Answering some Freedom Questions
By
A Man In Black,
Posted on: 2011-06-23 16:34 in Developers' Corner
You are being naive because you have no clue about other hybrid F2P models that are being used currently. Look at a few of them and get back to me before you decide to try and blast me for knowing what I am talking about. Go ahead...go check out a few of the F2P models that are out there.
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I'm being naive based on what evidence? You don't know me... you don't know what experience I have with free to play games. You can make all the assumptions you want... it doesn't make them true.
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Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
You are being naive because you have no clue about other hybrid F2P models that are being used currently. Look at a few of them and get back to me before you decide to try and blast me for knowing what I am talking about. Go ahead...go check out a few of the F2P models that are out there.
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Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
I can make the assumption that you have absolutely NO experience with a hybrid Free to Play system based on what you are saying in your posts. Can you name a game that went to a similar system as to what CoH is proposing. I can name 3 quickly and easily off the top of my head and if you go inviestigate their respective websites, you will find a roughly similar model with some minor differences based upon game. That being said...CoH is no different at this time and can make whatever changes it wants to their respective model and at the end of the day regardless of what happens, I have to abide by their decision on how to best make money for their game. I know of another BIG BIG MMO that just annouced it was going F2P for up to level 20 and then have you purchase from there. A differeny model but one that exists. Different strokes for different folks as the case might be as that BIG BIG MMO doesn't have premium level stuff as far as I can tell.
So that being said, no I don't know you. Could care less if I ran into you on the street. You are being obtuse and pointless because you cannot validate your point without evidence of other models out there. I can reference other models and I can reference on the success of those same models.
I am simply pointing out that in those other Hybrid F2P models that once you purchase the box set or digitally the mission/quest pack you are allowed to continue to play them without having anything taken away from you in terms of content. They may take some functionality from you but that is about it and they might limit access to Auction House or Arena for PvP but content is allowed to continue if you already made the commitment to whatever company previously.
Please, go do some research because you aren't helping your case by not doing so.
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I'm quite familiar with the "big big mmo" and many other free to play models. I am hardly being obtuse. I am however taking freedom for what it is. It is not meant to be the same in every way as other free to play models. You want it to be but it's not. I am not trying to make a case. I am simply telling you how it is and that you aren't "losing" anything you paid for.|
Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
I can make the assumption that you have absolutely NO experience with a hybrid Free to Play system based on what you are saying in your posts. Can you name a game that went to a similar system as to what CoH is proposing. I can name 3 quickly and easily off the top of my head and if you go inviestigate their respective websites, you will find a roughly similar model with some minor differences based upon game. That being said...CoH is no different at this time and can make whatever changes it wants to their respective model and at the end of the day regardless of what happens, I have to abide by their decision on how to best make money for their game. I know of another BIG BIG MMO that just annouced it was going F2P for up to level 20 and then have you purchase from there. A differeny model but one that exists. Different strokes for different folks as the case might be as that BIG BIG MMO doesn't have premium level stuff as far as I can tell.
So that being said, no I don't know you. Could care less if I ran into you on the street. You are being obtuse and pointless because you cannot validate your point without evidence of other models out there. I can reference other models and I can reference on the success of those same models. I am simply pointing out that in those other Hybrid F2P models that once you purchase the box set or digitally the mission/quest pack you are allowed to continue to play them without having anything taken away from you in terms of content. They may take some functionality from you but that is about it and they might limit access to Auction House or Arena for PvP but content is allowed to continue if you already made the commitment to whatever company previously. Please, go do some research because you aren't helping your case by not doing so. |
The simple fact is.... right now if you stop paying you lose access to everything.
When Freedom launches if you stop paying you lose access to SOME things.
Be grateful.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
Be grateful for having my already purchased material taken away???? But based on your knowledge of other current hybrid F2P models....how is this not a free to play game now when Freedom goes live??
