Payment model has nothing to do with a communities Toxicity level
As a game gets more popular so to does the community get more toxic.
Someone mentioned Trove as a F2P game with a good community, It is that way because it is not mainsteam (I'm talking League, WoW, or CoD levels of popularity here) if it did become mainstream then the community would reach the levels of toxicity found in ALL mainstream games. . .
Originally posted by sayuu Payment model has nothing to do with a communities Toxicity level As a game gets more popular so to does the community get more toxic. Someone mentioned Trove as a F2P game with a good community, It is that way because it is not mainsteam (I'm talking League, WoW, or CoD levels of popularity here) if it did become mainstream then the community would reach the levels of toxicity found in ALL mainstream games. . . TL;DRPeople are jerks on the internet.
Perhaps it has less to do with popularity and more to do with the activity's available in a given mmo? I think maybe if your game offers little more than combative activities for players to engage in, the more inclined the community is to behave combatively. I don't think this necessarily holds true in other more focused genres where people get together for a mutually agreed upon style of play.
Originally posted by sayuu Payment model has nothing to do with a communities Toxicity level
As a game gets more popular so to does the community get more toxic.
Someone mentioned Trove as a F2P game with a good community, It is that way because it is not mainsteam (I'm talking League, WoW, or CoD levels of popularity here) if it did become mainstream then the community would reach the levels of toxicity found in ALL mainstream games. . .
TL;DR
People are jerks on the internet.
Perhaps it has less to do with popularity and more to do with the activity's available in a given mmo? I think maybe if your game offers little more than combative activities for players to engage in, the more inclined the community is to behave combatively. I don't think this necessarily holds true in other more focused genres where people get together for a mutually agreed upon style of play.
Yes and No. Competitive gameplay attracts competitive players, but that doesn't necessarily mean a lack of civility. The smaller the circle, the more familiarity one will tend to have with other players, especially if that circle is entered into by choice. Even in a larger game, you can see the difference between how you interact with guildmates vs the larger game population. Assuming you're in a guild for the people and not just their resources, raid access, etc... your guild interactions will often be with more empathy and civility than your interactions with the general populace. It's that whole Dunbar thing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
p2p is not doomed, in fact it actually gaining ground again after people figured out that you actualyl get more for your money if you pay per month.
Look at example WOW still going strong, FFXIV doign well, SWTOR most actually still pay to play, in fact if you look at most f2p games that have a p2p option most people will opt for p2p still. So for that reason alon p2p is not dead.
Basically, don't make your game crap and people will come.
p2p is not doomed, in fact it actually gaining ground again after people figured out that you actualyl get more for your money if you pay per month.
Look at example WOW still going strong, FFXIV doign well, SWTOR most actually still pay to play, in fact if you look at most f2p games that have a p2p option most people will opt for p2p still. So for that reason alon p2p is not dead.
Basically, don't make your game crap and people will come.
SWTOR not only game with a option to pay per month you get better peak, just SWTOR model make free player feel like more a trail then anything lol. Who know if FF14 doing well, they can be doing fine, not to sure well, some say server I packed, I log in see none of that.
Companies choose a business model because they believe that it will make them money. Based on this basic concept, I would expect to see many more companies launch games as P2P, then convert them to B2P or F2P at a later date. Heck, many F2P games are already launching as P2P (Founders Packs required for early access). The only change I would expect to see is how things are worded/presented by the marketing team. It will be 'sure we are F2P' however to get the game you need to pay $45 upfront and a $15 monthly fee for the first six months... early access and all, you know.
p2p is not dead yet but until a game comes out that's different enough that's good enough to warrant the 15 dollar fee p2p will pick up again unfortunately that may not happen for good while .The biggest thing hindering further innovation and advancement in the mmo market is that everyone wants to have the colossal success of wow and so they keep trying to clone WoW instead of coming up new and innovating game play and ideas . Personally I cant wait for the infinitely toxic cesspool that is wow to die the sooner the better its become nothing more than a bad joke of mediocore content and horrid community .
i am the immortal who will find perfect utopia at all cost .
