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Popular p2p, switching to f2p will not last long
delete5230
Member EpicPosts: 7,081
It's only my guess. But Pay to play games that are switching over to Free to play will not last long in my opinion.
" Yes " so far D&D Online is doing well for now. BUT the reason for doing well is :
1 ) It's the first quality game that made the transition, people are carious. Carious because most have never played it. But this curiosity will have a time limit on it. And I would guess the time limit is almost up.
2) Other quality games such as EQ2, LOTRO, and Warhammer Online ( if you can call it quality ) will face more problem's, as many have already played them, so the curiosity is not their for most players.
What people don't understand about D&D Online is that the pay to play content is SO MUCH BETTER than the free content. People don't know how much better because its a quality game that no one had ever played to experience the difference. I have ! Players playing LOTRO, EQ2, and others already know the final outcome of the games, and will see the pay content and say " I have to pay for that ? screw this ".
I think quality games switching to Free play will put a guaranteed nail in their coffin shortly after they go free to play. As this will screw up the already loyal fans. I cant vision any mmo going from F2P back to P2P after the damage is done.
Also Pay to play people will not play well with Free to play people. They will be ignored, causing the game world to be even more lonely. I KNOW THIS AS FACTS. I've done research using the looking for group, and search panel in D&D Online, and talked to the long time vets. They have their own Guilds, and friends list and don't part much with the free, and one time buyers of adventure packs.
So in my opinion some quality games will soon be short lived.
Comments
I dont know about LOTRO and Warhammer Online, but as for EQ2 the F2P people will have there own sever and will not interact with P2P people, unless the P2P people want to transfer over to that server.
To make a long story short :
D&D was a quality game that very few knew about. The free to play was kind of like a re launch, people stuck around because they found that it is a quality game. Other games going free to play will not have an un known quality game to experience, they already know, and will not tolerate a cash shop.
I have to disagree there because D&D had a 14 days trial before going F2P so people did try try it before but did not get hook enough to pay for it. Now this is free to play so lot of people came back to play it like i do.
DDO's claims to the success of their FtP is misleading.
First, they claim that there has been a "massive" influx of new players. Well, for free, yeah, people are going to try it out.
Then they claim that the paid accounts has doubled. But from what starting point?
Then they claim that their cash shop is doing 3x the industry average. Well, considering that most game companies do not release that information, what is being used as an "industry average"? There are a lot of games out there, including all those FaceBook games, that sell stuff, and the vast majority of them don't sell squat.
Lastly, they claim that their income has soared 500%. But again, from what starting point?
Final point, if DDO was failing and so desparate as to go FtP, do these figures represent anything more than eeking out enough to pay the bills? I think DDO will make it for a while yet, but it does not look to me like they are any great success.
And as the OP pointed out, the industry is filling up rapidly with FtP games. That spreads the money around quite a bit. Will any of them be "the one" that draws big chunks of that money? Some already do. Farmville, for example. But it's still a huge gamble. And lets face it, games that fail in any other pay to play system are still beset with the same problems. Why will a FtP system, where you still have to pay for them to make money, why will that be the goose that layed the golden egg?
Once upon a time....
I don't think this will happen, because there are millions of current and former MMO gamers out there who have never tried EQ2, LOTRO, WAR etc.
More than enough to keep these games alive. What we're more likely to see if the low quality free to play games suffering and closing as more AAA games make this move to a hybrid model, stealing customers away from the true crap games.
Pay To Play going Free To Play is just a way to keep a game alive. D & D failed and LOTRO was dying way before it was supposed to so thats why they made the switch.
WAR is not a free to play game. It's not going to be f2p either. Carrie Gouskos the producer said that it's not in a recent interview.
It's a shame really, as LOTRO was a really good game. If they had put more resources into making new content more often, I think it would have done well. But when you reach max level and have done all the quests, what else have you got to do than stop subscribing until the next expansion comes out?
That's a major problem with quest/story based MMO's. The story eventually ends.
I was thinking the other day about grind type games and quest type games. Any game thats quest based you can go through the content in about 1 month or less so whats to keep you playing? With a grind type game it takes you months to reach different levels for different content which keeps you playing the game for a much longer time than quest based games. We need a game thats a balance of both.
I think Mannish hit the nail on the head. F2P is the last stage of an MMOs life. Most big titles have a big launch, then the player base levels out, and when the player base declines, F2P gives the title a little longer life. Depending on how overlooked it was or how improved since launch (when people tried it for a week, then spent several years bashing it on forums) it has become determines how much longer it can last.
Although many players lament their favorite MMO going F2P, the alternative is probably to shut down the server entirely. They can either quit or try to enjoy the last stage of life of a game they have invested much time in. Nothing lasts forever (except maybe WoW
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What a curious opinion.