Companies are finally realizing that only having one payment model is dumb and loses them money. It's really not that shocking to see everyone headed towards multiple payment models including F2P. Going forward, I don't think we'll see another MMO that offers only P2P. Square Enix is attempting P2P only with FFXIV:ARR. I'll save my arguments against that for another time, but suffice it to say that I don't think that will last. Having a sub option with a F2P/cash shop option essentially allows these companies to have their cake and eat it too.
What started as a rumor this morning after several players noticed an XP boosting item in the public test shard has been confirmed by a Blizzard Employee as part of an upcoming in-game cash shop.
While no mention has been made of the game moving to a free to play model, this has gotten the rumor mill churning. If WoW is planning on going free to play, could this be the final nail in the coffin for subscription-based MMOGs?
There's been a shop for years, I've always wondered why I can't buy pets and stuff from in-game. I'm still waiting to b able to order Panda Express from in-game too
Continue loging into to your server as you have always have doneno you dont log into "your" server you autmatically log into the servers your realm has been merged into. VR ist based of CRZ. You guys keep constantly trying to deceive and lie to people how CRZ ever worked. Its evidently not clustering server but player pools into other realms server no matter how you try to twist some Blizzard quotes. The server changes can even be backtracked from player side.
No forced name or guild name changesno a advantage over merges doing the servertagging as well
No disruption to your guild, in that you all don't have to agree to transfer to the same server this doesnt happen with generic merges either.
Better faction balance on all servers in the cluster as it dynamically on-fly shifts players between servers to maintain a good balance (all seamless and transparent to the player)you dont even know if it can automatically maintain balance. Either way it can't be better ballanced than a manual merge could be.You can't pop out player for the underdog factions out of nowhere.
More people out in the open world (see last point)
A bigger friend list as you can add and group with people on all servers in the cluster realm(player) cluster are not bigger than a merged server could be.Stop making up stuff about VR Blizzard never even tried to imply..
A bigger pool of players to guild with as again you play with all players on all the servers in the realm(player)cluster are not bigger than a merged server could be.Stop making up stuff about VR Blizzard never even tried to imply..
Vastly larger auction house as all the auction houses on the clustered servers are joined realm(player) are not bigger than a merged server could be. Stop making up stuff about VR Blizzard never even tried to imply..
A player does not even know this is all it's happening, no loading screens - it's seamless except for the usual lags , bugs and broken gamesystems lol. They have not even solved all the issues with generic CRZ after the big launch disaster. And thats the only benefit of them at all (if at all)Player can't see how fast WoW keeps tanking until the game runs out of player. Oh wait that's just a technical benefit for Blizzard not player.
Fewer queues at peek times and expansion launches as population is managed across all servers in the cluster welcome to overflow/channel instance systems.this is not news and common in AAA games.
You get almost all of the above with a simple shut down of x amount of servers and forcing players to transfer. If you're so blind and steadfast you cannot see what blizzard's doing is a much better solution to something that needs to be addressed then we've nothing more to say.
And yes I will enjoy the "server merge" as it will greatly improve the game for all players, and isn't that all that matters?
Yeah repeating the same debunked "arguments" again with different words doesn't make them any better.
Talk about "nothing more to say" and "blind". Keep on the damage control and enjoy the merges.
id rather ask what your issue with merges is, cause I don't really see any problems with it.
F2P may be the way of the future, but ya know they dont make them like they used to Proper Grammer & spelling are extra, corrections will be LOL at.
id rather ask what your issue with merges is, cause I don't really see any problems with it.
And my answer to that is that I have not written anything until now that could be taken as me having any issues with merges.
This started with someone making a rather out of touch with reality argument, what would all have to happen before WoW where to move to F2P. I just pointed out pretty much all of the conditions where already met or on schedule. Merges being part of them. That's all I did.
But of course the usual fanboys got all flustered again, because someone dared to bring some unpleasant information into the topic and they turned on the damage control and denial machine to full steam. They just have an issue with information, that contradicts and debunks misinformation, bias and and ignorance in favour of WoW. Whether its their own carefully crafted or others mistakes. They have a problem with merges. Not me. That's why they try to make VRs look like something "much different and much better" than merges.
VR ARE much better than a simple server merge.
