Breakfast Topic: Would you pay for extras in a F2P WoW?
by Josh Rose 
Nov 11th 2010 at 8:00AM
Lord of the Rings Online went free-to-play. "Free" is a questionable term, since they charge you for a fee for features you can technically live without but are still fairly important; things such as the gold cap, the ability to gain rested XP, and certain instances and PvP options require a fee. You get an enhanced version slightly above a trial, but you are still limited in what you can do in the free-to-play version of the game.
While playing a game, I want to play the whole game, have the entire experience, and not feel as if I have been shortchanged by being on a limited version. Personally having purchased some of the Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age DLC, I would still have to pay for the added functionality. Not being able to fully advance my character and see large amounts of content would irritate me more than the cost would. Not being allowed to make use of content would make me feel like I was missing out.
I want the choice of whether or not I do this instance, raid, or battleground. Could you imagine attempting to zone into Icecrown Citadel and seeing a message that says, "Requires a V.I.P. membership"? WoW has sold us a few items for extra money that are not required, but not having a Lil' XT or a sparkle pony doesn't affect your game functionality.
LOTRO offers things like more bag spaces and removing the gold cap and even priority login for those with V.I.P. accounts. So if World of Warcraft decided to follow the LOTRO model and go semi-free-to-play, would you just play the free portion? Would you pay for the V.I.P. portion? Would you buy the other nickel and dime upgrades they have on top of that? Or would you quit WoW altogether, feeling as if Blizzard had shortchanged players by making us pay for things like bag space, PvP and raid availability?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
xxxwrathxxx Nov 11th 2010 8:04AM
Honestly I would throw a fit and then days later come back and start paying for everythign like a mad man.
10$ to cross the bridge fro westfall to duskwood.
Sure, thank you sir have a nice afternoon.
carebear Nov 11th 2010 8:54AM
if there wasnt a snowballs chance in hell that wow would go free to play any time soon this topic might be interesting
Jake Nov 11th 2010 9:26AM
I would not pay for a "free" version of WoW. I've spent enough on this game over the years, that I would absolutely boycott the game (for real, not like one of the hundreds daily in the forums who claim they're going to quit).
They already nickel and dime us to death. Why give us a free move once a year? Charge us $25 instead. Faction change? More cash.
If they went "free", you know %^&* well tey'd be the most expensive "free" game ever to grace your screen.
Frankly, I can't afford "free WoW". It'll be too expensive.
Aquaryon Nov 11th 2010 10:28AM
@Bionic Radd
I absolutely totally agree, job well done. And yes, I will "joining" you as well as soon as CO goes F2P :)
justicejuice Nov 11th 2010 10:41AM
i was thinking they are asking "If wow went free with limited features such as gold , etc. BUT you still got the full game for the same $15 we are paying now, would you cancel and go free with limited, or continue with life as normal?."
Amaxe Nov 11th 2010 11:46AM
With a free MMO, you literally get what you pay for.
Elmouth Nov 11th 2010 12:36PM
F2P WoW would suck.
What makes WoW great is that everybody starts off as equals and competition does the rest.
I hope WoW never goes free because it would then lose its edge over the rest of the market.
Maccabeus Nov 11th 2010 12:47PM
@Amaxe
I would completely support this idea, being a long-time subscriber. However, I can foresee problems with continuing to expand WoW's subscribership. And besides, they technically already do a version of this in the free demo.
Jorges Nov 11th 2010 1:03PM
I don't know... maybe it's just me, but I can't take any F2P game seriously. I mean, I have LOTRO, and it is a nice game with high quality. But I find it very annoying to have to take out my wallet every time I reach the ability to use some skill or feature. If it only were for flavor items like pets or mounts, it would be fine. But having the game asking you for money and naggin you with adds from time to time makes it look cheap.
I know they have a full sub if I want to. But I'm already playing wow.
DarkWalker Nov 11th 2010 1:57PM
WoW is, by far, the most expensive MMORPG to start playing. It's $50 for the Battle Chest with the base game + BC, $40 for the WotLK expansion, and another $40 for Cataclysm - the player pays $130, and only gets one free month with it.
