As long as EQ NEXT goes back to its EQ roots of being a real time world with massive dungeons, no themeparks and very little instancing, the payment model of it is secondary.
We're sick of instanced, single player, easy mode, hand holding MMOs. Developers need to look into the content of the game; if they FINALLY get this right again, the money will come because everyone will toss aside their current half-assed game and play EQ NEXT.
The reason most games now are some sort of F2P hybrid isn't because the developers thought it would work out best this way, its because people won't pay to play the current stock of garbage.
Get back to developing immersive MMOs and your problems will go away.
^THIS X1000!!! The Ginny agrees with the Kraut! =P
But sadly I think if it worked out that way...it would become too popular and attract all of the asshats that bitch and moan until things are changed and dumbed down.
As long as EQ NEXT goes back to its EQ roots of being a real time world with massive dungeons, no themeparks and very little instancing, the payment model of it is secondary.
We're sick of instanced, single player, easy mode, hand holding MMOs. Developers need to look into the content of the game; if they FINALLY get this right again, the money will come because everyone will toss aside their current half-assed game and play EQ NEXT.
The reason most games now are some sort of F2P hybrid isn't because the developers thought it would work out best this way, its because people won't pay to play the current stock of garbage.
Get back to developing immersive MMOs and your problems will go away.
^THIS X1000!!! The Ginny agrees with the Kraut! =P
But sadly I think if it worked out that way...it would become too popular and attract all of the asshats that bitch and moan until things are changed and dumbed down.
Yes and no.
I completely agree with you that it can happen, as I know its happened a few times already. I think it simply comes down to the developers in keeping the game going in the direction it was intended as well as balancing input from the end users. At this point in the MMO lifecycle there are now more than just a few, big name companies putting out games. Choices in what game you can play (albeit most of them are total shit) have never been greater yet there has never been a greater amount of people rolling their eyes at new releases than now.
SOE of all companies should know this as they have gone from EQ era developer to a company we poke and make jokes toward due to their past development 'choices' and sometimes unexplainablely stupid ideas. However, with the way more and more of us are becomming disgruntled with the copy/paste MMOs out there, there is a 'once in a genre' opportunity coming up for someone to change how MMOs are played. Old is new again. NEXT can't be a continuance of EQ2; I think SOE knows this all too well.
As cliche as it sounds, if you build it, they will come. Not everyone is going to love everything about a game all the time. EQ was the standalone best game for me but there were aspects of it I didn't enjoy. However, I didn't complain about them too much because anything else out there was so far behind that I realized quickly that it could be much worse. My choices were fairly limited. This is no longer the case.
I feel that if the developers have a clear vision as to what they want, do it correctly and the game is so poular that it attracts the carebear whiners that with as many existing carebear choices already available, the developers could shrug off the whining forcing the carebears to either conform or leave. If they did this I think that the game would not miss a beat as you will continue to gain new people as well as retain current subs because the game hasn't been dumbed down.
I hate hand-holding. MMOs have become nothing more than an interactive book reading. The bottom line is this: I go where I'm told 100% of the time. Going outside of that rule brings no benefit.
Seriously... I cannot remember the last MMO I played past the free month.
I believe the email and I am pretty sure future SOE MMO's (and most other companies) will include a hybrid payment model in them.
I'm currently playing EQ2 Extended, paying 15.00 a month for a gold membership and have forked over about 40.00 for SC cash that I haven't even spent yet.
A friend I met on line spent 60.00 at Walmart on SC cards and turned them in for the double SC weekend and got about 120.00 worth of SC which he spent on everything from the latest expansion to numerous housing/fluff items.
Fact is, there's many players out there willing to spend more than 15.00 a month on a MMORPG and Smed and the rest of the industry have made note of it.
Like it or not, almost every game will look to maximize their revenue with some sort of cash shop, some more benign than others, but in the end the traditional P2P model is on its last legs.
Uhh..Why not just play Live? You can still use the SC but arent restricted like you are with a gold membership.
