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F2P is the Future!

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  • Josh007CLJosh007CL Member CommonPosts: 38

    I really don't see F2P being the future since there's no real way to do it right to benefit us players. Take a look at EQ2 for example. You can pay $15 a month, and for what? Most of the content being added is to the store instead of the game. So you spend more time buying content that should already be included since you pay $15.

    And look at the fact that you still pay for expansions and all the previous players that payed hundreds on the game and expansions only to be screwed out and have to pay for stuff again (I'm talking about race/class packs).

    I would rather buy the game and be able to earn everything by PLAYING it.

  • CecropiaCecropia Member RarePosts: 3,985
    Originally posted by nariusseldon
    Originally posted by Cecropia
     

    I wouldn't play a mediocre mmo for more than a week, if that. I have however played "very fun" mmos for as long as 6 years. Great mmos keep you coming back for more. Hell, we have a plethora of other gaming genres that cater to the "cheap thrills" type of gameplay. When I'm in the mood for that sort of fun, I pick one of those. A well done mmo shouldn't give you a reason to abandon ship in such a hurry. 

    The increasing homogenization of the genre combined with a long history of stagnation, doesn't paint a very healthy picture for the future of what could have been something unique in gaming. 

    "something unique in gaming"? How can MMOs be somethign unique in gaming when there are so many entries, and millions play them?

    I see it as just another genre like FPS, or ARPG. It is as unique as that.

    I came into the genre because it was unique. For me, playing in the World of the Warcraft universe on a massive scale was such an exciting prospect, and it certainly delivered in 2004. If it had been just another cheap thrills genre I wouldn't even be posting on this site. I would have just continued playing RTS/FPS games (which I still play) and just left it at that.

    This genre offered something that the others simply did not. It's such a shame that it is slowly losing what made it great and morphing into some crap frankengenre that doesn't do anything particularly well, while it's cousins supply quality in spades.

     

     

    "Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb

  • makiimakii Member Posts: 280

    i think many people wish for f2p games, but theyr communist vision of truly free 2 play is like a utopia, wich will never happen.

     

  • AeliousAelious Member RarePosts: 3,521
    Free to play options are the future as they offer people a chance to play portions without "buying in" to start with. True F2P? That's the future of crappy or shut down games.
  • dark3n3dsouldark3n3dsoul Member Posts: 20
    In my opinion P2P is the way of the future. F2P is starting to lose its momentum. Final Fatanasy XIV is a great game, they should stick with the P2P model because I know that they will be succesful. F2P had/has its time and place. I remember loving Silkroad Online for a very long time and it was F2P. I now play the new Silkroad R, its still alot of fun. So F2P is good at times, and P2P is good at times, all that truly matters is if the game is good. People need to pick a game and stick with it, and believe in it. Kids listen to me, stop hoping from game to game, I remember when i only had like 1 game to play and that brought me the most joy. Oversaturating the mmorpg market is killing everything for everyone. O yea and one last thing, World of Warcraft sucks and it always had, enough said lmao.  

    Forever With You...

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726
    Originally posted by NorseGod

    What happened?

     

    I see lots of complaints about the "free" games here.

    Where do these posters come from?  There is no such thing as a free game.  Every game that lists themselves as free will at some point require you to spend money on it.

  • hfztthfztt Member RarePosts: 1,401
    Originally posted by Robokapp

    the f2p fad has already passed...

     

    it's quite obvious. Can anyone name one good F2P that they played for years ?

    Passed?

    League of Legends

    Team Fortress 2

    World of Tanks

    All designed for f2p, all doing well, for years.

    DDO and LoTRO are also doing nicely on f2p although not orginally designed for it.

     

    LoL and DDO I have played for years now.

  • SeloSelo Member UncommonPosts: 108

    Also, the original players that played Lotro before F2P are saying the game went really downhill after F2P

    Just becosue the game has many players doesnt mean its good, just look at WoW (ohno i didnt!)

  • worldalphaworldalpha Member Posts: 403
    I'd love to be able to create a sub-based game, but really F2P is the only way to garner a large enough audience for a small indie.

