Originally posted by Method01

Why should a game with close to 10 mil subs go f2p? I know you mentioned it's only to lvl 60, but i really don't think Blizzard are that desperate to make it f2p up to lvl 60. 

WoW is already F2P, it's not a question of "why". He is just suggesting to increase the F2P cap from 20 to 60 to gett F2P customers more invested in the game.

To be honest I am suprised the article calls it the #1 MMO.   I mean they lost almost 4 million subscribers over the last 2 years, and the only thing that makes them look like the #1 MMO is the sheer amount of money they dump in to advertising it.   Still level 60 cap or not is sitll not there max level and there the ONLY MMO to do this.  Not to mention the game engine itself has not seen any real updates since release.

For comparision on that last statement lets address something recent.

SOE has recently released SOEmote for there EverQuest 2 game.   This required updateing the game engine itself to allow for webcame facail recognition.  Which is someting that SOE wouldn't do for a game with a low player base, one just has to look at there past business conduct to see this.

To me if Warcraft wants it's vunted title back in a real sense, and not by padding there numbers with dead accounts (yes I know folks that can confirm this).   They need to do more then release a new race, they need to totally change there business model for the times, and actually do things players want and actually support things in game live like every other company out there does.

Till that happens I think there increase to 60 for F2P very likely won't change a thing.

Originally posted by bfpiercelk

Originally posted by purewitz
WOW needs to either go F2P or die a slow painful death. As much as some people may not want it, F2P  & B2P are becoming the standards of MMO business models. P2P is going going the way of the dinosaurs. In the beginning P2P saved people from having to pay by the hour to play a game, but people don't want to pay a monthly subscription any more in today's world economy. Alot of people also don't want to throw away money on something they might not like, because they don't have the money to lose.

 

Riiiiiight...

There are nearly 10 million subscribers to WoW alone, not counting the number of people that still pay subs to LotRO, TOR, and others.

I hope you're not an analyst, because you are terribad at it.

LOTRO is already F2P and TOR is going F2P later this year. Plus the recent numbers for WOW is 9 million. Which still is number 1, but in years past we have seen higher numbers from WOW is on a steady decline. If they don't go F2P soon, they'll continue to lose a million or two every 3 to 6 months. Plus just found out today. The Secret World is going F2P at some point as well and its a brand-new game too and their already talking about going F2P. So I really don't see P2P being the norm in the near future. On a side note: No I'm not an analyst, but it doesn't take genius to see how the MMO market is changing. For the better or the worse, only time will tell.

Originally posted by LordTyphon

To be honest I am suprised the article calls it the #1 MMO.   I mean they lost almost 4 million subscribers over the last 2 years, and the only thing that makes them look like the #1 MMO is the sheer amount of money they dump in to advertising it.   Still level 60 cap or not is sitll not there max level and there the ONLY MMO to do this.  Not to mention the game engine itself has not seen any real updates since release.

Maybe because it is the #1 MMO regarding subs? They may have lost a substantial amount of subs, but when they still have more than four times as many as their nearest competitor it's a bit foolish to try and claim it's not the top MMO.

Originally posted by OldBiker

The starter edition is nothing more than a free trail.  It is so limited that nobody can actually play it.  Blizzard already gives away vanilla and BC when you buy the Northrend expansion.

Given all that it really wouldn't hurt Blizzard to open up all of the vanilla and BC content to a F2P model.  However, it will dump a ton of asshats into Azeroth that the players will have to deal with.  Although, WoW already has the loin's share of asshats.

 

 

The arsehats will all be in GW2 as WoW ios yesterdays news and they are the new hipsters. 

Personally for me its the way to go as others have mentioned 1-20 doesn't really get you invested in you character but 60 levels should. I play from time to time on a medium pop server and thes tarter zones are dead and when you search the players base it seems 90%+ are 85 and they'll probably stick to a sub.

