General Discussion

simple question

It was for me, I played WoW for a real long time due to friends in a guild I was Co-GM in.

Lets say after 6 months I wanted to leave WoW...... I started in WoW beta and left right after TBC.

what a waste, now we all play Eve and consider WoW our Retard phase in our mmo playing career.

I would say yes.

With the trend now of people who want to play solo, and those that hate pugs, or will only group if you are in their guild, I would say friends are needed.

What has soured me on MMO's is the lack of grouping.  Since I have no RL friends that play MMO's I have quit playing them.

absolutely. 

Friends are the sole reason I bought WOTLK.... but now I'm glad I did.  I guess I was away from WoW long enough this time because I'm really enjoying it.... or maybe its just the contrast from AoC and WAR.....

Originally posted by tool321

Should friends be a deciding factor in which MMO you play?

Yes. They should also decide when you sleep, what you eat and what you wear.

No. Sure they can make suggestions but I very much believe in drawing my own conclusions. If friends move to an MMO and I try it but don't enjoy it, I won't stay simply because they are.

Yes, especially if you hold grudges and wanna pwn them.

Regards

Melmoth

I don't have any friends that play MMOs, so it does not matter to me.

But if you find a game to be dull I don't think the addition of friends playing it with you is going to make that much a difference.

Should is a difficult one as people have mentioned. Despite the fact they probably shouldn't in reality they generally play a large part in it. Like one of the above posters said, they may get you to start/try a new one but whether you stay or not is a different matter.

Reminds me of a friend who got me to try WAR and stop playing Vanguard to try it out. Needless to say I wasn't happy and now back playing Vanguard :P

Important question: Are we talking about friends -- real-life acquaintances or online friends you've known a long time and talk to outside of the game -- or "friends" who you only game with, like following one guild?

A lot of people make the mistake of considering their guildmates friends, when they're actually closer to coworkers; you're friendly because you're all there, working for a common goal, but once you leave you're easily forgotten about. If you don't talk to a person outside of the game, about things non-game related, they're not friends.

Now, assuming you mean actual friends, then yes, to a point. They may get me to TRY a new game. If I "sort of " like a game, they can keep me "hanging in there" to see if I can find that level of interest that they do. But if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and they're on their own. My time is limited and thus very important to me.

I unintionally got my friend addicted to Final Fantasy XI. Ironically, I played it first and wasn't really into it, she played it and fell in love, which kept me hanging in for about three more months before I finally quit.