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Uh....maybe 5 years ago, or even 2. The modern day MMO audience has proven by numbers and revenue that that subscription only model of MMO sustainability is a dead end. Gone are the days when games fought over the same small target playerbase, and the new targets are not hard core gamers who can be convinced to make monthly payments. They are the people who play Farmville, who buy $2 apps on the iPhone and Android stores, and would gladly pay $5 or $10 here and there if they had the option. Companies don't offer free to play models because they are desperate these days, no, its because they are intelligent enough to know that they can get more money from untapped markets and most of their existing playerbase will not be affected.|
Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
But, let's be honest, a game doesn't go to a F2P model unless economically something was wrong and money was starting to get very very tight for future development and there is a hope that this is going to solve the money problem.
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When a game currently 'live' decides to try to move to this new model of microtransactions and no steep upfront investments the one thing they can't afford to do is piss off their hardcore base that has seen them through everything. Therefore, two things must always be true. 1) People who commit to paying money as a subscription going forward have free perks. 2)Said perks must be good enough for the non-subscription types to see them being done/used/shown and desire them, and have the ability to purchase them.
NCSoft and Paragon have been extraordinarily intelligent in creating a Premium level that is less than subscriber, but more than random people. It says 'we recognize that once upon a time, you supported us, and because of that, we are letting you start off a little better than the random people'. Nobody 'owns' anything but a nice looking box. When you subscribe, you rent your characters and the world for a month. Technically, they could do what many other F2P systems do and what real life landlords do, stop paying your bill and they stop letting you have any access to it. Instead they are letting you rent some of your characters and some of the world based on effectively your past history.
Think of it like a storage center. You have bought three bicycles with baskets, water bottle holders and helmets. You can't make the rent on the place, but the landlord, seeing as you've always paid up before lets you have 1 bicycle as-is and another without its basket and water bottle. You could still get the other bicycle and the missing basket and water bottle...as soon as you start paying rent again.
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Nothing is being taken away from you. Maintain your sub and you'll still have then what you have now|
Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
Be grateful for having my already purchased material taken away???? But based on your knowledge of other current hybrid F2P models....how is this not a free to play game now when Freedom goes live??
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When freedom goes live the focus is still on the subscription.
Freedom is not going live just so you can stop paying for your sub and still play
Freedom is going live to entice new revenue.
The fact that you are complaining about "losing" something if you STOP PAYING shows that the system is working EXACTLY as intended. I can't say it any clearer than this: YOU ARE INTENDED TO MAINTAIN YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. Do that and you have access to everything you have now. You lose nothing
Stop paying and you only lose access to SOME things instead of losing access to EVERYTHING like you do now
You are being a given a gift and spitting on the people giving it to you complaining that it isn't enough. You're ungrateful, selfish and have a sense of entitlement that is unwarranted. You paid for a box... and you lose access to whatever that box gave you when you stop paying your sub. When freedom launches that doesn't magically change. What does change is you only lose access to some of that box instead of ALL of it. Wake up and stop playing like you're somehow a victim or being taken advantage of cause you're not. Pay your sub and play just as you always have.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
I don't disagree with their model for the most part and the fact that they want to give me the ability to possible resub is great. However, the point that I will contend to is that the Controller and Mastermind were part of boxed sets and part of those boxed sets included features in and of which that were already paid for by purchasing said box sets.
I really don't care that you think that I am ungrateful at such a wonderful gift that the Devs have seems to deem was important to give to us the playerbase. Cause you know, the Devs are so brilliant that this idea to go to this kind of model was invented by Statesman himself before he left.
Are you really frickin' serious??? This is a gift???? This is a business decision to attempt to attract more money into their business model. Nothing more. But their system is a bit flawed all things considered. You can argue with me all you like and I will disagree with you all you want. I disagree with the stand that you take. And the really funny part about it all...I have over 36 months as a veteran so this whole MM and Troller arguement really has no bearing on me. Go figure.