    Thanks,
    Mike
    Working on Social Strategy MMORTS (now Launched!) http://www.worldalpha.com

  • free2playfree2play Member UncommonPosts: 2,043

    Damn right I am and don't forget it.

    Just to be clear, I have money. I just don't always have time to play so if you want to add grind make it passive so I don't need to waste the 3 hrs I do have to play pummeling some under powered AI for gold or a rock that has a 60 minute mine time to 5 minute craft time.

    I prefer subscriptions. It lets me control my spending. I do like free to try but with games breaking 50 GB it's neither here or there if I need to pay $20.00

  • EnerzealEnerzeal Member Posts: 326

    Name me an MMORPG ( I said MMORPG ) that could be called top quality tripple A and I will call you a liar.

    Every single sub based game that has failed has gone free to play in an attempt to save it. Every Free to play game that has released has done so poorly.

    The true survivors are the games that have remained with a solid sub base for years and years. WoW and Eve are the two best examples. The crazy thing about Eve Online is that it is the TRUE free to play MMO. If you're good enough you need never spend a dime and get everything that others get from item shops and subscriptions, and people do this often.

    Any MMO that sticks to cosmetic items only is fine by me, but the moment you limit exp/slots/characters/classes etc I am out.

  • VengeSunsoarVengeSunsoar Member EpicPosts: 6,601
    Originally posted by Enerzeal

    Name me an MMORPG ( I said MMORPG ) that could be called top quality tripple A and I will call you a liar.

    Every single sub based game that has failed has gone free to play in an attempt to save it. Every Free to play game that has released has done so poorly.

    The true survivors are the games that have remained with a solid sub base for years and years. WoW and Eve are the two best examples. The crazy thing about Eve Online is that it is the TRUE free to play MMO. If you're good enough you need never spend a dime and get everything that others get from item shops and subscriptions, and people do this often.

    Any MMO that sticks to cosmetic items only is fine by me, but the moment you limit exp/slots/characters/classes etc I am out.

    At least 2 games have gone f2p not because there were failed, weren't making a profit and weren't good games but because the devs believed f2p would make even more money.

    Both lotro and EQ2 were/are good games in the black with expansions for years before f2p came along.

    Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
  • firefly2003firefly2003 Member UncommonPosts: 2,527
    Originally posted by NorseGod

    What happened?

     

    I see lots of complaints about the "free" games here.

    I think its mainly the restrictions that what I call "leechers" whine and moan about, they expect something for nothing or no effort at all, I would assume most of the F2P crowd expect a game to be free with no restrictions at all, problem is how can a studio make a living by letting freeloaders play their entire game completely free? You can't....


  • WayshubaWayshuba Member UncommonPosts: 72

    I have to laugh because the timing of this thread is superb for me. I recently came from a business conference where online monetization models were discussed. The discussion focused on which models were 1.) sustainable, 2.) grew customers over a period of time, and 3.) provided high levels of customer satisfaction and value. It was about online monetization in general (not just the MMO industry), yet the MMO F2P cash shop model (i.e., micro-transactions) was discussed. Guess what - it was noted to be the WORST business model any company could adopt (The speaker, a well-known successful entrepreneur turned VC, says that the second they hear a monetiztion model involving miro-transactions they end the meeting because they know it is NOT a sustainable model).

     

    The main reasons for this being the tremendous decline in customer satisfaction (i.e., it leaves people feeling exploited rather than getting value for their money). It was noted as worse than the cell phone providers (which are pretty bad) and cable companies (which are also bad). An example used was how EA was noted as the worst company because of this decline in customer satisfaction, yet it is known on a myriad of other factors there are worse companies than EA. The speaker made a joke about how the MMO industry lacked good business people as the whole industry was like sheep being lead to slaughter. Then he mentioned how Zynga saw early success with micro-transactions and that the business model went off a cliff. In other words, it was stated that micro-transactions are NOT a sustainable model.

