My ride down the MMO boulevard.

Lets begin where it all started for me. 

XI is where it all started for me.  I remember the day I first ventured into Vana'diel.  It was officially my first MMO (technically, PSO isn't considered a MMO, but a dungeon crawler).  Initially, I was just so damn excited because it was a Final Fantasy title and I was absolutely hooked with online gaming at the time due to PSO.

Initially it started on the DreamCast of course.  Those were the days.  Hogging up the phone line on a 56k connection and being constantly screamed at by the parents to get off the line.  Staying up in well into the night for uninterrupted online play.  Then the glorious Xbox and broadbrand graced my household and the screaming for the phone line were no more...but the all nighters marched on!  I got near to level 160 on my character on PSO, and if you know anything about that game, that was no small feat.

Then came news of XI from the land of the rising sun.  I was a Final Fantasy nut back then.  Maxing out and doing every single content to do in VI to X.  So I was absolutely infatuated about XI the moment I heard it would be online.  After having tasted online gameplay with PSO, I couldn't wait to play together with friends and other people internationally.  Scouring age old XI sites like KillingIfirt, FFXIAH, various Japanese sites...it was destined to become my next time commitment game that would earn me the nickname "Cave dweller" from various friends.

I enjoyed my time in XI immensely.  My first step into Vana'diel I can still clearly remember to this day.  The sense of adventure and world to explore inside me was exploding like a super nova.  It was fun, plain and simple as that.  And not only that, I made life long friends.  In fact, I still keep in touch with a few of them and two of them went as far as to invite me to their weddings a couple of years ago.  That was the golden aspect of XI to me, the social and group aspect of the game. 

And then most of us made the transition into WoW together.  Not because we came to dislike XI, but it was time for a change.  And WoW made enough of an impression with most of the LS members that it warranted me into purchasing WoW.  Believe it or not, I absolutely hated it when the LS members talked about WoW beta when we were busy doing activities in XI.  I didn't want change, I liked everything as it was.

Initially, WoW didn't impress me all too much.  I didn't like the art styling at first.  I didn't like how there weren't any real story line driven missions like XI, but I was impressed with the quest system.  I didn't like that fact that one character was locked to one class.  I didn't like how the music was sporadic and uninspiring.  I didn't like how there weren't any cut scenes.  Overall, I could not fathom what all my friends were going so crazy about.  I mean, we enjoyed XI together for years, how were they talking about WoW like it was a piece of heaven after all that?

But I gave it that chance, even if it was mostly due to friends.  And you know what?  It did grow on me.  Oh, I did take a hiatus from the game.  Reached level 40 mage, then took a break until just around when the Honor (PvP) patch was implemented.  I log back in after months of being gone and instantly I'm getting screamed at by friends/LS/guild members to haul my ass to X area after a "Cel!  You're back!" "Is that really Cel?!" "OMG!  I spot a Cel!" etc... greeting.

After my return, rekindling my interest in the game and spending years together adventuring with old friends online again, I was having some of my best moments ever in my life.  Chatting away, laughing off my chair from jokes and jibber jabber on Ventrilo, and being a part of those moments you will always remember and then laugh about over a beer with those friends.

One particular moment I remember when the entire guild met to head towards the fabled Molten Core.  As we were running down the spiral structure in Blackrock mountain towards the window into the first raid of the game, something...unusual happened.  We were like lemmings, following one of our fearless guild leaders towards an epic adventure when he ran off the ledge right into the lava....and like in a true lemming fashion, half of us followed suit (some even jumping dramatically, twirling, spinning and casting off spells), assuming it was the shortcut we heard and read about before hand.  Only to realize after a few moments we just leaped to our poor characters death.  The leader has disconnected.  Still in the midst of more then half the raid members reviving, he returned.  And then hilarity and friendships and bonds were formed with chuckles and laughter emitting from Ventrilo.

And then like everything in human history, things started changing over the years.  Father time is relentless and when he starts knocking, you can't do anything but answer.  Members started focusing on their careers or studies (I was one), a few getting into serious relationships, family issues, a couple getting married and a couple starting to have children.  It was life moving forward, people moving on.

This is eventually how my time in WoW started coming to an end.  I switched servers to join some real life buddies, but even then, it wasn't the same.  Playing with people your know purely online is different.  Call me crazy if you want, but I found it was more meaningful.  Sure, playing with friends I see and talk to everyday and enjoy the occasional night out with is great, but it just wasn't the same.  And to be completely honest, the changes and development process of WoW was something I could not agree with anymore.  Most of it anyways, some were brilliant honestly speaking.  And even more honestly speaking, I just grew bored of it overall.  I officially stopped playing WoW and canceled the subscription a couple of months after the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Of course there were various other titles I tried a hand at during my WoW days, but none of those really ever came into a part of my MMO life.  WAR, AoC, Aion,  EVE, LoTRO and a number of F2P Asian titles.  But those were all just fillers to fill the void, and some even in hopes of replacing WoW.  However, I played none longer then the free 30day trial they all came with.

