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Lifetime sub: Warning flag, or risk aversion?
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Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 2,767
A lifetime sub is an implication: It means that they won't expect most people to be playing for more than a year total.
It could be due to risk aversion i.e. locking in a number, since consumer preferences, especially in this genre, are unpredictable and people are running on diminishing returns.
Having played almost every Funcom game made/published, I sort of expect there to be some sort of lack of endgame content, which could explain why they chose this pricing option.
With all of the great f2p titles, including AoC, I can't see this MMO, given the features listed etc. separating itself enough from the pack to really justify paying a subscription fee.
I know the sad irony is that 10 years ago I wouldn't have considered not throwing my money at title like this, hell, I did it for AO, but nowadays with all of the options it's getting harder and harder to justify.
What are your 2 cents on this? Does the lifetime sub option portend doom, as it did in STO (and arguably LotRO), or is it merely the company hedging its bets?
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
Comments
They have a box price + sub + cash shop, now this. I once was looking forward to this game more than anyother, but not anymore. It screams of another EA cash grab.
its neither....its a sound marketing strategy by a company that wants to generate more capitol. In return i get the promise of endless hours of gaming enjoyment for an incredible value.
I'd say it's a bit of both.
On one hand EA wants instant profits so they can back off from Funcoms development and give them more space in creating a working and enjoyable game.
On the other hand they want lifetime subs because they are uncertain how the game will fare at the current MMORPG markets.
It's certain that the game will go F2P but it's uncertain at what time frame.
Lotro offered lifetime right off the bat and they did rather well for a long time before going F2P. And the lifetime sub continued to be a good investment even after the F2P conversion.
This does raise questions why they popped the pre-order right before PAX and were they intimitated by April 10th when GW2 pre-orders open.
A game that's not mainstream has hard time staying as a P2P game because it will either lose too many players or it won't make enough profit. Warhammer Online was kept P2P for long and it still is. But the problems raise from not having enough players.
In the end this is all guesswork. If the game is really solid and good it will stay as P2P as long as it's profitable.
It's pretty smart, shortterm, because players are increasingly playing each successive MMO for a lesser amount of time. Long-term, they'll be stuck with a small fanbase that plays ALOT, but pays nothing. ALA LOTRO. At one point, you could tell Turbine wanted to get rid of these people.
Oh god lifetime sub for TSW? I am just learning about this.
Anyways if its true........ When the F#$% are these moron mmo gamers going to learn that lifetime sub = Money grab tactic. This game is going to be nothing more than another 90 day'er at most. Just another single player game with a party option. Hell I dont know why EA doesnt add a chat box to ME3, DA, or any other of their high profile single player games. Add a simple chat box to those games then they could charge subs for those, and there would be idiots out there foaming at the mouth to throw their money at EA.
Oh the piss poor state the gaming genre as a whole is in right now. Game being released with half content for 60$ just to give you the rest of the game via DLC for another 30$. MMO are nothing more than single player games now. The talk of the next playstation and xbox is absolutly appalling on what they are proposing to do. And you people just throw your parents money at these companies. This is our future generation........ man kind is doomed.
Waiting for:EQ-Next, ArcheAge (not so much anymore)
Now Playing: N/A
Worst MMO: FFXIV
Favorite MMO: FFXI
I don't think the lifetime sub is an indication that there are problems with the game. However, I do consider the offering as questionable given how many people are skeptical of even pre-ordering Collectors Editions based on getting burnt in the past.
um...every mmo is a single player game with party options. you can level from 1-max level on your own if you feel the need to. you do not have a crystal ball, you can not predict the future. calm down everything will be ok.
capcom are the scum at the moment with disc locked content on street fighter X tekken.
(FLAME SUIT ON!)
Its Funcom...they have a rather horrible track record launching MMOs. It's obviously a warning flag, that should be avoided and maybe checked back on in about a year or so.
Get lifetime sub, game is terrible for six months, mediocre for another six, and then they announce they are going to a free model and only compensating old customers with clothing.
I do not trust companies enough to give them a lot of cash upfront. Yeah if you really like the game it might pay off, but if the game sucks they took your money and you got screwed. I prefer to make them work for it even if it might cost me more in the long run.
i think lifetime subs are not too bad if the game is ok..take STO for instance.that was a bad lifetime..on the other hand i have a lifetime with lotro and that has worked out ok..only cost me £75 at the time so i got a bargain.
Funcom on the other hand i think its gonna be a case of it'll be ok.just a tad expensive atm..i think it works out at about £190 (game included) or more actually..and given the time that most peeps play mmo's these days it maybe not worth it.
i only did a lifetime with lotro cos it was really cheap.not sure if i want to spend that amount of money on a game..even though i think it will be good.
obviously you havnt been in the MMO genre when MMO's were MMO's if you think all MMO's are single player games.
