Age of Conan goes F2P this summer

For anyone who hasn't heard, AoC will be joining the ranks of DDO, Lotro, & Champions by going F2P this summer. Should prove interesting having a so-called 'mature' MMO with F2P content.

The main problem i see with this is that a f2p model relies on having content to auction off and apart from the instanced nature of the game the main complaint has been a lack of content once you reach endgame.
In 4 years they have added about the same amount of content as wow does in 4 patch cycles so not really sure how they plan to impliment gating.

Their F2P design is just as horrible as the one for EQ2X. Too many damned restrictions and lockouts from most the classes and content.

Turbine got it right with LOTRO and DDO, where pretty much everything is available for the player to explore, all classes and races available {minus a few special classes in DDO}. The entire main story is available to play through, plus you can earn the virtual currency to purchase items from their store, albeit with some heavy grinding, or just pay a small fee here and there to unlock the content "you" want to play.

…with AoC and EQ2X, most areas and content are locked permanently from the F2P gamer, and the only way to access them to sign up for a subscription, and that is entirely backwards thinking in getting new players to want to play your game.

The point behind playing a F2P MMO is not being locked into a subscription, thus; one doesn't feel as though their time/money is ticking away on the many days or even weeks of each month some of us just don't have the time to log in.

Anyway…my 2 cents!

I'm not a fan of F2P - because it will invariably be worse for the paying customer - and I never play a game because of its cheap price. I play a game because it's worth my time - and if it's worth my time, I don't mind paying.

LOTRO and DDO F2P got a lot of people playing, and that's great in itself - but they seriously cheapened them both as well. It's so obvious they no longer care about the products from a design standpoint. It's all about catering to the majority now.

The whole concept of F2P is seriously flawed, and it only exists because it will make more money for developers/publishers. It's never about the player.

But people are too blind to realise that.

I find it unfathomable that people in this world, where time is so limited, are still guided by what's cheap or free.

Good, here's another one I've been wanting to check out. I personally love the F2P model, it gives me a chance to play the game to death and decide whether it's worth a monthly payment plan, or a toss over the shoulder.

Then you can play in a world where paying extra will always give you an advantage. When you can buy your way to in-game advantages - the entire concept of playing a game loses its meaning.

But that's just my opinion.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Then you can play in a world where paying extra will always give you an advantage. When you can buy your way to in-game advantages - the entire concept of playing a game loses its meaning.

But that's just my opinion.

Does it matter? Because I can also just read a walkthrough. The real question is if the game is worth playing even when it's free. To get some taste of it. And then you can decide if you want to take it a little further. Who cares if you can get an advantage by paying more if the experience is not totally destroyed when you don't. And much of the time, it isn't.

Yes, time is limited, and maybe you do get what you pay for; but it's not always possible or necessary to get all the expensive bits in order to have some fun.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
Does it matter? Because I can also just read a walkthrough. The real question is if the game is worth playing even when it's free. To get some taste of it. And then you can decide if you want to take it a little further. Who cares if you can get an advantage by paying more if the experience is not totally destroyed when you don't. And much of the time, it isn't.

Yes, time is limited, and maybe you do get what you pay for; but it's not always possible or necessary to get all the expensive bits in order to have some fun.

A walkthrough?

What are you talking about.

I'm talking about having access to weapons, mounts, XP potions, and so on. That's the kind of advantage you can get by paying for it.

Maybe people think it's fun to buy progress - but in my mind, games are all about playing and overcoming challenges. To buy advantages with real money is tantamount to cheating.

It's a serious mistake in the industry that's only going to get worse.

Unfortunately, too many people don't really think about these things until it's too late.

But whatever. By all means pay real money for your in-game items. That way, the flaw in this concept will be revealed sooner rather than later.

Well, Dart - cheats are available for pretty much any game. It just depends on whether you use them or not. When I play an F2P game, the only thing that I pay for is my subscription. Now I can see how other people, who dont necessarily have my nonchalant attitude about the whole thing, and have sunk literally years into a game to attain things would be pissed that a bunch of noobs are running around w/ the same gear. I can see that. Me personally, if it takes me 20 levels to get a mount - it takes me 20 levels. I play the game for the same reason you do. If someone else next to me gets a mount at level 5 because they pay for it, it doesnt really bother me tho. I dont know if that bothers you or not, i couldnt care less. I'm in the game for my own personal fulfillment.

As usual however you approach this subject from your dramatic art student standpoint - the makers of the game "dont care anymore" about the game. They dont care about the art of game design, about the players, about anything much any more. Has the thought ever occurred to you that they may have no choice in the matter? Maybe it's not about being greedy and rubbing their bellies in glee over all the nice tasty new subscribers they got - maybe these games are hanging on by a thread and it's about having the game up and running at all.

A company doesnt give away their product because they want to, it's generally because they have no choice. The life support system that is F2P sometimes being the only thing that keeps an online title up and running.

Would the players that have been grinding the game for years rather have the game cease to exist entirely, rather than make the concessions it takes to keep it afloat? I know my fiancee grumbles about F2P on LOTRO, but her biggest fear is her beloved game going away entirely. I just got done w/ a few weeks in Warhammer Online, and it's dead. Kept alive by F2P. Same w/ Lotro. DDO wasnt a smash hit, and theyre lucky to still be up and running on F2P life support. I dont think Conan is going F2P because "the developers dont care anymore", quite the opposite - it's because they do care. It's an attempt to keep their game afloat instead of shutting it down for good.