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You know what it says on my box set?|
Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
However, the point that I will contend to is that the Controller and Mastermind were part of boxed sets and part of those boxed sets included features in and of which that were already paid for by purchasing said box sets.
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"NCSoft charges a monthly subscription fee for this product."
"Game Experience May Change During Online Play."
Everyone who drops from a subscription to a premium account is going to miss some things more than others. You think it's unfair that people lose access to ATs. People who play mostly to socialise with friends will think it's awfully unfair that they can't use the global chat system. The altoholics will be sad that they lose some characters slots. People who love trading will be torqued that their consignment house access is limited. Min/maxers won't like losing access to some inventions. Forum junkies will complain that forum access is a fundamental part of their game. People who love writing AE arcs don't get to write them? Outrageous! (I mean, they're holding a box that says Architect Edition, so they should get to keep that, right?)
ATs are not a special case. Losing access to some features is what differentiates premium from sub. If everyone got to keep the one feature they think is the most important part of the game that everyone should have, then premium and sub accounts would be identical, Paragon would go broke, and we'd have no game.
Arc#314490: Zombie Ninja Pirates!
Defiant @Grouchybeast
Death is part of my attack chain.
Look if we want to nitpick...based on what is being given to Free players vs. Premium players, then why have a 3 tier system because there really is no incentive to the premium player at this point because he is considered no better off than the free player for all intents and purposes.
I just believe that there should be more given to the premium players to welcome them back.
ATs - most were included in previous box editions.
Forum Write Access - how else do you welcome back prodigal children to the fold than to let them reconnect with old friends on the forums.
The current Premium system is not well designed and it does alienate those players and make no effort to try and win them back. Sure you are "gifted" by being allowed to log in. Limit my character slots. No issue. Limit Epics. No issue with that either other than 50's still should be the only levels creating them otherwise they aren't epic. Limit the Incarnate System. I haven't done it so I don't care. But don't limit the ATs that people already had access to and then say it is because of server load when the servers haven't been overly populated in a couple of years.
Then do away with the idiotic notion of a VIP server cause that really does sound Elitist and makes people not want to join a community that hides from new players because they don't want the hassel of them in a zone.
Limit everything else.
Being a Premium is a slap in the face.
<:[ shark goes nom nom nom ]:>
[QUOTE=theOcho;3409811]As to the REAL reason I'll be leaving, I'm afraid it is indeed because Tamaki Revolution dc'd on me during a RSF.[/QUOTE]
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How?|
Originally Posted by TamakiRevolution
Being a Premium is a slap in the face.
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Paying = Full Game, same as always
Premium = Most of the game free
If you don't like the limitations given for the free versions, pay for the game as always.
Yes it is frustrating that you cannot now just stop paying and play any toons you have, but be thankful that you can play any, without cost.
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He was being facetious. |
Originally Posted by DragonSire
How?
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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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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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Sarcasm. It's not just for breakfast anymore.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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I'm glad you won't be getting what you want. You're basically saying that everyone who's bought every box for coh (which I am fairly certain covers most of the current subscriber base and probably a fair amount of previous subscribers to boot) should be able to play the game for free when freedom comes out with only access to minor things lost. The idea of this is ludicrous. It would kill the game by destroying the current income base. There HAS TO BE incentive... and I mean REAL INCENTIVE to subscribe. Yes it's a business decision to increase revenue... but in your case, as a subscriber it is also a gift. Your subscription will come with extra perks it didn't have before. And if you have to stop your sub for whatever reason you can still play in a limited fashion. How you can be so blind as to what you gain here baffles me.|
Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
I don't disagree with their model for the most part and the fact that they want to give me the ability to possible resub is great. However, the point that I will contend to is that the Controller and Mastermind were part of boxed sets and part of those boxed sets included features in and of which that were already paid for by purchasing said box sets.
