Just a quick note on this, as the long version will be part of an article I’m in the process of working on. Any new big-budget MMO that ships without a single player (and/or co-op offline modes) is missing out on making more money, period. Ignoring millions of folks who may NOT want to be social ALL the time (horrors!) but would absolutely buy and play certain games if they simply had an offline mode is pretty dumb, I say.. Just because a player isn’t joined at the hip to a server doesn’t mean he or she shouldn’t be playing a game at home where they COULD at some point (if they wanted to), take that character they’ve been using online to finally join or make a few friends. Micro-transactions aren’t the only way to make a profit, folks – getting a loyal user base that wants to buy into a version of your games they can enjoy (offline or on at their leisure) IS.