Rift: Goes F2P June 12

[Gokulo]

You can read everything here:

http://www.riftgame.com/en/promo/freetoplay.php

[Katlan]

I'm really curious what numbers a MMO has to hit for them to consider F2P. I mean does the MMO reach unprofitable numbers or is it just that the company feels they can make more money from a cash shop? When you look at a game like XI, it honestly can't have super huge numbers (but it's still profitable), and it prolly has lower numbers then Rift, Aion (pre-F2P), ect...

[Scythiroth]

Jeez, another game going F2P. Are FF11 and WoW the only games left with a forced monthly fee now? And I guess FF14 when it comes out again. Really seems like P2P is ending here soon.

[Gokulo]

I was actually surprised to hear that. Anyway just got a free Storm Legion + 30 days playtime using Raptr promotion so I was enjoying getting to 60 slowly between XI's grinds lol.

[Hyan]

F2P means investors getting bigger returns sooner rather than later.

I don't think it's about whether P2P is profitable or not, but which model is more profitable in a shorter timeframe.

[vrumpt]

F2P means investors getting bigger returns sooner rather than later.

I don't think it's about whether P2P is profitable or not, but which model is more profitable in a shorter timeframe.

This is how I see it. Yes F2P can and has saved dying MMOs, but that's just because its a more profitable and more attractive model than P2P. The earlier you recognize that the sooner your MMO starts making more money.

[solracht]

At least Rift had a good run, which is more than what most (if not all) of the post-WoW P2P titles can say.

Best of luck to their devs with this change. From outside (never played Rift past the beta but I've loosely kept up with their patches and news) they have always seemed pretty dedicated.

[Lucavi]

Well, ima play this again, then. I loved some of the mage classes in the game, and was happy to support them during my time there. Props to them for attempting to bring the fight RIGHT to Blizzard, and for introducing some pretty cool mechanics in some of their classes, as well as the entire class synergy system.

[Hyan]

This is how I see it. Yes F2P can and has saved dying MMOs, but that's just because its a more profitable and more attractive model than P2P. The earlier you recognize that the sooner your MMO starts making more money.

I don't think it's more profitable in the long-term though. The faith in an MMO having a long lifespan seems to have died off I guess.

[Siya]

To anyone who claimed the Raptr reward, did you use the code on your old Rift account (actually bought the game/played) and received 30 days of gametime? Just applied my code and got the expansion but no game time. Cause what Rapt says on their website makes no sense "Existing RIFT gamers will receive the expansion for free, plus 30 days of game time (for new accounts)."

[Gokulo]

To anyone who claimed the Raptr reward, did you use the code on your old Rift account (actually bought the game/played) and received 30 days of gametime? Just applied my code and got the expansion but no game time. Cause what Rapt says on their website makes no sense "Existing RIFT gamers will receive the expansion for free, plus 30 days of game time (for new accounts)."

Yeah, added to existing account, got 30 days.

[Siya]

What the shiz yo I wanted to play til it went free

[arus2001]

Predictable QQ on the official boards. I guess this is what it's like being someone who did online gaming in the 90s where things were free (aside from your net) and being happy things seem to be going full circle. Sure, you've still got hold-outs like XI, WoW, and XIV, but I'd say people are deluding themselves if they believe it translates to both a better product and filtering out unwanted community elements. If anything, monthly subs just seem to breed suckers these days with that faint promise they'll get new content at a good pace.

As someone who got the year Rift sub with SL launch (leaving me about 6 months paid still), I could somewhat see this coming based on the pacing of recent events. Some would say it began with Hartsman leaving and even having an interview mentioning how F2P seems to be the next big thing for MMOs. Rift's actual updates haven't been terribly meaty since SL, and while raiders got a bone here and there, everyone else has pretty much been fucked. It's also why my play time since January has been very minimal since I simply can't commit to daily 3+ hour blocks at a specific time. To wit, there's a vocal element of players who thinks everyone else can do the same, and they'd be outright wrong. This lacking content has translated to a casual disinterest from many others with a side of stilted progression favoring the raiders too well. Whether the raiders like it or not, the F2P element is a good way to lure back the alienated since there's otherwise no current restriction to what a returning player could do. They still obviously won't be able to raid as often, but hopefully this is also where Trion learns their lesson in giving people options to stay competitive. Of course, this'll likely get branded as P2W.