People have been explaining that to you 3.659 times already.
MORE people playing together, combining ALL realms within a VR means these regrouped players play TOGETHER now in ALL aspects of the game.
MORE people in ALL world zones, meaning ALL the world is populated over all these clustered servers.
You are just the next WOW hate troll.
Why ? Probably because one of your favorite games got killed - as Always.
-
Server A: 3000 + server B: 2000 : Server C : 1000 + Server D 300 / server E 700 =
VR = 7.000 players that now can ALL play together, populating world zones on the fly.
All seamless, all without loading screens in world zones. AND Trade together AND group together.
--- > No need for a "super server" either: CRZ regroups players from different realms in world zones - all seamlessly - within the new VR structure AND CAN split in the rare case of overcrowding.
Originally posted by expressors.... yes WoW has a population issue on many realms but blizzards solution does have features that a simple shut down x amount of servers do not.
Sure... I remember your list of "advantages" full of invalid points from before. No surprise you are trying to be vague. But kudos for the bravery to bring the same failed argument against the same person twice. Enjoy your server merges.
I don't know why I bother but features include;
Continue loging into to your server as you have always have done
No forced name or guild name changes
No disruption to your guild, in that you all don't have to agree to transfer to the same server
Better faction balance on all servers in the cluster as it dynamically on-fly shifts players between servers to maintain a good balance (all seamless and transparent to the player)
More people out in the open world (see last point)
A bigger friend list as you can add and group with people on all servers in the cluster
A bigger pool of players to guild with as again you play with all players on all the servers in the cluster
Vastly larger auction house as all the auction houses on the clustered servers are joined
A player does not even know this is all it's happening, no loading screens - it's seamless
Fewer queues at peek times and expansion launches as population is managed across all servers in the cluster
You get none of the above with a simple shut down of x amount of servers and forcing players to transfer. If you're so blind and steadfast you cannot see what blizzard's doing is a much better solution to something that needs to be addressed then we've nothing more to say.
And yes I will enjoy the "server merge" as it will greatly improve the game for all players, and isn't that all that matters?
Nowhere in those two posts did I see anything "confirmed". They're "exploring the possibility" to add an ingame store, they haven't actually confirmed it.
Having said that, it's not really a big surprise that they're looking at that option, as has been said before, WoW is expected to go F2P at some point after all.
Peter Griffin: you know those germans, if you dont join the party, they?ll come get ya
(Q) What's the difference between WoW selling pixels via battle.net and an in-game cash shop?
(A) Without the cash shop, fanbois can call WoW a Holier-Than-Thou game and proceed to trash all other mmorpg with a cash shop. Unfortunately this kind of elitism may not last. Prepare to hear their fanbois change their chanting to "cash shop good, no cash shop bad". Ever read the Animal Farm? See how the pigs quietly changed "Four legs good, two legs bad" to "Two legs good, four legs bad" when the farmers are about to butcher the 4-legged pigs?
Now, the real issue is not WoW is about to change from a p2p model to a f2p one. It is the advantage giving consumables and possibly a lot more on the way. The real discussion is whether WoW is changing from pay-to-play to pay-to-win.
Blizzard is trying to do two things. First get as much money out of a 10 year old game before they bring out titan. Second crash the MMO industry because games will not make a profit when they cost $100 Million. When WoW goes F2P it will kill off the other games barely keeping the doors open and the MMO market will shrink what should happen. Every game is becoming an MMO just because they think they will be the next Blizzard which will never happen. This will also prove that Paying $100 Million to make a game and going F2P is a stupid idea because they will never make a profit on the game. All the best MMOs started with a subscription and didnt plan to turn a profit in the first 2 to 3 years of the game. Today's MMO want to be the next WoW the day after launch and this is why F2P came into the industry because these games no longer plan to be around for years, they only plan for months now.
Can't blame Blizz for doing this, subs where getting smaller over time. This will make them a shit load more money, and at the end of day for them thats the only thing that matters.
This doesn't surprise me really. They are losing subs and are looking at other ways to make cash.
I personally think this is for people who want to be leveling their alts up. Leveling through MoP was just ok the first time around.. 2nd 3rd and so on is pretty brutal I imagine.
