You people need to realise where all this F2P crap is heading... Its heading to a point where it will make the original point of playing games, for the sake of progressing a character in virtual world
And I thought that the point of playing games was to have fun...
Anyway, I for one love F2P. Of course I pay more than if all games were sub games, but that's simply because if all games were sub games I'd pay nothing.
F2P is the future, because gamers will not accept an increase in monthly subs ever.
So the only way for developers to stay ahead of rising costs is to implement cash shops, and then design their games in such a way that it gives players "incentives" to spend money in the CS. A good F2P design does not REQUIRE you to spend money in the CS, but it makes it very tempting.
It's pure psychology. Many people feel that if they've not played a full month (whatever that means) in a subscription based game, they've "wasted" all or part of their $15 sub. But they'll happily spend $5 on a clothing item, $5 on XP potions and $5 on extra bank slots in a F2P game, AND feel they got value for their money, whether they played much in that month or not.
A monthly sub "forces" you to pay, but a F2P game allows you the "choice" to spend money. In a well-designed F2P game, you supposedly pay for "convenience" only. A well-designed F2P game will subtly build-in all kinds of little inconveniences to "encourage" you to spend money in the CS.
F2P is a myth, of course, and just a clever marketing trick that exploits human psychology by manipulating perceptions. No company on earth can develop, advertise and run an MMO for "free", because their employees don't work for free and the owners (or shareholders) expect a healthy profit.
So F2P will become a grind to make you pay for stuff in the shop.
Opposed to P2P games, that just slow you down to a crawl to make you pay for more months?
Yeah, P2P isn't grindy at all.
As long it doesn't mess with game play mechanics/stats it is fine.
It seems to me that these anti B2P/F2P just have no self control - they know that paying a couple of bucks for some sunglasses for an in game character or paying a buck to spend 50 minutes instead of 60 minutes to level is stupid, but then they go crazy that other dude over there has them and they don't.
Sure, even cosmetic/convenience cash shops play with the side of your mind that wants everything, just like in real life - you see it in ads and want it.
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
1. You don't have to spend anything in F2P it is up to the player if they want to go the long way or the short way. (Though I have always found using the ingame currency to buy cash shop items the cheapest route).
2. Yes we know that you don't like Guild Wars 2! Please stop bringing it up or just go play something else like a normal person.
P2P - the developer needs to keep providing interesting content on regular basis to keep players playing and paying subs. No game can rely on "grind" to keep players playing, because there are plenty of alternative games in the market, players will just switch if it gets too "grindy". As long as they're keeping the players happy, they know exactly what their income is, because each player pays a fixed amount each month. Knowing what your income is allows you to plan business activities ahead of time.
F2P - the developer needs to keep providing interesting content on regular basis to keep players playing AND find constant ways to get them to spend money in the Cash Shop. Because without constant CS sales, the game will shut down, regardless of how many people are enjoying the game. A F2P game could have 20M regular players, but if nobody is spending anything in the CS, the game closes. You can only sell the average player a limited amount of bag size upgrades or extra character slots, after that you have to find other ways to keep them spending. The company's income is unpredictable, and relies on past CS sales figures to predict future income, which makes planning and investment in new development a very risky process.
Originally posted by WagrumAnd LOTRO is really only free until level 25 or so, then you will need to pay just to be able to quest in areas beyond that point. (Yes you can grind hard for Turbine Points, but seriously, who does that?)
Or pay a sub... (and never have to buy anything in the shop though you get 500 points each month should you want to use them that's possible but not required for anything). The LOTRO model is not that bad, it's about choosing your way to pay, buy chunks of content that remain unlocked for as long as the gameservers will exist, or pay a sub. No money for a sub this month? no problem let it expire and you can still login unlike other games where no sub = no play.
@OP: don't keep calling GW2 F2P because it isn't, which makes a difference because the shop is not their only income like with F2P games.
Back track a few years ago these very forums were buzzing ,complaining about SOE and it's cash shops.Now it seems like a lot of hypocrites have risen.
