I’ve spent some time lately looking over gaming sites and some blogs. One thing that I’ve found is discussion and news on F2P (Free to Play) MMOs. I tend to only play AAA titles, though I’ve tried many F2P games in the past. None of them really did it for me. I have nothing against the micro-transaction business model — I actually really like it. But so far no game using it has really made me want to buy anything, that could be changing in the future.

So far I’ve given Runes of Magic, Atlantica Online and Wizard101 some time. Each of them free, each with optional micro-transactions. (W101 does have an optional subscription method, giving options is great–Dungeon Runners had that too, and I rather liked it) What was important to me with these three was the rise in quality over other F2P games I’ve played in the past. These are getting close to standing with some of the AAA titles. Even if they are a bit below them, they have one huge advantage — they’re FREE. I’ll detail a little about them that I’ve seen so far here, and might continue in the future.

RoM — it’s basically an assemblage of the popular MMO titles and some of their features, especially WoW. While I don’t usually like seeing a bunch of seemingly (even obviously) cut and paste features and content from one game to a next… this one does it for free and mixes some things up. Having a dual class system (I’m guessing a la Guild Wars, never really played that one much) allows some good variety and customization. Being able to select what stats you want furthers that, though I’ve never really cared about stats. Item content might be a bit small, I’ll really have to dig further into the game before making a conclusion on that. Crafting — I tend to like crafting in games, and do it a lot — it’s pretty standard here; however, you do get to take multiple crafting skills and so that’s a bonus. Other features are housing that is kinda EQ2 meets CoH/V bases. Overall, pretty good.

AO — This is the one that I’ve liked most so far. It’s an asian themed MMO, if you’re familiar with them you know the drill — pretty artwork, grindish leveling, high end turns to PvP. (and I think raiding, havn’t really looked into the end game much) The combat is turn-based similar to the Final Fantasy series (and many, many other series) with heavy pet use in the form of mercenaries. You get 8 pets total in the game, there’s good variety in them and you can equip them, modify their stats and skills. That’s practically gaming nirvana for me. Crafting is in the game, you queue up a workload then battle monsters in order to work it off and collect your finished product — a bit different from anything else I’ve seen and a cool way to help you through the level grinding. (especially with big workloads)

W101 — A F2P game with a low subscription option (10 bucks/month outside of a family plan) or purchasable game currency to unlock content bit by bit. While this may sound silly, I think it’s rather cool. Think about your typical MMO, let’s say WoW, you only really need to be in one zone at a time… instead of paying 15 bucks a month, for the whole game, why not spend a dollar or two on the zone you’re using at the time? For a hardcore gamer this option would probably not work, burning through content as fast as possible — the subscription model would be best for them. But for the mose casual gamer, or even non-gamer, that might spend a week or two in a single zone… this could only cost a few bucks a month. Or, if there’s some zones you don’t care about — don’t pay for them. It’s a highly kid and family friendly game, but that doesn’t mean it’s incredibly easy or simple. Combat is turn-based and done through cards, which summon up monsters and buffs/debuffs/heals. The monsters attack one of your enemies and then disappear. The use of different creatures for combat adds some extra entertainment to combat — instead of some sparkly particle effects, you’re treated to colorful animations that tend to be pretty humurous. Group combat seems to take place whether you’re in a group or not. The fights are shown in the game world, you can wander into them and join others. Mobs range from normal to elite to bosses (that I’ve seen), it doesn’t seem any of them are impossible to solo, but elite and boss mobs are much harder than normal ones, adding a bit of satisfaction to victory. Overall I think it’s a solid MMO, and if you’re a casual gamer or have a family with younger children — it’s worth a try.