Well if I had to guess which regions would both want and be comfortable with things like XP potions, I'd say the Asian market would fit this description best.
I'm sure you're right, it's also the area of the world they lost the most subs from.
I like how acknowledged datamined info from the PTR is suddenly "cash shop confirmed by blizz" in the MMORPG.com community lol.
Its also cute that everyone likes to dismiss Asian WoW players as not really subscribers.....yet are all up in arms over this...
You cant have your cake and eat it too when it comes to WoW bashing, but i guess that never stopped mmorpg.com forum posters before...
not good...if Blizzard does it, the F2P fad will last another 1-2 years just because Blizzard did it. Bad news for WoW, bad news for industry.
You are in serious denial if you think F2P is a fad. F2P is not going away though It appears we will see more B2P + Cash shop titles in the next few years judging by what is on the Horizon.
Originally posted by Robokapp not good...if Blizzard does it, the F2P fad will last another 1-2 years just because Blizzard did it. Bad news for WoW, bad news for industry.
You are in serious denial if you think F2P is a fad. F2P is not going away though It appears we will see more B2P + Cash shop titles in the next few years judging by what is on the Horizon.
Only in the mmorpg.com forums can datamined Public Test Realm info for a certain region get stretched into WoW going F2P.
Originally posted by Robokapp not good...if Blizzard does it, the F2P fad will last another 1-2 years just because Blizzard did it. Bad news for WoW, bad news for industry.
You are in serious denial if you think F2P is a fad. F2P is not going away though It appears we will see more B2P + Cash shop titles in the next few years judging by what is on the Horizon.
F2P is not a fad as it has always had its market, starting with fun throw away style games.
Please do not confuse F2P and B2P they are two seperate beasts. I prefer B2P games myself.
"In the future" there are also quite a few subscription titles in the pipe line, Camelot Unchained being one of them.
I cannot remember one AAA mmorpg choosing to launch with the F2P model and no subscription option.
What started as a rumor this morning after several players noticed an XP boosting item in the public test shard has been confirmed by a Blizzard Employee as part of an upcoming in-game cash shop.
While no mention has been made of the game moving to a free to play model, this has gotten the rumor mill churning. If WoW is planning on going free to play, could this be the final nail in the coffin for subscription-based MMOGs?
Your title to this post is awful. Based on what I read from your link nothing about it was confirmed. It said "experimenting with". Why not just wait until something is officially shown or discussed before jumping the gun?
Whether WoW will turn f2p is yet to be determined but it is undeniable Blizzard has been making much noise in RMT and f2p in their recent and newer games.
How can people miss the news on the online game industry's first ever Real Money Auction House in Diablo 3 and Blizzard's own first ever f2p online game, supported solely by micro-transactions, based on their very own beloved Warcraft Universe, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft?
Comments
id rather ask what your issue with merges is, cause I don't really see any problems with it.
F2P may be the way of the future, but ya know they dont make them like they used to
Proper Grammer & spelling are extra, corrections will be LOL at.
VR ARE much better than a simple server merge.
People have been explaining that to you 3.659 times already.
MORE people playing together, combining ALL realms within a VR means these regrouped players play TOGETHER now in ALL aspects of the game.
MORE people in ALL world zones, meaning ALL the world is populated over all these clustered servers.
You are just the next WOW hate troll.
Why ? Probably because one of your favorite games got killed - as Always.
-
Server A: 3000 + server B: 2000 : Server C : 1000 + Server D 300 / server E 700 =
VR = 7.000 players that now can ALL play together, populating world zones on the fly.
All seamless, all without loading screens in world zones. AND Trade together AND group together.
--- > No need for a "super server" either: CRZ regroups players from different realms in world zones - all seamlessly - within the new VR structure AND CAN split in the rare case of overcrowding.
Great post: great round up.
Nowhere in those two posts did I see anything "confirmed". They're "exploring the possibility" to add an ingame store, they haven't actually confirmed it.
Having said that, it's not really a big surprise that they're looking at that option, as has been said before, WoW is expected to go F2P at some point after all.
Peter Griffin: you know those germans, if you dont join the party, they?ll come get ya
(Q) What's the difference between WoW selling pixels via battle.net and an in-game cash shop?