A f2p developer will not risk those longer development times and risk losing money,they WIll have a set release date.I remember hearing so much about GW2 was taking time to balance,i LOL at anyone that believed that for one minute.There is no trinity design,what is there to balance?There is no meaningful gear to balance.
Truth is they were spending all that time to tweak how low they could get the zones to run on bandwidth.I have not seen one single thing in anyhing in GW2 that shows A-Net was designing a game to be it's best,it is all about cutting corners and cost.I wouldn't stop at GW2,all the other f2p games i have played are designed to run cost efficient.
We can use A-Nets game as the topic of discussion because it is one of the better F2p games,there is no argument if we talk about the many total garbage f2p games out there.I am sure some fans of the f2p genre can find some nice pieces of game design but at what cost?
I can use a prime example ROM.That game was f2p all the way ,imo is on equal par with GW2 but they actually offered some cool ideas in the game.The problem is it is all surrounded by the cash shop,so that kind of removes the f2p doesn't it?However using ROM as an example they DID put in the effort to make mounts ,even though you have to pay for them,GW2 didn't even go that far for effort.
Again ROM ...They actually have Guild Halls and they do have guild versus guild pvp.ALL great but once you introduce cash shop,it is a pay to win and ruins everything they strived to make great.
Of course not ALWAYS but the majority of time ,my many years of gaming has seen you get what you pay for.Gaming is no different than real life,it is all about value/profit/effort.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
"I realise Gw2 is coming out and everyone is saying "oh well, Ill just buy the box and never use the cash shop"... That might be the case where you end up grinding gold and trading for gems or cash shop currency but they will make it so you will be grinding insane amounts of time into these games. farming gold to trade for gems.. Trust me, games will not be games anymore."
Why would Anet change pricing models and piss off their 5 million GW1 fans?
"Most of us play games to acquire loot and play through game content to attain the best gear and viritual characters we can with our time... This newly refined pay model will take all the fun out of games, when I can just buy my progress... How pathetic.. paying for progression in a game. Why bother playing? Maybe I'm getting too old (33) and its the new era of stupid taking over. I just don't get how anyone can not see where this will end up for us, the end users of the games.."
This is where I think you have a very sheltered view of why gamers play games. Most gamers play games because they find the gameplay fun. Character progression is important but only as a side effect of good, fun gameplay. I didn't play football to win trophies. I played because I liked the violence. I don't play unreal to be the top of the server. I play because I like killing players. Not getting the shiney doesn't make the play any less fun. I think there are more players like me than there are of you. We just don't talk as much.
"I don't know what else to say, and Im certain there is more articulate gamers out there who feel the same way and who also have the foresight to see 5 years down the road when everything is free to play but pay to win... I'm not supporting guildwars 2 not because of the pay model, but simply because the game is utterly boring. The pay model sealed the deal though as I would have normally bought the box and played for 30 days to see where the game ended up taking me.. but the pay model of pay to win left a sour taste in my mouth. And you can bet your bottom dollar, they will continually add things into that cash shop to milk the end users and after a few months you will be hooked and develop an emotional tie to your guilds and friends, and "oh so and so bought that content pack maybe I should too or I won't be able to play with them.."
So this is really about GW2 then. OK. All I can say is that I refuse to support mediocrity to the tune of £120 per year. I can get a better experience replaying multiplayer games than I can from most MMOs. Until developers stop thinking they can give us a token grind with 2004 gameplay dressed up in a pretty skin players continue to will look for a better deal.
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."
Tbh, I can not remember ever seeing anyone on these boards posting something like:
"This is the most awesome game I've ever played. I've had more fun in this game than any other MMO I've ever played. But I won't continue playing it because it has a cash shop..."
When people REALLY love a game, they'll find all sorts of justifications to ignore the CS, or the monthly sub, or the box price, or all of these combined. The payment model is usually only a deal-breaker if the player isn't hugely enthusiastic about the game.
