FAIL!! FAIL!! FAIL!!

And ANOTHER of my games added to the pile that I will never play again.

What a shame.

I'm sorry to hear that Age of Conan is becoming a game where people can buy gear in a store. I have always felt that Funcom are mercenary, almost as mercenary as any game company comes. A lot of people decry SoE and EA, but why don't they about FC?

I mean, AO quite questionably had one of the first models that had people paying subs and trying to intice them to pay for items in an online store and this for quite a while.

I notice there is also a list of haves and have-nots... hmmm...

I just can't be that excited about Secret World because of things like this...

As Everquest 2 showed, a bad game that's suffereing severely diminished numbers will not be saved with this business model..

Originally posted by zellmer

As Everquest 2 showed, a bad game that's suffereing severely diminished numbers will not be saved with this business model..

 

As Lotro showed, a good game that is re-launched with a solid f2p foundation will be saved with this business model..

I never played any f2p pay for content / items MMORPGs and never will. When LOTRO became f2p I finally uninstalled it for good.  It is just wrong and kills any immersion about world.

"I am legendary elf from Rivendell and when I want to enter Moria I have to pay with my CC". LMAO.

**** this system. As someone already posted there are only 3 MMORPGs worth to play atm WoW (thats still getting more and more ****ed up by Blizzard), EVE Online (that is still getting better and better but is not your typical mmorpg :( ) and RIFT.

Originally posted by Thunder

I never played any f2p pay for content / items MMORPGs and never will. When LOTRO became f2p I finally uninstalled it for good.  It is just wrong and kills any immersion about world.

"I am legendary elf from Rivendell and when I want to enter Moria I have to pay with my CC". LMAO.

 

**** this system. As someone already posted there are only 3 MMORPGs worth to play atm WoW (thats still getting more and more ****ed up by Blizzard), EVE Online (that is still getting better and better but is not your typical mmorpg :( ) and RIFT.

 

Lotro is better than it ever has been. besides, what are you going to play when they ALL go f2p?

If you have a competitive PvP game like Age of Conan, the free-to-pay model is a horrible mistake.  People play games to escape reality, and let's face it -- the people who want to escape the most are those who are NOT wealthy.  Bringing the wallet into the game means skill no longer matters, as those who win in real life now buy their way to the top in your game world too.

In a purely PvE game, it doesn't really matter.  In those cases, I don't care if some rich kid gets all the uber gear ahead of everyone else.  The only circumstances where f2p sucks for PvE games is where items are ONLY available via the cash shop.  Last I knew, LOTRO allowed you to get everything via in-game mechanics, and the cash shop just let you get there faster or easier.

Originally posted by quixadhal

Last I knew, LOTRO allowed you to get everything via in-game mechanics, and the cash shop just let you get there faster or easier.

This is how turbine announces their f2p crap. Unfortunately there is this permanent "enter ths shop now"-advertisement everywhere on the screen. And as you cannot get everything ingame they gave their "premium" subscribers "free" points to spent in the shop.

Yeah, that's the immersive world of f2p... Goodbye aoc, we will never meet again.

Originally posted by quixadhal

If you have a competitive PvP game like Age of Conan, the free-to-pay model is a horrible mistake.  People play games to escape reality, and let's face it -- the people who want to escape the most are those who are NOT wealthy.  Bringing the wallet into the game means skill no longer matters, as those who win in real life now buy their way to the top in your game world too.

In a purely PvE game, it doesn't really matter.  In those cases, I don't care if some rich kid gets all the uber gear ahead of everyone else.  The only circumstances where f2p sucks for PvE games is where items are ONLY available via the cash shop.  Last I knew, LOTRO allowed you to get everything via in-game mechanics, and the cash shop just let you get there faster or easier.

There's absolutely nothing that you could say was "competitive" in AoC pvp. All you have is some guys farming rocks and denying others by numbers, from farming said rocks to gain PvP levels. They even removed Premades from the game few months back.

AoC has been a PvE game for many years now, granted, the quality of PvE is rubbish, like one would expect from such a company, but still. I love the way they gate raids by creating content, that can't be conquered, then don't even change it in a timely manner.

If FC's way of F2P goes through, every single F2P player is going to be a free punching bag to old subs who kept AA's. AoC is already boring @max lvl content, so I wonder how they mean to keep said F2P guys in the game when there's been a major problem to keep people playing after 80 in the first place.

Originally posted by Rawiz

There's absolutely nothing that you could say was "competitive" in AoC pvp. All you have is some guys farming rocks and denying others by numbers, from farming said rocks to gain PvP levels.

AoC has been a PvE game for many years now, granted, the quality of PvE is rubbish, like one would expect from such a company, but still. I love the way they gate raids by creating content, that can't be conquered, then don't even change it in a timely manner.