Yet another story in which the writer ignores facts and starts in on the nostalgia of how things used to be in MMOs 10 years ago. Trust me, if Wildstar is any indication, if there's one thing this industry doesn't need it's more of that! The billing model has absolutely no bearing on the quality or types of players that join a certain game. Every game out there has demonstrated that fact. The other thing that bothers me is that here we are calling for more P2P models when the 1% couldn't even support the 1 game made just for them, Wildstar! If anything Wildstar should send a clear message for every major developer out there that it never pays to cater to PVP or Raider types and that this direction will only lead to lack of sales!
One can't avoid system that wow have, and tons there system from other mmo and games, but anyhow there was many none wow clones that came out, darkfall is one, city of heros, and more so on they are the sub game but just people can't just let go easy well played system not the crapy parts of a mmo make work much less fun.
And this is why may see many game still keep on taking the easy system that wow have from other games and put in to there game, just easy for people to get in to there game better.
Yeah, you've got two of them listed there most commonly quoted, LOTRO and DDO. They said they didn't switch because they were struggling financially. Will find it here shortly. Posted the links recently.
Maybe I am just too cynical, but I doubt that any developer would state they switched models because they were losing customers. Not to mention, developers will say just about anything as long as they don't have to say the truth.
A lot of you old timers need to realize that there isn't a "pure" P2P model anymore. Not for any mainstream titles anyway (FFXIV perhaps?). I wouldn't even consider EvE a pure P2P title either. They are all hybrid models mixed with F2P, B2P, P2P and cash shops. Does anyone here truly believe that a P2P title offers more quantity and quality than any other model? The last 10 years have said otherwise. Even WoW has been declining since Wotlk. Some of you remind me of those people who keep paying subscriptions to cable companies thinking you're getting quality, when there are many alternative methods to acquiring programming now, whether it's roku, hulu, netflix, or other stream services (terrible analogy i know).
while P2P blocks some trolls the important part as DMKano said is the game's Design.
also we are in 2015 now so i expect new p2p games to have meaningful updates each 1/2 months otherwise i don't see much point in subscribing.
as for b2p and f2p as long as things are affordable with in-game money too and are cosmetics mostly i am fine with it. of course i would like it more if p2p and b2p never had any sort of cash shop in them.
my top MMOs: UO,DAOC,WoW,GW2
most of my posts are just my opinions they are not facts,it is the same for you too.
while P2P blocks some trolls the important part as DMKano said is the game's Design.
also we are in 2015 now so i expect new p2p games to have meaningful updates each 1/2 months otherwise i don't see much point in subscribing.
as for b2p and f2p as long as things are affordable with in-game money too and are cosmetics mostly i am fine with it. of course i would like it more if p2p and b2p never had any sort of cash shop in them.
Can work, with out a cash shop in them, but one have to make money in a way or be so cheap to make and maintain to keep it going with the funding it got from somewhere. Maybe DLC? can be bad thing or good thing, the good thing one can pick what they want, bad thing they need to make the DLC worth it to buy to keep the game going with good updates to keep people playing for long point of time.
while P2P blocks some trolls the important part as DMKano said is the game's Design.
also we are in 2015 now so i expect new p2p games to have meaningful updates each 1/2 months otherwise i don't see much point in subscribing.
as for b2p and f2p as long as things are affordable with in-game money too and are cosmetics mostly i am fine with it. of course i would like it more if p2p and b2p never had any sort of cash shop in them.
Meaningful updates every half month?
I feel this is a big part of why subs are hard to sustain, expectations. You can't expect updates every half month to be meaningful. There would be no thought put into them, no iteration, little polish.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
In future I'd like to see the games listed which changed to free-to-play to save them in a list. I've debunked two of those already with news from the companies themselves. They outright said that they switched the payment model to change consumers, not because they were financially failing.
