Why do we keep calling games like DDO,LoTRO, WAR F2p games when they are clearly not.
When did we start calling creative "unlimited trials" as "OMG the game is FREEEE!!!!!"?
Are we just getting dumber?
To me f2p means, all the content is free, with the usual sucking dry of people with money in the cash shop, at the expense of fairness for all players.
No offense to the f2p kids, but theres plenty of people who will pay good money not to play games with that crowd.
All depends on how you describe Free 2 Play. Because if you want to be technical then the game is free to play. It costs nothing to download, startup, and create a character to play with. So technically it is free 2 play.
And have you even looked at LOTRO or DDO's cash shops? They are very fair to all players involved, rather you pay a subscription for the game or buy the content you want to play, there is nothing there that gives you a edge over anyone else that also hurts others gameplay in the process.
Why do we keep calling games like DDO,LoTRO, WAR F2p games when they are clearly not.
When did we start calling creative "unlimited trials" as "OMG the game is FREEEE!!!!!"?
Are we just getting dumber?
To me f2p means, all the content is free, with the usual sucking dry of people with money in the cash shop, at the expense of fairness for all players.
No offense to the f2p kids, but theres plenty of people who will pay good money not to play games with that crowd.
All depends on how you describe Free 2 Play. Because if you want to be technical then the game is free to play. It costs nothing to download, startup, and create a character to play with. So technically it is free 2 play.
And have you even looked at LOTRO or DDO's cash shops? They are very fair to all players involved, rather you pay a subscription for the game or buy the content you want to play, there is nothing there that gives you a edge over anyone else that also hurts others gameplay in the process.
Do you have to pay for ALL the content? Yes...
Not free to play. Its P2P with a extended or unlimited trial of some content.
All F2P games offer all the content for free.
See the diffrence?
I would argue the only real hybrid would be guild wars, since all the content comes at one price, per expansion.
Wow i love how you misrespresent the news,DDO close the European servers to open International servers this happen because the license was up and taken away from codemasters.It not sign of game struggling it was buisness restucture move everybody can transfer their character to global servers from the Europe servers.
Did they actually open new servers? Or did they just migrate the EU folks to the existing US servers and now call them "international servers"?
Why can’t posters get the F2P definition right, that’s easy: Gamers suffer from a disorder known as ‘Categorietitis’. This make them unable to handle anything that falls in more than two categories. So they were fine when we had PvP and F2P but a hybrid revenue model that does not have a three letter abbreviation is beyond them. It is like PvE and PvP, that’s fine but when people talk about Monster play that just goes over their heads.
You have to be on a different planet if you think closing servers does not indicate a MMO was not doing as well as expected. After a launch you expect the game to contract a little but that’s it. So shutting down all the European servers for DDO shows that their new revenue model did not do as well as they make out. Licensing and international severs has nothing to do with it, they could have just reissued the licence had they felt the population warranted it. Quite simply you don’t run a international MMO from servers in one country, there is such a thing as lag.
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
first of all DDO isn't a mmo it's basically guild wars. Second, Lotro wasn't dying at all. Turbine saw the 500% increased revenue DDO raised and decided to use a hybrid model for extra revenue with lotro. Third, how could you say Turbine can't make mmos? Lotro is critically considered one of the best mmos around lol?
I think what is attractive here is the ability to get the game for free and play it for free to see what it is like. I think many people who would not bother with a trial and would not pay to see it would be willing to treat this model like an extended trial. I believe we would see similar number with regards to online concurrency is they had instead implemented a systen in which everything way free up until, say, level 20, after which you needed to subscribe.
Though, that said, I believe there is a great amount of misperception among people at large for how much they will pay in an "in-game store." I think some people think it will be considerably less, but if you pan the numbers out for the multiple levels of unlocks for all the various things, you end up paying as much if not much more. There is certainly a part of this play preys on people's inability to plan ahead or to judge how much they are spending if each transaction is very small.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
More evidence of F2P being a good move for companies with declining and/or dying games.
Fixed that for you.
"Paiz told us after the panel that LotRO wasn't in trouble, but rather that Turbine did the math and decided the switch would work. "We knew there was more out there for us," she said."
