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Free Realms not so free anymore...
Romanjisan
Member Posts: 53
in Free Realms
Free Realms is now only free up until level 4. If you want to get to level 5 or do anything that progresses any "job" to the next level will require you to cough up $4.99/mo. So much for the "free" in Free Realms. Amazing, simply amazing.
/shakes in wonder at the ridiculousness of it all
Comments
yea wizard 101 is like that too only my brother says it was lvl 9 in that
any way to make a buck these days it seems
To think they would want to make money, terrible!
http://baneoflife.com
Then call it Pay Realms. /shrugs
I have never played FR but $4.99 a month? Still better than $15.00 a month.
To be fair, W101 uses a model similar to DDO, last I remembered. You pay for an area one time and your whole account has access to it forever.
Free Realms is a fun time waster on occasion, but sure as hell isn't worth $5/mo.
<steals OP's soap box>
Stop whinning like its a conspiracy or something. How do you expect a company to make money for the game to stay alive?
You want it all free and all right now, huh?
$5 a month too expensive? Where are you a third world country? Hell I think even the people walking barefoot and picking the bugs out of each others heads can afford the $0.17 a day... I mean seriously... For the record I don't play the game but I did try it at one point and seemed well worth the amount.
It is this mentality that is driving the production values of games down... by the same scale if a MMO is $15 a month a 2 hour movie should cost $0.0416666 but you will gladly shell out $8 to $12 depending on where you live and probably hork down another $10-$20 in snacks...
Games by far are still the cheapest form of entertainment out there, yet everyone wants to play them for free, with no cost what-so-ever...
What are your other Hobbies?
Gaming is Dirt Cheap compared to this...
@Wighty,
I don't mind paying money to play mmorpg's at all. I pay a monthly fee to WoW. Heck, I've even shelled out considerable money to Runes of Magic to enjoy it a bit better, but at least RoM didn't call themselves "Free Magic Online". Free Realms should change their name to reflect the reality that one has to pay to actually play. I'm just objecting in an oblique way in my OP that a company shouldn't advertise or imply that they're f2p when they're really not.
Romanjisan isn't saying they cannot afford to spend five dollars for a game subscription. He(she) is saying free realms is not worth $5 a month for what it offers.
Furthermore, if game companies are struggling with production values and revenue due to people expecting everything free, then perhaps they should brand their game "free realms" and then blast advertisments all over the internet and television proclaiming it FREE TO PLAY. That sounds like a pretty basic concept to me, but who knows what passes for logic in the gaming industry these days.
Well "what's in a name" it's very subjective which is also marketing 101... free realms doesn't have to be associated with cost, but perhaps free to be who you want or free to roam around. The whole free to play concept is an oxymoron, whether it is pay to win or free until level 2 or free as long as you don't want to leave your doorstep...
With these dual sub models a smart consumer should see value in a nominal sub as opposed to the a la carte approach... this is a smart move by Sony as it sorts out the squatters who log on play for a few then have no investment in the game yet take up space... You can also see the evil behind this as Sony did run a lion share portion of the game free for a while so they can say they had 10 trillion accounts... which keeps the suits happy and gives them bragging rights around the water cooler... although it is their own water cooler because the rest of the industry knows these numbers mean shizt.
But the hook is already in, they gave the bait away for free they just didn't tell you they were charging for the boat ride until you were in the middle of the ocean...
For the record my original response was directed toward rednecksith and not the OP... but I don't disagree at all with the OP.
What are your other Hobbies?
Gaming is Dirt Cheap compared to this...
What do you think Wizard 101 does,another game designed for kids?In that game you have to fork out 10 bucks to play and Kings Isle claims thir game is free as well.
What is truly amazing is that the OP sounds like he/she actually think develoeprs operate games to not make money?If you beleive that ,then that is really amazing lol.I think i am going to give the op the benefit of the doubt ,no way he coudl be that clueless,so i am goign to assume this was a lame attempt t oflame SOE as is per usual on these forums?
