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How long before more p2p go ftp

lordtulllordtull Member UncommonPosts: 11

With DDO gone free and TCOS going that way one can only think a trend may be starting,in game cash shops are the attraction,people spend more in shops per month than they would a monthly fee add in game advertising and ...well economics takes over...question is.......whos next

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Comments

  • SwaneaSwanea Member UncommonPosts: 2,401

    Warhammer can't be far off.

  • DethnobleDethnoble Member Posts: 419

    Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

    splat

  • SgtFrogSgtFrog Member Posts: 5,001
    Originally posted by Dethnoble


    Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.



    LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

    probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

    image
    March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon

  • metalhead980metalhead980 Member Posts: 2,658
    Originally posted by Dethnoble


    Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.

     

    LOL! yeah because AoC + WAR = Lotro sub numbers. How do you figure Lotro would go F2p with subs like that?

    PLaying: EvE, Ryzom

    Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum

  • crunchyblackcrunchyblack Member Posts: 1,362

    Wishfull thinking by the OP imo.

    I would also like to address the possibility of aoc going f2p.

    Funcom has done this with great success with anarchy online, no korean style item malls with nerfed gameplay to require those items.  They give free players the origional world, and give paying players the superior expansion equipment (as well as a faster trip to endgame)  In a ffa pvp game like aoc, adding free players that are disadvantages would be fun as hell for a paying player.

    Warhammer would shutdown rather than go f2p

    The problem with this whole argument made by the op, is that ddo and tcos barely had any player at all, it was f2p or die.

    War,aoc and other games that are just hated by a lot, doesnt mean their populations are anywhere as low as tcos/ddo

    Also warhammer and aoc did great at launch, that huge cash infusion does wonders, and is why (at least for aoc) they have enough money to patch the hell out of the game and have an expansion on the way.

    comparing ddo and tcos to war and aoc is like comparing a kid who won the lottery and lost his job to a kid who never had a job to begin with.  One guy is gonna be ok for a while (mabey not forever) while the other guy is in a shitty situation.

    so keep on wishing that AAA games fail so you can play them for free!

  • TorakTorak Member Posts: 4,905
    Originally posted by SgtFrog

    Originally posted by Dethnoble


    Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.



    LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

    probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

     

    Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.

    I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.

    It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.

     

  • SgtFrogSgtFrog Member Posts: 5,001
    Originally posted by Torak

    Originally posted by SgtFrog

    Originally posted by Dethnoble


    Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.



    LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

    probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

     

    Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.

    I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.

    It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.

     

    i see, why did we end up with Codemasters for both DDO and LOTRO in the EU.

    turbine is so much better >.>

    DDO is Free 2 play in NA but P2P still in EU

    LOTRO is $10 a months in NA and in EU its still £9/12 Euro...

     

    image
    March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon

  • LobotomistLobotomist Member EpicPosts: 5,980

    WAR - owned by EA ! They just close games. No chance for F2P there. And also , would you like to play PVP game with item shop ?

    and LOTRO is one of better performing MMOs. It may go F2P though. Cause Turbine likes it that way



  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273

    If you want low budget bringing low game investment and RMT’s favouring the rich I would regard this as a trend. But as neither of those appeals to me I see F2P as a virus which could kill the MMO industry, or at least kill it off for some of us.

  • LeucrottaLeucrotta Member Posts: 679

    If GW2 delivers alot of P2P have to go ft2

  • DelanorDelanor Member Posts: 659
    Originally posted by lordtull


    With DDO gone free and TCOS going that way one can only think a trend may be starting,in game cash shops are the attraction,people spend more in shops per month than they would a monthly fee add in game advertising and ...well economics takes over...question is.......whos next

     

    Any game that was a commercial failure with a p2p model and dares to try again with another model.

    --
    Delanor

  • LobotomistLobotomist Member EpicPosts: 5,980
    Originally posted by Scot


    If you want low budget bringing low game investment and RMT’s favouring the rich I would regard this as a trend. But as neither of those appeals to me I see F2P as a virus which could kill the MMO industry, or at least kill it off for some of us.