"You can't fight the future...don't waste your life trying." So while you MIGHT have the support of a few hardcore players, unfortunately given the amount of saturation in the MMO market, having a p2p is NOT a good business venture, as it was back in the early 2000s.
Also cash shop games are not bad either. Cash shop games will only get better once the market determine what is good and what is bad, like they are doing atm. Hence why you see very few cases of truly p2win games and i saw truly p2win because a lot of people especially on this forum have no idea what p2win actually means.
cash shop is counter productive in most case because game use stagnant content release and plan their content via grinding , so by actually paying more to progress faster you are inherently playing the game the same way as watching a movies on fast forward.
It does not matter how people see it in the end you're the one purposely skipping as much as possible to reach end game in a race to nothing ( or in most case end game grinding ! ) .
cash shop is counter productive in most case because game use stagnant content release and plan their content via grinding , so by actually paying more to progress faster you are inherently playing the game the same way as watching a movies on fast forward.
It does not matter how people see it in the end you're the one purposely skipping as much as possible to reach end game in a race to nothing ( or in most case end game grinding ! ) .
unless the object of the game is not to grind to lvl to gring to lvl, etc, etc. What you say would be true for WOW (work), but not necessarily for GW2 (play).
Sorry dude, the monthly fee subscription based model is going away. Free to play brings in more people. If a game is Pay to Win then I will quit but; I can't say the same for other people. Some people spend money on stupid things. There's nothing we can do about that. Having a chioce is better than not having a choice.
A subscription fee doesn't give you a choice. Look at WoW. That 15$ per month provides less and less content over time. Companies that charge a subscription fee will milk you for as long as possible. They'll give you pointless gear grinds and very little content.
And no this is not about gw2.. I mentioned it because thats the game that will truly catalyze triple A mmo's into this f2p model that will destroy mmo gaming forever... GG. You people are very ignorant from what I can tell. This forum has gone down hill majorly since I joined.. Where are all the intelligent gamers hanging out at? It certainly isn't here... Thats a serious question btw.. hook me up with a link..
Someone is indeed very ignorant in this discussion.
Also, I played (and still covet) Ultima Online back in the day. I'm an "old school" MMO Player. In my substantial length of playing I have spent quite possibly $35,000 alone on subscriptions. This is through some 10 subscription based games that I kept open for many years (not including 5 accounts for WoW since it's inception, plus a server transfers and the like in these games).
How much have I spent on so called "F2P" games? Possibly $250 total.
When you have played MMOs for a substantial period of time you start to notice how much it all adds up. You begin to feel like you're not getting your money's worth if you're not playing it constantly (since you're paying a monthly fee). It even gets to the point where you feel like your character, and all the hard work you put into it, is being held for ransom. If you want to stop payment, you lose access to said work and you just lost years of your life.
In fact, I have opted for Lifetime subs with select games simply because I did not want to have my characters held for ransom.
This so called "era of F2P" could go either way; though it is sheer ignorance to say that it will cost more in the long run if you have any will power at all. It is also such to say that all veterans will feel the same way as you -- they won't. In fact, of the few people I talked to about this very thing, we're all in agreement with the feelings I expressed in this post.
Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing). German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century. Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now). I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things). In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while. If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.
Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this. If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own. Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis. Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
The fact is GW2 is the first large budget MMORPG to be realeased in a buy box+CS format. (The first GW had a much smaller budget, was heavy instanced and was built has a PvP game).
We have seen MMORPGs that went from P2P to fremium models but not one like GW2.
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
I loved GW1. It was also B2P with a cash shop. The only thing i ever bought from the CS was more bank tabs and i played that game for years. I did not pay more to play than if they had a subscription model. I do not know what the future holds for the GW2 CS, but Anet has shown that they can produce a successful B2P title and run a CS respondibly with GW1.
B2P sells hype. Any game which makes money before you start playing is encouraged to overhype their game and over-advertise it (money which doesn't actually improve the game.)
F2P sells fun. They're not making money until you have fun and the purchases justify themselves.
So the F2P model is actually the correct incentive you want developers to have: "make something fun or else!" And the B2P model is actually the wrong incentive "make something the will look fun in ads!"