I believe the email and I am pretty sure future SOE MMO's (and most other companies) will include a hybrid payment model in them.
I'm currently playing EQ2 Extended, paying 15.00 a month for a gold membership and have forked over about 40.00 for SC cash that I haven't even spent yet.
A friend I met on line spent 60.00 at Walmart on SC cards and turned them in for the double SC weekend and got about 120.00 worth of SC which he spent on everything from the latest expansion to numerous housing/fluff items.
Fact is, there's many players out there willing to spend more than 15.00 a month on a MMORPG and Smed and the rest of the industry have made note of it.
Like it or not, almost every game will look to maximize their revenue with some sort of cash shop, some more benign than others, but in the end the traditional P2P model is on its last legs.
Uhh..Why not just play Live? You can still use the SC but arent restricted like you are with a gold membership.
I was wondering the same thing. In my opinion EQ Extended seems like such a rip off if you go beyond the bronze or silver plans.
I believe the email and I am pretty sure future SOE MMO's (and most other companies) will include a hybrid payment model in them.
I'm currently playing EQ2 Extended, paying 15.00 a month for a gold membership and have forked over about 40.00 for SC cash that I haven't even spent yet.
A friend I met on line spent 60.00 at Walmart on SC cards and turned them in for the double SC weekend and got about 120.00 worth of SC which he spent on everything from the latest expansion to numerous housing/fluff items.
Fact is, there's many players out there willing to spend more than 15.00 a month on a MMORPG and Smed and the rest of the industry have made note of it.
Like it or not, almost every game will look to maximize their revenue with some sort of cash shop, some more benign than others, but in the end the traditional P2P model is on its last legs.
Uhh..Why not just play Live? You can still use the SC but arent restricted like you are with a gold membership.
I was wondering the same thing. In my opinion EQ Extended seems like such a rip off if you go beyond the bronze or silver plans.
Same here , live server just offer so much better value for your money.
Just because Smedley says that F2P is a growing trend doesn't implicitly mean that EQNext will be F2P, he stated an opinion, never said anything specific & you filled in the blanks for yourselves...
I do think it matters what the revenue model ends up being, but if EQNext is a polished, fun, varied & engaging game it will sell lots & do well, if it blows it will sink like a stone & the revenue model will likely flex around to best find it's stride, unless they go mongo in the brain & "pull a Gpotato" /cough Allods, F2P can be done well, hi to you DDO & LOTR, but this does not rule out the game at least beginning as a subscription game, or even as a multiple tiered payment model with a sub as vip/premium.
The reason why EQ2 extended did not do as well as other F2P was simply the model they used was incredibly restricted, they deliberately hamstrung the extended model to push people towards a sub quite forcibly while still letting them put their head in the door to look round. Other F2P games have been far more open in their model structure.
Other F2P games have been far more open in their model structure.
I disagree with this. The model is really not that restrictive if you value content over gear.
SoE tried something differemt. Given the sheer size of the game vs Lotro they could have probably made a fortune off of people as there is simply so much more to buy. Instead they chose to give everyone the content for free.
With a silver membership, 95% of the content is completely doable with the gear/spell restrictions. The gold and bag restrictions really arent that severe (a silver membership will have more bag space than a WoW subscriber for instance). Its just that when you get those shiny drops, you often cant use em.
I would much rather play EQ2's model than Turbine's model personally, but I am in the minority. I dont think theyll use this model again.
People choose it for the larger population the free to play server offers.
Except that isnt true with EQ2.. Antonia Bayle has as many players as the f2p server does and you also have a handful of medium servers to choose from if you do not want a crowd.
Comments
^THIS X1000!!! The Ginny agrees with the Kraut! =P
But sadly I think if it worked out that way...it would become too popular and attract all of the asshats that bitch and moan until things are changed and dumbed down.
F2P does not make sense for a AAA title... why not B2P?
