Developer consistency.

Daybreak:
"Static OMM missions give XP too easily, people should be exploring EQ zones instead, we will nerf OMM accordingly."

Also Daybreak:
"The easiest way to to gain XP is to complete Overseer quests and to never leave your guild hall."

Cannot monetize OMM's retroactively.

The misguided use of the "Carrot and Stick" mentality of devlopment means push the plebs into content where we make more bank is the only "development" arc anymore.

Functionality is secondary, fun is tertiary.

I used to love the idea of online play. At this point a game being online serves as a red flag for me.

Does it have microtransactions? How much worse and grindy have they made the gameplay to monetize their online store? Does it have some stupid game-pass shenanigans to force you to log in to progress? What happens to my investment if they shut it down? Should I even bother with this game, probably not.

Fallout 76 approves of this sentiment.

Minecraft too.

The list goes on.

The biggest red flag is, will they totally overwrite / disregard the existing content and basically bait and switch it. Nerf all the old ways to force adoption of lackluster content.

I remember, I remember, that first Diablo disc that was sold in 96 in stores was incomplete and didn't work from disc so you HAD to go online and download That opened the floodgates to these shenanigans.

I think the day of developing a game and just selling it for profit is behind us. The money men realised there is more money in microtransactions to the point that the actual game is just the by-product and is often given out for free.

It started to happen with cars since they have internet on many newer models. You could buy a BMW for £60,000 and then pay an extra subscription for heated seats (£15 per month) or heated steering wheel (£10 per month). If you don't pay, they turn it off over the internet. Fortunately, the car community was in uproar and BMW have since cancelled it, but it will happen again.

The MMO community unfortunately didn't complain strong enough and we are where we are.

Companies no longer want to just sell you a product and leave it there, they've got to have an edge to keep you where they want you.

What i do but in the baz.

They see all the money raised during extra life and think…how do we tap into that.

There's like, 14 years between those two things. I'm surprised you didn't go back to the DoD monster mission nerfs if you're going for that deep of a cut.

I remember when they nerfed manastone. That's 25 years of things I haven't let go. My therapist just rolls their eyes when I bring up the subject.

Audi's do that now - I was in one the other day that wanted me to pay to turn adaptive cruise back on.

Apologies for derailment

Even rich folk complain about microtransactions and feature paywalls. They're just annoying.

Have you not seen the past 10 years of expansions? I commend the high consistency of content reuse.

You found a therapist who knows about EQ? I demand proof.