I like f2p because I get bored of any one online game easily, and in a lot shorter time frame than 1 month. The amount of paperwork involved with credit cards and paypal whenever I want to switch genre's for a few days is a serious pain in the ass.
I want to be able to switch MMO's several times a night without paying 6 seperate subscriptions. The rest of the world is with me on this if they realize it or not. When a game gets interesting we shell out money. It is no different than making a donation imo, and getting a little something in-game also for good measure.
I should also add that f2p curbs any hostilities towards game devs. Your players will always pay you what they think it's worth. They need to suck it up and stop charging for expansions too. Gamers are not stupid anymore. What happens when an expansion comes out? Unless you love the game, you dont do anything. You sit and wait and read reviews, afterwards you buy it if its good. That lag time hurts companies, and slows down business.
We’re thinking about specific next steps for Vangaurd, but we’re not shutting it down or anything like that. We want to add more stuff to it. Will we change the business model? That’s the question people keep asking me. Will it go free-to-play? I don’t know – we’ve discussed it. What we’ll decide? I’m not sure yet. We’re going to see where EverQuest II Extended goes. But certainly if we make a decision like that, it won’t be without deciding to add more content to the game.
Someone asked why GW can run free, it's simple 90% of the game runs off your PC and you play SOLO. they only really have to pay for some bandwith to save your char on their server and the community area. Other then that the game is local and not running on their server.
So they pay maybe 1/1000th of what other companies pays. Am i not really fine with that model, specially if you play with groups because in the end the user is the one that ends up footing the bill, especially those with bandwith cap.
Also to add F2P games per say is dying, they being replaced by Freemium games (like LOTRO, EQ2X, DDO) as that's only way AAA games are ever goign to go Free. You have to pay for more content by either spending a lot of time in game doing the same crap over and over to pay for the content or buy it (which most end up doing which ends up being much much more then if you paid monthly to access the same content).
Most people get bored and move to a next game after 4-5months (as they reach the max). If they would have bought the game + paid monthly they would have probably paid less for that 4-5month that it's going to cost them to unlock everything on their way to max level.
And from what i've seen on LOTRO a lot of people that though this game would be free finally realized. this game is free till level 20, then you gotta work or pay for it. That's why queues are not 3h anymore but 5min at best most of the people that wanted a free game left, and most that stayed are actually subing because they like the game.
I still prefer a P2P game over the F2P model. I'll go with a P2P game such as Eve Online as well as playing a F2P game (hopefully Vanguard). I'm like many of you out...I'm in and out of MMO's. There is an upside to F2P but as stated before...you get a much different crowd playing tha game once it becomes "free"
Yeah, that much is true... But looking at the EQ2X "subscriptions" and compare them with EQ2 subscriptions, the choice is clear...
Copying a char from EQ2 to EQ2X would be a nice option, but it should be worth it. I mean $35 for a token to copy it and almost stripped of everything is no option IMO. Not to mention, the FAQ clearly states that as long as you have a subscription running for EQ2, your char in EQ2X will have gold status, but when you cancel the subscription, the copied char is back to bronze/silver status *WTF???*
It depends entirely on what you're looking for. The Extended service is more flexible in that if you have to drop your sub, you can still access your characters, but with it comes restrictions.
I think that staying on Live for long time players is the better option. For new players, Extended is a good option maybe even the better option for a fun experience even if it's a little more expensive overall. If you're extremely casual, Extended is the best option. If you want a dynamic server, Extended is the best option. If you have built up characters, guilds, reputation, etc. on Live, Live is the best option. Subscribing to Live is better in comparison to the gold membership for sure, but with it comes the top-heavy, stagnant servers.
I can't help but wonder if SoE wouldn't have done better just to open up a new server or two and give a true Extended trial to intice new players onto them without forcing a cash shop on people.
I think they should give all Live sub players one character they can copy over for free. If someone has been paying money constantly to SoE for several years, I don't think it's asking for too much to do one complimentary character copy so that Live members can benefit from the dynamism of the new server.
