I played during the earlier testing periods, and there were a lot of parts that I liked, but they're actually really different games. I might play both, but I wouldn't give up BM's structure and premise for M&F's.
Foremost, communication was a hassle and a half compared to BM. No other mechanic matters to me more than that one. While there might not be anything inherently wrong with M&F's system, in terms of a merger there's a huge gap.
The more real-time focus of the game made it hard for me to play when I didn't have a lot of time to obsess. It was enjoyable enough, during the testing, but could I do it every day for ten years like BM? Probably not.
I'm not a super fan of the number of characters you can play if you're highly invested. It's the opposite of BM's premise, where moderately active, moderately invested players can be just as successful as crazy active, highly invested players. Ten players can get bowled over by one player, and it's kind of...eh. I prefer a social game with actual teams.
I guess I'm alone on this one, but the adventurer game is kind of my favorite hobby. Unique items and scrolls may not be important in the overall scheme of things, but making/trading/using/wanting them fleshes out the game. They grow stories like fertilizer, and stories are the reason I play. It's fun to walk up to someone and hand them a fancy item. It's fun to hand someone a scroll that allows them to affect current events in some way. It's fun to use a scroll to affect current events in some way. It's fun to go through unique items until you get just the right name for whoever requested it and whatever story they want to tell. It can make your day. And every day you log back in is a win for the game. Items and the advies who deal with them are RP and good times in a goddamn can that you can crack open regardless of what is or isn't happening in the main game (I'm just really in love with this class, okay?!) If there must be a merger, please please please add the adventurer mini-game ; A ;
