The End Before the Start [2/15/24]
Winter is always a bit of a weird time in MMOs, because no matter what there will be some sort of break around Christmas and the New year, probably 3 to 4 weeks of nothing new and probably not much on the other side. This time around the sun things are mostly the same but with a twist; Every major player in the MMO scene is currently heads down working on their next major expansion. This means that 3 to 4 weeks of nothing is now to be accompanied by 4 to 7 months of not much else.
On the bright side, I think that’s great! I’m glad that these games will be getting a few good months of anticipation for what’s next while players finish up having fun with the most recent adventures. Especially in the face of Games as a Service typically being on their way out in parts of the industry that tried to capitalize on short term hype of long term projects.
Final Fantasy 14 players especially will be familiar with a large crowd of the player base only really being around from a patch X.5.5 to Y.0.5 (final major patch to first major patch) time frame. This means out of the 18-24 month expansion cycle, almost a third of the player base is only active in game for about 7 to 9 months. Presumably this time is split into 2 sections; 4 to 5 months prior to expansion launch when there's ample time to get caught up and experience the whole expansions accelerated gear progression, and 3 to 4 months after the New expansion drops to experience the hype and become invested before taking a break as the expansion continues on.
This is a very common strategy and I would recommend it to anyone interested in MMOs. It can be very daunting knowing that a single hobby can sap a few hours a week out of your life for 9 to 12, but know there's a solid year or more you can take a break without missing everything really helps balance out the experience. Obviously all of these games are designed from the ground up to facilitate daily gameplay, but I do think the end of the expansion is already the best part, followed closely by the launch period when everything is new.
For several years now, developers and publishers around the world have been chasing after the monthly income proven possible by WoW and FF14, but all that's come of that is a bunch of games being half baked over a year after launch. When the pacing and quantity are just right, many MMOs (even Destiny 2) have proven that the core and main stay audience can be hyped up and grown well into the cycle and that even bad expansions can end on a good foot. I would argue the worst expansions of any game I talk about on this page ended better than they started once players witnessed the rest of the vision besides what was originally found to be garbage.
I've asked several people about their favorite time periods to be involved in an MMO and while they all immediately answered that they prefer to play constantly and keep up, they also all mentioned how life's struggles and scheduling never really allows them to keep that schedule. A few people still claimed the start of an expansion is best but the remainder all though coming back at the end would make the next beginning even better, and Ill stand with those guys as we ride out the end of several different expansions this year.