I know that is a common myth that permeates, free to play saves games but I've yet to see financials for games that stopped using a sub completely with rocketing profits. Instead what I see most often is that they open up the doors by using buy to play or free to play but KEEP the sub fee as a possibility and call themselves a hybrid. Even the two games mentioned above did that. It's not fair I think to exclaim that subs were ruining these games when they clearly left the opportunity on the table even after they switch to a free version. If subs were the problem... they wouldn't exist in the hybrid versions of these games that switch.
Instead of blaming it on subs they could blame it on what it is, desiring not only the sub fee but the microtransactions that come alongside it from the other group of consumers. Sometimes people call it double dipping.
So, if you are going to say a game went free to play and it saved it when it was previously a sub game - I would again ask for the name of those games that solely exist on microtransactions who cut out the sub option completely. That would be logical if free to play and microtransactions were the true saviours.
P2P is in a danger zone right now. As long as people don't use it for development - it suffers when the alternatives are free and boy howdy are they - there are tons of free games. I once made a post showing that you could play about 6 free games a month and not run out over many years and that was just for the ones in existence. The pace for creating them was growing not shrinking.
There are some factors too long to list showing signs to me that the market is saturated though for free games and they are cannibalizing themselves by producing too many games. I randomly pop them off in my posts tho as I move around the site so it's all out there if someone wants to read other threads. I think a lot of it hinges on player sentiment too and my goodness do I see a lot more vocal posts about dissatisfaction with the free to play model. It started as pay to win complaints but I see more granular complaints and that says to me that people are taking a hard look at it trying to make the ultimate decision if they will continue or not. Even on this forum someone outright apologized for saying the model would save everything and they've changed their mind after being a part of it.
That definitely has to happen to expect any real shifts. Of course people got excited when they could play games for free and do 10 at a time but some people are finding that they don't feel like MMOs any longer - see community and they don't care for the the toilet paper lifestyle it promotes. People seem to be longing for a home, not a short term visit any longer. That was fun for awhile but the appeal is wearing off.
You obviously were not playing Rift after 2.0 expac. The main hubs were like ghost towns and guilds were so light before 2.0 that PvE servers allowed opposing factions to belong to the same guild. There was just a handful of servers left before Rift adopted the f2p model. After f2p, three new servers were brought up and my guild that had 7-12 active players jumped up to 80 actively playing everyday a couple of months after f2p. Yes, I believe in the f2p model, the payment method of a game does not make a game any more or less social. The guild makes the scene for a healthy or otherwise experience.
P2P is not good model. It lack convinience of other models because it forces user to pay for something he is not using.
People have voted with their wallets and left this model behind.
However, it is now obvious that MMOs need steady income flow. Not because of "we need money for server mainteinance" because this is a lie. But because AAA companies want to make serious money or they will just move to other project and leave the MMO with almost no updates (or simply abandon it after some time)
F2P is not good answer for this problem because it leads MMO company to producing worst type of "sellable" content
B2P is good but eventually the profits go down and company is tempted to abandon the game. And only way of keeping profits is by releasing expansions. But that does not suit every game.
The solution ?
Some kind of P2P that would charge you only for hours played. Or subscription that gives you benefit even if you are not playing.
Yeah, you've got two of them listed there most commonly quoted, LOTRO and DDO. They said they didn't switch because they were struggling financially. Will find it here shortly. Posted the links recently.
Maybe I am just too cynical, but I doubt that any developer would state they switched models because they were losing customers. Not to mention, developers will say just about anything as long as they don't have to say the truth.
Just too cynical. The CEO and LOTRO EP both would bring it up at conferences and hint at it in interviews. I know cynicism trumps logic around here, so Here's a helpful hint for future titles: if you see a "Lifetime" sub option prior to release, you can bank on the business model transitioning. No publisher or developer is going to cap what their core community can spend on their game.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Buy to play means you pay once and that's it, no cash shops or dlc content.
Buy to play is indeed over. So is my faith in this hobby, I don't think I have much of a future left with this hobby anymore.
