What's the best structure for MMOs?

[Mister Jack]

So with the people behind Lord of the Rings online announcing they tripled their revenue after going free to play, one might begin to wonder if the current philosophy behind MMO pricing structures needs an overhaul. Having a monthly subscription has only seemed to work for a few recent MMOs in the long term, but at the same time when it DOES work, it works pretty well. So what do you think? How should MMOs be priced? Try to think in terms of structures that benefit both the consumer and the developer.

[Sindo]

Voted third option. It's the way Guild Wars does it. Always thought that was great.

[deanb]

Yeah I've yet to play Guild Wars, kinda looking forward to GW2 but I'm liking the subscription model or lack there of.

Means if I want to one day hop on for a couple of days, I can. But things like WoW I'd have to put down a months subscription with no idea if I'm gonna be on for a couple days or more. Which in turn makes me less likely to play on it at all.

The freemium model certainly has legs within the MMO space as Turbine have shown. Though many of their current Freemium titles were once paid for products, and I think that's what helps. Other freemium titles may be free from the get go and therefore be shitty due to lack of budget. Maybe a paid model for a year or two, then go freemium could be a good model? Then you've got the best of both worlds with a paid for gaming meaning a bigger budget and higher quality, and then later on the freemium appeal to the cheap skates, with the high quality appeal to make it more likely they'd sign up.

[Mister Jack]

I was interested in DC Online but 15 bucks a month is an instant turn-off to me and I can say no amount of quality or fun would ever make me sway from my position. If they ever go freemium then I'd absolutely play it. Hell, I'd probably even spend a little money in a cash shop from time to time. But I have a lot of trouble enjoying a game when I hear pennies being sucked away every second I play it.

[Akuam4n]

I don't really mind paying a subscription fee each month if the game is that good; after trying out lotr online, d&d online, and a few others; you can really see how polished WoW is compared to everything else. You can chalk it up to time on the market, or the constant flow of cash that get though, and I tend to think it's moreso cash than time. They can hire more people, afford more servers, more help for about any area of the game.

 

I don't like how in f2p games, they really shove it in your face that you can buy this and that. If you enjoy it, you'll get to at least half the level cap. They should really stop blasting me with constant reminders of how I'm on the f2p version, until I least hit a level high enough to warrant paying for anything.

 

I'm most interesting in Guild Wars 2 now though, and The Old Republic. I might check out DC Online too.

 

For the subscription based games, it'd be nice if the cost of entry was severely cut to start with, say 20, or maybe even 15 dollars, perhaps whatever you would have to pay a month. I know WoW is pretty cheap from 1-60 now, but that is because of age (assuming you hit 60 in a month before you have to pay for more time, which if you are really playing should be no problem at all). Or keep the entry fee the same for a newer game, and knock the subscription down some. I see it in the same vein as apps on an iPhone or Android device. You can take the free version, but you end up with a gimped product, and are constantly reminded of such. Or, you can just buckle down, and buy what the devs would actually define as the proper experience.

 

I think as time goes on, and consoles tend to drift more toward the focus of online play, the line between mmo and any other game is going to blur. I tend to like the D7D, and GW style, where you have a MMO feel in towns, but the dungeons, or anything outside of the town is loaded each time, for solo / group play. It takes the social aspect of the mmo that I love, and gives me the tailored quests feel I like from my console. I wish there was a Action RPG akin to that on a console, but there isn't.

Edited January 10, 2011 by Iamaquaman

[Mister Jack]

I would maybe pay $5 a month with a cash shop as well but that's the highest I can stomach.

[Enervation]

Cash shops have always been iffy to me, because I've played a lot (and I mean a LOT) of F2P MMOs in my life. I've always been able to get by without using any fancy stuff from the shops, but a lot of people I played with back then blazed past me because of the shops.

 

Unabashedly, I voted for the "buy once, free to play" model. In my opinion it's the best option.

