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Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures: Hybrid Revenue Model Adopted
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Funcom has announced that it will premier a new hybrid F2P/premium revenue model for Age of Conan beginning this summer. In addition, a new digital edition will debut called "Age of Conan: Unrated". Funcom has published both a general FAQ about the move as well as a comparison chart that highlights the differences between the free and paid versions.
‘Age of Conan’ has always been a Mature gaming experience, but going Unrated gives the development team freedom to stay even more true to the original works of Conan author Robert E. Howard, and use even more of the barbaric, brutal and sexy setting that is Howard's Hyboria. Funcom is already in the process of developing new locations, monsters, equipment and storylines for ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’. This includes the movie tie-in adventure pack announced yesterday, that will introduce content and characters from the upcoming ‘Conan the Barbarian’ movie.
Read more on the Age of Conan site.
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Comments
We all knew this was coming.
They have one problem with this game going f2p. Who in their right mind is going to take on such a huge download? I canceled the trial download when I saw how long it was going to take.
I personally think this is a big mistake.
Yeah no real secret surprised it took this long.
Could be a very good move AOC is a good game these days as a SINGLE player RPG because theres no leveling populace.
Most people will just start it up in the evening and watch it finish in the morning, not much to it. Downloads to continue if you're not actively watching their every move.
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
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whats the difference between a 15GB download for free and a 15GB download you paid for? i bought the digital download + dragon slayer expax all as digital download so everytime i format my harddrive i have to download everything again + updates.....
not a big deal. while its downloading i play something else, watch tv, have some beers with friends, do lots of stuf... or simply let it download the whole night like someone said before. pretty simple, eh?
Well it looks more like an extended trial than a full free to play. The turbine model should have been the way to go imo.
the turbine model is buy to play, not free to play just like gw, the only thing is taht you are going to spend a lot more.
Nevermind
Hm, if they are selling an "Unrated" version, does that mean the F2P one will be heavily censored?
I never did get around to trying this game, so starting out on a down-played "kiddy" version of what was a mature game probably won't give me the greatest first impression.
If that is the case i'll probably just not bother at all, there is another "mature" rated F2P releasing around the same time anyways, called Kabod, so I might just give that a whirl instead.
I actually have a pretty horrible connection, and it usually takes forever to DL anything. Just downloaded AOC a few days ago and it only took about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Not a bad price to pay for a free game (or game time in my case [welcome back campaign]).
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
This isnt 1994, people can actually download big files and keep their PC's open at night
He that lives upon Hope dies farting.
That's why all those mmos make streaming updates and make small trial only clients.. b/c soo many people love and have no problem with downloading big games </sarcasm> Just go and read some reviews about free mmos.. most of them mention how big the download is.
I think they have background download now. Could be mistaken.
Well, i have the main game, dont have expansion. Left because the population levels were very poor and those that were in game just told you to bypass instances and group quests which would mean that you (if you was not on a PvP server) would effectivaly be losing 90% of the game. I tried, got to 30 odd (or early 40's) before quitting.
I may go back but i would not use an item shop at all, if you are forced to use that then this game will die. As far as other games go...
Lotro must be dying (released 1 bad expansion and their subscriptions died), it took on the F2P role, must be doing well for some people as they use it, but overall it must have lost more income as they are now closing servers in the EU, moving accounts onto the US servers and merging them to form communities (alias game is dying).
Warcraft also has lost 1.8 million concurrent sunbscriptions since the launch of cataclysm, but it is still way way way above any of its rivels by more than double subscription numbers (though 1.8m lost subscriptions is an awful lot of income lost). For me, i still play, but it just does not hold the same as what it once had. Their decision not to release a new mmo that may damage its flagship is a mistake as games after a while start to decline, this can be slow, it can be fast, you just do not know. However the only thing going for it is that there still is absolutly nothing out there that comes close to touching it, as soon as a rival does release one that does this game may see its playerbase vanish overnight.
Rift is ok, you just have to be on a full server to get the game mechanics to kick in and trigger. Servers that are low-medium based may only trigger a rift event occasionally and instances will be virtually none existant (so will grouping), full servers tend not to have these problems and have rift events trigger quite regularly. The best thing is the announcement that 1.3 will allow free server transfers, once per week per character. This hopefully will be a good thing leting teh overly full (queued) servers have some players move and even join friends and the under populated server based ones to move onto populated servers. Hopefully they will let the community move and block 2 or 3 servers from being moved to and close them down untill required for use (if that comes up), as this game really does require full or very high populated medium server loads to start experiancing the game at its best.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
I'd say his problem is he's an Apple User, not used to multitasking =P While something downloads you sit there and look at the download bar until it's done.
AoC is actually experinecing an upsurge of returning players right now, with a few new ones. I don't think the sub numbers are staggering, but quite a few people are coming back, and I don't see any empty low or mid level zones, populations are still fairly low, but that is not new. The reason for the mergers is a technology change. They are consolidating to server types PvP, PvE, Hardcore.. One set in EU and One in US. Each realm is expected to hold far more players, more like Eve then a traditional MMO. The 5000 player limit is no longer in effect. They are consolidating while expecting a considerable surge of players with the new movie, expanded content, F2P and B&G server all slated to hit about the same time. Which kinda knocks the theory that they are consolidating as a straight factor of population.
Gamers want the F2P/B2P model, and the industry is responding. Early returns are greeat for those who have moved on it early and been ingenious with it's business (i.e. ArenaNet, Turbine and EQ2).
Glad to see Funcom going this route as well. I'll probably hit it up soon and 'buy' an account status for my old accounts, like I have the others. It's a nice feeling buying into a game, and picking it up and playing it again whenever you want.
This would be fine for me if the "F2P" players were put on separate servers, but they are not.
The players who prefer the F2P model tend to think differently than the players who prefer the subscription model. Frankly, we already have too many players who want things for free in MMORPGs, or to be able to buy them for real cash and not have to earn them in the game.
It seems like every time I start thinking about re-subscribing myself, they do something to cheapen the game some way. I don't want to take away from the improvements they've made - but wait, I didn't, they did. Great job, Funcom, I'm sure Conan would approve. Not.
Have played: Everquest, Asheron's Call, Horizons, Everquest2, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Darkfall
You know if the Hybrid model was entirely based on limiting the classes/races you could play and/or limiting some of your content/level cap then I wouldn't mind it.
If I can buy the box and pay the standard subscription fee and get "everything" ... but somehow there is always something else added in. It reminds me of when the expansion for AoC came out. There was a bunch of different price points (at least if you bought it direct from funcom aka digial). It just ends up being an item mall no matter how you look at it. If people want to buy tshirts and coffee cups fine.. but you really shouldn't have virtual sales in the game. Things "in" the game should come from subscribing or.. *gasp* playing...
Having the option to add various content to your F2P experience for a price makes sense (lord of the rings had a lot of content options).
Even the in game advertising that was only seen by freeps wasn't bad (anarchy online reference).. in fact I wish I could pay a fee to never again see a commercial on network tv.. I might start watching again.
You could get NetLimiter and just set a download rate; it'll take longer but least you'll still have 'freed bandwidth' to do other things.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall.
OR you can use the patcher to download the first 5 hours of gameplay, Then the first 20 levels wich is say about 4gb or 5gb..... Then at night set it to download another part etc etc etc... shouldnt be an issue
Hope it's not like STO 3 missions then done.
It actually does not mean that it gets down-played it is still a mature game and will stay one. It only means they are not having it rated any more.
Here is what Tarib wrote on the AoC Forums:
"Unrated" doesn't mean that the mood and feel of the game will change. It's meant to be able to advertise the game for what it already is, a dark, dangerous, sexy, lush and brutal world in the spirit of Robert E. Howard's stories. So don't worry. The Hyboria you know and love won't be watered down or colored up the slightest bit.
SOME gamers want this, not ALL gamers.
Funny, I seem to be able to pick up and play a MMOG whenever I want anyway, without it having to be F2P.
Have played: Everquest, Asheron's Call, Horizons, Everquest2, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Darkfall