There are so many things an F2P game can do WRONG (including many that are wrong for the players but oh-so-right in a sell-your-soul kind of way for business profits) and this article focuses on Warhammer Eternal Crusade?
I thought it was obvious and well-communicated that Eternal Crusade is explicitly a buy-to-play game with a free trial. As posted in that previous post, they call it "Free to WAAGH" but the context is VERY clear.
i disagree with the headline- let alone the game it reguards to.
i love the idea that F2p only has Orc option. If you know the lore- you know Orcs are everywhere and dispensable army- and f2p is pefect choice for this if you wanna play another class or hero- PAY for it.
nothing is free in life. when you have talent put into a game of sorts.
kinda tired of the mmo community thinking games should be free for them to play.
i disagree with the headline- let alone the game it reguards to.
i love the idea that F2p only has Orc option. If you know the lore- you know Orcs are everywhere and dispensable army- and f2p is pefect choice for this if you wanna play another class or hero- PAY for it.
nothing is free in life. when you have talent put into a game of sorts.
kinda tired of the mmo community thinking games should be free for them to play.
I agree, this is a great idea to allow playing for free, be loyal to lore, and encourage to subscribe.
You don't need to post a 1000 word essay on the wrong or right way to make your game F2P. You only need 8. . .and these 8 will tell you the guaranteed right way .
Don't
Sell
Any
Part
Of
Your
Product
Ever
Now I know what you current and future hopeful F2P developers might be thinking, "but we need money to live."
Don't use that excuse, its doesn't work anymore.
Just give it away, and then go eat down at the soup kitchen, and make sure to keep the servers running out of your pocket as well, no need for your players to have to pitch in for that. . .
I don't have a problem with how they've done things. Then again, I've never had a problem paying for a game I'm interested in and treat the free opinion as a reduced feature version of any mmo I play. If I get hooked enough to want to play it all the time and do everything...I sub.
Freemium is the Apocalypse of the gaming industry. It has destroyed and it will keep destroying as many things as it can just to milk that extra cash from a certain ammount of players.
I tried a lot of freemiums (especially MMOs) and i never liked them, that's why as soon as i hear a game is freemium i turn away.
Rather broad statement there considering, there are a lot of successful freemium games out there like SWTOR and LOTRO that don't milk players pocketbooks. I all depends on how the developer implements the cash shop and what is in it.
Many of the successful freemium games are more free trials and you end up paying for the game if you enjoy playing it. So this system could work for this game as long as the item shop does not have items that give purchasers an advantage in pvp.
Well one thing to keep in mind is that there is a heavy lore factor involved, also. A single ork boy can indeed kill a Space Marine...it's just unlikely. But the Ork race wins wars in 40k by mass numbers, and the developers have come up with an amazingly novel way of doing it. After all, if it was all equal and all the same, you'd have entire ork armies comprised of nothing but nobs and mekboyz (which would be so painful to observe as to invalidate the feel of 40k imo).
I would certainly not want to see it become a standard method of f2p (and I don't think the players would tolerate it for long either in any other game), but it fits this one game just fine imo.
First: I agree with everything turnmacleod posted above, as he actually has a quote from the website.
Second: I agree with everyone saying it fits in lore-wise. Orks are supposed to be boisterous, murderous, and, most importantly, numerous. It's easier to achieve those requirements if they're all F2Pers.
Third: I'll have to wait and see how much weaker Orks are, compared to the other races, and also how the battle deployment system is balanced; if it's a ratio where there's plenty of Space Marines and few Orks, that's a real problem. Space Marines are iconic, and paying for the game (especially without a sub) isn't going to be that difficult if people like the gameplay.
It is a great way of letting useless f2p playe-woops....i mean orcs into game just like the lore- and have heroes smash their green brains out! in combat-unless ur a Orc 'hero' urself with an awsome buggie!
Is there a regular Ork that is on par with say a space marine if you pay? I'm always a greenskin, I don't want to pplay if I have to be underpowered to play the race I want. Seriously, you ever look up how their technology works? It works cause they collectively believe it. If they all think that painting something red makes it go faster, then painting it red makes it go faster. Its incredible.
Is there a regular Ork that is on par with say a space marine if you pay? I'm always a greenskin, I don't want to pplay if I have to be underpowered to play the race I want. Seriously, you ever look up how their technology works? It works cause they collectively believe it. If they all think that painting something red makes it go faster, then painting it red makes it go faster. Its incredible.
yes -goto to their site they have 2 so far! badass looking too!
