Free to Play Cast: Game Updates and Pauses, Atlas Reactor F2P...AGAIN Ep 207

QOTW:

I didn't really care for any of Trion's other titles, they got my attention with Atlas Reactor, even-though I bought a Founders Pack and enjoy the game I considered abandoning the game, not because of the changes, but because the changes seemed dishonest/poorly thought of, and figured all the uncertainty would eventually end up killing the game, I actually didn't think the game would make it to 2017.

What i would like to see from them is honesty and more thoughtfulness, it's hard to defend a game, even a good game, when the developers themselves doesn't seem to care about their reputation. I would hate to see Atlas Reactor go away because of greed or incompetence, hopefully they'll think before making any more stupid decisions that might end up completely pushing people away.

F2P my arse, you still have to buy freelancers or grind to death

For the question of the week; You guys knew I'd have to chime in on this one. First off, I think that it is unfair to lump Trion entirely under one judgement. I think it is far more fair to look at each team individually. While I am aware that the company as a whole has its hands in all of it, the individual teams have the most impact. A brief word on Atlas Reactor: the game really seemed like something right up my alley. I followed it closely and watched the first look, but the waffling is what kept me away. I do believe, however, that it was a lack of direction rather than a money grab, or at least I would like to think so. I have played most of their games, and haven't had any personal issues with them for the most part, but there is only one I feel I can comment on truthfully.
--
That, of course, is RIFT. You all know I haven't agreed with, or understood, all of their decisions. But I have played -many- MMOs since my fledgling days on Everquest, and that coupled with my many years of customer service experience, I think, gives me a certain perspective.
Why do I continue to support RIFT both by playing it and monetarily? Well, have you ever watched a livestream or announcement with a Ben Stein-esque host? I have. It's terrible. You wonder why they even bothered to film the thing. They're clearly not excited so why should you be? This isn't the case with RIFT's team. You can always tell that they're truly excited about what they're bringing you and that more than that, they believe in it. Secondly, through forums and other venues, they have far more communication with their community than a majority of the games I've played. They also have transparency about their updates and changes. They nearly always have patch notes accompanying any update (no ninja patching), which go into detail and have included admitting fixes for some hilariously embarrassing bugs (not being able to heal the other faction for example). Again this is not the case for several of the games I've played. And finally, customer service. Now, given my profession, this is the biggest one for me. They do take longer to answer a ticket than most games I've played... but that's the key. The ticket gets answered, and resolved. They have never failed to do so. They have never told me they simply cannot help. I have never received a dismissive automated response, or a response that clearly shows they never fully read my ticket in the first place. So for all these reasons, and simply having a quality game, I continue to support RIFT. In fact, I can only name one other team that I have had the same respect for. Unfortunately, that game no longer exsists.
--
What I would have them improve? Motivation to do dungeons at lower levels. They removed the random loot bag, and since Instant Adventures are a more efficient (and vastly more boring) way to level, the que times are huge for almost any role. It's the way I prefer to level, and I feel that all options to level should be equally viable.

hi this situation of free for 6 months then buy for 6 months then free again, is there no way of saying to game company,s what ever you chose free or buy it stay that way for at least 3 years then you can change it.Also with a certain company merging there console game with there 10 is it possible that free to play games wont be able to be played on computers unless the gaming company,s pay a license. p s like the dog

I'm completely with Zach on Trion.

Atlas Reactor went free to play because of this: http://steamcharts.com/app/402570#6m

It's clearly a dying game, just like Devilian (which is in an even worse state). They milked it with founder packs as they always do, milked what they could with buy to play, and threw in free to play as a last resort to squeeze out whatever's left in it.

I won't touch any game from them as they will lie to and screw over customers at every opportunity if it means a tiny profit, and they have pounced on to just about every one of the most exploitative aspects of the free to play market. On top of that, they're completely incompetent as a publisher as the completely avoidable disasters we hear about every week demonstrate.

QotW: Trion Worlds have never lost my attention. They seem to be the laughing stock of the free to play industry at the moment, which sucks because their games are good for the most part. I would love to see Trion put more work into Defiance. That game has a lot of potential. It's a shame it was abandoned, so to speak, after the show was canceled. I don't know how big the team is working on that game, but I would like to see them bring it to current gen consoles.
QotW for you guys. If you had to pick a combat system from you favorite single player game and incorporate it in a mmo you play, what would it be? For me I would love to have Mass Effect's combat in SWTOR.

I for one would like to see Trion not making cheesy milking moves on players every time one looks around. I'd like them to take a steady upfront monetization path for their games, because you know, one can never know if a labor replenishing bathtub will cost $100 in a random MMO or if certain B2Ps will go F2Ps after people made seemingly pointless purchases or even if after 4 years in free-to-play they suddenly start charging for expansions with no options for in-game purchases it's kinda sad and makes people not want to play the games.
No bombs this week for me and instead a bored Meh Bomb to free gaming in general, I'm playing Witcher 3 again this is how uneventful this week has been for me!