The starter edition is nothing more than a free trail. It is so limited that nobody can actually play it. Blizzard already gives away vanilla and BC when you buy the Northrend expansion.
Given all that it really wouldn't hurt Blizzard to open up all of the vanilla and BC content to a F2P model. However, it will dump a ton of asshats into Azeroth that the players will have to deal with. Although, WoW already has the loin's share of asshats.
The battle chest deals are generally a good deal, but a battle chest plus latest xpac plus a sub does add up. I think there is one single thing they could offer to bring people back, and that's a 1-80 auto-level (like you get with a scroll of rez) for $10 or the price of a one month sub.
It just takes too long to level a toon anymore and if you've seen the content already a dozen times, you really don't want to do it again. If they offered a level-up option to 80 (enough to learn to play the toon from 80-85 in Cata content), I would be interested.
I actually would like to see this. Although I'm subscribed, I would actually make another f2p account and treat it as WoW Vanilla if it went upto 60. Go on onyxia and bwl raids all the time As long as it wasn't restricted, which thanks to goldsellers and stuff, it'll have to be
Is anyone else still surprised they have the player numbers they have now? I mean this is a game that launched in 2004... I feel like there's much better games out there now, but I guess some people really love it or something (well the Western market doesn't even count for half of the subscriptions so we know that the West is getting tired of it).
I think that given the fact that the sub money does nothing to improve the game, it's only there to line the pockets of Ghostcrawler and his crew, and the fact that new content only comes from expensive (even at this point) and lacking in content expansions (yes i played the beta) it should have turned into a B2P model YEARS ago. Freemium is never a good model and would only hurt it futher.
Given that buying four expansions is going to cost something like $100 or more, it certainly wouldn't hurt them to get people into the game and playing through a lot of content for free. I would think that initial cost is a huge hurdle to get people to jump over.
You can grab all of the games at Amazon for under $50, add in $40 for MoP and you are still under your $100.
Also, you assume people are going to buy the entire cataloge at one time.
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
With the change in the old world, are any of the old vanilla raids even still accessible at 60? If the game was free to play up to 60 and you could still do some of these old raids I think it would create a sub population that would enjoy it. But it might be small. They might want to try to concentrate such a population onto a handful of servers. I don't see why not. If the content already exist it takes nothing to "deliver" it. These players might end up monitizing by picking up a mount or pet in the store.
In fact, I would say, they should offer vanilla for free and then charge a bit for the expansions as if they were DLC but still not charge a sub until you get to MoP.
F2P is for the dogs. I don't understand everyone's thinking. Is everyone really that broke that they are pushing F2P on everyone and every thing?
I'm starting to get a tad bit frustrated over all this F2P wave seemingly going on here at MMORPG.
I mean I commented on the game's cash shop and another forum about it costing 2 pounds for 1 hour of buffs and holy cripes I got flamed to no end about it being "pay to win." Ok? If it is pay to win, ANET still needs to make some more income then original box sales. Otherwise, you personally, over time become a leech on their income.
Lets just stop and think about this article. 10% of P2W games has paying customers. That would require those 10% to purchase $150 a month just to compete with the current business model.
P2W isn't for games that have a large number of subscribers. It is for P2P games that have failed.
If Pandas doesn'y have good box sales make it f2p... otherwise bleed them dry with subs and cash shop. If people are dumb enough to pay for it Blizzard should just keep on taking their money.
Consider how much of the pre-60 content already got retrofitted into the nostalgia raid o' the week....Why not.
Your pre-60 includes a lot of cataclysm content for free, however...might cause a stir among the bean-counters.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Originally posted by Slampig Originally posted by lizardbonesGiven that buying four expansions is going to cost something like $100 or more, it certainly wouldn't hurt them to get people into the game and playing through a lot of content for free. I would think that initial cost is a huge hurdle to get people to jump over.
You can grab all of the games at Amazon for under $50, add in $40 for MoP and you are still under your $100.
Also, you assume people are going to buy the entire cataloge at one time.
It doesn't matter if they buy expacs all at once or one at a time, they will end up spending close to a $100. More than $100 if they use the Blizzard store. Blizzard has pretty much tapped the market for people who would be willing to buy the game and all the xpacs. They didn't have 10 million people playing since 2006, they've just stopped gaining as many new players as they have been.