Who do I believe.....the producer of the game? Or some random? Tough call! Sorry dude, think your eyes are closed on this one !
The Producer of the game has a vested interest in the company and in making themselves and their product look as good and shiny and successful as possible.
"Some random", as you put it, has no personal vested interest in the company and so is in a position to be critical or wary of what the Producer has to say, or their product.
Personally, I'd side much sooner with "some random" who isn't willing to buy into everything they're told.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
DDO initially was a failure. But as a former, longtime LOTRO player, LOTRO was not. It didn't have WoW-like spectacular numbers, but it definitely was not a failure. The crowd was decently sized.
Just like the whole premise of F2P, the move for LOTRO from P2P to F2P is a cash grab. That is all.
Originally posted by Dubhlaith
I think what is attractive here is the ability to get the game for free and play it for free to see what it is like. I think many people who would not bother with a trial and would not pay to see it would be willing to treat this model like an extended trial. I believe we would see similar number with regards to online concurrency is they had instead implemented a systen in which everything way free up until, say, level 20, after which you needed to subscribe.
Though, that said, I believe there is a great amount of misperception among people at large for how much they will pay in an "in-game store." I think some people think it will be considerably less, but if you pan the numbers out for the multiple levels of unlocks for all the various things, you end up paying as much if not much more. There is certainly a part of this play preys on people's inability to plan ahead or to judge how much they are spending if each transaction is very small.
This right here is one of the deceptive natures of F2P. They try to get you with alot of small things that are cheap. But as you fill your cart up in the item shop, it begins to rack up. Anyways, this post here is a case in point.
Originally posted by Rockgod99
My wife uses the same account as me and we just dropped around 100 bucks in the shop.
Bought both expansions, all quest and skirmish packs, Added AH slots, removed the Gold restriction, bought riding skill and mounts for both our characters, unlocked the two extra bags, bought shared storage slots.
For 100 bucks I just made a AAA game B2p.
My wife is hardcore(plays a lot). but hates paying subscriptions and detests pvp. so i figured pay 100 once would be good for her.
Shes already half way to cap and is in a nice guild. im casual so i wont see half the content i bought since this is only my part time mmo. it replaced GW1 for me.
Addition:
I wasn't planning on investing in LotRO like this but once i bought the wife her mount it was game over... She started exploring and honestly we were both amazed how large and really awesome LotROs game world is. Sure im playing a quest stacker but damn it! Its a good one.
Doesn't like to pay subs? Fine. So paid $100 up front to buy out and avoid the subscription. 100 dollars. For a P2P game, that is almost a year's worth of subs. For some, that is half of a Lifetime Sub. And you can bet that stuff will continuously be added to tempt you to pay for more in the item shop.
==============
There usually will be item shop benefits that you increasingly will want because game design will try to force you into it. A good example are XP buffs / potions / etc. As you progress and at a certain point, the XP requirements become much, much higher. Progress will be slow. But what's this? A buff to grant a significant % boost in XP gained? No. Not needed at the time you first saw it. But later in the game, the temptation for it will grow because they designed the game with a sharp curve in XP reqs. Not to mention other game benefitting buffs / items to buy into. All cheap. Not needed at first, but you will ponder it more and more.
And that's how F2P gets you.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
More evidence of F2P being a good move for companies with declining and/or dying games.
Fixed that for you.
"Paiz told us after the panel that LotRO wasn't in trouble, but rather that Turbine did the math and decided the switch would work. "We knew there was more out there for us," she said."
Who do I believe.....the producer of the game? Or some random? Tough call! Sorry dude, think your eyes are closed on this one !
The Producer of the game has a vested interest in the company and in making themselves and their product look as good and shiny and successful as possible.
"Some random", as you put it, has no personal vested interest in the company and so is in a position to be critical or wary of what the Producer has to say, or their product.
Personally, I'd side much sooner with "some random" who isn't willing to buy into everything they're told.
Yep. I guess I'll side with the "some randoms" who also believe 9/11 was an inside job, Barack Obama is a Muslim born in Indonesia, aliens built the pyramids, and the Royal Family are space alien lizard Jews.
