General Discussion

Now, I realize this topic has probably been done before about oh... 50-100 times. But I have not seen it in the first 3 pages so I put it up anyways, I want to compare what people here say VS people on onrpg and Guru.

What would you rather have in mmorpgs Cash shops or Pay 2 play and why? Consider factors like Quality of product, support of product, and overall price.

Ill make a few points on both here for the few people who have yet to play a pay 2 play or Free 2 play.

F2P mmorpgs

Cash shop driven

Usually F2P only by name, If you want a character to be some where on the top cash shop items are usually required

Free download no need to buy anything from the store (Except guild Wars)

Free to get into and test out see if you like it.

Usually has slow support and very slow updates compared to P2P games

Much more bots and spammers

Usually inferior graphics to a P2P game of the same time (Ex. Cabal vs Hellgate London)

Heavy focus on a grind with little to no goal until you reach the max level then you can easily predict PvP at the end.

Clan wars and Nation wars is what most of these games do to keep you interested if not all of them.

Open world PK usually or in some way

For the most part they have better music than P2P mmorpgs A few exceptions here.

player shop driven economy, Usually these games have no AH there are a few exceptions here.

Large low level to mid level player base, high levels not so much due to the heavy grind.

Pay 2 play mmorpgs

Usually a subscription fee of 10-15 dollars a month you can access the full game and all updates with this fee.

Usually superior in graphics

There is usually AH economy system implemented on these games.

Usually very grind oriented but with quests and small motivations to keep you interested, not just a grind from 1-100.

Music is horrible for the majority There are exceptions.

Usually a much lower population than F2P games at lower to mid levels, However high level and elitism is very strong in P2P games.

For the most part Faster support than F2P games.

Easier to get in contact with costumer support usually does not take 24-48 hours to get your emails back.

Will usually do more to fix your problem.

You have to fork over a credit card number or Debit card in order to play these, and to even try them.

Unlike F2P games there is usually no download here, you also have to go to the store and buy a 20-50 dollar game on top of the subscription fee.

A good portion of people who play these games end up playing for a long amount of time compared to F2P mmorpgs.

The games I have played are  Shaiya, Cabal online, Sword of the new world, Lost Chaos, 12 Sky, 2 Moons, Guild wars, Rohan online, Dungeon Runners, FFXI, D&D online, World of warcraft, Phantasy star Universe, Hellgate London, Lord of the rings online, Pirates of the burning Sea, POTC online, & Lineage 2.

My comparisons are based on those games that I have played so there might be a few exceptions but for the most part its very accurate to what I have played F2P and Pay 2 play. (Usually played most of those games for a month or 2 but FFXI, WoW, and PSU I played for over 2 years and still play PSU.

I personally prefer Pay to play games, Reason is I usually feel like I am getting the full experience out of the box after I pay the fee. And these games usually have open worlds with many things to do in them, not just grind, I feel F2P games are Grind grind grind ----> PvP While Pay 2 play games have a lot of that but they also offer much more variety with great crafting systems  and the ability to choose Dungeons Group PvE oriented stuff or PvP as your main focus once you reach the cap, There is just more variety in P2P games and you don't get the feeling of being gimped 1/2 the time like in F2P games.

So what do you guys prefer pay 2 play or Free 2 play ? 

Sorry about some spelling my key's are a bit broken sometimes they don't type unless I slam them, I should buy a new keyboard....

There is 1 real good reason I prefer cash shop titles.  Cash Shop based games lose money the longer you stay on.  They want casual players that are on 1~2 hours daily so thier bandwidth doesn't get flooded.  They also want the lazy who will purchase thier items.  On the other hand p2p games only make money by keeping the play on.  So what you end up with is a huge time-sink grind as opposed to a more casual cash shop game.