MMORPGs, Are they truly worth it?

We all know that RPGs are enjoyable, (Not Rocket Propelled Grenades, even though those are fun too.) But does playing a RPG online with a whole lot of people make it more fun?

In the Old days, (I'm referring before Diablo and such.) We got used to playing RPGs alone. Where we would compete with our friends to see who can get the farthest and complete the most faster. But there was really no way to determine who was better.
Online RPGs brought that to us, But now we are at the point where one game server can hold thousands of people at once, battling each other, questing with one another, building grudges with thy foes, and we can't forget about whining about our endgame gear when we lose it to someone else.
But is all that truly worth it? Sure, we make new friends over the game, and some of us go out and meet those people in person, but is it worth the money we pay per month?
Like me for example, I play World of Warcraft and pay $15 a month, in just 4 months of playing, I could have bought a new game. Now I love my WoW, and my guild. I even discovered it's an addiction for me. (Better then other addictions I could have) But it doesn't interfere with my life.
Now Last I heard Everquest is $30 a month, and I wouldn't pay that to play a game, yet I pay $15 a month.

I know it's not must of a statement, But I don't want to drag on too long. So I end with this.
Are our Beloved MMORPGs Truly worth the money we pay and the time we put in them, or should people just stick to the Solo RPGs that resemble the way we used to play. Alone.

I think it primarily depends on exactly how you want to play, and what you're looking for in the game. Having played WoW off and on plenty myself, the question I always ask myself when I'm wondering if I should stop paying is "Do I still personally think it's worth the money? Am I having enough fun, and playing it enough that I feel like I'm getting my money's worth?" If the answer is yes, I pay for a new month. If not, I'll stop off and leave it along until such a time comes that I feel willing to pay the price. I think it's very much so a personal matter, rather than something you can really put a blanket statement over.

Similarly, I think it remains more personal than anything when it comes to the matter of if an RPG is better played alone or with other people. It all depends on what you're looking for in the game. I see a place for both, really, despite the fact that I don't really play many multiplayer games with other people at all. When I think about my JRPGs, I see them as like novels. While it's great fun to discuss them with friends, to play them at the same time as friends, etc. Ultimately I want to be able to still experience it on my own, to take it in as a personal thing. But they are also typically designed to be played as a single person's adventure. Whereas an RPG designed specifically with multiplayer in mind would be better built around that, and the experience within it should indeed be one you feel you want to have with your friends. Even as I'm writing this I can't help but to think in the back of my head "It would be so awesome and fulfilling to fell a dragon in a high fantasy RPG with my friends all together as an adventuring group."

So as far as my own thoughts go on the matter at least, I don't think it's something that will ever be reduced to a single, true answer. It'll always be something determined on a case by case, person by person basis.

Personally, I believe it depends on the game, how many bugs it has, and how much content is fixed/created during patch time.
For example, I played WoW for almost five years, I watched the game progress from "Dear god that elite's gunna ownz me >.<" To "Lol, elite's trying to hit me" True to it's gaming community, Blizzard took the game down just about 99% of every tuesday i played the game. They'd then go through their list of bugs, look at the balancing issues, and think up new content ((which didn't always coside with the lore i fell in love with...but still >.>)) In their wrath of the lich king expansion, they had some amazing raids out there ((Uld and Icc)) but they dumbed it down to the point where you could play for around 5-6 hours over the course of a few days, and you'd have some of the best gear that was availble. Not only that but they made some of the "elite 5man group" quests, soloable by 80 anything, priests included. ((Talking shadow priests, not discipline )) Evantually I gave up, nothing I could do alone was worth it, and nothing I needed a group for was challenging enough. ((ICC was a different story c.c))

Then you have other MMORPGs, I've played City of Heroes/villains, and I am currently playing Warhammer online, Age of Reckoning. CoH/CoV is fun, and awesome with it's huge selection of how you can make your character look. ((I've seen my brother make some amazing characters in there c.c)) Yet, the actual gameplay wasn't all that interesting, and it didn't seem like they really fixed much over the time I picked it up, dropped it, picked it back up, and dropped it again.

Warhammer online, has, in my opinion, the best amount of lore. Not only that but they hold fairly close to it as well. But the game play... It seems so lacking. :< I'll be sitting their hacking at some goblin or something, and the thing suddenly turns and runs into the distance, and gets teleported back to me, then teleported back farther, and farther, and farther. Perhaps it's my computer, but the game was super choppy at all fight moments, and going to the capital cities was practically impossible, unless I wanted to spend the next 30mins to a full hour with my character in limbo. I'm still trying to play Warhammer, because they made player versus player in that pretty amazing, and in some of the scenarios, the game played better then when it was in the actual game. ((Letting me go on a chaotic rampage x3 and get around 36 kills to 1 death))

But yeah! too long didn't read. In my experience, Games that are well taken care of and has a huge player pool to be alert for bugs and such, are a lot more worth the money then games that are made and tossed to the players with huge patchs every couple of months. Then again, that sounds fairly like common sense, no? x3

The worth of an MMORPG, I believe, is relative to the people you play with moreso than the game's mechanics itself. I've played a handful of MMOs, and the only ones that were fun, in my mind, were the ones that I remember playing with friends. Those memories of mine are aligned moreso with the social experience rather than an appreciation for the mechanics.

I don't think 'playing alone' is where games are going. Progressively, I see games moving in a more social direction. Steam alone almost resembles a blend between some sort of social-networking device as well as a game platform. I see achievements systems across the board and methods to compare any number of players' progress against another.

There is a charm to single-player games, yeah. It's not necessarily superior or inferior.

To explain it another way- There's a certain kind of enjoyment I got out of Fallout 3 that I never got out of World of Warcraft. Likewise, there's a kind of enjoyment I got out of Team Fortress 2 that I'll never get out of Bioshock. (I know they're FPSes, but the point remains the same.)

In terms of monetary worth- I don't know. But, if it's a multiplayer game, I think that if you enjoy the time you spend in Game-Universe X of "Whatever Title You Want To Play" with your friends, then it's worth it.

Strictly speaking from a bang for buck perspective. MMOs are typically -always- worth it in the long run these days. With most sixty dollar games running a mere ten to fifteen hours when compared to an MMO.

Looking at Champions Online. I paid about 45 bucks for the game and my subscription time and according to steam I have nearly three hundred hours played.

A second part-job? Who would say no to that?!!!