With DDO gone free and TCOS going that way one can only think a trend may be starting,in game cash shops are the attraction,people spend more in shops per month than they would a monthly fee add in game advertising and ...well economics takes over...question is.......whos next

Warhammer can't be far off.

Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

LOL! yeah because AoC + WAR = Lotro sub numbers. How do you figure Lotro would go F2p with subs like that?

Wishfull thinking by the OP imo.

I would also like to address the possibility of aoc going f2p.

Funcom has done this with great success with anarchy online, no korean style item malls with nerfed gameplay to require those items.  They give free players the origional world, and give paying players the superior expansion equipment (as well as a faster trip to endgame)  In a ffa pvp game like aoc, adding free players that are disadvantages would be fun as hell for a paying player.

Warhammer would shutdown rather than go f2p

The problem with this whole argument made by the op, is that ddo and tcos barely had any player at all, it was f2p or die.

War,aoc and other games that are just hated by a lot, doesnt mean their populations are anywhere as low as tcos/ddo

Also warhammer and aoc did great at launch, that huge cash infusion does wonders, and is why (at least for aoc) they have enough money to patch the hell out of the game and have an expansion on the way.

comparing ddo and tcos to war and aoc is like comparing a kid who won the lottery and lost his job to a kid who never had a job to begin with.  One guy is gonna be ok for a while (mabey not forever) while the other guy is in a shitty situation.

so keep on wishing that AAA games fail so you can play them for free!

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.

I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.

It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.

Originally posted by Torak

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

 

Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.

I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.

It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.

 

i see, why did we end up with Codemasters for both DDO and LOTRO in the EU.

turbine is so much better >.>

DDO is Free 2 play in NA but P2P still in EU

LOTRO is $10 a months in NA and in EU its still £9/12 Euro...

WAR - owned by EA ! They just close games. No chance for F2P there. And also , would you like to play PVP game with item shop ?

and LOTRO is one of better performing MMOs. It may go F2P though. Cause Turbine likes it that way

If you want low budget bringing low game investment and RMT’s favouring the rich I would regard this as a trend. But as neither of those appeals to me I see F2P as a virus which could kill the MMO industry, or at least kill it off for some of us.

If GW2 delivers alot of P2P have to go ft2

Originally posted by lordtull

With DDO gone free and TCOS going that way one can only think a trend may be starting,in game cash shops are the attraction,people spend more in shops per month than they would a monthly fee add in game advertising and ...well economics takes over...question is.......whos next

Any game that was a commercial failure with a p2p model and dares to try again with another model.

Originally posted by Scot

If you want low budget bringing low game investment and RMT’s favouring the rich I would regard this as a trend. But as neither of those appeals to me I see F2P as a virus which could kill the MMO industry, or at least kill it off for some of us.

I think you are confusing Asian F2P , with new emerging western F2P

While asian F2P is about buying "shortcuts" (faster leveling, hard to get items)

Western F2P is about permanently buying chunks of content - opposed to just "renting" it (as you did now) , while still giving you option to "rent"

It has so many benefits over traditional P2P. Included the fact that it actually forces game companies to constantly produce new content.

 I'm sure WOW will be the next one. They are already preparing the ground for it - it's impossible to get into the instances. Their business model will be like this: no subscription, if you want to get into an instance you will have to try it for an hour to get in but if you pay the entrance ticket you will get immediately into the instance.

Originally posted by alecbr

 I'm sure WOW will be the next one. They are already preparing the ground for it - it's impossible to get into the instances. Their business model will be like this: no subscription, if you want to get into an instance you will have to try it for an hour to get in but if you pay the entrance ticket you will get immediately into the instance.

I lol'd but meh...they're trying to fix them as much as they can(or can be arsed to).

Originally posted by Torak

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

 

Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.

I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.

It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.

 

Can you please find a link to this?  I read pretty much every article/interview from Turbine and all they have been saying is that they have NO plans making LotrO F2P since it doesnt fit with the game (like DDO). And considering that LotrO is the third biggest game with monthly sub in the west, i doubt they wold want to do anything like that.