Hey there gorgeous. I know you're a lot more than just a pretty face. I dygress. You mentioned lots of folks want to solo. Fine, why can't they have solo friendly servers and group-friendly servers? Game companies criple themselves by catering to one demographic or the other; why not both when it'd be so easy.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon. In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Hey this is a pretty good system and seems more transparent than the smoke and mirrors that most "F2P" games are. Sub gets you the regular game and the F2P people start out as under-powered peons until they pay up like the rest of us.
I think they should take it a step further and make the F2P players start out with only a cup and a "beg for coins" skill on their skill bar. Until they can collect X amount of coins from paying customers they can't get any combat skills or talk in open chat channels. That would be quite enjoyable and would create a situation where the gold spammers would have to beg for money to gain access to chat.
Where you're making the mistake in your assumption is that they're actually TRYING to market the game to a broad audience. Much like STO largely being played by hardcore trekkies, this game is marketed to an even smaller group that are fans of the 40k universe. Whether that group is too small to allow the game to succeed remains to be seen, but that's also the group that's most likely to pay to play the game. While I would agree with your sentiments that this would never work for most wide audienced MMOs, in this particular case, it just might work.
Interesting approach, I've often felt that it would be nice to see an MMO where they threw balance out of the window and found some way to limit the population of the over powered race/class. Obviously SWG tried this with Jedi for awhile, but I can't think of another MMO that did and SWG didn't really do it well, more of an after thought.
Though I'm not keen on the idea of using a pay wall for it. As someone who works on free to play games, I still maintain that the best design (whilst not necessarily the most profitable), is one that gives all the content away for free and utilises more optional way to get people to pay.
Seemed like a bad idea at first, but I don't think it will be. Ork Boyz have always been more reliant on numbers, so why make them just as strong as some of the other factions on top of that? That is the point of a horde army. What they lack in strength they make up for in numbers. Also, Orkz rely on what they can build to make them more powerful, or at least ambivalently dangerous.
There is also the WAAAGH! we need to consider. A waaagh is a military campaign that mainly is Orkz cutting a path of destruction till they can't go any further. Orkz are all for the waaagh and the bigger the waaagh, the more deadly they are. Sometimes waaagh merge with other waaaghs and form massive waaaghs. We could see this in the game as buffs to stamina, strength, and more. That could be the balancing point for the Orkz and their apparent gimping.
What I see coming from this is a faction of players who only want to fight and will follow anyone who will lead them into this fight, because that's what Orkz do. They will have moderate crafting abilities, crazy contraptions, and endless hours of fun because Orkz have always been the goofy, yet serious, army of 40k. I think this will be an appealing idea to players looking for fun, my-strategy-is-to-hit-them-with-a-big-rock, kind of play out of their MMO.
Freemium is the Apocalypse of the gaming industry. It has destroyed and it will keep destroying as many things as it can just to milk that extra cash from a certain ammount of players.
I tried a lot of freemiums (especially MMOs) and i never liked them, that's why as soon as i hear a game is freemium i turn away.
Rather broad statement there considering, there are a lot of successful freemium games out there like SWTOR and LOTRO that don't milk players pocketbooks. I all depends on how the developer implements the cash shop and what is in it.
Many of the successful freemium games are more free trials and you end up paying for the game if you enjoy playing it. So this system could work for this game as long as the item shop does not have items that give purchasers an advantage in pvp.
I would suggest clicking the link talking about dividing players into tiers. It seems another writer for MMORPG doesn't to agree that SWTOR isn't attempting to milk players. At least, they are doing a lot more to milk them than LOTRO and STO.
The whole reason they are using "free to play" is so they can get more players trying their games and because it uncaps what players can spend and allows those players who have no issues paying a LOT of money to do so.
But game companies need money. Free to play is difficult to budget off of because they don't know how much they will get at any given time.
So they have these "freemium" deals but in the end they would prefer you to pay a subscription.
These games cost a lot. They seem to cost more than their single player brethren in many cases and yet they struggle to make ends meet. Some of this very well could be the developers fault and some of it could be the nature of the beast.
So any time a company hopes to steer players into a subscription I am not surprised.
Then I wish we (developers and players) could all just admit that and get rid of this F2P nonsense (personal opinion).