It makes total sense for them to limit you to bronze/silver if you drop your Live sub. Why should you get a gold membership character for free when everyone else is paying for it?
I'm not saying it's a perfect model by any means, but SoE and Turbine are giving players options. Turbine is giving players more options, though I find that their cutting out of the middle part of LotRO for those who bought the original box and want to go Premium is annoying. I like the fact though that if I unlock everything a la carte with Turbine, it stays unlocked, whereas if I were to sub with gold in EQ2X and drop it, there is no way to remove the restrictions right now. I can't unlock them by paying station cash in the store.
That's in my opinion something that needs changing for Extended to work really well.
Also to add F2P games per say is dying, they being replaced by Freemium games (like LOTRO, EQ2X, DDO) as that's only way AAA games are ever goign to go Free. You have to pay for more content by either spending a lot of time in game doing the same crap over and over to pay for the content or buy it (which most end up doing which ends up being much much more then if you paid monthly to access the same content).
Most people get bored and move to a next game after 4-5months (as they reach the max). If they would have bought the game + paid monthly they would have probably paid less for that 4-5month that it's going to cost them to unlock everything on their way to max level.
And from what i've seen on LOTRO a lot of people that though this game would be free finally realized. this game is free till level 20, then you gotta work or pay for it. That's why queues are not 3h anymore but 5min at best most of the people that wanted a free game left, and most that stayed are actually subing because they like the game.
I am really glad you posted this, and well said. I haven't done the F2A LotRO yet, if I ever do. Those who think that any of these 'free-to-play' games are truly free are kidding themselves. I do agree with some of those forum posters who say the problem is in the way these F2A games are advertized. They aren't free, aren't meant to be free, never were meant to be free. We shouldn't expect them to be free and we should ignore when they say 'free-to-play'... it's disingeneous, though I think much to SoE's credit they DO say that the Extended server is an Extended trial, meaning that at some point they fully expect you to pay.
There is no way to develope a game, release it, host it as a persistent world without asking for any money at all. I'm sure some people can stomach the restrictions and timesinks in order to play it for free, but how many? How fun of an experience is it?
I'd rather pay some money to support the developer and the costs of running the servers and have a fun experience overall. If I really don't have the money to spend on a subscription game, I go back to my single player games. Well that is, until the F2A hybrids started coming out. I like the idea of the model, but I think that the companies have to hash out a few more kinks in this payment model to make it really good. Turbine is closer than SoE, especially with DDO, but neither company is there yet in my view.
We’re thinking about specific next steps for Vangaurd, but we’re not shutting it down or anything like that. We want to add more stuff to it. Will we change the business model? That’s the question people keep asking me. Will it go free-to-play? I don’t know – we’ve discussed it. What we’ll decide? I’m not sure yet. We’re going to see where EverQuest II Extended goes. But certainly if we make a decision like that, it won’t be without deciding to add more content to the game.
We’re thinking about specific next steps for Vangaurd, but we’re not shutting it down or anything like that. We want to add more stuff to it. Will we change the business model? That’s the question people keep asking me. Will it go free-to-play? I don’t know – we’ve discussed it. What we’ll decide? I’m not sure yet. We’re going to see where EverQuest II Extended goes. But certainly if we make a decision like that, it won’t be without deciding to add more content to the game.
After the APB debacle, when spokesmen say we are adding new content....I expect it to shut down tomorrow...LOL
I found the statement funny considering they just fired all but one of the vangaurd devs a couple of months back. I guess they must have replaced them.
Hes talking about microtransactions improving the salesnumbers in the start so i wouldnt say its impossible, any successful company would go for whats the best for the company and not what the users want. You should try listening from 6:15 also. ; )
What killed Warhammer was the player base and not the game. Players found easy ways to get loot by finding mini-battlegrounds that suited their classes and never left those. RVR was dead from the get go. I could run across a contested zone and never see another soul. I played Warhammer and left it because the players did not use the game the way it was invisioned. I wanted huge bettles in RVR but got an endless stream of mini games which got boring real quick.
