After several long term relationships with MMOs over the years, MMORPG.com's Isabelle Parsley might appear to be "lookin' for love in all the wrong places" as she haunts what some would call the seedier, F2P, side of town. See what Isabelle has discovered in her journey to the F2P Side and then weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments.

I don’t know if this is a general MMO-gamer thing or a specifically Western MMO-gamer thing. F2P has been around a lot longer in the Far Eastern MMO market and, from where I’m standing, appears to be relatively well accepted. But here in the West, those of us who were brought up on a steady diet of monthly subs still seem to have a strong resistance to that payment model. It’s made me wonder if F2P will ever make the transition to serious respectability here, or whether we’re always going to think that paying for something means you’re getting more.

Read more of Isabelle Parsley's Player Perspectives: Looking for a F2P Love.

Try Ragnarok Online. It's under some f2p thing at this point, but it used to be strictly Gravity. I've enjoyed this game since my early teens.

Ive been playing world of tanks for the last year.  You didnt mention it and it is free to play and alot of fun.  its just not fantasy and you strike me as a fantasy player.  not certain if tanks qualifies as a full mmo but it is fun enough it has kept me interested for a year now and only two other games have done that for me, asherons call and city of heroes, so it is doing something right.  

good luck on your search.

"there are a few games out there that have always been F2P to some degree and that do it very well – Guild Wars and Wizard 101 to name but two. Both those games have revenue options and real-money shops, but neither of them bashes you over the head with the need to pay anything if you don’t really want to."

Uhm, Wizard 101 is a F2P demo.  You can only access very limited intro content and then they joyfully bash you over the head to pay for each little crumb of content so you can progress.

Why jump into F2P at all?  I was bored as heck with what is currently offered in the sub model MMO list and thought I'd try a small handful of F2P games.  Not my style of gaming, business model, or community at all.  The only one I'd suggest, if you really wanted to go that route, is LoTRO.  That one, at least, is a quality, polished game to sink your teeth into.  I hear EQ2's F2P model is $medley's greasy wet dream of nickle and diming greed, so I'd avoid that one.

I'm playing Oblivion until the Open Beta for GW2 comes out, then I'll see what I play next when the new year starts.

I've been back to LOTRO in the past months, and being F2P now is not a big issue: you can easily buy quest packs, and for other stuff there's not a real need. No discrimination now for F2P :)

Is always a good old solid game, maybe a bit dated for something, but there are a lots of things to do.

good luck:)

I've very recently begun a F2P odyssey while waiting for all the "real" MMOs to launch. I've tried Luvivia, Forsaken World, Dragon Nest, AoC....yadda, yadda. Right now giving EQ2's free version a go.

They all disappoint compared to P2P. There is a lack of content and expansiveness even in the games designed for F2P from the get-go. And the freemium games are just an exercise in frustrating resource management, whether that be lack of bag space, limited questing, or inability to chat or auction.

I may give Fallen Earth another go . I had such anticipation for that game, but it never lived up to my own hype. I don't have very high hopes though.

TOR, GW2, and TSW can't launch soon enough for me. Ah well, back to single-player for now.

I would say Fallen Earth, but with recent changes in their updates I suggest you closely look at the patch notes and the forumposts about them. Some fundamental things have changed with resource gathering and npc merchants. Devs are pushing gatherers to PVP areas, and if you were used to play a toon specced for crafting (so gimped for PVP), then have fun with the gankers :p But as guild it can be fun to fight for those rare resources I guess.

Another thing is the change to the resource nodes. They dont spawn in clusters anymore in known spots. They now spawn in rare places all over the map and not in clusters. So if you set out to find certain specific resources, good luck with that. The whole exploring to find clusters of good resources is gone now. Next time they wont spawn there anymore.

On the other hand it offers I think the most for F2P players.

Vindictus and Dragon Nest are fun F2P games too if you like more twitched based combat. Im normally not a fan of the graphics style like in Dragons Nest, but the combat totally made up for it.

you said that Atlantica is on your list, give it a try , it is a mmo twist on heroes might and magic.  Perfect world? a bit confusing , very nice graphics.  I wojld try Ryzom although if you did not like Vanguards graphics (absurd in my opiinion, tht graphics and animations are certainly better than wow) you may not like Ryzoms

I would say, Age of Conan. That would give you a better understanding of Funcom sence you are waiting for TSW like me.

Well, I'll comment on LotRO and try and give you an update.

If you're mostly concerned about class division and being labeled a second class player, then I think most of LotRO players have gotten over that.  I have old characters on Nimrodel, and started a new bunch on Crickhollow when it launched last year, and I can say most just don't care one way or the other if you're VIP, Premium, or FreePlay.

With LotRO you're still not going to get far unless you spend some money on quest packs and some unlocks, but you're not at a huge disadvantage once you do spend a little money and upgrade to Premium.  The main disadvantage I see the presenting, and the direction development is taking, is that more and more neat stuff is becoming store exclusive.  This is mostly true if you want really nice cosmetics, newer mounts, or are heavily into "end-game" progression.

So LotRO is a mixed bag right now, but if your main concern is labeling of F2P then I would say that isn't a problem.

I have been in a similar situation as yourself and have looked for an engaging F2P game, but they all end up disappointing especially when I find out where the gouge lies.  It's not that you can't find a F2P that might be fun, but I don't think you'll find one that offers the quality game play experience P2P offers.  I was subscribed to RIFT alongside LotRO (both sub status) and what RIFT offered just in terms of the game play experience, as a P2P game, was so superior to LotRO.