And who decided that? you? how a certain business model will be implemented is defined by those who invested money in the business, not consumers. Your definition of buy2play is what suits your need. Of course those who will deliver every single game update without charging again exists but what they call "update" is not what many players will call "update" and that is just that, consumers point of view.
One company claims to provide free update after initial purchase and what they provide later are nothing more than few balance tweaks. Another company has cash shop and charge 10$ for dlc and what they provide in DLC are complete new content; from new story to new group content, from a totally new class to new class specialization. It totally depends on publishers how their "buy2play" will work.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Yeah, you've got two of them listed there most commonly quoted, LOTRO and DDO. They said they didn't switch because they were struggling financially. Will find it here shortly. Posted the links recently.
Maybe I am just too cynical, but I doubt that any developer would state they switched models because they were losing customers. Not to mention, developers will say just about anything as long as they don't have to say the truth.
Just too cynical. The CEO and LOTRO EP both would bring it up at conferences and hint at it in interviews. I know cynicism trumps logic around here, so Here's a helpful hint for future titles: if you see a "Lifetime" sub option prior to release, you can bank on the business model transitioning. No publisher or developer is going to cap what their core community can spend on their game.
Or in this case most likely they wanted to make as much money as they can on 1 sale. And no that was not being cynical, that was being logical and any sane person would realize that this is a quick money grab approach. if the game continues to flourish they win, if it loses all players in several months, then their win is even bigger. simple logic and common sense. you should try it too.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Imho all the payment models are ok if the game is ok too. The real problem are the communities, which there are almost non existent anymore, comparing to the past. This has little to do with the models themselves, but mostly with the lack of one GREAT game and the huge variety in the todays mmo market.
I have too many games to play to stay only in one. I cant commit to a single mmo when i have so many choices and non offers me the whole package. For example i play GW2 for the exploration, the open world content and the PvP. I also play Wildstar for dungeons, raids and the combat. FFXIV for the excellent multiclassing & crafting system. A month ago i bought ESO and i m waiting for the conversion in order to start playing with a couple of friends to try the PvP and the new max lvl system. The only game i cant find anything attractive anymore (played it for 10 years and more than 10k hours) is WoW, which in my eyes looks more of a facebook game.
Anyway all the above games have something to give me, but not all. If all of them were p2p maybe i would play only 1, but while i pay sub only for FFXIV (wildstar-->CREDD, GW2 & ESO Unlimited-->B2P) i can play them all, in the same time.
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1 Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2
Imho all the payment models are ok if the game is ok too. The real problem are the communities, which there are almost non existent anymore, comparing to the past. This has little to do with the models themselves, but mostly with the lack of one GREAT game and the huge variety in the todays mmo market.
I have too many games to play to stay only in one. I cant commit to a single mmo when i have so many choices and non offers me the whole package. For example i play GW2 for the exploration, the open world content and the PvP. I also play Wildstar for dungeons, raids and the combat. FFXIV for the excellent multiclassing & crafting system. A month ago i bought ESO and i m waiting for the conversion in order to start playing with a couple of friends to try the PvP and the new max lvl system. The only game i cant find anything attractive anymore (played it for 10 years and more than 10k hours) is WoW, which in my eyes looks more of a facebook game.
Anyway all the above games have something to give me, but not all. If all of them were p2p maybe i would play only 1, but while i pay sub only for FFXIV (wildstar-->CREDD, GW2 & ESO Unlimited-->B2P) i can play them all, in the same time.
Good points here.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Imho all the payment models are ok if the game is ok too. The real problem are the communities, which there are almost non existent anymore, comparing to the past. This has little to do with the models themselves, but mostly with the lack of one GREAT game and the huge variety in the todays mmo market.
I have too many games to play to stay only in one. I cant commit to a single mmo when i have so many choices and non offers me the whole package. For example i play GW2 for the exploration, the open world content and the PvP. I also play Wildstar for dungeons, raids and the combat. FFXIV for the excellent multiclassing & crafting system. A month ago i bought ESO and i m waiting for the conversion in order to start playing with a couple of friends to try the PvP and the new max lvl system. The only game i cant find anything attractive anymore (played it for 10 years and more than 10k hours) is WoW, which in my eyes looks more of a facebook game.