(A) Without the cash shop, fanbois can call WoW a Holier-Than-Thou game and proceed to trash all other mmorpg with a cash shop. Unfortunately this kind of elitism may not last. Prepare to hear their fanbois change their chanting to "cash shop good, no cash shop bad". Ever read the Animal Farm? See how the pigs quietly changed "Four legs good, two legs bad" to "Two legs good, four legs bad" when the farmers are about to butcher the 4-legged pigs?
Now, the real issue is not WoW is about to change from a p2p model to a f2p one. It is the advantage giving consumables and possibly a lot more on the way. The real discussion is whether WoW is changing from pay-to-play to pay-to-win.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
Blizzard is trying to do two things. First get as much money out of a 10 year old game before they bring out titan. Second crash the MMO industry because games will not make a profit when they cost $100 Million. When WoW goes F2P it will kill off the other games barely keeping the doors open and the MMO market will shrink what should happen. Every game is becoming an MMO just because they think they will be the next Blizzard which will never happen. This will also prove that Paying $100 Million to make a game and going F2P is a stupid idea because they will never make a profit on the game. All the best MMOs started with a subscription and didnt plan to turn a profit in the first 2 to 3 years of the game. Today's MMO want to be the next WoW the day after launch and this is why F2P came into the industry because these games no longer plan to be around for years, they only plan for months now.
yeah beacuse the community will be ruined if it goes f2p...
seriously dude? seriously?
ololo
agree
when EQ2 went ftp -- the community was not ruined
EQ2 fan sites
for MMORPG's it is not the future it is the end...
because MMORPG productions cost too much to support F2P at launch.
Older MMORPG's going from subscriptions to F2P is another story, but they will do no good for much needed further development and investments.
The genre will be in regression mode with newer games lacking open worlds, mount systems, long term support and tiny content.
Forget another WoW or EvE game to be publisheld in a F2P format.
...just goes to show that Blizzard, after all the fan love, is just another company with greedy management.
I love WOW. I respect Blizzard.
Why would a pioneer and leader in the industry bow to ghetto terms? It's like riding around in a JAG made in the USA.
(which I do with eyes rolled)
<SIGH> ... Though I have long divorced WoW, it doesnt mean I dont peek over my shoulder every now and again to see what makes the best the best.
HOLD Your horses there peeps!
WoW adding a cash shop selling e.g XP boosts in game does not necessarily mean f2p. It might mean that they sell extra things to current subscribers.
I.E Sub + Cosmetic/Boost Cash shop!
This doesn't surprise me really. They are losing subs and are looking at other ways to make cash.
I personally think this is for people who want to be leveling their alts up. Leveling through MoP was just ok the first time around.. 2nd 3rd and so on is pretty brutal I imagine.
I like how acknowledged datamined info from the PTR is suddenly "cash shop confirmed by blizz" in the MMORPG.com community lol.
Its also cute that everyone likes to dismiss Asian WoW players as not really subscribers.....yet are all up in arms over this...
You cant have your cake and eat it too when it comes to WoW bashing, but i guess that never stopped mmorpg.com forum posters before...
You are in serious denial if you think F2P is a fad. F2P is not going away though It appears we will see more B2P + Cash shop titles in the next few years judging by what is on the Horizon.Only in the mmorpg.com forums can datamined Public Test Realm info for a certain region get stretched into WoW going F2P.
:-)
F2P is not a fad as it has always had its market, starting with fun throw away style games.
Please do not confuse F2P and B2P they are two seperate beasts. I prefer B2P games myself.
"In the future" there are also quite a few subscription titles in the pipe line, Camelot Unchained being one of them.
I cannot remember one AAA mmorpg choosing to launch with the F2P model and no subscription option.
Your title to this post is awful. Based on what I read from your link nothing about it was confirmed. It said "experimenting with". Why not just wait until something is officially shown or discussed before jumping the gun?
Whether WoW will turn f2p is yet to be determined but it is undeniable Blizzard has been making much noise in RMT and f2p in their recent and newer games.
How can people miss the news on the online game industry's first ever Real Money Auction House in Diablo 3 and Blizzard's own first ever f2p online game, supported solely by micro-transactions, based on their very own beloved Warcraft Universe, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft?