[NETWORK NEWS] EverQuest II is Going Free-to-Play

[Tek]

Ultima Online is already one of the most successful Free-to-Play MMOs out there, it’s just too bad that the EA /Mythic/OSI version doesn’t gain any benefit from all of the free players around the world.

 

[Cirno]

I keep asking myself; if this is such a successful business model why don't we see more companies adopting it?

I suppose it's still new, and not widely proven.
It also changes the dynamics of the game a lot.

Cell Phones, you can get a cell phone for free (not counting service) but you are made to buy all the apps and ringtones, Not perfect but as close as I could come up with.

That's better than anything I got. Best I had was free cars with expensive fuel, extras and tolls, which really didn't work.

 

[WarderDragon]

It also changes the dynamics of the game a lot.

Such as?

 

[Cirno]

Such as?

I'm having a hard time defining it.
I suppose you might compare it to a social venue that's open to the public, as opposed to one with a membership.
The investment of a subscription or membership, at the risk of sounding snobbish, "keeps the riff-raff out".
To put it a little better, the subscription acts as a sort of firewall, or buffer, to ensure that the only people playing the game are those that are interested in the game enough to invest money to play it.

You'll find a lot of F2P games are filled with a rabble, who are just there for a fix of fun, or to "own", or cause trouble.
You could say, almost, that many of the things people lament about UO becoming of recent years would become far more pronounced.

 

[Tamais]

I have very mixed feelings about UO going f2p. I've got 2 accounts and have played for about 8 years now. My guild and I went to LOTRO a couple of years ago when Kingdom Reborn fell apart. LOTRO is going f2p this fall. One of the concerns we have is how it will affect the communities we have built. We are concerned about people who just want to wreak the game. They are doing it on the servers they all ready have using a tiered base, which Turbine is hoping to use to reduce this problem. F2p will be limited for example on using chat, how much gold, number of alts and areas they can go to. Those of us who paid for a lifetime membership are at the top and will be paid in Turbine points which means I won't have to use real money to buy the expansions. But already there are things coming out of beta that I don't like. I would love to be able to buy a lifetime membership for UO and I'd love to see people come back(like my guild). But I'd rather UO wait on the f2p to see how other games succeed or fail.