Cant wear my gear?

[nuakral]

<p>Sony blows my mind,  after spending all kinds of money on 8 million expansions I hear the game has become free to play. How excited was I as I logged on one of my lvl 90 characters only to be kicked right square in the teeth by the game. I cant wear any of my gear, my bags are so full of junk that I cant even move gear around unless I sell stuff.</p><p>What a fricking joke. Way to pegion hole. Sony is right on track with blizzard.</p>

[LadyMist]

<p>The free to play model does not let you wear the uber gear of the game, just treasured and mastercrafted. you have to upgrade to a regular subscription or buy unlockers to use that stuff.</p><p>Think of it as a extended free trial that you can play to the end, but you actually have a couple restrictions</p>

[Alenna]

<p>plus youi are limited to bank and bag space.</p>

[SisterTheresa]

<p>That's why you read up on everything before you get all excited.  Over the years I've gotten so jaded on everything I read.</p>

[Finora]

<p>Why on earth would you think you could roll in and just pick up where you left off without paying a dime?</p><p>The gear attuners can be bought very very cheaply on the market. You can buy more bag slots (just not bank slots).  Those are permanent upgrades. Failing that you can always just sub again. Subs are 25% off atm.</p><p>They could do a couple more things to make the system better, (coin unlocks, bank vault unlocks) but it's still not a bad system in my opinion.</p>

[deadcrickets2]

<p><cite>nuakral wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sony blows my mind,  after spending all kinds of money on 8 million expansions I hear the game has become free to play. How excited was I as I logged on one of my lvl 90 characters only to be kicked right square in the teeth by the game. I cant wear any of my gear, my bags are so full of junk that I cant even move gear around unless I sell stuff.</p><p>What a fricking joke. Way to pegion hole. Sony is right on track with blizzard.</p></blockquote><p>Tell me something.. if it was still pay to play and you were NOT paying as you aren't paying now.. would you even have access to the game much less your characters or the armors?</p>

[Katz]

<p>Yeah, the free to play model really only works well  for new players.   Every single previous subscription player that I personally know has logged in, said !@!$#@@#$ I'm nekkid!  And then logged off and told me ...forget it.  </p><p>If you start out free to play, you start out with the restrictions.     If you were not free to play to start with you will have a frustrating time trying to sort things out to be playable again.  </p>

[General_Info]

<p><cite>Katz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Yeah, the free to play model really only works well  for new players.   Every single previous subscription player that I personally know has logged in, said !@!$#@@#$ I'm nekkid!  And then logged off and told me ...forget it.  </p><p>If you start out free to play, you start out with the restrictions.     If you were not free to play to start with you will have a frustrating time trying to sort things out to be playable again.  </p></blockquote><p>I would have put it so when people who played under P2P logged in as F2P they get a popup when they go to the charater select screen telling them about what they are missing out on as free/silver so they'd find out ahead of time rather then getting into game and being shocked.</p><p>Though i dont get why people come back and still forget that with any F2P game there is always a catch and those that pay have a far better time then those that dont.</p>

[Katz]

<p>Well different games handle free to play different ways.   I used to subscribe to AION but stopped when my friends quit playing.   When AION went free to play, I started logging in every once in a while to play it some.   I kept all my armor, my bank spaces, my bags, well actually everything I had when I was subscribing, I still had in free to play.   So, not every game leaves former players nakid with no bag space.   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Finora]

<p><cite>Katz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well different games handle free to play different ways.   I used to subscribe to AION but stopped when my friends quit playing.   When AION went free to play, I started logging in every once in a while to play it some.   I kept all my armor, my bank spaces, my bags, well actually everything I had when I was subscribing, I still had in free to play.   So, not every game leaves former players nakid with no bag space.   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>Heh, but yeah where do they get their money from? Item shop? (I honestly have no clue, I never even had an interest in playing that game so never researched anything about it).</p><p>I know LOTRO has a buttload of things you have to buy if you are a free player. I found that though I was a legacy player with all sorts of things open via perks they gave the older players but there were many quests & things that were in the original box & the first expansion that I would have had to buy again under their free to play set up.</p><p>No matter how you look at it the game has to get paid from somewhere. It's either going to be subs, free players needing to buy unlocks for either content, gear or other things like that, or some sort of item shop that has items that will be basically required to excell.</p>

[Kenazeer]

<p>SOE's F2P model has certainly turned out to be a big success eh, judging by all the overflowing and high load servers? They need to revisit the design and make some tweaks, particularly in how former P2P players are reintroduced to the game.</p>

[DamselInDistress]

