Poll: I don't like F2P MMOs

[AdmiralMemo]

Star Trek Online is actually a good counter to this problem. They offer two paid services that are both going to keep them competitive as an MMO and keep their profits up with out pulling that sort of trickery. Especially because they are going free to play. There you can pay for some account extras, or play for free with a little less. There is also their C-Store where you can get unique goods. Most of them are cosmetic, a few are better ships, or weapons or tribbles, but they're not totally necessary.

The other thing that makes their whole C-points thing good is that you could sell C-Points for Dilitihium. Which gave you the option of buying more rare and powerful equipment, but since there are missions that pay dilithium you could avoid it. The real beautiful part is that you can also hoard Dilithium and sell it for C-points to get the unique goods without paying a penny. Truly the right way to do things in the F2P enviroment.

Fallen Sword [http://www.fallensword.com/?ref=1359876] has been using this model for years, with gold and Fallen Sword Points replacing dilithium and C-Points, respectively. Hunted Cow Studios is rolling in cash due to this, relative to the size of their company. It's given them enough money to make their own 3D MMORPG, Eldevin [http://www.eldevin.com/]. (Eldevin has actually always been their main focus, but they needed other on-going projects to give them enough money to make it. Thus, Fallen Sword, and several other browser-based MMORPGs came into being.)

As a Star Trek Online player, I'm glad to see that larger companies are finally realizing this model works very well.

 

[Cowabungaa]

If you consider that I said "anymore" you might be able to deduce that I once played MMOs (mostly WoW). I played the shit out of that game for several years and it's basically all I did. It's not an uncommon occurrence either.

It's a well-known occurence that bitter ex-hardcore players are the hardest MMO bashers out there, as if they're trying to shift the blame to the games instead of looking at their own inadequacies that made them such lifeless sods.

Well, not saying that that's the case with you. Okay that was pretty venomous. Sorry 'bout that.

Now excuse me while I go make fun of "bronies."

*gasp*

 

[DementedSheep]

I prefer having a game free to play and then buying more content at my own pace. I don?t know why but having a mouthy fee is stressful to me, even if it?s not allot and I tend to play mmo?s on and off. If I?m paying a subscription I feel like I need to play the game to get my money?s worth. However if an mmo is heavily based around PVP its better just to be subscription. Weapons in Cash Shops that you can't get in game destroy PVP as dose releasing expansions with clearly better skills.

 

[Joccaren]

I love F2P MMOs. They are the only MMOs I can play, and the only ones my friends can play. Monthly is the shittiest plan ever, as unless you're willing to drop at least $15/month, you can't do anything. F2P, sure, you might miss out on some content and such, but at least you can play. Besides, that content often goes on sale for 1 or 2 dollars, and I've even been emailed with offers of free content on occasion, and I'll be damned if that's bad.

It all depends on what is being sold, look at it this way:

Runes of Magic

Damn near all the fun and cool items (Mounts, Pets, Housing Goods, Weapons, Armour, Pots) can be bought with money. This will break the game as those who can easilly buy great armour right away will beat those who can't. Also those who buy Pots that increase your health to substantial levels will easilly survive most boss fights.

You also end up paying more, say you find a mount, cool 5 bucks, then you need diamonds, 10, pots? Another 3. Maybe you want that cool chair or pet you saw someone else have, 10.

You would have spent 28$ when you could have spent 15$ on a monthly fee. That 15$ gives you everything in the game. No annoying bullshit of "Can't have this until you buy this many pots or diamonds!".

Once again, this is just an example of Runes of Magic (A terrible, TERRIBlE game) and not necessarilly what many F2P MMOs are like.

For highly competitive players, Monthly payments may be cheaper, but for anyone who isn't exactly trying to be competitive, and just wants to play the game, F2P is better. I couldn't care less if someone else has a ton more stats than me, can kill a boss faster than I can, could beat me in any PvP challenge if I decided to face them. That sort of stuff doesn't bother me at all. I'm fine playing through the game at my own pace, and if I decide that I do want that one bit of extra content, its $5 or so spent. Less than one month of a subscription, and often I'd have been playing for more than one month by that time. Monthly MMOs I have no chance with, no way to constantly refill my time and no money to do that with either. F2P I can at least play, and if I do happen across some money that I can use online, I can get some bonus stuff for a one time payment (Usually).

 

[anthony87]

I actually think that EVE online has a good system. Sure you may have to pay for the first month or two, but if you're really good at the game you can play it month through month without paying a thing.

 

[Chalacachaca]

Free to play, not everyone has dollars as his country's currency.

 

[Dosbilliam]

F2P is about a thousand times better because you can choose what you want to pay for. You really need an extra bag in LoTRO? Then buy, you really want an extra skin in LoL? Then buy it.

If it remained aesthetic, that would be fine. But it never does. It'll start out with small stat bonuses. Then those bonuses will increase higher and higher as the developers push to get more and more money until it gets to the point you don't set foot in high end content or pvp without dropping some serious dough.

You know why Diablo 3 auction house got an outrage? Because it was most definetly a pay2win, which is not what F2P is. Sure there are some shitty F2P here and there which are basically P2W, but some of them, like LoTRO and LoL, you can't pay to be better in cobat than everyone else.

There's a simple fix to the problem with the P2W of Diablo III...be the person selling the items to the people wasting their money on the game.

 

[Techsmart07]

I like F2P, especially (as was said) the turbine model. If I pay monthly for a game, I feel obligated to play the game for at least x hours a month, which makes it feel like a job, moreso than a game. Also, if I don't like the game for one reason or another, I didn't lose anything. There are very few mmorpgs I like. If I had to pay a $10 monthly fee before I knew what the game was like, I would never have tried half the mmorpgs I have played. the other thing I like with models like turbine is that once I buy it, its mine... forever (well, as long as they don't delete the account). If I decided tomorrow to go back and play DDO, I could still be a drow favored soul, even though I haven't been on in a while, without paying a penny.

 

[Rednog]

I honestly prefer the monthly model, too many F2P models just nickle and dime you for damn near everything, and you honestly have to drop so much cash in the end to get as much out of the F2P as the monthly.
I prefer to just pay my $15 up front and get everything.

 

[Sixcess]

I prefer to just pay my $15 up front and get everything.

The problem with that is increasingly that you don't get everything, as even subscription based games often have additional optional micro-transactions. City of Heroes was selling costume packs (in that game on of, actually probably the most desired commodity) for about three years before they went F2P, and that's far from a unique case.

Which is why I like F2P. At least there, if the system is reasonably fair, you get exactly what you pay for.

 

[Gali]

I do not prefer a specific payment system, it depends on the game. I recently quit WoW and have some fun in DCUO now, which has a good F2P system IMO, until Guild Wars 2 gets released.