2015: Fine then, bugger off!
So it's that time of the year again, time for drinks, Auld Lang Syne, and looking forward to what's ahead: Yep, it's New Year's Eve.
So 2015 in WoW wasn't its most shining moment ever in all honesty. Realistically this year will probably go down in WoW history as its worst. Hopefully. Because that means better is to come.
Warlords came out towards the arse end of last year, and this year saw the game receive very little content, not least in the form of *cough*major*cough*patch*cough* 6.1.
So in effect the game had 1 content patch all of 2015 in the shape of 6.2.x, an all time low for WoW, at the level expected of an aging F2P game. WoW is aging, that's undeniable, but it's hardly 100% F2P atm. In fact it's still by far the biggest subscription MMO on the planet. It should be treated as such by Blizzard...
That and Garrisons. Eurgh.
On the plus side, it was the year I finally changed main characters after 6½/7 years and stopped tanking and went back to DPS. Glad I did, much less pressure to attend raids and perform in pugs/LFRs.
So this year I had the opportunity to try out several other MMOs: Wildstar, Final Fantasy 14 and Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited.
Wildstar is a fun game, no doubt about it. It's colourful, comical and brash in its use of pallette. Well worth dipping into, but I eventually stopped playing it because of a lack of guild or friends ingame to help make the whole experience worthwhile. Definitely a fun game though, and easy to give a crack as it's now F2P.
Final Fantasy 14 was a different kettle of fish from Wildstar. A total contrast in fact. Where Wildstar was comic styled fun, FF14 is very po-faced, with seemingly very little humour. It's a very dry experience, but very much a worthy game. Again I stopped playing because of subs costs (I was playing & paying for 3 MMOs simultaneously), so until the sub cost is dropped and it goes F2P it's unlikely I'll return.
Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited is the Buy to Play iteration of the Elder Scrolls Online, a game that has dropped the initial subscription model, but still costs money to purchase the base game. This is one I've really been having a ball with, far more than FF14 or even Wildstar to a degree.
That may be to do with my long-standing love of the Elder Scrolls games, right the way back to Daggerfall back in the day. I'm still only about 20 hours into ESO atm, but I'm loving it, and the lack of a subs fee helps in this regard immensely.
It does have a cash shop, but it's a pretty good one, and one I've already spent some money on for a pet and a mount (both Jaguars!), as well as a costume set. Job done I suppose Bethesda!
Pillars of Eternity was another game I was really happy to see released this year. Paying serious amounts of homage to its forefathers Baldur's Gate & Planescape: Torment both thematically and graphically, this has led the resurgence of the CRPG that will only continue even further next year with the release of Torment: Tides of Numenera and more...
There were plenty of other games, such as Metal Gear Solid 5 etc, but those were the main games I sunk time into this year, and ones I'd recommend you pick up if you haven't already!
All that's left to be said is have a Happy New Year!