The game isn't going F2P in atleast 1 year, probably 2-3.

But more importantly, why do people care? No, really, i don't understand this weird focus on the sucess of these games. Also, even more important, how does this make the game less or more fun?

OP is wrong - simply because of the life time subscription model. Going F2P within less than 1.5 years would cause an uproar in the community that could kill the game. 

My guess is 2 years. 

Originally posted by jdnyc

Originally posted by LachyFTW

Originally posted by channel84

As a lifer it doesn't matter if it goes f2p or not, whats matter is funcom track record for pulling out great content and support for their games many years to come.

Not sure if serious.

He's serious and they have.  The problem has always been at launch with them.

 Sure they have...just ask an AoC player how great Funcom is at pulling out great content...the content was so great they had to use a F2P model to save the game in 3 years due to a steady outflow of players sick of waiting for what Funcom kept stating was coming.

But hey, near year 4 it finally got the crafting overhaul Funcom said was coming...during BETA...4 years...for a crafting overhaul. Yeah, Funcom is great...BTW, how is that AoC PvP siege battles doing? Oh yeah...it isnt, never got any real support from Funcom even though they sold the game based on it.

What a joke.  Any game that wants to maximize retail box sales, online downloads etc, will not go F2P in 6 months.  If they wanted to go that way they would either wait longer to go F2P, or start the game that way.  

Originally posted by Sandman24

What a joke.  Any game that wants to maximize retail box sales, online downloads etc, will not go F2P in 6 months.  If they wanted to go that way they would either wait longer to go F2P, or start the game that way.  

 If they had wanted to "Maximize sales" they wouldnt be releasing near the start of summer...it would be closer to Christmas time. The games sales will bottom out and be forgotten about when the gaming sales season starts. Xmas will be bombarded with adverts for GW2, SWTOR and WoW because, no doubt, Pandaria will be coming out near the end of the year. Thats not even including Neverwinter,  Wizardry and possibly even MechWarrior being released by then.

Few will care about TSW come end of the year.

Originally posted by Sandman24

What a joke.  Any game that wants to maximize retail box sales, online downloads etc, will not go F2P in 6 months.  If they wanted to go that way they would either wait longer to go F2P, or start the game that way.  

So far any game that adds or has Item shops has or is going F2p. In simpler terms bilking as much money as can up front and keeping income flow after subs leave.

Originally posted by Aceundor

OP is wrong - simply because of the life time subscription model. Going F2P within less than 1.5 years would cause an uproar in the community that could kill the game. 

My guess is 2 years. 

 This., The fact that a lifetime sub model is offered is reason enough to make the F2P PREDICTION.  It just won't be as soon as the OP thinks.

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Originally posted by Sandman24

What a joke.  Any game that wants to maximize retail box sales, online downloads etc, will not go F2P in 6 months.  If they wanted to go that way they would either wait longer to go F2P, or start the game that way.  

So far any game that adds or has Item shops has or is going F2p. In simpler terms bilking as much money as can up front and keeping income flow after subs leave.

So WoW and EVE are going f2p? Nice. Wanna place a bet on this prediction?

Originally posted by TheSedated

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Originally posted by Sandman24

What a joke.  Any game that wants to maximize retail box sales, online downloads etc, will not go F2P in 6 months.  If they wanted to go that way they would either wait longer to go F2P, or start the game that way.  

So far any game that adds or has Item shops has or is going F2p. In simpler terms bilking as much money as can up front and keeping income flow after subs leave.

So WoW and EVE are going f2p? Nice. Wanna place a bet on this prediction?

Bad comparison ..WOW has managed to sell shit on a stick since 2006 and 10 million folks paid for it ...newer games like Rift Tera and TSW have to supply 5x the product and value to get 1/10 the box sales .I'm not a big fan of F2P and I've become tainted with monthly subs so I really hope the B2P model offered by GW2 becomes  the working template for modern games .

