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Returning To that P2P game thats now F2P

Crunchy222Crunchy222 Member CommonPosts: 386

So this is a story/gripe about a situation many of you may be in, given how quite a few P2P games have fizzled out and recently decided to go pay per content, usually marketing it as free to play, which its anything but.

Many of you have purchased, at full box price, and paid perhaps one, or a few, month subs to these games.  It lost its luster, had issues, whatever, you left.  Months or years pass by and you start looking around at games.  You see that game you bought a while back, its now free, perhaps has a lot of players now, some changes were made...so you think, why not, ill jump in..see whats changed, maybe ill like it again, perhaps new life has been injected into the game, perhaps old issues are remedied.

 

So you log in.  Your greeted by a character select thats a mess.  Servers have merged, of course, its a good thing i guess, more players...however...all your character names are now taken...awesome...  Whats worse, some games in the process of going free reduced character slots, so now you have 6 locked characters and can only choose two to play.

My problem starts here, the first few minuets of returning to a game i supported at launch.  Was my $40-$60 no good at the time to at least reserve a name, now the name thing doesnt bother me...locking my characters and pretending im a free player does.  I paid more than most the free kids have...yet i cant even access my character without deleting most?  I cant even create a new character (something i need to do to get back into the game)...what the hell?

Typically its at this point that i give up, never having enterd the game.  I must decide to delete just about all my character if i want to start a new one and get back into the game..as if my box purchase and several months of subs paid have been completely...forgotten...

The sad thing is, this game at one point held my interest, i paid for it, i played it, i did enjoy it...but now returning to it, as a free game, just to see if its worth comming back, and i cant even get on.  Or if i choose one character and hop in, i cant use my stuff, my inventory has been reduced...its a nightmare.

And i think to myself...if this is their idea as to how to get people to come back...wow.

 

So ive done this with a few games that i played in the past, that are now "Free" and every single time i end up just unistalling it.  I feel i shouldnt have to make a free account just to make a character and try it out, again, i paid for the game, i uderstand its now free and they probably are desperate for money...but at least let me create a character and enjoy somewhat at game that i remembed, chances are i would have been down for at least one month of sub money if it brought back enough good memories. 

 

So am i the only one here who feels shit on when i return to an older (or not so old) game that i once sunk $40-$100 worth of subs and box prices, only to find out that money didnt mean a damn thing when the game goes free and im treated like a freeloader who must be enticed to spend a few bucks just for a normal game experience?

Does anyone else feel that perhaps returning players should get the normal game, with perhaps restrictions on endgame, rather than in your face when you first log in restrictions?

Again these were games that i felt fine spending money on, and i just want to return, see whats going on, give the new character thing a try, log onto my old main, check stuff out, see whos still playing...whatever...but i cant, without getting nickled and dimed...let alone having to re-register as a completely free character usually just to make a new alt...i cant possibly thing of a bigger turn off to returning to a game that obviously needs people who will/have spent money to play, then kicking them in the face on their first login in months or years.

 

Comments

  • Cephus404Cephus404 Member CommonPosts: 3,675
    No clue, I don't return to games.  If I left a game, there was a reason and it's almost certain that the reason hasn't vanished.  Therefore, with very few exceptions, once I walk away from a game, it's forever and I have no interest in ever going back.

    Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
    Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
    Now Playing: None
    Hope: None

  • ShaikeShaike Member UncommonPosts: 301

    1. It's not only you.

    2. You paid for content you recieved. Now it's different - play or not - your choise.

    3. I really understand you but i also understand them.

    4. I had the exact same thing with SWTOR and decided to uninstall it again just because i had to delete all my chars and decided not to...

    Just my 2 cents...

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  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,739
    Usually when I return to a p2p game that is now f2p I aks myself "WHy did I pay for this in the first place?"
  • PivotelitePivotelite Member UncommonPosts: 2,145

    Oh, we all would feel that way, you're definitely not the only one, luckily some games are starting to catch on that taking anything away from your old paying playerbase is a bad idea.

     

    If you look at TERA F2P conversion founders get the exact same thing, nothing changed from the original game, except now we get a mount and if we decide to subscribe we get benefits.

     

    The F2P players who didn't buy the game are the ones with restrictions.

