Originally posted by nariusseldon
Well the trend is obvious. Aside from the biggest, most popular MMOs, the whole market is going F2P.

But is it a good thing? Many big AAA MMOs have switch to F2P now, e.g. AOC and LOTRO, while they attract new players and a rush of money they might not be making more money, but just rather enough to keep going, it depends on how it was implemented and how/when you compared the games. The F2P model while becoming more popular does not make it the best model, the best model is one that is implemented the best and managed the best and it varies from game to game.

Originally posted by Tomm-e

Originally posted by nariusseldon
Well the trend is obvious. Aside from the biggest, most popular MMOs, the whole market is going F2P.

But is it a good thing? Many big AAA MMOs have switch to F2P now, e.g. AOC and LOTRO, while they attract new players and a rush of money they might not be making more money, but just rather enough to keep going, it depends on how it was implemented and how/when you compared the games. The F2P model while becoming more popular does not make it the best model, the best model is one that is implemented the best and managed the best and it varies from game to game.

"Good" is relative and subjective. It is certainly "good" from my perspective. I can sample and play MANY games with ZERO commitment.

There is no reason a game needs to go on forever. If I exhause the content (or just the free content) of a F2P game in a few weeks, so what? There are plenty of games out there that i can never play all the fun ones anyway.

And funny that you mention LOTRO. It is expanding with more content. So is DDO. And ROM has been adding content since release too. So i don't see content drying up.

I feel like F2P games have a hidden agenda to somehow get my money in the end so I'd rather just be up front about it and give $15 a month to a reputable gaming company.   If I find that I'm not getting my money's worth I cancel my sub and move on.

Plus, let's face it, any F2P game company would love to be able to charge a monthly fee.  The problem is that their games are sub-par so they have no choice but to give them away for free and hope for the best.

Originally posted by Mythios11

I feel like F2P games have a hidden agenda to somehow get my money in the end so I'd rather just be up front about it and give $15 a month to a reputable gaming company.   If I find that I'm not getting my money's worth I cancel my sub and move on.

 

Plus, let's face it, any F2P game company would love to be able to charge a monthly fee.  The problem is that their games are sub-par so they have no choice but to give them away for free and hope for the best.

 

 

 

hmm .. what hidden agenda? It is not like the cash shop is a SECRET when it is plastered everywhere. I much rather have a cash shop that i can choose NOT to buy from. Plus, if i found the game no fun and stop playing, i will be out only a few hours, and not $15.

Actually LOTRO *was* charging a monthly fee and doing well but F2P can make more MONEY because there are "whales" who subsidize everyone else's gaming.

I don't know about you but i have great fun in STO, DCUO and DDO. So yeah, these game may not be as polished as WOW but who cares? I am having fun and it is free.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

hmm .. what hidden agenda? It is not like the cash shop is a SECRET when it is plastered everywhere. I much rather have a cash shop that i can choose NOT to buy from. 

The choice is the important part and why this subject is so complicated, and varies from game to game, case to case.

The differences are sometimes subtle, f2p playing with paying guys, or on separate servers, the inability to progress past a certain point without cs items and so on, then the advertised "free to play" becomes blurred and foggy, "free to play(but not forever)", "free to play(but not complete)", and people feel cheated, even if you can argue that "free to play" means just "free to play" and nothing else, making rift f2p :)

Flame on!

:)

I only pay $99/year for my subscription only game (that's $8.25/mo) which is less than I've spent on my cash shop "f2p" game this year.  For me, it's mostly about game play and total cost of play.

Gaming is my hobby, specifically mmo gaming, so I rather enjoy the subscription model, where there is no cash shop, more than any other model.  However I play some hybrid or f2p games.  For the latter, if it isn't all about me shopping in the game store and I can enjoy  the entirety of game play for a reasonable price, then I don't mind the shop.  When the game becomes all about the shop (an example of that for me would be LotRO) then I don't play it.

Originally posted by Banaghran

Originally posted by nariusseldon

hmm .. what hidden agenda? It is not like the cash shop is a SECRET when it is plastered everywhere. I much rather have a cash shop that i can choose NOT to buy from. 

 

The choice is the important part and why this subject is so complicated, and varies from game to game, case to case.

The differences are sometimes subtle, f2p playing with paying guys, or on separate servers, the inability to progress past a certain point without cs items and so on, then the advertised "free to play" becomes blurred and foggy, "free to play(but not forever)", "free to play(but not complete)", and people feel cheated, even if you can argue that "free to play" means just "free to play" and nothing else, making rift f2p :)

Flame on!

:)

You are so wrong.  Free to play means you get some level of play for free. No where does it say everything for free.  People are just greedy and want everything for nothing.

Monthly Subscription hands down, games with cash shop instead of subs always end up being more expensive to play.

Of course you could always play a cash shop game without buying anything, but it lowers the quality of the game overall without convenience items, and all the convenience items that would be available for free in sub based games awlays end up being more expensive than 15$ a month.