PlanetSide Next free to play?

[bladetec]

With all these video games going f2p and all lately what is the chances of the next planetside being f2p?

[FortunadoAE]

With all these video games going f2p and all lately what is the chances of the next planetside being f2p?

Sounds like SOE is focusing all their efforts on two games. That's a lot of eggs for one basket.

Then again, they did experiment with Fodderside, so I could see them doing something like that again. I'd put money on something like Fodderside, but definitely not completely f2p.

[Hank]

I think it's very unlikely given PlanetSide's history and how demanding the game must be on its servers during massive conflicts. $15/month seems like the way to go to ensure SOE will see enough profits to keep investing in development.

Anyways, why would we want it F2P? Usually those types of games either have in-game features you can buy with cash (which would be horrible for PlanetSide) or a two-tier system in which there are free players and then paid members with benefits, which is also a bad idea because of the discrepancy there'll be between paid and free players, basically feeding the paid players and hurting the gameplay.

[LordReaver]

I'd prefer subscription with fodderside. I feel F2P is a flawed concept on it's own.

[Madcow]

Subscriptions in addition to non-game changing aesthetic items for sale to boost profits (hello Team Fortress 2 hats!). Valve paved the way and proved that we as gamers are dumb enough to pay for virtual items even if they don't give us any advantage at all, and SOE can certainly use the extra cash right about now.

[Ant001]

Well I believe f2p just encourages hackers.
We could pay 15 bucks a month and for increased profit you could buy xp boosts like GA did. If you work and can't play 24/7 you just pay 10 bucks and get double xp for a month this allows you to keep up with all the kids.

[CutterJohn]

I'd prefer a non subscription based service just because it makes it easy to play for a night or two every so often. Subscription is fine if you are playing a lot, but if you log in irregularly, it chafes.

[Aractain]

'Keeping up' isnt a big concern to most players. Not paying when they are not playing is. The number of MMOs comming out, plus things like Xbox live, people prioritise - for the casual player that means BF3 or even COD for their action fix rather than Planetside.

In that case its either get those customers or don't get them - you can always have subs aswell for the rich :P. If SOE thinks they can get at least a hundred thousand subscribers to stay in PS for a year then sure subs would be fine. I don't see that happening personaly though.

As for hackers which is a legitimate concern - they need to be able to deal with them without limiting thier options.

[wormywyrm]

I don't think subscriptions really deters hackers. People care more about their characters than they do the $15 it costs to start a new subscription account. Getting caught hacking pretty much feels the same either way, unless the game itself cost $50 up front, and hacking probably wont be a problem early in the games life cycle so the game won't cost much up front by the time hacking is an issue anyways.

I don't think it will really effect my experience regardless of if its F2P or P2P, as long as the game is skill based. That is why I am really excited... Theres really not much SoE can mess up here.

[LordReaver]

Subscriptions force hackers to pay every time they start up again. So unless they are sitting on a giant wad of cash, they probably wont do it more than once.

F2P are actually more expensive than subs on average. That's the whole reason companies are drawn to them. You, the average person, think you are saving money by playing f2p, so you are willing to put down a little bit extra, but you being an average person, can't keep track of your finances.

Quick, what's a better deal? Five transactions of $3? or One transaction of $15?

[Lonehunter]

I really prefer a monthly fee. With f2p-micro transactions I can end up paying way more then $15 a month, because I want all the game has to offer.

[Canaris]

I also prefer the subscription fee over a F2P with microtransations, or even worse like Activision a sub fee + micro transations. One of the reasons I can't play STO. Pure greed plain and simple.

[Robert089]

Please no free to play. I don't know if any of you have tried Battlefield Play4Free (http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/), it is pretty fun but shows exactly what free to play games are like. Basically the person who pays more money gets access to the better guns and therefore wins. It can work in other games but it's not something I want to see in Planetside.

[Firefly]

Free-to-play sucks. Just pay a goddamn subscription and stop crying. You'll thank us in the long run when you've spent less than $180 for one year instead of dropping two and three dollars every few days to get some nifty little trinket or more guns.

