What WOULD make a new MMO worth a monthly sub ?

[Oevaag]

Been reading a lot of the Elder Scrolls and Wildstar posts of late and noticed a common theme throughout. "...... not worth the sub"

Now, I played the ESO beta weekend last week and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I can already see the next couple of years of my gaming life being taken up by this game.

Yet I watch these video's (looking mainly at Angry Joe) with people who are CLEARLY having a great time and yet "........ not worth the sub".

So, it begs the question. What would be worth the sub, straight out of box ?

Please note this isn't specifically about ESO or Wildstar (though I expect them to get several mentions) but is a more general question for ANY new MMO which might appear with one

[Kazlofski]

For me, it's fun yes but as been said, doesn't worth the sub.

I can afford only one sub and not 2, which means the game has to be better than WoW and it's not...

[Deleted]

I agree with kazlofski , the game is good but its the same as any other mmo out there and then it comes to the point is it better? My opinion is the teso will get boring quickly and is not worth the sub , if they would go the way as GW2 does so you can just jump back in the game whenever you want , then but only then i would purchase the game. But many peopld also deffinitly say they will not buy 2 sub games.

Now back on topic , Honestly i don't think any mmo will ever be as succesful like wow is and so they will have more players/profit with a B2P base.
For me division looks really nice and if there's going to be more debt in that game like maybe some kind of dungeons ( i'm sure they could do that ) i would deffinitly pay monthly for it.

[May90]

Lack of grinding. I won't pay shit for a game that makes itself into a job.

[zito]

I really just think monthly subs should just give you a months worth of time and once you play that amount of time you pay for another month.

Also it has to be frequently updated and keep you playing.

[Deleted]

I would pay a sub for any game that kept me occupied & immersed without it feeling like a chore. This is why I have just (Yesterday) cancelled my sub for WoW, I found myself logging in & sat around bored when not raiding.
P.S I have recently tried TESO (last Weekend) & Wildstar (this weekend), TESO is getting my sub, Wildstar will not. Wildstar is just too gimmicky or my liking.

[4dahorde]

Lack of grinding. I won't pay shit for a game that makes itself into a job.

Then MMO style games are not for you.

By design MMO style games are made to take time, including grinding. If you don't have the time/patience for that, then find another style game.

WoW has catered to all the whiney players and the result is a much less MMO style game then they once had.

I would pay a monthly fee for any game that could hold my interest long enough to make a fee worthwhile. The longer it was able to do that, the longer I would sub...so make it engaging and lengthy/time consuming, and you have 1 more sub from me.

[The_Butcher]

one concept I loved in WoW that I wish they implemented with everything.
Was the ability to raise a mount.
From the Frostsabers/Raptor/Cloud Serpent Mounts, the entire process was very special to me.

I feel if you can have your battle pets, be raised with some kind of grueling grind. Into an epic mount.
It would make mounts feel 100% more special then what we have now.

[Xilurm]

To be fun. That's all I need. If it's fun like WoW then I don't mind paying a sub.

[freighttrain]

I pay for three games right now 5 accounts total including the two games my wife plays with me. If it is a game I like I have no issues paying $15 a month. It is a hell of a lot cheaper than going out and paying for overpriced food and drinks at bars and restaurants. It's cheaper than paying to see movies and the over priced stuff there. I see no issue at all for sub based games considering you usually have better games and more content and fixes with the constant revenue stream.

So enough rambling, if I like the game I have no problems paying for it.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure there is anything that would make an MMO worth a subscription. I'd pay WoW's sub only because it's been here already for a long while, and I have certain attachment to the setting, and (kinda) to the game itself. I can't imagine another game doing that. ESO had the potential for it, as an Elder Scrolls game, but it ended up being a generic MMO with an Elder Scrolls paintjob, instead of an Elder Scrolls game made into an MMO. SWTOR was too unoriginal, feeling like "WoW, except with Star Wars".

I know what. A great setting that I already know and love, and do that setting justice and not just exploit it for a generic game like a thousand other MMOs.