If you expect to have full access to the game in a non-intrusive manner (ie: always shopping in their store) and a first rate game experience I don't think you're going to find a F2P game that will deliver.  That just isn't part of their model.  If you don't mind a limited, second rate game experience, then most of them will deliver some amusement and diversion for a while.

Originally posted by Arkain

I would say, Age of Conan. That would give you a better understanding of Funcom sence you are waiting for TSW like me.

 

I totally agree.  Plus, their free to play model is one of the best on the market.

Simple, GW's, you have just enought time to make a name for yourself in GW1 before the launch of GW2.

I'm sorry but my opinion means nothing so I can say this.

(putting Guild Wars and Wizard 101 in the same sentence is just wrong on so many levels, so i won't even comment further, since you obviously don't know JACK about ArenaNet)

If you haven't put any thought into GW then your not worth the bytes this forum is using.

Looking over the past 15 years of MMO history, if you can't see what Arenanet is doing, has done, and continues to do for the industry, then your MMO tastes are that of a person who just arrived on earth and you are forgiven.

My favorite by far is a moderately small game run by Aeria Games by the name of Shaiya.

First off.  It runs on any hardware.  For real, it's fully D3D DX9c but it runs sweet.  It's rock solid in terms of operations.  No crashes, no weird fits, and no complaints about drivers.  Absolutely not bug-infested.  Keep in mind I program, and impressing a programmer with solid code isn't easy.  It really does run that well.

Second, it's rather old school.  There is quest progression, but grinding kill XP is very normal here also.

Another old school characteristic is the community.  Yes there's an occasional twit on the trade channel, but nothing terrible.  It's not huge in terms of population, but it does this very well.  An MMO where people are polite and don't run around like egotistical jerks?  Go figure!  And beyond that people actually group together, like even with strangers. *gasp*

It has a few unusual quirks.  One of the most visible is that it's designed for younger mid-teen males.  It's sort of over the top (or topless depending on how you look at it) with the art style.  Ready to tackle an army of Undead Zombie Strippers?  Heh, or maybe the giant snake-lady thingies who arch way back letting the world know they were well endowed at birth?  Or the giant harpies who... well you get the idea.

On the bad side, it's cash shop driven and from the looks of it this game takes a rather large credit card to fully enjoy.  I don't mess with it, I'm not out to be a PVP god and I've got nothing to prove in game.

I do have some screenshots, but nothing that would get past the moderators.  It's listed here on MMORPG.com and for real, it's worth a look.  It may not look like much initially, but it's got a lot going for it.

Good luck on the search.

"...because you’re currently disadvantaged in those games if you don’t subscribe..."

I'm sorry free gaming doesn't come on a golden platter with free peanuts. 

I can suggest the Lord of the rings: online as the best free to play game :-) 

Well, I'm an avid F2P player...

Games I could somewhat talk about:

AIKA: Massive PVP battles between 5 nations almost everytime, good community, mostly quest driven, and you get a nymph with attitude to buff you in battles. Worth a try.

Atlantica Online: When I played this game I felt like playing a Final Fantasy series, the game is very quest driven, you get in control of a whole team of legendary characters, the world map resembles actually our world.

Metin2: Even knowing that its a classical grindfest, the skill system is original, many skills get raised by reading 'Books' that are randomly dropped, the combat is collision based and very action oriented, character levels are not as important as skill levels (a level 35 with 2 skills raised to Perfect can easily defeat a level 54 with 3 skills in Master).

Cosmic Break: This game is not strictly a MMORPG, its a third person shooter with some RPG elements, is more probably in the same category as World of Tanks, S4 League and Savage 2, but with totally modular cute robots. The game lets you change totally the skin of any robot part to your heart's content, and even has a simple 3D modelling app that lets you to create custom heads for your robots. Its obviously, totally action oriented.

Fiesta Online: One of the cutest MMORPGs out there. Even a dragon that is supposed to be one of the hardest enemies of the game looks so cute. A decent PvE experience, but somewhat lacking in teh PvP aspect.

League of Legends: The most newbie friendly of MOBAs. Very good character design, the characters have attitude and this game squeezes basic elements of a RPG game (Leveling up, Crafting, Choosing a Build, Raids, Endgame) in about 45 minutes of frantic, tactic-intensive battle.

Originally posted by wildtalent

Originally posted by Arkain

I would say, Age of Conan. That would give you a better understanding of Funcom sence you are waiting for TSW like me.

 

I totally agree.  Plus, their free to play model is one of the best on the market.

 

Yep, AoC is pretty good, if you don't let the free play inventory space restrictions get to you.  Should you get in the mood for pvp again, APB Reloaded is kind of neat.  Not the world's best community, though, and they're still dealing with the hacker issue.

As for giving your Sims free will, don't bother.  You can buy them the best of everything and put two toilets on every level of their house, and if you take your eyes off them for a second they're all peeing on the floor, missing work, and fighting.

Originally posted by mizanyx

 

AIKA: Massive PVP battles between 5 nations almost everytime, good community, mostly quest driven, and you get a nymph with attitude to buff you in battles. Worth a try.

Played that too.  I got put off by the quest progression, but I agree it's quite top shelf for a F2P offering.

Try City of Heroes, their new hybrid model is very flexible and has something for everyone.