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World of Warcraft: WoW Goes Free To Play Soon (...Sort Of!)
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In his latest entry into the MMORPG.com Staff Blog, Managing Editor Bill Murphy takes a look at the recent announcement that World of Warcraft is now free to play (sort of!) from levels 1-20. See what Bill thinks about this surprising move by Blizzard and then let us know what you think!
In the end, I'd be very surprised if this was any sort of deathknell for Azeroth. It's going to be a very long time until WoW turns into a game that few people talk about. Despite its age, and the lukewarm reception to Cataclysm, they're still the biggest kid in the class. Now there are some majorly hefty competitors in the wings, no doubt about that. But then again, how many times have we said that so far?
Read more on the MMORPG.com Staff Blog.
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Comments
I think it's a good thing for the genre. Now that Blizzard is starting to head in that direction it will start becoming more acceptable. $50-60 retail games already get released with garbage quality, constant patches, downtime and everything else under the sun that F2P games deal with at their releases as well. At least now I don't have to worry so much about huge up front investments. If I like the game, I can pay. Now I would almost prefer a freemium model over item shop since it is balanced better, but that is up to the individual game developer.
I also hope that this direction addresses some of the issues with insanely long development cycles for MMOs who can release "earlier" without pissing off the majoirty of their player base when they drop $50-60 for a game they don't touch after a few hours of play.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
What is blizzard did was just smart marketing. They took there time-limited trail, removed the time limit and are like "Oh we are free to play, please write about it a lot" and so the media write about it offcourse, because there suppose to report these things. Seems they added some limitation to prevent exploiting.
I do not recall level 1-20 being to impressive in WoW though. At least in Warhammer you can have some good PvP in tier 1 and not as limited as WoW's timeless trail. It is a good move though as they get more exposure ( We have not seen WoW in the news that much recently) and might sell some boxes and gain a few more subs with just a limited effort.
Also the long development cycle does not come from actually creating the game itself, but from creating the tools to create and manage the virtual world with. Games that use pre-made engines can be developed faster, still slower then the avarage single player game, but not as long as when an inhouse engine need to be made.
I saw somewhere it will be free to play to level 30, really like an extended trial.
Last I checked (early Cataclysm), level 1-20 only took a few hours to complete for an experienced player—XP nerfs really do make levels fast. I surmise it's the equivalent of a solo campaign in length—say, about 10 hours if you're new to the game.
However they really improved the flow of quests and story-teliing A LOT with Cataclysm. The whole re-vamp of Azeroth is certainly as huge in terms of quests re-design than it is in graphical terms. They essentially made it more on-par with RPG stories—a bit more linear—in order to avoid loosing the player (geographically, sure, but more importantly in terms of story) so that each zone really has its story and ambiance. And that, if you ask me, is a great seller for the game. It's only logical they use it by giving the first levels for free.
As for development, you're totally right, it's all about the tools, and how much skill you can pay to use them.
It iss not free to play, and it will cost you money to take them up on this offer (for want of a better word)
It is a unlimited time limited trial - totally different thing to free to play
Blizzards marketing dept. have made it sound different to what it actually is (im sure we have false/misleading advertising laws in the UK)- this "news" has even made it onto the BBC
"Users wishing to take advantage of the WoW free offer will still have to buy the base game, which costs around £10."
But you can stay at level 1-20 for as long as you like without spending a penny so it is kinda free to play - The base game now also includes TBC content which is nice.
Unless the PvP rumor is correct then really what else is there to do? Like someone else said that you can make it 20 in a few hours played. This isnt a "new" way to play, but just another way to market a trial. Anyone who plays MMO's is going to see right through this, but blizzard might have something going to it by bringing in more kids to WOW.
This gonna turn WoW into another WAR issue. You are gonna have hundreds if not thousands of new players twinking there toons out and never leaveing the low lvl BG's. WoW is gonna feel a serious backlash from this.
They have also just implemented the Burning Crusade content into the standard game. You no longer need to purchase the Burning Crusade expansion pack.
hope they like doing the same BG over and over...there is only one type of BG for people at that level.
I've already left real life and moved to Goldshire with mad Gnomes and sullen Night Elves. I'm going to do the same thing to Orgrimmar with tons of low level Blood Elf alts. The Orcs will just love that.
Yes they will. Orcs love to eat gnomes and well... I'll leave it up to your imagination on the night elve thing.
Power to the Sheeple
I always hated bs-ing (kind'a) like op did. This is never called f2p "kind'a" is just UNLIMITED TRIAL up to lv. 20. And I really hope they never ruin wow with f2p plague.
Wow is the best of the best, creme of the creme. Period. Love very much also the Rift and ... well .. so far list stops here. This are one of the very rare games however that deserves to be p2p.
Live with this facts.
But still I always hope some new games come out deserving to be p2p. Because this is an achivement. Actually top one.
It is not sort of or kind of F2P. its an unlimited trial till lvl 20, nothing more.