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From F2P to B2P, Plans for Launch & Beyond
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
From F2P to B2P, Plans for Launch & Beyond
Recently, Albion Online announced that they’d be dropping the F2P (free to play) payment model in favor of the buy to play (B2P) model used by games like Elder Scrolls Online and Black Desert Online. We sat down with Game Director Robin Henkys to discuss this change, and more about the ongoing plans for launch and beyond.
Comments
l2p
It also means less goldfarmer vermin spamming the chats and harassing honest players through mails and tells.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
Almsost everything we see in most games is p2w,even bag space,mounts,xp potions all p2w,the ONLY things that should ever be in a CS are visual items but even that is a problem because then to make those sales you likely get horrid gear in game and better looking gear in CS.
Bottom line is CS's are a terrible way to run a game,there will always be the idea somewhere in the back of their head that they just need to step up the CS a bit a little each time,until it is full blown trying to basically sell everything that should be earned in game in the CS.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Hardcore PvP games need 'food' to survive just like a poker table needs fish. Gamers have enough choices now that the only people who are going to play a hardcore PvP MMO are the very small amount of hardcore PKer types. That isn't enough to sustain even a small MMO, and if it was why would you develop a game with the goal of selling 30k copies when you could develop a crappy pve MMO and make significantly more.
Stop bringing up the 'hardcore PvP' fantasy, it's not real. It doesn't work and won't ever, the game design is innately anti-MMO, prohibitive to new players (or anybody but no-lifers honestly), riddled with 'quit points', and the market is one of the smallest around.
I am a PvPer. I have played PvP in MMOs since UO. I have played MOBAs since the original dota on WC3. I have played FPS games since DOOM. I love to compete and competition against other players and I am saying that 'hardcore PvP' is the moronic pipe-dream of no-life griefers.
It. Does. Not. Work.
The company making the game must think about the financial side from the start; otherwise products fail. Otherwise its "Sorry folks we launched the game at $0 and didn't develop a cash shop so we have had to close down ......" And your response would be .... exactly.
Now is the game close to GW2 or as good as Archeage or TERA? Why should people buy it? These are legitimate questions.
The same levers drive whatever we buy. You can have cheaper cars, cheaper phones and so on and - as long as the quality / service meets some "undefined minimum" standard then the lower price will give them an edge. You also have niche products that offer "something different" - they may not be as good or as cheap but if they appeal to a part of the market then the difference will give them an edge. And in general all companies are looking to have both a price advantage and an edge. (There is also luxury pricing but that is another thing.).
So Albion Online is - I assume - going to try and appeal to a certain type of player, a certain niche. And - as long as the gameplay, graphics etc. are "good enough" - hope that it will sell "enough".
If the demand of currency is MUCH higher than what a "normal" player can reasonably earn, a bot or gold farmer has an opportunity to go in - figure out the most efficient way to earn currency - and sell it to the people that need it to buy things in the game.
It's classic capital markets of supply vs demand.
If the game dispensed currency at a higher rate than what is demanded to progress in the game, there is no opportunity for bots / currency farmers to sell currency....no one needs it!
Case in point...Ultima Online. VERY easy to earn gold and since one's effectiveness was determined by the player's ability to play their character than the gear they happened to be wearing....expensive / magic items (that would cost a lot of money) were more of luxuries than requirements. That said, I could count on one hand how many times I've seen anyone advertising gold in the 4-5 years I played the game.
I also played Lineage 2, which has a progression model based almost exclusively on VERY expensive gear. Best in slot items for your level (which gave HUGE advantage in combat) was designed to always be out of reach for a solo player not pooling resources with a clan / guild. Since there was a gap in the available supply of currency in the game vs what was demanded to be able to compete with other players.....currency farmers / botters plagued that game like no other I've ever seen.
Two very different progression & economic models between those games, and it's easy to tell why currency farmers existed in one and not the other.
Unfortunately, just about every MMORPG that's come out since UO follow an item progression model, which puts a strain on the supply of currency...which creates a market for easy $$$ by buying it on the black market vs spending the time in game to get it.
You want to kill gold farming / spammers....make a game that doesn't have so many gold sinks in the game. Make it about something other than an item / currency based progression model.
Agree no barrier and as you say what kills it is if people don't buy gold. The other options are not to include "gold" basically but that is unusual (CoH from memory) or totally remove the "need" for it - disconnect "advancement" from gold which seems to be what the team is suggesting it wants to do.
In a game where progression determines power (level 6 has absolutely no chance against a lvl 60), giving a player an edge on how fast they could progress is in effect the same as giving a player an edge of power over competing players.
Totally cool with selling cosmetic stuff...especially if you're able to pay for these items from in-game currency. Otherwise, players with means will always take the path of least resistance (buy advantage)...putting others at a disadvantage.
Agree. Even if the game has a cash shop or subscription or whatever.
Developers have to recover the investment and an upfront cost is one way.
A pure f2p + cash shop can - clearly - be hugely successful but needs to reach many, many players.
A subscription model does nothing for initial sales and if subscribers subsequently leave and are not replaced - well we have enough examples of what happens then.
B2P is the middle ground. And it is still the way we buy most of our games (in western markets). No guarantee though; the game has to be "good enough" and it has to get enough publicity to sell. (Having the best game ever that no one knows about is a fail however good the game is).
wil stay a away for while, dont want fall to other trap ><
In my eyes their decision is based solely on the fact that the game got more interest from people than they expected...
Your parents have placed you at an extreme disadvantage on the planet.
Are we Talking about the absolutly NO-Skill Required Combat of the Current Albion ?
Why?
If you went to see the recent Star Wars film do you expect to see the next one ....... free? OK maybe you didn't pay so how about:
If you filled up your car with fuel and had to pay are you expecting to get your next tankful free?
If you went and bought a loaf of bread are you expecting - you guessed it - to get the next one for free?
What job do you do or business do you run pray tell because then I can say "I should have the next whatever you do" for free and your next income can be free of anything financial.
Asking: "is something worth the price" - fine and fundamental; simply expecting something for nothing sorry no replicators here.
Did you drop out of Grade school? Or is the education system THAT bad these days?