Now, I don't think Blizzard needs to do a longer free trial, I just don't think it would hurt the game to do it. It could possibly benefit the game by getting more people playing.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I like subscription models, it helps restrain me from spending way more a month then I should.
15$ a month is fine, but I have played f2p and end up spending 3$ here..4$ here....end of the moth I have spent 50 bucks on stuff I will use for the month cause I thought it was cool and then is buried in my inventory.
The Stranger: It's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid.
It would be a great idea. And for the oh they have 9.1million subs here's the thing Aion had 11 million yet they went f2p and now their population went up to 16million and they are making more money than they did off of subscriptions alone. People are willing to spend more on a cash shop a week than what blizzard is making now just in one month.
Comments
The starter edition is nothing more than a free trail. It is so limited that nobody can actually play it. Blizzard already gives away vanilla and BC when you buy the Northrend expansion.
Given all that it really wouldn't hurt Blizzard to open up all of the vanilla and BC content to a F2P model. However, it will dump a ton of asshats into Azeroth that the players will have to deal with. Although, WoW already has the loin's share of asshats.
The battle chest deals are generally a good deal, but a battle chest plus latest xpac plus a sub does add up. I think there is one single thing they could offer to bring people back, and that's a 1-80 auto-level (like you get with a scroll of rez) for $10 or the price of a one month sub.
It just takes too long to level a toon anymore and if you've seen the content already a dozen times, you really don't want to do it again. If they offered a level-up option to 80 (enough to learn to play the toon from 80-85 in Cata content), I would be interested.
no trolls please..F2P= more scammers,more spammer, and trolls..
^ This guy plays wow, can't you tell?
Listen to this guy he knows stuff.Smile
You can grab all of the games at Amazon for under $50, add in $40 for MoP and you are still under your $100.
Also, you assume people are going to buy the entire cataloge at one time.
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
With the change in the old world, are any of the old vanilla raids even still accessible at 60? If the game was free to play up to 60 and you could still do some of these old raids I think it would create a sub population that would enjoy it. But it might be small. They might want to try to concentrate such a population onto a handful of servers. I don't see why not. If the content already exist it takes nothing to "deliver" it. These players might end up monitizing by picking up a mount or pet in the store.
In fact, I would say, they should offer vanilla for free and then charge a bit for the expansions as if they were DLC but still not charge a sub until you get to MoP.
All die, so die well.
F2P is for the dogs. I don't understand everyone's thinking. Is everyone really that broke that they are pushing F2P on everyone and every thing?
I'm starting to get a tad bit frustrated over all this F2P wave seemingly going on here at MMORPG.
I mean I commented on the game's cash shop and another forum about it costing 2 pounds for 1 hour of buffs and holy cripes I got flamed to no end about it being "pay to win." Ok? If it is pay to win, ANET still needs to make some more income then original box sales. Otherwise, you personally, over time become a leech on their income.
Lets just stop and think about this article. 10% of P2W games has paying customers. That would require those 10% to purchase $150 a month just to compete with the current business model.
P2W isn't for games that have a large number of subscribers. It is for P2P games that have failed.
Consider how much of the pre-60 content already got retrofitted into the nostalgia raid o' the week....Why not.
Your pre-60 includes a lot of cataclysm content for free, however...might cause a stir among the bean-counters.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Also, you assume people are going to buy the entire cataloge at one time.
It doesn't matter if they buy expacs all at once or one at a time, they will end up spending close to a $100. More than $100 if they use the Blizzard store. Blizzard has pretty much tapped the market for people who would be willing to buy the game and all the xpacs. They didn't have 10 million people playing since 2006, they've just stopped gaining as many new players as they have been.
Now, I don't think Blizzard needs to do a longer free trial, I just don't think it would hurt the game to do it. It could possibly benefit the game by getting more people playing.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I like subscription models, it helps restrain me from spending way more a month then I should.
15$ a month is fine, but I have played f2p and end up spending 3$ here..4$ here....end of the moth I have spent 50 bucks on stuff I will use for the month cause I thought it was cool and then is buried in my inventory.
The Stranger: It's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid.