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End of line for P2P , why only sandbox will continue to be P2P, and why its win-win for everyone
Lobotomist
Member EpicPosts: 5,981
It started with LOTRO going F2P , as a first real themepark high budget MMO going this direction it marked the times to come.
Slowly but surely the rest followed the unstoppable wave of transformation.
And it ends with sudden announcement of SWTOR becoming F2P.
This is I am afraid , end of the line for P2P themepark MMOs.
After most expensive MMO (and most likely most expensive game of all times) is F2P , and its biggest contender GW2 being B2P - No other themepark MMO will be able to justify subscription. And even if they go with it. People will just go for cheaper and better alternatives.
TSW will be caught in the stream and will have to switch to F2P (and I am sure they planned for this ahead) ,Trion with RIFT are most likely ready too.
Which will leave only WOW P2P because change of subscription plan at this juncture will only lower blizzards profits. But next Blizzard MMO will be F2P.
This leaves us with sandbox MMOs
Sandbox MMOs, especially ones based on economy and PVP must guarantee players equal service. Paying extra for artificial benefits is against the very core of sandbox gameplay.
This is why subscription and sandbox go together like bread and butter.
Sandbox gamers welcome P2P, in fact they protest even a hint their MMO cann go the other direction. (EVE)
This change might be very benefitial to us gamers.
Subscription system is more profitable when playerbase is healthy. If only sandbox games could be P2P. This means more investors will support sandbox games.
In short - end of the era. Light on the end of the tunnel.
SWTOR going F2P was Win-Win for everyone !
Comments
I really don't care about sandbox.
But TOR going F2P is great. Now i can play a little with no commitment.
In fact, Marvel Heroes will be the first AAA MMO build F2P from the ground up. I will expect TSW to go F2P in the future too. This F2P trend is pretty much unmistaken by now.
I wonder how long WOW can hold out .. in fact, WOW is already free up to L20 or so.
But isn't EVE F2P for those buying PLEX with ISK?
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
I think there is quite a bit of truth to the OP's conclusion.
I think you skipped couple line sin your train of thoughts here...nothing implies investors pouring money on sandbox games.
They did not do it so far and they unlikely do it in the future.
Now we need a decent high budget sandbox game to come out to warrent a P2P - Not counting EvE at the moment.
Well, currently WoW is making 70 dollars a second. I dunno if f2p would top that. Possibly.
Personally I hate the F2P model. Total money grabbing trash.
SWTOR going free to play seems to have created a Jesus Moment for forum posting game players everywhere and now we are all ready to preach a revelation. The simple truth is that beyond a few basics it’s too early to tell. I don’t see it as good for the industry at all. The MMORPG with the largest budget in gaming history and a globally popular IP just flopped and went F2P because they couldn’t get enough revenue from subs. I expect more small budget and free to play games to hit the market and likely with gimmicky cash shops. No investor in their right mind is going to fund a big budget game right now so that AAA sandbox is nothing but a pipe dream. As a matter of fact after seeing that kind of money flushed on a game I expect investors to become far more conservative and only to fund what are perceived as sure things. That means more WOW clones...
If CCP thought F2P will make them more money, EVE would be F2P by now.
The problem isn't "if" but "how". No one has come with an idea of F2P model that would deal well with obstacles such as real time skill training and complex, delicate in game economy.
You can bet that CCP was thinking about it, like any sane business entity is exploring way how to make more profit.
Not really sure I agree about the whole sandbox games being able to still go P2P, but I think MMOs in general are reaching the end of the line as for as P2P is concerned.
There are a few P2P games that I don't see going F2P and one of those is Rift. As long as they can continue to produce high quality content (and they have proven this quite well) the game will stay P2P. Not to mention that Trion is making 2 more games based off the success of Rift. (I think both are F2P as well)
There are a few strange games that are still P2P that you would think have changed to F2P by now though. I have a feeling that this is because they are running with a skeleton crew and the transition to F2P would actually end up costing them more money then staying P2P. The ones I can think of are Asheron's Call,Ultima Online,DAOC,Warhammer, and FF11.
We will have to see what the future holds, but I pretty much agree with you.
