Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
The Economy Is not good...
jdnyc
Member UncommonPosts: 1,643
It's no doubt that of recent years we've dealt with F2P models and people wanting F2P models. Money seems to be a chief motivating factor in this. People don't want to spend money on a game and then sub for it. They would rather buy a game and rely on the next guy that can afford it, spend the money in cash shops to continue funding a game.
Many don't have a lot of extra money to spend right now. Could this be a motivating factor to why so many people want to play TSW, but don't want to pay the sub? They hope it goes F2P, so they'll get a chance to play themselves? Or is this really about GW2?
Comments
Ever since it was announced, the idea of Cash Shop + Subs has cast a dark shadow over TSW.
It's a greed thing. They're charging standard subscription rate and then having a cash shop on top of that.
On top of that, they've been typically vague about what the cash shop will contain. People playing CBT are bound by NDA still so none can say if the cash shop is browsable there either (or if they're given 'play-money' to use it if it is in the CBT).
It might be the the cash shop is clothes or weapon-skins. It might be that it offers movement speed gear. It might be that it offers items obtainable in gameplay, but instantly.
All that aside, it should be one way or the other. Either subscription OR cash shop (or giving the player the option) but not "Thanks for the sub fee, have you seen our wares?"
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
Playing MMOs is one of the chepiest hobbies I can think of so I cannot honestly understand your question. If the only possibility to spend a few euros for sub is to keep children starving then he or she should stop playing completely. Honestly I just cannot understand problem with monthly sub if I want to play the game. Take GW2 that is the most insanely hyped MMO I can remember but even if someone buys it for me I won't start playing it because I just don't like it.
Think of it the other way. Why should you pay in a f2p game if your fellow player isn't paying? If you do then you are effectively paying for the freeloaders.
I think what the OP is saying are all these haters using the sub as a weapon against TSW,but are really GW2 fanboys and could actually give a shit about the sub fee, though I might be wrong.
I wish would could just pay one and then ontinue to support the game through DLC/Expansions.
I've played MMORPG less and less due to subscription fees. With the high quality games in other genres that dont require such a financial investment I see no point in subscribing to the majority of the releases in this genre.
I honestly believe that these mmo companies would make more money if they moved away from the subscription model and to a one time box purchase to 3 month DLC pack development cycle.
Retention wouldn't matter because people already have access to the game and come and go as they please and you will always get that massive chunk of players that buy every damn Dlc even though they hardly play.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
You pay in a ftp. because you want something. In ptp you should have everything.
I know they are using this no sub fee as a weapon, I just cannot understand this as an argument. Anyway convincing someone wanting to play a certain game not to play is pointless imho.
Also, I cannot understand why GW2 fanbois troll other MMOs and what are they believing to get with this? I've not seen TSW fans polluting GW2 forums bashing the game with arguments like "TSW is better because there are assault rifles in it". Sometimes it feels like MMOs are substitute for religion for some people.
Its very simple actually. With more quality games going f2p people expect more for their money. A bad economy is a part of it, but this boils down to a more competitive market.
Funcom knows that cash shop+subscrition works, They tried with Anarchy Online and it worked fine. WHo didn't wanted to run around with a Hoverboard?????
Wasn't AO the first p2p to have a f2p model? and then a Cash shop? FC knows how player mind works, we will all buy our vanity items and they will profit..unfair? Yah! But players wil still buy vanity items.
"you are like the world revenge on sarcasm, you know that?"
One of those great lines from The Secret World
Wish I knew what to tell you, I have tried to temper some of the vile that spews from some of them but I got a warning so I gave up. I like both games why some people feel this loyalty to a game that has not launched yet is beyond me.
They aleady said it will bo nothing but cosmedic maybe exp potions. but nothing to help you win over anyone else. so i dont care if someone wants to buy a shirt or a hat to make your char look cooler im fine with what i find ingame. but not going to cry that someone bought it from the in game store.get over it theres no game that doesnt have a in game store and if you dont want to play games with it give up on mmos becouse im sure all new games and alot of the olders one will and do have.
Psh, fans of all MMOs are guilty of it. It only seems like a problem now because there are a lot of ANet diehards waiting impatiently for their game and because these are two releases competing head to head for yo monies.
I've never known anyone who seriously played two mmo's at once. One always suffers.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
I strongly agree, going out down to the pub with a few mates on a Friday night will cost in the region of £100, with taxi's drinks food and club entrance fee's.
Paying a monthly sub plus some cash shop isn't at all a hardship, unless your living in a shoebox and are as tight as a ducks arse.
I don't get some people. Priorities I suppose.
