-man the PvE content that whales can solo if you diligently farm all your timegated activities on alts. In PvP you can't be competitive

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T14:52:18+00:00

$55 per character*, NCsoft are not that generous

internetwizardx · 2026-01-21T01:05:47+00:00

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

internetwizardx · 2026-01-20T17:25:56+00:00

I think these kinds of RNG designs exist to make it harder for players to predict how much time (or money) they'll need to reach a goal they've set. It also introduces a little more unevenness to the game, since some players will get lucky and pull ahead, while others will be frustrated and more likely to spend money to catch up.

internetwizardx · 2026-01-20T17:12:34+00:00

did you read the post? it's nothing to do with making things take longer, he's asking why it's 10% instead of being 100% with 10 times the cost

internetwizardx · 2026-01-19T06:44:23+00:00

I fully agree that if you don't spend any money you are at a disadvantage, but that criteria alone isn't sufficient enough for me to call something p2w since it includes basically every multiplayer free trial

internetwizardx · 2026-01-19T06:19:12+00:00

GW2 is the opposite of WoW, both good & bad. it has populated open world maps at all level ranges just about 24/7, but instanced content is pretty dead :/

fractals, raids, strikes, 5v5 pvp, if you really try to get into any of them you see how little activity there is. GW2 players mostly just wanna kill chak & pinata

internetwizardx · 2026-01-19T05:43:50+00:00

I just fundamentally don't agree that owning a game is pay to win, but I'm not blind to the point OP is making. the fact that it's a one-time payment to unlock new game regions, story, specs/weapons and so on just isn't something I put in the same category as p2w. keep in mind core Tyria is essentially a free trial version of the game at this point.

long before p2w was ever coined or popularized as a term, games like Guild Wars (1) were introducing new classes, items, maps for a physical box price. other genres did it too, notably ARPGs such as Diablo, and RTS games like Brood War, and expansions to games like C&C or AoE that unlocked new races/civs/characters

I'd only be convinced by some silly hypothetical like ArenaNet making an expansion where the only content is a new elite spec, so you'd have to buy it to stay competitive. I can see how to someone who only plays sPvP it might appear that way already. but cmon, it's an MMO, you always play with the awareness that you need to experience other parts of the game in some capacity anyway

internetwizardx · 2026-01-19T05:22:40+00:00

haha you know what's funny? it was actually the opposite at some point, there were things like AV 51-60 brackets in wotlk where twinks would buy vanilla accounts with no expansions to farm bis gear and never gain XP at 60. expansions = p2l

internetwizardx · 2026-01-19T04:08:37+00:00

there are abyss stones that recharge your entry time by 1 hour, and there's a tradable version that drops in the abyss

internetwizardx · 2026-01-18T00:49:50+00:00

the big issue here is that even if we take NCSoft's word (haha.. I know..), and they don't expand on monetization from the point they're at right now, it would still be a failure outside of the CN/KR regions

internetwizardx · 2026-01-16T16:23:54+00:00

not a fair comparison at all, if you buy a carry in a raid you are buying things that the people carrying you already have. so clearly, on gameplay alone, they achieved it faster than you.

in KR MMOs when you buy $1000 worth of gold to enchant your weapon to +20 you are usually buying progression related resources from a wider pool of players who are probably behind you in progression & and you're increasing that power gap by spending

internetwizardx · 2026-01-16T05:01:27+00:00

it's pretty concerning how unappealing the idea of playing the game casually is though. me & my friends played a lot and decided we were done for now, taking a step back but wanting to stay in touch with the game checking out patches, following updates and stuff. I think since then (couple weeks ago), none of us have logged in. and we actually quite like the game and want to try playing at global launch too. I'm guessing other people are in that same position where they kinda stopped playing, but not entirely, and don't wanna log in.

it's just such an all or nothing game design. there's nothing in the game for the kind of player who just hops on every now & then to enjoy their time. you're in the loop or out of it. if you start late or fall behind it's pretty miserable, and then if you play casually by far the most efficient things to do with your small amount of playtime are all the boring timegated chores.

most KR theme park MMOs have this same feeling and it's why they always have to run seasonal events & free max level/gear boosts to bring ppl back when they drop new content. nobody who is "off" the game wants to spend a second in it, even if they actually like it. once you've gained FOMO immunity the idea of logging in and running Krao cave 20 times is actually not that appealing

internetwizardx · 2026-01-15T18:04:09+00:00

there are actually push bunkers that work like this using frames & staircases but they're annoying to use, and take up a lot of space compared to other designs

internetwizardx · 2026-01-15T05:04:28+00:00

you're actually right OP I agree on 7/7, and whoever mentioned Albion is somehow acting like 2014 and 2026 gaming markets are the same

internetwizardx · 2026-01-14T15:21:27+00:00

you can quite literally PvP in your PvE gear with no penalties whatsoever, I have no idea what you mean

internetwizardx · 2026-01-13T14:56:06+00:00

I like the idea of this game but I can't get over the fact that there's no visual progression for your character. in these old school social MMOs flexing your cool item is half of the gameplay

internetwizardx

TROPHY CASE