What can be done to prevent this game from going free to play?

david271749

In response to this thread being closed for not being constructive.

mutharex

Well, you could stop whining and opening flame bait threads for a start.
I am sure that'll help

Phantax

mutharex wrote: »

Well, you could stop whining and opening flame bait threads for a start.
I am sure that'll help

Agreed, plz close this thread plz Mods

Rylana

1. Post thread
2. Get thread locked
3. Post thread again
4. ???????
5. PROFIT

Cepeza

Nothing, because it won't become f2p.

Hearts

Focusing 90% of the manpower on fixing bugs CORRECTLY the first couple of months and THEN focus on new content.

Ive been playing with hardcore guilds and top players since beginning and all of them have left because of bugs of lag, not a single person complained about of lack of content, they all left because of the frustrating bugs.

Also fixing bugs the wrong way doesn't help either, removing ultimate from siphon completely is stupid, making crits give 1 ultimate instead of 3 made it incredibly hard for three classes to earn ultimate and slightly harder for one class (that class is DK). Boosting Nightblades was needed but they did it in the wrong way, the problem isnt class based, its weapon based, right now Nightblades are the most OP in the game easily pulling more DPS than DKs.

So, fixing bugs and fixing them correctly is what i think would have prevented it, or if not prevented, at least delayed it.

zgrssd

We players? Nothing.

This is a decision that has to be done by management. And it will be based around factors/numbers we don't know as players.

There are IMHO two reasons to go F2P:
To open up new revenue streams via Microstransactions/Store
To have more players around for group content. If I play F2P I am providing an important service to the company - more players to group with for the Subs.

There can be a few reasons against F2P:
Licenses. Afaik Star Wars Galaxies could not go F2P because of of the License they had wit Lucas Arts. SWTOR did not had the same problem.
Loosing the reliable sub income. If you can play for free and get your relevant parts of "being sub" via microtransactions, then there is no incentive to be sub. It's reliable income vs. unreliable income.

ozgod22_eso

People talk about F2P like it's a bad thing. SWTOR went F2P yet is one of the 10 most profitable MMOs out there with it's hybrid model.

But to answer your question - more end game content. Bug fixes and tweaks and rebalancing is all important, particularly for PvP which is its own version of end game content. And right now the bulk of the player base is still levelling, still going through the engaging levelling experience and seeing the rest of Tamriel. But if you are going to keep charging people a monthly fee to play, you need to keep them interested in the game when they hit vet levels and get to the end game.

That's where WoW earns its stripes - end game content. Boring for some, ezymode for some of the (self proclaimed) l33t skillz hardcore gamers in this game, but Blizzard is always pushing out new content and engaging the main thought leaders in its player base. That's what makes people keep paying - because they keep enjoying the game. Why would someone pay $15 or whatever it is if they are no longer enjoying the game?

You need more Craglorns, more Cyrodiils, and they need to be fun.

Haxnschwammer

1. Bug fixing
2. Bot banning, including gold buyers!
3. Regularly new content, no need for really big stuff every time, but regurlaly new content
4. No global auction house

Tannakaobi

To make this game awesome:

1) My number one would be for them to make better tool tips. It may be that all the passives work as intended, but the tool tips look like they were written in Japanese and then translated using google. Also add some information on how stamina, Magica and Health work. I think 90% of the people complaining about classes complain because they don't understand it.
1.2) Fix the classes.

2) Correct VR, there is nothing wrong with the three factions thing. Some people like playing every quest, but make it optional, give us other ways to level. For example a PVE arena that we can grind, add some leader-boards and public viewing and you have a big reason for players to stick around.

3) More PVP options. Enough said about that one...

4) Add some fun stuff, Dueling, RP outfits, more pets.

5) Make the biggest baddest bosses drop the best gear and make them available to buy with PVP money. It's great that you can make the best with professions but don't take it away from the game.

It is not what I like, but many players want to have to kill the same boss 100 times to get that weapon that only drops 0.7% of the time. Give people what they want, and make it optional.

6) Finally, and this is the biggest thing: Bring ALL the player damage up 10% in VR. It is abundantly clear that the player base are finding it too hard at VR. By all means add another map for hardcore players that is really hard but don't make it compulsory, defiantly don't make 2/3 of the content.