I really don't care that you think that I am ungrateful at such a wonderful gift that the Devs have seems to deem was important to give to us the playerbase. Cause you know, the Devs are so brilliant that this idea to go to this kind of model was invented by Statesman himself before he left. Are you really frickin' serious??? This is a gift???? This is a business decision to attempt to attract more money into their business model. Nothing more. But their system is a bit flawed all things considered. You can argue with me all you like and I will disagree with you all you want. I disagree with the stand that you take. And the really funny part about it all...I have over 36 months as a veteran so this whole MM and Troller arguement really has no bearing on me. Go figure. |
As to previous subscribers? What about em? They aren't generating any income right now. And if they come back as premiums they will probably have alot of freebie unlocks due to veteran status anyways. That seems pretty damn generous to me. Being able to play the bulk of the game FOR FREE is generous and the fact that you feel like it is somehow taking something away from you or anyone is just stupid.
I'm glad your entitlement issues will be ignored in regards to freedom... if they listened to you the game would go belly up because almost no one would be paying a sub anymore.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
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Words like that are really uncalled for. There's no reason to be happy at someone else's misfortune, perceived or otherwise. |
Originally Posted by Kyriani
I'm glad you won't be getting what you want.
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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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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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Yup missed that lol|
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Sarcasm. It's not just for breakfast anymore.
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Well if anything Freedom is certainly getting people talking about it.
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Yes that is exactly what I am saying because people should not be punished because they went inactive and have to purchase already purchased content again. Double dipping...double jeopardy whatever...they are asking some to pay for already paid for content to unlock an AT with a microtransaction.|
Originally Posted by Kyriani
You're basically saying that everyone who's bought every box for coh (which I am fairly certain covers most of the current subscriber base and probably a fair amount of previous subscribers to boot) should be able to play the game for free when freedom comes out with only access to minor things lost.
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| The idea of this is ludicrous. It would kill the game by destroying the current income base. There HAS TO BE incentive... and I mean REAL INCENTIVE to subscribe. Yes it's a business decision to increase revenue... but in your case, as a subscriber it is also a gift. Your subscription will come with extra perks it didn't have before. And if you have to stop your sub for whatever reason you can still play in a limited fashion. How you can be so blind as to what you gain here baffles me. |
Ultimately my idea will never fly for a couple of reasons.
1. The devs have proved over years that they won't listen and they are going to do it their way right, wrong, or indiffernt.
2. There simply isn't enough paid content in the game for this to work. I am not saying the devs are lazy but they have not had a stellar track record of putting out large and solid free updates. Most are just nice to look at on the outside with little substance inside. Couple that with 2 paid expansions over the last 7 years and you have a game where the free updates are too numerous and paid expansions to few so you are going to end up with a very problematic F2P model.
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| As to previous subscribers? What about em? They aren't generating any income right now. And if they come back as premiums they will probably have alot of freebie unlocks due to veteran status anyways. That seems pretty damn generous to me. Being able to play the bulk of the game FOR FREE is generous and the fact that you feel like it is somehow taking something away from you or anyone is just stupid. |
As for giving the bulk of the game for FREE. Like I said above, that is probably the mistake of the last 7 years for this game to put out so much free content and hardly any paid content. Other games are doing a paid every year which opens up new areas and many more missions / quests. If you buy that paid expansion, you get access to all of its features as a premium player. If you bought all the paid content, you get access to all of its boxed features with minimal exceptions such as PvP. Then when free content packs come out, some features such as special TFs or instances are deemed purchasable to Premium and Free but given to VIP as a perk. CoH is doing that in the next update which I think is cool. But still goes back to the point that if the players can't open up certain classes, then they might shy away if they were a previous main and don't have the altitis that everyone else might have.
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| I'm glad your entitlement issues will be ignored in regards to freedom... if they listened to you the game would go belly up because almost no one would be paying a sub anymore. |
But you are getting the content you paid for... as long as you pay your subscription to access it
This doesn't change with freedom... I'm not being obtuse nor am I pandering to the devs.
