I’m definitely excited about TSW going F2P as I really quite enjoyed it and thoroughly appreciated them paying so much (worthy) homage to H.P. Lovecraft, which we unfortunately see so little of in all forms of media.
I wonder how the F2P model is going to work because you can’t monetize classes or races like they did in Age of Conan. And I believe Age of Conan’s F2P model requires you to subscribe to access the end game stuff, which is kind of a turn off (I’d rather pay once for the content I want).
They’ve been doing regular content updates. I suspect they will charge for those, though how much I have no idea. I guess the lifers will get it for free.
Other than that I suspect XP boosts, cosmetic stuff, new weapons, etc.
The game has recently been on sale for as little as $5 I believe. If anyone is interested, grab it at that price before they go F2P and it may mean you get the first four content updates for free. It’s possible those may be categorized as premium content after they go F2P.
Oghier
1643
If you can pick it up on sale, give it strong consideration. The quality of the writing, the excellent voice acting and the setting make it a unique game. They’ve also eliminated most of the bugs that resulted in so many poor first impressions. It’s solo-friendly, and there’s also plenty of group content. The PvP still needs a fair bit of work, though.
Don’t expect it to be easy, though. The first two major areas are very forgiving. But when you hit Blue Mountains, a mid-level zone… well, a lot of people quit at that point, rather than working to adapt their builds to a much higher level of difficulty.
In any event, I am glad to see it’s going F2P. There’s some top-notch work here. It deserves a broader audience.
malkav11
1644
Saw it coming, but I hope it works out for them and is built sanely to both attract new folks and monetize it in a way that keeps content rolling in. FWIW, I doubt they would charge for content that’s currently in game. Future content updates maybe.
Congrats, Nostradamus. Line starts right behind Capt. Obvious. :)
If nothing else, I am relieved it is going F2P so we can dispense with people bleating about it. That talk literally started in beta and the incessant chatter about it grates on me to no end.
Well, we’re at a point where a large number of traditional MMOs have converted to free to play, and the subscription model appears to be particularly successful for nobody but WoW (and modestly for EvE). So it was fair to look a bit askance at The Secret World deciding to launch into this climate with the same ol’ traditional subscription model. Especially with a cash shop (cosmetic as it may have been.) Me, I took one look at it and decided to do away with the sub by plumping for a lifetime, but I can’t blame my friends for not wanting to drop $200 on it up front, especially since one of them has no money whatsoever and the other is sufficiently busy that they’re not likely to get their money’s worth out of either a lifetime or traditional subscription.
Hopefully F2P will change that, so I can play with them.
One problem with the subscription model is that everyone seems to think they’re “worth” $15 a month.
Miramon
1648
Considering the time most people spend playing – say 20 hours a month on average – really that is not a very high price. It’s an old argument: compare 2-hour movies at say $15 per person, 3-hour sporting events at $300, and even 20-hour single-player computer games at $50, etc. etc. etc.
I think the real problem with the subscription model is that the development team just can’t produce enough content to keep up with the players, and once you are into an end-game grind, doing pretty much the same thing over and over again, then the $15 a month does starts to look a bit steep, especially if you are now playing much less than you used to.
Why does WoW manage to keep it going where everyone else fails? Precedence has something to do with it, the first content-heavy solo-friendly game of that pattern; but there must be more to it than that. I don’t quite get it myself, since I myself quit soon after I hit level 50.
I hope their F2P model is not as restrictive as Age of Conan’s (another Funcom joint) appears to be.
Nesrie
1650
That and they seem to think you can just make a game and watch money roll in. They kind of leave out the quality and quantity at release along with frequent update part.
It’s a good value by that metric, but the comparison needs to be the price of the competition. It doesn’t really make sense that nearly every major MMO is priced at that same $15 a month. An individual MMO should have more justification for using that price point than “everyone else was doing it.”
red_guy
1652
And it’s official: gone is the subscription model. Future monthly(?) content updates will become available as DLC. Paying customers become “members” and get store discounts and bonus store points (that could then be used to access the DLC) and an XP booster. Speed upgrades can also be bought with cash, instead of only with in-game money.
The January DLC will be released next week and cost $5, except for people who buy access (i.e. buy the game or buy/have a membership) in December, who will get it right away.
Unless I’ve misread the news item and the FAQ - parsing these is harder than the average investigation mission in the game.
edit: as a -currently- paying player, I welcome these changes - gone is the pressure to finish the single player content, which is all I’m interested in, as soon as possible, but I’ll still have the opportunity to throw some cash their way for DLC packs. Because this game’s atmosphere, and especially its excellent cutscenes, make me want to empty my wallet, but the regular store content (mostly clothing items with prices that make the Sims 3 store look like a second-hand outlet) doesn’t have anything I’d want to spend that money on.
And if this change helps keep the game afloat for six months, or six years, we all win.
edit 2: I missed the obligatory RPS interview link: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/12/interview-the-secret-world-drops-subscription/
Huh. I’m not really sure that anything you get for a “membership” now is really worth $15 a month, but since I’m a Grand Master, I guess I don’t need to care!
If I’m understanding correctly, I would still have to buy the client for $30. So they’re not actually going free to play, just subscription-optional.
Correct. Which I think may be a better move, honestly. It’s true that there’s less obstacle to trying a game you can just download free, but they’d almost certainly have to limit things -somehow- for nonsubscribers.
Wow, wasn’t expecting they’d open up ALL the content to play for free. Now they get me interested and playing the game again and pretty much guaranteed to buy future DLC content and maybe even stuff from their shop. Fucking awesome!
Spread the word people!
Charging for the client, while still blocking aspects of the game off to non-subscribers, means this game will die slowly.
Maybe I’m the outlier, but every full F2P game I’ve tried that I subsequently liked has gotten at least $5 out of me. Hell, I even paid $5 for a starter pack in Blacklight Retribution because I just wanted a shooter for a little while. I was interested in trying this game out, but there’s no chance of that with a $30 up front cost.
Razgon
1658
Do you see GW2 dying slowly? Its the exact same way of setting up the game.
Its a brilliant move - And if people consider the 30 dollars deal too much for a game, they weren’t going to spend money on it anyways.
Take a look at every other F2P MMO thread on this forum and see people moaning and bitching about the payment model, feeling they HAVE to pay to be able to play the game - Hell, even LOTRO which I find pretty damn liberal in how much it allows people to do for free, gets the smack from people.
This way, the ONLY think stopping people from playing it, is the initial cost, like EVERY other game out there - Only, this game has new content continuously and has the potential to entertain you for 100’s of hours.
Also - Where do you see aspects of the game being blocked off to non-subscribers? As an owner of the game, you get EVERYTHING a subscriber did last night.
But that’s not what they are doing. Buying the game gives you access to the whole content currently available and next month’s pack if you buy before the end of the year.
And they will still give you new content for free afterwards (see the RPS interview). But the game issues (monthly content) will be available to purchase on a one by one basis if you wish to do so, same with the store items.
All in all, that’s a very decent deal, IMO.
No need to buy quest packs to play the game to the end of the current content.
Wendelius
GW2 gets near universal praise. The Secret World, not so much. That’s a BIG difference for starters. A casual scan of a few reviews is enough to convince the curious that GW2 might be worth checking out for $30. The Secret World is more of a gamble.
I disagree. People (and by this I mean the legion of people that have ponied up their CC numbers to buy stuff in countless F2P games) purchase DLC/vanity items all the time in many games and keep them afloat.
Eh. Everything right now is open for non-subscribers, which is admittedly a good amount of content, but future content will need to be either purchased, or you’ll need to use the points that come with your subscription to buy them.
