They have done many things differently so far. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out and how successful they are. They've certainly had some great ideas, but implementation is everything.

I honestly believe that many more games will begin to try and follow the Guild Wars model, including SWTOR. If they can't beat WoW , then why not try for the second most popular AAA game. Seems to work for NCsoft. Some argue GW isn't an MMO, it's not traditional like we have seen over the years, but the gameplay model in GW2 will change, and the payment method will remain the same.

The game does well, and GW2 will do well. The argument I would use is that either people lie about making RMT purchases, or the people who make the purchases more then make up for the ones who make no purchases at all based on their average purchase.

So the whole argument that companies need money from monthly subs to stay above water is nil in the shadow of RMT. Why? Because given the opportunity to buy uberness, most hardcore players will be tempted to just take the dive, and spend a lot doing it. An interesting poll here would be “How much do you spend on average per year in an RMT MMO?” or “how much do you spend period beyond your regular monthly sub in an MMO?” including cash, characters, weapons ect.

I’ve never made a purchase outside any game, but I have known plenty who have bought in game credits/money, weapons and items on ebay for SWG, EQ2, WoW just for that extra edge.
 

i guess ill buy this game if it has no montly fee. It looked like id would be interesting.

Just dream about apb since 2006, nice to hear it wont need a monthly fee ...

Just hope they wont implement a cash shop, and follow an alternative "GW" f2p model :)

Originally posted by tillamook

An interesting poll here would be “How much do you spend on average per year in an RMT MMO?” or “how much do you spend period beyond your regular monthly sub in an MMO?” including cash, characters, weapons ect.

None, I won't play them.  Any game where you can buy extras is a game I don't play.  If that means that I play no MMOs in the future, so be it.  

Because anytime you buy something where this price is not agreed upon upfront, you are getting ripped off. Plain and simple. RTM and Item Malls are just like casinos, the house always wins, nothing in life is free.  Look at how well people did with Variable Rate Loans, those basically destroyed Americas economy because people didn't know the price upfront.

Pay an agreed price upfront, or get ripped off. Those are your two options.

If you check out the APB official website's FAQ section and it says this:

How much will APB cost?

The actual price for the game itself is still under discussion but we’ll keep you up to date. We can confirm that APB will not require a monthly subscription.

Sounds like to me, its gonna be like Guild Wars. I'll even bet that MAG and  a few other upcoming Massive Multiplayer Online Shooters go the same way.

There will be microtransactions for sure. But I will buy this game! Heck I will pre ordered when they release it. May be a breath of fresh air in MMos!

no monthly fee? where can i preorder this?

On one hand, this announcement sucks to me because F2P MMO's tend to suck (I hate item malls).

However, if they're not even going to bother trying to make a real "MMO" out of it, and I get to play for free on servers hosted by them (kinda like Tribes in the old days, Dynamix had servers on both USA coasts, hosted for free), and I get everything in game without having to spend another DIME outside of the box price, then I will buy it and play it like any other FPS game with a lobby.

However, with their "horizontal" marketing scheme, sounds like 2 things to me: Item malls and tons of small expansions that you have to buy (ala GW). At that point, why not just charge a subscription fee and make things easier? Amazing how the wheel revolves around...

Well shit...

Ive been looking forward to this game since ive seen its details... If it goes with a  cash shop i wont touch it.

If its a guildwars, buy the game play forever thing then sure im there. Guess its a wait and see situation.

Crap!

I hate cash shop games.

Instead of steadily paying them my subscription, I am now to be blasted with ads telling me to buy this and this ingame/outgame item. And the games progress will be slowed down so I "need" their cash shop stuff so I wont die of boredom grinding.

*sigh*

I wish that the game will be a No-Fee-successor like Guild Wars :) :)

It's like Guild Wars, that would great

If it has a cash shop that has just fluff items, fine with that too, cause of the no monthly fee.

If it has a cash shop with weapons, or things to gain extra XP, or gear with stats, no thanks.

Don't suppose anyone has considered that while they make their "sub" money from box sales, ala GW, they make the rest from in game ads, such as billboards, cars, decals, clothing lines, shops (that you may or may not be able to enter), etc. The reality is that with this game setting, their income potential is nearly limitless, without the need for subs/ item malls. And since you have one half of your base decreeing one or the other, why not choose door number 3?

Just another nail in the coffin why this game is NOT a MMO.  Just a FPS behind all the so called multiplayer functions....

Originally posted by GreenChaos

Originally posted by tillamook

An interesting poll here would be “How much do you spend on average per year in an RMT MMO?” or “how much do you spend period beyond your regular monthly sub in an MMO?” including cash, characters, weapons ect.

 

None, I won't play them.  Any game where you can buy extras is a game I don't play.  If that means that I play no MMOs in the future, so be it.  

Because anytime you buy something where this price is not agreed upon upfront, you are getting ripped off. Plain and simple. RTM and Item Malls are just like casinos, the house always wins, nothing in life is free.  Look at how well people did with Variable Rate Loans, those basically destroyed Americas economy because people didn't know the price upfront.

Pay an agreed price upfront, or get ripped off. Those are your two options.

Well lots of people play games like Atlantica. Those entirely F2P games aren't worth much IMHO though and are nothing more than a cash grabs for the companies since the do little in the way of providing any real service to free customers. If you don't spend any money, you have little to do. Now if they do it like GW then it might be worth checking out. I'm not saying all MMOs should become item malls, just that eventually they will begin to offer alternative subscription methods to fit all budgets.

You and I have no problem spending money on monthly subs, some people do and it's keeping a large potential playerbase out of the genera because of it. By making it more accessible they increase their reach and potentially their revenue. Look at Guild Wars as an example. It might not work for every game, but it does for them.