[Aractain]

Heh. Its more like I wont be playing with friends so I might not be paying my sub either. :\

[Sentrosi]

F2P just invites unsavory elements into a game I love and admire.

[Miir]

F2P, subscription or a combination of the two works for me as long as we get regular updates and new content.

[TRex]

As long as theres no intrinsic advantage to ftp or subscriptions I can live with that. If it's transparent that having a subscription is obviuosly more beneficial financially overall .

Say you could pay a sub and get what we have now . You could play free up to BR10 , and then need a 30 day ticket to advance to BR23/5 , and need to renew your ticket to maintain BR23/5 or revert back to BR10. Another 30 day ticket to unlock CR and allow you to get to CR5. Each ticket say cost £6 .
A sub would cost £10 . Something like that.

What I hate about ftp in other games was the RNG boxes rip off . Buy 10 boxes and have a chance to win some mount or Indian outfit. You open 10 boxes and end up with a few scrolls, and do it again at £10 a go .I saw people spending hundreds each month in Atlantica just to have the latest banal crap. It was disgusting to witness.

If its just cosmetic and poses no real advantage other than vanity , within reason I could understand the ethos behind it , but younger players ( and their credit card owning parents) will be sucker punched into peer pressure for crap like that , which worries me.

[MoreShiraz]

I reckon a balance between the two would be cool.

If I want to completely respec my character without the cool down, then I'll pay 3 bucks for it for sure.

If I want a Ferrari shaped hat to distract my enemy then I'll pay 3 bucks for it. If I want a diamond encrusted cod piece to thrust in the face of my fallen foes, then I'll pay 3 bucks for it.

What I don't want is to see battlefield advantages like guns, perks or extra OS' for microtransactions.

Top this off with a REDUCED subscription and I think we'll keep the dev team in work and keep the game evolving. By keeping the sub low, you are going to attract more gamers and will keep the subscribers for longer, and may dissuade the hack-feckers. Make the rest up (and then some more likely) with the micro's.

That said Battlefield play for free is rubbish. You've got to make a good game first.

Balance the two. Team Fortress financing model meets a reduced sub, but vastly upgraded Planetside is my ideal.

[Madcow]

Balance the two. Team Fortress financing model meets a reduced sub, but vastly upgraded Planetside is my ideal.

Exactly. Don't tell us (again) that our sub fees do nothing but maintain servers and that you can't afford staff to create new content. Cosmetic micro transactions to insure new content keeping the game fresh. Take advantage of the stupid/people with disposable income! Make sure it includes no gameplay advantages so that whiners can't get a foothold in their complaints that they aren't able to dress up like Barney when all of their friends do.

[MoreShiraz]

Wow nice one mad cow, thought i would get shot down there :groovy:

Lets have a cheap subscription MMO, with strategic microtransactions that are attractive and lets keep the devs at SOE away from EQ version 49...

Some ideas;

1. Of course the complete respec from scratch. I'd buy that for a dollar! In fact I'd probably pay 5 dollars, and probably weekly knowing how fickle I am ! ;)

2. Items of clothing - eye lenses, commendations, new shin pads, helmets, new scars on my face, new haircuts... I'd buy that for a dollar!

3. Outfit icons - maybe pay to upload your own outfit logo which is applied to your outfit vehicles? Lets face it a fluffy dice is a bit crap... I want a raging tigers face, a violent snake or the face of a beautiful lady! I'd buy that for a dollar!

4. Worn and degraded weapon skins - or shiny and new weapon skins? I'd buy that for a dollar!

5. Season specials - like snowball launchers, fall leaf blowers, spring garden rakes (?), summer gin and tonics - I'd buy that for a dollar!

The point is there's plenty of ways money can be made for SOE if its done right. And if the subs are low enough, maybe 5-7 squids a month - less than the price of a beer - peeps wont be able to stop playing and we'll all be back in the good days of pop locks, multi Gal drops, armour columns and wicked 3 way fights.

Bring... it... on...

