There are two types of Massively-Multiplayer Online games; the ones you have to pay to play and the free-to-play variety. Just by looking at a few forums you can find people ranting about which is better and why. If you have had the time to play both the free and the money-waster you can see the obvious difference.
First, let us get into the free to play Massively-Multiplayer Online games. Based on the fair share of F2P MMOs I have encountered, I have seen that they are usually as simple as it can be. With most of these F2P MMOs you usually feel it repeats itself having no major difference when you reach the Endgame material. Also, many of the F2P games usually have these micro-transaction stores where the user can buy content for the title. Honestly, that is not the major issue, but it does become a problem when people are able to buy gear and raise their own stats, giving players an unfair advantage based on how much cash you can spend on in-game items and gear. Another negative aspect I see with F2P MMOs is that there is at times a lag spike when there are a lot of people playing and this happens because in most cases there are not many open servers. There are also sometimes more bugs than there would be in a P2P MMOs.
The aspects of F2P MMOs aren’t all negative, as it gives room for a larger player-base. Also, many players are tired of being forced to grind a different kind of character; these free to play MMOs allow users to purchase experience potions removing the hassle of having to level all over again. Most of these games usually don’t have a level cap, and in my opinion that just involves you more deeply in the content.
Now we come to the Pay-to-Play MMOs, whose major disadvantage is requiring a monthly access fee. One looks at the Free-to-Play MMOs, or these Onetime Fee titles, and one wonders whether it is really worth it to purchase a title that requires a monthly access fee in addition to purchase costs, when comparable F2P or onetime titles feature similar content. Also, there are frequent lag spikes in major cities in-game. On the other hand you have people working around the clocking fixing bugs, and correcting any difficulties you may have. There are also monthly patches where they fix any problems there may be with the characters, classes, or quests and when there are big patches it could even change the game. We also have to take a look at how many tweens playing these games making it harder for older folks to get into the game.
Those of us who have had the time to play each of those know there is a vast difference between the two. There is a lot that the free to play cannot bring to the table. The P2P not only basically fixes any problems immediately and for the most part they are lag-free. There are those F2P MMOs that do well but in my opinion I would prefer a Pay-to-Play MMO.