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F2P doesn't have to be a bad thing.
tixylix
Member UncommonPosts: 1,288
I know it gets a lot of stick because it tends to compromise the gameplay as developers base everything around getting you to spend money. However it really does depend on the developer and devs like Valve just get it so spot on, they involve the community who create content, earn money and Valve takes a cut on the side. All the core gameplay elements are free, only cosmetic stuff is sold and that is fine.
SWG is a game where F2P would destroy the economy in theory, with SOE in charge back in those days, they would have made that game even worse than what they did over the years. I remember TCG coming out and all the good new items they spent ages on the art with were only purchasable through getting those card packs. They ignored crafters for the most part, all the stuff you wanted to actually have was all through that stuff. If done right in F2P they could simply sell schematics and crafters would still have their roll in crafting, rather than giving the item outright.
I bought FF14 on the PS4 (mainly because there is nothing else to play on it) and my month is now up as of today, I realised I've only played it 3 times since I got it. I'm either busy, not in the mood or there are so many other games that my gaming time is taken up. I realised that I'm not under 16 any more, I have a job, I can afford games and I'm not just stuck with one for months on end. I would love to return to FF14 once or twice a month, that does me just fine, but I cannot justify having to pay a subscription for what feels like every time I want to play the game. It just creates a barrier to entry for me and I end up just never bothering to play as I have to pay to get back into the game.
I really think F2P is the future, it takes down that barrier to entry which subscription games create. I don't mind there being a subscription offering but I feel that to get me as a player, I don't want a subscription, I feel ripped off paying one to only play a few times a month. I'm quite happy playing an MMO like that, I'm not in any rush to get to end level, every single MMO I've played but one, I've never gotten to end level.
Comments
The problem with games that depend on subscriptions for revenue, in my opinion, is that they inherently operate on the assumption that the people playing them have lots of time to do so. This, of course, is just not true. While some people might have 30+ hours/week to spend on a game, others will be lucky if they can squeeze in 10-15 hours of playtime. Yet to a game operating on subscriptions alone, all of these types of players are the same.
Games that are free-to-play are learning to capitalize on the different kinds of customers they have, but it's really easy to get greedy and start driving players on both ends of the spectrum away. I think the biggest failing with F2P at present is that a lot of companies are still looking at F2P as nothing more than a mechanism for getting larger numbers of people to try their game. They're like the guy who hits on everybody at the bar because he's turned the art of picking up into a simple numbers game. The quality of the end product becomes a secondary consideration.
Personally, I'm a big fan of cash shops that let me pay to skip the grind. MMOs are, after all, loaded with mundane time sinks that a lot of us would probably prefer to skip if we could. PlanetSide 2's cash shop, for example, is one I'm quite content with. That is a great example of a game you can jump into and play with your friends without spending 50% of your time doing stuff you don't want to do so that you can continue to play with your friends.
I'm not a big fan of cosmetics-heavy cash shops, on the other hand, and prefer to see cosmetic items remain tied to in-game accomplishments. I can certainly tolerate these kinds of setups in some games, and I think they're quite fitting for games built around collecting things. But if cosmetic-item production is too prolific, the game's focus becomes owning things instead of doing things; and I'm not interested in playing a shopping mall simulator.
TL;DR
Pure subscription models are, generally, not very good at addressing and/or capitalizing on the discrepancies in value different people put on their time. Hybrid and F2P games at least have a recourse for doing so, if they can avoid being too predatory.
Don't have to be a bad thing only if the shop don't mess with the gameplay.
But if they don't mess with the gameplay then noway they can get money , and you know they always do.
Trust me , never join F2P MMORPGs that have PVP and don't try to stay in long term in F2P MMORPG .
Best time to join F2P MMORPGs are beta and month or 2 after the release , after 3-4 months the game will become mess and after 6 months you should quit it if you don't have enough money to burn.
Turbine's DDO is one of my favorite mmo's of all time. I liked it best tho right after it went f2p. What they added lately ruined the beginners zone which used to be so lively. Anyway I played it to death and pieces so time to move on but I have beautiful pictures and it was damn fun. Esp that rogue class omg was that great.
To the OP yeah you need time to do mmo's. I don't think it's a f2p issue but a time issue. I understand you want a game where you don't have to keep track of the monthly sub. FFXIV being avail on PS4 is nice for those of us who don't have a decent computer. At least if you leave you can always come back; SE keeps your char info indefinitely. If your schedule is to busy find a good f2p.