If FC's way of F2P goes through, every single F2P player is going to be a free punching bag to old subs who kept AA's. AoC is already boring @max lvl content, so I wonder how they mean to keep said F2P guys in the game when there's been a major problem to keep people playing after 80 in the first place.

Flawed arguments. The whole 'farming rocks' thing only exists since Bori and that was implemented April 2010. Before that, pvp was lively and engaging in sieges, minigames and places like Kheshatta.

As for the PvE, personal tastes can differ, true, but I think you'll find many players who'll disagree with you who did find the PvE fun and interesting. It's one of the MMO's where I enjoyed leveling most.

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

Originally posted by Rawiz

There's absolutely nothing that you could say was "competitive" in AoC pvp. All you have is some guys farming rocks and denying others by numbers, from farming said rocks to gain PvP levels.

AoC has been a PvE game for many years now, granted, the quality of PvE is rubbish, like one would expect from such a company, but still. I love the way they gate raids by creating content, that can't be conquered, then don't even change it in a timely manner.

If FC's way of F2P goes through, every single F2P player is going to be a free punching bag to old subs who kept AA's. AoC is already boring @max lvl content, so I wonder how they mean to keep said F2P guys in the game when there's been a major problem to keep people playing after 80 in the first place.

Flawed arguments. The whole 'farming rocks' thing only exists since Bori and that was implemented April 2010. Before that, pvp was lively and engaging in sieges, minigames and places like Kheshatta.

As for the PvE, personal tastes can differ, true, but I think you'll find many players who'll disagree with you who did find the PvE fun and interesting. It's one of the MMO's where I enjoyed leveling most.

"Flawed arguments"? The best way to get top notch PvP gear is to farm rocks. That's a fact. I'd like to see you argue it in totally flawless argument. We are also not living in a "memory lane" where sieges (lol, no one even mentions them anymore) actually had a true purpose, now all we got is ghost sieging complaints. Minigames have been made all out slugging matches with no strategy on either side, just random pugs. Kheshetta was very cool back in the day, however since there's absolutely no real goal to be there, why would anyone try to PvP there now? Its a lot easier to farm rocks.

Sorry, where exactly did I say leveling is total suckage in AoC? As far as I know, AoC is an MMO (or pretends hard to be one), MMO's are also notorious of the fact that max level is when the true game begins. Getting there is just one small part of the journey.

Originally posted by Rawiz

Originally posted by quixadhal

If you have a competitive PvP game like Age of Conan, the free-to-pay model is a horrible mistake.  People play games to escape reality, and let's face it -- the people who want to escape the most are those who are NOT wealthy.  Bringing the wallet into the game means skill no longer matters, as those who win in real life now buy their way to the top in your game world too.

In a purely PvE game, it doesn't really matter.  In those cases, I don't care if some rich kid gets all the uber gear ahead of everyone else.  The only circumstances where f2p sucks for PvE games is where items are ONLY available via the cash shop.  Last I knew, LOTRO allowed you to get everything via in-game mechanics, and the cash shop just let you get there faster or easier.

******* AoC is already boring @max lvl content, so I wonder how they mean to keep said F2P guys in the game when there's been a major problem to keep people playing after 80 in the first place. ******* <- ding ding ding

and you just pretty much described the problem almost all major MMO"s (and upcoming MMO's) face.   Yet everyone thinks changing the subscription model is the solution!!!  As opposed to finding a way to get people to be willing to keep playing....

Its like *big hint* if I am not willing to pay to play the "end game" then making it free won't make me log in either .. so that big shiney cash shop isn't going to be hearing much *ka ching*

Originally posted by Rawiz

"Flawed arguments"? The best way to get top notch PvP gear is to farm rocks. That's a fact. I'd like to see you argue it in totally flawless argument. We are also not living in a "memory lane" where sieges (lol, no one even mentions them anymore) actually had a true purpose, now all we got is ghost sieging complaints. Minigames have been made all out slugging matches with no strategy on either side, just random pugs. Kheshetta was very cool back in the day, however since there's absolutely no real goal to be there, why would anyone try to PvP there now? Its a lot easier to farm rocks.

Like I said, farming rocks is only something that happened since April 2010, before that you earned PvP xp the hard way. The same as it will be on the Blood & Glory hardcore pvp server.

Sorry, where exactly did I say leveling is total suckage in AoC? As far as I know, AoC is an MMO (or pretends hard to be one), MMO's are also notorious of the fact that max level is when the true game begins. Getting there is just one small part of the journey.

You said PvE sucked, leveling is part of PvE. In fact, quite some MMO gamers consider that the journey (of the leveling) more important and interesting in MMO's than the destination (the level cap content). As for the raids and dungeons, they're not on the level of a WoW, but the Khitai dungeons sure were a lot of fun, which is a main criterium for PvE content.