You are losing NOTHING as long as you maintain your sub why is that so hard to grasp?
You have no valid reason to expect to keep access to anything if you stop paying your sub. That the devs are allowing you to keep access to some things even if you stop paying works to your advantage. You are not obligated to pay extra to unlock ANYTHING you already have as long as you keep your sub going.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
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I'm sorry if it sounds mean but what he's suggesting would completely undermine the whole point of the new freedom model. The point of Freedom is to lure new players and old back by letting them log in for free with limits and then dangle all the goodies they could have in front of them if they resub to get them to pony up the cash for a monthly sub. Failing that the devs hope to at least get those who don't pay the monthly sub to at least cough up the odd bit of cash here and there for desirable things they are locked out of as a non subbing customer.|
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
Words like that are really uncalled for. There's no reason to be happy at someone else's misfortune, perceived or otherwise.
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What he's proposing is letting everyone who has bought all the boxes to basically play the game for free without being locked out of just about anything that matters.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
What I am proposing forces the Devs to create new content faster that would be purchasable and to be that carrot that is dangling in front of the players. Not existing stuff that is 7 years old.
The devs in order for this to work have to get motivated and pump out content and quit giving all content for free. There should be at least 1 paid expansion per year. Level Cap increases (which will never happen).
Development needs to occur and until that does happen - the F2P model that the devs have outlined and that you defend is not the best model. It will not entice anyone to buy anything.
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You don't think the devs would love to pump out more content faster? Of course they want to. But that takes money and man power they just dont have right now. They need to start somewhere to generate that income. Your ideas would work if the game was just being developed but its not. And the focus is still being put on the subscription not on the free play. The free play is just a lure to get people in. The goal is to make them monthly subscribers.|
Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
What I am proposing forces the Devs to create new content faster that would be purchasable and to be that carrot that is dangling in front of the players. Not existing stuff that is 7 years old.
The devs in order for this to work have to get motivated and pump out content and quit giving all content for free. There should be at least 1 paid expansion per year. Level Cap increases (which will never happen). Development needs to occur and until that does happen - the F2P model that the devs have outlined and that you defend is not the best model. It will not entice anyone to buy anything. |
And you don't know if their model will work or not. I am willing to bet you'll see alot of free players making impulse purchases for an item here and there and at least some will opt to just sub and become a vip for the whole kit and kaboodle. Assuming their model will fail before even seeing it in action is a hell of an assumption to make.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
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There are a few problems with this:|
Originally Posted by Bloodwynd
The devs in order for this to work have to get motivated and pump out content and quit giving all content for free. There should be at least 1 paid expansion per year. Level Cap increases (which will never happen).
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1) CoH doesn't have a development staff large enough to do one paid expansion every year on top of the free issues. And if they quit doing the free content updates altogether in favor of large yearly paid expansions, they'd lose current subscribers--I know they'd lose mine. They also get boosts of traffic when new issues are released, which means income in spurts throughout the year instead of one big pay day at the end of an expansion followed by 11 months of a minimal level of subscribers.
Paragon Studios about 50 people in their development team, and are generally divided working on content for about 2-3 issues at a time. How many people do you suppose Blizzard, who does put out a yearly expansion along with their regular small updates, has at the yoke?
2) The game was designed for a player level cap of 50. It's not going to change, because that would invalidate all the existing IOs and would require additional powers added to existing sets (which would in turn slow production of new powersets)... otherwise builds would become slot-heavy and there would be no strategy behind building a character, as you'd be able to just dump slots in every power. It might sound like a good idea on paper--even the reasons I gave as detractions might sound good--but there are already plenty of people complaining that the game is too easy... give them an extra couple super-level powers and enough slots to 6-slot everything, and see how long they stick around with the complete lack of a challenge we'd be left with.
Instead, the post-50 progression is the Incarnate system, which will eventually have more options than what are offered now (see the large group of extra Lore pets added in i20.5) and will bring us to a "hypothetical level 60." They've even said that they're keeping their options open in case they want to go beyond 10 Incarnate slots in the future.