     

    As an aside, he also noted how they would love to invest in the space, but after four years of hearing pitches they have come to the conclusion that the industry has some of the most passionate developers of any industry ( a huge plus), yet is lead by the dumbest f***s for business people, who knew NOTHING about their customers, of any industry (a huge triple negative). He also noted that the people that lead these design teams, have bigger undeserved egos than all of Hollywood combined, and that most of these people are terrible at their jobs but think they are gods gift to the gaming world (which elicited quite a few laughs). He also noted that if there were any entreprenuers from OUTSIDE the industry that enjoyed gaming, it was a space RIPE for major disruption because it was too insular in it's thinking - just like other industries that have been disrupted.

     

    Secondly, a stat I found interesting, that across many online industries, MMO gaming companies (followed closely by those that utilize heavy DLC) overall have the WORST reputations and suffer from long-term sustainablity in customer retention (nice place to be associated with). I found it funny that Turbine was used as the example as a company that once had a stellar reputation that in the space of two years, completely trashed that rep and has become known as a pariah. He noted how the effect of this was that, no matter the future product, the company has already put themselves "in the hole" with succeeding with any future endeavors.

     

    Lastly, micro-transactions actually DECREASE customers over time on average. (Yes, there are a few examples the other way, but they are rare) and DECREASE the available customer base to companies as their reputations (like Zynga's) suffer and therefore future products fail to take-off (like EAs), and meet expectations.

     

    The speaker concluded that "freemium" was the best model to meet the criteria moted above. The downside was that freemium actually requires a company to produce real value for customers (rather than "rip-them off", which were the words used in the conference when referring to micro-transactions) in order to get them to pay. He alsso concluded on how valuable BRAND reputation was in both adding value to a company as well as destroying it (again noting both EA and Zynga).

     

    So, to the subject of the post, I think F2P is the future of the genre, but not micro-transactions which I believe is going to give the entire industry a very hard crash much like Zynga has suffered.

     

    TL;DR F2P is future, but not in current iteration. Micro-transactions cash shops (especially with RNG) need to go. F2P needs to stay and companies need to focus on actually providing value for the money.

  • DSWBeefDSWBeef Member UncommonPosts: 789

    I dont know why I have to say this again because its the utter truth.

     

    F2P is not the future. The reason recent sub games have failed is because they are either buggy or WoW clones. If GW2 was the messiah people would sub to it. If Swtor was truly amazing people wouldnt have a problem paying a sub. The model isnt the issue its the games.

     

    Name me one extremely good F2P game that was F2P out of the gate. WoT? Grind fest and not really an mmo, Lol? Moba not an mmo, GW2? B2P, finally Path of Exile, can be argued that its an mmo but its really a coop action game. Thats right there isnt one. All those converted F2P games went that way to save it because of poor design choices. Warhammer was buggy and unfinished, AoC buggy and no endgame, VG buggy as all hell, AION grindy, SWTOR no endgame and the endgame it has was buggy. Then only ones left are RIft which trion themselves have said they are no where near close to f2p expecially after an extremely successful launch of SL, TSW which is on a prescipice atm, it has poor sub rates but a enthusiatic community and dev team which is pushing out new content every 1-2 months, and finally WoW which is IMO the BEST themepark mmo made so it doesnt need F2p. If people wanted to play a wow clone they would just play wow.

    Ill say it again if for example SWTOR was the best mmo ever made and was truly revolutionary then you would see sub numbers in the millions. The model isnt the problem its the games.

    And as it stands the only true F2P game is Aion which gives the whole game to you and allows you to buy cosmetic and xp boosts in its shop. F2P right now is nothing more then a glorified trial trying to bait you into subbing or spending MORE then 15$ in the cash shop. 

    Playing: FFXIV, DnL, and World of Warships
    Waiting on: Ashes of Creation

  • MikeJezZMikeJezZ Member UncommonPosts: 1,267
    Originally posted by DSWBeef
    F2P is not the future. The reason recent sub games have failed is because they are either buggy or WoW clones. If GW2 had a sub people would still flock to it. If Swtor was truly amazing people wouldnt have a problem paying a sub. The model isnt the issue its the games.