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Comments
And I thought that the point of playing games was to have fun...
Anyway, I for one love F2P. Of course I pay more than if all games were sub games, but that's simply because if all games were sub games I'd pay nothing.
F2P is the future, because gamers will not accept an increase in monthly subs ever.
So the only way for developers to stay ahead of rising costs is to implement cash shops, and then design their games in such a way that it gives players "incentives" to spend money in the CS. A good F2P design does not REQUIRE you to spend money in the CS, but it makes it very tempting.
It's pure psychology. Many people feel that if they've not played a full month (whatever that means) in a subscription based game, they've "wasted" all or part of their $15 sub. But they'll happily spend $5 on a clothing item, $5 on XP potions and $5 on extra bank slots in a F2P game, AND feel they got value for their money, whether they played much in that month or not.
A monthly sub "forces" you to pay, but a F2P game allows you the "choice" to spend money. In a well-designed F2P game, you supposedly pay for "convenience" only. A well-designed F2P game will subtly build-in all kinds of little inconveniences to "encourage" you to spend money in the CS.
F2P is a myth, of course, and just a clever marketing trick that exploits human psychology by manipulating perceptions. No company on earth can develop, advertise and run an MMO for "free", because their employees don't work for free and the owners (or shareholders) expect a healthy profit.
F2P is a good opportunity to try games without paying anything if you dont like it uninstall and try another one
So F2P will become a grind to make you pay for stuff in the shop.
Opposed to P2P games, that just slow you down to a crawl to make you pay for more months?
Yeah, P2P isn't grindy at all.
As long it doesn't mess with game play mechanics/stats it is fine.
It seems to me that these anti B2P/F2P just have no self control - they know that paying a couple of bucks for some sunglasses for an in game character or paying a buck to spend 50 minutes instead of 60 minutes to level is stupid, but then they go crazy that other dude over there has them and they don't.
Sure, even cosmetic/convenience cash shops play with the side of your mind that wants everything, just like in real life - you see it in ads and want it.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
1. You don't have to spend anything in F2P it is up to the player if they want to go the long way or the short way. (Though I have always found using the ingame currency to buy cash shop items the cheapest route).
2. Yes we know that you don't like Guild Wars 2! Please stop bringing it up or just go play something else like a normal person.
My view of F2P vs P2P is as follows:
P2P - the developer needs to keep providing interesting content on regular basis to keep players playing and paying subs. No game can rely on "grind" to keep players playing, because there are plenty of alternative games in the market, players will just switch if it gets too "grindy". As long as they're keeping the players happy, they know exactly what their income is, because each player pays a fixed amount each month. Knowing what your income is allows you to plan business activities ahead of time.
F2P - the developer needs to keep providing interesting content on regular basis to keep players playing AND find constant ways to get them to spend money in the Cash Shop. Because without constant CS sales, the game will shut down, regardless of how many people are enjoying the game. A F2P game could have 20M regular players, but if nobody is spending anything in the CS, the game closes. You can only sell the average player a limited amount of bag size upgrades or extra character slots, after that you have to find other ways to keep them spending. The company's income is unpredictable, and relies on past CS sales figures to predict future income, which makes planning and investment in new development a very risky process.
Or pay a sub... (and never have to buy anything in the shop though you get 500 points each month should you want to use them that's possible but not required for anything).
The LOTRO model is not that bad, it's about choosing your way to pay, buy chunks of content that remain unlocked for as long as the gameservers will exist, or pay a sub. No money for a sub this month? no problem let it expire and you can still login unlike other games where no sub = no play.
@OP: don't keep calling GW2 F2P because it isn't, which makes a difference because the shop is not their only income like with F2P games.
F2P games have a bad name because:
a) they are generally low budget (the big budget ones were generally designed to be p2p);
b) sell stuff in the CS that either make you win fights or are required to beat the content.
A bigger budget can be guaranteed by a box price.