I would go so far as to say don't make the other factions VR at all, just allow the option to do them as the reward. Create another map for VR that is solo.

And here is the key - make everything optional. Each player should be able to level in there own way, questing - PVPing - grinding dungeons, hell, even just grinding mobs. It should all be optional.

Syntse

First we need people who do not quit because of some small bugs and bit of lag. Todays gamers have no patience at all, if something is not working immediately they ditch it and go to next thing that is not working immediately. Maybe they try out something that has been running for over an year already and are satisfied as it is working immediately.

I wonder how these people would have survived the old times when you used half a day to tweak your boot scripts just to make something run and even then there might have been bugs in the game or it would crash because you ran out of memory.

AngryNord

Hiring a competent dev team.

Tannakaobi

Syntse wrote: »

First we need people who do not quit because of some small bugs and bit of lag. Todays gamers have no patience at all, if something is not working immediately they ditch it and go to next thing that is not working immediately. Maybe they try out something that has been running for over an year already and are satisfied as it is working immediately.

I wonder how these people would have survived the old times when you used half a day to tweak your boot scripts just to make something run and even then there might have been bugs in the game or it would crash because you ran out of memory.

I think people use small bugs and bit of lag as an excuse because of frustration in other area's.
Broken classes is no small issue, but I think most of the quitters just simply find the game too hard which highlights the broken classes.

steveb16_ESO46

Syntse wrote: »

I wonder how these people would have survived the old times when you used half a day to tweak your boot scripts just to make something run and even then there might have been bugs in the game or it would crash because you ran out of memory.

Me? I survived by playing competently designed games that didn't think it fine to make me do all that crap. This is 2014, not 1995 anyway and yea - I don't expect to be a paying beta tester and yea - I expect patches to fix things not make things worse.

What is needed for this game to not go FTP is for Zen to get their act together real quick.

wrlifeboil

Syntse wrote: »

First we need people who do not quit because of some small bugs and bit of lag. Todays gamers have no patience at all, if something is not working immediately they ditch it and go to next thing that is not working immediately. Maybe they try out something that has been running for over an year already and are satisfied as it is working immediately.

I wonder how these people would have survived the old times when you used half a day to tweak your boot scripts just to make something run and even then there might have been bugs in the game or it would crash because you ran out of memory.

Video games are recreation. If the game doesn't fit the tastes of the current generation of gamers, it won't do well or at best it'll be a niche game. Even the, ahem, more mature gamers don't buy enough revamped older games to make a dent in the sales charts.

Remember AOL? That wasn't very long ago. But if you're Gen X or Gen Y, watch this video. Then apply concept to video games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0mg9DxvfZE&list=PLwnD0jwK0yymKsniXGb3IQoNmjhGGlE9K

mutharex

I rather play a 'niche' game that does things properly like TESO that some trash for low common denominators like wow or WS
Unicuique suum, but yeah we aren't ALL brain dead, you know?
Talk for yourselves kids

Fleymark

Syntse wrote: »

First we need people who do not quit because of some small bugs and bit of lag. Todays gamers have no patience at all, if something is not working immediately they ditch it and go to next thing that is not working immediately. Maybe they try out something that has been running for over an year already and are satisfied as it is working immediately.

I wonder how these people would have survived the old times when you used half a day to tweak your boot scripts just to make something run and even then there might have been bugs in the game or it would crash because you ran out of memory.

Some small bugs would be fine. Half the classes and half the builds are broken at high levels and that is not.

There are better charities to give money to than a company that has demonstrated a complete inability to balance half of a freaking 4 class 2 attribute game. If you can even imagine such a thing being possible. Lol

Schallen

A halt on the release of Archage.

wrlifeboil

mutharex wrote: »

I rather play a 'niche' game that does things properly like TESO that some trash for low common denominators like wow or WS
Unicuique suum, but yeah we aren't ALL brain dead, you know?
Talk for yourselves kids

Niche games don't get nine figure budgets would be an educated guess.

steveb16_ESO46

Schallen wrote: »

A halt on the release of Archage.

FTW.

Yea - I'm playing the alpha.

But a lot is hanging on the transformative patch that's maybe going to change a lot of what I find so great.