Guild Wars 2's 50 minutes game play video:
http://n4g.com/news/592585/guild-wars-2-50-minutes-of-pure-gameplay
Everything We Know about GW2:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/287180/page/1
Yes and no.
I completely agree with you that it can happen, as I know its happened a few times already. I think it simply comes down to the developers in keeping the game going in the direction it was intended as well as balancing input from the end users. At this point in the MMO lifecycle there are now more than just a few, big name companies putting out games. Choices in what game you can play (albeit most of them are total shit) have never been greater yet there has never been a greater amount of people rolling their eyes at new releases than now.
SOE of all companies should know this as they have gone from EQ era developer to a company we poke and make jokes toward due to their past development 'choices' and sometimes unexplainablely stupid ideas. However, with the way more and more of us are becomming disgruntled with the copy/paste MMOs out there, there is a 'once in a genre' opportunity coming up for someone to change how MMOs are played. Old is new again. NEXT can't be a continuance of EQ2; I think SOE knows this all too well.
As cliche as it sounds, if you build it, they will come. Not everyone is going to love everything about a game all the time. EQ was the standalone best game for me but there were aspects of it I didn't enjoy. However, I didn't complain about them too much because anything else out there was so far behind that I realized quickly that it could be much worse. My choices were fairly limited. This is no longer the case.
I feel that if the developers have a clear vision as to what they want, do it correctly and the game is so poular that it attracts the carebear whiners that with as many existing carebear choices already available, the developers could shrug off the whining forcing the carebears to either conform or leave. If they did this I think that the game would not miss a beat as you will continue to gain new people as well as retain current subs because the game hasn't been dumbed down.
I hate hand-holding. MMOs have become nothing more than an interactive book reading. The bottom line is this: I go where I'm told 100% of the time. Going outside of that rule brings no benefit.
Seriously... I cannot remember the last MMO I played past the free month.
Uhh..Why not just play Live? You can still use the SC but arent restricted like you are with a gold membership.
I was wondering the same thing. In my opinion EQ Extended seems like such a rip off if you go beyond the bronze or silver plans.
Same here , live server just offer so much better value for your money.
People choose it for the larger population the free to play server offers.
This thread cracks me up.
Just because Smedley says that F2P is a growing trend doesn't implicitly mean that EQNext will be F2P, he stated an opinion, never said anything specific & you filled in the blanks for yourselves...
I do think it matters what the revenue model ends up being, but if EQNext is a polished, fun, varied & engaging game it will sell lots & do well, if it blows it will sink like a stone & the revenue model will likely flex around to best find it's stride, unless they go mongo in the brain & "pull a Gpotato" /cough Allods, F2P can be done well, hi to you DDO & LOTR, but this does not rule out the game at least beginning as a subscription game, or even as a multiple tiered payment model with a sub as vip/premium.
The reason why EQ2 extended did not do as well as other F2P was simply the model they used was incredibly restricted, they deliberately hamstrung the extended model to push people towards a sub quite forcibly while still letting them put their head in the door to look round. Other F2P games have been far more open in their model structure.
I disagree with this. The model is really not that restrictive if you value content over gear.
SoE tried something differemt. Given the sheer size of the game vs Lotro they could have probably made a fortune off of people as there is simply so much more to buy. Instead they chose to give everyone the content for free.
With a silver membership, 95% of the content is completely doable with the gear/spell restrictions. The gold and bag restrictions really arent that severe (a silver membership will have more bag space than a WoW subscriber for instance). Its just that when you get those shiny drops, you often cant use em.
I would much rather play EQ2's model than Turbine's model personally, but I am in the minority. I dont think theyll use this model again.
Except that isnt true with EQ2.. Antonia Bayle has as many players as the f2p server does and you also have a handful of medium servers to choose from if you do not want a crowd.
I would think nothing is set, they will closely watch how swtor/gw2, and how the models are working for them.
I prefer p2p, then b2p, and I am not a big fan of f2p (which often turns into p2w to some extent).