I thought I’d share with you guys why I do not write a lot about Rift as well as what my thoughts and plans are regarding launch. As you well know, I’ve written a few pieces on Rift in the past that can be interpreted incorrectly as: “Keen does not like Rift!” That can’t be further from the truth. I like Rift and think its a fine game, but I don’t hesitate to point out that it’s nothing new nor anything to freak out about.
As the hype monster begins to surface with less than a month until release, Rift enters a dangerous phase. Lots of shiny videos and exclusives get thrust out there and people take it upon themselves to spread the good word about how the game will be the next best thing. It’s kind of like how Guild Wars 2 or SWTOR release these big news stories on the sound in their game… yes, the sound… and you get people replying with comments like, “Man I can’t wait for this game!!!” … … you were really that jazzed about the sound? No, of course they weren’t. It’s just the excitement you feel like you did when you were a kid and your parents surprised you with a trip to Disneyland. Suddenly every commercial has you jumping up and down and you watch all the animated classics in preparation for the big event.
Three types of lies in this world: “Lies, damned lies, and statistics MMO’s”
One very bad and misleading trend is the “Rift vs. WAR” and similar featured articles. I’m guilty of writing a few of these type of articles myself. Unless it is point by point factual and objective, I recommend you dismiss anything telling you Rift is “different”. Rift is very much like WAR, WoW, and several games (like EQ2). That’s partly why it’s a decent game guys. It’s not groundbreaking but polishes up and repackages many things well. Don’t believe the lies telling you that Rift has somehow magically solved the “problem” of playing with others. Lies. If you want to read a bunch of lies and hyperbole go read the latest Rift vs. comparison thread. Believe any of it and you’ll likely be in for a roller coaster ride that I’ll describe below.
Below is a fairly well known visual representation of the hype cycle. It’s really nothing new and anyone who has ever been involved with anything hyped will immediately understand -and- identify with it.
We’re about where the green star is right now. People are starting to get ramped up and lose their cool and the game is getting blown a little out of proportion. They’ll reach a climax the day before launch with these inflated expectations of what the game will be like and then begin to come back down. The problem is, the higher the game climbs towards expectations the lower it’ll dip down into a place that I know all too well called the trough. A deep trough is what every single MMO developer should fear because this is where your game never recovers. This is where Vanguard died, WAR got stuck, and so on.
Rift belongs somewhere after the slope of enlightenment. That’s why I have not written about the game much — I do not want to contribute at all to people getting worked up. I’ve made it abundantly clear that the questing is rather dull but the classes are interesting. The PvE content may not be abundant, but it’s on par where quality is concerned. For me, the game’s potential rests solely in how the PvP is fleshed out and how the world is integrated into the gameplay. If it becomes an instance/dungeon run game then I won’t bother. If the world is used in some capacity and feels lived in and played in then I’ll stick around.
I’m debating whether I should buy it at launch or wait to see if it falls flat quickly. Since I personally feel the game is decent, I’d be willing to bet it won’t plummet like WAR did. However, and this is a warning to the masses, it will never meet the inflated expectations. That’s why ever since the first beta event I’ve kept my distance. I’m going into Rift knowing where it belongs on the curve. This is good advice for any game.
Where did all this angst regarding posting about Rift come from?
No angst from me. Hopefully you read what I wrote. I’m genuinely trying to help people avoid heartache and at the same time help the game fair much better. The higher those inflated expectations rise the deeper that trough will be, making it all that much harder for the game to recover.
First of all, I am amazed you have ever even heard of Gartner. It’s not something a typical MMORPG player would even know about (since it has zero to do with MMO or even games) so you have just grown in my estimation by leaps and bounds.
I feel you on the Rift posts. I’m a preordered dude just cause it seems relatively not horrible. But it won’t be a panacea, and you do well to advise your audience in advance.
I don’t actually think most long time MMORPG players think it’s the Holy Grail. They have been burned too many times. But there has been a long time where there has been not even a single game to try for some people, and suddenly Rift is a game to at least try. I think they rememeber they thought Warhammer was cool for a week or two. They aren’t as excited as you think. They are just happy to have something to do even if it only lasts for a month or two, and doesn’t require us to wear tights or pretend we are spiderman.
