The move to FTP

[archermoo]

Anyone have thoughts on the move of CO to FTP?

[GestaltBennie]

Anyone have thoughts on the move of CO to FTP?

Personally, I think it's happening too soon and this spells the death for significant new content in the game. I also wonder how hard it was for players to deal with the power structure, as "I'm confused on how to make a character", for all of the complexity of its character scheme, was never high on the list of complaints I heard.

However, I'm looking forward to the zone revamps, and I know, with Cata., SWTOR, DCUO and GW2 on the horizon, that 2011 would be a hard year for existing MMOs to compete.

[Nevelon]

Depends how they handle it. I have a lifetime subscription, but don't play much these days. In theory, the FTP model raises more revenue then the subscription one. The "free" play is more like an extended trial, and they can nickel and dime you for more then you would normally pay if you buy things ala cart, or just subscribe. I know LotRO went FTP, and I think that went quite well (lifer there as well). Think of it as them offering more options, rather then them screwing paying customers.

One thing LotRO has, which CO does not look they are going to have, is a way to earn store points in game. This gives free players the ability to earn things (like more quest packs, character slots, etc.) so given enough time and work, they can be just as good as the paying customers. And by "time and work" I'm talking about grinding till your eyes bleed, but the option is there (particularly if you just want some of the perks, not all) With the CO plan it looks like the world will always be divided into haves and have-nots. Free players are always going to be at a disadvantage. This will make it hard to integrate them into the community.

From a business POV, this isn't a "sky is falling/ game is failing" event. Somewhere the bean-counters noticed that this strategy makes more cash. But it is something that needs to be done carefully. There is a lot of bad feelings that can come out of a change like this, so they risk pissing off large chunks of their player base if they flop the implementation.

[archermoo]

From what I understand the only real gameplay impacting thing that silver players can't even purchase that gold players will be able to do is customize their power sets. Everything else looks cosmetic. Whether not being able to create custom power sets will put them at some kind of disadvantage remains to be seen.

[Killer Shrike]

If i knew what it meant I might know how I feel about it.

[Mightybec]

I've tried other Free to Play games, such as DnD Online and LotR, but they just made me want to lay WoW more. I might give Champions online a try when it goes freeplay, which is more of a chance than I've given it before.

[incrdbil]

Anyone have thoughts on the move of CO to FTP?

Call me Han.

[Zed-F]

For me it's a good move, as I've been dormant in CO since the beginning of the year. I got my 4 months in at launch and haven't felt a serious urge to re-up my subscription since, but I have been a bit curious about the changes that have gone into the game as time has gone on.

I might pay for 1 more month of subscription before this goes live to catch my high-level characters up on the latest content, and then I'll start a fresh Silver toon or convert one of my lowbies to Silver. It'll also let my daughter have a chance to participate now that she won't need to pay for an account.

[archermoo]

If i knew what it meant I might know how I feel about it.

Sorry, the move of Champions Online to a Free To Play system.

http://www.champions-online.com/f2p

[Nevelon]

From what I understand the only real gameplay impacting thing that silver players can't even purchase that gold players will be able to do is customize their power sets. Everything else looks cosmetic. Whether not being able to create custom power sets will put them at some kind of disadvantage remains to be seen.

My understanding is that silver players are choose a class, and then are locked into a path. So they choose "brute" and get smash at first level, tough at 3, haymaker at 5, etc... (names and levels totally made up for this example) Where a full gold member can choose any power he wants, as long as he follows the rules. Now, if they make the standard builds effective, this won't be much or a problem. The main problem I see is if you want to play a brute with say, fire breath (because you are a lava rock monster or the like) if it's not in the standard build, you can't. The flexibility of the character system is lost, and that's one of the main draws in the game. You can look however you want, but will play the same as every other brute out there (as silver).

(I am no expert, I just spent and hour or two combing the forums a little after the announcement, might be wrong or they may have changed things)

[archermoo]

My understanding is that silver players are choose a class, and then are locked into a path. So they choose "brute" and get smash at first level, tough at 3, haymaker at 5, etc... (names and levels totally made up for this example) Where a full gold member can choose any power he wants, as long as he follows the rules. Now, if they make the standard builds effective, this won't be much or a problem. The main problem I see is if you want to play a brute with say, fire breath (because you are a lava rock monster or the like) if it's not in the standard build, you can't. The flexibility of the character system is lost, and that's one of the main draws in the game. You can look however you want, but will play the same as every other brute out there (as silver).

(I am no expert, I just spent and hour or two combing the forums a little after the announcement, might be wrong or they may have changed things)

Yeah, that's what I meant by Silver players not getting to customize their power sets. It does indeed limit options, though while the customizability is certainly one of the things I like most about CO I also know that there are people that will feel more comfortable with "classes" to play. And for people that feel it is necessary there is always the option to subscribe. As long as the game is playable for people playing the straight archetypes it seems like a pretty reasonable upsell opportunity to me.

[Nevelon]

Yeah, that's what I meant by Silver players not getting to customize their power sets. It does indeed limit options, though while the customizability is certainly one of the things I like most about CO I also know that there are people that will feel more comfortable with "classes" to play. And for people that feel it is necessary there is always the option to subscribe. As long as the game is playable for people playing the straight archetypes it seems like a pretty reasonable upsell opportunity to me.

IMHO one of the main draws of CO (and CoH) is the ability to play -YOUR- hero. Fixed classes is kinda a dealbreaker. It's fine for a free trial, but I'm not sure how well it will do in the long term. It seems most games these days give you a lot of flex within your class. From what I know of LotRO, and what I've heard of WoW, you can take a base class and go different ways with traits and gear. So you can have 2 characters standing side by side, with the same class, but have them play completely differently. While you should still be able to swap gear around as a silver in CO, the impact on play is going to be minor. Not a whole lot of customization there.

[archermoo]

IMHO one of the main draws of CO (and CoH) is the ability to play -YOUR- hero. Fixed classes is kinda a dealbreaker. It's fine for a free trial, but I'm not sure how well it will do in the long term. It seems most games these days give you a lot of flex within your class. From what I know of LotRO, and what I've heard of WoW, you can take a base class and go different ways with traits and gear. So you can have 2 characters standing side by side, with the same class, but have them play completely differently. While you should still be able to swap gear around as a silver in CO, the impact on play is going to be minor. Not a whole lot of customization there.

I don't know how much customization there will be available to non-subscribers. Heck, I don't know if Cryptic is necessarily sure how much customization will be available. They're looking at beta testing the new system next month, and from a lot of their comments on the CO boards it is obvious that very little is written in stone at this point.

[incrdbil]

Yeah, that's what I meant by Silver players not getting to customize their power sets. It does indeed limit options, though while the customizability is certainly one of the things I like most about CO I also know that there are people that will feel more comfortable with "classes" to play. And for people that feel it is necessary there is always the option to subscribe. As long as the game is playable for people playing the straight archetypes it seems like a pretty reasonable upsell opportunity to me.

there are qite a few other limits--limited item slots, limited chatting, not very much technical support, limited travel power selection--there is a matrix comparing everythign out there somewhere. Ill try to find a link.

[mudpyr8]

I might actually play now - once I finish Fallout: New Vegas. I enjoyed the free trial last Halloween, I just can't bring myself to pay for an MMO for as much as I would play.

I think its the best model - free basic content, pay for enhanced content. Continuous demo that you can essentially grow out from.