I think Age of Conan and Champions are the most likely looking at changing to F2P right now. But like with DDO, its not an easy task to turn a sub game to F2P. Turbine had been working for 1 year to make the new buisness model work and they made changes to pretty much every aspect of the game.

 yep if im not mistaken lotr is directx10 wich im sorry to say cant reliably be followed on xfire so wtv rank they have there its only for dx9 playing that game same for lot of dx10 game

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 yep if im not mistaken lotr is directx10 wich im sorry to say cant reliably be followed on xfire so wtv rank they have there its only for dx9 playing that game same for lot of dx10 game

I don't believe this is true. The overlay does not work in the game, but it still tracks your hours played correctly if you are running LOTRO in DX10. Same for AoC.
 

SWG needs to go F2P

Early days but the xfire numbers are interesting:

GW #9 (B2P) - 5324 users

EVE #12 (P2P) - 3368 users

ROM #18 (F2P) - 2686 users

LOTRO #24 (P2P) - 1857 users

DDO #27 (new F2P/P2P) - 2348 users

CO #31 (new P2P) - 1524 users

AoC #49 (P2P) - 740 users

Warhammer #55 (P2P) - 866 users

Might indicate a F2P move could give some games a new lease of life, but needs more time to tell (I would say at least 6 months).

Originally posted by Zorndorf

For the fans: Lotro = 170K > AoC 65K + War 75K. The rough calculations of today's Xfire (with 5.5 M WOW, 300K EVE, Lotro 180K as a 3 point line reference).

So I don't see Lotro going FTP. It is simply the second most played Fantasy MMORPG with a sub.

GW is second (semi ftp) overall with 470 K players. Always count players never playing time.

D&DO is a good effort. Certainly a nice addition to FTP crap.

But I agree that in 2 years time the single subcription based game is a thing of the past.

All will be bundled or FTP.

Last man standing will be WOW, but even there I see a bundle through Battle.Net play awards within 2 years time.

 

 

 

 

mm battlenet is blizzard trump card, like the ring of power in lotr 

one ring to rule them all(grin)

The kind of FTP I don't like is anything that has to do with item shops, or xp boosts of any kind, selling pets, that sort of thing.

Selling access to zones or dungeons doesn't seem much different from selling an expansion pack, it doesnt' change the structure of the game.

If you take P2P games, and break them up by content and sell off the content piece by piece instead of a monthly fee, that's fine. But P2P games aren't designed to be F2P with item shops and xp boosts, so it seems to me you'd wreck the game if it wasn't designed as F2P in the first place.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

So what do you think of the ftp AD&D feature: you get a next key  level when you can find it in a quest and dungeon set up.

OR you can buy the key in the shop (lame).

I think the option is challeging in itself. Do I quest for it (perhaps very long I don't know yet), or do I cheat. (let's re roll the dice in that dungeon remember the old times :)))).

There can be so many twists around ftp games.

 

 

Tricky one as this was added to get some income from F2P, P2P players don't need to do it. So it isn't like a buy your way around a natural part of the game, it is a F2P only hurdle. A better example would be the effort in unlocking a Favored Soul compared to buying it. Now this is a clear way both F2P and P2P can pay to avoid a lot of effort in game.

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Originally posted by Torak

 

Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.

I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.

It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.

 

i see, why did we end up with Codemasters for both DDO and LOTRO in the EU.

turbine is so much better >.>

DDO is Free 2 play in NA but P2P still in EU

LOTRO is $10 a months in NA and in EU its still £9/12 Euro...

 

Download the US clients.

I live in Germany and I can play both US versions with no problems. In fact I just did the new DDO client, made a character, logged in but didn't actually play...but it worked fine.

 I'll see if I can dig up that interview later.

www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-lord-of-the-rings-online-mines-of-moria-interview

Sept 1, 2008

Steefel talks about looking at alternate business models for LotR

Eurogamer: Do you think there's room for other business models in LOTRO's future?

Jeffrey Steefel: I think so... There are some things about the way that we built the game that would allow us to try some different business models. For people that want to have a more casual relationship with the game, and just have fun a couple of hours, a couple of times a week, right now I think we have a difficult value proposition. They're paying a premium price to get a whole bunch more than they actually want. So, maybe there's room to satisfy those people in a slightly different way.

This is a franchise that's going to continue for years and years and years, and there's no way that the singular, monolithic, USD 14.95 a month subscription model is going to last for years and years and years all by itself. I think the answer is, it has to change.