@Keen – I did, and I agree with your opinion, but the post still carries this tone that started earlier in the week with some other posts about too much hype about Rift and the implication that talking about it less would be better over all. This is come to the point that several bloggers have posted about how they aren’t posting about Rift.
There is still a lot of meat in the game that can be intelligently discussed. People who are going to hype it to the moon are going to do so whether the intelligent discussions happen or not.
@Sanz: Well said. And yep, I’m very familiar with Gartner.
@Wilhelm: Ah, I wasn’t aware others had posted similar topics. That makes me feel better, actually, since it means things may not be so dire.
Transparency is really important here. Very few developers are ever TRULY transparent with what they’re creating. The false sense of being let in on what’s going on is a classical ruse and one used all the time in MMO’s.
If people can discuss the meat of the game intelligently, then that’s excellent. The sad state of reality is that the majority can not. Take, for example, the fact that Rift is -very- similar to WAR/WoW/EQ2. Any topic like that will be bombarded with aggressive fanboys trying to fight the obvious.
Keen, not saying your in Rift Alpha, or your not in Rift Alpha, but in theory in any MMO is it common for the Alpha Testers to not test the completely fleshed out endgame? Because i know i like what i see, 1-35, its just having to take someones word for how good the endgame is that gets me nervous.
I think what Wilhelm is driving at is that blog readers have seen a plethora of Rift is awesome posts for a few months and in the last few days we’ve seen a number of people suddenly realising they’ve felt this way before and been hurt.
It looks really odd, more of an insight into the herd mechanics of the blogosphere than anything about Rift really. It’s like for no apparent reason all of the antelopes on the savannah have looked up at once and started twitching their noses.
@Jay P: I have not personally experienced any end-game in Rift. I know many who have played what is available and they’ve filled me in significantly. I won’t share those opinions at this time, but I don’t see any indicators one way or another.
@Stabs: Well, to be fair I’ve been saying from the moment I started talking about Rift that we need to really take a step back. Just read through my Rift archive.
“This is where Vanguard died, WAR got stuck, and so on.”
All I have to say is “Huh?”
Vanguard was long dead before it even launched. We’re 2 weeks from release of RIFT. Vanguard promised way to much way before it was even about to release much less beta.
The “hype” for RIFT is player driven, not some spokesman like the Warhammer white glasses brit or Brad “I’m to Sissy to Lay off My Employees” McQuade.
The hype might or might not be deserved but you bloggers are way to damn cynical.
Been playing the beta and my impressions have been good, considering ive started on and quit almost every single “AAA” mmo out there i think this one has some serious promise. The hype that has been made has all come from people playing the beta and enjoying the hell out of it. Granted that it is pretty much nothing new its alot of old stuff done alot better and put into a very tidy and polished package. If you were about to get into MMO’s right now youd be missing out if you chose anything besides rift.
FYI I can get that jazzed about sound, sound creates ambience and GW did that very very well. Even WoW had some really awesome ambience around the world that really increased my immersion in the game.
I agree with Bob, Keen ever since you heard about rift youve been overly harsh with it. The past year in MMOs was rough and I see your point about hype. But for crying outloud it dosent hurt to have a little hope : )
He’s just being cautious, and I don’t know how many times I’ve seen him reinforce that he thinks the game is good.
I don’t really see how everyone constantly only picks up on negative remarks made about rift, when he has clearly said numerous times he likes Rift and its a good/decent game.
Fanboi’s ?
Ive made several different comments about Rift here on your blog, some good but mostly bad. But that was betas 1 and 2 which I did not play, however I came back for beta 3 with soem mild trepidation and ever since the game has grown on me.
Most of the FPS issues have been corrected and now that My machine can reliably handle the game with a playable 34-42 displayed FPS every single day ive played ive discovered soemthing new and exciting about the game, in fact it has rejuvenated my appeal to what drove me to play MMO’s in the first place. Will it be a WoW killer? NOPE BUT IT DOES LIVE UP TO THE HYPE SURROUNDING IT. Its prolly the most polished and fun MMO thats came out since WoW though, and will do good and can only get better.
I am so looking forward to the game that ive cancelled my WoW account and now spend my free game time reading and catching up on past shows (S3 of Sons of Anarchy anyone) and dont even miss WoW anymore. I am leaving behind a Gladiator level character (13th on the battlegroup in 3’s) with decent gear and 6 years of memories for something that I think will replace. I have spent so much time in the game just re working souls, once you hit level 31+ and you have a ton of soul points to play with the class system takes on a whole new dynamic of its own. And with the new Dynamic Wardstone events put in this latest build the world PvP becomes Southshore/Terran Mills or Emain Macha all over again.
