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This is what I've been waiting for. To me, the B2P model is much more attractive than the "freemium" conversion other games have attempted. The fact that I can pay 30 bucks and play the game unrestricted is HUGE to me.
I played in beta and never pulled the trigger on the game simply because there were too many good options that didn't require a monthly sub. Now TSW is on my radar again.
I even went and claimed my MMORPG.com in-game tshirt!
See you in game
If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
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All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
Same story for me, except I never played beta and bought the game at $50 and played a month. I loved the game, just couldn't justify a $15 subscription when I'm so busy with non-MMO's these days. If it would have gone F2P I most likely would've passed on it as well, B2P is perfect for me.
If anyone's wondering about that offer, it's here: http://www.mmorpg.com/giveaways.cfm/offer/357/Get-Your-MMORPGcom-TShirt-For-The-Secret-World.html
I´m on the same boat!
Tried the game during beta...but didn´t grow on me enough to pay a sub....
After the announcement of going BTP earlier today, i decided to buy it.
I already have my Templar and i´m happy on starting in this game^^
I´m going to struggle finding time to play both GW2 & TSW now....
but without a sub....i have plenty of time ahead without worring^^
See ya in The Secret World
So, After you bought the box and can play the game "unrestricted" how does that generate company positive cash flow? ie what is stoping the game shutting down in the long run.
problem i see with these b2p pro arguments, is that people will play it for 2 months than shelve it because most people wont fork out for extras.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
Well, that's up to Funcom isnt' it? Is TSW a game tha tI want to keep playing or not? Will they release content or have items that draw my attention (and wallet) or not? If people play it for 2 months then shelve it then it's Funcom's fault for not giving gamers something worth investing in. People pay for DLC's all the time in non-mmo's - and people buy them because they enjoy the game and want more content. This may or may not be true for TSW and only time will tell.
If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
Right, If they release highly desirable content per month,per item for $10 and people pay for that, why could they not make that work for the sub model where you pay $15 for everything?(best deal for customer and company imo)
If you don't buy the "optional content" your stuck doing the same shit you were doing in 1.5 indefinably therefore making the game stale, and then shelved.
Thing is, People that like b2p/f2p models like them because they don't want to pay for anything.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
1 game with a cash shop, which is not a mmorpg anyway that survived by selling expansions.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
It will only be optional in the sense that you don't have to buy it to play the old content. Obviously anyone interested in playing end game will have to buy the content updates.
Which is fine, it doesnt scare off new players and is a way to generate revenue.
It is better to have a world full of players to encourage the paying players to stick around, than to gate off casual content with a sub and make a dead world.
Funcom isn't a charity that peopekl should give money to to support they need to work for it and earn it liek anyone else.
Also your talking of people who otherwise would not of bought the game at all,that makes funcom up $30 up than they were before even if they don't pay anything else but at least there is a chance they might where there wasn't previously.
"But but a sub of x amount isn't a big deal ". It is to me if I end up paying one whole month just to access the game so I can see what's up but only end up playing a few hours before logging off in disgust.
I stopped doing this.
I don't know about you but I can think of more sensible ways of spending that money I would have tossed down the toilet.
Absolutely. A lot of people are buying the game now who wouldn't have done it before = instant money for Funcom. Some of those people will inevitably end up buying content updates = more money where previously Funcom would've gotten €0 out of those people. Will it make up for the loss in subs? I guess it depends on how many people stick around and how good the content updates are.
Well, there's one thing we all have to understand about MMOs. Simply having a person play in your game adds value to it if it is a persistant online title. It gives interaction options with your others players and a new community / guild may be formed that keep people from leaving (or at least logging in).
That said, the more people you have the higher chances you will get someone that is a big spender in the cash shop. If not, they may tell others through word of mouth that they enjoy this game, and get their friends to join the same beforementioned guild. The Buy to Play model is especially efficient for this as they are guaranteed to get that $29 income regardless if they quit a week from then, two months from that point, or keep on playing. If they keep on playing, the value of the game rises (as explained previously), and if they don't, then they won't take up the space and bandwidth costs.