Players often ruin games and then blame the developers. Warhammer Devs were pretty short sighted on how quickly players choose the easy path and that was their downfall.
So, even if it goes F2P, nothing will change and it will still die eventually.
What gets me thinking about all this free to play stuff, is the fact that these companies might think sticking the free to play label on them might entice folks to play.
I have to say this, if all you do is change the subscription plan, but not fix what drove players from your game in the first place then you going to still have the same pos of a crappy game.
These game companies need to sit down and take a look at why folks are not playing. Yes some folks left as they did not want to pay the sub, but you need to address why they really left.
When I quit playing an mmo there is usually a reason. Broken game mechanics being the number one. Followed by lack of a good dev team. Other issues are how fun it is.
Just because you make it free to log in does not mean it is stil going to be fun to play.
There is only one game that I might play, and it sure is not AOC I went back and tried it and found that it was the same old borring thing after 30 days I let my sub lapse again.
In my opinion, a game must be built to be F2P, in order to retain anything. Taking a game that is not built on that model, can not work very long. Let's look at Warhammer; Players already have the ability to change the appearance of their gear, so to me, I'm not going to spend dollars to look pretty. The game revolves, like many MMO's, the shiny loot, and you said it best, the "Pay to Win" Model will back fire quickly and decisively.
As for paying for other classes and or races. The way Mythic is known for adding those things? Essentially what you are saying is the same thing as "Pay to Win" You might see an increase at the inception, but I'll bet a dramatic fall off shortly there after.
Me 2 cents on it.
I would modify that a tad. I think all games should be ready and flexible enough to transition to a F2P model. There are plenty of subscription MMOs that are thriving. Including the big WoW Gorilla in the room. Games age. If the company can't attract more new players the player base will move on eventually. Did GW2 come about because they simply wanted to input a patch of so many new elements they didn't want to ruin GW1? That is the party line. Or did the player base drop and they needed to invigorate the game?
F2P is by far is easiest method to attract new players. However, the big test will be Bioware vs. Arenanet. Reason being is that Bioware is telling us they are investing more money in a production of a game than any other company to date. To hope its players will buy enough cash shop type items to make this investment pay off is a huge gamble. EA/ Bioware don't like gambles. They can figure box sales will defray a lot of the production costs, but will it be enough? Subscriptions ally those fears.
Now if Bioware bombs, you can estimate subscribers dropping, but will it be a cliff or slope shaped drop? I bet their financial gurus have a backup plan and a danger level of subscribers. If the gamer base drops to that level, offer free trials. If it drops lower, offer F2P.
Ok Wall of text and going nowhere fast. Point being not every game needs to be F2P, but they should be ready to go F2P with little work to transition to it.
Turbine had success making the Transition with DDO, and did it with lotro to keep them alive.
Now if Bioware Lost subscribers, they get fired. EA wants there money back. (they will get booted just like Mythic).. Of course that might be delayed though until they get there next titles there working on for RPG, such as Dragon age 2, Mass effect 3, and jade empire 2 (has been comfirmed on bioware forums by a dev, just no real footage)
In my opinion, a game must be built to be F2P, in order to retain anything. Taking a game that is not built on that model, can not work very long. Let's look at Warhammer; Players already have the ability to change the appearance of their gear, so to me, I'm not going to spend dollars to look pretty. The game revolves, like many MMO's, the shiny loot, and you said it best, the "Pay to Win" Model will back fire quickly and decisively.
As for paying for other classes and or races. The way Mythic is known for adding those things? Essentially what you are saying is the same thing as "Pay to Win" You might see an increase at the inception, but I'll bet a dramatic fall off shortly there after.
Me 2 cents on it.
I would modify that a tad. I think all games should be ready and flexible enough to transition to a F2P model. There are plenty of subscription MMOs that are thriving. Including the big WoW Gorilla in the room. Games age. If the company can't attract more new players the player base will move on eventually. Did GW2 come about because they simply wanted to input a patch of so many new elements they didn't want to ruin GW1? That is the party line. Or did the player base drop and they needed to invigorate the game?