(BTW, WoW without all expansions is just a very expensive trial, with very infrequent updates, borked class balance, content difficulty seriously under-tuned, no chance at World PvP, etc; for the most part, lacking even one expansion pack for WoW is actually worse than playing one of those F2P games while refusing to use it's online store.)
I believe the most expensive competitor charges $50 for a game box with the game, all expansions, one month free time, and a pack from it's on-line store added as a bonus. Most competitors are either not charging anything for expansions, even when the game has not yet become F2P (which has the nice side-effect of freeing developers from the task of maintaining multiple clients for the game), or else giving some store content or free time as a bonus for buying the expansion.
As for balance between paid and free players, seems like the best F2P games try to keep the relative power level of paid and free players close by not selling anything that can effectively increase the power of end-game players. Most offers are conveniences (or, from another point of view, the lifting of inconveniences forced unto the F2P crowd; Blizzard already sells some things in this category, like faction/realm transfers, and provides some as in-game items, such as heirloom gear), content (which is usually free for subscription players; in fact, most F2P games are even better in this respect than WoW, since there is no need to buy any content as long as the player keeps his subscription active, contrary to what happens with WoW's expansions), and cosmetic items (like the pets and mounts in WoW's store; other F2P games often deal with gear appearance customization as well).
All said, I believe most WoW players would greatly benefit from a move to a payment system similar to Turbine's; no need to buy the game itself or it's expansions, keeping all content available to the subscription crowd, and having a F2P option to fill the place of the free trial, but with way less restrictions. Store content would probably stay mostly the same (perhaps with some things like Heirloom items and potions making an appearance, and perhaps also some kind of gear appearance customization).
Besides, it would be foolish to just disregard F2P games as meaningful. Both Turbine games which went F2P reported a 4-5x increase in player base, and a 2x increase in revenues during the first F2P month, and they both seem to still be better of than previously. Zinga, who thrives on F2P games, has also passed EA in market value. WoW, the single largest subscription MMO in existance, has increased it's player base by only 5% in the last two years. Perhaps this is not the best time for Blizzard to convert WoW to a F2P model, but since they are not fools, they should be at least evaluating the potential gains and losses from such a change.
Chris Nov 11th 2010 5:08PM
@dustwalker, it's mostly just a different way of doing things. WoW offers an incredible amount of content, even if you don't get the expansions, but the system IS designed for the user having all expansions. This is expensive for a new player, but if you've played the game in the last 6 years, you likely already have at least one of the games. I've (like most WoW players) slowly built up the game with expansions, purchasing them as they're released (which is a 2 year gap). It's not expensive if you're paying 15 bucks a month (and can cancel whenever you want) plus 30-40 dollars every two years for additional major content (and plenty of "free" stuff through patches in between). This system in place works wonderfully and I hope it never gets changed.
tulipblossom Nov 11th 2010 6:49PM
This is something I've honestly thought long and hard about, ever since I read that WoW may become f2p in the distant future. And, although I've enjoyed f2p games in the past, I never had the money to really invest in the items I wanted, nor would I have ever invested that much, had I been able to do so. I don't think there's anything wrong with f2p games; they can be extremely fun and enjoyable. At the same time, there's a huge difference between a game that's always been free to play and a game that's always been p2p going free to play.
Personally, I think WoW turning free to play would be a huge mistake. It's not that it wouldn't garner Blizz a great deal of money, because it would. On the other hand, I feel that over time, it would definitely be the downfall of the game. WoW is like no other MMO out there, currently. There have been epic MMOs in the past, but WoW is its own beast. It's legendary in it's right and the normal rules just don't apply.
I go months without even logging onto my account or a single toon. I can't tell you the number of times that I've lost mail, because I forgot about it, when not logging in for a good while. I don't go through WoW withdrawal, I'm not "addicted" or anything of the like. But, I do -adore- the game and even when I don't have an itch to play, I don't freeze my account or stop my subscription in the meantime. And, the reason is, WoW has sort of become a way of life, for me. As I'm sure it has for so many people who play it on a regular basis. It becomes similar to a hobby, such as a knitting, playing a sport, or playing an instrument. You might want to do those things for eight hours straight one day, but then take a break for a week in between. But, it's always there and you're not willing to give up your equipment, knitting needles, or instruments anytime soon. You do those things when you want and don't, when you're not in the mood. They're part of your life. That's how WoW is for me. It's become part of my life. And, when it does come to an end, someday, I'll be sad and miss it, but the same way you do, when a good book series ends; it wouldn't be the end of the world. But, if the game suddenly went f2p, it would cheapen it so drastically, that I probably wouldn't even really want to play, anymore.
