Out of Pod Experience

Yes, 100% lack of syntax on my part XD , thinking in different languages can be confusing sometimes, also YAY! , wish EQ1 would be one too though

I can't see this game going free to play. There's an economy surrounding the subscription model. And that makes it even more profitable.

If it ever gets to a point where subscriptions aren't paying the bills, they'd do better by shutting down.

The problem seems to be the hordes of casual ppl dont want innovative or new.
They want comfortable and rehashed.



STO failed mainly cause of the fast food mentality Brojo was talking about as Cryptic's contract was for 3 MMOs copy/pasted out every so many months (I cant remember but I remember the timeframe was in months) and that attempt killed them as a company.



On the other hand Im betting the EVE accountants are calculating the over/under on sub losses if they switched to free to play every time theres a Summer of Rage style dip in the subs.

You fail given you are again assuming facts not in evidence. Go troll elsewhere.
But hey quote me the part where I said EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO PLAYS FREE TO PLAY GAMES IS EVIL rather than



If you are that kind of "scum" then yes I was talking to you if you ARENT then no I wasnt.
If you were just trolling as I assume you were, given youve tried to "dodge" the fact youre commenting on something I DIDNT say, then go back under your bridge

I kind of imagine that CCP will make WiS F2P, and leave the space flight to subscriptions built around the present concept of "pilot's license".

That is, you can buy a PLEX/license or subscribe for the monthly license, and this means you can fly ships, but the WiS portion of the game means you play for free but if you don't pay for that license, you don't fly.

You can still log in and walk around and stare at the walls, but looking at how "barbie-ish" the WiS thing is, there could be a cash shop potential there. If there is ever more content for WiS, like being able to fight, deal in contraband, etc, where one can actually play this game in some manner seperate from FiS, then it could work.

This would rely on the FiS part of the game not having to be meshed with, or depend on, the WiS. So someone with only a few bucks can F2P the WiS part and possibly never fly a ship if they have other things to do, and someone who wants no part of WiS can continue to PLEX or sub and stay in ships, having nothing to do with "station matters". It would be the best of both worlds, making participation in them optional for either side.

And if there is ever melee in stations, I'll be happy to spend a few bucks for some brass knuckles.

I personally don't care if you believe it or not. Jesse Schell explains it very well. When games have a sub you may not be inclined to purchase as you may not like it. With a free game you can download and jump right in and enjoy what they have to offer. But hey, they have a nifty sword there that is only $5. What's $5, right? So now you have a sword. But there's some nifty armor for another $5. Well you spent $5 on the game so what's $5 more. Even if you leave the game in a week it's only $10 now that you wasted on it.

Now times that by the increased traffic that you receive by people who otherwise wouldn't look at the game because of the initial fee. Yeah, there's where your money is. It's not people spending more, its more people spending. That is the thought process of F2P.

Most accounts being F2P has been what I've been talking about all this time. We've seen evidence that games can survive on a very minimal AA base, being 100k or less (AOC, Fallen Earth, Darkfall, WAR). According to MMOData's last data point, LOTRO is sitting at 250k. How many of those are paid and how many are F2P I don't know, and I don't care. What I do know is that the game is still running. And yes it is purely marketing, that is what I have been talking about. That is how F2P works.

Goon WoWtards!?
EDIT: The fifth post in this thread is a pretty good summary of why going F2P is bad.

I'm sorry, was it something I said? Lets hug and make up and maybe get the answer out.

*belated reply* There is a difference between surviving and making "more income". That was the point, wasn't it? imo it would have survived w/o the f2p conversion, the game didn't stink imo, it just needed work to really grow (not necessarily expansion). They took the quick fix though, fast income for a time, and now left with marginal returns on the investment endangering the longevity of the game per-expansion. One misstep and it's game over it would seem, one bad expansion and the game threatens closure. I don't know about you, but I look for potential longevity in a game before I sub, having played mmo's for 15 years and a number of them over five year subs.

Companies treat f2p as the second coming, I think it a bad business structure. EA has some crazy daily press release touting some remarkable thing f2p is and how we all demanded it, that it's just the next best thing. But you know the illusion must be maintained, to keep the masses funneling in in hopes of getting returns one dime at a time. Meanwhile subscription players leave, their communities fractured, and what was a game for the fans begins revolving around another group of players by design. The focus leaves the fans (e.g. lotro fans) and turns to getting the next group of f2p players to sing-up for accounts, get them to return for the next hyped expansion, tie it all into the cash shop and hope for the best.

But it does matter how many subs they retain, and it's certainly less than they had before they went f2p, even overall less counting both subs and f2p. From gamasutra I've read f2p games make less than $2 a head overall (paying + unpaying == all), while as before lotro went f2p we can easily mark that at around $15 a head. The subs dropping seems common after an announcement to go f2p, as like happened to swtor recently as they reported heavy loss after the f2p announcement. People don't want their sub based game to go f2p. And to be at the same AA or less at some point after going f2p, ...well yeah it could "survive" technically, but at what point does it become impossible to pay support and development? On top of that putting time and money into into RMT/store/integration/lure development and marketing/advertisement as their best salesmen - the long-term word-of-mouth subscription account players - left.

I'm not saying to 'be of the hive mind', sure play it if it works for you. Spend money in the RMT shop. Just remember that most aren't, and to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm just glad CCP is not going this rout with EVE, and thus it may just survive the 20 or 30 years as they said they hope it does, and beyond.