Can you trust early MMO reviews?

It's hard to review a MMO. It’s a simple statement, but so true for those who have ever tried to put their opinions about a game into text. The problem is that unlike normal video games, a MMO is filled with gameplay that is essentially endless. There really is no way to finish a MMO and that makes it very hard to give one a decent review. Most professional review sites have adopted the practice of just focusing on the first ten levels but that often gives a skewed impression of the game. Developers aren't idiots and they know that a well polished newbie zone not only gets them good reviews but also convinces players to stay past the free month.

In every MMO I've played since World of Warcraft the newbie content seems overly polished at a detriment to the rest of the game. What's worse is that I've seen games that assume a good newbie zone combined with long and grindy "mid game" content would allow them to patch an "end game" in at a later date. Both Lord of the Rings and Tabula Rasa were guilty of using this technique, though they have improved in recent updates. The problem is that when a MMO pulls a stunt like that, they make most professional reviews useless. I think that's why game blogs have become so popular in recent years.

Blogs allow a normal player to experience a game for a decent amount of time while recording their experiences. If a blog is still talking about a game three months after release and singing its praises, then you can assume the game is good. There really is no quick method for finding out if a MMO is decent without giving someone a lot of time with it. Some people try to find blogs of players who were in the beta for the game, but that doesn't always work out. One only has to look at Age of Conan and their "miracle patch" which made a lot of the beta complaints about the game moot.

In general if you are looking for a new MMO that you want to play long term, you need to wait a month or two after its release. By that time at least some bloggers will have hit max level and started messing around with the end game content. Also it's a safe bet that the patches during the first month will add in some changes and fix any major bugs or exploits that slipped pass quality assurance. It's always embarrassing to be shouting loudly about some unfair exploit during the first week of release and then have it fixed the very next day. Thankfully, the internet has a short term memory and it quickly forgets prophets of doom.

I even had my own experience with a doomsayer back in November 2004 when I was on the fence between World of Warcraft and EverQuest 2. I had read some initial bad posts on World of Warcraft which said leveling was too quick and people were going to rush through content. EverQuest 2 on the other hand was supposedly safer but having some problems that were sure to be fixed in upcoming patches. I waited until near the end of the holidays and found that most of the negative critiques of WoW had disappeared but EverQuest 2 was still getting major changes every patch. I've learned from that experience and while both games are now viable options, at the time World of Warcraft was the better choice.