It's been almost three months and I cannot believe it, but I have been thoroughly enjoying our time in WoW. That's the kind of thing I promised I would never type in a Guild News post, but damn if it isn't honest. I don't recant all of the mordant things I said about WoW's first few years, but they have made some excellent tweaks. Are there things I'd change further? Sure. I'd really liked to see more open-field PvP ala DAoC. I'd also like it more if there were static CC immunity timers. But it's nothing game-breaking.

There has, however, been a lot of talk lately about what's coming next. Cataclysm is obviously the surefire thing to be fun. But what about new games? (I'm going to set TOR aside for a moment as it is too far away.) Maybe it is just me, but it seems like all the new games with promise are being published by unknown indy companies or are taking the f2p/micro-transaction model.

Of all the indy games & companies, Dawntide arouses my PvPeen the most. Sandbox? Check. Skill-based progression? Check. Focus on PvP right from initial development? Check. Completely open relationship with testers and people just interested in the game? Big check. Unfortunately, I have a really hard time trusting indy companies. Maybe it was Wolfpack's disaster with Shadowbane, but I'm always waiting for each independent product to have a ground-breaking error which makes it completely suck. That's why I didn't even think of trying Darkfall. I'm hoping to get into Dawntide beta soon and give their progress a once over--and I'd love to be wrong. Even if it's more of an alpha than beta, give me a reason to believe you're going to get it right.

However, even more than indy companies, the f2p/micro-transaction model absolutely terrifies me. It feels like some far eastern scam in which my social security number and credit card numbers are stolen and I end up scraping the last of my money together to buy a plane ticket in order to reenact Rambo in a jungle of evil game developers. What was so wrong with the subscription model? Clearly, someone saw a way to increase profits, and as a consumer that benefits me one in every one thousand chances. Not good times. Games like Allods and now Aika--which actually sounds a lot like DAoC--are the types which could potentially blow me away but could equally blow my life's savings. Micro-transactions also have a separate history of going horribly wrong by allowing vastly inferior gamers to purchasing game-breaking PvP advantages. It's tough to get excited when I know some hackjob can buy his victory over me.

Now listen: I couldn't possibly possibly root for indy companies more. (I'm an indy snob afterall!) And I'd be downright ecstatic if someone made DAoC 2.0 with a cash shop that was purely for cosmetic changes. But I've been burned and I can't be too trusting.

So I'll stick with what I know works and is hellafun: back to WoW and waiting for a Dawntide invite.