F2P is by far is easiest method to attract new players. However, the big test will be Bioware vs. Arenanet. Reason being is that Bioware is telling us they are investing more money in a production of a game than any other company to date. To hope its players will buy enough cash shop type items to make this investment pay off is a huge gamble. EA/ Bioware don't like gambles. They can figure box sales will defray a lot of the production costs, but will it be enough? Subscriptions ally those fears.
Now if Bioware bombs, you can estimate subscribers dropping, but will it be a cliff or slope shaped drop? I bet their financial gurus have a backup plan and a danger level of subscribers. If the gamer base drops to that level, offer free trials. If it drops lower, offer F2P.
Ok Wall of text and going nowhere fast. Point being not every game needs to be F2P, but they should be ready to go F2P with little work to transition to it.
Turbine had success making the Transition with DDO, and did it with lotro to keep them alive.
Now if Bioware Lost subscribers, they get fired. EA wants there money back. (they will get booted just like Mythic).. Of course that might be delayed though until they get there next titles there working on for RPG, such as Dragon age 2, Mass effect 3, and jade empire 2 (has been comfirmed on bioware forums by a dev, just no real footage)
Yes they pulled it off with DDO, and they are trying very hard to pull it off with LOTRO. However they are having tons of fits in lotro. Some VIPS had their accounts scalled back due to accident. Lots of post of the forums even from people who though they knew how it was going to go down. Lots of angry folks.
I have to agree taking a game not made fro free to log in and going that route makes you have tons of issues.
Hes talking about microtransactions improving the salesnumbers in the start so i wouldnt say its impossible, any successful company would go for whats the best for the company and not what the users want. You should try listening from 6:15 also. ; )
L2 Korea has had a cash shop + sub for a few years now.
All I know is that before Guild Wars existed, players would argue and attack me religiously. They would declare me to be Scum for saying that one should not pay monthly fees to play an MMORPG considering that those people have to spend money on their computers, Internet connections, Monitors and Games...not to mention Electricity and this doesn't cover the upgrade costs to play the latest games...
From a technical standpoint PC gaming is the most expensive gaming hobby out there. MMORPG fanaticism of "marrying" a game and spending more time with it than with loved ones or love interests (which is a growing problem these days with many) is unsettling.
To combat this problem, a select few gamers became hackers and created private versions of the MMORPGs. Almost every major MMORPG back then had private servers at one point or another. The premise behind these servers were to give people the means to playing without heavily grinding or spending tons of money.
I remember playing Lineage 2 for years and then trying a private server. I got farther playing in 2 - 3 months private server than playing (and paying) for 2 years. Also, the Private Servers were a way for players who were loyal to a style of gameplay before expansions ruining things would go to it.
My point is that there was a lot of resistance back then to paying to play and heavily grinding in games. I remember being given the talkdown by people who speculate and knew nothing about nothing as far as computers go. I remember it well...
Then Guild Wars came out. All of those idiotic "claims" that I had to PAY TO PLAY a game because a game will collapse if I didn't pay for it.......turned many heads. Guild Wars PROVED them wrong and still the game goes strong today. The MMORPG community then tried to say "oh they can do that because its all INSTANCED" as a measure to cover their ass to the whole issue.
The great thing to Guild Wars II is that "love it" or "Hate it" if it succeeds as a Persistent MMORPG, it will truly put the nail on the coffin with the entire argument of having to pay my money away to burn my years away in a game.
I am hoping the genre becomes about actually "PLAYING THE GAME" and not about "GRINDING" For months to PROVE YOURSELF to "START PLAYING" the game when you reach max level.
F2P is another model and it offers a great way to increase the fanbase of a game and its population. It does change the way a game is made, but the model still remains about "monetary extraction" yet still offers at least a way of playing without your funds being siphoned....at least until you reach a certain level where things slow down and you are pushed into Spending money in the in-game stores as punishment f or making mistakes in-game...like dying.