"I am the weapon that strikes/In the hearts of men I thrive/Feeding their fear with lies/I will devour/I will divide/I am the god of hellfire/inside every man there lives a liar/before their gods they cower/I will divide/I will devour" - "Divide Devour" by Iced Earth
Why do we keep calling games like DDO,LoTRO, WAR F2p games when they are clearly not.
When did we start calling creative "unlimited trials" as "OMG the game is FREEEE!!!!!"?
Are we just getting dumber?
To me f2p means, all the content is free, with the usual sucking dry of people with money in the cash shop, at the expense of fairness for all players.
No offense to the f2p kids, but theres plenty of people who will pay good money not to play games with that crowd.
All depends on how you describe Free 2 Play. Because if you want to be technical then the game is free to play. It costs nothing to download, startup, and create a character to play with. So technically it is free 2 play.
And have you even looked at LOTRO or DDO's cash shops? They are very fair to all players involved, rather you pay a subscription for the game or buy the content you want to play, there is nothing there that gives you a edge over anyone else that also hurts others gameplay in the process.
Do you have to pay for ALL the content? Yes...
Not free to play. Its P2P with a extended or unlimited trial of some content.
All F2P games offer all the content for free.
See the diffrence?
I would argue the only real hybrid would be guild wars, since all the content comes at one price, per expansion.
Can you play the game without paying? Not the whole game, but the game.
You have to be on a different planet if you think closing servers does not indicate a MMO was not doing as well as expected. After a launch you expect the game to contract a little but that’s it. So shutting down all the European servers for DDO shows that their new revenue model did not do as well as they make out. Licensing and international severs has nothing to do with it, they could have just reissued the licence had they felt the population warranted it. Quite simply you don’t run a international MMO from servers in one country, there is such a thing as lag.
Is DDO closing europe servers the same thing as when War,AoC or Aion has closed servers? No the close one set of servers to replace them with another set of servers,Is not the same thing as shutting down servers completely.In only in your world is closing a server and replacing them a server is sign of failure.
No f2p game let's you play the entire game without restrictions. If they did how would they make money? You could complain about lotro charging for all the games content but you have to realize lotro is a AAA quality mmo. It's so good you could take every f2p mmo combine them and lotro would still be better.
All I can say is gz to the devs. LOTRO is a great game and even the cash shop isnt too bad. It shows that a game can go f2p without totally exploiting the player base. I also hope the game finally get the sub numbers that I always thought it deserved and that its success teaches SOE and EQ2 Extended a valuable lesson.
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
first of all DDO isn't a mmo it's basically guild wars. Second, Lotro wasn't dying at all. Turbine saw the 500% increased revenue DDO raised and decided to use a hybrid model for extra revenue with lotro. Third, how could you say Turbine can't make mmos? Lotro is critically considered one of the best mmos around lol?
I agree that DDO is not a mmo but Lotro being only 3 years old was dying and thats the reason why they made the switch. To each his own about Lotro being one of the best mmos around but to me it was just a boring WoW clone that should have been some much much more than what is was.
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
first of all DDO isn't a mmo it's basically guild wars. Second, Lotro wasn't dying at all. Turbine saw the 500% increased revenue DDO raised and decided to use a hybrid model for extra revenue with lotro. Third, how could you say Turbine can't make mmos? Lotro is critically considered one of the best mmos around lol?
I agree that DDO is not a mmo but Lotro being only 3 years old was dying and thats the reason why they made the switch. To each his own about Lotro being one of the best mmos around but to me it was just a boring WoW clone that should have been some much much more than what is was.
Your proof that LOTRO was dying please? Since you must be a Turbine employee to know the reason they went FTP-hybrid - can you tell me when the next book releases? Stop pretending you actually know anything about the game, or its status. You don't, and I don't. However when the producer says the game was fine, I will believe her over the same repeated drivel.
Now...your feeling that it was just a boring WoW clone is fine...since that's how you feel. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and we definately will not agree on them. That also is fine. Just stop making up things to support your opinions.
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
first of all DDO isn't a mmo it's basically guild wars. Second, Lotro wasn't dying at all. Turbine saw the 500% increased revenue DDO raised and decided to use a hybrid model for extra revenue with lotro. Third, how could you say Turbine can't make mmos? Lotro is critically considered one of the best mmos around lol?