<p><cite>Kenazeer wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>SOE's F2P model has certainly turned out to be a big success eh, judging by all the overflowing and high load servers? They need to revisit the design and make some tweaks, particularly in <strong>how former P2P players are reintroduced to the game.</strong></p></blockquote><p>That boat has long since sailed away. The suggestions were given and ignored, SOE made a mockery of it and in the process lost a lot of subscribers.</p><p>Bottom line, the damage is already done.</p>

[Neiloch]

<p><cite>Katz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well different games handle free to play different ways.   I used to subscribe to AION but stopped when my friends quit playing.   When AION went free to play, I started logging in every once in a while to play it some.   I kept all my armor, my bank spaces, my bags, well actually everything I had when I was subscribing, I still had in free to play.   So, not every game leaves former players nakid with no bag space.   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>They can't give that game away. I always see people talk about how much better their F2P system is yet I almost never hear about them actually playing it on any sort of regular basis. just log in, "hey look how great F2P is!" play for an hour, log off until next week.</p><p>Also the harsh reality of ALL these games? If you aren't spending money, they don't want you. So I seriously doubt they are all broken up about people who have no intention of paying money not wanting to play again.</p><p>F2P player "this sucks I can't play completely for free? I'm leaving."</p><p>Game company - "Good."</p>

[DamselInDistress]

<p><cite>Neiloch@Butcherblock wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Katz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well different games handle free to play different ways.   I used to subscribe to AION but stopped when my friends quit playing.   When AION went free to play, I started logging in every once in a while to play it some.   I kept all my armor, my bank spaces, my bags, well actually everything I had when I was subscribing, I still had in free to play.   So, not every game leaves former players nakid with no bag space.   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>They can't give that game away. I always see people talk about how much better their F2P system is yet I almost never hear about them actually playing it on any sort of regular basis. just log in, "hey look how great F2P is!" play for an hour, log off until next week.</p><p>Also the harsh reality of ALL these games? If you aren't spending money, they don't want you. So I seriously doubt they are all broken up about people who have no intention of paying money not wanting to play again.</p><p>F2P player "this sucks I can't play completely for free? I'm leaving."</p><p>Game company - "Good."</p></blockquote><p>People don't understand that F2P doesn't actually exist anywhere. It's a gimmick to get them to spend more than if they had to pay a sub.</p><p>Of course some companies apply it in original ways and then people end up paying a lot less ... that doesn't happen cause F2P is so great, it just means someone, somewhere made a really big mistake <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</p>

[darwich]

<p><cite>DamselInDistress wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kenazeer wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>SOE's F2P model has certainly turned out to be a big success eh, judging by all the overflowing and high load servers? They need to revisit the design and make some tweaks, particularly in <strong>how former P2P players are reintroduced to the game.</strong></p></blockquote><p>That boat has long since sailed away. The suggestions were given and ignored, SOE made a mockery of it <strong><span style="color: #00ffff;">and in the process lost a lot of subscribers.</span></strong></p><p>Bottom line, the damage is already done.</p></blockquote><p>Oh.... you mean the non paying subscibers who wouldnt have paid anyway? wow.. what huge monetary losses to the game...</p>

[Katz]

<p><cite>Finora@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Katz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well different games handle free to play different ways.   I used to subscribe to AION but stopped when my friends quit playing.   When AION went free to play, I started logging in every once in a while to play it some.   I kept all my armor, my bank spaces, my bags, well actually everything I had when I was subscribing, I still had in free to play.   So, not every game leaves former players nakid with no bag space.   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>Heh, but yeah where do they get their money from? Item shop? (I honestly have no clue, I never even had an interest in playing that game so never researched anything about it).</p><p>I know LOTRO has a buttload of things you have to buy if you are a free player. I found that though I was a legacy player with all sorts of things open via perks they gave the older players but there were many quests & things that were in the original box & the first expansion that I would have had to buy again under their free to play set up.</p><p>No matter how you look at it the game has to get paid from somewhere. It's either going to be subs, free players needing to buy unlocks for either content, gear or other things like that, or some sort of item shop that has items that will be basically required to excell.</p></blockquote><p>Yeah, they sell things in the item shop.   Lots of cute fluffy things that people buy there.   Little cute animals that follow you around and carry some of your loot or other things.  Appearance armor.   I don't play it often so I don't remember what all it is.   </p><p>Edit:  I would think they would want a free to play that makes you look like you have a heavy active population and then a certain percentage of those will stay and pay.   After all, they are paying to have the servers up.   It doesn't cost more to have more people on the server that is already in existance.    </p>

