Poll: MMO's for free...

[starocean13]

First off I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but I've never seen it and I want to ask. So I want to know would you (if you dont already that is) play MMO's like WoW, DC Universe,Star Wars the Old Republic, etc...if you could play them for free? Let me state this is purely hypothetical. I understand that it would be nearly if not completely imposible to actually reales something like WoW and keep it up dated the way they did without any money coming back in.

I realize that there are lots of free MMO's out there already and I've tried them and they just dont really have any polish so I dont bother with them. This question came about cause I tried WoW a couple months back on the 10 day trial, just to see if I would like it. I did surprisingly but in the 10 days I had to play I only got to play a total of about 10 hours. My problem was justifing paying the monthly fee when I could only play a couple hours a week on it. I would imagine Im not the only person that has had this problem, at least to some degree that is. So would you?

 

[baddude1337]

I would. My main turn-off for MMO's is that I have to buy the game, then continue to pay a fee to play it. I know to some this does not really matter, but it just seems silly to me.

 

[bob1052]

In a hypothetical situation it sounds nice, but in reality a completely free MMO (not "free to play" micro transaction based system) of the quality of the ones you mentioned will never happen.

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

Yes I would; one of the main reasons that the only MMO that I like is Guild Wars, is because I don't have to keep paying money, after I've already bought the game.

 

[Zipa]

You spelled waste wrong btw OP.

And MMOs are never going to be free the point of them is to get people to play them for as long as possible so they keep paying your company money.

 

[Nooners]

This is exactly the reason why I play DDO and not WoW or City of Heroes or something. I don't play enough to justify $15 a month, but it's nice to have an MMO to play.

 

[psivamp]

I play Vindictus. It's already free-to-play.

I guess I might play a subscription MMO if they weren't subscription based, but I'm not convinced that any MMO's really worth $15/month.

 

[Calcium]

Only having access to a netbook means only having access to games of Runescape's stadard, which are all and well for when the feeling takes me, but it can't really be lumped with the titles you mentioned (despite it's claim to fame for having the most users of any MMO).

This question came about cause I tried WoW a couple months back on the 10 day trial, just to see if I would like it. I did surprisingly but in the 10 days I had to play I only got to play a total of about 10 hours.

That makes me think a "Pay-as-You-Go" option would be good in addition to the "Contract" option for play as long as you like for X time. Not that WoW needs it, just a little thought I had.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

If I already had a group of awesome people waiting for me then most definitely. But I tried WoW and was on my own most of the time, not so much fun when the plot is shallow to the point of being flat

 

[Radeonx]

I would. My main turn-off for MMO's is that I have to buy the game, then continue to pay a fee to play it. I know to some this does not really matter, but it just seems silly to me.

Honestly this method makes sense.
Let's take WoW for example: You pay for the game, but what happens when you play? There are patches.
The developers continue to work on the game to this day-years after the first part was released. They continue to upgrade and enhance the game experience, and they deserve to get payed for their work.

OT: Yes, but only if they were as good as regular MMO's. Most free to play MMO's are pretty shitty, or they restrict the game so much that you get an hour of play time before needing to fork over some money.

 

[icyneesan]

I enjoy free to play MMOs as long as they aren't like world of warcraft. Something different, ya'know.

 

[blankedboy]

I enjoy free to play MMOs as long as they aren't like world of warcraft. Something different, ya'know.

There are MMOs that aren't WoW clones? oO
I'm having a hard time finding them.

 

[icyneesan]

I enjoy free to play MMOs as long as they aren't like world of warcraft. Something different, ya'know.

There are MMOs that aren't WoW clones? oO
I'm having a hard time finding them.

Dynasty warriors online, Savage 2, Vindictus, League of legends. Those are just the 4 on my desktop right now but there are quite a few more.

 

[mikev7.0]

I'm one of the "I'd rather pay for my fun" responses. Here's why. I was a City of Heroes subscriber for two years and yes I think it was worth everything I paid and soon I will have to decide to go back or to give Bioware's new opus a shot. I'm leaning towards Bioware but it depends on what they do with the support part of the game.

The reason I would rather play (and am tempted to return) was the atmosphere. City of Heroes had a definitely family based community and everyone was very friendly and helpful. The exact opposite of what I experienced during my WoW trial. If it were free I think we would have had a lot more "grief" players (since it would cost them nothing) and would have hurt the great community. No more costume contests just a lot of "Lolz UR Gaaaaay" in free chat. Also I admit that there is an expense to running the servers and keeping the game online and I like to encourage the perks and updates that keep coming with paid games and if such content does show up on a "free to play" MMO it's usually when they start charging (such as with Guild Wars.) I figure I'm going to "pay" one way or another and I would rather not have the cost be the quality of the community or content with the quality of the community taking precedence.

 

[gmergurl]

I play mostly Perfect World Entertainment MMO's (PWI, Heroes of Three Kingdoms, and Forsaken World is going to be coming out.... at some point) which are all Free to Play with cash shops. While the hud is basically a complete steal from WoW I still find them pretty fun. PWI is old enough that it's balanced between end game and new player content, they're even having an expansion coming out soon. The only problem I have with free MMO's is a lot of the "development" is for the cash shop. Which on the business end it makes since, as a player, it makes the game somewhat boring if nothing ever changes. Forsaken World seemed to fix that problem (I was able to get into CB) but it wasn't running well on my computer due to the huge amount of people playing (lag).

I actually have bought membership for Runescape in the past, but I'm one of those people who aren't afraid to admit that I actually really like Runescape. (Or should I say liked because of the whole wildy.....). However, on a college student's budget (and schedule) I agree that there are times when it just doesn't seem worth it. To be honest, it's been over a year since I purchased membership, and I have yet to find a reason to buy anything from the cash shop (probably fashion/mounts if anything but PWI doesn't seem to be getting the picture).

On that note... I played Allods Online before Gipat..... If you know what I'm talking about, I am sorry. If not, basically after the Gipat expansion many people left (I think) because you pretty much had to pay every time you died (unless you got really lucky). This wasn't a whole lot, like $.25 in American dollar, but still, I don't want to pay every time I die, especially since I like rolling mage classes, and refuse to group with people.... (anti-social).

So pay to play MMO's have their advantage (at least you know what your getting), but free-to-play need a little more TLC before you can fall in love and then they still might try to screw you over (I'm looking at you Allods....)

 

[Hiphophippo]

A few very solid mmos have recently gone f2p. I'd be playing them now were I not enjoying Cataclysm.

 

[Brawndo]

I'll direct you to Yahtzee's video on WoW for my criticisms of the whole genre of MMORPGs. Grinding = do not want. Making it free is not going to entice me

 

[Space Spoons]

I recently began playing Champions Online. It went free-to-play a couple of weeks ago, and has a character creation system second to none, so I figured I'd give it a go. Two weeks later, I'm an actual subscriber and loving every second of it. Playing in F2P mode gives you a limited view of the game's potential (having to use limited, albeit very well balanced, power sets instead of being able to build your own freeform power set, for example). It's a great game, and entirely playable in its free incarnation, but it does an excellent job of enticing you to subscribe.

I think this is a great way to run a F2P MMO. Let the free players have access to mostly everything- but leave the really cool stuff for subscribers. For example, in Champions, F2P players can have Flight, Teleportation, Acrobatics, Super Speed or Super Jump as their travel power. Subscribers have those, plus Jet Boots, Earth Flight, Rocket Jump, Fire Flight, Ice Sliding, Swinging, Hover Disk and Tunneling.