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Now, again, I don't mean to insult you, but you are holding steadfast to what is proving to be an archaic design process. Times are changing. "Bigger is better" doesn't work in this economy. Developers are finding that it's easier to sell 1000 things for a dime than it is to sell 100 for a dollar, enabling them to make more money on smaller productions.
Which does lead to one of the other points you made: they need to step up their game and put out more content. I agree that they're just digging themselves a shallow grave with the switchover to CoH Freedom if they don't. But you're wrong in thinking that everything they do needs to be large scale--it's exactly the opposite. Along with the big stuff they do now in 2-3 issues a year, they need to put out a ton of new content that is small, eye-catching and cheap. THAT is how Freedom will thrive. They've already announced a start to this: Signature Story Arcs, missions that have your characters working directly alongside the game's signature characters, will be released every month. That means that subscribers get guaranteed new content in the form of two new story arcs every month (one Hero and one Villain arc), and Free/Premium players can get access to it via the Paragon Points Store.
CoH Freedom is not just an excuse to trick people into doing "7 year old content" as you put it, either. Have you not noticed that they're completely revamping the starting zones for CoH (the new tutorial will be Galaxy City's destruction, and you will either leave to Atlas Park as a Hero or Mercy Isle as a Villain) and adding a ton more content to the level 1 through 20 game?
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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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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I think part of the problem here is that it is assumed that I think "bigger is better" and that I should get everything that a VIP is entitled to. That would be a false assumption especially once one calculates that the number of slots per server is going to be limited so a new free player has only a select number of slots to look at. The same is true of a premium player with the exception that depending on what slots were unlocked through various means, you can have more than just 2.
Now to be clear on things so...here is what I agree with for premium players:
1. The number of slots.
2. Incarnates being locked
3. Limitation of chat system
4. Limitation of certain ATs such at VEATs and HEATs
5. Limitation of ingame support
6. Limitation of PvP
What I do not agree with:
1. Locking Controllers and Masterminds for premium players who purchased at least up to the CoV box set.
2. VIP server - simply leaves a taste of elitism in my mouth
3. Forum limitation - premium should be able to post
That is it. I am arguing a small portion of this process without taking away from what they are doing. I am for Free 2 Play or Freedom which is essentially the same thing. But not one person thus far as given me a good reason as to why the Controllers and Masterminds should be locked. Positron only stated it would create server lag issues which is not a thing to say. But I think it alienates and punishes former players looking to comeback because they cannot access their former main toon or whatever.
1. The game engine is 9-10 years old already and is looking very dated.
2. The Dev's still aren't pumping out high quality content that other games are pushing out. 2 Paid expansions in 7 years...nice going there. Now granted....since I left at I9. There have been 11 free updates which is roughly about 3 - 4 per year. Now granted, those issues have been very small issues with not a lot of new content and just costumes and powerset poliferation. But large expansions have not been the forte of this game EVER.
3. Nerfs Nerfs Nerfs.....nuff said.
For everything that CoH has done right over the years, they have found ways to screw themselves over. PvP Arena was a prime example of how a small portion of the base screamed and hollered for it and as a result...issue after issue after issue of nerfs for PvP balancing.
I give them credit for the stuff currently in the game cause it appears nice. But, let's be honest, a game doesn't go to a F2P model unless economically something was wrong and money was starting to get very very tight for future development and there is a hope that this is going to solve the money problem. I have no doubt in my mind that if things financially don't improve soon...#1 Server Consolidation and #2 eventual shutdown. You cannot maintain any MMO with under 100K subs for long periods of time.
Free players need to be hooked as well as former players because there are better games out there with better tech and better F2P models.
I get it, you don't like how the system is going to work out when it goes live. Best advice I can give you is to simply keep paying your sub and you'll still have everything you have now with a little bit extra to boot.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30