Removing the "make u win fights" or "without this can't beat this content" items from the CS and you have solved.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
Back track a few years ago these very forums were buzzing ,complaining about SOE and it's cash shops.Now it seems like a lot of hypocrites have risen.
A f2p developer will not risk those longer development times and risk losing money,they WIll have a set release date.I remember hearing so much about GW2 was taking time to balance,i LOL at anyone that believed that for one minute.There is no trinity design,what is there to balance?There is no meaningful gear to balance.
Truth is they were spending all that time to tweak how low they could get the zones to run on bandwidth.I have not seen one single thing in anyhing in GW2 that shows A-Net was designing a game to be it's best,it is all about cutting corners and cost.I wouldn't stop at GW2,all the other f2p games i have played are designed to run cost efficient.
We can use A-Nets game as the topic of discussion because it is one of the better F2p games,there is no argument if we talk about the many total garbage f2p games out there.I am sure some fans of the f2p genre can find some nice pieces of game design but at what cost?
I can use a prime example ROM.That game was f2p all the way ,imo is on equal par with GW2 but they actually offered some cool ideas in the game.The problem is it is all surrounded by the cash shop,so that kind of removes the f2p doesn't it?However using ROM as an example they DID put in the effort to make mounts ,even though you have to pay for them,GW2 didn't even go that far for effort.
Again ROM ...They actually have Guild Halls and they do have guild versus guild pvp.ALL great but once you introduce cash shop,it is a pay to win and ruins everything they strived to make great.
Of course not ALWAYS but the majority of time ,my many years of gaming has seen you get what you pay for.Gaming is no different than real life,it is all about value/profit/effort.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
"I realise Gw2 is coming out and everyone is saying "oh well, Ill just buy the box and never use the cash shop"... That might be the case where you end up grinding gold and trading for gems or cash shop currency but they will make it so you will be grinding insane amounts of time into these games. farming gold to trade for gems.. Trust me, games will not be games anymore."
Why would Anet change pricing models and piss off their 5 million GW1 fans?
"Most of us play games to acquire loot and play through game content to attain the best gear and viritual characters we can with our time... This newly refined pay model will take all the fun out of games, when I can just buy my progress... How pathetic.. paying for progression in a game. Why bother playing? Maybe I'm getting too old (33) and its the new era of stupid taking over. I just don't get how anyone can not see where this will end up for us, the end users of the games.."
This is where I think you have a very sheltered view of why gamers play games. Most gamers play games because they find the gameplay fun. Character progression is important but only as a side effect of good, fun gameplay. I didn't play football to win trophies. I played because I liked the violence. I don't play unreal to be the top of the server. I play because I like killing players. Not getting the shiney doesn't make the play any less fun. I think there are more players like me than there are of you. We just don't talk as much.
"I don't know what else to say, and Im certain there is more articulate gamers out there who feel the same way and who also have the foresight to see 5 years down the road when everything is free to play but pay to win... I'm not supporting guildwars 2 not because of the pay model, but simply because the game is utterly boring. The pay model sealed the deal though as I would have normally bought the box and played for 30 days to see where the game ended up taking me.. but the pay model of pay to win left a sour taste in my mouth. And you can bet your bottom dollar, they will continually add things into that cash shop to milk the end users and after a few months you will be hooked and develop an emotional tie to your guilds and friends, and "oh so and so bought that content pack maybe I should too or I won't be able to play with them.."
So this is really about GW2 then. OK. All I can say is that I refuse to support mediocrity to the tune of £120 per year. I can get a better experience replaying multiplayer games than I can from most MMOs. Until developers stop thinking they can give us a token grind with 2004 gameplay dressed up in a pretty skin players continue to will look for a better deal.
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."
Tbh, I can not remember ever seeing anyone on these boards posting something like:
"This is the most awesome game I've ever played. I've had more fun in this game than any other MMO I've ever played. But I won't continue playing it because it has a cash shop..."
When people REALLY love a game, they'll find all sorts of justifications to ignore the CS, or the monthly sub, or the box price, or all of these combined. The payment model is usually only a deal-breaker if the player isn't hugely enthusiastic about the game.