     

    I think you are confusing Asian F2P , with new emerging western F2P

    While asian F2P is about buying "shortcuts" (faster leveling, hard to get items)

    Western F2P is about permanently buying chunks of content - opposed to just "renting" it (as you did now) , while still giving you option to "rent"

     

    It has so many benefits over traditional P2P. Included the fact that it actually forces game companies to constantly produce new content.



  • alecbralecbr Member Posts: 64

     I'm sure WOW will be the next one. They are already preparing the ground for it - it's impossible to get into the instances. Their business model will be like this: no subscription, if you want to get into an instance you will have to try it for an hour to get in but if you pay the entrance ticket you will get immediately into the instance.

  • ThenariusThenarius Member Posts: 1,106
    Originally posted by alecbr


     I'm sure WOW will be the next one. They are already preparing the ground for it - it's impossible to get into the instances. Their business model will be like this: no subscription, if you want to get into an instance you will have to try it for an hour to get in but if you pay the entrance ticket you will get immediately into the instance.

    I lol'd but meh...they're trying to fix them as much as they can(or can be arsed to).

  • PapadamPapadam Member Posts: 2,102
    Originally posted by Torak

    Originally posted by SgtFrog

    Originally posted by Dethnoble


    Well, if Warhammer, AoC, etc can maintain 50k+ subscribers then they probably won't.  I have a hunch, though, that LoTRO might go ftp within the next year.



    LOTRO is one of the more populer MMORPG out there..>.>

    probably has more subs than WAR and AOC combined.

     

    Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.

    I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.

    It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.

     



     

    Can you please find a link to this?  I read pretty much every article/interview from Turbine and all they have been saying is that they have NO plans making LotrO F2P since it doesnt fit with the game (like DDO). And considering that LotrO is the third biggest game with monthly sub in the west, i doubt they wold want to do anything like that.

    I think Age of Conan and Champions are the most likely looking at changing to F2P right now. But like with DDO, its not an easy task to turn a sub game to F2P. Turbine had been working for 1 year to make the new buisness model work and they made changes to pretty much every aspect of the game.

    If WoW = The Beatles
    and WAR = Led Zeppelin
    Then LotrO = Pink Floyd

  • drbaltazardrbaltazar Member UncommonPosts: 7,856

     yep if im not mistaken lotr is directx10 wich im sorry to say cant reliably be followed on xfire so wtv rank they have there its only for dx9 playing that game same for lot of dx10 game

  • Redline65Redline65 Member Posts: 486
    Originally posted by drbaltazar


     yep if im not mistaken lotr is directx10 wich im sorry to say cant reliably be followed on xfire so wtv rank they have there its only for dx9 playing that game same for lot of dx10 game

    I don't believe this is true. The overlay does not work in the game, but it still tracks your hours played correctly if you are running LOTRO in DX10. Same for AoC.

     

  • jeffg316jeffg316 Member Posts: 48

    SWG needs to go F2P

    Played: WoW, CoX, SWG, Eve Online, DCUO, Rift

    Playing: SW:TOR

  • Dr.RockDr.Rock Member Posts: 603

    Early days but the xfire numbers are interesting:

    GW #9 (B2P) - 5324 users

    EVE #12 (P2P) - 3368 users

    ROM #18 (F2P) - 2686 users

    LOTRO #24 (P2P) - 1857 users

    DDO #27 (new F2P/P2P) - 2348 users

    CO #31 (new P2P) - 1524 users

    AoC #49 (P2P) - 740 users

    Warhammer #55 (P2P) - 866 users

    Might indicate a F2P move could give some games a new lease of life, but needs more time to tell (I would say at least 6 months).

     

  • drbaltazardrbaltazar Member UncommonPosts: 7,856
    Originally posted by Zorndorf


    For the fans: Lotro = 170K > AoC 65K + War 75K. The rough calculations of today's Xfire (with 5.5 M WOW, 300K EVE, Lotro 180K as a 3 point line reference).
    So I don't see Lotro going FTP. It is simply the second most played Fantasy MMORPG with a sub.
    GW is second (semi ftp) overall with 470 K players. Always count players never playing time.
    D&DO is a good effort. Certainly a nice addition to FTP crap.
    But I agree that in 2 years time the single subcription based game is a thing of the past.
    All will be bundled or FTP.
    Last man standing will be WOW, but even there I see a bundle through Battle.Net play awards within 2 years time.
     