But up to L50 ESO does much better story telling and questing.

ArcheAge is a bit Old School quest hub. It just does a whole lot of other things awesomely well.

Tannakaobi

Schallen wrote: »

A halt on the release of Archage.

I'd bet that two years from now ESO will be more profitable than Archage. Only time will tell.

mutharex wrote: »

but yeah we aren't ALL brain dead, you know?
Talk for yourselves kids

I'm not going to say a word...

steveb16_ESO46

Tannakaobi wrote: »

Schallen wrote: »

A halt on the release of Archage.

I'd bet that two years from now ESO will be more profitable than Archage. Only time will tell.

Maybe. But this is a good-looking, feature-rich game that has been player tested to death. It also has a huge world-wide player base. And Trion seem to know a thing or two about MMO's.

Like I said - I vastly prefer ESO 1-50. VR I can firmly leave so there's nothing left for me to sub for once I've exhausted the faction story.

In ArcheAge there's an incredible amount to do, providing you enjoy crafting and the far superior PvP.

I still would rather play a good ESO but I just have to say I was unexpectedly blown away by ArcheAge.

If Trion get the westernisation right I think it really will be The Next Big Thing for real.

mutharex

wrlifeboil wrote: »

mutharex wrote: »

I rather play a 'niche' game that does things properly like TESO that some trash for low common denominators like wow or WS
Unicuique suum, but yeah we aren't ALL brain dead, you know?
Talk for yourselves kids

Niche games don't get nine figure budgets would be an educated guess.

And? EvE hasn't got a 9 figures budget and it's been releasing quality, WoW has a 9 figures budget and it's been releasing crap since AT LEAST WoTLK

Yeah, sorry but we will all appreciate when you decide to pursue other games instead of being a negative creep here

mutharex

steveb16_ESO46 wrote: »

Tannakaobi wrote: »

Schallen wrote: »

A halt on the release of Archage.

I'd bet that two years from now ESO will be more profitable than Archage. Only time will tell.

Maybe. But this is a good-looking, feature-rich game that has been player tested to death. It also has a huge world-wide player base. And Trion seem to know a thing or two about MMO's.

Like I said - I vastly prefer ESO 1-50. VR I can firmly leave so there's nothing left for me to sub for once I've exhausted the faction story.

In ArcheAge there's an incredible amount to do, providing you enjoy crafting and the far superior PvP.

I still would rather play a good ESO but I just have to say I was unexpectedly blown away by ArcheAge.

If Trion get the westernisation right I think it really will be The Next Big Thing for real.

Archeage is in serious problems back in Korea, where in an attempt to stop the falling numbers they introduced more 'themepark' oriented content, pissing off a good part of the player base

So, it's more like TERA 2.0 than the next big thing lol

zgrssd

Tannakaobi wrote: »

Syntse wrote: »

First we need people who do not quit because of some small bugs and bit of lag. Todays gamers have no patience at all, if something is not working immediately they ditch it and go to next thing that is not working immediately. Maybe they try out something that has been running for over an year already and are satisfied as it is working immediately.

I wonder how these people would have survived the old times when you used half a day to tweak your boot scripts just to make something run and even then there might have been bugs in the game or it would crash because you ran out of memory.

I think people use small bugs and bit of lag as an excuse because of frustration in other area's.
Broken classes is no small issue, but I think most of the quitters just simply find the game too hard which highlights the broken classes.

Agreed. Chances are high the frustation might even come from outside the gaming environment.
I think most people who keep going on about every small problem really only use it as an excuse to quit. I got news: You don't need one.

If you want to quit, quit. Nobody is valuing you for not wanting to play a game, even one we like. We had to blame everyone who did not bought the game first. Don't make posts about why you quit or that you quit - those we are valuing you for. Because you are not really important enough that everybody on the forum wants to know that you quit, nor your reasons for quitting, nor that you were even there.

mutharex

zgrssd wrote: »

Tannakaobi wrote: »

Syntse wrote: »

First we need people who do not quit because of some small bugs and bit of lag. Todays gamers have no patience at all, if something is not working immediately they ditch it and go to next thing that is not working immediately. Maybe they try out something that has been running for over an year already and are satisfied as it is working immediately.

