Ask: Death of Free To Play? (Ep. 7)

Magicman, you made a great point about how the likelihood of reaching max level is far higher if one subscribes to a game. There are a couple of other factors as well:

1. The number of the max level itself.
2. The amount of time (grind) necessary to reach that level.

One example of a F2P MMO that satisfies both criteria for a high chance of level maximization is DCUO. Its max level is 30. It's possible to reach it in one weekend if a player really wanted to do so and without much deviation from simply playing through the main/story quests.

If anyone would like to lose their "max level" virginity easily, this would be the game.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to help anyone with this since I stopped playing due to my disagreement with some of its game design decisions. I was also playing it on the PS3.

Great ep like always. You mentioned something about santa costume :D Is there a chance that we will see the one and only Magicman dressed as santa in some mmobomb xmass special show if there will be one? :D

Will MMOBomb ever cover Buy to Play games?

I am just wondering if ya'll have ever thought of covering B2P games and why or why not? Now with the success of GW2 and The Secret World changing to a B2P model I think we are going to see more games going in the direction. Though not 100% F2P in many respects the B2P model is cheaper then some so called F2P models. I also think that the B2P model overall makes more sense for the large triple a MMOs then the F2P model as they get the initial launch day surge in revenue that the investors are looking for while the player gets a great game that they can enjoy for the life of the game.

Love the show.
Sir Jaxxy

adobe after effect ???? premier ???

Hi guys,

Catching up to some news in the mmorpg industry I’ve noticed something that could be the initial stages of a consolidating trend: titles launching as p2p and going f2p in a relatively short span.
Nothing new here, really; but I began to ‘ruminate’ on such life challenging musings and started to think of what ifs.
How would you receive one marketing “ploy” from a company/publisher that would very transparently offer 6 months of early access to their new game?

I’m thinking on the news about The Secret World (and their new strange ARG-like video log), Age of Wushu (and it’s early access beta), and even SWTOR and some speculations about TERA – we can throw Blade and Soul here as well, since no one really know how they’ll port it over for the western audience.

The catch of this ploy here is that they would be very frank and straight forward: 60 bucks (10 usd / month) for 6 months early access on the servers – maybe adding a few trinkets, cosmetic, for good measure.

I myself would welcome such a tactic – emphasizing the publisher’s honesty and transparency as good measures. But opinions are very diverse and here’s my question: how do you think about it? Is it a wolf in sheep’s clothing money grab? Would you sympathize with it or hate such idea?

Don’t think in terms of game characteristics, for instance, a steep xp curve or other things that could prove very relevant for such analysis. Just the main idea. On a review would you bash it and be vocal against it or would you show sympathy?

Greetings from Brazil,
Marco.

You know there should be a special name for us people that like to jump or bounce from one mmo to another. I found something totally obvious, we can be called MMOBombers, we fly around bombing mmos and then fly over to the next target mmo. Lets "FlyBomb" the next mmo guys!. :D

HHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA My Little Pony Online Shut Down HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA

I managed level cap in WoW during Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm, but I stopped playing about 2/3 of the way through Cata, and haven't gone back. I also have two capped toons in SWTOR, but I don't play it anymore, and refuse to touch it until they fix their free to play model.

As far as free to play goes, I've reached summoner level 30 in LoL, but I've barely even leveled in most other titles. In BLR, I'm level 27, and I've put 53 hours into it since it launched on Steam, and I don't know how many before. They'll probably raise the level cap again before I hit the current one.

Hey Magic Man! I had a very important question on the thread of your last video. I really hope you answer my question on your next video. Why in any first look video is social panel & chat restrictions not talk about? If you want to cover a good aspect of any game that is the first thing that i look at when gaming online. MAKING FRIENDS!

Hey Magicman

I want know what song u use for the intro of Ask MMOBomb because I really like that song. so i hope you read this and let me know.

I think F2P model is one of the best models ever because i got so tired of buying a game for $50-$60 and the game being crap and now with F2P i can play the full game completely for free and then if i like it and i play it a lot then i put money into it.A win win situation

Love the show i watch all the time, the only F2P game i have ever got max level on is DDO have 2 TR's its not the best looking game but i love it to death lol, have had max lvl on EQOA and GW2 but have played MANY others n stoped in mid 20's.

At one time I had a couple chars in Vindictus capped but it has been raised a couple times since then. I currently have 2 chars capped in Forsaken World but I don't play it much anymore. Had a char capped in Grand Chase but the recent update raised the cap. As for F2P going away I don't think its going anywhere but I do feel the mmo "riff-raff" will start to disappear.