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  • sibs4455sibs4455 Member UncommonPosts: 369

    What games do you mean?, i log on to play a few games that have gone from p2p to f2p and i can use some of my old charactors. If new content has been released then word of mouth or a quick look on youtube will tell you if it's worth paying for the extra content.

  • madazzmadazz Member RarePosts: 2,100

    Even though I hate how the ended the DCUO game (repeat raids over and over and over again), I gave it another try and uninstalled it right away. I lost my character name due to a server merge, they added my servers name at the end of it and they had added more raids to repeat over and over ontop of the other raids you had to repeat over and over. BLEH!!!!

    Then there was EQ2, I've tried going back twice now, in its free form. Perhaps I'd enjoy it more if I subbed? I don't know. But I hate the constant reminder that I am a second class citizen in that world. I would prefer it to be more subtle. Plus it bothered me that my level 40 something ogre was now gimped beyond belief because all of his items were stripped away. 

    The only game that I have gone back and had any enjoyment with after its conversion so far is TSW. I don't feel harassed or bothered in that game. I simply log on, do my thing and take off. Not once have I felt gimped.

  • dave6660dave6660 Member UncommonPosts: 2,699
    Watching the sub numbers drop like a stone and the game going F2P should be a big red flag.  Don't throw good money after bad.

    “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
    Watching the sub numbers drop like a stone and the game going F2P should be a big red flag.  Don't throw good money after bad.

    Just play the game for free. No money is needed for F2P games. And that is the whole point, don't throw money at all. Play first and see if it is fun.

  • Crunchy222Crunchy222 Member CommonPosts: 386

    I understand completely their side of the coin.  However i feel that when an old player is logging in for the first time in a while, perhaps its better to greet them that to say "you need to pay us now" at character select.  They can at least allow me to have normal character slots given i paid far more than what they ask now for such a right...

    Let me be clear, i didnt expect to log in have all my P2P "rights" in game for free.  I expected at least the oppertunity to make a new character without deleting all but one of my old characters, or, as with STWOR, which i did delete a lot of character just so i could hop on my main, only to find out that i cant even put all my skills on the nerfed hotbars...Stuff like that makes me cringe.

    Also, i know people are saying once you see the pop dipping to get out...well...thats kind of a self fufilling prophicy.  I dont mind paying for entertainment as long as im entertained, i could give a damn that the lemmings are leaving, i just wish that when i return that i be treated as someone who spent money, rather than a free player...and again i have no issues with new endgame content being P2P, as every game ive done this with had new content since i left, all of which wasnt free.

     

    I have no issues with these system that attempt to get a few bucks out of new players, because thats all they are, but for a returning vet who paid in full, make me pay for that new content you added, or new races/classes...dont make me log in and have to decide on deleting old characters or logging back out...its just stupid on their part.

     

    I dunno the point of this thread was more because i, in some cases, redownloaded these games, and walked into them with an open mind, knowing theyve been through hell and back with their lauch/overhype/decline and now enjoy bad or no press from the community.  I know each of them (and i wont name them all) were good games in their own right, just made some mistakes or failed to address major flaws.  I was kind of hoping to walk in, start a noob character, remeber what i liked about the game, and perhaps choose to stay in one (as its F2P) as a side game.  Each and every game i did this with i never got to play, i ended up not making it past the character select.

    Its kind of sad i chose to log out, perhaps permanatly, rather than delete some old characters...but its what i did.  Also its sad that if the games were P2P still i probably just would have resubbed to at least one of them.  Its more a point than the money i guess.

  • darkkblackdarkkblack Member Posts: 38
    Originally posted by Cephus404
    No clue, I don't return to games.  If I left a game, there was a reason and it's almost certain that the reason hasn't vanished.  Therefore, with very few exceptions, once I walk away from a game, it's forever and I have no interest in ever going back.

    Yes there is the old feeling that this game has reached there point where that is all it has to offer and the feeling of being entertained just dies. So many different tittles out there to explore. I never look back. I am very loyal however. Quake 3 is still very fun, Urban Terror, still playable, I could play a few rounds of starcraft broodwars. What I enjoy about F2P games is figuring out how to get P2P items without spending cash.

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