"You can't fight the future...don't waste your life trying." So while you MIGHT have the support of a few hardcore players, unfortunately given the amount of saturation in the MMO market, having a p2p is NOT a good business venture, as it was back in the early 2000s.
Also cash shop games are not bad either. Cash shop games will only get better once the market determine what is good and what is bad, like they are doing atm. Hence why you see very few cases of truly p2win games and i saw truly p2win because a lot of people especially on this forum have no idea what p2win actually means.
i dont c a problem with CS in F2P games. Only my experience is that they cost more, to comfortably play then P2P games.
anyone who thinks that in GW2 they only will pay for box r very disolutioned. They will end up paying twice or even more then if it would have a sub.
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cash shop is counter productive in most case because game use stagnant content release and plan their content via grinding , so by actually paying more to progress faster you are inherently playing the game the same way as watching a movies on fast forward.
It does not matter how people see it in the end you're the one purposely skipping as much as possible to reach end game in a race to nothing ( or in most case end game grinding ! ) .
unless the object of the game is not to grind to lvl to gring to lvl, etc, etc. What you say would be true for WOW (work), but not necessarily for GW2 (play).
Sorry dude, the monthly fee subscription based model is going away. Free to play brings in more people. If a game is Pay to Win then I will quit but; I can't say the same for other people. Some people spend money on stupid things. There's nothing we can do about that. Having a chioce is better than not having a choice.
A subscription fee doesn't give you a choice. Look at WoW. That 15$ per month provides less and less content over time. Companies that charge a subscription fee will milk you for as long as possible. They'll give you pointless gear grinds and very little content.
The future is a cosmetic items shops (like GW2) with DLC and other expansion packs.
Thats the only way they can make MMO´s work on consoles and thats where the real money currently is.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
You do realize that it really helps your argument when you use proper spelling habits? I'm just saying.....
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. ~ Italian proverb
Someone is indeed very ignorant in this discussion.
Also, I played (and still covet) Ultima Online back in the day. I'm an "old school" MMO Player. In my substantial length of playing I have spent quite possibly $35,000 alone on subscriptions. This is through some 10 subscription based games that I kept open for many years (not including 5 accounts for WoW since it's inception, plus a server transfers and the like in these games).
How much have I spent on so called "F2P" games? Possibly $250 total.
When you have played MMOs for a substantial period of time you start to notice how much it all adds up. You begin to feel like you're not getting your money's worth if you're not playing it constantly (since you're paying a monthly fee). It even gets to the point where you feel like your character, and all the hard work you put into it, is being held for ransom. If you want to stop payment, you lose access to said work and you just lost years of your life.
In fact, I have opted for Lifetime subs with select games simply because I did not want to have my characters held for ransom.
This so called "era of F2P" could go either way; though it is sheer ignorance to say that it will cost more in the long run if you have any will power at all. It is also such to say that all veterans will feel the same way as you -- they won't. In fact, of the few people I talked to about this very thing, we're all in agreement with the feelings I expressed in this post.
The fact is GW2 is the first large budget MMORPG to be realeased in a buy box+CS format. (The first GW had a much smaller budget, was heavy instanced and was built has a PvP game).
We have seen MMORPGs that went from P2P to fremium models but not one like GW2.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
B2P sells hype. Any game which makes money before you start playing is encouraged to overhype their game and over-advertise it (money which doesn't actually improve the game.)
F2P sells fun. They're not making money until you have fun and the purchases justify themselves.
So the F2P model is actually the correct incentive you want developers to have: "make something fun or else!" And the B2P model is actually the wrong incentive "make something the will look fun in ads!"
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
IMO F2P or B2P is what a themepark mmorpg is worth. I'm willing to pay a monthly sub for a good sandbox still.
My theme song.
Getting a game for free which took time to develope is the devil. How dare they give me a game for free. :P
Prove it. Tell what I need in GW2 do bad that I'll be spending 30$ a month to keep up. Come on. Show me that delicious proof.