Free 2 Play - Is it Ever Done Right? Arent Subscriptions Somewhat Better?

So as far as Ive seen free2play games are more or less riddled with gimmicks and if not gimmicks they're so ristricted that you cant really have much fun without buying one thing after another. I do know that thats the point lol but why would a gamer do that? I understand that it may cost less and that you kinda pay for what you want to play but with games like WoW you pay the sub and get the whole world. You get ALL content except maybe some mounts that they're selling on the side. Another thing is that you arent able to buy fancy weapons and deck yourself out. You dont get the random drops or stuff like that in F2P. I just find F2P annoying I guess in that it isnt Free2Play but is advertised as such. Its really just a Free Trial where you get a taste and have to pay to get the rest. I mean lol...you can get the same from WoW 14 days trials if you play it over and over. haha. Fail. Anyway, just my opinion I guess but I just thought Id bag on F2P a little.

LOTRO has been the only MMORPG I've seen that does well with the F2P model. Maybe DDO, to an extent.

Honestly, I would much rather pay a subscription for an MMO. No microtransactions, or any of that RMT crap.

"you get what you pay for" is pretty appropriate for nearly all MMOs; F2P games tend to be incredibly crappy, whereas with subscriptions youre guarenteed a solid bottom line of support, quality, and updates.

of course, as long as there are subscriptions, there will always be haters and frankly subscribing and having to deal with people who "cant understand why I pay for a game after I bought it" almost makes subscribing not worth it :P

yes it brings more revenue.. got WoW's now 5 million subscribers (assuming a compelte account here) is a symbol of this

but people are getting smarter.. tehy know that the monthly fee is a BS gimmick.. its an empty system.. you get nothing out of it.. so less people are charging.. its also a way to increase dismal sales of games.

lotro doubled its revenue since it went f2p MONTHS ago.. and its been out for YEARS

however its getting alot ahrder to sell an mmorpg with the lack of a monthly fee now.. too many people do it and its getting ahrder to lie about microtransactions.. mmo's are a game of community and everyone has ears.

Lord of the rings online is the only one I have enjoyed.

Tried tons of free games and pretty much all of em are garbage to me.

You get what you pay for, like most things in life...

lotro doubled its revenue since it went f2p MONTHS ago.. and its been out for YEARSionusX

Actually, they have tripled their monthly revenue since going f2p.

I was a bit skeptical about the switch to f2p originally but, at least on the server I play on (which was always populated to begin with), the influx of free-players hasn't been too bothersome. Sure, there have been a few more players with idiotic names running around but they're easy enough to ignore and they are definitely the exception and not the rule. So far so good and it seems like most of my initial fears and reservations were unfounded.

[QUOTE="ionusX"]lotro doubled its revenue since it went f2p MONTHS ago.. and its been out for YEARS-wildflower-

Actually, they have tripled their monthly revenue since going f2p.

I was a bit skeptical about the switch to f2p originally but, at least on the server I play on (which was always populated to begin with), the influx of free-players hasn't been too bothersome. Sure, there have been a few more players with idiotic names running around but they're easy enough to ignore and they are definitely the exception and not the rule. So far so good, actually and it seems like most of my initial fears and reservations were unfounded.

I think it's because LOTRO started as a subscription based MMO, and already has that base and just went F2P. But most others (except GW) seem to fail.....FelipeInside

I agree that certainly helped quite a bit but before the change a lot of people (myself included) were worried what impact the free-players would have on the community (one of the games greatest strengths).

The server I play on in the US is the "unofficial RP" server but there's nothing official to designate it as such (there's no "RPG" next to the server name like on other games) so there was some concern how that aspect of the game would be impacted by the change. I'm happy to say that it really hasn't been, thankfully.

There is value in P2P. The quality experiance you get is far beyond anything a free 2 play game can offer. However you have to actually enjoy and value these things.

[QUOTE="FelipeInside"] I think it's because LOTRO started as a subscription based MMO, and already has that base and just went F2P. But most others (except GW) seem to fail.....-wildflower-

I agree that certainly helped quite a bit but before the change a lot of people (myself included) were worried what impact the free-players would have on the community (one of the games greatest strengths).

The server I play on in the US is the "unofficial RP" server but there's nothing official to designate it as such (there's no "RPG" next to the server name like on other games) so there was some concern how that aspect of the game would be impacted by the change. I'm happy to say that it really hasn't been, thankfully.

Prefer subs in almost all cases.

League of Legends for example is fine.

Prefer subs in almost all cases.

League of Legends for example is fine.

ventnor

I was thinking the same thing, but i wasn't sure if it was worth mentioning since the discussion seemed mainly centered around MMO's.

[QUOTE="ventnor"]

Prefer subs in almost all cases.

League of Legends for example is fine.

_Tobli_

I was thinking the same thing, but i wasn't sure if it was worth mentioning since the discussion seemed mainly centered around MMO's.

[QUOTE="_Tobli_"]

[QUOTE="ventnor"]

Prefer subs in almost all cases.

League of Legends for example is fine.

Gamesterpheonix

I was thinking the same thing, but i wasn't sure if it was worth mentioning since the discussion seemed mainly centered around MMO's.