     
     
     

    mm battlenet is blizzard trump card, like the ring of power in lotr 

    one ring to rule them all(grin)

  • IhmoteppIhmotepp Member Posts: 14,495

    The kind of FTP I don't like is anything that has to do with item shops, or xp boosts of any kind, selling pets, that sort of thing.

    Selling access to zones or dungeons doesn't seem much different from selling an expansion pack, it doesnt' change the structure of the game.

    If you take P2P games, and break them up by content and sell off the content piece by piece instead of a monthly fee, that's fine. But P2P games aren't designed to be F2P with item shops and xp boosts, so it seems to me you'd wreck the game if it wasn't designed as F2P in the first place.

    image

  • Dr.RockDr.Rock Member Posts: 603
    Originally posted by Zorndorf


    So what do you think of the ftp AD&D feature: you get a next key  level when you can find it in a quest and dungeon set up.
    OR you can buy the key in the shop (lame).
    I think the option is challeging in itself. Do I quest for it (perhaps very long I don't know yet), or do I cheat. (let's re roll the dice in that dungeon remember the old times :)))).
    There can be so many twists around ftp games.
     
     

    Tricky one as this was added to get some income from F2P, P2P players don't need to do it. So it isn't like a buy your way around a natural part of the game, it is a F2P only hurdle. A better example would be the effort in unlocking a Favored Soul compared to buying it. Now this is a clear way both F2P and P2P can pay to avoid a lot of effort in game.

  • TorakTorak Member Posts: 4,905
    Originally posted by SgtFrog

    Originally posted by Torak


     
    Steefel (or however you spell his name) the guy in charge of Turbine said about a year ago that he is very interested in making LotR F2P.
    I doubt you will see WAR go free to play, AoC might go to a similar model as Anarchy (might) but they would need a few expansions under them first.
    It's more likely some more of the lesser titles go F2P before any of these.
     

    i see, why did we end up with Codemasters for both DDO and LOTRO in the EU.

    turbine is so much better >.>

    DDO is Free 2 play in NA but P2P still in EU

    LOTRO is $10 a months in NA and in EU its still £9/12 Euro...

     

    Download the US clients.

    I live in Germany and I can play both US versions with no problems. In fact I just did the new DDO client, made a character, logged in but didn't actually play...but it worked fine.

     I'll see if I can dig up that interview later.

     

     

  • TorakTorak Member Posts: 4,905

    www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-lord-of-the-rings-online-mines-of-moria-interview

     

    Sept 1, 2008

    Steefel talks about looking at alternate business models for LotR

     

    Eurogamer: Do you think there's room for other business models in LOTRO's future?

    Jeffrey Steefel: I think so... There are some things about the way that we built the game that would allow us to try some different business models. For people that want to have a more casual relationship with the game, and just have fun a couple of hours, a couple of times a week, right now I think we have a difficult value proposition. They're paying a premium price to get a whole bunch more than they actually want. So, maybe there's room to satisfy those people in a slightly different way.

    This is a franchise that's going to continue for years and years and years, and there's no way that the singular, monolithic, USD 14.95 a month subscription model is going to last for years and years and years all by itself. I think the answer is, it has to change.

  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775

    I totally buy Steefel logic. F2P is a great idea for some AAA MMOs.

    I plainly just don't have the time to play more than one MAIN MMO at a time so i will definitely NOT sub more than one game. However, I do want to play other MMOs for variety. I am NOT opposed to pay a small amount from time to time so that i can play a MMO as a side game.

    This f2p model is perfect. DDO is a good example. I play-tested it before and i like it to some extent but NOT enough to replace my main MMO (WOW) with it.

    Now I can play DDO on the side. If i have to drop $10-15 into it, once in a while, that is fine as long as I don't have to subscribe.

    I also don't really have a problem about xp boost, good items and things like that. If others can buy and use them, i can too.

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