PS2 Premium Membership May Give Acess to PS1

[Death2All]

In a recent Tweet from Smedley:

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/306205391635742721




It's been confirmed that talks of PS1's F2P implementation have not yet been discussed or finalized. Smedley appears to like the suggestion very much.

I hate to sound ungrateful, but I really hope that they don't decide to make this the final solution to PS1 going F2P through PS2 instead of just officially making the game F2P.

The main barrier keeping people from coming back to PS1 is the subscription fee. Yes, there are a lot of people with premium memberships for PS2, but they have those premium memberships specifically for PS2, I doubt many of them had PS1 in mind when setting up that subscription.

My point is, giving PS2 members access to PS1 for free won't bolster the pops any, or at least very much, save for the few PS1 vets who purchased Alpha Squad (no word on whether or not that counts as premium membership or not, but I think it's safe to assume so. And even so, I believe the alpha squad thingy is about to run out anyways, so it would only be people with an active non-alpha squad subscription who get access, AKA non PS1 players) who get access.

Once more, I don't want to sound ungrateful. Any attempt to make PS1 F2P I happily accept. However, I just don't want this to be the final solution. As I said, the subscription fee is the only barrier keeping people from coming back to the game. Even if you give PS2 members access, that subscription fee is still there. Personally, I'd be happy with a lower subscription fee ($5/month) as opposed to any attempt to make the game F2P and any implementation of a cash shop or some other form of monetization that probably wouldn't work for the game.

What are your thoughts?

[CrazEpharmacist]

Completely agree about lowing the subscription fee to 5 dollars. Send a mass email to vets that prices are being cut and I'm sure we'd have a decent population again. Coupled with the 15 dollar PS2 subscription backwards compatibility with PS1 and that would really be ideal. I am against transitioning to free to play because there is just so much potential to go wrong. Could you imagine if they charge for vehicle access? Or pay to upgrade battle ranks? Or pay for certifications? There's just so much potential to go wrong. Stick to the roots of the game and lower the sub costs!

[ChipMHazard]

I can't help but feel that SOE keeps pushing the whole PS1 going F2P further and further away, while the official answer is still "it's coming" I still get the feeling of reluctance from SOE's part.

[Death2All]

Completely agree about lowing the subscription fee to 5 dollars. Send a mass email to vets that prices are being cut and I'm sure we'd have a decent population again. Coupled with the 15 dollar PS2 subscription backwards compatibility with PS1 and that would really be ideal. I am against transitioning to free to play because there is just so much potential to go wrong. Could you imagine if they charge for vehicle access? Or pay to upgrade battle ranks? Or pay for certifications? There's just so much potential to go wrong. Stick to the roots of the game and lower the sub costs!

I'm more worried about them giving BR 40/CR5s away to people who pay enough.

During the Fan Faire a few years ago anyone who attended got a free BR 25/CR 5. There was a lot of uproar from the community about this, but knowing SOE they probably didn't even notice. That's why I don't put it past them to do something similar again.

I can't help but feel that SOE keeps pushing the whole PS1 going F2P further and further away, while the official answer is still "it's coming" I still get the feeling of reluctance from SOE's part.

I think SOE knows that people want to play PS1, it's just not on the top of their to do list right now. There's bigger issues they're focused on and the issue of PS1 is always brought up at, what seems to be a bad time.

I understand that PS2 is their main focus right now. I understand that PS1 is some nearly 10 year old game that's yesterday's news. I understand that there's a lot more to running a game company than most people think.

Even with all that said, it's still a nice gesture and throwback to a loyal community that's stuck with the game for years. If anything, it would show that SOE cares about their playerbase and does things to keep them happy.

[ChipMHazard]

I just hope it doesn't end with just being a gesture and they do actually end up opening up PS1 to more people, but I guess I'm just a bit cynical in that respect.
Give due where due is due to be given and all that.

[OpolE]

Should be part of the PS2 sub plan but also have its own separate lowered fee's/F2P entirely on its own with its own goal of being strong without PS2

[Crator]

I don't get this whole PS1 F2P thing tbh. They plan on revamping things to allow a cash shop? That's what F2P means to me.

Why not just do the trial thing (reserves) again? Still will have to have GM support if they do trials though cause of people who hax. I suppose they could do the trial thing and see how it goes. If there's a fairly large player base throw some more resources at it to help monitor haxing players.

[CrazEpharmacist]

I don't get this whole PS1 F2P thing tbh. They plan on revamping things to allow a cash shop? That's what F2P means to me.

Why not just do the trial thing (reserves) again? Still will have to have GM support if they do trials though cause of people who hax. I suppose they could do the trial thing and see how it goes. If there's a fairly large player base throw some more resources at it to help monitor haxing players.

Yeah for example free to play up to battle rank 5 but you have to pay a 5 dollar monthly subscription if you want to progress past that. Would be ideal to have at least 1 GM log on every now and again...like they did last night :D

[Wahooo]

I can't help but feel that SOE keeps pushing the whole PS1 going F2P further and further away, while the official answer is still "it's coming" I still get the feeling of reluctance from SOE's part.

I think you are confusing apathy for reluctance. Where is the motivation to REALLY put a lot of effort in to this? I don't see any.

But I don't think it is being put off, for some reason I don't know where I came up the idea but I've been under the impression for a while we are looking at closer to Planetside day so ~end of May at best maybe even June if there is a delay.

[Crator]

Where is the motivation to REALLY put a lot of effort in to this?

That is kind of in-line with my statement of why F2P? Yes, putting a cash shop in the game will take effort. More then you may think. How will a cash shop work in PS1? Will it revamp the entire battle/command rank system? That is a big undertaking then.

But simply turning on the reserves trials again? That wouldn't take hardly anything to do, right? Why the reluctance?