Originally posted by sniperman248
It would be a great idea. And for the oh they have 9.1million subs here's the thing Aion had 11 million yet they went f2p and now their population went up to 16million and they are making more money than they did off of subscriptions alone. People are willing to spend more on a cash shop a week than what blizzard is making now just in one month.

Thats weed you're smoking there must be mighty fine.

Originally posted by Treekodar

If WoW is F2P till level 60 AND you can use the AH, then you'll see an even more screwed up economy with botters going on a 24/7 rampage because "You can just make a new account".

 

Does 1-60 really matter when you can complete the content in 2 days?  Blizzard has already devalued the experience so that "new" players can get to the cap faster.

Originally posted by lizardbones


It doesn't matter if they buy expacs all at once or one at a time, they will end up spending close to a $100. More than $100 if they use the Blizzard store. Blizzard has pretty much tapped the market for people who would be willing to buy the game and all the xpacs. They didn't have 10 million people playing since 2006, they've just stopped gaining as many new players as they have been.

Now, I don't think Blizzard needs to do a longer free trial, I just don't think it would hurt the game to do it. It could possibly benefit the game by getting more people playing.

 

Absolutely false, it does not cost over 100 for the full purchase through the Blizzard Store.

Starter Edition = Free

Battle Chest (Vanilla and TBC) = $19.99

Upgrade Package (WOTLK, Cata and Pandaria) = $49.99

49.99 + 19.99 = 69.98

* No tax is charged if you are a US or Canadian resident*

Math is hard!

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Originally posted by Kost

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Originally posted by lizardbones It doesn't matter if they buy expacs all at once or one at a time, they will end up spending close to a $100. More than $100 if they use the Blizzard store. Blizzard has pretty much tapped the market for people who would be willing to buy the game and all the xpacs. They didn't have 10 million people playing since 2006, they've just stopped gaining as many new players as they have been. Now, I don't think Blizzard needs to do a longer free trial, I just don't think it would hurt the game to do it. It could possibly benefit the game by getting more people playing.  

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Absolutely false, it does not cost over 100 for the full purchase through the Blizzard Store.

 

Starter Edition = Free

Battle Chest (Vanilla and TBC) = $19.99

Upgrade Package (WOTLK, Cata and Pandaria) = $49.99

49.99 + 19.99 = 69.98

* No tax is charged if you are a US or Canadian resident*

Math is hard!

---

Originally posted by fahadjafar
their biggest competitor is going f2p, this is a overstatement. ever since relase SWToR was not WoW's competitor, it was it's own competitor. and i think that blizzard should allow unlimited playtime upto the content\expanison a player has bought excpet for MoP. if someone has bought upto cataclysm, let them play contents upto that point for unlimited time. but do take monthly fee for MoP until the next expanison comes. take monthly fee only for the contents of newest expansion, it is more than enough.  

Oddly I would say Eve Online is doing better then them then with this logic.  Eve Onine has to this date a player base strong enough that F2P has never been considered or is being considered for anytime in the forseeable future.  To me that would make it the MMO RPG King as folks are still paying for it, even in this age of F2P MMORPGS.

Originally posted by TigerAero

F2P is for the dogs. I don't understand everyone's thinking. Is everyone really that broke that they are pushing F2P on everyone and every thing?

 

saying that people are broke because they want F2P games tahts just your false assumption. I prefer F2P and B2P games, but if i have to pay a subscription ON and OFF it would be for WoW because it has the Lore that i love. However that doesnt mean i support subscriptions, i have only played like 5 months overall since i bought WoW when Cata launched (played private servers since TBC).

Now, i can afford a constant sub for mmos but i hate the greed of the developers / publishers... I buy a game and i have to rent it as well or i cant play it? bullshit.

I accept that you support subscriptions if its fine for you. But, supporting subs to a level where you get to insult and blame F2P gamers of being broke is like bending over to the devs then paying them monthly to let you do the job down there if you know what i mean.....

WOW is the only one left with a fixed subscription (EVE as the only other one but in SF mode).

As long as this club fee attracts multi million players there is no need to go for the free to play market.