I wonder how these people would have survived the old times when you used half a day to tweak your boot scripts just to make something run and even then there might have been bugs in the game or it would crash because you ran out of memory.

I think people use small bugs and bit of lag as an excuse because of frustration in other area's.
Broken classes is no small issue, but I think most of the quitters just simply find the game too hard which highlights the broken classes.

Agreed. Chances are high the frustation might even come from outside the gaming environment.
I think most people who keep going on about every small problem really only use it as an excuse to quit. I got news: You don't need one.

If you want to quit, quit. Nobody is valuing you for not wanting to play a game, even one we like. We had to blame everyone who did not bought the game first. Don't make posts about why you quit or that you quit - those we are valuing you for. Because you are not really important enough that everybody on the forum wants to know that you quit, nor your reasons for quitting, nor that you were even there.

If you want to 'have fun', have a look at mmorpg.com TESO forum section. There you'll find good examples of people with serious problems in RL that reflect those in their comments. When the site reviewed the game and gave it 7.9, the comments section exploded and a lot of people had to be banned/suspended for loss of control
Weirdos

steveb16_ESO46

mutharex wrote: »

Archeage is in serious problems back in Korea, where in an attempt to stop the falling numbers they introduced more 'themepark' oriented content, pissing off a good part of the player base

Which is why what Trion do/can get done as part of the changes they make for 'westernisation' is important. The alpha version is the original pre-release. The final western release will be a Trion version of that not the Korean version as is.

The crucial thing is to retain the sandbox elements which the Korean version changed probably too much. Trion's next patch implements a different currency system to the Korean one that retains trade incentives.

But who knows - all I can say is when it comes out it's going to be the nearest thing I've seen to Ultima Online for a decade and that 's going to interest a lot of people.

Or you might be right and Trion will not be able to change enough and it will tank.

Much to my dismay, because I was looking forward to playing ESO for years rather than just to L50, Zenimax have already pushed the stick forward and opened the throttles.

steveb16_ESO46

zgrssd wrote: »

Agreed. Chances are high the frustation might even come from outside the gaming environment.
I think most people who keep going on about every small problem really only use it as an excuse to quit. I got news: You don't need one.

If you want to quit, quit. Nobody is valuing you for not wanting to play a game, even one we like. We had to blame everyone who did not bought the game first. Don't make posts about why you quit or that you quit - those we are valuing you for. Because you are not really important enough that everybody on the forum wants to know that you quit, nor your reasons for quitting, nor that you were even there.

Complete and utter nonsense.

mutharex

steveb16_ESO46 wrote: »

mutharex wrote: »

Archeage is in serious problems back in Korea, where in an attempt to stop the falling numbers they introduced more 'themepark' oriented content, pissing off a good part of the player base

Which is why what Trion do/can get done as part of the changes they make for 'westernisation' is important. The alpha version is the original pre-release. The final western release will be a Trion version of that not the Korean version as is.

The crucial thing is to retain the sandbox elements which the Korean version changed probably too much. Trion's next patch implements a different currency system to the Korean one that retains trade incentives.

But who knows - all I can say is when it comes out it's going to be the nearest thing I've seen to Ultima Online for a decade and that 's going to interest a lot of people.

Or you might be right and Trion will not be able to change enough and it will tank.

Much to my dismay, because I was looking forward to playing ESO for years rather than just to L50, Zenimax have already pushed the stick forward and opened the throttles.

I doubt Trion will have much control on how the game develops, but I suppose the russian version will tell us.
And honestly, when the honeymoon phase wears off, you'll realize it's just another korean grinder

Kililin

This game would be a quite bad f2p game.
you need some bug free content to bind players, except levelling for 150 levels.
People at the moment pay for the vision of the game, f2p would drive some of us away, and the new players would not stay.

I doubt this game goes f2p anytime soon, but for other reasons as most do.

Thulsola

I'm willing to give ESO about 6 months of my money to get things together. I'm loving the game so far, but I am still sub 50. My guildies tell me I'll love the VR experience, but the forums tell me I won't. I guess I'll find out in 10 levels or so.

I am hoping that in the very near future they add some more content that makes PvE enjoyable for upper levels. I know everyone wants bugs fixed, but without new content soon, the VRs - even those enjoying the game - will wonder away.