Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
General: F2P Survivor Guy Part 3
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In this week's F2P Survivor Guy, MMORPG.com correspondent Adam Tingle continues his random wanderings through the free-to-play games in the games list. This week, Adam tackles two of the most well-known free-to-play games on the market today: Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited and Sony Online Entertainment's Free Realms. See how these two powerhouse games rated in Adam's article, "F2P Survivor Guy Part 3".
What is to follow is a series of good and bad games in which the player is sold the line that the game is free; all I can say is watch your back Serpico. In my quest for freebies I have become jaded and disillusioned with the genre and so should you. In part three of my survival guide I tackle two of the bigger named F2P’s out there and like Jason Bourne, uncover the conspiracy and reveal the truth. Enjoy and get your cash at the ready; free has never been so expensive.
Read more F2P Survivor Guy.
Comments
I love Guild Wars to death, but you can't compare DDO to GW 1:1 like that. Yeah, they both have the instancing, hubs, and a story, but that's about where the similarities end. DDO has twitchy combat; whereas, GWs' combat is more similar to an "Everquest clone."
--------
"Chemistry: 'We do stuff in lab that would be a felony in your garage.'"
The most awesomest after school special T-shirt:
Front: UNO Chemistry Club
Back: /\OH --> Bad Decisions
Eh how is Free to play technicaly a lie? You can't play them for free?
Its like saying that WoWs 14 day Free trial is not free because it doesnt give access to the expansions and the mounts/pets in the cash shop.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Keep these coming. Good insight here. I wonder how Lotr will stack up?
Edit: The Dungeons and Dragons Effect ~ how the P&P partly created and still influences MMOs today.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Two new F2P games coming soon - Clone Wars Adventures and Company of Heroes Online. Both are in open beta now.
Forgot: Some other good/interesting F2P games include League of Legends and World of Tanks. At least worth mentioning.... non-mmo and all.
I do think it interesting that there are some odd assumptions made. Lets start with the facts,
F2P refers to the initial sale of the game. There are plenty of examples of F2P with monthly fee. So F2P has nothing to do with microtransactions vs monthly fees.
The example given is quite interesting, they compared a F2P game with secondary charges to a P2P game with no secondary charges. The conclusion was that the P2P game was more 'free' than the F2P game. The measure meant is very simple, and should not be confusing... did you pay upfront for the game? Yes (P2P), No (F2P). Anything after that point is mute, as it is a whole different measurement.
i don't really know how many of you are playing those f2p games, but if you really wanna know what the termin "f2y" means, make a survery on how much money a f2p player is wasting in a month! and then ask a p2p player, then do the math and see where exactly its the FREE 2 PLAY! in the end.
an cash shop addicted player spends in a month what a p2p player spends for a whole year subcription.
a small example,
the most expenside pet in eudemons online costs 8000 ep where 15$ = 1.3k ep , the playerbased economy are selling those items for less then half cheaper, just to be able to continue playing that game without wasting thousands of dollars for a FREE 2 PLAY, they simply ignore the prices in the item mall and use their own made prices and economy because if any1 were to use the games own item mall they might have to give half of their car just to continue with their gameplay. so in the end i will ask again, WHICH ONE IS FREE 2 PLAY? the one for whom you have to make a 1 time purchase of their game? or the one that has a monthly "DECENT" subscription? or.... i'll just invite you to ask a "popular f2p company" with a "popular f2p game" for their monthly income, and then you will see how much a person can spend on a F2P and compare it with the P2P.
now again, can you really figure it out, which one is really more "FREE" ?
If the game fails to do so, It cannot be mentioned as a Free to Play. And imo, DDO and Everquest are pretty much like FREE TRIALS In my book. How can you mention It as "Free" with such restrictions? Seriously.
In 8 months of DDO play I've spent (averaged out) $1.24 a month. In WWO: Gunfighter it's been 12 months at an average of .83 cents a month.
And in neither of those cases did I even have to spend that money.
Now if you're addicted to a cash shop and just have to have 1 of everything, then sure it will cost more, but if you're there just to play an enjoyable game .......
Originally posted by GustavoM
I believe that the term "FREE TO PLAY" should be compared as a whole: I.e, to FREELY PLAY THE GAME without NO RESTRICTIONS.
And the company will make money how? If you give it all away why have a sub or initial purchase cost or store items?