Anyway all the above games have something to give me, but not all. If all of them were p2p maybe i would play only 1, but while i pay sub only for FFXIV (wildstar-->CREDD, GW2 & ESO Unlimited-->B2P) i can play them all, in the same time.
GW2 is not open world more instant base maps same as FF14 you zone in each zone then seamless, is good way to keep cost down they don't have to keep a zone running when there no one there.
"What I dislike about the subscription model isn’t the cost, it’s the pressure. I don’t want to feel like I have to log in or else waste money."
So he feels like he is wasting money if he dont log in for a few days a month ? its like less than half a doller a day oh my god thats going to break the bank for sure..
If you are going to miss $14.99 a month then its best to save that money and not spend it on gaming.
I can understand the argument that you feel like you are not getting your money's worth if you are not playing.
For me what would happen in the past is I subbed to MMO X and then some friends asked me to play something else. So I go and play that for the better part of the month as I don't have the time to play two games at a time. So then it would feel like a waste.
However, 9 bucks a month is not a lot and to be honest is less than 2 pints of beer at the pub. Definitely not going to break the bank.
One argument that I certainly don't understand is that people will spend a lot more on F2P. I think the vast majority of F2P spend almost nothing on their game of choice. As soon as they come across paywalls which they see as "unfair" they will probably stop playing outright. Wasn't there tons of articles on how 0.1% of the F2P make up for like 80% of a given F2P game.
People who spend A LOT on a F2P game are most likely not the people who are complaining about subs in the first place.
Finally, I don't understand when people say I stopped my sub or quit game X because I couldn't afford the sub. You couldn't afford £9/$15? Isn't that like less than 1 meal if you go out? If you are that tight on money you should start budgeting or look at ways you can make more money. You shouldn't be counting your last few dollars every month. IF you are there is something really wrong.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Comments
Payment model has nothing to do with a communities Toxicity level
As a game gets more popular so to does the community get more toxic.
Someone mentioned Trove as a F2P game with a good community, It is that way because it is not mainsteam (I'm talking League, WoW, or CoD levels of popularity here) if it did become mainstream then the community would reach the levels of toxicity found in ALL mainstream games. . .
TL;DR
People are jerks on the internet.
I don't think this necessarily holds true in other more focused genres where people get together for a mutually agreed upon style of play.
Yes and No. Competitive gameplay attracts competitive players, but that doesn't necessarily mean a lack of civility. The smaller the circle, the more familiarity one will tend to have with other players, especially if that circle is entered into by choice. Even in a larger game, you can see the difference between how you interact with guildmates vs the larger game population. Assuming you're in a guild for the people and not just their resources, raid access, etc... your guild interactions will often be with more empathy and civility than your interactions with the general populace. It's that whole Dunbar thing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Nowadays MMO wasn't good enough to keep player sub, And F2P MMOs are too imbalance cause by real cash.
The current P2P are punishment game for playing slow.
In old MMOgames , i pay sub because i want playing multiplayer , want connect to the community . I pay sub for the multiplayer connect.
And that's right thing to pay.
In nowadays MMOGs , you don't need multiplayer nor connect to the cummunity.
Nowadays MMOGs all about solo with forced group contents (instances) . And they price only worth the buy game price , not the sub.
Sub in those game are punishment for playing slow .
What ? i have less that 3h a day so i play slower than other and i get punish $15 for each month until i finish the contents or quit game ?
That's problem here . I don't want to get punish for playing slow.
I willing to pay for multiplayer connect sub . But punish me for playing slow ? never.
p2p is not doomed, in fact it actually gaining ground again after people figured out that you actualyl get more for your money if you pay per month.
