Thayos wrote:
But when I see similar posts from people who I'm not as familiar with, then I really do have to wonder why they haven't found a game that better suits their tastes.
It comes down to this:
When a better MMO comes out and one that won't get marred by bad design decisions (Wildstar) people will move over to it. This is why ARR got as much steam as it did, it's not a failure of an MMO but at the same time it's nothing special. What did benefit it, though, was the fact WoW was in a content drought and people were craving something more and out comes a
Final Fantasy MMORPG..which even fi you didn't play it, you immediately know of/about FFXI in any fashion and know that it was popular, lasted 14 years and is one of the most successful FF titles to date. So of course if you played FF games you'd jump right into FFXIV regardless of your thoughts of 1.x (which a lot didn't play and only think of the initial launch and none of the updates after.)
But as of now a lot of MMO developers don't want to bother with NA/EU because of the mark WoW left which is why PSO2 will never hit NA for example. In this day and age when people have "less time" to play games..they expect MMOs to be catered to that lifestyle which MMORPGs honestly cannot exist as they used to, where accomplishments were more earned through difficult trials and the "stuff given to you" was more like: "Hey you can't kill the Spider Queen or do the Raids so here's some content for you to enjoy at your own pace and leave the other stuff to the big boys."
Nowadays? People expect equal treatment and equal rewards whether they raid, kill bosses or just stand around with a thumb up their butt doing daily quests - and the latter is what will pull in the most money. So if you enjoy a progression aspect and the MMO you play initially has it but then drops it off or starts slacking in design, of course you'll want them to make changes...but when a chunk of your players rather have it easy and stuff like Lord of Verminion...well...
A lot of MMOs these days are good time killers in any fashion since offline games will be completed within a day or two unless it's actually not a DLC hotbed and lasts a week, but MMOs you could play for years, but then comes the problem when they start developing them to last only hours then you drop it. People who play MMOs tend to invest in them which is why when you see people you used to play with so easily drop this game but not any other game in the same genre, it's telling. That's why on a forum someone said when something shinier comes out people will go to it and if it's worth anything, they'll stay.