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STO going f2p confirmed.
Cacaphony
Member Posts: 738
Link to the STO thread.
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=230101
The OP of the above thread gave this link to a Perfect World earnings call.
Anyway, I don't have anything to add really. Just wanted to share the news with you guys here. If you don't want to read the whole conference call transcript, the OP on the STO forum thread I linked you to, has the important information posted.
Comments
Nice! I actually like this game, but couldnt justify the $15 a month, but as free, I think it'll get new life.
Good move for everyone involved. I hope the lifers get their just deserts for supporting the game from the get-go. Also, I won't feel as bad visiting the c-store! =D YAY!
Over all this is a win win for everyone and I will most definitely be returning to this after this announcement.
And another one bites the bullet, how many more will we see. The saga continues...
With Cryptic being picked up by PWE, and given the success of Champions' transition to F2P, this was probably inevitable.
And I agree, I think this is a good thing for everyone involved.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
I'm kinda surprised. I thought they'd keep milking and bilking the lifers and hard core fanatics with the subscription and the C-Store.
I have played star trek online off and on , and understand them needing to follow this path.
But for me I will probably not play it once it goes free to play as I dont play free to play games.
But then again depeends on what sort of model(business) they put out.
Im a lifetime suber but i know im going to get my free coins each month so this sounds cool.
Furthermore this game will start getting more and more people and it will be good for all of us.But how many people will left in the wild after this below?I will be playing swtor for sure and i dont think ill have more time for trek even if i like it.
This game should have been free-to-play since its' launch. It wasn't worth $15/month then and has suffered the same fate of every other generic half-baked mmorpg.
As far as I'm concerned, Cryptic ruined this IP's, let alone this games' potential for anything resembling a noteworthy mmorpg.
Haha it is indeed a good news. I would play this instead of SWTOR while waiting for GW2 :P.
Pardon my English as it is not my 1st language
Lifetime Subbers got screwed bad.
Hell, they got screw before the FTP... what did they get? An ugly com-badge and a lounge no one uses.
I like how they say they the Lifers also get a free download of the game client whenever they want... well, everyone does as well... How are you gonna list something as special when everyone has it?
[mod edit]
Should have been f2p since day one, for it was absolutely never anywhere close to the quality of a P2P game... No wonder Cryptic tanked as well...
M
There's only so much you can bilk them for; even with the high percentage of things that were released for the Cstore, they weren't putting things out quickly enough to get their primary revenue from the Cstore. Add in that STO's population dropped to about 58,000 (including lifetime subs) by December of the year it launched, and stayed there, along with their acquisition by PWI, and it really was only a matter of time before we saw this. Had Atari not have found a buyer for Cryptic, we would have seen this a bit earlier.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
I am hopeful that this will be good for STO.
As others have pointed out, it seems Free 2 Play is the new norm for MMO's (Dungeons & Dragons, LOTRO, Champions Online) I won't ever truly go away from STO as a Star Trek fan. The game has come a long way since its release and i'm hoping Cryptic will continue to add to the game as they have been.
Drudian of Warpigs Republic Guild
For more info visit warpig.org
or PM on the swtor.com forums
I doubt lifers got screwed, judging by the setup champions online use,
makes it look more like a unlimited demo, 2 char slots, limited curency, no story missions, basicly all you can do is do missions and repeat those add bore infidium.
Dont see why people realy complain.
Agreed. I always thought it would go f2p. I enjoyed it but couldn't see any depth for a monthly subscription. I'll definately go back now it's going free to play.
Lifers were suckers who took the bait from day one instead of waiting to see how it played. I knew within a day of playing it wouldn't be worth a lifetime sub.
No sympathy for em.
I think that them trying to bilk the lifers and hardcore fans would be akin to making them some type of evil or bad corporation and I don't know if that's the case they are just out of touch with what people want to play and their entire design strategy is the problem not their intentions.
While in some ways this worked for them with COH the last two releases show the flaws with a strategy like this the bottom line is if you push a game out the door in half the time the average mmo is made in you are simply pushing out a game that is going to offer about half as much content as other mmorpg's.
I can't say if there is some developer out there that can pull this off but I can say Cryptic sure can't do it.