[Dawkitty]

<p><cite>darwich wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>DamselInDistress wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kenazeer wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>SOE's F2P model has certainly turned out to be a big success eh, judging by all the overflowing and high load servers? They need to revisit the design and make some tweaks, particularly in <strong>how former P2P players are reintroduced to the game.</strong></p></blockquote><p>That boat has long since sailed away. The suggestions were given and ignored, SOE made a mockery of it <strong><span style="color: #00ffff;">and in the process lost a lot of subscribers.</span></strong></p><p>Bottom line, the damage is already done.</p></blockquote><p>Oh.... you mean the non paying subscibers who wouldnt have paid anyway? wow.. what huge monetary losses to the game...</p></blockquote><p>Actually, quite a few people who were subscribing up until the transition to F2P who then let their accounts lapse because they disagreed with how SOE handled it.</p><p>Believe it or not, there were quite a few people who were upset enough to actually stop paying and just leave. And many of them didn't come on the forums to announce it.</p>

[LadyMist]

<p><cite>Dawkitty wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>darwich wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>DamselInDistress wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kenazeer wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>SOE's F2P model has certainly turned out to be a big success eh, judging by all the overflowing and high load servers? They need to revisit the design and make some tweaks, particularly in <strong>how former P2P players are reintroduced to the game.</strong></p></blockquote><p>That boat has long since sailed away. The suggestions were given and ignored, SOE made a mockery of it <strong><span style="color: #00ffff;">and in the process lost a lot of subscribers.</span></strong></p><p>Bottom line, the damage is already done.</p></blockquote><p>Oh.... you mean the non paying subscibers who wouldnt have paid anyway? wow.. what huge monetary losses to the game...</p></blockquote><p>Actually, quite a few people who were subscribing up until the transition to F2P who then let their accounts lapse because they disagreed with how SOE handled it.</p><p>Believe it or not, there were quite a few people who were upset enough to actually stop paying and just leave. And many of them didn't come on the forums to announce it.</p></blockquote><p>They were upset it went to a free to play model, not upset with the type of free to play if your speaking about the long time subscribers.</p><p>btw many have returned</p>

[DamselInDistress]

<p><cite>LadyMist wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>They were upset it went to a free to play model, not upset with the type of free to play if your speaking about the long time subscribers.</p><p>btw many have returned</p></blockquote><p>and how many of those who returned are now paying even close to what they were paying before ?</p>

[SiegaPlays]

<p>Try looking at the F2P model as a extended trial instead of a game that is free to play, because it is not really, and people keep getting dissappointed, when they find out that F2P is not really F2P.</p><p>Usually trials are limited to lower levels and x days of playtime, but SOE went the opposit way, almost unlimited levels and unlimited playtime, it is the content and planning/improving character developement that is limited.</p><p>But all in all, SOE F2P model is a trial model, expect that it has limitations until the point you decide to P2P or pay to remove some of the limitations of the trial.</p>

[retro_guy]

<p><cite>Neiloch@Butcherblock wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Katz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well different games handle free to play different ways.   I used to subscribe to AION but stopped when my friends quit playing.   When AION went free to play, I started logging in every once in a while to play it some.   I kept all my armor, my bank spaces, my bags, well actually everything I had when I was subscribing, I still had in free to play.   So, not every game leaves former players nakid with no bag space.   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>They can't give that game away. I always see people talk about how much better their F2P system is yet I almost never hear about them actually playing it on any sort of regular basis. just log in, "hey look how great F2P is!" play for an hour, log off until next week.</p><p>Also the harsh reality of ALL these games? If you aren't spending money, they don't want you. So I seriously doubt they are all broken up about people who have no intention of paying money not wanting to play again.</p><p>F2P player "this sucks I can't play completely for free? I'm leaving."</p><p>Game company - "Good."</p></blockquote><p>Fully Free to Play would be a great model, if every person who played still payed (on average) at least the same price as a sub for items from the Station Store.</p><p>But I doubt SOE would take the risk: Imagine if I could get the same game for free (and I wouldn't have to buy expansions anymore either unless I wanted the very latest) I would simply drop my sub and pay for free.</p><p>Now say EQ2 has a player base for 100,000 gold subs @ $15 per month. If it's all free then they would have to be 100% sure they could find the $1.5 million per month from the cash store otherwise the game would be have to close down within a couple of months.</p><p>Building up the SC purchases to a point where they alone could funace the game, then dropping subs completely would be an excellent move.</p><p>A fully free game funded by impulse purchases might not happen in EQ2 but the model could certainly work.</p>