While I seem to have cultivated the impression that I play a thousand MMOs at once with my unlimited playtime, that’s all smoke and mirrors for the fact that I’ve been absolutely crunched for time this spring and have seen my play time cut down overall. Plus, I’ve been mostly focused on World of Warcraft and LOTRO, due to just being into these games right now and excited for the major upcoming patches.
There isn’t anything super-big on the immediate horizon (unfortunately) that has my excitement stirring. I keep tossing around Project Gorgon, Shroud of the Avatar, and Sea of Thieves as my next online adventures, but I’m still waiting on the first two to get to a more finished state, and who knows when SoT will come out.
So there is every chance in the world that some time this spring, my whims will turn back to old favorite MMOs, especially if I get into a content lull with one or both of my main games right now. The question that has been loosely bouncing around in my mind is, which game will I go back to? I’m quite disillusioned with RIFT right now, and there are several other fainter prospects (like DDO and Fallen Earth) that probably don’t stand a chance. Still, I think there are four titles that could be contenders as 2017 continues for a grand Syp return.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
While I did play a couple of sessions as of late, I still haven’t gotten back on board with this former favorite MMO. I would like to get through the story, to be sure, but it’s disheartening to hear about the current state of the endgame and game design as a whole, and if I’m going back to a game, I at least want the illusion that it’s going to be for a good long while instead of just to the end of a story and that’s it. I’d also have to pay for one month of subscription to unlock all of the expansions, which is a very minor concern.
Guild Wars 2
It’s been a long, long time since I played Guild Wars 2, and that might be a signal in and of itself that potential interest has been rejuvenated and I could enjoy the game once more “fresh.” There’s certainly a lot to do, although I think that if I went back, I really would want to reroll and bring up a new character from scratch to properly get into it. The announcement of a new expansion that sounds a lot more interesting than Heart of Thorns would go a long way to wooing me.
WildStar
Argh, you have no idea how much it hurts me that I’ve wandered away from this game. I still contend that it is an underrated piece of fine entertainment with so many good elements… but I cannot deny that I’m worried about the game’s future and hesitant to get back on board without seeing at least some minor sign of a renaissance. I do miss the housing, the races, the music, the visuals, and the design, so I could always find myself back on Nexus one day. Plus, I never did get to level that Esper!
Final Fantasy XIV
I’m iffy on this one. I definitely enjoyed my time with it for a few months a year ago, but it’s been a while and even back then I felt like I was playing the world’s longest game of catch-up. Good community. Some very annoying features and design (and the nodding, oh the nodding). There’s an expansion, and that’s always an event that draws attention… and that Red Mage looks pretty sweet. I’d have to really commit if I did return, subscribing up and giving it some of my time. I’m not saying no, I’m not saying yes, I’m just saying… check in with me in a month or so.
Bio Break 
Like probably most of your readers, I have some history with all of these games. I ended up patching and logging in to WildStar for the free level boosted character. But once I logged into that character I was barraged with quests — tons of phone calls, exclamations everywhere, no guidance about what to do and what to skip. So I just logged out after doing the capital city race challenge. Might be the last time I ever log into that game? A melancholy thought.
I’ve probably already logged into SWToR for he last time. I’m simply burned out on Bioware storytelling, and I’m no longer sold on the idea that the game has anything else to offer.
For GW2, I feel that the streak from Season 2 to the present — emphasizing challenge and structured play — has undermined much of what I liked in the game. I’m still waiting for a return to the mostly low-key and unstructured playstyle that I loved.
FFXIV, though, that’s home.
I’m back in Wildstar and one of my own “play sometime” games, Elder Scrolls Online, at the moment and loving both.
With Wildstar I’d popped back in a couple of times but not stuck to it, then I came back and have broadened out to do less end-game and more crafting catchup and filling in gaps for paths and exploration. As you say the game has a lot of great features – in particular I love the characterful nature of the zones in this game. Plus my Snarflynx is the best mount I have ever had in any game, I can’t help but smile when I’m zooming around and it starts purring!
I’d played quite a lot of SWTOR in a short space of time both last summer and then again over the winter and I think I’m out for a longer span this time, something about the direction of the game with the two recent expansions doesn’t appeal to me as much as the base game did. Maybe when I see the next film I’ll be hankering for the Galaxy Far, Far Away so much I’ll have to pop back once more…
FFXIV lost me and my husband a while ago. It’s a super stylish game with some lovely animations and graphics, but several systems that just grate so much I have no desire to go back. The crafting is way too involved for me, I’m just not that interested in a second job. The forced pug-dungeons for story progression were such a mood killer when we were finishing up the relaunch story. Oh and the enourmous amount of mandatory story in patch content inbetween relaunch and Heavensward that we realised we’d have to do before we could see the new zones and content that we’d just paid for – one of the few MMO expansion purchases that I regret as it’s very, very unlikely we’ll ever get the benefit from it.
Guild Wars 2 makes me sad, it’s a game I loved for a year or so after launch and played with close friends and family. As you said in your post, I didn’t feel like the game was catering to my sort of player anymore, especially with Living Story season 2. I doubt they’ll come back to what the game was at launch, why would they? But that’s the game I wanted to play.
With a title like that, I kind of expected the main post body to be: “No, now stop asking!” Heh.
I recently went back to LotRO, as I do periodically, only this time it seems to have stuck. Hard to predict when that will happen but it’s one reason to keep re-trying MMOs you used to enjoy. These days I would reluctantly admit that the most MMOs I can meaningfully claim to be playing at any one time is three or four.
What about Dungeons and Dragons Online? Come back, Syp, come back! At least for Ravenloft.
I think the answer is most likely “definitely.” There is a lot of time left to the year. I could surely see you posting about trying to get back into each of these games by Christmas.