Maybe a Game of Thrones MMO where all the intrigue is more important than any combat you happen upon.

[4dahorde]

That's really not true like...at all. There's nothing in the core design of an MMO that demands it waste your time with grinding and timesinks.

Really? So an MMO should be like a console game where it is a constant gratification of progression.,..so it can be like WoW is now...6 months to design new content that can be consumed in 3 weeks and then complain that there is nothing to do?

Timesinks and grinding is what used to make WoW worth playing for extended periods of time. Now it is log in, do a few dailies and log off. Not my idea, or many peoples idea, of a fun, engaging lasting subscription game. If you don't want to grind or spend time doing timesink things..play another game. The basis of MMOs has always been these ideas.

So you are saying that having nothing to do for extended periods of time is worth a subscription. You want to consume every bit of content as fast as possible for that gratification, instead of actually playing the game for what it is. IMO a subscription based game should be worth the cost and involve using that time playing thew game and not logging in for a short period of time and then not logging in until there is new content to consume.

[Herazim]

For some reason a lot of people think we've come to a point where subscription fees shouldn't exist anymore in gaming. This makes a lot of people instantly dismiss the thought of a monthly fee even if it is worth it.

I for one don't mind the monthly sub ( for games like Wildstar,ESO ), what's unpleasant for me is to have to pay so much for the game ( 60$ ). They will make way more money from subscriptions than they'll ever make from game sales. ( provided the game is decent enough for people to stay subbed ). Now I'm in no way saying this is unfair and they should change the price because some random guy on the internet said it (me). I'm just voicing my opinion.

As for what would make a game worthy for a sub ? Anything that breaks the WoW "stereotype". I like the game but it's really made on outdated ideas and even though they try to get it up there with newer games you can still feel the oldness. If you take away WoW dungeon/raiding and pvp system you're left with a really cheap and low budget game which has absolutely nothing to make you want to play it .Blizzard focuses to much on raid and numbers and not enough on .. well pretty much everything else. Sadly most MMOs are exactly the opposite, they offer a lot of fun and engaging things to do besides dungeons/raids and pvp but suck at these core elements of a MMO and such meet a bitter end sooner or later.

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

WoW is the best mmo out there, and by far the most successful mmo to date. If wow is worth $14.99 a month a new game can't be worth that much, that's how i see it. It's like if a new sports brand came out and they priced their gear as high as Nike or Adidas, it simply wouldn't work.

[zealo]

That's really not true like...at all. There's nothing in the core design of an MMO that demands it waste your time with grinding and timesinks.

It do not demand the player at gunpoint to grind out all these fetch and kill quests you fill your world with the but the whole premise of even offering that kind of content is to make you play the game longer.

[Deleted]

I don't mid paying for a game because I consider gaming to be a hobby of mine. It's one of the few things I do spend money on and if it satisfies me, why the hell shouldn't it be?

[Bottlegnomes]

To me it would have to mean that everything I see in game and everything achievable in game is obtainable by just playing the game and paying for the monthly sub and not paying extra in addition to the sub.

[cityguy193]

Nothing, wow isnt worth the sub either. If it were released today, with the exact same content it has today, it would also "not be worth the sub." Its only the earliest mmos, mostly just WOW, that had started early, when online multiplayer gaming was still rather new, who have had the old playerbase to continue to support it that are getting away with charging sub fees.

From now on, it should be more common to see newer MMOs go free to play, or B2P with microtransactions. Even if WoW looses all its subs tomorrow, a new MMO will most likely not get away with charging a sub fee and taking all those players.

[NuLogic]

Something different and innovative.

[Deleted]

100% content. No cashshop at all, no race locked in CEs, no services or shit like that
Frequent, meaningful updates, like Rift did first year.

No expansion costs, roll it into the sub fee.

The rest of my criteria are more specific to the type of game it is, rather than the structure of the payment model etc.

So: No levels, areas graded by difficulty. no factions, wide open areas of land player made factions can claim and fight over, real story content with devs changing teh world to push it through in reaction to playerbase actions.

Subs should be used to push constant content, otherwise there is no justification for them