Free to Play Cast: Hack It Until It Bleeds! (EP. 112)

Congrats on the weight loss Magicman. How important is a good Party finder app to a game. This is my favorite feature in my current game Aura Kingdom. A friend of mine decided to ty the game because of this feature. I am a casual player with a catch as catch can play schedual. 95% of my playing time has been solo, but now I have had sessions in which over 75% of the playing time has been in group play,

Da bomb to dat 'stache.

I'm don't think there's any place left on the market for new big P2P "games for everyone". It is simply impossible to first make the game both big and good enough to attract the masses and then keep adding new content fast enough to keep them paying for subscription. From what I've seen over the past years, P2P games can survive by either:
a) having niche gameplay which attracts and cultivates super loyal playerbase;
b) going free to play or buy to play some time after launch;
c) being World of Warcraft.
-
WildStar is not a niche game, nor does it have a loyal playerbase apparently. It's also not WoW, so it's F2P/B2P or death for them. Whether or not it should go F2P within the next 3 months, I'm not entirely sure. What I know is that the less players they're going to have, the worse things will get. After a certain point the game would become not just unprofitable, but also unplayable. If they reach that point, even going F2P won't do them much good.
-
Bottom line: if they won't be able to increase the number of active players per server, then they should go F2P/B2P.
-
-
My DA-Bomb goes to Magicman for coming back to MMOBomb. I'm grateful to those who kept this place alive, but everything just wasn't the same without him. Damn, that "Helloo, internet!" brings back memories...
P.S. A-Bomb to the mustache though :D

I'm don't there's any place left on the market for new big P2P games for everyone. It is simply impossible to first make the game both big and good enough to attract the masses and then keep adding new content fast enough to keep them paying for subscription. From what I've seen over the past years, P2P games can survive by either:
a) having niche gameplay which attracts and cultivates super loyal playerbase;
b) going free to play or buy to play some time after launch;
c) being World of Warcraft.
-
WildStar is not a niche game, nor does it have a loyal playerbase apparently. It's also not WoW, so it's F2P/B2P or death for them. Whether or not it should go F2P within the next 3 months, I'm not entirely sure. What I know is that the less players they're going to have, the worse things will get. After a certain point the game would become not just unprofitable, but also unplayable. If they reach that point, even going F2P won't do them much good.
-
Bottom line: if they won't be able to increase the number of active players per server, then they should go F2P/B2P.
-
-
My DA-Bomb goes to Magicman for coming back to MMOBomb. I'm grateful to those who kept this place alive, but everything just wasn't the same without him. Damn, that "Hellloo, internet!" brings back memories...
P.S. A-Bomb to the mustache though ಠ_ಠ :D

I love Hackage!

I've seen exploits, hacks, racism and even porn right on the forums! Trion Sucks. This game was in need of a better publisher and they have been nothing but sheer FAIL.

Their security sucks. It's EASY to create a new account and spam. This is what other players do. Trion did absolutely nothing allowing the servers to back up the end-up when the game was first released. Their 'patches' to fix the botting DO NOT WORK and instead have been proven to BAN players instead. People whine constantly on the forums for illegitimate stuff and the lazy ones pretend there's no land when they don't even look for it.

People started botting after live-release when the servers were in queue for literally weeks. Hardly any reinforcement, scripted GM-Help, Trion Worlds is a mess. They shouldn't be in the business of gaming with customer-service THIS bad. ArcheAge got screwed up because of them. If they would have kepts under control and ignore the peasant-whining about I DON'T HAVE LAND bsers wanting to change everything about the game, then ArcheAge would have been better.

I'm not sure there's any place left on the market for new big P2P games for everyone. It is simply impossible to first make the game both big and good enough to attract the masses and then keep adding new content fast enough to keep them paying. From what I've seen over the past years, P2P games can survive by either:
a) having a niche gameplay which attracts and cultivates a super loyal playerbase;
b) going free to play or buy to play some time after launch;
c) being World of Warcraft.
---
WildStar is not a niche game, nor does it have a loyal playerbase apparently. It's also not WoW, so it's F2P/B2P or death for them. Whether or not it should go F2P within the next 3 months, I'm not entirely sure. What I do know is that the less players they're going to have, the worse things will get. After a certain point the game would become not just unprofitable, but also unplayable. If they reach that point, even going F2P won't do them much good.
---
Bottom line: if they won't manage to increase the number of active players per server, then they should go F2P/B2P.
---
---
My DA-Bomb goes to Magicman for coming back to MMOBomb. I'm grateful to those who tried to keep this place alive, but it just wasn't the same.
P.S. A-Bomb to the mustache though ._. :D

1. wildstar is a garbage game. only a moron would pay every month to play a game.

2. developers and publishers complain all the time about torrents and stuff but they are all quiet when it comes to hacks. why dont they do something about that. or maybe they are selling those hacks them self for some extra profit.

3. Early Access is a scam. They should pay us to play their unfinished products and not the other way around.

Before saying wildstar gonna be free to play or wildstar should be free to play at the start read some forums , dev interviews, wildstar forums cause the devs already told us wildstar wont be free so for those who say "wildstar should be free to play" or "wildstar sucks" first play the game hit max level start dungeons/raids/rep/pvp/path leveling/world story then give your opinion about the game also the game is just practically F2P you just need to spend $60 for the deluxe and just buy CREED with in-game cash creed cost around 10plats you make that gold in 1 week if you are lazy or casual via mining/thickle/relic circles, i bought at launch and i already paid 13 MONTHS OF GAME PLAY WITH ONLY IN GAME GOLD.

Loved the show guys! Its always good to hear some mmo news delivered in a professional, fun and relaxed format!

In terms of Wildstar it had so much promise in the first few months, but there were just too many things that made it difficult for players to access content. Saying things are hardcore is one thing, but take the attunement for example, I dont think its hardcore just boring! Also obtaining end game gear, both PvE and PvP, was very tedious and didn't really seem to make much sense. I think Wildstar will go F2P in the next 6 months but I think they need to change some of its core functionality to address some of these issues.

Please stop referring to this game as a "Sandbox". This game has little in the was of Sandbox elements. You are put into a "Virtual Projects" for your farming and housing... you select preset housing and have little control over how you set up your farm and housing. You have limited control over the economy and the justice system is a joke. This game is NOT a Sandbox. More acceptable tag would be "Theme Park Hybrid".

GLAD TO SEE YOU BACK MAGICMAN!

well new format is great but that mustache though,abit weird since this my first time see magicman with mustache

I think Wildstar should have went Free 2 Play at the start, I believe they would have done better there as opposed to their subscription model where they tried imitating Eve Online's PLEX system. As to if they should go Free 2 Play in three months, I am inclined to say yes as it is in my opinion their only saving grace right now.

Or of course they can be a bunch of assholes and do the let's make it Free 2 Play and then shut it down within a few months to a year... like I don't know... CITY OF HEROES!?

Welcome back you two! I would wish that I can join you guys in a Podcast, that would be an experience for me.

MAGICMAN!!!! please bring back sejiro, selfius and dameana.