Lets face it, we probably all have a special spot (or two) for that game. A game we want to love, that we keep installed or maybe even keep a subscription to, but we don’t actually play it. Every time we work up the courage to log in something stops us from going further. I can’t be the only one, right?
For me that game is of course EverQuest 2 (and the original can probably fall under that umbrella too). Back in December of last year me and my husband found ourselves with a few extra hours while kiddo was asleep (typically on me) in the early morning hours, and we wanted something we could play together so we returned to Norrath. Even picked up the latest expansion. I subscribed for a year. What was I thinking! It has been ages since I played any game for a year straight let alone one that has fallen so far off my radar I shouldn’t even have it installed.
We played for a few months but then a combination of things happened. As kiddo started getting bigger he was awake more hours and wanted more attention. This baby has always been pretty high maintenance and that hasn’t changed. Then we got to a point in the game where we couldn’t get any more upgrades doing content with just the two of us, we would have to group – except finding a group and having time for that when I never knew when I would be called away was next to impossible.
The other half stopped playing first. No real surprise there, we may have met in EQ2 and it will always have a soft spot for us because of that, but the game has changed, the players have changed, WE have changed, and we were looking for things that just don’t exist for us in that game any more. I trudged on, convinced I could do something myself and that I wouldn’t need groups, or that I could invent a magical group that could complete content in the 15 minutes free I had.
Silly Stargrace.
Months go by, I don’t log in. Then EQ2Wire announces they’re shutting down and nostalgia rears its head and suddenly I find myself pushing the play button. I still have a subscription until December, wouldn’t I just like to peak in and see how things are.
It might have been different if channels worked and I saw any sign of life in game – but for some reason my global channels were all missing (I believe it has to do with a bug of copying another character’s UI) and I was once again in game alone. The last time anyone logged on in our small guild of three was almost a year ago. I don’t want to play an MMO alone. I’ve got a whole steam library of single player games for that. So I checked my broker (made 2k platinum, yay!) and logged out. Needless to say I won’t be renewing my subscription this time around.
I keep trying to find a magical MMO that I can play in the few brief moments I have here and there but lets face it that probably won’t happen again for a few more years. For now I’ll continue to flounder about, pretending to play games where I get nothing accomplished in the hopes that something will eventually stick. Guild Wars 2 is a good one since it has no subscription. I have been logging in daily and getting a few things done here and there but honestly I’m waiting for the expansion to go live – mounts sound exciting.
For everyone reading – what’s that one game you keep installed and you have good intentions about but you never actually end up playing it? Let me know in comments, I know it can’t just be me.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.
I think Rift is probably the closest game to this for me, I want to play it but not as much as other games and I just find it hard to get back into when I’ve tried. It’s a shame as it has some lovely features, but the whole somehow doesn’t keep me interested.
For me it is Star Wars The Old Republic. I loved that game, played the beta and have the legendary box for the game. The problem I can not justify subscribing to the game when (in my opinion) Guild Wars 2 is a better game based on the buy to play platform. Star Wars has a lot of content do not get me wrong. It is just if you do the free to play, the exp given to you is as slow as an AT-AT. I do not want to have to do all the planet’s missions just to level up enough to go to the next planet as a bounty hunter and then when I do that planet with my sith be bored because I am just doing the same missions with maybe different dialog options. Now Guild Wars 2 doesn’t come close, in my opinion, to the average quests you can do in Star Wars Old Republic (though when stories start to get epic Guild Wars 2 starts to out sign Old Republic, and Guild Wars looks nicer than Old Republic) and you can play as much as you want once you paid for the game. Old Republic on the other hand, you have to subscribe to truly enjoy the game without fun-crippling restrictions.
I bought and keep TESO installed, but I never quite seem to find the time or the motivation to play it seriously enough to move beyond the first zone. I’m still having difficulty facing the fact that time is limited, I’ve already prioritized two other MMO equivalents, and that I would rather be playing Skyrim if I magically had more time. But y’know, maybe I can still squeeze in TESO in there somewhere!
I’m much the same in EQ2 — I just can’t go back. any time I get the bug and re-install it and load in, I have to redo my AA’s, but I don’t know how to do it since I don’t know what other changes have been made, etc. So I tend to wander around a little and then log back out and think to myself “That was a silly waste of time.”