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So F2P or P2W the new business model for EQNext
cybertrucker
Member UncommonPosts: 1,117
With SOE fully embracing the F2P model. Does this mean that Sony Premium Subscribers get nada for the new game? Its all available for everyone. Or is that really incorrect. I cant seem to wrap my head around all the different things they could or might charge for in a full fledge Sandbox style game.... This could turn into one of the most expensive games to play of all time. Im hoping Im wrong. It will be curious to see how they set up their business model with this. I know a person who claims to have spent over 250.00 in Planet Side 2 within a month setting up his fighter. That is kind of scary. I figure planet side 2 will not be nearly as large or offer nearly as much to purchase as EQN will.
Thoughts and opinions?
Comments
I'd be curious to see if they follow a similar example to the current EQ2 style. Paying to unlock specific features or having a subscription that unlocks everything. If the game ends up following a sandbox element, I would very much prefer to have a subscription model with any item shop being purely cosmetic in nature as I like to do a little bit of everything and not want to have to open up my pocketbook every single time I want to try something else.
I imagine as a premium subscriber you'd get the full benefits. I don't see why it would be any other additional cost outside buying items off the item shop.
The model probably will be like their other EQ games F2P option and a SUB option.
Tho still have to buy the game of course.
"Negaholics are people who become addicted to negativity and self-doubt, they find fault in most things and never seem to be satisfied."
^MMORPG.com
I believe they hinted they are going more towards the Planetside 2 model, which I'm admittedly not 100% familiar with, but from what I understand it's more F2P than "P2W" though I'm sure someone who is more familiar with it could give specifics. I can't remember where, but I think they hinted they won't have a sub model. If they keep the cash shop relatively cosmetic / convenience I think that's better than the sub / F2P EQ2 had, as the gap between free players and subbed players was quite large. If they include ways to incorporate it into the sandbox element and let players buy and trade virtual currency into real life money by making content in game (similar to Player Studio) than even better, I think that's a great step to the future of the business model.
On a side note $250 a month isn't even a "super whale" to F2P companies. I've known players in other F2Ps spending upwards of $2000 a month on some games. Here's an article on Super Whales: http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2010/06/10/super-whales-spend-money-virtual-goods/
Killing dragons is my shit
I signed up for Planetside 2 just to see what it was like. It wouldn't be awful to have a similar setup. It would get people playing the game, and let people that couldn't afford the cost of a subscription have a chance.
Planetside has something close to a subscription option that's called premium membership or something like it. It's $15/mo so right in line with other MMO's. For the $15 you get points that you can use that's about $5 worth of your subscription every month, plus an xp boost that's worth it. If you do go that way it feels like a regular game.
It's not pay to win for sure. I came out of the gate not knowing which button the trigger was and was able to kill people that looked pretty shiny. They just killed me a lot faster.
The world looked good. We could do worse than a world like that. Some places looked too shiny, like fake, but most were beautiful, and it was huge with tons of people packed in tight spaces and still playable.
I was worried at first, before I played PS2 a bit, but it wasn't awful. You do have to have some willpower. I heard of people spending a LOT to gear up fast. I can't imagine that EQ would let you buy gear that would be end game at a low level.
Asdar
Now you can sub to earn subs faster. Or you can equip a boost which costs cash to earn certs faster. But you can't directly buy the stuff with cash.
With cash you can buy cosmetic stuff. You get some free cash every month if you sub.
You can also buy new guns with cash (but you can also buy them with subs)
In most cases, say infantry guns, it is a sidegrade not an upgrade, the real power comes from the scope, ammunition etc.. you attach to the gun, which can't be bought with cash.
However there are some guns that can massively increase your kill count / xp rate. E.g. a second anti air gun for a max, air to ground missiles for aircraft etc.. so there is a small element of p2w, bit it mostly revolves around ground to air and air to ground combat.
There isn't pay 2 win at all with pure ground combat or pure air combat, its when the 2 mix. That said your only talking £10 or so to buy both a decent ground to air and a decent air to ground weapon, and really you only need the 1st as not everyone flies.
I guess for the purists any money transaction will be anathema, but without PvP it cant be that big of a thorn.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Knowing SoE's history, ever since Everquest, they haven't quite picked themselves off the concrete. I have hopes for EQNext, but nothing too high. Most games created F2P are very limiting. They look grandeur in possibility at first, until you learn the gameplay mechanics.