Yeah, league of legends is an example of where microtransactions work really well. Microtransactions should be extras to make the game more fun or interesting. Microtransactions should never limit progression through the game. Every F2P MMO I have played has limited progression at some point with microtransactions. Either you have to actually pay for new zones and dungeons a la carte or the grind gets so slow no one can really continue playing without paying for xp increasing items, drop chance increasing items, or gear upgrade items. DDO is an example of the former where new dungeons released you have to pay for. The prices aren't really high. I just don't want the hassle of paying a new fee everytime major content is added to the game. Runes of Magic is an example of the latter where all the dungeons and zones are open, but there's no way you can possible do them without getting pretty good gear. And good gear requires you to do a lot of upgrading which have low chances of success so you end up having to buy lots of items to increase the success chance of upgrading. Neither one of these is preferable to me. I'd rather just pay a flat fee per month to get everything.

Actually, I think the best payment system would be a hybrid of both of these. Have the normal subscription that includes everything for people that prefer that. Then also have a F2P option where people can do a lot of the stuff without paying plus an item shop to buy some of the things P2P players get automatically. The developers just need to properly balance the P2P fee with the F2P item shop fees, because a F2P player should have a little incentive to go P2P over just using the item shop. For example, an item mall designed so that the average F2P player at endgame is spending about $20 a month on basic game needs items. Then also a P2P model for $15 a month to get those items every month with a smaller cost. Basically, the game would need to be designed so that the farther F2P players got in the game, the more costs they would be kind of expected to pay. The endgame players would end up being mostly P2P with the low level players mostly F2P. I haven't really seen any MMOs with something like this, but it seems like it would satisfy all players. Maybe there are problems with this idea that only developers know about so they don't do this.

Alliance of Valiant Arms, pretty good fps where you can buy nearly all of the guns with in-game money and they are permanent.

P2P games never intentionally screw over their players the way some F2P games do. Then again, I can't complain and call it "screwing over" when f2p games are free anyway. My advice: if you really like an f2p mmo that you are currently playing, pay a little to get ahead in the game. If you're serious about it and you have faith in the game, there's no harm in supporting the developer and being rewarded for being serious about it.

[QUOTE="-wildflower-"]

[QUOTE="FelipeInside"] I think it's because LOTRO started as a subscription based MMO, and already has that base and just went F2P. But most others (except GW) seem to fail.....FelipeInside

I agree that certainly helped quite a bit but before the change a lot of people (myself included) were worried what impact the free-players would have on the community (one of the games greatest strengths).

The server I play on in the US is the "unofficial RP" server but there's nothing official to designate it as such (there's no "RPG" next to the server name like on other games) so there was some concern how that aspect of the game would be impacted by the change. I'm happy to say that it really hasn't been, thankfully.

Free to play sucks. Only DDO and LotrO are the good enough f2p games I've seen, and they were P2P for a long time. I'd rather pay to get the works; didn't even bother trying out Dungeons & Dragons Online in free 2 play mode; enjoying it so far.

maybe there's a good side to f2p to a certain extent since the above games attracted more paying customers by switching their business model, but you can still subscribe to them and I think the extra content warrants a subscription, as opposed to MMO's that are purely F2P and rely on microtransactions.

[QUOTE="FelipeInside"][QUOTE="-wildflower-"]

I agree that certainly helped quite a bit but before the change a lot of people (myself included) were worried what impact the free-players would have on the community (one of the games greatest strengths).

The server I play on in the US is the "unofficial RP" server but there's nothing official to designate it as such (there's no "RPG" next to the server name like on other games) so there was some concern how that aspect of the game would be impacted by the change. I'm happy to say that it really hasn't been, thankfully.

wis3boi

Subs are better but they are a barrier that most players do not want to cross to play a game.

I've tried a few F2P ones and they were all the same... mostly grindfests... It's all kinda funny how some people spend a ton of money (I met someone who spent about 60$ for in-game items) on a F2P game (the in-game stores) and then complain that WoW is expensive for 15$trastamad03

[QUOTE="trastamad03"]I've tried a few F2P ones and they were all the same... mostly grindfests... It's all kinda funny how some people spend a ton of money (I met someone who spent about 60$ for in-game items) on a F2P game (the in-game stores) and then complain that WoW is expensive for 15$Kh1ndjal

[QUOTE="Kh1ndjal"][QUOTE="trastamad03"]I've tried a few F2P ones and they were all the same... mostly grindfests... It's all kinda funny how some people spend a ton of money (I met someone who spent about 60$ for in-game items) on a F2P game (the in-game stores) and then complain that WoW is expensive for 15$trastamad03

I agree that certainly helped quite a bit but before the change a lot of people (myself included) were worried what impact the free-players would have on the community (one of the games greatest strengths).-wildflower-

One of the advantages of there already being a good community in place is that there is a set of unwritten rules and an atmosphere in place already to set the tone for us free-loaders. :P

I have only played for a few weeks, and exclusively solo'ed my way through the quests, but I can tell just from chat and brief encounters in the wilderness that the jerk-to-friendly ratio is definitely on the right side of the scale.

To the original topic, there is obviously an appeal to F2P for a lot of people, or games like Allods Online, Runes of Magic, or Turbine's other success, DDO, would not still be running. They simply cater to another type of MMO gamer than WoW and the other pay-to-play ones do, and if they do it well, they make money, and they live long and propsper

Guildwars was really good, hell, even the free version of runescape was good.

yes it brings more revenue.. got WoW's now 5 million subscribers (assuming a compelte account here) is a symbol of this

but people are getting smarter.. tehy know that the monthly fee is a BS gimmick.. its an empty system.. you get nothing out of it.. so less people are charging.. its also a way to increase dismal sales of games.

lotro doubled its revenue since it went f2p MONTHS ago.. and its been out for YEARS

however its getting alot ahrder to sell an mmorpg with the lack of a monthly fee now.. too many people do it and its getting ahrder to lie about microtransactions.. mmo's are a game of community and everyone has ears.

ionusX