It's not meant to be a f2p game. WoW is such an investment. To do something like that is just such a slippery slope. I think that with the massive amounts of money they can get from the occasional pet store pet, pet store mount, and TCG items, that they should be fine to continue to keep the game p2p, while still getting some extra cash on the side. I just don't think going f2p is truly necessary. However, we may just find that in the end, Blizzard will have grown bored with WoW and want to move onto something else. And, that they know they can make large quantities of money, from those folks who have it to burn on a lot of cash shop items, while making the game f2p. But, for those whom the game has become like a way of life, it will probably grow less and less enjoyable over time, and in the end, cause them to quit playing, all together.
I hope that if the game does ever go f2p, that it will be at least two expansions from now and nowhere in the near future.
Nathanyel Nov 11th 2010 8:06AM
Hell no. "Free to play" with added costs for vital stuff has to be the worst model for gamers there is.
Nathanyel Nov 11th 2010 8:10AM
Also, an MMO changing their business model, especially _to_ F2P, can only mean one thing: the company is letting it to rot.
Bionic Radd Nov 11th 2010 8:27AM
This is purely ignorant. LOTRO and D&D Online still offer a sub that means everything stays the same as you'd expect. The fact is that all these MMOs are going after the same players. All of them. How many people in the world do you think want to play an online fantasy MMO? Going free to play means that if you decide today that you want to log in and fart around with LOTRO, you can do so without buying a month of game time. As a publisher, it also eliminates any and all trepidation people have about playing your game. Players get to test the waters for free and only when they hit a ceiling do they need to spend money. 15 bucks a month or 10 bucks here and there. What's the real difference?
Champions Online is a game I had a lot of fun with, but once I finished my trial and the prospect of playing that or quitting WoW was staring me in the face, I had to move on. When Champions goes F2P, I will be back in there. F2P lowers the barrier of entry and allows more players to truly give your game a try, as opposed to free trials which are almost always painfully limited in scope to the point that you don't feel like you're playing the real game.
Do I think WoW will or can go free to play? Nope. Most of these free to play games do a lot of instancing and zoning, which makes it easy to lock out content until you've paid for it. There is no load screen when you go from Westfall to Duskwood. However, to assume that all F2P games are instantly inferior to games like WoW is foolish. LOTRO was a fine game when it was 10 bucks a month and I am sure it's still a fine game, now.
Stoop Nov 11th 2010 8:40AM
I agree. I'd suddenly find myself with a lot more time to work on my motorcycle.
Noyou Nov 11th 2010 9:07AM
Totally agree F2play is the biggest scam going. Blizz, listen up: F2play = F2quit. That simple.
Noyou Nov 11th 2010 9:18AM
@Bionic
If you read the whole article it clearly says it's not totally free. While it doesn't go into great depth it does illustrate a couple of things like VIP priority log in. Now I don't have a problem logging on my server but I think there are lots of players out there that would be pretty offended if they had to pay extra to be able to log in and play when they had the time. Of course there would also be players who would love that opportunity. After all time is money.
Modee Nov 11th 2010 9:55AM
@Nathanyel
Obviously, F2P is for casual players. Serious players would opt for the VIP account. I disagree with your 'letting it rot' opinion. The F2P model increased Turbine's income.
@Bionic Radd
I agree. With my WOW account, I was paying even if I wasn't playing. As a casual player I felt obligated to log in just to get my money's worth. However, I feel Turbine's execution of F2P is a little flawed. I tried the VIP account and still felt the need to pay out an additional $20 the first month. If LOTRO wants to compete with WOW, the VIP account should be equivalent to a WOW subscription.
Nathanyel Nov 11th 2010 11:01AM
As far as I'm aware, D&DO was always under this subscription model, while LotRO only recently changed to that. Surely it will (re)attract many players in the first months, but that will wear out in time.