Seen a lot of people talking about trying something new while Blizzard goes through all the drama they’ve created and a lot of misinformation about the alternative games you could play right now. Wanted to clear something up with the big three that keep coming up.
Guild wars 2: Base game is free to play in its entirety, has two expansions and a third coming out February 2022. Contrary to what I’m seeing here, you do not need to buy BOTH expansions, you can buy Path of Fire (2nd expansion) for $29.99 and get the first expansions free. This is standard with all of the big four MMOs out today. (WoW, FFXIV, ESO, GW2). You do not need to subscribe to Guild Wars 2, it’s FTP for base and BTP for expansions. The cash shop is focused almost primarily on microtransactions and has no pay to win mechanics (using the actual definition of the term, not he mtx=bad definitions floating around here). There is no endless gear grind/chase. You focus on the sets specific for the class/build you want and you get it. From that point on you’re fine unless you want to go after your legendary weapon, think relic weapon in FFXIV or legendary in WoW.
Elder Scrolls Online: Has a free trial for the base game and five expansions available. Like every MMO mentioned here, you only need to buy the most recent expansion and you get all of the rest + the base game for free, for $59.99.
ESO has two different models of play for players to choose from. BTP and you’re done or BTP + Subscription (like WoW and FFXIV). None of the core content (base story and expansions) is locked if you do not have a subscription. For those who subscribe, you get bonus content and features (similar to SWTOR) as an additional incentive to subscribe. These are primarily cosmetics, but you also get some additional DLC content that has side content (6-8 hours of side story) that has zero bearing whatsoever to the main story or the expansions. This DLC is free when you have a sub. HOWEVER, you can unlock this content permanently for your account if you a) use cash (don’t unless you REALLY want it now) or you use the in-game currency you get for being a subscriber. This currency is used a lot to buy the DLC to unlock it permanently for your account. As a subscriber you also get a crafting bag with no inventory cap to store all your materials in.
Content wise, ESO has more than enough to keep people busy for months subbed or not, but if you’re subbed, by the time you finish, you’ll have earned enough of the currency to purchase all of the DLC.
FFXIV: Similar model as WoW, subscription based and need to buy the expansions. However, FFXIV gives the base game and first expansion free to players in their entirety, so you only need to purchase the other expansions. However, you need only buy the Shadowbringers expansion to get the Stormblood expansion for free. This will also be true for Endwalker as well, just don’t pre-order Endwalker if this is your plan as that particular combo won’t come out until closer to or at release of the expansion.
One HUGE caveat that SE is HORRIBLE at telling players about.
You MUST, and I repeat MUST, purchase the expansions that match the version of the free trial/base game your account was created on. Due to license issues, there is a Steam version and a Windows version. The licenses do not mix, so whichever way you decide to go, stick with it.
I’ve seen way too many people get confused about this, get frustrated, and then stop bothering to buy and play the game. This is SE’s fault for not having this disclaimer on the store. So, if you are a STEAM user, make sure you begin the free trial on STEAM and if you like the game, buy the expansions on STEAM as well. If you do not like STEAM (weirdo), I suggest getting the game via SE store or through digital codes via GoG (make sure the codes match the version you want as GoG has both STEAM and Windows.) I personally recommend SE store, but I know GoG can oftentimes be cheaper. I’m always iffy on cheap code places like GoG but that’s just me.
Shadowbringers standard edition is currently on sale for $15.99 (down from $39.99) and comes with Stormblood for free.
Should you wait for Endwalker to purchase, if it matches previous pricing, you’re looking at $39.99 or $49.99, I forget which it is exactly since I always go for the bigger packages.
Streamers to watch to see if you like said content because looking at a lot of these posts, almost none of you have actually played any of the above because you literally do not know what you’re talking about when discussing these games.
MightyTeapot and Mukluk for Guild Wars 2. They have more content and guides on YouTube than Twitch.
Fengrush and Fextralife for ESO, but I suggest their vods or YouTube for now as they are both playing the New World beta on streams.
Mr. Happy, Work2Game, Ethys Asher (FFXIV’s version of Nobbel but with a sexy British voice), all three have more YouTube content than Twitch.
In terms of population for these games. There are a decent amount of people playing at all hours generally (can’t say about when I’m sleeping obviously) and I’ve never really needed to wait for people to get on to get anything done in any of these games.
The Twitch presence of these streamers is lower than what you see on WoW, but much of that is due to the streamer and type of content being streamed. Their YouTube presence alone makes their Twitch presence non-existent, so go there for most.
Any questions, message me. I actively play all of these on rotation and can provide an unbiased view on each of them as each of them have their pros and cons.