I think the only think that would tempt me to WoW would be if they dropped the monthly fee, and the levelling requirements. And any mention of crafting.
Submitted by babychaos on Wed, 2011-06-29 12:53
I'd prefer micropayments to pay-by-the-hour. Glad MC isn't pay-by-the-hour, I would have had to have sold the house by now.
Submitted by brainwipe on Wed, 2011-06-29 13:52
Tbh, WoW's 'free to play' offering is a joke. It's only good until level 20 (of 85,) which is probably about two evening's play. It might be enough to know if you like the game or not, but it's definitely a free trial, rather than a free-to-play+microtransactions model.
Lord of the Rings online is similar (although IMHO not so good,) and offers a real free-to-play model, if you're hankering for an MMO that doesn't cost you 8 quid a month.
Submitted by AggroBoy on Wed, 2011-06-29 15:13
Level 20 is a bit of a con, then? Sounds really good to the uninitiated. Sounds like lots of play time. Will WoW reconsider their funding model, though? There is so much buy-in from players (who have spent a lot of time and effort in game) that they are unlikely to leave to a new MMO just because it's free. Getting new players might be more difficult, tho.
Submitted by brainwipe on Wed, 2011-06-29 15:23
If they're trying to sell it as free-to-play, then yes it's a bit of a con. If they're calling it a trial, then no problem. I honestly haven't looked at any Blizzard's marketing on it.
Two evenings might be pushing it a bit; that's how long it would take me to get to 20 these days, but a new player might get more out of it than that. I remember my first character taking weeks to get to 20, but that was two expansions ago, and leveling has sped up a lot since then; especially in the early game.
I'd be extremely surprised if WoW ever changes funding model; they have in the region of 12,000,000 people happily paying them every month; why change something that rakes that much money in? It's worth mentioning that they also have a store where you can spend real money on things like in game pets and mounts. It's strictly only vanity stuff, but I'm sure its a very nice alternative revenue stream for them.
What might change is Blizzard's approach; they're working on their next MMO right now, and planning a launch in 2013, I think. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see that go free-to-play with an alternative revenue stream.
Submitted by AggroBoy on Wed, 2011-06-29 15:39
I think last time I played wow the furthest I got was level 20 but then that was at launch and no one else was playing it due to their crazy US only restrictions. I got bored with it after that there was a lack of things to do.
Submitted by Evilmatt on Wed, 2011-06-29 18:42
I'm with Will on this one. The first twenty levels gives a good introduction, but to be honest you only start getting a reasonable number of abilities in the teens.
There's a fair amount of content available in that level range, with 4 race specific introductions and three or four areas with different questlines per faction, and the however-many classes to try out, and technically you could group up at any point from level 1, but all this content is designed to be tutorial and solo, so grouping will make you immensely overpowered for the fights you reach. There's not any instanced content before level 15, and the non-instanced game remains scaled for a single player in the vast majority of cases.
So, um, yeah. Its pretty much a better trial. You could spend quite a long time playing it without running out of content, but its very similar to playing a sandboxy demo until you've done everything.
Comments
Yay! Lets all pay per hour instead.
I think the only think that would tempt me to WoW would be if they dropped the monthly fee, and the levelling requirements. And any mention of crafting.
I'd prefer micropayments to pay-by-the-hour. Glad MC isn't pay-by-the-hour, I would have had to have sold the house by now.
Tbh, WoW's 'free to play' offering is a joke. It's only good until level 20 (of 85,) which is probably about two evening's play. It might be enough to know if you like the game or not, but it's definitely a free trial, rather than a free-to-play+microtransactions model.
Lord of the Rings online is similar (although IMHO not so good,) and offers a real free-to-play model, if you're hankering for an MMO that doesn't cost you 8 quid a month.
Level 20 is a bit of a con, then? Sounds really good to the uninitiated. Sounds like lots of play time. Will WoW reconsider their funding model, though? There is so much buy-in from players (who have spent a lot of time and effort in game) that they are unlikely to leave to a new MMO just because it's free. Getting new players might be more difficult, tho.
If they're trying to sell it as free-to-play, then yes it's a bit of a con. If they're calling it a trial, then no problem. I honestly haven't looked at any Blizzard's marketing on it.
Two evenings might be pushing it a bit; that's how long it would take me to get to 20 these days, but a new player might get more out of it than that. I remember my first character taking weeks to get to 20, but that was two expansions ago, and leveling has sped up a lot since then; especially in the early game.
I'd be extremely surprised if WoW ever changes funding model; they have in the region of 12,000,000 people happily paying them every month; why change something that rakes that much money in? It's worth mentioning that they also have a store where you can spend real money on things like in game pets and mounts. It's strictly only vanity stuff, but I'm sure its a very nice alternative revenue stream for them.
What might change is Blizzard's approach; they're working on their next MMO right now, and planning a launch in 2013, I think. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see that go free-to-play with an alternative revenue stream.
I think last time I played wow the furthest I got was level 20 but then that was at launch and no one else was playing it due to their crazy US only restrictions. I got bored with it after that there was a lack of things to do.
I'm with Will on this one. The first twenty levels gives a good introduction, but to be honest you only start getting a reasonable number of abilities in the teens.
There's a fair amount of content available in that level range, with 4 race specific introductions and three or four areas with different questlines per faction, and the however-many classes to try out, and technically you could group up at any point from level 1, but all this content is designed to be tutorial and solo, so grouping will make you immensely overpowered for the fights you reach. There's not any instanced content before level 15, and the non-instanced game remains scaled for a single player in the vast majority of cases.
So, um, yeah. Its pretty much a better trial. You could spend quite a long time playing it without running out of content, but its very similar to playing a sandboxy demo until you've done everything.