Good thing, I guess, as this just gives me another game to rotate around as I get bored with things.

[Prothescar]

I've been waiting for this for a while. Only reason I haven't played RIFT in a while is because I didn't want to pay a third sub fee every month on top of my other games, so now I have nothing holding me back.

[Shiyo]

You can read everything here:

http://www.riftgame.com/en/promo/freetoplay.php

Wow I actually didn't understand how the game had a monthly sub for so long when MMO's much better release content faster, have better gameplay, actually have classes(rift doesn't have classes) and are free to play exist.

Did they ever give abilities/spells animations that aren't worse than FF14 1.0 or atari graphics?

Sure, you've still got hold-outs like XI, WoW, and XIV,

Wow literally can not release a single content update for 10 months 10m people will stayed sub to it. Blows my mind, don't understand the people who play WOW at all. FF14 is banking 100% on psychopaths(look at some of the achievements that take like..3 years to finish LOL), so they'll have their loyal followers of people who play the same game 24/7 since the day it releases to 10 years after it's been out(like most ff11 psychopaths still playing 24/7 everyday always logged in the game never turning it off, playing such a bad, outdated, HORRIBLE game lying to themselves that it's not bad and fun and they "play for friends"). No other game will be able to pull off a sub anymore tbh, FF14 is a rare exception because of psychopath fanbase(not the normal fanbase, hell people defended and played ff14 1.0 everyday 24/7 and have played FF14 everyday its been up and every beta..those kinda psychos) that will play the game no matter what happens or how much they charge and how badly they handle the game. Making FF14's story a continuation of FF11's WOTG is also a surefire way to steal all the FF11 psycho(not the normal ff11 players, but a lot of those will still play) players straight to FF14, or have them play/pay for both games at the same time. Not saying FF14 is a bad game, looks fun actually, but that's what they're banking on to keep the monthly sub around imo.

[Jakson]

I'll probably reinstall this if the rep boosters aren't priced retarded.

[AidenCarby]

Difference is, SE will tell you they're full of shit, and will hand you shit as promised. Other games promise excellence, and hand you shit anyways.

[Lonely]

They held out very long for a well polished WoW clone, I feel bad for the die hards who have supported this game for several month. Anyways yup looks like pay to play games are dead except for the very few that are well established like EVE, WoW, and FFXI, Wildstar is going to be dead on release. I can see FFXI dropping the sub fee in the future and going B2P but not anytime soon because of FFXIV being on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how FFXIV is handled and if they do have F2P like mechanics at launch already implemented to fall back on later if it fails.

[Shiyo]

There's no real reason NOT to go free to play. The company makes more money, more people play your game(MMO's need an active community to survive), and players don't need to pay money. It's a win/win situation for everyone involved. Personally I prefer buy to play/GW2 model to purely free to play, I get to pay $60 for pretty much all access to the game, instead of f2p where I get 95% of the time, but still need to pay for some things. Buy to play ends up costing me less to play in the long run.

[LidenbokValour]

I was following this game through betas and played on release and really enjoyed the leveling process, I was max level and raiding within the month of it's release but back then end-content wasn't tuned very well and well my love/hate relationship with FFXI eventually peeled me off. I've been keeping a close eye on it's progress over the years and came back at one point but the only end game was raiding back then which I wasn't prepared to commit to at the time. I'm impressed it's lasted so long but I was wondering when it was going to happen lol.

If an MMO's thread is dead on BG you know something aint right ahaha. I'm definitely going to be joining back for the F2P launch! I've always loved this title but never felt it was worth paying for if you are a casual gamer or atleast not raiding.