Indeed. I can kind of understand why it's so prevalent - writing enough original content for an MMO to keep everyone happy all of the time is not a task I would wish upon anyone, although such as The Matrix Online and City of Heroes/Villains have had noble stabs at it - but it's a critical flaw in the concept for me. PlanetSide worked because the concept of grinding doesn't apply as much; yeah, you can get better kit with more XP and so on, but your basic trooper can still do a lot of damage if the player's sufficiently skilled, and you can still enjoy it as a twitchy shooter if you so desire. Of course, if I wanted to play a fun, twitchy, class-based shooter against the baying hordes of paint-eating mouth-breathers that make up the internet's opponent pool, I'd probably go with TF2, which I at least don't have to rent off the publishers after I've paid for it once already.
How anyone can stomach the concept of paying for EVE Online is beyond me. That game is about Watching Boring Space Hoovers Suck Imaginary Money Out Of Imaginary Rocks. There are people who actually make a living off of playing it, which I can understand - I've got a massively tedious job, too - but playing it for fun seems kind of like Recreational Tax Return Filing.