I agree that DDO is not a mmo but Lotro being only 3 years old was dying and thats the reason why they made the switch. To each his own about Lotro being one of the best mmos around but to me it was just a boring WoW clone that should have been some much much more than what is was.
Your proof that LOTRO was dying please? Since you must be a Turbine employee to know the reason they went FTP-hybrid - can you tell me when the next book releases? Stop pretending you actually know anything about the game, or its status. You don't, and I don't. However when the producer says the game was fine, I will believe her over the same repeated drivel.
Now...your feeling that it was just a boring WoW clone is fine...since that's how you feel. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and we definately will not agree on them. That also is fine. Just stop making up things to support your opinions.
I dont care what you belive. Go get your own proof. I played the game and quit because it was boring and maybe only 2 servers had a good poulation. If you think that Turbine did this to mmo that was already doing good then you are crazy. If thats the case then everybody would be doing it and not just them. Now thats my story and I am sticking to it.
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
first of all DDO isn't a mmo it's basically guild wars. Second, Lotro wasn't dying at all. Turbine saw the 500% increased revenue DDO raised and decided to use a hybrid model for extra revenue with lotro. Third, how could you say Turbine can't make mmos? Lotro is critically considered one of the best mmos around lol?
I agree that DDO is not a mmo but Lotro being only 3 years old was dying and thats the reason why they made the switch. To each his own about Lotro being one of the best mmos around but to me it was just a boring WoW clone that should have been some much much more than what is was.
Your proof that LOTRO was dying please? Since you must be a Turbine employee to know the reason they went FTP-hybrid - can you tell me when the next book releases? Stop pretending you actually know anything about the game, or its status. You don't, and I don't. However when the producer says the game was fine, I will believe her over the same repeated drivel.
Now...your feeling that it was just a boring WoW clone is fine...since that's how you feel. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and we definately will not agree on them. That also is fine. Just stop making up things to support your opinions.
So you believe the producer because, unlike people who played the game and could see the drop for themselves, the producer of a corporation would never lie? Do you honestly believe the producer is going to sit there and say "LotRO was headed down the tubes, so we went F2P."?
Originally posted by Rockgod99
Originally posted by Mannish
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
first of all DDO isn't a mmo it's basically guild wars. Second, Lotro wasn't dying at all. Turbine saw the 500% increased revenue DDO raised and decided to use a hybrid model for extra revenue with lotro. Third, how could you say Turbine can't make mmos? Lotro is critically considered one of the best mmos around lol?
DDO was at death's door, literally. 500% increases don't mean shit unless you know how much they made before, and considering the game was floating dead in the water like an unflushed turd, I seriously doubt it was very much. 500% increase over little is incredibly easy to accomplish.
And what's even funnier is, that 500% increase apparently made DDO fifth in its the market, while LotRO was sitting back at number eight. So if only a 500% increase to a dying game put it 3 slots ahead of LotRO, then obviously LotRO was NOT doing as well as you guys would like to propose.
Also, for some perspective, 500% means $1 became $5.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
DDO was a MMO with only the most hardcore fans left when it changed to hybrid P/F2P. Lotro went hybrid when they saw the money they were making from the DDO change. Others have said this, it is hard to see how anyone can think DDO and Lotro were in the same boat.
So the new US servers for DDO hybrid, how many new ones were there and how many European servers did they lose? I checked the DDO forums only one maybe two servers were created in 2009. I am guessing they had more than one or two European severs before the change to hybrid. What about the players who did not speak English, I see no US server for them, I guess they were left dangling in the wind?
What Turbine has done for their games is amazing. Honestly I don't see anything wrong with converting to F2P model if a game is going downhill subscriber wise. They have it right, people do like FREE stuff. Why do you think that word is used so often in TV commercials and paper ads?
Because people like to think they are getting something for free when in truth nothing in life is free? You invest your time and time as they say is money. The Lotro model is designed to make you realise that it’s a good idea to go to P2P. So Turbine do not think F2P is that fabulous, they are using it like an uber extended trial to get players to realise the game is worth a monthly fee. Now I am not saying they get nothing from cash shop transactions, both F2P and P2P players do spend money there. But Turbines avowed intention and the set up of the cash shop do indicate that the F2P guy is meant to realise that 'hey I would be better off just paying a sub here'.