[Hot Heart]

I was interested in DC Online but 15 bucks a month is an instant turn-off to me and I can say no amount of quality or fun would ever make me sway from my position. If they ever go freemium then I'd absolutely play it. Hell, I'd probably even spend a little money in a cash shop from time to time. But I have a lot of trouble enjoying a game when I hear pennies being sucked away every second I play it.

 

That's exactly my sentiment. Although, personally-speaking, I would say the Guild Wars model is best. You're not just letting people play for free, you're recouping costs straight away and yet you're not making them pay loads every month.

 

You could probably then switch to a free model after that.

 

Obviously, I have no knowledge of the market so I'm just voicing a personal preference.

[Zenia-chan]

I voted for "Free to download, free to play, have a cash shop" but I'd like to elaborate on this a bit.

 

Most MMORPGs out there aren't that highly developed, and I feel that only a few I've played are really worth paying a subscription for. Sometimes if I'm really bored, I'll download another F2P MMO and just start playing, but I usually don't play F2P MMOs for longer than a month at a time. Most F2P MMOs are rather imbalanced...cash shop items give a MAJOR edge to those who buy them, and the game quality is usually pretty low so I figure that in most cases, it isn't really worth it. If I do get any cash shop items, I do it through Offerpal or something, to "earn" the cash shop points so I don't have to pay real money (choosing the offers carefully to try to keep the spam in my inbox to an absolute minimum.)

 

I would, however, vote "Buy it once, then pay for a subscription each month" for some rare cases where the MMOs are (or used to be) REALLY good. For example:

 

World of Warcraft

Ragnarok Online (Not now, but 4-6 years ago: When the game felt much more challenging and had a significantly larger number of players, and before most of the game's overall stability took its fall)

Aion (I will note that this is a big MAYBE, since Chinese hackers seemed to constantly post fake pr0n links on the official forums, which led to a site with a fake flash player update that contained a keylogger which they used to harvest players' accounts. These hackers seemed to have a large foothold in the game during the time I played, and they always annoyed the living PISS out of everyone with their massive RMT spamming in town, but I'm mentioning it because I really liked the combat style and the graphics of the game.)

 

I'm sure there are others in this category that I still haven't played.

 

I would pay--and I have done so many times already--a subscription for the rare, exceptionally good MMORPGs, but since these aren't as "causal" to me as F2P games, I'm rather opposed to paying to play one with a cash shop that disturbs game balance (to my knowledge, WoW's cash shop only has collector's items, like non-combat pets and mounts, so it doesn't disturb game balance as far as I know.) I just don't see any reason to include a cash shop that would give a significant advantage to people who can afford to dump tons of money into the game, when they should be making plenty of money off of their subscriptions from all player types...from casuals to hardcores, to the absolute no-lifes!

Edited January 11, 2011 by Zenia-chan

[Enervation]

I have to mention that I enjoyed Aion a LOT as well. Pity that my wallet went dry so soon.

 

Unfortunately, every game has it's spammers, though I am very concerned that Chinese hackers were able to advertise in game, considering it requires a subscription. U.S. games should probably do the same thing as Korea and require some sort of real life identification tied to a player's account to ensure they're from America.

 

If I recall Australia also follows the ID model.

[Mr. GOH!]

It depends. Subscriptions make sense when there's a huge userbase who re-up each month. Cash store, on the other hand, favors the intensity and competitiveness of a userbase rather than its size. So the bigger the userbase is, the more apt a subscription model. The more intense it is, the more apt a cash store. These two payment methods are not exclusive; I think the next big MMORPG will feature a hybrid system so that it can milk as much money as it can from the userbase.

[Pirandello]

I'm perfectly fine with cash shop so long as it's for aesthetic items, stat/skill resets, and things like that.

 

But if the shop allows experience potions/equipment to be bought, then it's an instant no-go for me.

 

Otherwise, I'm fine with either buy/sub or buy/free models.