Which MMO system do you prefer?

[Colonello]

Today I had a discussion with a few friends over which system works best for MMOs. Pay to play, play for free but have the option to purchase items, cosmetics, gear, etc or lastly free to play with ONLY optional purchasable cosmetics. Personally I always prefer pay to play or free with cosmetics rather than  a game sells items that give players an advantage. Which system do you prefer?

[Miharukun]

8 minutes ago, Colonello said:

Personally I always prefer pay to play or free with cosmetics rather than  a game sells items that give players an advantage. Which system do you prefer?

I agreed with you, but i think it's okay to sells like Double Exp potion that players always buys. Because Dev need $ to keep the server running xD

[Kibbelz]

The problem is without any sort of branding people will never of heard of you. We all know what the latest blizzard game is. People will be prepared to buy it since its from blizzard and have invested in advertising said game. By going free to play more people are prepared to try it, since its free or they will download the other many free games out there. Purchasable cosmetics are the way to go since it gives advantages to players who "pay to win", which as we all know isn't healthy.

[Beefy Kasplant]

I actually like what Runescape did. Sort of a demo for people who don't want to pay, they have their own servers so they don't feel like they HAVE to spend money to compete.

But if you want way more content, more end game stuff, better stuff etc. etc. you pay.

 

It removes the option for pay2win, you can compete with other f2p players but if you enjoy the game and want more, you can decide to pay. 

[lurv]

Pay to play usually results in the best experience as developers get a lot of money to put into the game.

Free-to-play with purchasable cosmetics doesn't really hold up for a real publisher and game dev studio resulting in less content and updates

[Henry]

I think this is the age old problem of an MMO.

I have alot to say and this gonna be long winded....
Also. I'm not a lawyer

>>The MMO experience increases in fun the more players that are concurrently playing.

>>Companies are thus incentivized to get players to play. Maplestory was the first to implement the idea of a free to play game with microtransactions. This would increase thier player numbers by lowering the barriers to entry, at the cost of deluding the competitive gameplay due to microtransactions.

>>So it comes down to the question "Is the diluting of the competitive gameplay with a micro transactions system worth the infusion of players that a free to play game brings." In most large scale companies based MMOs this answer has typically been yes. As facillitating the larger player base means catching whales as well. (A whale is someone who typically spends a large amount on microtransactions.) Catching the whales has historically been more profitable.

>>However markets change, and as exampled by FF14, the mmo community got strained by microtransactions and now they are a Public Relations/Marketing plague. Players understand how they devalue other players time spent in game and cheapen players efforts to feel accomplished by completing in game tasks, ultimately undermining the whole idea of the virtual world itself. This wasnt much of the case back during Maplestory times, people didn't understand micro-transactions well enough to pe put off by them.

>>That brings by to the state of MMOs today. As you know the era of the AAA mmo is done. We lived through the golden era of the MMO. Every AAA studio saw the revenue that World of Warcraft had brought in and tried to get a slice. It was a huge learning time for these companies as many approached making MMOs the same way they did other games, when MMOs are more than just a game they are a virtual community that requires faith in the integity of the system, much like an IRL currency requires faith in it's system to have value. Triple AAA companies would pour millions into thier MMO be it Blizzard's Titan, Conan, Warhammer Online, Grandia Online, Wildstar, or any of the other dozens of bygone AAA mmos that didnt make it. Many companies went out of business because they put all thier cards into making an MMO. They had to make that money back somehow, so you see alot of companies literally abandoned everything but pay 2 win models to appeal to the whales only and try not to fall completely into bankruptcy.

>> A few wises companies have weathered the storm FF14 undertook a major transformation and came out as probably the healthiest mmo we currently have on the market:
 

Quote

At the 2011 Tokyo Game Show, Wada issued an official apology for the quality of the game, saying that "the Final Fantasy brand [had] been greatly damaged".[77] The company and development team eventually decided to scrap the current version of XIV, rebuilding it from the ground up.[22] This rebooted version, initially titled Final Fantasy XIV 2.0, began development in April 2011.[78] The rebooted version was released in 2013 as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, and has been positively received by critics and players. Yoshida, commenting in a later interview, stated that A Realm Reborn was just the first part of regaining player trust after the release of XIV, predicting that the process would take a long time.[22]

 

>>So at the point in time AAA studios realize that free to play MMOs do not work anymore.


>> Which brings us to the point at hand. Players obviously like free things, but they dont want the intgirty of the virtual world tainted by pay 2 win. Where does that leave a small indie MMO?

>>Well the first thing a small MMO has going for it is low development costs. No need to remake millions of dollars or go bankrupt.
The next thing is that increasing the playerbase is crucial for a small mmo. Each player is exponentially more valuable in a smaller scale MMO.
So the question of free to play with micotransactions or subscription based gets heavily weighted in the side of free to play for a small scale mmo.

For a small scale MMO I would suggest something like free to play until end game with a one time purchase to buy the end game for like 10-20. Plus cosmetic micortransactions to get help from whales. This allows everyone to play but the game still to have some financial support

Debatable concept

 

[Refur]

Well, many people say that pay2w isn't the better way for implement in a MMO, but only for the competitive side, obviously, It's not fair and the player experience will not be the best in that point, I'm agreed. But If we focus on earning as a MMO developers, maybe this system will be one of he best (I feel like Trump now xd).
Long time ago I played Dragon Nest Online, one of the best pay2win game (you really needed to invest money) and the community was big and they spend a lot of cash. They had no problem doing so, in fact they waited anxiously for new paid objects to come out. The cash objects were skins clothes that gave attribute points to the character (and a good looking). That allowed advantage in dungeons maps, but in PVP the game allowed adjust the players attributes equally for each one, so the experience was good and you only needed to be a good player.

I personally prefer pay to play games, but for that you really need an amazing work to generate the people the desire to play. I think purchasable cosmetic, gear, etc are better for small developer (if you want to earn money).

Sorry for bad english.

Regards