Making CoX F2P: How would you do it?

It strikes me that there are three contingents of people who are not represented in this conversation.

First, there are people who don't really know about City of Heroes, but if they saw, "Free game!", they'd be willing to give it a shot. For example, my teen-aged nephew right now is dying to get a particular superhero-themed MMORPG that isn't this one, but my sister won't let him because she doesn't want to be on the hook for shelling out the $15 per month subscription fee for that game. So instead, he's playing a different particular superhero-themed MMORPG because there's no monthly subscription fee. I'd love to make him a CoH convert, but it's not going to happen right now because if there is going to be $15 per month shelled out, it's going to be on the game with the licensed characters that he adores from the cartoons he grew up with. The beauty of a F2P model is that probably a considerable number of these players would eventually become long-time players, just like me and several other posters in this thread.

Second, there are people who have played City of Heroes in the past, but gave it up because, for whatever reason, $15 was just too much to shell out every single month for a game. The fact is, this is a hard economy we've been in the past few years, and a lot of my friends and fellow players have had to quit the game because they simply couldn't afford it. I would love to see some of these people again, but it's not going to happen as long as the game is $15 a month.

Neither of these groups have access rights to the forums, though, so you're not going to see a lot of posts here saying, "I'd love for CoH to go F2P so that I could play/come back!" Instead, you're going to see a disproportionate number of people who like the status quo posting DOOOOM!!! messages.

Another thing that strikes me is that people keep posting completely unproductive messages like, "I don't like it," or "If it goes F2P, I'm quitting!" You know what? If Paragon Studios/NCsoft thinks that they'll make more money and have a larger loyal player base without you, they're not going to shed too many tears about it.

Instead, how about trying to be constructive? If you don't like it, why do you not like it? Even better yet, how could Paragon Studios/NCsoft address your concerns to make you more comfortable and happy? Here, I'll give you some concrete examples.

One thing that worries me about the prospect of CoH going F2P is that it would open the doors to griefers and gold farmers. Will there be barriers to people setting up free accounts merely to harass other people?

That is something that Paragon Studios can read and react to, something that, if they do consider making the game F2P, they can have meetings about and solve. Something that, hopefully by the launch or conversion, I could be comfortable in not being an issue.

Another example:

If the game goes F2P, I'm worried that there would be a lot of nickel-and-diming going on and that I'd end up spending more than $15 per month plus some booster packs here and there to get all the stuff that I want. Will there be plans to help people like me, the players who don't mind shelling out $15 per month to not have to worry about having to continually get new stuff to keep up or having a perpetually empty wallet?

These kinds of thoughts and questions are SO much more constructive than just posting meaningless, "I hate it!" jabs or "That will be the day the game dies" unwarranted and unsubstantiated claims.

In the spirit of the OP, if the game were to go F2P, here are my thoughts on how it should be done:

• It needs to be posted well ahead of time so that people have time to decide whether they want that booster pack now or to just wait until the game goes F2P to see if they can get a better deal.
• Paragon Studios should make some solid notes about concerns players post, such as the ones above, and determine clever ways to work around them. Obviously, you're not going to make everyone happy, but still, there are a lot of smart people here who can literately express things that others are feeling but that come out as, "I hate this."
• They need to make sure that people aren't spending more than they're already spending to get the same level of stuff and/or service. It should be geared towards bringing in new players and earning marginal income from people who are paying nothing right now, not getting greedy and milking existing ones for more than they're currently spending.
• They need to grow a thick skin. Not that they don't have one already; ragequit posts are part and parcel for being a game developer. This studio has never struck me as one that is afraid to make major changes because the players were all in a tizzy, and hopefully they'd realize that if this is the course they want to follow, the forums will positively explode. Don't take it personally; it's just a natural consequence of stirring up the pudding, and these forums disproportionately represent the contingent of players who are happy with the status quo and don't like big changes.

Of course, while this is all an interesting hypothetical thought experiment, we don't know what's going on behind closed doors. It would be kind of dumb, given the movement in the industry by some companies, for them not to have at least had casual conversations about it. But while idle speculation is fun, I don't see too much reason for concern or outrage until we get some kind of announcement or sign from the devs or reps that this is actually being seriously considered.