So the question is not about which games will go F2P, but rather how those games can "Convert" themselves into F2P without breaking the game or PUNISHING those players who have actually paid for YEARS to play the game.
...because none of us want to actually pay $180 a year for four years just so the game for F2P later....that Alone would cause me to leave the game altogether.
When a a game goes Free to Play, that is when I stop playing it. Lord of the Rings? I deleted it. The game gets overloaded with players and that is when lag starts and you get more kiddies playing.
If you cant afford to pay for a subscription, dont play. Pretty soon, even the subscripers will have to fork out more money to get content they should already have. It becomes a money grubbing fiasco.
Free to play becomes more expensive then being a subscriber, but you dont notice it, because they nickel and dime you to death.
World of Warcraft is my favorite game, but if it went free to play...I am out of there.
Comments
I like f2p because I get bored of any one online game easily, and in a lot shorter time frame than 1 month. The amount of paperwork involved with credit cards and paypal whenever I want to switch genre's for a few days is a serious pain in the ass.
I want to be able to switch MMO's several times a night without paying 6 seperate subscriptions. The rest of the world is with me on this if they realize it or not. When a game gets interesting we shell out money. It is no different than making a donation imo, and getting a little something in-game also for good measure.
I should also add that f2p curbs any hostilities towards game devs. Your players will always pay you what they think it's worth. They need to suck it up and stop charging for expansions too. Gamers are not stupid anymore. What happens when an expansion comes out? Unless you love the game, you dont do anything. You sit and wait and read reviews, afterwards you buy it if its good. That lag time hurts companies, and slows down business.
most people lose interest before the reviews ever come^
I bet vanguard. As for warhammer online it basicly is f2p since they implemented their never ending trial. http://www.warhammeronline.com/pressreleases/20091106.php
add Fallen Earth along with the P2P's, cause it is so worth the monthly fee.
NCsoft must bring back Auto Asault and Tabula Rasa as F2P. (gently strokes AA box)...Some day....my precious.
Everquest 1, it is one old game that had a lot of people and now lost them.
Resource: http://www.tentonhammer.com/syndcon10/interviews/john-smedley, August 25 2010
Cross your fingers =D
Someone asked why GW can run free, it's simple 90% of the game runs off your PC and you play SOLO. they only really have to pay for some bandwith to save your char on their server and the community area. Other then that the game is local and not running on their server.
So they pay maybe 1/1000th of what other companies pays. Am i not really fine with that model, specially if you play with groups because in the end the user is the one that ends up footing the bill, especially those with bandwith cap.
Also to add F2P games per say is dying, they being replaced by Freemium games (like LOTRO, EQ2X, DDO) as that's only way AAA games are ever goign to go Free. You have to pay for more content by either spending a lot of time in game doing the same crap over and over to pay for the content or buy it (which most end up doing which ends up being much much more then if you paid monthly to access the same content).
Most people get bored and move to a next game after 4-5months (as they reach the max). If they would have bought the game + paid monthly they would have probably paid less for that 4-5month that it's going to cost them to unlock everything on their way to max level.
And from what i've seen on LOTRO a lot of people that though this game would be free finally realized. this game is free till level 20, then you gotta work or pay for it. That's why queues are not 3h anymore but 5min at best most of the people that wanted a free game left, and most that stayed are actually subing because they like the game.
I still prefer a P2P game over the F2P model. I'll go with a P2P game such as Eve Online as well as playing a F2P game (hopefully Vanguard). I'm like many of you out...I'm in and out of MMO's. There is an upside to F2P but as stated before...you get a much different crowd playing tha game once it becomes "free"
I'd like to revisit Vanguard if it went F2P. Likewise for AC1 and SWG.
It depends entirely on what you're looking for. The Extended service is more flexible in that if you have to drop your sub, you can still access your characters, but with it comes restrictions.