I'd like to see this be as popular as Everquest was, but I think in order to do that they would need to completely turn over the current model to a subscription. The benefits of that outweigh the cons, unless they really just want something to throw out there 'right now'.
Big titles like this don't have a choice but to offer either a sub or a box with a relatively price tag, but no sub and a convenience/vanity shop. We know how subs are going out of style even with games with very high production values and polish(Rift), so that leaves one choice. This is Everquest, not Neverwinter. F2P games like Neverwinter and Dragon's Prophet never pretend to be AAA MMOs like World of Warcraft, Rift, Guild Wars 2, or Wildstar. They are MMOs to fill gaps in a line up of sorts or try new things and ideas. If you look at the shop in Dragon's Prophet, it's very convenience based and never P2W. There are some items in there, like unlocking more slots for dragons and and bags that can make things, I guess, more fun, but you can still have fun without them. Chances are that if you are the type that enjoys the game and it adds value to your life you'll spend the money anyways, so it's probably not perceived as a sleight or crime to you. But, if you aren't this type of person, I'm afraid you might see them as cash grabs.
I've been playing Dragon's Prophet for a few days now and haven't seen anything that would hinder my enjoyment of the game is locked behind the Station Cash wall.
It will be like the EQ2 model. It would be awesome if they had Kronos in the game as well, but I dunno if they will put them in right away. They were an awesome idea for EQ2 though.
I'm sure there will be the Subscription, then the pay to unlock item slots, races, and classes etc.
I would think it would be cooler if it was a little less restrictive when the F2P, because right now it's pretty bad how restrictive it is. But also, there may not even be a free to play, maybe just a to level 10 or 20 trial, but this game is going to be the next big MMORPG, who says they will need a F2P option.
Killing dragons is my shit
They have been loosening the F2P restrictions on their games for quite some time now, although EQ2 and EQ had the caveat of existing subscribers, who did not want to lose access to anything, and did not want others getting it for free. EQNext will be the PS2 type of F2P. I think SoE has learnt its lesson about greed and pay2win with the early EQ2 model.
It will be F2P no cost to buy the game.
Need it or not they have said a dozen times this game will be F2P period end of story. I am sure they will give perks to station access people and people who sub though just like PS2.
I have to agree. Definitely the best model so far. But GW2 kind of under-delivered in the cool things to buy category. EQ2 has always been pretty good in the flashy item department to get people opening their wallets.
Well PS2 the weapons are just a different way of play at least they are supposed to be balanced that way.. tho of course balance is an on going thing... so sure in that i think they do have a few weapons available in the cash shop but they don't give an advantage as such just a different way of playing. IF the person you know spent £250 in a month on PS2 then he is a fool as you can get everything with normal progression in game..
The main thing I paid for in PS2 was for the premium sub.. it gave me faster xp gain and faster cash gain and i would think if EQ:N is f2p then I think we would see something similar.. still we know next to nothing about it so at the moment its all guess work.
As long as EQN cash shop does not let you buy weapons, armour, spell upgrades and the like i could not careless whats in it, if it follows EQ2 trends it will just be fluff, skins and a few XP potions, i am ok with that, i dont call any of that play to win.
However, if they allow you to buy weapons etc like you can in PS2 with station cash, then i personally would not be to happy about it, i am firmly in the, if you want it earn it in game! camp, it would not necessarily stop me from playing but i think it would hurt the game in the long run and reduce any longevity of the game.
I'll have to look around for this, because I haven't seen anything that says it will be F2P. It's hard to believe Sony would do something like that because they are pretty damn greedy.
Killing dragons is my shit
I'm not sure the words I would use to describe Rift are high production values and polish. Sure, it was fleshed out. But it had semi-poor graphics, and the combat and animations were the slowest and most dull I've ever seen in an MMO, and it seems like it's like that to date, judging from my attempt to play it a week ago.
Anyway, I sincerely hope EQNext will be P2P only, but I doubt it. A damn shame. But it does look like SOE has pretty much embraced the F2P style. If so, it already makes me extremely wary about the game, and any claimed quality it might or might not have :x
No thanks.
This game will have a sub option running alongside the f2p option.
....Being Banned from MMORPG's forums since 2010, for Trolling the Trolls!!!