Look at example WOW still going strong, FFXIV doign well, SWTOR most actually still pay to play, in fact if you look at most f2p games that have a p2p option most people will opt for p2p still. So for that reason alon p2p is not dead.
Basically, don't make your game crap and people will come.
SWTOR not only game with a option to pay per month you get better peak, just SWTOR model make free player feel like more a trail then anything lol. Who know if FF14 doing well, they can be doing fine, not to sure well, some say server I packed, I log in see none of that.
p2p is not dead yet but until a game comes out that's different enough that's good enough to warrant the 15 dollar fee p2p will pick up again unfortunately that may not happen for good while .The biggest thing hindering further innovation and advancement in the mmo market is that everyone wants to have the colossal success of wow and so they keep trying to clone WoW instead of coming up new and innovating game play and ideas . Personally I cant wait for the infinitely toxic cesspool that is wow to die the sooner the better its become nothing more than a bad joke of mediocore content and horrid community .
i am the immortal who will find perfect utopia at all cost .
Yet another story in which the writer ignores facts and starts in on the nostalgia of how things used to be in MMOs 10 years ago. Trust me, if Wildstar is any indication, if there's one thing this industry doesn't need it's more of that! The billing model has absolutely no bearing on the quality or types of players that join a certain game. Every game out there has demonstrated that fact. The other thing that bothers me is that here we are calling for more P2P models when the 1% couldn't even support the 1 game made just for them, Wildstar! If anything Wildstar should send a clear message for every major developer out there that it never pays to cater to PVP or Raider types and that this direction will only lead to lack of sales!
One can't avoid system that wow have, and tons there system from other mmo and games, but anyhow there was many none wow clones that came out, darkfall is one, city of heros, and more so on they are the sub game but just people can't just let go easy well played system not the crapy parts of a mmo make work much less fun.
And this is why may see many game still keep on taking the easy system that wow have from other games and put in to there game, just easy for people to get in to there game better.
Maybe I am just too cynical, but I doubt that any developer would state they switched models because they were losing customers. Not to mention, developers will say just about anything as long as they don't have to say the truth.
while P2P blocks some trolls the important part as DMKano said is the game's Design.
also we are in 2015 now so i expect new p2p games to have meaningful updates each 1/2 months otherwise i don't see much point in subscribing.
as for b2p and f2p as long as things are affordable with in-game money too and are cosmetics mostly i am fine with it. of course i would like it more if p2p and b2p never had any sort of cash shop in them.
my top MMOs: UO,DAOC,WoW,GW2
most of my posts are just my opinions they are not facts,it is the same for you too.
Can work, with out a cash shop in them, but one have to make money in a way or be so cheap to make and maintain to keep it going with the funding it got from somewhere. Maybe DLC? can be bad thing or good thing, the good thing one can pick what they want, bad thing they need to make the DLC worth it to buy to keep the game going with good updates to keep people playing for long point of time.
Meaningful updates every half month?
I feel this is a big part of why subs are hard to sustain, expectations. You can't expect updates every half month to be meaningful. There would be no thought put into them, no iteration, little polish.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
You obviously were not playing Rift after 2.0 expac. The main hubs were like ghost towns and guilds were so light before 2.0 that PvE servers allowed opposing factions to belong to the same guild. There was just a handful of servers left before Rift adopted the f2p model. After f2p, three new servers were brought up and my guild that had 7-12 active players jumped up to 80 actively playing everyday a couple of months after f2p. Yes, I believe in the f2p model, the payment method of a game does not make a game any more or less social. The guild makes the scene for a healthy or otherwise experience.
P2P is not good model. It lack convinience of other models because it forces user to pay for something he is not using.
People have voted with their wallets and left this model behind.
However, it is now obvious that MMOs need steady income flow. Not because of "we need money for server mainteinance" because this is a lie. But because AAA companies want to make serious money or they will just move to other project and leave the MMO with almost no updates (or simply abandon it after some time)
F2P is not good answer for this problem because it leads MMO company to producing worst type of "sellable" content
B2P is good but eventually the profits go down and company is tempted to abandon the game. And only way of keeping profits is by releasing expansions. But that does not suit every game.