In the case of determining if it is plausible to go Buy to Play when you already have a Purchase, Subscription, cash shop you have to look at how well that cash shop is doing. It is restricted only to subscribers at that point, and if it is doing well, then odds are that an increase in players will result in a net increase in those who peruse and spend on the cash shop. This is actually something I was discussing with someone in the industry not two weeks ago when it came to deciding if a game should go this route.
In my own position, the main reason I did not give this game a chance beyond beta was because it had the Purchase price, subscription and in game cash shop. Now that one has been eliminated, I have no reason to ignore it and will be picking up the game soon. With the nuisance of the subscription out of the way, I feel much better about spending money on the cash shop knowing that my characters won't be held for ransom with a monthly fee whenever I only have time to play for a few hours every few weeks.
Ultimately situations like this are very lucrative initially for the developer, and they acquire a larger "niche" base of players that will continue to play it to carry them on throughout the years (which is also based on a number of factors such as maintenance).
Guild Wars actually stopped making expansions early in it's lifecycle. I believe the third expansion was released within two years. The cash shop was not implemented with the game, but rather was something they added later. It's what supported the game for nearly five years straight and allowed for the making of Guild Wars 2 (along with additional aid from NCsoft).
They did make three long episodes that were completely free called "Guild Wars Beyond". Though with each free content update they added more clothing and outfits that were related to the episodes (I bought 95% of everything in the cash shop xD). It was at that point that making and selling expansions just wasn't as profitable as the cash shop and advertising stuff with free, large content updates.
I would agree that the game isn't the same as a real MMO, but nowadays people even call Diablo a MMO, so it's something I gave up trying to argue against.
Edit: In a recent interview Anet said they intend on making free monthly content instead of rushing into the next expansion to sell. This could be an indicator that the cash shop is doing very well -- well enough, at least, to allow them to focus on monthly updates and new cash shop items (also seasonal ones) as opposed to trying to get money from expansions every six to one year annually.
And this is why B2P or F2P will always be better and have more opportunities for an MMO to be better.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Lol. So one game does not fit your picture and you just disqualify it. Nice...
Anyways, the thing is that the for story driven MMO (most of them) the B2P with with DLC option makes much more sense. A few MMO's like EVE are so much sandbox, that what you pay for is access to the sandbox, and there sub just works better.
I mean, I would play WoW if it was not for the monthly sub. I would play RIFT was it not for the monthly sub. I play DDO be course it does not have a monthly sub (I have actually bought most of the DLC for that). I will be playing TSW again be course the sub is gone, and if the story and game works for me, i'll be getting the DLC as well. I pay my monthly sub for EVE.
It is not a case of one size fits all. Your payment model have to fit the game. FunCom seems to finally get this.
Guess we will see next financial report if the majority buys then.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
reading that TSW is B2P now kinda tickles me to try it now (imho it was not worth a sub at all after trying the beta).
But i wont join just yet.....i hardly have enough time to keep my GW2 addiction going so another mmo is just not possible for me.
But i am glad that they made this choice.....hopefully it all works out for this game.
ps: are the animation still as horrid as in beta?? the game itself is good imho but those animations.....bah.
I have had the game since release so ill be logging in,what makes me laugh is cetain people in this thread were dogging the game two days ago. If i thought a game was crap, not even B2 P would convince me to buy it.
Ill sub this and test Age Of Wushu me thinks.
Congrats!! I bought the game right after launch. Have been waiting for a good modern day MMO. Loved the story. Loved the horror aspects (huge horror game nut).
Unfortunately, got really busy and couldn't justify the $15 to pay if I didn't have time to play.
I just redownloaded the game today and I'm sooo excited to get back into this!!!
Then again, GW1 wasn't terribly pushy about selling you things from the store either.
[mod edit]
That said.. I just bought TSW and apperently I can't login. Can't connect to authentication servers. Can't even login to my account on the website even tough I'm 100% sure my password is correct as I just created it --.-- GG
Because they are doing maintenance lol
Yea, it literally just went down for a 3-hour maintenance period for a hotfix about 6 minutes before your post. Apparently something was buggy about the xp bonus member perk item.
http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?p=1475669#post1475669