Sorry for the length of my post but Rift actually encourages players to be in the world and fosters socilization on an unseen level not seen since AC EQ or DAoC. Unlike WoW where 99% of the time your play time consists of sitting in Orgrimar or Stormwind waiting on that next Queue to pop. Having a living and breathing world that fosters cooperation and team work has really opened up the game to me.
In the beta for Rift and I still can´t force myself to play much of it. The game feels very smooth I have to give them that but otherwise the questing is horribly standard and boring. The whole soul system ends up being little more than talent trees. And the whole Rift thing.. well don´t get me started on that.
Showed it to a friend and he played for 30min before being bored and asking why he would ever play it over say world of warcraft :/
Gotta say I am getting jaded to all mmo games. Same damn interface in all of them, same combat and the worst thing is same damn quests with no sense of a great story at all.
Rift feels like it could have been made by the Aion people using an upgraded graphics engine.
I have played through the last two betas. The game should do ok for me while waiting for SW:TOR
The only downsides I see up to now are:
– only two starter areas
– cataclysm like quests chains (1 opening 3 opening 3 more, end of zone)
– lack of fun/stupid/laughable/original quests
may be I will try to level by playing the rifts
I think the state of the PC gaming market has a lot to do with the surrounding hype on these games. It feels like so long in between big releases, that the majority of the player base normally flock to check out a new big AAA titles.
With more and more games becoming console exclusive, or multi platform – who can blame people for getting excited over a big new PC mmo, because ultimately now that’s all we really have. Studios like Rockstar going console only with its games, loads of the big PC franchises dead and burred.. it takes an MMO to get people really “hyped” up.
You probably wont agree, but if we had more exclusive PC games like “the good old days” would the masses run to check out all of these mmo’s like they do now? There used to be PC gamers that just played FPS games, or space flight sims, or puzzle games etc. Now all they have is MMO’s. I know its probably a simplistic view, but i bet it has more to do with the hyperbole reaction on these games than people realise.
It’s just a shame that game publishers don’t see these hundreds of thousands of mmo players (or 12 million in blizzards case) who have PC’s as core gaming audience anymore. They just think “wait, there’s half a million players here who want to play mmo’s – lets make a new MMO!” rather than “lets bring back wing commander, or monkey island, or quake or whatever”.
Morning PC gaming market related rant /end.
Rift has timing and polish going for it but not much else. And the only world PvP so far is a shared quest zone like Allods had. Lame.
I think my main words of advice and the hardest to follow, would be not to hammer the game at the begining. Just try and set a steady pace, not stress out about not being at the front of the queue and enjoy the ride.
Otherwise you’ll be testing content that hasn’t been put through the ringer, and just get frustrated, just like what happened in Warhammer.
This is solid advice and I, and I would bet everyone here, has been guilty of it. Hell I bought over $100 of DC Comics getting ready for DCUO, started my own League and now starting to get that sinking feeling of the dreaded meh.
That being said DCUO is still a very fun game just not a long term game…I hope Rift will be but going into it with measured expectations.
*sniff*
Our little keen is growing up so fast…
Boy, I remember the golden years when you would get hyped up over EVERYTHING and then all those painful disappointments and now…now you temper your expectations with the best of the them.
The circle of life. So beautiful.
@Branith this place is probably a good place to ask
The dreaded wait for BG/Arena/Scenario queue pop sitting. Why is this not happening in Rift? They have instanced pvp right? This was my prediction for WAR after being in their beta for almost a year, still played it hoping for the best 🙁 If the game was pure open world I would definitely go for it.
Dominator sounds like too much fun 🙂 any experience with it?
@Caleb: I’m easily as guilty as everyone for getting hyped about something. WAR was the defining moment where I stopped hyping because it hit me so very hard. I’m hoping that people will see the balance that I am trying to bring, even if it’s praising or criticizing.
Excitement is a good thing as long as it is tempered in reality. If not, it becomes inflated expectations.
I have pre-ordered this game, primarily because i could get the collector’s edition for cheap via Direct2Drive’s various specials.