Last bit of advice: No matter what happens, please stop with the "This would destroy the game!" posts. No, it wouldn't. I've heard that so many times over the years that the game should have been dead pre-arrival in 2004. The only thing that would be destroyed is your own credibility if you keep saying such things and this becomes a reality. I find it really hard to fathom that the developers would make a big change like that without looking out for the loyal subscribers. Yes, there will probably be some people leave. Just like they did over Enhancement Diversification. Just like they did over PvP changes. Just like they did over AE farm nerfs. Whether or not something like this comes down the pipeline, the game will go on and I'll still be playing and having fun; the only difference is that you won't be having as much fun because instead of playing City of Heroes (for free!), you'll probably be, I dunno, watching the dreadful new fall pablum of television shows or something. I'm not trying to shut you naysayers up; by all means, post your worries to your heart's content. But please, try to chill and keep it productive.

Oh, and that third contingent of players? They're people in comas. My thoughts and prayers are with them and I do hope they get better, but for purposes of this discussion, I'm not too worried about their thoughts on CoH right now.

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We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)

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You don't make CoH freemium. You make an entirely new service on its own server that is not connected to the current subscription network. You let the current subscribers continue to live life as they always have, and you let the new people play "City of Heroes Extended", which is identical except for the way its content is parceled out and sold.

Then you let the old guard continue to play their subscription game for as long as there are enough of them to keep the subscription game profitable, while you also make money off of the micro-transaction-driven freemium service.

I don't know that it's really worthwhile to speculate on what "CoH Extended" might be like. It's silly to think that NCSoft or Paragon Studios would be looking to this forum for guidance on what people want from a freemium superhero game, especially when the vocal speakers on the topic are so vehemently against the idea.

I personally dislike the "bronze/silver/gold" model that attempts to trick your freemium members into subscribing to get all of the benefits, because that subscription is a losing proposition if you're a long term player. The more money you spend in the long term on a sub, the more you stand to lose when you cancel, in comparison to a person who spent the same amount of money on ala carte purchases and who never needs to cancel, nor loses access to his content when he goes away for awhile. Subscriptions to a freemium service only make sense for a player in the short term.

As for content - City of Heroes already has plenty of content that could be easily adapted to micro-transactions. Every archetype, powerset, and costume set is a potential sale. Salvage inventory, character slots, architect slots, booster packs, inherent powers, recipe storage, merits, assorted in-game currencies all purchasable with NCCoin.

Honestly, the game is practically made for micro-transactions at this point.

The "how" of it doesn't really matter. People on this forum can descry it all they want because a freemium City of Heroes game would not be targeted at current subscribers. The only reason it makes sense to even attempt it is that you believe that you can increase the market share significantly enough to make a profitable game out of it.

Bottom line, IMO - I see no indication that NCSoft/Paragon Studios are interested in a freemium City of Heroes but if they were, then they would probably be best served to make it a standalone version of the game instead of alienating the current subscribers, at least as long as the current subscription game continues to pay for itself.

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(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon

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Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper

Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World

• Slow the default leveling progression, gate expedited leveling behind paid means (buy X badge, now enemies give 1.5x XP for the next week for you).
• Add pay-for perks that give a boost to the economic earning power of a character (same as above, but now your recipe drop chance goes up 20%).
• Implement pay-to-use temporary items/powers to the game (limit uses or time duration). Nerf existing powers to make these more desireable.
• Fill the costume options with micro transaction items.
• Enable cash-shop-only badges to mess with the badgers.
• Make more items and drops bind-on-drop to discourage the creation of dedicated farming characters.

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PenanceжTriage

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Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093

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Prof Radburn controller,Celtic Ice Maiden,blaster,Miss Knockout scrapper,Mistress Davina controller,Stone Hart,tank Split Personality PB.Queen Lostris controller,Fridgid Mary blaster,Shocking Fire blaster Future Elfling defender, Little Weed controller,Capo Angelo MM, Commander Buzzsaw MM, Justice Tank tank all 50,s

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