Just be aware that you might experience some graphical performance problems with the game. It's very demanding. I just retried it a week ago on my Nvidia GTX260. All my old performance problems were still present, like texture streaming and level-of-detail of objects. Might be my particular hardware setup that is making problems though. I recommend changing the graphics options in the launcher to download the low texture pack.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
Well, Dart - cheats are available for pretty much any game. It just depends on whether you use them or not. When I play an F2P game, the only thing that I pay for is my subscription. Now I can see how other people, who dont necessarily have my nonchalant attitude about the whole thing, and have sunk literally years into a game to attain things would be pissed that a bunch of noobs are running around w/ the same gear. I can see that. Me personally, if it takes me 20 levels to get a mount - it takes me 20 levels. I play the game for the same reason you do. If someone else next to me gets a mount at level 5 because they pay for it, it doesnt really bother me tho. I dont know if that bothers you or not, i couldnt care less. I'm in the game for my own personal fulfillment.

It doesn't really matter whether cheats can stand unused - when others are "cheating" to get ahead. It's not like a singleplayer game where you're only cheating yourself.

If you don't think your experience is cheapened when people aren't playing for their progress, then that's fine. Personally, I have a hard time seeing how anyone can motivate themselves to play for hours and hours, when they know they can just buy something cheap. It's the mixture of real money and in-game resources that's so dangerous to the genre.

Maybe it's because I like to immerse myself in the game world - and I like to pretend there's some kind of meaning to my actions. I can understand that if you play MMOs on your own - or you don't invest in your achievements - then it won't matter if others go around buying their progress.

It's not about elitism or wanting others to "suffer" because I've suffered. It's about maintaining the integrity of a gaming universe and fantasy. As soon as you invite outside "reality" to heavily influence the fantasy, you're asking to ruin the whole illusion of a game.

As usual however you approach this subject from your usual dramatic art student standpoint - the makers of the game "dont care anymore" about the game. They dont care about the art of game design, about the players, about anything much any more. Has the thought ever occurred to you that they may have no choice in the matter? Maybe it's not about being greedy and rubbing their bellies in glee over all the nice tasty new subscribers they got - maybe these games are hanging on by a thread and it's about having a game worth even keeping up and running.

Let me rephrase it for you then: They can't "afford" to care - because they want more money.

Better?

The end result is the same, and I couldn't care less if they're personally invested or not.

A company doesnt give away their product because they want to, it's generally because they have no choice. The life support system that is F2P sometimes being the only thing that keeps an online title up and running.

That's your fantasy, not mine. A company does what it perceives will maximise profit. Developers are rarely directly involved with the financial aspect - and they're just following orders.

Would the players that have been grinding the game for years rather have the game cease to exist entirely, rather than make the concessions it takes to keep it afloat? I know my fiancee grumbles about F2P on LOTRO, but her biggest fear is her beloved game going away entirely. I just got done w/ a few weeks in Warhammer Online, and it's dead. Kept alive by F2P. Same w/ Lotro. DDO wasnt a smash hit, and theyre lucky to still be up and running on F2P life support. I dont think Conan is going FTP because "the developers dont care anymore", quite the opposite - they do care. It's an attempt to keep the game afloat.

WAR is, at heart, a crap design that never really worked. If you want to keep it alive on F2P support instead of playing a thriving game, that's your business. That it's "free" is what keeps people playing - but how sad that is, if you ask me.

LOTRO was doing fine without F2P - and they had 150-200K subscribers at that point.

AoC was a game with absolutely fantastic potential, but the people behind it have been destroying it for a long time. Sure, they managed to halt the disaster and turn it into a "working game" - but they'll never come close to achieving what it could have been. This F2P move is just an obvious cash grab based on the movie and them finally having a reasonably stable client.

Now, I'm not blaming them for going the greed route - but I'm also not pretending there's another reason for it.

If you think F2P is all about survival then you better think again. It CAN be a lifesaver for broken games, but for working solid games like LOTRO - it's just a cash grab.

Ultimately, I'm not saying F2P is a bad thing if you just want the game to run for a longer period of time.

However, if you want the best gaming experience - I claim you should stay FAR away from the F2P model - because it will ruin any game. If you're a huge fan of a single game and there's no other way to play it, then I can understand sticking to F2P - but you're kidding yourself if you think it's because the developers are starving.

These games were all in a state of decline when they F2P'd, all of them. Youre the one living in a fantasy realm where everyone that wants to make money is instantly guilty of your cardinal sin - greed! That's your "Great Satan", lol. And you see it everywhere.

You remind me of that old Saturday Night Live skit w/ the Church Lady, who saw Satan in everything. Oh no, someone's trying to save a dying game… could it be… SATAN???

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
These games were all in a state of decline when they F2P'd, all of them. Youre the one living in a fantasy realm where everyone that wants to make money is instantly guilty of your cardinal sin - greed! That's your "Great Satan", lol. And you see it everywhere.

You remind me of that old Saturday Night Live skit w/ the Church Lady, who saw Satan in everything. Oh no, someone's trying to save a dying game… could it be… SATAN???

I'm glad you noticed

Now, to turn on your brain - and you'll join me in my problem with greed when it drives development of our games.

I wonder how they will address the age requirement, considering it's an adult MMO (nudity, etc).