Next up the plate was XIV.  I was eagerly anticipating this title for years now, after SEs Rapture tech demo back in 2005.  And with my past life in XI, it was easily my most anticipated title of the decade.  I got back in touch with some old XI buddies.  Some were still playing WoW, some went back to XI, much to my surprise, and some just weren't playing anything at all.  Most didn't seem interested in it at all, not surprising.  I knew the ones playing WoW were still having a blast and the ones who weren't were facing the realities of life.

After the official announcement of XIV, there was the expected boom of fan sites and forum boards.  I browsed a number of them on a daily basis until I found a home with Eorzeapedia.  Great community, great administrators and a clean simple layout that I look for in any website.  My enthusiasm for the game exponentially grew as the community speculated, broke down everything SE had to offer, toss around ideas freely, goof off in the general sections...

I was hooked again.  I realized what I was missing in my dying days in WoW.  A community to share equal levels of excitement for a title with a tinge of reminiscing of our past days in the prequel to XIV, XI.  Up all hours of the night, eating away at bits of information about the game from halfway across the globe...it was like being a freshmen in highschool all over again.

Then alpha happened.  Then beta.  Then launch.  And then we all know what happened from there.  The die hards of the franchise and the fanboys of SE defending the game tooth and nail against the onslaught that was being delivered onto the game.  I first got into XIV in beta stage 2.  Initially, I was...disappointed.  Then as the launch date loomed and seeing how SE showcased XIV at PAX Prime 2010...I was worried.  Very worried.  Unless a very big update happened from the open beta to launch two week period, I knew things were about to go from disappointing to complete disbelief.

And it did.  After the beating that not only XIV but SE took as a whole, and after months of me admittedly "raging" out onto the game and company I had so much faith in, I felt betrayed.  Angry.  Even though a good friend of mine warned me, told me it was going to tank, I still had my eyes covered with rose tinted glasses.  Some say I had too high expectations, but I completely disagree.  If anything, the games current status in the genre speaks for itself.  Something went wrong (basically, most of just the sound fundamentals that every good game absolutely needs), it became the MMO game to hold a standard on what not to do.  Not a very flattering title, eh?

Even now, with a new team leader in place and shifted personal and promise from SE that things will change for the better.  That XIV will be getting their full attention (not likely, as of course they have numerous titles slated for the next year) I just cannot bear myself to linger on this title any longer.  In my opinion, XIV has achieved the status of a saturated, past its prime, and in its decay life cycle in half a years time MMO title.  There is optimism with the new team, the expected PS3 version...but much like trigger happy investors, those are and will be just a blip on the line in the long run...if XIV will ever have one.

XIV has dug such a deep hole onto itself, I cannot foresee it having any kind of successful future of life cycle like its predecessor enjoyed.  While it is a video game, it is still very much a business.  And a business not making money will go down.  Forget the initial investment made into the title, the game is nearly at half a years upkeep with absolutely no revenue at this point in time except for the box sales.  Which, from what I gathered, were not too impressive and were on the sale racks and bins within a couple of months.

Unless SE is willing to do a dramatic and game altering change right down to the core fundamentals, and I mean even to the point of reworking their supposedly next generation Crystal Tools engine, I will never, ever try my hand at XIV again.  The game would have done well if this was 5 years ago, but with titles like RIFT, GW2, TERA, TOR...to contend with in the next year or two, the climb to glory is going to be virtually impossible.  Not to mention they still have to deal with the monster known as WoW.  And although it's still at least 3-4 years off, Blizzard does have another MMO in the works they will eventually compete with...if XIV stays around long enough.

At the current moment, I am not subscribed to any MMOs.  My last title played was DCUO, which is fun mind you, but I will have to give it at least another couple months to smooth out to warrant my money.  I've experienced a couple of RIFT betas and while it is a greatly well polished game for a beta status MMO, it's honestly very bland.  Everything it has, it's been done.  It's unique Rifts feature is really just a one trick pony.  However, if you're just looking for a new title, a new world with a very familiar play style to WoW and WAR, RIFT is for you.

Now, I'm not exactly sure why I went on with this litt...err, long ramble...but I guess I needed to let something out.  Thank God for blogs and if anyone here actually sat through that, well, cheers.

P.S.
Critiques are welcome.