Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast 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 5 of 9)
Matthew Nov 11th 2010 8:47AM
This is a good point, F2P feels like you are deliberately being nerfed, but you can buy extras! And wow currently feels like, you get everything! But you can pay for these extras.
They have managed to toe that line pretty well.
dodgeballer2005 Nov 11th 2010 8:45AM
I hate MMOs that are "allegedly free" that in the end you're paying for what's known as an "expansion to your gaming experience."
danielrayroberts81 Nov 11th 2010 8:48AM
@Sleutel
Notice I said *need to" not *have to* and 10m subs at 15$ a pop is 150M a month wow could pay off the US goverment debt in like 20 years thats mind blowing.
Forreststump Nov 11th 2010 12:52PM
$15 x 10M subscribers = $150M per month. U.S. national debt is $13.8 TRILLION (not billion). Required time to payoff: 92,000 months, or...
7,666 years, 8 months.
Amaxe Nov 11th 2010 4:42PM
Wonder what the expansions will be like at that time...
/duck
bones Nov 11th 2010 8:49AM
I haven't played LOTR online, but I have played many f2p games. Cash shops/Item malls start out with little cosmetic things, but eventually move to in game advantages. Better enchants, buff scrolls, pets that heal or kill for you, the list goes on. You have to spend a bundle to be competitive.
I think that if WoW went f2p, I may still play, but I'd be leery of everything they did.
Oh, and MICRO transactions, are anything but micro. Subscription is cheaper overall.
Randy* Nov 11th 2010 8:51AM
I played LOTRO in beta before I started playing WoW. Having never played an MMO, I was in awe of the graphics, the music, the ambience. But once the beta closed, I didn't stay. I started playing WoW with some friends.
Recently, when LOTRO went f2p, I thought I'd try it again. I'm still impressed by the same things, but now, when I got a character to a certain level, the f2p concept hit me in the face. I was told I could now learn riding skill.
For a price!
I realized in WoW that I still have use for taxis, but there are times, when doing quests and running back to quest givers, I really need that extra speed that a mount gives.
I did loot a whistle once that called a mount. This mount expired in 24 hours from first use, so I have to be careful when I used it. I guess that was some consolation, but you can't count on having a mount drop all the time when you need it.
The icon for the launcher still sits on my desktop. I haven't logged in in about a month. Maybe I won't. Maybe I will. This in-between time in WoW certainly has brought a level a lethargy that I have not experienced before. However, I was in the Wrath beta, so I have stuff to keep me occupied. I didn't make the cut this time.
Maybe in the long haul, with no monthly fees, these little annoyances may be cheaper. But I don't have to worry about that now. I don't have to plan ahead for these expenses.
A point was made above me that the cost of WoW with expacs is getting pricey. I tend to agree. When Wrath came out, Blizzard made a Battlechest version that included the basic game and Burning Crusade. I guess with Cata, they will do the same and include Wrath. Maybe that will be $50. But at some point, can you entice new players if the cost to get started (including basic game and expacs) is $150?
Robert Staszek Nov 11th 2010 8:59AM
If you think that Blizzard is going to let $179 Million+ go per month on subscriptions fees, you must be on something pretty powerful. No way would they let that revenue stream fall ON PURPOSE. Of course they can't stop people from just leaving or taking a break from the game, but to completely switch revenue models to a Free-to-play structure? That's crazy talk. I feel that it's an "If it isn't broke, don't try to fix it" situation. We're all content with paying $14.99/month to satisfy our addiction and with the new content coming up, it's only gonna be more justified. But, if out of the blue, Blizzard wanted to do their own "Shattering" by moving to Free-to-play, I'd quit cold turkey... I'm not that addicted.
noel mcleod Nov 11th 2010 9:00AM
Speaking as a game player, F2P "sounds" great. Let's see, I play a ton of WSG and my lower level toons are twinked iwth BoA's and blues (from instances, mostly). It gives me an advantage, bit not overwhelmingly so. (Especially not against any pair of rogues ...).
So, in F2P somebody can buy gear to give them an "edge" in WSG, well that's a slippery slope which ends up at spend $30 and you DOMINATE WSG. Which would ruin the game for the rest of us. Currently, if I find myself in a BG with someone using a hack I just leave. If there's 2 or 3 undead rogues travelling in a pack, I just leave. (Sorry, Blizz needs to fix the rogues, dying without so much as coming out of stunlock when you're lvl 28 isn't fun, why would I play?). Let the beancounters get at it in a F2P business model and those will be the things people pay for - money will trump skill. F2P ONLY works for mostly SOLO content.
I would go spend my money on another MMORPG that wasn't F2p or start spending quality time with my neglected xBox360.
bui Nov 11th 2010 9:30AM
I wouldn't enjoy the free to play in an MMO that wants to charge you access to all aspects of the game. Like take champions online for example, they are changing to free to play, but you pay for stuff like extra costumes and things like that, not necessary to enjoy the game but if you get tired of looking at the same outfit you can buy more, which I am sure many people will, but it doesn't take away from the game. As for WoW while I wouldn't enjoy a free to play aspect you would think they could knock down the 15$ a month fee considering when they had that in mind they didn't know they were going to have 12million players. Cause thats 180mil a month they draw in. If they knocked it down to like 10 a month that'd still be 120mil which I highly doubt would murder them for profits, plus that price drop would more than likely make even more people come to the game because what's $10 a month most people make that in an hour at work.