Don't go off knocking one developer for trying to do what every other developer is doing and that is make a living from their costly efforts.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
"But the hook is already in, they gave the bait away for free they just didn't tell you they were charging for the boat ride until you were in the middle of the ocean..."
This is what they did to EQ and SWG as well.
Not very ethical is it?
Something that clearly Wizardry above fails to see.
Geez I thought the whole point of Free Realms was that it was a free mmo for kids. If I had any kids and they were enjoying this game I'd probably be pissed.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
The Smedster is at it again. This time, targeting the kiddies... I'd say I was surprised, but I'm not.
That's not the point. They advertise it as being free to play. They call it Free Realms. Then they want to charge a subscription for all but the most very basic levels. It's not honest.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Didnt this happen like 5 months ago? I swear Free Realms switched marketing plans back in November.
Compared to most games though, $4.99 is cheap and the games is geared towards kids more than anyone, so still if you don't like the game, dont play or pay.
And I would say the Free part os more in how you can swap jobs anytime you wish and such not free as you can play and do everything and never pay.
And yes the new job scheme went into effect on Nov 1st, 2009.
I think the "free" in the name refers to you being free to build your character however you want.
Face it, if the game is not worth $5 a month for someone to play then it probably is not worth playing it for free either. A person only has so much free time in their lives, they should spend their leisure time actually doing something they enjoy instead of spending time in something they do not just because it does not cost them any money.
You have to remember who this game is aimed at and its young kids. When they see the word "Free" in free realms what is the first thing they are going to tell their parents.OH but Mom it's free!!!! They then get to play till lvl 4 then find out it isn't free. Kinda like getting someone hooked on drugs with some freebies till they are hooked. Then they stick it to ya lol.
i would bare in mind the fact that if the company has the cash to blow on shitty commercials im pretty sure they can afford to stay alive
they are making loads of cash off little kids mommies and daddies and they know it
Making loads of money from what? Based on some press release that they have millions of players?
The game still has the same 10 empty servers it had in the first month and how many millions of people have signed up and played since then? What game could possibly add 7+ million players and not need more servers? I think it is pretty obvious that free realms cannot retain players, otherwise they would be adding more servers. The current servers would struggle to put 1,000 players online at the same time, because the game world is so freaking small.
If the game was making so much money, why was there a need to change the subscription model?
Read this article where Smedley talks about free realms prior to the subscription model change. LINK
What is he saying? Kids don't play free realms very much and they are not buying items from the store. The game isn't very good and soe doesn't understand why. That is the gist of the discussion.
If thier players are only averaging 20 minute play sessions that says it all. If kids are playing a game they are enjoying it would take a prybar to get them away from it.
SOE might be blowing cash on shitty commercials just to get in bed with other companies to make kid games. The look look, we got 10 million people to try our game!
OP is splitting hairs, so I'll do the same. The game is totally free, until level 4 or whaterver. The name is not "Totally Free Realms" or "Forever Free Realms" or even "Unlimited Free Realms" so why did anyone expect them to never to charge their customers anything to keep the game going?
I have a friend and her 3 children play Free Realms totally for free. My friend pays the 4.99 fee for herself and her eldest child, but the two little ones don't even realize they're limited in any way.
Sure, its a marketing gag, but then again look how many games call themselves "Free to Play" and in the end, its not really practical to play them that way. (though I realize some folks do and just do without the benefits the cash shop imparts.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Holy crap!!! You mean F2p doesnt mean its totally 100% free? who knew *shrugs*.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
It is the name of the game, "Free Realms" - that doesn't mean it's free.
It's like complaining that "Final Fantasy XI" is not the final game of the series...
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
That's exactly what I was thinking. Anyway, it's a kid's mmo designed around turn-based card combat. Why do so many ppl here care what they do? It's like ppl feel the need to look for things to bitch about.