I have a friend that smokes. Goes out to eat for every meal. Drinks soda like it is water. Sees movies opening night all the time. Loves to play mmos but refuses to even consider a p2p game because it is too expensive.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Dear god man you are going to the wrong pubs. Or you live in London.
There is NO miracle patch.
95% of what you see in beta won't change by launch.
Hope is not a stategy.
______________________________
"This kind of topic is like one of those little cartoon boxes held up by a stick on a string, with a piece of meat under it. In other words, bait."
Lol, it must be priorities
Instead of asking "What are the possible explanations as to why people don't want to pay a subscription any more" you might consider asking "What am I getting for my subscription fee other than access to a character?"
The general thinking is that companies use this subscription to fix bugs, maintain servers, handle customer service issues but most importantly, to fund the development of new content.
Which MMOs appear to be using the funds for this? How many games go for cycles of 6-9 months with no new content released? I think Rift is the only game that has large, frequent and decent content pushed out.
On top of this, many companies will try and sell you another boxed expansion every couple of years.
Finally, game companies are finding more and more ways to monetize content, from first-day DLC to "elite" online memberships, RMAH and cash shops on top of subscriptions.
So I would argue that customers are expecting more for their money and proof that any subscription fee is actually an investment in content delivery and are becoming more descriminating than they were years ago, given that they have many options for entertainment.
"Loading screens" are not "instances".
Your personal efforts to troll any game will not, in fact, impact the success or failure of said game.
Moat if these "free" games cost more money than sub games.
Gw1 being the exception, but that's not a proper mmo.
I don't know about any P2P MMO that doesn't regularily add new content or features. Do you know any that don't?
I guess it depends on what you mean by "regularly" but one example would be Dragon Soul, the last content patch released in WoW at the end of November 2011.
"Loading screens" are not "instances".
Your personal efforts to troll any game will not, in fact, impact the success or failure of said game.
They are if you want it to be.
For me it's a combination of two things. First, the cash shop on top of a subscription fee. It just not sit well with me. Yes, I know that almost all subscription MMOs have some sort of a cash shop but they didn't launch with them. Most added cash shops years later when subscription numbers began to really dwindle. Some even began offering a F2P model when they introduced their cash shop.
I can deal with a uninvasive cash shop in a B2P game or even a slightly invasive cash shop in a F2P game, as long as I can mostly avoid it, but to launch a P2P game with a cash shop is a bit much. On top of that, I'm still dubious over exactly what is going to be in the cash shop. Funcom is apparently projecting a 35% increase in revenue per customer, due to the cash shop and I cannot see just cosmetics bringing in that much money.
Second issue is Guild Wars 2. Whether you like the game or not, you cannot deny the fact that GW2 offers a AAA MMO experience without a subscription fee. With GW2 you basically get a lifetime subscription for $59.99, something that in TSW costs $199, if I remember correctly. You simply cannot beat this type of value.
Can't tell now ofc, but I think that the cash shop is already in place so that a transition to a F2P hybrid model or 'fremium', where you can opt to pay a flat fee or pay for free, will be easy. Turbine lost a lot of time where they couldn't develop other stuff when they went F2P, it's easier when things are alrdy in place right from the beginning.
The beauty of GW2's B2P model or other F2P MMO's is that you can play other MMO's next to it. I don't expect for many that GW2 will be their one and only MMO past the first 3-4 months, but that's ok, you can always put it on a backseat while playing games and MMO's like TSW, or PS2 or LotrO expansion or others.The "difficult economic conditions" may be a factor as to why 10% of people want the F2P model, but 90% of those that want it simply don't want to pay a single penny to play a MMO.
Most people insisting on the F2P model get more satisfaction from a pint and a pizza than they get from playing a sub-based MMO for a month. Must be, because they'd rather spend the MMO sub on something else, given the chance. And besides, why pay for something if you can get it for free ?
I honestly can't remember what the sub fees for AAA MMO's were 9-10 years ago (EQ, SWG, AO), but I'm willing to bet it was pretty much the same as it is now. No company has dared to raise sub fees beyond the "industry standard", because that would cause a massive backlash. But costs have risen steadily over the last decade, so naturally some way had to be found to increase revenue. Hence the pervasive DLC and Cash Shop phenomenon. We gamers brought it upon ourselves.
If I remember correctly, the original sub fees were around $10. They went up to $15 around the time WoW was released, although I don't remember if WoW was the first to raise them to $15 or another game.
Actually, bandwith and server hardware have become significantly cheaper, to a point where $15 per month per customer is a ripoff. Most companies don't even list server and bandwith costs on their financial reports anymore because the cost percentage is incredibly tiny.