That said, i have no clue how good this game may or may not be. I’m not playing betas, nor will i play open beta.
I did the same thing with Warhammer, and i actually enjoyed WAR for 2 months easily without too many complaints. All my friends who played WAR beta [and raved about it during beta] was so upset when the game released, they did not last past the free month.
So i’m sure i’ll live past the RIFT free month, whether all these people who basically leveled to the BETA-cap and figured out exactly what class+faction to play will last past the free month, another story.
I almost think , alot of players gets “burned out” and if it happens within the first free month it is accompanied by a dissapointment. They THINK it is the game’s fault for not keeping them entertain, but actually it’s THEY who messed up the cycle of how to enjoy the game….
For me WAR was just pure hope more then anything, I stuck with it for good 4-5 month too. Some things were clearly bad but it was the “Best Last Hope” for an RvR game lol. For me Scenarios and badly designed rvr lakes killed it, also 2 sides instead of 3.
This was a good post Keen I think it is a good to counter the hype somewhat.
Oooo, graphs.
Do I did some more in-depth research on the game(love low days at work).
It seems that they gutted world pvp in last patch (uber 1 shot guards all over the place).
There are dungeons teleports (never gona see anyone outside) and people basically seat in insta Warfront queues (hi WAR!).
I guess this answers the play or not play question for me. Not play.
I have taken part in some betas and it took a lot of meddling before I found a Class that was fun to play: Rogue (alas).
I’ve pre-ordered it on the usual premise I have for MMOs now that if I can get a month’s fun for my £25 then so be it – I fully expect to cancel during that month or soon after.
I’m already considering cancelling the order actually because when I used a Soul Planner app to plan the character beyond the Levels 3-20 I’d done in beta I saw massive imbalance and just ludicrous numbers of abilities (many duplicated). I don’t want 30 different buttons to play optimally!
Playing this on a PvP server (which is really the intention of the game) will be a balance nightmare beyond the likes of anything we’ve seen before I’d reckon.
Though not sure anything can ever be as insanely out of balance the WAR Bright Wizard….
But yeah it’s a pretty, shameless WoW-clone with bits of WAR, I saw almost no innovation (AoE Looting yes), it will not dent WoW, it will be the subject of intense forum rage and from my time in the beta I’ve never seen such and ugly, defensive “fanboy” community who were just incapable of discussion without parroting “Go back to WoW” (which I no longer play).
I guess personally I’m somewhere on the powerdive part of the curve 🙂
@Smthin I dunno honestly, but even as Defiant, which is supposedly the Population heavy side of the game the queues are pretty much under a minute and msot of the time instantaneous.
I think maybe alot of this has to do with the static questing, from what ive seen on Lothar theres very little questing going on. Me personally ive leveled the past 2 betas thru Rifting and Warfronts and feel the curve is jsut as good as questing.
Argh I read that Massively article yesterday and thought “well at least with only 4 replies nobody is reading this crap”.
It’s lies and astroturfing to an obscene degree!
I need correct some misconceptions about Rift, sorry but you will say I am fanboy.
@Jay P
The info I received from one alpha tester is:
1- they can say they are alpha testers;
2- they can talk about the content we see at beta;
3- they cannot talk about the content at alpha.
That info can be read at ONE comment at http://dragonchasers.com/2011/02/08/remember-this/
I don’t have any concrete reason for doub that is not true at least two alpha testers are talking what they are permited about the game (to be true, I read 3 alpha testers comments, but the third one wrote it at portuguese, if you can read portuguese it is one comment here: http://www.blogmmo.com.br/open-beta-de-rift/). I too not have any reason for not doubt the alpha testers are testing the end content. I just not saw any alpha tester talking anything “bad” about the game. One is critizing the fact the rift locations are not random, only appear be random, but I guess he wants a thecnology and software that not exist currently (maybe at 5 years?)
@ for all
I too not have any concrete reason for doubt Trion will not have at least a part of the end content ready for the launch. They just announced what end content will be ready at launch: raid fifts, advanced dungeons and one raid instance. The second raid instance will be ready around the time the average 50 level player is geared (by doing the advanced dungeons).