[Facts]

Please don't make me pay for PS2 to get PS1.

One of them is awesome, the other is still a hot mess.

[Death2All]

Please don't make me pay for PS2 to get PS1.

One of them is awesome, the other is still a hot mess.

Agreed, I was talking to MasterChief last night and he hit the nail on the head...

" people who want PS1 f2p are the ones who don't like PS2 enough to get a membership anyways lol"

I emailed Smedley last night about this, he's answered all my emails in the past so there's a good chance he'll answer this one, hopefully anyways. I just love how always no matter what, whenever SOE, or Smedley in specific gives out any information about a game or what have you, it always sparks a bunch of confusion and controversy because you're never given a clear answer. ALWAYS.

[Katanauk]

For me, this is an idea just completely out of touch with us...

As was said above and as I've said on the PS2 forums, a lot of people wanting PS1 want it because they don't like PS2, so if I don't like PS2... why the f would I have a sub to it?!

If I do like PS2 enough to have a sub ... Why would I play PS1?!

It's just moronic to be honest.

[Figment]

For me, this is an idea just completely out of touch with us...

As was said above and as I've said on the PS2 forums, a lot of people wanting PS1 want it because they don't like PS2, so if I don't like PS2... why the f would I have a sub to it?!

If I do like PS2 enough to have a sub ... Why would I play PS1?!

It's just moronic to be honest.

Tbh, you're looking at it the wrong way.


And I mean... you don't seem to understand the advantage of package deals.


1. You get PS2 premium free with a (cheaper!) PS1 sub. ;)
2. The amount of players with a PS2 sub is quite significant. People who play PS2 and subbed may try out PS1 - because they get to have it anyway. Even if only 1% of the PS2 subs now and then plays PS1, we're talking thousands of players. Increasing the population and thus the content for PS1 to a level that's very worthwhile.
3. People who tried PS2 and can't quite handle it with their hardware may try out PS1 once they realise it's actually still active and has a more healthy populace.
4. The more people play PS1 who started playing PS2 - the more chance we'll see more support for PS1 systems once players start realising the differences in certain mechanics favour PS1 systems over PS2 systems. >.>
5. Some part of the sub profits might end up being spend on PS1.

[Katanauk]

Tbh, you're looking at it the wrong way.


And I mean... you don't seem to understand the advantage of package deals.


1. You get PS2 premium free with a (cheaper!) PS1 sub. ;)
2. The amount of players with a PS2 sub is quite significant. People who play PS2 and subbed may try out PS1 - because they get to have it anyway. Even if only 1% of the PS2 subs now and then plays PS1, we're talking thousands of players. Increasing the population and thus the content for PS1 to a level that's very worthwhile.
3. People who tried PS2 and can't quite handle it with their hardware may try out PS1 once they realise it's actually still active and has a more healthy populace.
4. The more people play PS1 who started playing PS2 - the more chance we'll see more support for PS1 systems once players start realising the differences in certain mechanics favour PS1 systems over PS2 systems. >.>
5. Some part of the sub profits might end up being spend on PS1.

Eh, perhaps, number 5 is pretty much a no, but the rest you make a point. But I think I'm looking at it a different way more than I am the wrong way.

[Death2All]

Tbh, you're looking at it the wrong way.


And I mean... you don't seem to understand the advantage of package deals.


1. You get PS2 premium free with a (cheaper!) PS1 sub. ;)
2. The amount of players with a PS2 sub is quite significant. People who play PS2 and subbed may try out PS1 - because they get to have it anyway. Even if only 1% of the PS2 subs now and then plays PS1, we're talking thousands of players. Increasing the population and thus the content for PS1 to a level that's very worthwhile.
3. People who tried PS2 and can't quite handle it with their hardware may try out PS1 once they realise it's actually still active and has a more healthy populace.
4. The more people play PS1 who started playing PS2 - the more chance we'll see more support for PS1 systems once players start realising the differences in certain mechanics favour PS1 systems over PS2 systems. >.>
5. Some part of the sub profits might end up being spend on PS1.

That's a very optimistic assumption of you, Figgy :D. Personally, I relay back to my own experiences when I pay for a game and the company offers me another game free, or access to the other game. I literally never had any interest in the old game, or only checked it out for a few minutes to go back to the new game. Of course, everyone is different and not everyone thinks like I do, so some people may be more open to try out new things, but given the current trend and mindset of people, I can't say I'm as optimistic about it as you are.

I feel like most people will generally give PS1 a try, yes. But I don't think it will anything past that. Once they see how much work they have to put into a character for it to amount of anything and the pacing of the game compared to the sequel (assuming they never played PS1) I don't think they'll go for it.

[Figment]

That's a very optimistic assumption of you, Figgy :D.

In this particular case, I'm slightly optimistic because it can't in fact get any worse (!). ;)

Regarding point 5 btw, I'm wondering if they'll continue with the "PS Next" process, which was supposedly mostly retexturing and a graphics update.

I feel like most people will generally give PS1 a try, yes. But I don't think it will anything past that. Once they see how much work they have to put into a character for it to amount of anything and the pacing of the game compared to the sequel (assuming they never played PS1) I don't think they'll go for it.

A lot of new outfit members of ours indicated they would have prefered a slower pacing and a lot of specific design revisions akin to PS1. I think that if PS1 were to become active again, I could get 50% of my outfit into it, compared to the 5%-8% that is playing PS2 now. Consider also that we (PS1 players in general) kept PS alive for ten years. I'm not saying the next gen will keep it alive that long, BUT, there's a good chance they'll get hooked in a similar way because there's an entirely different flow to enjoy. They may well put a few years in before they get bored.

I mean, if they think the Crown is fun, just wait till they get their hands on Dagda. :x