The solution ?
Some kind of P2P that would charge you only for hours played. Or subscription that gives you benefit even if you are not playing.
Just too cynical. The CEO and LOTRO EP both would bring it up at conferences and hint at it in interviews. I know cynicism trumps logic around here, so Here's a helpful hint for future titles: if you see a "Lifetime" sub option prior to release, you can bank on the business model transitioning. No publisher or developer is going to cap what their core community can spend on their game.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
And who decided that? you? how a certain business model will be implemented is defined by those who invested money in the business, not consumers. Your definition of buy2play is what suits your need. Of course those who will deliver every single game update without charging again exists but what they call "update" is not what many players will call "update" and that is just that, consumers point of view.
One company claims to provide free update after initial purchase and what they provide later are nothing more than few balance tweaks. Another company has cash shop and charge 10$ for dlc and what they provide in DLC are complete new content; from new story to new group content, from a totally new class to new class specialization. It totally depends on publishers how their "buy2play" will work.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Or in this case most likely they wanted to make as much money as they can on 1 sale. And no that was not being cynical, that was being logical and any sane person would realize that this is a quick money grab approach. if the game continues to flourish they win, if it loses all players in several months, then their win is even bigger. simple logic and common sense. you should try it too.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Imho all the payment models are ok if the game is ok too. The real problem are the communities, which there are almost non existent anymore, comparing to the past. This has little to do with the models themselves, but mostly with the lack of one GREAT game and the huge variety in the todays mmo market.
I have too many games to play to stay only in one. I cant commit to a single mmo when i have so many choices and non offers me the whole package. For example i play GW2 for the exploration, the open world content and the PvP. I also play Wildstar for dungeons, raids and the combat. FFXIV for the excellent multiclassing & crafting system. A month ago i bought ESO and i m waiting for the conversion in order to start playing with a couple of friends to try the PvP and the new max lvl system. The only game i cant find anything attractive anymore (played it for 10 years and more than 10k hours) is WoW, which in my eyes looks more of a facebook game.
Anyway all the above games have something to give me, but not all. If all of them were p2p maybe i would play only 1, but while i pay sub only for FFXIV (wildstar-->CREDD, GW2 & ESO Unlimited-->B2P) i can play them all, in the same time.
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1
Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2
Good points here.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
GW2 is not open world more instant base maps same as FF14 you zone in each zone then seamless, is good way to keep cost down they don't have to keep a zone running when there no one there.
"What I dislike about the subscription model isn’t the cost, it’s the pressure. I don’t want to feel like I have to log in or else waste money."
So he feels like he is wasting money if he dont log in for a few days a month ? its like less than half a doller a day oh my god thats going to break the bank for sure..
If you are going to miss $14.99 a month then its best to save that money and not spend it on gaming.
I can understand the argument that you feel like you are not getting your money's worth if you are not playing.
For me what would happen in the past is I subbed to MMO X and then some friends asked me to play something else. So I go and play that for the better part of the month as I don't have the time to play two games at a time. So then it would feel like a waste.
However, 9 bucks a month is not a lot and to be honest is less than 2 pints of beer at the pub. Definitely not going to break the bank.
One argument that I certainly don't understand is that people will spend a lot more on F2P. I think the vast majority of F2P spend almost nothing on their game of choice. As soon as they come across paywalls which they see as "unfair" they will probably stop playing outright. Wasn't there tons of articles on how 0.1% of the F2P make up for like 80% of a given F2P game.
People who spend A LOT on a F2P game are most likely not the people who are complaining about subs in the first place.
Finally, I don't understand when people say I stopped my sub or quit game X because I couldn't afford the sub. You couldn't afford £9/$15? Isn't that like less than 1 meal if you go out? If you are that tight on money you should start budgeting or look at ways you can make more money. You shouldn't be counting your last few dollars every month. IF you are there is something really wrong.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.