If the OP really did get a buy Gold popup, then that was a gold spammer since gold can't be bought or used in Turbines Store. Might have been for Turbine Points, but never gold, also the only item he mentioned in the store (a hairstyle) has to be one of the more foolish cosmetic items ever. He could have atleast used one of the major adventure packs that so many believe you need to level with. Oh well, kind of a weak wrap up to the series.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Well in my opinion F2P has a place and many of them are good games as an example I would say RuneScape. Now I have not played it in years but as I remember their were two options, one was free and one cost 5.00 a month. The free had a limited amount of missions and area which you could do/use and the paid was open. Another is Free Realms which my 5 year old loves, he has been playing it for avout 6 months and it does not cost anything unless you want to buy upgrades and things like that, but since he is only 5 he usually changes players every other day. It is a good way to see if you want to invest in the game or not. Well that is my take on F2P.
Battle of the Immortals. F2P from the start. There is nothing in the cash shop that is a must have that cannot be gotten from inside the game without spending a single cent. And you can even spend in game coin to buy ZEN, (the currency that spends in the cash shop).
Aren't we over analyzing what F2P is all about? The term refers to the ability to play the game online for free with no subscriptions. Simple as that. If a player wants extra content then they need to purchase it. That's how the developer/publisher gets paid. Sure, they'll be special offers that'll attract the masses made available only to subscribers, but for the most part, players are able to explore and build a character at no fee of any kind. It is a bummer that a F2P members is limited to slots, whether it be for the character or banks, but again that's how the dev's get's paid.
What is happening in the MMO genre, apparently, is happening throughout the gaming industry as a whole where if a particular game, and/or service, is free then it must be crap. Money is a cure-all for everything it seems. Not the case here. It would be one thing if the game occasionally demanded payment every five levels in order to progress the character, or if the game itself requires a particular weapon that can only be purchased with real money, or a subscription, to beat a certain quest or boss - but they don't do that. Extra content, such as adventure packs, requires payment - simple.
I understand that this is an opinion piece and the thoughts should be respected, however, it seems that personal bias has clouded the outlook on F2P. Opening the game up to everyone is good for all. It doesn't hinder the gameplay and it's especially not out to rip-off or deceive the player.
Not at all. The pricing model in MMOs is a result of the nature of MMO development costs and projected revenue models running into the years, assuming success at acquiring a threshold number of subs and maintaining those to make a profit. How they get to those threshold subs and maintain them is derived partly on the business model but partly on sustaining a population committed to the game.
But the greater diversification of pricing models (subs P2P, B2P, F2P, Hybrid and microtransactions, Expansion) is indicative of the MMO Market conditions: Greater competition, maturing industry, growth, niche & mainstream Brand IPs, lack of innovation recently, improved technology improving overall game performance and wider use of dev tools to create mmo games eg F2P abundance/flood.
This has shaped the market with greater dev costs for AAA MMOs and greater risk, and proliferation of F2P MMOs wanting a share of the pie. With more choice in both MMOs and Pricing, this has given customers more leverage (buyer's market) on what MMOs they play and how they pay for it.
Companies have adapted their business models on the market and the stage of the life-cyle their game is at or tailoring their pricing options to fit their target market share in the most suitable way. Eg Apparently there is a player base for DDO Online for a free entry to the game (mostly) due to a fanbase accepting this condtion as well as a good quality game design. So pricing adopted is case by case basis.
If an MMO can achieve a threshold number of subs over 6+ months that fits it's business model, that's a confident sign of potential future revenue options that can be flexed by diverse pricing. In summary, MMOs that can build a stonger relationship with their game community is leading to a win-win situation and reinforcing confidence in the game. Pricing is an instrument to that effect as well as an alternive way to reduce competition with P2P, newer games for eg.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
I salute the author of this article for calling ftp what is trully is. Nothing more then the gaming industry attempting to nickel and dime it's customers to death. This is not just limited to mmo's though look at things on the console side they do the same thing with downloadable content that should have been in the original game in first place. While charging you $60 for a game you can finish in one afternoon then charging $10-15 for 2 hours worth of download content. As long as the consumer is addicted or dumb enough to tolerate this nonsense it will continue and I again salute anyone taking a stand against it.
DDO is said to have "twitchy" combat because its combat has no other substance. It is all auto-attack and running around. This is very visible later in the game when mobs get more HP. You can run around in GW or even WoW while auto-attacking too, but they also include fully fleshed out combat system, so that standing still does not feel boring. If i remember, WoW had some "backflipping" monsters and they were not worth the frustration, latency issues and bugs; DDO is full of them despite the shortcomings. DDO tried richer combat system with monk class but it gets hardly full use as the monk "combo" design is faulty (so it's not just PnP limitation, its Turbine inability or negligence).
That said, simple auto-attack works in a game with collision detection, with varied quest objectives, with high attack speed and with multi-pulls being standard. Only later it becomes apparent that so called action combat is just rose paint.