[Heaven]

I think that it should be F2P untill like battle rank 6, and then after that you choose wether or not you want to pay or just play at battle rank 6 forever for free lol, this would help with population aswell as give players a really good try before they do make the decision to pay or not.

[morf]

I think giving BR6 for free would just create 10000000 permanent free accounts. At the very least force free players to play on the lowest pop empire.

My ideas for f2p are in this thread, won't repeat them all here:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36022

[Sifer2]

Well there are benefits an downsides. The benefit would be an endless horde of players to fight. Since there are millions who will play the crappiest of MMO's if its free.

Downside is said people might not be the type you would want to play with. An it makes things easier for hackers. And that uncertainty over profits may make SOE devote less resources into development.

Really its a tricky thing because Planetside remains sort of the only real attempt at a big MMOFPS title. So they are sort of paving the way in terms of trying to find what business model customers will accept.

[Baneblade]

SmokeJumper himself said that PS getting the 'Extended' treatment is a likely possibility and that he would jump at the chance to work on PS again. But I do not know if that extends to PSN.

[Goku]

In my opinion there needs to be something akin to F2P in order for PS to able to sustain healthy populations for years. There should be no F2P as far as just downloading the game and making account then being in game. A person should have to first purchase the game and they can have the first month as a subscriber. If the person does not wish to pay the monthly sub they will have a low BR/CR limit (If their character is higher it will just downgrade until resubbed). Making a person have to buy the game will prevent any sort of hacks going on as well, since the person will have to buy the game. Due to how abused the 2 week trial was abused I don't even think PS:N should have anything similar. If you can buy the game and continue playing in some form w/o a sub there is no reason to have a free trial.

[Firefly]

Let's not forget that in Planetside, a BR1 can (theoretically) get out there and smoke a BR20/BR25/BR40.

Which means free accounts can run some sort of cheat program, get out there and take down veterans. And when they get caught and banned, they just go create a new account and it's wash, rinse, repeat.

[LordReaver]

Assuming the cert system is intact, you can't just downgrade a players BR, or you will mess up their certs. You be forced to give them free wipes.

[Heaven]

I tottaly agree that having to buy the game is a great idea, obviosly this would stop all the hordes of peolpe just creating new accounts to new e-mail addresses all the time, I think they should make it so buying the game gives you one account, im guessing the game would cost like £30 when first released, and if you want another account then you have to buy the game again as the game would only give you one unique product key for that account created, so in turn if you have an account and want to play for free that means you still had to buy the game and can only play to BR6 but if you ever decide to pay for it that account can never be free again, simple :)

[Aractain]

Friend codes are an awesome idea, they really help promote the game too (See: RIFT).

Is there another action based game coming out that isn't free to play? Tera is a traditional mmo design with action gameplay so that dosn't count. Anyone?

Firefall and APBR are the obvious ones (both F2P). I guess Guild Wars 2 too since it really focuses of gameplay (no sub, no confirmed cash shop yet).

[bkx]

For the first several months after release, P2P is definitely the way to go. Eventually, when subscription numbers begin dwindling, they could introduce F2P (maybe with a level cap) to balance things out

[Raymac]

I've said in other threads how we should all be prepared for a f2p / subscription / microtransaction type of system in PS:N just because of the way the gaming market is right now. 1 thing that I've really been adamant about is that the microtransactions should be primarily cosmetic or simply put: you can't buy power. I want a BR1 to be able to stand toe to toe with a BR20, just like in the original.

There is 1 line that Smed recently said that has me a little worried that you might be able to buy power in PS:N. He said, "Player skills ( as opposed to character skills) are always going to be the most important. That said we have some cool new things to offer in this department."

Now, we've had our fair share of picking apart things Smed has said and drawing premature conclusions, so I'll avoid that for now. Just seeing these words starts to worry me a little that we might see things that skew the level playing field that the original PS has.

[TRex]

Maybe keep 1 empire per server , but microtransactions allowed you to 'purchase' an extra empire slot. Still have a cd , but you would have to decide if it was worth buying empty space you might not use all the time.

[Senyu]

As amazing as F2P would be, its not realistic