Comments
All depends on how you describe Free 2 Play. Because if you want to be technical then the game is free to play. It costs nothing to download, startup, and create a character to play with. So technically it is free 2 play.
And have you even looked at LOTRO or DDO's cash shops? They are very fair to all players involved, rather you pay a subscription for the game or buy the content you want to play, there is nothing there that gives you a edge over anyone else that also hurts others gameplay in the process.
Do you have to pay for ALL the content? Yes...
Not free to play. Its P2P with a extended or unlimited trial of some content.
All F2P games offer all the content for free.
See the diffrence?
I would argue the only real hybrid would be guild wars, since all the content comes at one price, per expansion.
Did they actually open new servers? Or did they just migrate the EU folks to the existing US servers and now call them "international servers"?
Why can’t posters get the F2P definition right, that’s easy: Gamers suffer from a disorder known as ‘Categorietitis’. This make them unable to handle anything that falls in more than two categories. So they were fine when we had PvP and F2P but a hybrid revenue model that does not have a three letter abbreviation is beyond them. It is like PvE and PvP, that’s fine but when people talk about Monster play that just goes over their heads.
You have to be on a different planet if you think closing servers does not indicate a MMO was not doing as well as expected. After a launch you expect the game to contract a little but that’s it. So shutting down all the European servers for DDO shows that their new revenue model did not do as well as they make out. Licensing and international severs has nothing to do with it, they could have just reissued the licence had they felt the population warranted it. Quite simply you don’t run a international MMO from servers in one country, there is such a thing as lag.
Both DDO and Lotro failed as PTP games. Turbine may as well just turn to a FTP game company because they cant make real mmos.
first of all DDO isn't a mmo it's basically guild wars. Second, Lotro wasn't dying at all. Turbine saw the 500% increased revenue DDO raised and decided to use a hybrid model for extra revenue with lotro. Third, how could you say Turbine can't make mmos? Lotro is critically considered one of the best mmos around lol?Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
I think what is attractive here is the ability to get the game for free and play it for free to see what it is like. I think many people who would not bother with a trial and would not pay to see it would be willing to treat this model like an extended trial. I believe we would see similar number with regards to online concurrency is they had instead implemented a systen in which everything way free up until, say, level 20, after which you needed to subscribe.
Though, that said, I believe there is a great amount of misperception among people at large for how much they will pay in an "in-game store." I think some people think it will be considerably less, but if you pan the numbers out for the multiple levels of unlocks for all the various things, you end up paying as much if not much more. There is certainly a part of this play preys on people's inability to plan ahead or to judge how much they are spending if each transaction is very small.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
WTF? No subscription fee?
The Producer of the game has a vested interest in the company and in making themselves and their product look as good and shiny and successful as possible.
"Some random", as you put it, has no personal vested interest in the company and so is in a position to be critical or wary of what the Producer has to say, or their product.
Personally, I'd side much sooner with "some random" who isn't willing to buy into everything they're told.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
DDO initially was a failure. But as a former, longtime LOTRO player, LOTRO was not. It didn't have WoW-like spectacular numbers, but it definitely was not a failure. The crowd was decently sized.
Just like the whole premise of F2P, the move for LOTRO from P2P to F2P is a cash grab. That is all.
This right here is one of the deceptive natures of F2P. They try to get you with alot of small things that are cheap. But as you fill your cart up in the item shop, it begins to rack up. Anyways, this post here is a case in point.
Doesn't like to pay subs? Fine. So paid $100 up front to buy out and avoid the subscription. 100 dollars. For a P2P game, that is almost a year's worth of subs. For some, that is half of a Lifetime Sub. And you can bet that stuff will continuously be added to tempt you to pay for more in the item shop.
==============
There usually will be item shop benefits that you increasingly will want because game design will try to force you into it. A good example are XP buffs / potions / etc. As you progress and at a certain point, the XP requirements become much, much higher. Progress will be slow. But what's this? A buff to grant a significant % boost in XP gained? No. Not needed at the time you first saw it. But later in the game, the temptation for it will grow because they designed the game with a sharp curve in XP reqs. Not to mention other game benefitting buffs / items to buy into. All cheap. Not needed at first, but you will ponder it more and more.