Bad comparison ..WOW has managed to sell shit on a stick since 2006 and 10 million folks paid for it ...newer games like Rift Tera and TSW have to supply 5x the product and value to get 1/10 the box sales .I'm not a big fan of F2P and I've become tainted with monthly subs so I really hope the B2P model offered by GW2 becomes  the working template for modern games .

B2P is just like f2p as it wil have a cash shop with items you need to buy but unlike f2p b2p you have to pay for the box as well..

I done believe funcom are trying to compete for wow users and i think it will do just fine staying as a sub game..

Originally posted by Baddogbill

Originally posted by TheSedated

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Originally posted by Sandman24

What a joke.  Any game that wants to maximize retail box sales, online downloads etc, will not go F2P in 6 months.  If they wanted to go that way they would either wait longer to go F2P, or start the game that way.  

So far any game that adds or has Item shops has or is going F2p. In simpler terms bilking as much money as can up front and keeping income flow after subs leave.

So WoW and EVE are going f2p? Nice. Wanna place a bet on this prediction?

Bad comparison ..WOW has managed to sell shit on a stick since 2006 and 10 million folks paid for it ...newer games like Rift Tera and TSW have to supply 5x the product and value to get 1/10 the box sales .I'm not a big fan of F2P and I've become tainted with monthly subs so I really hope the B2P model offered by GW2 becomes  the working template for modern games .

Oh, it's not a bad comparison. He said "So far ANY game that adds or has item shops has or is going f2p". That's a generalization which includes EVE and WoW, doesn't it?

TSW has pretty decent staying power, but as the MMO market constantly shifts and with the coming of GW2 in 2 months, Funcom is going to have a rough time after 2 months when a good chunk of the playing population has gone through the quests and the sub fees start wearing thin on players when you have better alternatives coming to the market. Tornar has directed and written this game beautifully and added a lot of innovated features especially the questing system which I hope gets repeated in future MMO titles. His not-so strong point is combat and animation fluidity which is also important since you'll have to stare at your character for many hours and performing combat moves over and over. Basing it on Funcom as a publishing platform and powerhouse in the MMO market, this game will probably hit F2P in 8-12 months. By that time Funcom may have announced the new Lego MMO that they acquired very recently.

Originally posted by DMKano

And it has nothing to do with the *quality* of the game, longevity or even number of subs.

The MMORPG model is shifting to F2P + item shop model - this is a fact, the entire industry is moving to this model.

Right now there is a perception in the community that F2P games are inferior in quality as many of the early ones were - but all major game studios with their AAA titles are going to F2P+ microtrans model.

Why? Because it's more lucrative - studies have shown that the same gamer who is refusing to pay $15 per month will often spend up to $40 per month over numerous smaller $1 to $1.50 transactions. This is just the psychology of our consumer mind.

That is all.

Oh and either way - I am looking forward to having fun in TSW, and many other upcoming F2P titles in the future.

 

Agree completely.  Lest it were somehow to share success similar to WoW's when it came out, you'll likely see some F2P option popping up within a year.  A smart business model is all about giving a customer choices.

In the modern day, where broadband access ISN'T growing at 8 braziillion percent a year, growth after launch for an MMO is the exception, not the rule.  Where the sub base used to start relatively small and grow, broadband access has changed all that.  Now, like any game, it's biggest from the start and dwindles from there, hopefully not at an extreme rate.

To add to your comment about revenues, there's also money to be made from us frugals and casuals.  I've bought points for DDO, for example, and play on and off here and there.  Even if I spent only 10-20 bucks over the past year or so, that's 10-20 bucks they'd never have had, had they stuck with a sub only model.  It's a win-win.

I think it will be longer then six months most games now are usually around a year or so....

I think within 1 year, but more then 6 months.

6 months could be too soon, but OP is on the right track here - the business model is just bad. I'd gladly play the game and pay for some cash shop vanity items if it didn't have a sub, but cmon, a sub AND a cash shop? makes zero sense and will end up costing the game a lot of potential players.

Originally posted by Abstracted

6 months could be too soon, but OP is on the right track here - the business model is just bad. I'd gladly play the game and pay for some cash shop vanity items if it didn't have a sub, but cmon, a sub AND a cash shop? makes zero sense and will end up costing the game a lot of potential players.

