Free to Play; The Way To Go !

[Suctum]

The reasons to pay for subs because that money helps pay for content. I have never played a MMO that did not require a sub. Where people get this idea that you need to only to pay to install the game and that's it I don't know. MMO's over changing content because the game constantly changes, content, class balance, zones, ect...

I understand the F2P model and no, just because you choose to be F2P does not mean you should have a free ride for all content because you are not supporting the game unless you actually spend money.

10.00 a month is not that much considering how many hours of content you get out of the game. You should have to be premium to get 100% of what the game offers. I can buy a soda and some candy at 7-11 and spend the same 10.00 for something that lasts me 10 minutes.

It's all about value. For not buying anything, Funcom is giving you a taste of great content that you can spend weeks enjoying. If you want more, you'll have to spend some but you can unlock content as needed.

Or you can just spend your 10.00 a month, buy a yearly sub, and enjoy countless hours for 365 days at the price of a soda and a box of donuts every month. Easy pick for me.

[Braciaca]

I know this is not 100% accurate, but this is how I always look at this issue.

I consider buying the game box as paying for the development of the game, and sub fees as paying to keep the server running and for new content.

***Edit*** I always sub for any game I plan to play for long, and I did sub to AoC after playing just a couple of days.

[KullOfValusia]

Subbing is a long outdated model of payment that has its roots from the late 80's... yes MMOs did exist back then just in text form. The methods changed off and on...from...

pay per minute(real old school pre-AOL days)-> pay per month(everquest)->F2P->Freemium->B2P-> ads only(mobile)

In reality, this pay per month thing will probably be phased out completely by the time Titan releases (its Blizzard so this may take a while). And its definetly not the mainstay of the industry anymore(more profitable to switch to cash store/f2p system)...

Currently I do not consider aoc to have a cash store... there's crap inside and for the money (like 1 month sub for a couple of vanity pieces) its ridiculous. its because they have a conflicting "on the fence" model of "oh please please please PLEASE SUB!" vs. F2P. So the "cash store" now is really "SEE subbing really IS a better value!".. so the prices are exorbitant and ultimately funcom doesn't make as much as it potentially can.

If they can really stock up on in game items slash all the prices in half and add PvP "entrance tokens" while fixing PvP. Then of course making all the play fields (except dungeons/raids/6man instances) fully accessible they could generate far more profit then what they get now.

But apparently they believe that this wacked up mutant model is best... and yet I point to GW2 and most true f2p MMOs and their insane profits.

[Zero0]

Man...haven't you guys learned yet? Quit giving them your money. It doesn't go toward AoC anyway

[clenghat]

Subbing is a long outdated model of payment that has its roots from the late 80's... yes MMOs did exist back then just in text form. The methods changed off and on...from...

pay per minute(real old school pre-AOL days)-> pay per month(everquest)->F2P->Freemium->B2P-> ads only(mobile)

In reality, this pay per month thing will probably be phased out completely by the time Titan releases (its Blizzard so this may take a while). And its definetly not the mainstay of the industry anymore(more profitable to switch to cash store/f2p system)...

Currently I do not consider aoc to have a cash store... there's crap inside and for the money (like 1 month sub for a couple of vanity pieces) its ridiculous. its because they have a conflicting "on the fence" model of "oh please please please PLEASE SUB!" vs. F2P. So the "cash store" now is really "SEE subbing really IS a better value!".. so the prices are exorbitant and ultimately funcom doesn't make as much as it potentially can.

If they can really stock up on in game items slash all the prices in half and add PvP "entrance tokens" while fixing PvP. Then of course making all the play fields (except dungeons/raids/6man instances) fully accessible they could generate far more profit then what they get now.

But apparently they believe that this wacked up mutant model is best... and yet I point to GW2 and most true f2p MMOs and their insane profits.

What are the items Funcom should stock up on in store? Should it become pay to win, or more of the crap you just suggested allready exists, but that the prizing is wrong?

[Bladesaint]

I was playing on Cimmeria, it converted (merged into) to Tyranny. Anyway, AoC is too big for itself on Tyranny. They need to start converting the Dungeons and Raids to 4 player versions that can run along side the classic versions. If they did that players would find linking up with other players easier and more players would subscribe.

There are alot of dungeons I have yet to see, and I can't find enough players to do them.

They should also change the Token system to just one token type that you get from any activity in the appropriate amount. Then no matter what you ended up doing, you would be making progress toward your goals.

I actually think AoC gameplay would really take off with 2 and 4 player dungeons. You could do them on the fly, no need to use 3rd party/Ventrillo, and most importantly, you could actually tell your attacks were causing damage to the bad guys.

[Redd]

I actually think AoC gameplay would really take off with 2 and 4 player dungeons. You could do them on the fly, no need to use 3rd party/Ventrillo, and most importantly, you could actually tell your attacks were causing damage to the bad guys.

No thx, no need to dumb down anything.
Looks like US servers are dead by listening to you guys but Crom EU is quite alive.

[clenghat]

I actually think AoC gameplay would really take off with 2 and 4 player dungeons. You could do them on the fly, no need to use 3rd party/Ventrillo, and most importantly, you could actually tell your attacks were causing damage to the bad guys.

Tried joining an active guild? Helps to gather people for different dungeons. And you CAN do a 3-4 man dungeon. Atzels Fortress, Iron Tower, Xibaluku etc are quite doable with 3-4 people.

[Bladesaint]

My characters are in some of the largest Guilds on the Tyranny server. It's just there are never more than 9-12 level 80 players on at one time so it's very hard to do any dungeon. And I don't mean guildmates, I mean for the whole server. Tyranny.

Plus, I have probably been playing AoC longer than most of you, so just don't discount what I am saying as someone who is inexperienced at AoC.

I see AoC as a game with alot of great content no one ever sees because it remains inaccessable unless you get 24 players together on Ventrillo, (you guys never sound like Cimmerians or Aquilonians by the way). And on Tyranny at least, you can't even do the 6 man content now. I haven't seen any dungeon activity since November, surely there have been some, But I have not been able to do one nor have I seen one started. That leaves me soloing the Unchained dungeons occasionally. Now, why would that attract and keep new players? Get them to subscribe? All that has been shown to do is collapse the servers one by one.

Conversely, if you make this content accessable to 4 player versions, suddenly everyone has content to play together anytime they log on instead of none or rarely ever. They become sort of like an online band of companions maybe. Doing dungeons on a regular basis. They find more players and start doing 6 and 8 player versions. You see how that can grow the player base?

You don't want to wait much longer. Tyranny had a huge population a year ago, but with 24 player only content there seems to be a tipping point where it suddenly becomes very hard to do these and almost everyone leaves. Then you can't even do the 6 mans. At any rate, the Devs should seriously study what happened to Tyranny and consider why it happened and how it could be averted.

[Jota180]

Not exactly constructive reply ... but HEY! ... you're entitled to your opinion; as am I

If I feel I'd like to Raid a particular area; i can go into the in-game store and purchase a pass for a lot less than a subscription. And not feel obligated to play more because of the sub.

.

So. If you have 11 level 80's and want raid wing 1, 2 and 3 plus maybe some T3 with most or all of them, how much would it cost buying passes? I want to do Khitai group instances with my guildies. Possible on FTP?

Not aimed at you in particular, more a general observation about mmo gaming/gamers in general, but 10 quid a month is nothing.