Warhammer Online seems to have started a new trend of unlimited free trials, what with Funcom's recent announcement that Age of Conan would also offer an unlimited free trial, and now the fact that Atari and Cryptic Studios have joined in on the fun with the launch of the Champions Online demo program.

Similar to the aforementioned Warhammer and Conan offers, the Champions Online demo allows players to play through the Millenium City Crisis and up to a level cap of 15 for free. Forever.

However, there is one small catch: you will only have two character slots in the demo.

The demo is being currently being offered exclusively through Steam. Get started here.

What do you think about this new trend of unlimited free trials? I think it's an excellent idea, and it's a wonder it took this long to start taking off! Here's hoping the trend continues!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

I think I'll give it a try. I never played a super hero mmo before.

Originally posted by Archemorous

I think I'll give it a try. I never played a super hero mmo before.

Awesome! Let us know how it goes!

What they fail to realize is it has nothing to do with the cost but the games just aren't good. I really doubt that these life time free trials will get anymore people in than the 7 day ones because people just don't stay past their first play time if they aren't enjoying themselves.

The next big MMO will be the one that innovates because right now people are tired of playing the same old recycled bullshit. As soon as you log into these games you just get the feeling "I've done this all in WoW back in 2004 and WoW did it 10 times better" and I got tired of WoW and want something new.

That's why out of the few friends that found a new MMO after WoW brought them into the genre,  the only one they moved to was EVE.

I think Cryptic just killed themselves. The beauty of their games isn't the higher lvl content, once you hit lvl 15 you end up going back and building another character anyways.  The cool part of their games is the character creator, not the end game content.  In fact given the option I would make my account lvl this just so I could go back after 15 lvls and rebuild my character over again and create new characters over again.

I think now I am going to get rid of my current sub with CO (which I was thinking about doing anyways) and just go this route.

In this economy with companies competing for subs, I think this is a EXCELLENT thing. I am glad my buddies at Biomythic finnaly came up with a epic idea that others take note.

This is a good, good trend. Anyone who thinks free play time is a bad idea...well you have to much money, send me some.

I might download this just to keep tabs on the game.

Worst case, my kid enjoys building characters.

Originally posted by Hrica

In this economy with companies competing for subs, I think this is a EXCELLENT thing. I am glad my buddies at Biomythic finnaly came up with a epic idea that others take note.

This is a good, good trend. Anyone who thinks free play time is a bad idea...well you have to much money, send me some.

Agreed. I think every MMO should have an endless early level try out.

Well, people can use the hero builder for free now, im not sure why anyone would pay for the game as it is.   It was my biggest regret as a game purchase in years (I paid full retail, since I was looking forward to this game, for years).

Theres only one reason as to why they're doing this after only 3-4 months after release - subscriber numbers are falling flat, fast. Theres just no way they sat round and thought hey this would be a cool idea for players. The exact same reason WAR is offering a similar option. 

 Its a shame Cryptic didn't focus on one MMO, but launching 2 within around 6 months of each other is an insanely ambitious task.

In general, this is one mmo trend that's good to hear of.

They should make it as easy as possible for people to try the game.

Its up to level 15 but you cannot leave the starting area.. the quests there should only get you up to level 6 or so and you will need to grind the rest of it.. or I missed some quest hubs.

Originally posted by Halow

Its up to level 15 but you cannot leave the starting area.. the quests there should only get you up to level 6 or so and you will need to grind the rest of it.. or I missed some quest hubs.

You can finish the zone at lv.6 you just have to finish the Public Quest thing.

But yeah this trial is a complete waste of time, lv.15 my ass I mean....the first zone is by far the worst and can be completed in roughly an hour. Whoever thought this trial scheme was a good idea to limit players to the first zone should be fired / put to work in the mail room.

Doesn't even give you a preview of how a character will play and such...should at least open 2 or 3 zones and let people play with the Travel Powers.\

/rant wasted my time last night on this.

 Its a tough market right now. Everyone is skeptical and everyone is quick to jump on the hate bandwagon. Cryptic got what they deserved to an extent for trying to make a CoH 1.5. This new trend only seems to be by games which are struggling to stay above water and hope people like the first few levels enough to continue. The unlimited part is kind of dumb except for the ability to hop in game and keep tabs on it. I sort of like what FE is doing with limited time trials so people get a solid feel for the game but the game isnt polluted with what a everyday trial seems to bring. 