Not really. The reason it's there in the first place is because Funcom knows the masses will pay for anything. Who do you think is responsible for sub and CS in the first place? What will hurt the game is:

1- It's a themepark, meaning players will race to endgame, consume all content and QQ there's nothing to do and leave.

2- Combat isn't very good, and masses like "super coolz actioz combtaz" and simpe things, like being toldwhat to do, not workign it out for themselves, just mindless killing, which means this game will annoy alot of people.

Originally posted by Baddogbill

Bad comparison ..WOW has managed to sell shit on a stick since 2006 and 10 million folks paid for it ...newer games like Rift Tera and TSW have to supply 5x the product and value to get 1/10 the box sales .I'm not a big fan of F2P and I've become tainted with monthly subs so I really hope the B2P model offered by GW2 becomes  the working template for modern games .

 I'm with ya

I have no problem paying a sub if you get some value aka decent content update's but it dosnt work that way. they take your money and give you little tirds with it. You fund their expansion and then they charge you box price for content you sub should have paid for. Having to buy expansions pisses me off., I'm being milked.

GW2 with their B2P I dont expect the content updates as I am not paying $15 every month and I will be happy to buy an expansion. I think they're strategy is a good one, it's not so greedy, there is plenty of money to be made by not milking people.

Sadly we as consumer's as a whole are moron's and that's the way we are being treated by many companies and it's only getting worse. If we dont stop eating the shit there shoveling us, you can look forward to paying a lot more and a getting a lot less for your dollar while these greedy suits rake in record profit margin's.

Originally posted by Robsolf

Originally posted by DMKano

And it has nothing to do with the *quality* of the game, longevity or even number of subs.

The MMORPG model is shifting to F2P + item shop model - this is a fact, the entire industry is moving to this model.

Right now there is a perception in the community that F2P games are inferior in quality as many of the early ones were - but all major game studios with their AAA titles are going to F2P+ microtrans model.

Why? Because it's more lucrative - studies have shown that the same gamer who is refusing to pay $15 per month will often spend up to $40 per month over numerous smaller $1 to $1.50 transactions. This is just the psychology of our consumer mind.

That is all.

Oh and either way - I am looking forward to having fun in TSW, and many other upcoming F2P titles in the future.

 

Agree completely.  Lest it were somehow to share success similar to WoW's when it came out, you'll likely see some F2P option popping up within a year.  A smart business model is all about giving a customer choices.

In the modern day, where broadband access ISN'T growing at 8 braziillion percent a year, growth after launch for an MMO is the exception, not the rule.  Where the sub base used to start relatively small and grow, broadband access has changed all that.  Now, like any game, it's biggest from the start and dwindles from there, hopefully not at an extreme rate.

To add to your comment about revenues, there's also money to be made from us frugals and casuals.  I've bought points for DDO, for example, and play on and off here and there.  Even if I spent only 10-20 bucks over the past year or so, that's 10-20 bucks they'd never have had, had they stuck with a sub only model.  It's a win-win.

I like P2P games and a F2P will actually not give me any choice at all. F2P is not some magic trick that can make evryone happy. There will continue to be some stubborn P2P supporters that think its the best business model possible. And there is nothing a company that release F2P games can do to make them happy or satisfied.

Things like "convinience items" and "boost"... The P2P supporter will think its all P2W. And will complain about it all. Like xp-potions, stat boost, cash shop exclusive potions, keys to open chests and so on. There is not much a company can sell in a cash shop if they want the P2P supporters to think its OK. And it would certainly be better to just release a P2P game if they want to focus on them.

So, No. Its not a win-win. They will have to accept that some will refuse to be part of or support the F2P/CS business model.

Originally posted by Aceundor

OP is wrong - simply because of the life time subscription model. Going F2P within less than 1.5 years would cause an uproar in the community that could kill the game. 

My guess is 2 years. 

Would probably depend if they sell enough lifetime subs to cover that time, ala lotro.