Free MMOs and games...

[IndyColtsFan]

Since I can't remember where to find the link as support I will not mention the company's name but I recently listened to an audio of a company CEO talking to his stockholders(or the board, I don't know), and he was describing how he personally had spent 5000 "year to date" on microtransactions, and he also mentioned that in the middle of a firefight if they can charge to reload, the player isn't price conscious at that moment.

The writing is on the wall, people.

Hell, I played battletech solaris on AOL back in the 90s and they charged extra for that by hour. If I played that as much as I do modern MMOs, I'd have paid $100 per month easily. I was very pleased when Everquest launched at $10/month. History is repeating itself.

I think if it gets to the point where people are having to spend $100+ on MMOs to be competitive, the genre will go belly up. Sure, you'll have the nerds living in mom's basement who work part time at Burger King who might spend that, but I think it would lead to a revolt of most of the playerbase and some enterprising company would come in and undercut the mainstream gaming companies and steal their customers.

I personally always had an issue with paying $15/month and then having to pony up for expansion packs. I thought those should have been included in the subscription fee and it would've cut down on people having mismatched versions of the game.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

I think if it gets to the point where people are having to spend $100+ on MMOs to be competitive, the genre will go belly up. Sure, you'll have the nerds living in mom's basement who work part time at Burger King who might spend that, but I think it would lead to a revolt of most of the playerbase and some enterprising company would come in and undercut the mainstream gaming companies and steal their customers.

I personally always had an issue with paying $15/month and then having to pony up for expansion packs. I thought those should have been included in the subscription fee and it would've cut down on people having mismatched versions of the game.

I can't always afford the expansion packs early, but I don't mind them because I recognize the value added when they add huge amounts of value to the game world.

But I think you're right about expensive microtransactions, some new company will always come back and make it right with a reasonable monthly plan.

The problem is - what if a really good IP got caught up in a greedy company's microtransaction plan? Players would have to say goodbye to it...hope I never have to make that choice.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

The problem is - what if a really good IP got caught up in a greedy company's microtransaction plan? Players would have to say goodbye to it...hope I never have to make that choice.

Well, we've seen good IP get really screwed before (I'm looking at you, SWG and Sony) and it DID suck. If they would've fixed the bugs and introduced content at a steady pace rather than wasting resources doing two major redesigns, I know I'd still be playing and they wouldn't be shutting the game down in December. My only hope is the SWGEMU.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Should try Entropia Universe. It's free! (as long as you're satisfied only collecting animal ball sweat).

 

[Malladine]

Since I can't remember where to find the link as support I will not mention the company's name but I recently listened to an audio of a company CEO talking to his stockholders(or the board, I don't know), and he was describing how he personally had spent 5000 "year to date" on microtransactions, and he also mentioned that in the middle of a firefight if they can charge to reload, the player isn't price conscious at that moment.

The writing is on the wall, people.

Hell, I played battletech solaris on AOL back in the 90s and they charged extra for that by hour. If I played that as much as I do modern MMOs, I'd have paid $100 per month easily. I was very pleased when Everquest launched at $10/month. History is repeating itself.

Interesting, but I can't see that flying today with all the alternative entertainment options out there. Besides, gamers make the best games, and want nothing more than for others to enjoy playing as they do...right?? Going to cut down on that enjoyment if you try to gouge people.

Though you know what, i'm out of the mainstream age group i think (31)...when i was 17 I must have spent $700 of my mother's money playing ultima online on dial up (long distance phone charges). Maybe it's the parents' money they are aiming at, via kids as naive or careless as I was...

 

[HarvardAce]

Though you know what, i'm out of the mainstream age group i think (31)...when i was 17 I must have spent $700 of my mother's money playing ultima online on dial up (long distance phone charges). Maybe it's the parents' money they are aiming at, via kids as naive or careless as I was...

Back before there was such a thing as "unlimited internet" and your AOL or CompuServe subscription was for 10-20 hours a month, and about $3-5 per hour after that (plus the phone charges if it wasn't a local #), people were known to wrack up thousands of dollars in charges per month playing games like Gemstone III and other MUDs of the day. Thankfully I was not one of them.

 

[zinfamous]

FYI: the re-done Hellgate is now in open beta. I'm currently downloading the client, not sure if I'll try it out, though. Still, looks pretty good.

I've heard that people really liked the first one, despite the issues--whatever those were. lack of support?

I actually know a guy that was working on this one, but has since moved on to other projects. So I guess I was curious, and after watching some youtube video, liked what I saw...


No idea if this is supposed to be FtP, though. Beta is, anyway. :\ ...I think :hmm:


Anyway, I'm off to open up a few more pipes so that I can take on that skank hoard solo.

 

[Udgnim]

After playing Vindictus for a good 5 months, I got bored of it. Dungeon Fighter online is a great game and not grindy at all. It's got SNES graphics but the gameplay is so addicting. I'm level 35 and still don't have room for all the quests.

this is what I've been playing for around a year although my recent game time has reduced considerably due to real life responsibilities

the game itself (DFO) has recently received a huge content update that further reduced its XP leveling curve, increased its level cap from 60 to 70, added a new class & subclasses (thief/necromancer/rogue), revamped skill scaling, added new skills, replaced its avatar token system with a selectable avatar system, and added new dungeons & other content.

one of my most favorite aspects of the game are that most dungeons can be completed in around 3-5 minutes if in a group, so I'm not committing a significant amount of time once I enter a dungeon.

if you give the game a try though, I highly advise changing the movement hotkeys to the WASD side of the keyboard and using NUMPAD for skills hotkeys. default keyboard layout is horrible imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69p6L_DVXcc

 

[Wordplay]

10k or did you mean 1k?

If 10k thats 416 solid days Thats dedication!

I know someone that had 312 days when he hit 70 during BC. Old school AV is what did it for him.

Since I can't remember where to find the link as support I will not mention the company's name but I recently listened to an audio of a company CEO talking to his stockholders(or the board, I don't know), and he was describing how he personally had spent 5000 "year to date" on microtransactions, and he also mentioned that in the middle of a firefight if they can charge to reload, the player isn't price conscious at that moment.

The writing is on the wall, people.

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-3/1405701-ea-ceo-talks-about-pay-play-bf.html

It's EA using BF as an example about MC opportunities

 

[Coffinmaker]

this is what I've been playing for around a year although my recent game time has reduced considerably due to real life responsibilities

the game itself (DFO) has recently received a huge content update that further reduced its XP leveling curve, increased its level cap from 60 to 70, added a new class & subclasses (thief/necromancer/rogue), revamped skill scaling, added new skills, replaced its avatar token system with a selectable avatar system, and added new dungeons & other content.

one of my most favorite aspects of the game are that most dungeons can be completed in around 3-5 minutes if in a group, so I'm not committing a significant amount of time once I enter a dungeon.

if you give the game a try though, I highly advise changing the movement hotkeys to the WASD side of the keyboard and using NUMPAD for skills hotkeys. default keyboard layout is horrible imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69p6L_DVXcc

Agreed, this game truely is fantastic. There is a TON of quests to do. I don't have enough room in my quest log for all of them. So far there is no grind whatsoever. Thanks for the tip on the revised controls. I'll have to play with them, I too don't care too much for the default keys but that's easily changed.