I have no reason for doubt they will have taht end content ready for launch, because a lot of players (and bloggers) simply say they are ready for launch game now form what they saw at beta and because they were too much responsible to beta testers suggestions (please, see ardwulf post http://ardwulfslair.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/so-rift-does-break-a-mold/)
And I repeat the critic I done to Ardwulf’s comment at other blog: what MMO before launch had the end content released at beta stage? if you consider how well they worked the beta, there is any real reason for doubt they will not have it launch?
@ Keen
Rift is not alike WAR. War is a PvP game, and they failed for not understand that RvR was their main point, for not have more than two factions and for not have an end game ready.
Rift is a PvE game with some PvP, because:
1- you can skip PvP if you want. There is an option for make you unPvPable (you need turn it on at options). So, PvP is only for who want it.
2- the faster way to gain xp is closing Rifts and fighting invasions. The rifts (public quests) are the center of the game. That public quest system is PvE.
3- you can craft good gear, better than the ones you gain from quests. I am not sure if they are better than the PvP gear because I don’t tryed PvP (I had enough PvP with Darkfall…), but, from what I saw at beta, the PvP gear be better for PvP and not usable for PvE (that PvP gear gives bonus for fight other players, only).
4- the end game, that was just revealed by the dev’s podcast, is PvE and not PvP: raid rifts, special dungeons and raid instances.
If Rift is a PvP game, WoW too is one because have battlegrounds.
So, Rift and WAR are similar games as a PvE game with some PvP is similar to a PvP game with some PvE.
And please take note that any population unbalance between guardiuant/defiant factions will affect ONLY the PvP and mostly the PvP servers. Teh game is mostly PvE. Taht is diferent from WAR.
@ Olric
the center of the game are the rifts. The faster way to gain xp is closing rifts. And it is good idea complete the 5 quests for gain more souls closing rifts at middle teens levels. The dungeons will give food gear, but they are for groups. PvP will give to you gear for PvP. End game is PvE (raid rifts, advanced dungeons and instanced raids).
@ Keen
you too not consider the soul system and the fact that players can change their 3 souls just clicking at “role”. For example, inside a dungeon I can change my necromancer/warlock/chloromancer (pet class/dps that was using pet as secondary tank) to a chloromancer/archon/dominator (healer/buffer/debuffer/CC) when we get to teh last boss just clicking a button. At Rift you can build combos that let rogues tank, warriors be support buffers, mages heal and dps at same time, and clerics can heal, tank or dps. Yes, nothing original, you see, all games the mages are healers and clerics and rogues are tanks… ops, rogues too can be healers (bard).
[by the way, our five members group don’t had a warrior, our tank was a cleric]
@ Keen
“Transparency is really important here. Very few developers are ever TRULY transparent with what they’re creating. The false sense of being let in on what’s going on is a classical ruse and one used all the time in MMO’s. ”
Yes, you are right. The problem is that the Rift’s hype started after the beta testers had the NDA lifted. The hype come from teh players and not from dev full of hot air (yes, I am talking about WAR).
The Rift’s cinematic trailer come just one month before the launch. SWTOR’s cinematic trailer come maybe one year before launch. GW2’s manifesto trailer come maybe one year and half before launch.
And comparating Rift’s cinematic trailer to SWTOR’cinematic trailer is a joke: “for the Republic”! and jump to battle wins for large margin. EQ2 cinematic’s trailer (you remember it?) is better than Rift’s cinematic trailer, lol
What the Rift’s devs had to show, they made it with the beta. Can you give any example of other dev’s group that were more transparent thant Rift one? Or other beta that had a game “ready for launch”?
Ops, at the post above where you read “The dungeons will give food gear”, the correct is “good gear”
[…] But I think the main gist conforms to Keen’s graph. […]
At best I will play Rift in 6-12 months time. There are so many classes and so many balance issues that will especially come up with more PvP that it is going to suck to play (for me) in the first few months.
Rift has a properly explorable world, where you can pretty much get to anything you can see. It’s the first MMO I’ve played since Vanguard where that’s the case and that’s a major attraction for me.
It also has a solid, active NPC/Creature environment, with a lot of stuff interacting with other stuff that’s very amusing and intriguing to observe. That’s another major attraction.
The quests aren’t in the least linear. There is a plethora of them, most of them don’t require any lead-in from previous quest lines, and if you run about like a hyperactive toddler and take every quest you see until your book is full, then let them all complete as you run about exploring and fighting the stuff that either attacks you or gets in your way, you’ll find you have a much more organic, naturalistic experience that won’t even feel like questing at all. The quests aren’t unusual or original, but they are well-written.