Cheers.
F2P works in PvE games if the publishers don't overdo the itemshop (as many do).
In PvP games it is a very thin line and I never seen a PvP MMO that works well as F2P.
The devs do need to get in money but the hard thing with F2P is that once you start selling gear with stats the game cross the line since getting gear is the main way to gain power in most MMOs and what people play the game for.
If some newbie just can buy the best gear in the game, then why would he continue to play? And many other MMOs play for the pride to get the coolest gear, if anyone just can buy it it takes away a lot of their drive as well.
Cosmetic stuff and things that makes the game more comfortable (like more bankslots and extra bag space) is fine. Even XP pots works in games where the main point of the game isn't gaining XP. Races works as long as they are cosmetic and balanced with the rest of the game.
But whenever paying money is a huge advantage, or open up a lot more to the world then F2P doesn't really work.
F2P its never a bad, there is no such thing, there are bad game tough but they can be any kind.
and yes, F2P is the future, and may games and companies are starting to see this, take examples of games who started into the dark side and turned F2P like RIFT, The secret world, Defiance and many others.
There are ways to succesfully profit a game without forcing a gamer to pay monthly royalties. Just have to be creative!.
F2P is probably the future, but there is a downside to the whole premise. Monetization, that's the whole problem. People get greedy. At first they can even have a great game, but in the end it's all about the money. You'll always have the nagging feeling of "when are the going to release that dreadful patch?"
With F2P, they owe you nothing and everything is "fair". And while F2P doesn't have to be a bad thing, it often is in the end.
Future? It is the present. How many games are F2P, and how many are sub-only?
I don't think monetization is a problem at all. Developers have to make money and players get to choose which games they want to play. When things go overboard, players stop playing and go find something else to do. As you said, developers owe you nothing, but you owe them nothing either. You choose if you're going to avail yourself to the cash shop or not. Nobody forces you to ever use it, nobody forces you to spend a red cent and I think a lot of people play these games with entirely unrealistic expectations. They expect that they can compete with the whales without spending any money at the cash shop and that's not going to happen. It doesn't make the game bad, it just isn't something that you can earn without the same kind of cash outlay.
Of course, if you do what I do and stop being concerned about competing with anyone else, stop trying to be better than everyone else, just play the game and have fun and enjoy the time you have in the game before you move on, then all of that dick waving nonsense becomes irrelevant and F2P is every bit as fun as P2P, probably moreso because you're not worried about having to spend all of your time in a game that you're paying for, you can relax and just have a good time.
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
Sure, you can go from F2P game to F2P game without ever spending a dime, but if everybody did that there would be no more F2P games, period. If you start spending money on the game however, you have to know when to stop. It can be a slippery slope.
The whales are not going to stop.
I play Marvel Heroes from time to time .. great Diablo clone with marvel characters. I enjoy it for free so far, and given it is expanding and having more content, i would say the whales are doing their part, and i doubt they need my money.
May be i would eventually buy something (not likely as of now) but you don't need everyone to pay to support a game.
You always make me wonder what else are we paying your way for in life.
SO far there is either no f2p or the games look like they are f2p.
It is not the future because costs are going up so developers are not in the mood of making less profits and handing over free gaming,they don't work for free.
The ONLY reason f2p began is because the low end game developers needed some new gimmick to get themselves noticed in an incredibly flooded market.Back in the year 2003 there were only a handful of games competing for the market share,now there is a game creeping up every week.
I want a game that looks like FFXIV with the depth of FFXI but so far i have not seen developers hit either spectrum just a lot of games that look cheap.The old saying "you get what you pay for " is so true.
I have been working a lot lately and have enough games to pass the time so i really don't need to support any of these modern day f2p games.I am not so sure i will still be gaming at all by time i see a really good product come out but i guarantee i will see lots of hype for EVERY new game that comes out.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Who are "we"? Are you a whale?
Personally i don't get much freebies in life except MMOs (and other F2P games). And it is totally voluntary. You don't have to pay a single dime (just like i don't) in F2P games.
If you do, you are just being nice to me.
What does that have to do with a majority of players playing for free? Devs can make more profits if they catch more whales.
You don't need everyone to pay to make more money.