"Free" DC Universe Online Revenues Jump 700 Percent

[tharglet]

I enjoy this game, but yeah, I don't see myself playing it long-term like I did with WoW.
I really like the missions, and the game I find fun to play, but yeah... I'm not lv 30 yet.

The UI and default control scheme could do with some work, to make it a lot easier to navigate the menus. There's quite a few bits of the UI I only learned about by reading all the way through the keybindings list :/. The standard / commands are there, but I'm not sure if there's anything that points you to their existence - with WoW you could get to some stuff through menus, and screwing up a command would end up spamming the help at you.

Another thing that annoys me is you can only seemingly use 6 "spells" whilst fighting, and the game gives you tons more you can put points in, so I'll probably end up with spells I never use and a bunch of points that aren't really that usable.

I think the game is well worth checking out for free, but don't expect it to be a longterm MMO. I suspect their profit will take a nosedive again soon enough tbh, unless there's something to really engage the lv 30's for awhile.

Btw, if anyone's on EUPC PvE, quote me with your character name, and I can add you to my friends list. Not currently in a league atm, and kinda been skipping the group instances and the PvP arenas lol.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Don't know why people discredit the F2P model. It's a good model. You get players in the door with free content and then more then a few will be willing to pay to get more. Lower barrier of entry, more potential profit.

 

[tharglet]

more then a few will be willing to pay to get more. Lower barrier of entry, more potential profit.

This is why people are wary of it - some games end up really expensive to play at a decent level, and you end up wasting your time levelling on a game you can't afford to do well in. The good f2p games make it so you can play well enough for free, but there's a decent enough incentive to pay for things.

 

[Amnestic]

Also what's the odds WoW will switch to this soon enough.

Very low. Between the Annual Pass and Mists of Pandaria, WoW is likely going to remain subscription based for another two years at least. Free to play WoW just isn't at all a reasonable prediction based off of the information we currently have.

WoW's microtransction area will likely increase (we've seen a very noticeable gain in recent months, including the Winged Guardian Cub which is essentially paying Blizzard for gold), but going entirely F2P is not going to happen in the near future.

Now all I need to do is get some paper to call me an 'analyst' and I can get quoted on every single games journalist website for stating the obvious.

"WoW will not be following the trend into free to play" says noted Video game Analyst Amnestic

He also stated that while Microtransactions may increase in the short term overall the future of WoW is secure with its fee paying model.

Michael Pachter meanwhile took time out from predicting high sales figures for the next call of Duty and GTA5 to reveal that the Nintendo Wii will remain popular with families.

Heheh. Precisely.

Problem is, people allowed Blizzard to do the micro transactions on subscription based MMO, and when some people pointed out it will only get worse, trying to rally the community against it, we got shushed "it's just a re-skinned horse", "don't want it, don't buy it", "it doesn't change the game".
These days, aside form vanity stuff Blizzard not only sells loads of services like character transfer, gender/faction changes, etc. which all should be included in subscription-fee as they are fully automated, but also sells gold, indirectly, through the vanity pet that can be sold through in game auction house.

Blizzard have still skirted around selling power to players though. This latest Winged Guardian Cub pet (which is essentially buying gold) gets close, but it's really more buying convenience, in the same way that buying a temporary bonus to EXP would be. I expect when they start selling power directly, that's going to be when players really decide to object.

I agree that the services like name changes, faction changes, guild name changes etc. should really not cost anything, since once the system gets implimented it's all automated. I know I've never paid for any of those services, and I never will. Sadly, my voting-with-my-wallet will be lost in the sea of all the people who vote the other way.

 

[Twilight_guy]

more then a few will be willing to pay to get more. Lower barrier of entry, more potential profit.

This is why people are wary of it - some games end up really expensive to play at a decent level, and you end up wasting your time levelling on a game you can't afford to do well in. The good f2p games make it so you can play well enough for free, but there's a decent enough incentive to pay for things.

Well yeah if it's model is poorly designed and stupid, but by the same token even a subscription game can have a poorly designed and stupid system too. The core notion of a f2p system doesn't necessarily mean that its going to wind up with an idiot pay to win scheme though yet it seems to be a system demonized too often as that or as some scum of earth dieing ploy for money and casual gaming or something.

 

[Beautiful End]

I still don't get how to equip powerful items without changing my character's outfit. And if it meant to change my character's outfit, then why create a character's outfit at the beginning of the game anyway?

Inventory -> Style -> Lock All. If you want your original look back, you'll have to go through all the subsections and change them. One nice thing is that you don't need to keep the item to retain the option to use its look. Character customisation in DCUO is one of the most robust I've seen once you figure it all out.

Dang. I would still like to keep my original outfit at all times, even if I'm offered a powerful armor or something (RPG term, sorry). See, with something like Dragon Age, they don't ask you to develop your clothing or anything because it will definately change as the game progresses. But with DCUO, if my outfit is gonna change, then I don't see the point, even if I can ultimately get my original look back.
And it doesn't help that I still can't read that tiny font. I have to get super close to the screen or push stuff randomly to see what happens.

But I digress.