Pat Nov 11th 2010 9:39AM
Thinking about it now.. WoW going F2P and charging for things like more bag space etc.
I'd quit and move on to somthing different. I don't mind paying for things like mini-pets and a handful of mounts but you won't find me paying for more bag slots or for the ability to get into certain areas.
NeoCloud61 Nov 11th 2010 9:46AM
But Pat, you're already paying around 15 dollars a month just to have access to ANY part of the game.
If it went f2p and you kept paying the same amount, you would most likely get all the stuff you already have. Perhaps more.
NeoCloud61 Nov 11th 2010 9:44AM
If it went f2p, I'd just pay the same ammount I do now.
That would most likely mean I'd be paying for the same level of content as before and nothing would change.
Moghar Nov 11th 2010 9:49AM
If wow went F2P, I'm pretty sure their content would worsen, because only washed up games go that way.
Moghar Nov 11th 2010 9:48AM
If I am used to the perks wow grants, and wow goes F2P, but to get the perks I've had before I have to pay a sum about 50% of what I had payed before, I would pay, because I'm already used to the monthly fees. Otherwise - No, not a chance.
Syme Nov 11th 2010 9:50AM
If WoW went to the model used by LotRO, with a subscription available to access everything, it really would have no effect on people who are subscribed already, so I would be likely to keep playing. If there was no subscription available, I'd be done with it.
I have fun when I log on to my free hobbit: killing wolves, seeing the sights, and growing pipeweed. I even figured out how to play on my lute an original tune I wrote using an ABC file. But I also don't feel bad that I haven't logged on in about 3 weeks, because it's all free and I just putter. About the only limit that chafes is not having access to the auction house.
Lipstick Nov 11th 2010 9:50AM
I think that F2P has it's uses, but I don't necessarily think that it would be a good fit for wow.
One of the reasons why is because Wow has a LARGE body of "gold sellers" which invade it on a regular basis. Gold Sellers is the biggest reason why trial accounts are so restrictive in what people can do, and how they can communicate. A fact which I have long found sad, I still remember being a noob, with no idea what I was doing and unable to ask anyone for help. Thankfully I had a real life friend who played, the game (the reason I was playing in the first place) and the minute he popped online on msn I bombarded him with questions.
Had I been a legitimate newb who had found the game in a video store and decided to give the free trial a shot, I think I might of just -- quit the game in frustration. Making all players have access to most content on a F2P would be great if it would remove that barrier of entry, but I have worries what it would do to gold sellers.
Also -- so long as I could continue to pay $15 a month, and have access to everything I have access to now without losing anything I could be okay.
But if they made me purchase a bunch of stuff in game -- in addition - to the monthly cost, or made it so it was entirely F2P and you had to buy every little thing that I use to get for $15 I would have issues with that.
Wistin Nov 11th 2010 10:01AM
I played D&D Online for a while before it was free. It was ok and I liked a few of the features. Then they went free and suddenly I was inundated with "can't go here" messages. It was most annoying. So much so I don't even visit the game anymore. It feels kind of cheap now. Like the motivation behind the game isn't for the customer to have fun, but to see how much money they can get out of you. A bit like walking in some parts of San Francisco. How many homeless and street show people can you "donate" to before you're broke?
Wistin Nov 11th 2010 10:03AM
Still no edit feature....
This is the same reason I don't have a cell phone. Yea, we do exist. The micro-transactions are a tool of the devil.
Deathphyre Nov 11th 2010 10:12AM
I don't honestly think that Blizzard will go the F2P route.
Its simple economics.
Take the Sparkle pony that some people were talking about when it first came out, that Blizz was testing the waters for F2P and specialized content.
Now, we have aprox. 11-12 mil players world wide.
X14.99$ US *as a base price not to leave out Europe or asian countries* a month...is ALOT.
now the amount of Sparkle ponies was ALOT X25$ us. One time buyout, for they are applied to the account, and are available to every char you have, and every one you will ever have on every single realm.
So, will Blizz make another attempt at a Pretty pony, or mount, or pet...You betcha! why not, easy cash grab. Seeing as in the case of the sparkle pony, no one was really paid alot to make it. They took the existing wireframe from "Invincible" and splashed a couple pieces of armour on it.
But to make my long story short, simple economics dictates Blizz makes WAY more money from 11-12MilX15. verses the occasional boost they would get for F2P.
So, no, they will not go F2P unless they lose like 5-8Mil players. But I would expect to see some more limited time offers coming, and I dont mind paying for those cause sometimes they are better than a vanity pet. I am sorry a mount that hits ALL your characters, and any you might make later on.....simply awesome