Originally posted by fivoroth

Originally posted by Manestream

and then all the free players discover the game is not free, would have cost alot less than a monthly fee did and then vacate the game once again, however this time the monthly fee subscribers will also leave.

How can it cost more? If you want to pay a sub, you can always pay for premium and get access to everything.

AoC is not doing well at all. And there is no hope that the game will pick up. So they try something new to revitalise their game. So they have 2 options:

1. Change nothing. Their game remains unsuccessful with 100% certainty.

2. Change to this new model. Two outcomes. New model fails and it doesn't get too many new players. Or it can attract tons of new players and actually become much more profitable.

A 100% fail situation or ?% that your game may turn out to be a success. I don't think you even need to think twice about this.

Wow what people don't know there was a study's done on this and on avarage people that play a mmo consistantly will pay more on a monthly basis for a f2p game vers a P2p. It works out to $20 to $25 for f2p and $15 for p2p. The reason is the game shops are priced so when you buy all the stuff you get for a flat rate in a p2p game you have ot spend more. Why do you think Tribines earning are up so much sense LOTRO went f2p. Now if you are only going to play a few hours a week then the f2p model will be cheeper

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

Like I said, farming rocks is only something that happened since April 2010, before that you earned PvP xp the hard way. The same as it will be on the Blood & Glory hardcore pvp server.

You said PvE sucked, leveling is part of PvE. In fact, quite some MMO gamers consider that the journey (of the leveling) more important and interesting in MMO's than the destination (the level cap content). As for the raids and dungeons, they're not on the level of a WoW, but the Khitai dungeons sure were a lot of fun, which is a main criterium for PvE content.

Oh yea, the server that was announced to be added in may 2011. Let's see when that actually happens. Also as far as I know, Bori is included in the "new" server (that has all the AoC pvp problems carried into it). A new server solves nothing, by the way, there's a lot deeper problems in AoC pvp than that. Few examples: CC balance, Rangers, combo skipping, stamina bugs, and oh so many more.

I said PvE sucked, if you wish to argue that, then let's just retract that statement and say ENDGAME SUCKS. Leveling is actually a lot of fun, unless you'd like to see people while leveling.

The Blood & Glory server will be opened at the same as AoC foes F2P or near that date, and I'm pretty sure about it that Bori won't be part of it, next to that there will be some other changes and differences from the common pvp servers as well.

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

The Blood & Glory server will be opened at the same as AoC foes F2P or near that date, and I'm pretty sure about it that Bori won't be part of it, next to that there will be some other changes and differences from the common pvp servers as well.

Do you have a link to recent additions to this new server? I'd really like to see some facts, that PvP issues would be solved for it. As far as I know, even if Bori doesn't get enabled on it, there's a lot of other issues to be solved prior to its release.

About the release that coincide with the F2P move, I read that in a Q&A interview from last week. An official ruleset for the new hardcore PvP server hasn't been released yet, so far they've held a number of polls regarding several things (see EU and US official forum, PvP section), and Bori was voted against with more than 90%. There's no use opening a new hardcore PvP server if most PvP'ers won't come anyway if Bori is included.

Originally posted by Clywd

Originally posted by quixadhal

Last I knew, LOTRO allowed you to get everything via in-game mechanics, and the cash shop just let you get there faster or easier.

This is how turbine announces their f2p crap. Unfortunately there is this permanent "enter ths shop now"-advertisement everywhere on the screen. And as you cannot get everything ingame they gave their "premium" subscribers "free" points to spent in the shop.

Yeah, that's the immersive world of f2p... Goodbye aoc, we will never meet again.

The LotRO game store has always had exclusives that offered advantage.  Their "convenience" meme was just a marketing cover for selling advantage.  It was just marketing muddle so they wouldn't offend P2P gamers while pushing the gray areas.  What the hell is a convenience if not an advantage?  Anything that buffs a character is an advantage, and I would have been okay with that if they had offered that via direct game play.

From the beginning they ahve sold health and power potions, exclusively in the store, that are better than their in game counterparts in every way (strength, cooldown, etc).

They have sold stat tomes since day one in the store that have a pathetic in game drop rate.

They have recently revamped their 'end game' Legendary Item system such that slotted enhancements can only be removed by an in store purchase.  With this last update they included exclusive in combat buffs and top tier Legendary Item enhancements.

"Hybrid" is a doublespeak marketing campaign to gut the P2P game design and payment model and get users accustomed to paying for content and game mechanics we used to recieve as part of our subscription.

Funcom won't be much different from Turbine or any other F2P publisher.  There are some foundational principles all F2P games share.  Those all support the idea of driving store sales.  All F2P games need to do that in order for success.  AoC can't be much different and still succeed as a F2P.

TL;DR - Pay me now or pay me later.  Pay me less now or pay me a hell of a lot more later and pretend the latter means it's free.