Depends what you want out of a game, but for me its an Explorer’s dream.
“First of all, I am amazed you have ever even heard of Gartner. It’s not something a typical MMORPG player would even know about..”
The guy’s in school. He is going to apply MMOs to every single class he takes, and any website he reads.
I personally had no need for an IT analysis and consulting firm back in my college days. Hell, maybe Gartner wasnt even around in 1990.
I’m actually surprised Keen hasnt busted out a2+b2=WOW. 😉
I have played in a few of the Beta’s now and have gotten a good feel for the game. As you have said it is certainly not ground breaking in terms of new innovative ways from MMOs. It just seems to get right all those others things already done by other MMos. And as you say, this is not a bad thing.
However, Rift is a very solid and fun game to play and certainly very enjoyable to me and my gaming friends. So I have pre-ordered (as well as a lot of my guildmates) as it should give us several months of gaming together and really that is all what matters.
@ Smithin
They removed those guards based on player feedback for the next Beta.
“Just before Beta 6, we made an anti griefing change that prevented enemy wardstones at hubs and towns from being destroyed by the opposing faction, and significantly boosted guard strength around PvE hubs. We’re pretty happy with how that worked out on the PvE servers.
In time for Open Beta, we’ve developed the ability to repeal those changes on the PvP servers only, to see if they can remain playable without it. Ideally, it’s our hope that there’s gameplay value in having people being able to band together to attack and defend those areas on PvP servers.
If you choose to play on a PvP server, it’s our assumption that you not only don’t mind that level of interruption from that PvP attack-and-defense style of gameplay, but are actively excited about taking part in it. If you want uninterrupted PvE questing, choosing a PvE server is definitely recommended.”
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?61579-Post-Beta-6-On-Rifts-Raids-PvP-and-Damage%85&p=949848#post949848
@Phandy thats a good sign that they reacted in this way
Keen, I remember reading an article very similar way back in the days of Vanguard hype. The older I get, the more things stay the same.
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/59654
The graph apparently didn’t make it when the content got merged to the new site, but you get the idea.
ps, I remember the article because I wrote it, not patting myself on the back, just amazed that we all still get all wrapped up in hype – haven’t we been bitten enough by that viper?
I’ve ordered Rift and look forward to playing it. I have kept my expectations in check and if I enjoy it for time beyond the initial month included with the box, then I’ll call it a win.
Rift will not flop, it has solid gameplay and the underlying game engine is probably the best execution I’ve ever seen in an MMO. Performance is stellar, the netcode is stable as hell and it makes WAR’s pathetic engine look like junior grade 8 class Q-Basic programming in 1992.
@ Keen
And to be clear, I wasn’t trying to insult you at all. I truly think you have become a wiser and more moderate of a critic, something that makes your blog even better. You used to be very passionate and very trusting, which was good in it’s own way, but you’ve changed in time to sound more and more…professional. More reasonable. Even better, unlike some you haven’t fallen from those heights into cynicism, you seem to have hit the perfect sweet spot in my opinion.
It’s just nice to see your posts evolve over time from when you started your blog to now. It shows that you aren’t just a set of opinions that can be regurgitated on every new topic with increasingly predictable posts like, say, syncaine for example. You are a person with a brain and you think things through, and things CAN change your opinion.
110% agree with Keen on this one.
I played the last beta and came away with basically the same thoughts.
1) Rift is polished and very pretty.
2) Rift provided nothing new.
3) All the recent hype is WAY over blown.
I played Aion to level 50 and then quit. This gives me much of the same vibe. I promised myself I would never be “Aioned” again. Good luck to everyone out there, but I think Keen nailed this one.
I don’t at all expect to be playing this game by the end of the year, but I have pre-ordered the digital collector’s (20% off, can’t argue with that!), and I am really looking forward to it because it’s something new to play that after a quick bash on the beta seems like something I’d like to play more off, and damn I can’t wait to explore.
I agree with Sanz. It’s something to fill the gap. When I get bored of it, I won’t be disappointed because I know it’s nothing new. Now, Guild Wars 2 I’m looking forward to. That’s a game that could easily come with a lot of disappointment, but then again with no monthly fees on that one, I don’t think I’ll mind as much as if I paid for a month and then hated it.