Back on topic: it is nice that the site gave space to the opponents of F2P but we are getting from one extreme to another. DDO has one of most intrusive cash shop advertisements but it can be played for free without crippling the game. You are getting the bare minimum but you are not deprived of anything crucial. As for micro-transaction games for kids, we are getting on thin ice here, some similar precedences while fully open to adults are strongly restricted for minors (labor, spirits, betting) and this is one imo should get a look soon.
Claudell: the most expenside pet in eudemons online costs 8000 ep where 15$ = 1.3k ep , the playerbased economy are selling those items for less then half cheaper, just to be able to continue playing that game without wasting thousands of dollars for a FREE 2 PLAY,
You do realize you're making an example of an extreme case, right? The majority of players for f2p games don't just buy every item in the cash shop because its there, and although the "points" system is a lot like casino chips (ie if an item in the shop costs 600 points, its easier to purchase it than if it were listed as $6.00, even though the prices are equal... just like a casino... you're not playing with money, you're playing with chips).
The real benefit of f2p isn't the plethora of items to buy. I'm sure in my first month playing a game I could easily spend over $15 buying extra bag space, unlocked extras, extra zones, quest packs, etc. etc. But then I OWN that content. If I leave the game and come back a year later, I still have access to it without needing to hand over more money. THAT is the benefit of f2p. You pay less IN THE LONG RUN.
Say, for example, I jump into LotRO (or some other f2p style), purchase $45 worth in the first month, and play it for 6 months. Compare that to playing WoW (or any other $15/month sub game) where that same 6 months, where I don't have to buy anything up front, costs me $90. The term FREE is just denoted to how you acquire the game and start playing it. Guild Wars, I bought the game, installed it, it hasn't left my hard drive in over 4 years. I want to play my characters, I just open it up and play. WoW, I leveled a character to the 80 level cap... I want to play him again or keep playing him, I have to open up my wallet.
Do you play hardcore, lots of hours weekly, one game, and don't mind paying to keep access to your accomplishments? Then P2P is definitely for you. Do you play more sparingly, multiple games, and like not having to jump through hoops to get back into a game? Then F2P is the way to go. F2P you get more for your money without being limited by time. Economically, it just makes more sense, and I wish more *good* games, like DDO, would take the plunge and enjoy the benefits.
/rant off
I don't think it's fair to say that D&DO isn't that original because it's similar to Guild Wars, especially since both games were initially released about the same time. Guild Wars may have come to market a few months earlier, but the design decisions in D&DO were made before Guild Wars launched.
Nobody is going to break your legs if you don't buy from the cash shop......
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Thanks this has to be some of the most unintelligent drivel I've heard in a long time. I have played DDO for months without spending a dime.
There is no requisite for you to buy items and in fact DDO allows you to accumulate Turbine Points (their cash store points) through FREE gameplay over time.
So not only is it free to play but they actually pay you in cash equivalent currency for their store.
If your going to spend your time doing reviews at least try to pry your head from your A$$ before spewing your ignorance all over. After all someone might accidentally believe you.
pfft SOE is the devil? Huh?
DDO didn't draw too much froim WoW? Huh?
GW and DDO as a comparative look at F2P?
I can read anything in that article on any fanboi infested troll haven. Nothing to see, move on, another 'writer' whose 'work' I'm not even going to look at any more. Guess the beta keys just don't get the same level of journalistic integrity as good old real money. Same as the MMO companies worked out, you cease to actually pay people to do a good job you get crap. Maybe a good article to extend the whole F2P thing would be looking at loosing paid beta testers and journalists who used to write articles in exchange for 5 min famers and pre launch trials. Because the gist I'm getting is you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
FYI, SOE built the 3D MMO genre with EQ.
WoW is crap. DDO is a semi decent game.
GW and DDO are NOTHING alike.And
just so we're clear. Free to play is a coined business model. It's pretty much fluff these days because we all know ALL of the game isn't free. Personally I like the user choses how much to pay system. I want to pay a little I don't sub. I want to play a lot I sub for a bit. Some people I know simply bought everything when the modules were on special and are glad they're now pretty much a life time sub for a few hundred dollars.
I agree completely. If you want to never pay a dime, you can. I subscribed once after it went free to play, then used the points to permanently unlock Warforged when they went on sale. That's the only money I've spent since then, but I still jump on once in a while and group. I might subscribe again once or twice a year in the coming few years, but I've been aimed at other things more recently.
Coir, great post.
Actually you have this backwards. The most popular F2P models in the western market are F2P with a monthly fee. Ignoring these is like ignoring WoW when discussing MMO design. Sure, if you eliminate all of the popular games, you can come up with some very interesting conclusions on what is 'normal'.
Great simile, it really summarizes the marketing techniques of every F2P game currently released and I too, fear for the kids, but mainly the parents..
chaques
wow/dnd/eq/eq2/rom
Which game?