This is good if they settle with a main-stream form of a F2P system. I really enjoy Global Agenda's,
Played - M59, EQOA, EQ, EQ2, PS, SWG[Favorite], DAoC, UO, RS, MXO, CoH/CoV, TR, FFXI, FoM, WoW, Eve, Rift, SWTOR, TSW.
Playing - PS2, AoW, GW2
I bet the next AAA themepark will still be P2P at release, sell alot of box and convert to F2P later.
Besides I wont' even call those game F2P, alot of people still pay subscription.
Technically Eve is a buy 2 win game because you accumulate skillpoints over time:
$$ -> gametime -> skill points
There's always a player who's payed for your skill points even if you bought a PLEX with ISK. And lets not forget, you can buy PLEX and then sell it for ISK meaning you can both buy skill points and ingame currency with cash.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
I for one don't like F2P it brings with it all kinds of ppl better left outside of the arena of gaming.
So this is sad, for me just closing down a game and accepting that it failed is much better than going F2P.
If it works, it works, but not on my account
cheers
I'll be playing and supporting TSW, they are doing a great job, and for me that justifies a sub everytime, same as
Rift, they doing stellar work.
Keep up the great dev and I'll pay! Because in the end if we don't pay we won't play.
And I will never be a sandbox junky because themeparks ftw :P
If Skill points were determining factor for Win, you could have a point but that isn't the case...
total lie, if your going to make weird and outlandish claims about a game, at least spend some time researching those games, anybody who has ever played Eve, will know that your statement is absolutely false.
skill points in Eve do not influence combat outcomes to any real degree, and with each skill being capped at level V, you cannot 'outlevel' people, most of the skills arent even related to combat, im pretty sure being able to refine plagiocase at 100 percent efficiency isnt going to help in a fight. SP's in Eve mean you can do more things, how well you achieve those things, is really down to the player, not some arbitrary SP figure. As for ISK, the only way that can help you win, is if you bribe someone to lose, or pay a bunch of people to back you up, and even that isnt a guarantee of success, mercenaries can be bought out, and bribes can be, problematical..
If I take Star Wars Galaxies as an example.
It had a player run economy and you could craft anything. I don't think players would be happy if they sold items in a store you couldn't craft.
If they sold items on par with craft items players would say why can't I craft this? lame.
If they sold items better then craft items players would say why bother with crafting if the best items can be bought.
Altough I still could see some high end items (vehicles, mounts, houses) being sold which are not better then anything crafted but with just different looks without players getting pissed off. I'm thinking WOW $25 mounts here.
Another thing they could sell is out of game tools. For instance the option to design clothing and decals in Photoshop and then having to buy a tool to upload it to the game. (kinda like Second life)
EVE is already as "F2P" as it needs to be. The PLEX system is really, really smart.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
Just because you misinterpret F2P does not make it F2P.
true, Plex in Eve do not make the game F2P, as someone has to buy those Plex with real money at some stage, which also means that the availability of Plex is conditional on those Plex being purchased in the first place, making it a very 'finite' resource, probably why Plex costs have risen by a 'huge' margin, as demand for Plex far outstrips the supply.
So basically sandbox gamers are too cool to play f2p. That's what you guys saying?
I don't see how the topic is even related. It's not like many of the hybrid/f2p games sell crafted item. They can sell anything ranging from gold cap, skill reset, cosmetic, fast travel portal, quick repair, locked zone.
People can come up with every single reason to justify what they like is cool.
It is nice not having to spend money on this genre anymore.
While I could myelf imagine playing f2p themepark = well I tried obviously and it kept 'pushing me out of the game', there is theoretical possiblity though unlikely for me to play f2p themepark.
I could not see myself playing any sandbox or even sandpark with cash shop, rmah or similar system. Seriously I would prefer to not play any mmo than to play sandbox or sandpark with CS or rmah or other microtransaction scheme.
btw. I don't like Eve Plex system and don't really accept it either.
Oh really? So a Rifters beat Cynabals all the time? Yeah...
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Where is the skill points part?
Its not a lie. You basically pay for skillpoints. You can boost that amount somewhat with implants but thats how it is. You can bury your head in the sand all you want but it doesn't change it.
T1 frigate loses to a T3 cruiser and T3 cruiser takes a lot of skillpoints to fly compared to a T1 frigate.
I'm not talking about buying a sure victory, I'm talking about buying an advantage. IV to V is an advantage you cannot deny that.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky