If you want to get an MMORPG player passionately riled up, all you have to do is ask their opinion of one of three subjects (or all three—and be prepared to sit there for a bit): microtransactions, automated group finder tools, and mounts. Anyone who’s played any modern MMORPG for a length of time will have strong feelings about all three subjects.
It’s easy to understand why. All
three are major game changers and can either dismantle or upgrade the worlds
we’re comfortably immersed in. Let’s break it down:
Microtransactions:
Let’s see. Do I want to click a couple buttons in a UI window and instantly pay
real money to get a super cool item, appearance, or boost that could have been added to the game
through other means (thus potentially taking away from the base game’s obtainable
items and/or assets)?
Automated group finder tools: How about clicking a couple buttons to not have to
communicate with players and instead be instantly and automatically paired with
them to do this group activity that was initially created to encourage
communication?
Mounts:
Mounts look badass and make us feel badass as we’re romping through piles of
bad guys on our way to Named Quest Mob #45, but they also act as a highway,
letting us pass over and consequently ignore 75% of the world we’re invested
in. Flying mounts are an even worse offender.
