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[Interview] Rift: Going Free to Play June 12th
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Trion Worlds is ready to rock the MMO-niverse with today's announcement that Rift is officially going free to play with no restrictions, no pay gates, nothing that bars a player from experiencing the game in its totality. We caught up to Creative Director Bill Fisher to find out more. Rock your world and then head to the comments with your reactions.
MMORPG: Many of the gaming populace see the shift from subscription to F2P as a sort of swan song or last ditch effort for a game to stay alive. How do you combat this stigma?
Bill Fisher: I think that as time has passed people really are more accepting. Will there be a stigma for a subset of folks out there? Sure. It really isn't our job to combat the stigma though - it's our job to make RIFT the best possible game we can. We feel that the game can speak for itself and letting more people experience it really is the next logical step on the road of continual improvement.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Rift: Going Free to Play on June 12th.
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Comments
This is taken from their website
"Why is RIFT going free-to-play?
Because players prefer free games!"
LOL well actually players prefer good games.. but free will do if a good game is not available haha j/k
Not shocked, they all do anymore. WoW remains supreme...hahahaha
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
Playing: TSW, D&D NW, Defiance (more the tv show than game >.> ) LotRO, DCUO
Sad to hear this, always had a bit of a soft spot for Rift even though I haven't played it in a while.
With Hartman gone it was only a matter of time, but, honestly, if they think this will fix what's wrong with the game or bring in a long term increase in the playerbase I think they're fooling themselves -- and badly.
Time will tell, I suppose, but if there's ever anything more than the usual initial announcement of how successful the conversion was, followed by the usual deafening silence, I'll be very, very surprised.
"Great items that can be purchased with Credits must be obtainable by playing the game."
No no no no no no no, bad!
Bad bad bad!
Never! Never ever never ever EVER sell items for real money, ever! Regardless if they're not the best items in game, you NEVER sell gear for cash. Only cosmetics!
"and no we are not jacking up the exp curve for free players or penalizing them"
Lol, nice one.
Edit: as in nice punch at TOR if I wasn't clear enough above
RIFT was the last of the first gen Theme Parks. I played for 10 months. Well made game with some original content and very good Wpvp. It delivered meaningful permanent content at an incredible pace. Trion was in a good place.
RIFT was too much of the same though, nearly an exact clone of WoW. In fact RIFT nearly out WoW'd WoW and was the first to take subs from WoW.
Since then Trion has been a complete disappointment. Nearly no original thought, and shoddy implementation of what could be seen as "almost" different at best.
Trion's last two projects, the scrapped End of Nations RTS, and the disappointing, technical nightmare, 3rd person shooter Defiance, makes me question was Trion even a good company at all, or where the just great copy pasters riding the success of Blizzard.
I don't expect to see any mmorpgs from Trion any time soon, if ever. If Arche Age fails we maybe reading about Trion closing it's doors within the next 2 years.
I read the Title, skimmed the interview, checked the FAQ, Unsubbed.
FTP isn't for me.
That being said i think you will never see another subscription game out of Blizzard.
This have been a good conversation
wow i may revisit thsi game and play it.
last i played it was on its released date (a week). years ago.
I support this move. The pace of new content has dramatically slowed down and by all reports the population was dropping, probably as a result of being one of the last "old guard" of the subscription model. This will, without doubt, ensure I go back to the game and finish leveling and probably even spend a few dollars to support one of the best MMOs out there today. And with any luck, lots of other players will come to that same conclusion about RIFT's quality.
That said, I'm concerned about them selling "great items" for credits. You can earn them in-game, so that's good, but it runs the risk of devaluing people's efforts in actually playing.Selling rep boosters also incentives designing towards longer grinds you have to visit the cash shop.
That's the fundamental problem with F2P -- and I don't mind the model. Instead of focusing on creating great content, you get an attention split between great design and manipulating players into spending money. Do it even slightly wrong and people get angry, ala LotRO.
i think youll be shocked come Blizzcon, little fella.
Ultimately, that RIFT could remain P2P for a few good years were as other P2Ps and B2Ps had to go F2P within 6 months shows that at least RIFT delivered somewhere (even if LOTRO and DDO lasted longer in that regard)
I'm not particularly a fan of Themeparks, but I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't enjoyed RIFT a little for what it had to offer, even if I never subbed to the game. If anything, RIFT might just be a game I could play on and off to kill some time, and if I end up enjoying it enough, then I wouldn't mind subbing or spending money on the Cash Shop.
I finally unsubbed like 3 days ago because I am short on money and there are a lot of F2P options out there. It looks like I will be back playing Rift in just a few more days! This is an absolutely fantastic game and what it lacks in making a strong first impression with its sort of generic looking world, it makes up for in polish and constant updates. Trion is my favorite dev right now because of the speed of updates and how they listen to their customers so closely.
Here is what I am hoping for with F2P:
1) Huge influx of players.
2) More ganking.
3) More people buying and selling.
4) More people out questing.
Here is what will most likely come along for the ride:
1) More chat trolling and anti-social F2P kiddies.
Currently playing:
Rift
Played:
SWToR, Aion,EQ, Dark Age of Camelot
World of Warcraft, AoC
Or as its known in WoW, players.