    Sorry, but if GW2 had sub many wouldn't have bought it. People who bought it were tired of Gear grind and subscription fee.

    I was one of those seeing GW2 as the new Messiah of MMOs. After a month I CBA to log in again, too boring.

  • DSWBeefDSWBeef Member UncommonPosts: 789
    Originally posted by MikeJezZ
    Originally posted by DSWBeef
    F2P is not the future. The reason recent sub games have failed is because they are either buggy or WoW clones. If GW2 had a sub people would still flock to it. If Swtor was truly amazing people wouldnt have a problem paying a sub. The model isnt the issue its the games.

    Sorry, but if GW2 had sub many wouldn't have bought it. People who bought it were tired of Gear grind and subscription fee.

    I was one of those seeing GW2 as the new Messiah of MMOs. After a month I CBA to log in again, too boring.

    I guess your right about GW2, But if it was the messiah would you have subbed?

    Playing: FFXIV, DnL, and World of Warships
    Waiting on: Ashes of Creation

  • ice-vortexice-vortex Member UncommonPosts: 960
    Originally posted by DSWBeef
    Originally posted by MikeJezZ
    Originally posted by DSWBeef
    F2P is not the future. The reason recent sub games have failed is because they are either buggy or WoW clones. If GW2 had a sub people would still flock to it. If Swtor was truly amazing people wouldnt have a problem paying a sub. The model isnt the issue its the games.

    Sorry, but if GW2 had sub many wouldn't have bought it. People who bought it were tired of Gear grind and subscription fee.

    I was one of those seeing GW2 as the new Messiah of MMOs. After a month I CBA to log in again, too boring.

    I guess your right about GW2, But if it was the messiah would you have subbed?

    I wouldn't have subbed. I won't pay a monthly fee to play any game. Yet I have been spending money in their cash shop.

  • IdgiIdgi Member UncommonPosts: 11

    It’s simple really, the companies that back these games make more money providing F2P games then they do on subscription games. That should tell you something.

    Free to Play games have a visible life cycle. At first they lure people in with low prices & a fairly even playing field. As popularity rises so do prices, while the ability to compete without paying drops. This continues until pretty much all that’s left are the Pay to Win players who eventually figure out that the playing field has once again evened out, but at a very high price. LOL 

    So if I’m going to spend my money on a game, I’ll always choose a subscription game. It’s absolutely going to be cheaper & I prefer an even playing field where my skill & talent mean something. I'm always amused by the people who spend more money on "Free to Play" games then they would on a subscription. 

  • dave6660dave6660 Member UncommonPosts: 2,699
    You tell 'em.  Paying for your entertainment is so passe.  We demand free stuff!

    “There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.”
    -- Herman Melville

  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775
    Originally posted by dave6660
    You tell 'em.  Paying for your entertainment is so passe.  We demand free stuff!

    We don't have to demand. There is plenty of dev want to compete for our attention with free stuff. I don't see why we shouldn't take advantage of it.

  • RusqueRusque Member RarePosts: 2,785

    Micro transactions can work as long as you business model isn't predicated upon "ripping people off".

    League of Legends is one of the most successful F2P micro transaction based games. BUT, they allow you to play for free and to grind out points very slowly to earn champs instead of buying them with money. That's why it succeeds, there is no solid wall that you hit and can't continue for free. Champions rotate so you get a taste of different ones and aren't stuck with the same ones for 3 years.

    A horrible example of microtransactions is D3 which was built upon screwing the players in terms of itemization to drive them to the RMAH. Had the RMAH been a bonus option for those who weren't willing to grind out gear, then it would have been fine. But blizz really botched it when they chose to have horrible gear (aka gear that isn't good enough to help you through the content that is dropping said gear) then you get the hate and the quick mass exodus.

    Freemium can be done poorly, usually by locking certain things away that should never be locked away . . . like hotbars or skill slots or by locking content by requiring purchases instead of allowing a slow gring to unlock it.

  • dotdotdashdotdotdash Member UncommonPosts: 488

    Personally I don't think that either the subscription model or the "free to play" model are the future at all.

    I'm guessing that ZeniMax Online will release TESO with a subscription fee, thinking that the game is "different" enough from WoW to justify a return to that model. Many believe that sub games are failing because they are "too alike WoW", but I don't think that's true. What we have to consider is that - outside of WoW - there are no major subscription titles in the west, and there never have been. Eve is the closest thing to a "competitor" to WoW, and even it is having trouble breaking the 1,000,000 mark. If/When ZMO release TESO under a sub model, it will fail, and then hopefully there will be a realisation that subscription fees - in their current form, at least - are not a viable model to follow.

    Does this mean that "Free to Play" is the model of choice for the future of the genre? No. The problem the "Free to Play" model has is that it is wildly varied in its representation. Where one developer may fund itself using a relatively fair and transparent model (League of Legends), another will pursue a wholely more exploitative approach (SWTOR). That isn't to say the F2P model in and of itself is bad, just that it is open to exploitation more so than any other model of payment. You just have to look at this site, and other sites, to see what the general consensus is on the F2P model. Even though there are great games out there applying the model intelligently, such as LoL, TF2, TA, etc, we are more inclined to remember the fact that there are games employing the model to wantonly exploit us.

    So if P2P and F2P are not going to work, what will? Quite simply: traditional "Buy to Play" is the model we're probably going to see more of in the coming years. ArenaNet proved a point with Guild Wars 2: box sales can fuel a games life cycle and return significant margins. If we look at the single player market, we can see that developers such as Bethesda, CD Projeckt RED, DICE and other such names are favouring long content life cycles through DLC. This can easily be translated to the MMO space: release a boxed game at a premium price, and then follow a traditional "expansion" life cycle with 6-monthly or yearly releases charged at typical "expansion" prices, perhaps with DLC content thrown around along the way.

    The problem we have right now is that the management executives at big studios - management teams that have no understanding of the market they operate in, as has previously been pointed out - are nickle and diming gamers in order to see "what they can get away with". Developers are passionate about making games, but invariably not passionate about running a business. This role is deferred to people who are passionate about business, but invariably not passionate about games.

    As has been stated, someone needs to stir up some trouble in the industry.

  • madazzmadazz Member RarePosts: 2,100

    I think microtransactions are evil! Unless they are for silly things like customizing your characters looks. But when they impede my enjoyment of a game I just feel ripped off and quit. I don't like feeling like I am being nickel and dimed. F2P in it's current form across the majority of games is just not acceptable to me. And sub games with cash shops that give you a one up on others its just disgusting.

    Also, I wish people wouldn't compare LoL to all these F2P games. LoL does not restrict you. By the time you can even do ranked games, or should I say by the time you can actually compete in ranked games you have already earned enough free IP to purchase a couple rune pages, multiple characters, and all the runes you need. The only thing you really would want to pay for if you are hooked are the skins! I've never felt ripped off by LoL because they don't sell anything I NEED to enjoy the game. Just things I WANT. IE; in some mmo's to keep up they want you to pay for enhanced experience bonuses, or they want you to pay so something is completed quicker. In LoL you can get experience faster, but whoopee dooooo. If anything that only hurts you as now you are at a higher level, and have LESS than those at the same level as you. Therefore, the XP bonus hurts you. 

    Now to Wayshuba, I see no reason why you wouldn't share the speakers name from a conference. It makes no sense and only leads me to believe that you are making a story up. For one, he held a conference to educate and get a message out. You really believe he wants his message spread but does not want his name associated with it? What is this some sort of underground neo-nazi leader who is actually a politician and needs to hide his relation? Sorry, I have seen too many movies. Regardless, I call BS on your "conference". No one holds a public or private conference that hundreds of people can attend on such a typical topic only to want their names held back. For those wondering, in his thread he refused to share the name.

  • CalmOceansCalmOceans Member UncommonPosts: 2,437

    Someone posted this on another forum, but I had to laugh.

    This is F2P, the boxes they sell in most F2P cash shop games are now just lucky boxes, many games are basically nothing more than casino with some content around it, it's no longer about the game, the game revolves around teh cash shop.

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