And that's how F2P gets you.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Yep. I guess I'll side with the "some randoms" who also believe 9/11 was an inside job, Barack Obama is a Muslim born in Indonesia, aliens built the pyramids, and the Royal Family are space alien lizard Jews.
"I am the weapon that strikes/In the hearts of men I thrive/Feeding their fear with lies/I will devour/I will divide/I am the god of hellfire/inside every man there lives a liar/before their gods they cower/I will divide/I will devour" - "Divide Devour" by Iced Earth
Can you play the game without paying? Not the whole game, but the game.
Is DDO closing europe servers the same thing as when War,AoC or Aion has closed servers? No the close one set of servers to replace them with another set of servers,Is not the same thing as shutting down servers completely.In only in your world is closing a server and replacing them a server is sign of failure.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
All I can say is gz to the devs. LOTRO is a great game and even the cash shop isnt too bad. It shows that a game can go f2p without totally exploiting the player base. I also hope the game finally get the sub numbers that I always thought it deserved and that its success teaches SOE and EQ2 Extended a valuable lesson.
If they refuse to display any sort of numbers or statistics I find it hard to drum up any interest for this news.
I agree that DDO is not a mmo but Lotro being only 3 years old was dying and thats the reason why they made the switch. To each his own about Lotro being one of the best mmos around but to me it was just a boring WoW clone that should have been some much much more than what is was.
Your proof that LOTRO was dying please? Since you must be a Turbine employee to know the reason they went FTP-hybrid - can you tell me when the next book releases? Stop pretending you actually know anything about the game, or its status. You don't, and I don't. However when the producer says the game was fine, I will believe her over the same repeated drivel.
Now...your feeling that it was just a boring WoW clone is fine...since that's how you feel. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and we definately will not agree on them. That also is fine. Just stop making up things to support your opinions.
I dont care what you belive. Go get your own proof. I played the game and quit because it was boring and maybe only 2 servers had a good poulation. If you think that Turbine did this to mmo that was already doing good then you are crazy. If thats the case then everybody would be doing it and not just them. Now thats my story and I am sticking to it.
So you believe the producer because, unlike people who played the game and could see the drop for themselves, the producer of a corporation would never lie? Do you honestly believe the producer is going to sit there and say "LotRO was headed down the tubes, so we went F2P."?
DDO was at death's door, literally. 500% increases don't mean shit unless you know how much they made before, and considering the game was floating dead in the water like an unflushed turd, I seriously doubt it was very much. 500% increase over little is incredibly easy to accomplish.
And what's even funnier is, that 500% increase apparently made DDO fifth in its the market, while LotRO was sitting back at number eight. So if only a 500% increase to a dying game put it 3 slots ahead of LotRO, then obviously LotRO was NOT doing as well as you guys would like to propose.
Also, for some perspective, 500% means $1 became $5.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
DDO was a MMO with only the most hardcore fans left when it changed to hybrid P/F2P. Lotro went hybrid when they saw the money they were making from the DDO change. Others have said this, it is hard to see how anyone can think DDO and Lotro were in the same boat.
So the new US servers for DDO hybrid, how many new ones were there and how many European servers did they lose? I checked the DDO forums only one maybe two servers were created in 2009. I am guessing they had more than one or two European severs before the change to hybrid. What about the players who did not speak English, I see no US server for them, I guess they were left dangling in the wind?
What Turbine has done for their games is amazing. Honestly I don't see anything wrong with converting to F2P model if a game is going downhill subscriber wise. They have it right, people do like FREE stuff. Why do you think that word is used so often in TV commercials and paper ads?
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
Because people like to think they are getting something for free when in truth nothing in life is free? You invest your time and time as they say is money. The Lotro model is designed to make you realise that it’s a good idea to go to P2P. So Turbine do not think F2P is that fabulous, they are using it like an uber extended trial to get players to realise the game is worth a monthly fee. Now I am not saying they get nothing from cash shop transactions, both F2P and P2P players do spend money there. But Turbines avowed intention and the set up of the cash shop do indicate that the F2P guy is meant to realise that 'hey I would be better off just paying a sub here'.