I think that staying on Live for long time players is the better option. For new players, Extended is a good option maybe even the better option for a fun experience even if it's a little more expensive overall. If you're extremely casual, Extended is the best option. If you want a dynamic server, Extended is the best option. If you have built up characters, guilds, reputation, etc. on Live, Live is the best option. Subscribing to Live is better in comparison to the gold membership for sure, but with it comes the top-heavy, stagnant servers.
I can't help but wonder if SoE wouldn't have done better just to open up a new server or two and give a true Extended trial to intice new players onto them without forcing a cash shop on people.
I think they should give all Live sub players one character they can copy over for free. If someone has been paying money constantly to SoE for several years, I don't think it's asking for too much to do one complimentary character copy so that Live members can benefit from the dynamism of the new server.
It makes total sense for them to limit you to bronze/silver if you drop your Live sub. Why should you get a gold membership character for free when everyone else is paying for it?
I'm not saying it's a perfect model by any means, but SoE and Turbine are giving players options. Turbine is giving players more options, though I find that their cutting out of the middle part of LotRO for those who bought the original box and want to go Premium is annoying. I like the fact though that if I unlock everything a la carte with Turbine, it stays unlocked, whereas if I were to sub with gold in EQ2X and drop it, there is no way to remove the restrictions right now. I can't unlock them by paying station cash in the store.
That's in my opinion something that needs changing for Extended to work really well.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
I am really glad you posted this, and well said. I haven't done the F2A LotRO yet, if I ever do. Those who think that any of these 'free-to-play' games are truly free are kidding themselves. I do agree with some of those forum posters who say the problem is in the way these F2A games are advertized. They aren't free, aren't meant to be free, never were meant to be free. We shouldn't expect them to be free and we should ignore when they say 'free-to-play'... it's disingeneous, though I think much to SoE's credit they DO say that the Extended server is an Extended trial, meaning that at some point they fully expect you to pay.
There is no way to develope a game, release it, host it as a persistent world without asking for any money at all. I'm sure some people can stomach the restrictions and timesinks in order to play it for free, but how many? How fun of an experience is it?
I'd rather pay some money to support the developer and the costs of running the servers and have a fun experience overall. If I really don't have the money to spend on a subscription game, I go back to my single player games. Well that is, until the F2A hybrids started coming out. I like the idea of the model, but I think that the companies have to hash out a few more kinks in this payment model to make it really good. Turbine is closer than SoE, especially with DDO, but neither company is there yet in my view.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
After the APB debacle, when spokesmen say we are adding new content....I expect it to shut down tomorrow...LOL
all of em but wow probably.
I found the statement funny considering they just fired all but one of the vangaurd devs a couple of months back. I guess they must have replaced them.
To those that doesnt think theres any chance for L2 to go f2p:
http://vodstream.ncsoft.co.kr/ncsoftext/ncsoft/2010/ncsoft20100813eng.wma
Hes talking about microtransactions improving the salesnumbers in the start so i wouldnt say its impossible, any successful company would go for whats the best for the company and not what the users want. You should try listening from 6:15 also. ; )
What killed Warhammer was the player base and not the game. Players found easy ways to get loot by finding mini-battlegrounds that suited their classes and never left those. RVR was dead from the get go. I could run across a contested zone and never see another soul. I played Warhammer and left it because the players did not use the game the way it was invisioned. I wanted huge bettles in RVR but got an endless stream of mini games which got boring real quick.
Players often ruin games and then blame the developers. Warhammer Devs were pretty short sighted on how quickly players choose the easy path and that was their downfall.
So, even if it goes F2P, nothing will change and it will still die eventually.
What gets me thinking about all this free to play stuff, is the fact that these companies might think sticking the free to play label on them might entice folks to play.
I have to say this, if all you do is change the subscription plan, but not fix what drove players from your game in the first place then you going to still have the same pos of a crappy game.
These game companies need to sit down and take a look at why folks are not playing. Yes some folks left as they did not want to pay the sub, but you need to address why they really left.
When I quit playing an mmo there is usually a reason. Broken game mechanics being the number one. Followed by lack of a good dev team. Other issues are how fun it is.
Just because you make it free to log in does not mean it is stil going to be fun to play.
There is only one game that I might play, and it sure is not AOC I went back and tried it and found that it was the same old borring thing after 30 days I let my sub lapse again.
Turbine had success making the Transition with DDO, and did it with lotro to keep them alive.
Now if Bioware Lost subscribers, they get fired. EA wants there money back. (they will get booted just like Mythic).. Of course that might be delayed though until they get there next titles there working on for RPG, such as Dragon age 2, Mass effect 3, and jade empire 2 (has been comfirmed on bioware forums by a dev, just no real footage)
Yes they pulled it off with DDO, and they are trying very hard to pull it off with LOTRO. However they are having tons of fits in lotro. Some VIPS had their accounts scalled back due to accident. Lots of post of the forums even from people who though they knew how it was going to go down. Lots of angry folks.
I have to agree taking a game not made fro free to log in and going that route makes you have tons of issues.
L2 Korea has had a cash shop + sub for a few years now.
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
All I know is that before Guild Wars existed, players would argue and attack me religiously. They would declare me to be Scum for saying that one should not pay monthly fees to play an MMORPG considering that those people have to spend money on their computers, Internet connections, Monitors and Games...not to mention Electricity and this doesn't cover the upgrade costs to play the latest games...
From a technical standpoint PC gaming is the most expensive gaming hobby out there. MMORPG fanaticism of "marrying" a game and spending more time with it than with loved ones or love interests (which is a growing problem these days with many) is unsettling.
To combat this problem, a select few gamers became hackers and created private versions of the MMORPGs. Almost every major MMORPG back then had private servers at one point or another. The premise behind these servers were to give people the means to playing without heavily grinding or spending tons of money.
I remember playing Lineage 2 for years and then trying a private server. I got farther playing in 2 - 3 months private server than playing (and paying) for 2 years. Also, the Private Servers were a way for players who were loyal to a style of gameplay before expansions ruining things would go to it.
My point is that there was a lot of resistance back then to paying to play and heavily grinding in games. I remember being given the talkdown by people who speculate and knew nothing about nothing as far as computers go. I remember it well...
Then Guild Wars came out. All of those idiotic "claims" that I had to PAY TO PLAY a game because a game will collapse if I didn't pay for it.......turned many heads. Guild Wars PROVED them wrong and still the game goes strong today. The MMORPG community then tried to say "oh they can do that because its all INSTANCED" as a measure to cover their ass to the whole issue.
The great thing to Guild Wars II is that "love it" or "Hate it" if it succeeds as a Persistent MMORPG, it will truly put the nail on the coffin with the entire argument of having to pay my money away to burn my years away in a game.
I am hoping the genre becomes about actually "PLAYING THE GAME" and not about "GRINDING" For months to PROVE YOURSELF to "START PLAYING" the game when you reach max level.
F2P is another model and it offers a great way to increase the fanbase of a game and its population. It does change the way a game is made, but the model still remains about "monetary extraction" yet still offers at least a way of playing without your funds being siphoned....at least until you reach a certain level where things slow down and you are pushed into Spending money in the in-game stores as punishment f or making mistakes in-game...like dying.
So the question is not about which games will go F2P, but rather how those games can "Convert" themselves into F2P without breaking the game or PUNISHING those players who have actually paid for YEARS to play the game.
...because none of us want to actually pay $180 a year for four years just so the game for F2P later....that Alone would cause me to leave the game altogether.
When a a game goes Free to Play, that is when I stop playing it. Lord of the Rings? I deleted it. The game gets overloaded with players and that is when lag starts and you get more kiddies playing.
If you cant afford to pay for a subscription, dont play. Pretty soon, even the subscripers will have to fork out more money to get content they should already have. It becomes a money grubbing fiasco.
Free to play becomes more expensive then being a subscriber, but you dont notice it, because they nickel and dime you to death.
World of Warcraft is my favorite game, but if it went free to play...I am out of there.
Sorry for the rant, I am old school.