A limited trial, giving you entire access to the game, for a set amount of time.. Followed by the option to continue player by buying the box and/or subscribing or to walk away.
most people aren't going to want to run around playing gimped chars. They are potentially taking players that would be playing there game and kicking them in the nads. So those players won't be playing there game. Almost no free to play players means alot less popultion, which will hurt there bottom line as less paying costumers will continue in a game with signifcantly lower player population. The majority of mmorpg games that have free to play have there population probably 50% or higher as free to play players.
========================== The game is dead not, this game is good we make it and Romania Tv give it 5 goat heads, this is good rating for game.
The game is F2P and Buy to Play, Test an orc and if you like the game pay a one off fee and unlock every class and race, just like GW2, a one off payment to unlock all races and classes and then no sub, how can you even complain about this OP?
The problem with f2p in general is that the cost to play is often hidden. Hidden behind complex currency systems and the actual cost only reveals itself after having invested considerable time into the game. There is also the issue of trust where a mmorpg player needs to trust in a company and its ability to provide a long term game experience, and not just sucking as much money they can till you had enough.
The good f2p models are those where there is a simple system that gives a clear idea what the cost will be for you. The ugly ones are those you invest efford in, and only then realize there are pay walls.
So, weak race for freebies and powerful races for paying players?... It can be ok if the difference is known by a new player just starting the game.. Not ok, if the realization comes later.
Examples of honest f2p models: trials limited by time, areas or other features that are clear from the beginning. Game time purchases and earn by playing. Expansion locking as long as it doesn't get too micro. Pure convenience features. Art, style and effects. External systems, services etc.
Comments
There are so many things an F2P game can do WRONG (including many that are wrong for the players but oh-so-right in a sell-your-soul kind of way for business profits) and this article focuses on Warhammer Eternal Crusade?
I thought it was obvious and well-communicated that Eternal Crusade is explicitly a buy-to-play game with a free trial. As posted in that previous post, they call it "Free to WAAGH" but the context is VERY clear.
i disagree with the headline- let alone the game it reguards to.
i love the idea that F2p only has Orc option. If you know the lore- you know Orcs are everywhere and dispensable army- and f2p is pefect choice for this if you wanna play another class or hero- PAY for it.
nothing is free in life. when you have talent put into a game of sorts.
kinda tired of the mmo community thinking games should be free for them to play.
I agree, this is a great idea to allow playing for free, be loyal to lore, and encourage to subscribe.
You don't need to post a 1000 word essay on the wrong or right way to make your game F2P. You only need 8. . .and these 8 will tell you the guaranteed right way .
Don't
Sell
Any
Part
Of
Your
Product
Ever
Now I know what you current and future hopeful F2P developers might be thinking, "but we need money to live."
Don't use that excuse, its doesn't work anymore.
Just give it away, and then go eat down at the soup kitchen, and make sure to keep the servers running out of your pocket as well, no need for your players to have to pitch in for that. . .
interesting concept
but i cannot see it working to attract future player unless there's also trial without being a peon
EQ2 fan sites
Rather broad statement there considering, there are a lot of successful freemium games out there like SWTOR and LOTRO that don't milk players pocketbooks. I all depends on how the developer implements the cash shop and what is in it.
Many of the successful freemium games are more free trials and you end up paying for the game if you enjoy playing it. So this system could work for this game as long as the item shop does not have items that give purchasers an advantage in pvp.
Well one thing to keep in mind is that there is a heavy lore factor involved, also. A single ork boy can indeed kill a Space Marine...it's just unlikely. But the Ork race wins wars in 40k by mass numbers, and the developers have come up with an amazingly novel way of doing it. After all, if it was all equal and all the same, you'd have entire ork armies comprised of nothing but nobs and mekboyz (which would be so painful to observe as to invalidate the feel of 40k imo).
I would certainly not want to see it become a standard method of f2p (and I don't think the players would tolerate it for long either in any other game), but it fits this one game just fine imo.
First: I agree with everything turnmacleod posted above, as he actually has a quote from the website.
Second: I agree with everyone saying it fits in lore-wise. Orks are supposed to be boisterous, murderous, and, most importantly, numerous. It's easier to achieve those requirements if they're all F2Pers.
