At the time Final Fantasy XI launched its second expansion, I loathed it. Not only did it offer no new jobs or the like, but it launched when I was not at all flush with money to buy video games. It felt like a bit of a slap, to be charged money for something that only offered story which was barred to all but the top end of players. Years later, on the other hand, I… well, I still dislike it. None of those things are suddenly good. But the new areas are lovely, the new story is good, and it was a genuine attempt to give the game new spaces to explore without new jobs or an updated level cap. I can respect it more.
Our reactions to any expansion are largely temporal, things we experience in the moment based on where we are when they launch. Sometimes, as the years go by, you start to look back at something you once disliked with the ability to re-examine major updates or system changes, ultimately leading you to accept that it might not have been as bad as you thought. Other times your opinion actually diminishes over time; either a once-beloved update reveals flaws you overlooked before, or a bad one has downsides greater than you first noticed. So have you ever changed your mind on an MMO expansion over time?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