If you think capcom is bad you need to google playstation orbis (ps4) and read what their talking about doing with the games. Makes capcom look like jesus.
Waiting for:EQ-Next, ArcheAge (not so much anymore)
Now Playing: N/A
Worst MMO: FFXIV
Favorite MMO: FFXI
Generate more capital? You're saying that they don't have enough resources to make the game?
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
They have already stated that you can get the base package and you can pick the lifetime at a later date. I think somebody mentioned an expiry date for lifetime sometime in November, so it's not like you won't have time to evaluate both the game itself and the responsiveness of Funcom with patches and updates.
This is definitely not the case of past lifetime offers, where you had to make the choice prior to launch.
Source: http://www.darkdemonscrygaia.com/showthread.php?p=694435#post694435
STO and a couple other games offered after launch as well.
That said, I haven't seen a successful game offer lifetime subs, only games that turn out to be crap and / or go F2P.
It's a cash grab, and a smart one. EA's funded mmos have a historically short lifespan. Hence a "Life"time subscription isn't really all that long, and thus very profitable in the long run when they can it and buy another company to crap out another product.
For what it's worth, I actually was moderately interested in this game. Modern day settings in mmos are rarer than even sci-fi.
To find an intelligent person in a PUG is not that rare, but to find a PUG made up of "all" intelligent people is one of the rarest phenomenons in the known universe.
LOTRO is still pretty awesome (if you don't mind the localised PvP).
On another, a bit unrelated note (or maybe not so much), getting the lifetime subscription for TSW puts the game in the same ballpark with GW2 digital deluxe edition, minus the considerable money difference of course. Which begs the question, whether GW2 is too cheap or TSW too expensive and how intrusive the cash shops in both cases will be.
Hm, despite the fact AoC is a failure, I wouldn't call them horrible. The Tortage part was pretty cool, only the rest was boring. It shows me that they CAN do good stuff. I never invest into lifetime subs. I have to play over a year to justify that, and no MMO has kept me such a long time for years.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Im going to hazard a guess that you dont remember Funcoms first epic failure Anarchy Online?
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
Other then it being hard, it still was an amazing game. It definately payed off to be smarter then the other guy in that game.
I have nothing against lifetime subs for P2P games in general. I just sometimes have my doubts about the timing of the announcement of lifetime subs.
If the game is already released and knowledge about the game is widely spread and the company then announces lifetime subs, then I just see it as another payment plan.
But if they announce it as part of some sort preorder system before the game is released and there is a lack of actual gameplay coverage, I have my doubts. Then it feels like a lame cash in from a company that doubts itself.
AO was a pretty awesome experience, one that hasn't been topped by any sci-fi mmorpg yet. I think that was my first mmorpg that kept me occuppied for over a year continuously. I didn't join the game at launch though, so I can understand why you may have bad memories from it.
What sour the game for me was the original implementation of the shadowlands expansion. The guy that was responsible for that expansion was later forced to resign, after ruining the AoC launch. Notum wars came later on and was pretty decent in terms of open world PvP. Decent by today's standards, back then I thought it was amazing, hehe.
I hope that the complexity of AO's system has found its way into TSW in some forrm.
They have already confirmed that you can buy the lifetime long past the launch of the game. You don't need to commit to it in a pre-order.
AO was my first MMORPG and nothing yet has come to bring me to the same level of immersion, however, I have to disagree that AOs skill system was complex in any real capacity.
Although the breadth of skills you could customize was impressive, almost all of the time there was really only a handful of optimal builds (neglecting the perks added by shadowlands.. I know SL was sort of an EQ rip off, but I actually didn't think it was too bad).
Sure, you could buld that Atrox MP with dual wield MA weapons, but eventually you ran out of points to be effective. Just because you can make a lot of bad decisions and have to do research before you allocate points optimally really doesn't make it that complex.. at least not for me.
For me complexity arises out of decisions that have to be made between builds that are viable. I know it's subjective, but the whole skill system really boiled down to the lightly colored bars you had to click on in almost every case.
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
hate to once again cloud your crystal ball of all universal knowledge again but UO you could travel about solo if you felt like or make friends and adventure (build a neat house even) with them just like EQ and so on. you are not required to play in groups but it is encouraged for a greater experience and explore harder content. im sure you understand.
im not keen on any new console with the APPLE like restrictions. on the bright side EA is a close 2nd for americas worst companies hahahahaha.
Nowt wrong with a lifetime sub if people want to pay that up front..
I still have a good feeling about this game.. there has been no super hype for this at all, sure small bits of info released and stuff like that but no super hyping up of the game and to me thats a very good sign.
Nearly all MMORPG past and upcoming that have super hype have just turned out to be average MMOs..
So i am hoping that TSW will be awesome, i loved AO and AOC both are very very good themepark MMOs so thats a plus for this game.
Will have to wait and see tho..