Third: I'll have to wait and see how much weaker Orks are, compared to the other races, and also how the battle deployment system is balanced; if it's a ratio where there's plenty of Space Marines and few Orks, that's a real problem. Space Marines are iconic, and paying for the game (especially without a sub) isn't going to be that difficult if people like the gameplay.
It is a great way of letting useless f2p playe-woops....i mean orcs into game just like the lore- and have heroes smash their green brains out! in combat-unless ur a Orc 'hero' urself with an awsome buggie!
from the shop while limited supplies lasts!
;-)
Is there a regular Ork that is on par with say a space marine if you pay? I'm always a greenskin, I don't want to pplay if I have to be underpowered to play the race I want. Seriously, you ever look up how their technology works? It works cause they collectively believe it. If they all think that painting something red makes it go faster, then painting it red makes it go faster. Its incredible.
My Thoughts on Content Locust
yes -goto to their site they have 2 so far! badass looking too!
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Hey this is a pretty good system and seems more transparent than the smoke and mirrors that most "F2P" games are. Sub gets you the regular game and the F2P people start out as under-powered peons until they pay up like the rest of us.
I think they should take it a step further and make the F2P players start out with only a cup and a "beg for coins" skill on their skill bar. Until they can collect X amount of coins from paying customers they can't get any combat skills or talk in open chat channels. That would be quite enjoyable and would create a situation where the gold spammers would have to beg for money to gain access to chat.
Efjfuffjfjffjfuufjfjfjf begs you for coins.
You say, "nice try spammer now beat it!"
Interesting approach, I've often felt that it would be nice to see an MMO where they threw balance out of the window and found some way to limit the population of the over powered race/class. Obviously SWG tried this with Jedi for awhile, but I can't think of another MMO that did and SWG didn't really do it well, more of an after thought.
Though I'm not keen on the idea of using a pay wall for it. As someone who works on free to play games, I still maintain that the best design (whilst not necessarily the most profitable), is one that gives all the content away for free and utilises more optional way to get people to pay.
Don't see a problem with this.
Seemed like a bad idea at first, but I don't think it will be. Ork Boyz have always been more reliant on numbers, so why make them just as strong as some of the other factions on top of that? That is the point of a horde army. What they lack in strength they make up for in numbers. Also, Orkz rely on what they can build to make them more powerful, or at least ambivalently dangerous.
There is also the WAAAGH! we need to consider. A waaagh is a military campaign that mainly is Orkz cutting a path of destruction till they can't go any further. Orkz are all for the waaagh and the bigger the waaagh, the more deadly they are. Sometimes waaagh merge with other waaaghs and form massive waaaghs. We could see this in the game as buffs to stamina, strength, and more. That could be the balancing point for the Orkz and their apparent gimping.
What I see coming from this is a faction of players who only want to fight and will follow anyone who will lead them into this fight, because that's what Orkz do. They will have moderate crafting abilities, crazy contraptions, and endless hours of fun because Orkz have always been the goofy, yet serious, army of 40k. I think this will be an appealing idea to players looking for fun, my-strategy-is-to-hit-them-with-a-big-rock, kind of play out of their MMO.
I would suggest clicking the link talking about dividing players into tiers. It seems another writer for MMORPG doesn't to agree that SWTOR isn't attempting to milk players. At least, they are doing a lot more to milk them than LOTRO and STO.
Then I wish we (developers and players) could all just admit that and get rid of this F2P nonsense (personal opinion).
A limited trial, giving you entire access to the game, for a set amount of time.. Followed by the option to continue player by buying the box and/or subscribing or to walk away.
==========================
The game is dead not, this game is good we make it and Romania Tv give it 5 goat heads, this is good rating for game.
The problem with f2p in general is that the cost to play is often hidden. Hidden behind complex currency systems and the actual cost only reveals itself after having invested considerable time into the game. There is also the issue of trust where a mmorpg player needs to trust in a company and its ability to provide a long term game experience, and not just sucking as much money they can till you had enough.
The good f2p models are those where there is a simple system that gives a clear idea what the cost will be for you. The ugly ones are those you invest efford in, and only then realize there are pay walls.
So, weak race for freebies and powerful races for paying players?... It can be ok if the difference is known by a new player just starting the game.. Not ok, if the realization comes later.
Examples of honest f2p models: trials limited by time, areas or other features that are clear from the beginning. Game time purchases and earn by playing. Expansion locking as long as it doesn't get too micro. Pure convenience features. Art, style and effects. External systems, services etc.
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0