Hey Magicman,

People always talk about AAA games...what does it actually mean? I've never heard about AA, A or even B games, so I'm not sure if it's even a ranking...

My problem with the lvl cap on MMO's isn't the game, is the classes that are inside the game
I can't stay with one very long, i just fell to play other and then other and then other. I play Gw2 now and the highest character i have is an elementalist lvl 50, and it isn't even hard to lvl up in that game. Now I play warrior but i'm already feeling to play thief, then I might get back to the elementalist but not for long and on and on.... This is why from F2P games the game I played most was EE, since I could just switch classes so easyly, yet I haven't hit lvl cap here but I was close.

Hey everyone! Another well done show. Thanks Magic.

Firstly, consoles will never take over pc gaming and vice versa. People will always be more willing to buy a ps3 for $499, than to pay $2k+ for comp to play the same game. Plus, the whole niche thing, console gamers tend to stay true to their system even though there is some crossover.

F2Play will never die, Magic hit it on the head. It makes money! PERIOD. Not just from the games, but sites like this. The advertising makes a ton of money, and rightly it should. We all love this site and god forbid if it went away! *enters fetal position*

Have I ever gotten to max level on a free2play game: Yes, but not often. This goes back to the whole gamer ADD thing. (I'll take credit for bringing that up again! LOL) I tend to switch games before I have a chance to get high level.

My Question: Do you think a truly "sandbox" mmo (such as Wyrm Online etc.) will ever gain massive popularity amongst gamers? It seems that everyone wants a great one, but they just never seem to have big fan bases.

I had taken a little break from contributing with posts and such. Work has been killing me lately, but I promise I have been tuning in. It's good to be back and involved.

Thanks for everything you guys do!

RAWRRRRR

I think the free-to-play model is just going to pick up with even larger games! Like you said, it makes money, and I think the notion that free-to-play = bad is getting dispelled.

Great video, Magicman!

Hello everyone,
I´m a "bouncing games man" too but i believe that is for that i dont feel the "fun" part of the game in early levels (Or the cash shop is a pain) so i jump game to game (In the f2p MMORPG worl, in Legue of legends I been playing for 2 years) My question is how do I know if a f2p mmorpg game is worthy to achive final levels (not necesary lvl cap) without expending weeks playing or watching youtube videos? (It dont work the videos for me) I know that is a silly question but i belive that someone has a "key" answer. I cant play p2p, the dollar is too expensive for me (I'll explain later).
By the way, I miss the cartoony guy from the first videos of "Free To Play Weekly", it will be great to give him some sort of "funeral". And great show and Saludos desde Argentina! (Greeting from Argentina!)

F2P will never die, but maybe in the future companies will learn from their mistakes and do F2P models right way not like SWTOR. Consoles and PC will fight each other till the end of the world or when the ultimate gaming rig that completely unites them into one will come. And im to lazy to reach level cap in any serious mmo, i tend to jump from one to another that way never reaching the end.

Hey Magicman

Do you think that SWTOR will be more free to play than it is now.

-R0ck3t

well magicman , i been around mmobomb a long time now , and my question is ..... why this year theres not a single f2p good game relased at december ,.... by this time last year i would be playing 2 o 3 games at the time , so far the only good games ive heard of are hawken ,firefall, and wizardy , and theres no open beta relase date yet .

Magicman u make a good point as far as it goes for why u didn't release the "how to mmobomb show"but i have to add something.PEOPLE ARE LAZY MAN(i add caps in purpose)noone will seriously google something they interested in if there is a VIDEO on youtube(or anywhere else)that explains u how to do the thing u tryin to find out.People prefer to listen to someone explainin that thing to them then reading a guide and i will make an example for that.I personally have watched harry potter or the hunger games movies.I personally didn't read the books although i was going too because there are movie aka it was easier/faster/better for me to watch the movies than spend idk how much time in reading all the books.So my point is don't think about if u gotta launch it or not just launch it and see what happens.u meantioned on ur f2p cast episode 40(with Brim)that u never expected people to be so interested in the f2p cast right?then again here we are celebrating 1 year of it :P(i think u got my point lol)

nice cat, at 2:30 under your left arm :D

Max level means you love the game for sure.Even though there are so many choice's out there In the end if you love it you play it retail or f2p. Reviewers are a special case since they play em all we should keep looking to them to avoid the junk. Great episode Magic man!.

i have never had a max lvl mmo character i got that gamer add bad, i mean its not just games i jump around each game i end up have like 5+ characters of different classes and races experimenting with them.

Mounted