People being able to try the game is important but in reality what do you learn from a trial you can play levels 1-10 or 15 on that you cant figure out in a few days. Its desperate.

the game looks like failing from the $$$$$ expected so they are trying all the ways to boost their pockets...

with all the free crap games online,  i wont spend any $$ on online game... more power to f2p!

and before the flames against the free games quality start, its about bussines, not quality here... if u arent some kind of hardcore game ( about gametime spended on a game in total  in months, not by day ) and with all these new free games launched every month even with crap u can always spend one week at each and lost some funny hours without $$$ enjoying the full game system not with a dog-collar... if u wanna something special "that in principle dont affect the wholle system", just use the cash shop cos all free games actualy arent that free as some of you free game haters think ^^ some are even more unscrupulous than the p2p ones...

some other bad examples of this = DungeonDragon online is now as free as these ones ^^.... and many more other p2p failed and ll fail too, also a lot of free too, if its not good ll fail ... can be p2p or free, but p2p ll fail from higher places =P

Sounds good to me. Character creation is the best part of the game. My fun factor with CO declined generally after logging in with my hero.

To do this shows a weakness of sort in my opinion.  I mean it is a good idea to try to get new players to join the game, but I personally think it ruins the game in a sense and also shows that it is in decline.

Some words in the title of this thread is already very inviting: Levels 1-15, Free and Forever.
One way to get everyone to atleast give it a go, but imo in reality you will be greatly dissappointed and somewhat fooled.

Levels 1-15: The given missions and some extra ones like "lost cat" and "police car" will get you somewhere at level 6. Although it starts out as fun making your way to level 6. It only takes a short time to get to that level,  which makes it too short to get a feel for the game.

I suggest not to go through the whole city after you done the last thing in the starter area, you end up exploring an empty city with nothing to do or kill. Instead just go back into the headquarters and just choose to go back to the invasion.

Only then you'll able to grindfest your way from level 6 to 15. Yes the word "grind", people want to be entertained not feel like it is a grind. Sending out a wrong message here.

Free and Forever: Sounds nice, but the starter area is so short and you do not even have your travel power or dabble with other powers and stats. For me those would be the things that would pull me over the edge and buy the game and give it atleast a month a try to see if the content is enjoyable enough to make me wanna stay longer.

Conclusion: This is the wrong way to really get new subs or get people excited. The thanksgiving free playtime was a much better approach. You got further and you were able to dabble with a lot of things and once the days were over, you just craved for more.

In short:

This demo is too short to really get a feel what CO is all about. Although the words like lvl 15, free, unlimited playtime sound so sweet, someone failed to mention that it is only enjoyable to play from level 1-6 and the rest is grind.

To top it off:

They still haven't fixed the last part where you fight along side Defender. The NPC gets stuck behind a pilar and when going to the last panel, the npc also gets stuck in front of closed doors(were the doors suppose to open?). When you figured it out you'll have to walk around the room to get to the last panel, after that you do not know where to go and a minute goes by(which feels like is the game pausing? What am I waiting for?) suddenly a door is blinking with the npc spawning right in front of that door( I would assume he walk and fight with you, not suddenly appear at a door lol). Very sloppy, I mean first impression sets the tone.

I don't mind bugs here and there and later it will be fixed, but not in a demo and certainly not in a starter area.
I mean cmone, your standing there before big doors stepping into an instance on your own and not knowing what to expect.
You see the hero of the game, fighting alongside him, working your way to the end goal and you get these bugs?  :)

I have never objected to a game offering some sort of demo for curious potential customers to try out. I think letting the player try out the game and see for themselves if it appeals to them not only helps draw in new people, but also indicates the game's quality. A successful demo will bring people in and retain them as active subscribers. A bad demo will either push players away or only keep them around to play the demo again since it's free. Whether Champion's Online, or any other game following this trend, presents a good demo is determined by the people who try it out.

I like this trend in general.  I, for one, don't like dumping $40-60 to buy an MMO, play it for a month, decide I don't like it and quit.  Hence, I hardly buy any new MMOs when they come out.  If I don't get into a beta, odds are I'll never even try them. 

Since most MMOs make huge strides in the first six months, free trials are the only real way to get me to consider buying them post beta.  Limited time trials (10 days, 14 days, etc...) all result in me feeling like I'm losing my chance to try the game whenever I decide to spend a night doing something with my wife or raiding with my guild in WoW, etc...  An unlimited trial is much more appealing to me, since it will give me a chance to really see what the game is like and whether or not I want to actually buy it.

That said, having played the tutorial zone of Champions ad nauseum in beta, the thought of the demo being limited to that zone only is disappointing to say the least.  I'd rather see a lower level cap with access to the Canada and Desert Crisis zones.