The Daily Grind: Would you be as excited for Guild Wars 2 if it were a subscription game?

@(Unverified)

As opposed to those "nondeceptive" and "moral practices" of F2P games, that have a 15.99$ a month premium, with a cash shop.

It's the viewpoint that subscription games are trying to grab all your money, rape your family, burn your house, and run that is causing the MMO industry to quickly go down the toilet.

@(Unverified) 1&2
You both have a point. One thing ArenaNet keeps talking about is that they feel like they have to work harder to justify their pay than they would with a sub-based model. When they release content, they know that people can just choose not to buy it, so they've said that they think it keeps them from getting lazy. There's something to be said for that, because while subscription-based games offer everything in one package, you're also not guaranteed much of anything at all. Would WoW have greater customization options, player housing, and more things to do other than raid and run instances if the game were free and people could choose to pay for that stuff a la carte?

On the other hand, if every F2P game handled microtransactions/paid content releases responsibly, they probably wouldn't have a reputation for being low-quality cash grabs (a stigma that they are, in fairness, beginning to shake).

@(Unverified) One of the main reasons I quit Warcraft was that I there was no way with the amount of cash Blizzard was taking in they were adequately reinvesting a portion of that back into content generation. If a game is sub based they darn well need an aggressive update plan.

@Lucidus

WoW was always a high margin product and that's not what I have a problem with. I liked the accessibility, but hated the time sinks. What I want in a MMO is a great story and engaging/challenging gameplay. I also still want the challenge without the need to be on the bleeding edge of the game.

Nerfing content to make it accessible is depressing and doesn't benefit anyone ... whether it's me, who enjoys the challenge 3-6 months later (2 night a week raider) or the people that can't handle the challenge. They can't get better if content is nerfed by up to 40% over 6 months either.

I'm intrigued by GW2, but I also like a subscription model. It helps me know what my costs are and also helps the developer create budgets based on the revenue they're receiving. I also feel like F2P is a shadier move because the model basically prays on the weakest minded players ... it gouges less players for more money and potentially abuses someone's addiction in the same way cigarettes, alcohol, etc do.

@(Unverified)

No, I wouldn't. I'm sorry, but I'm done paying a bigshot MMO for the right to play my characters. I bought the game, I own it, I should play it. Besides, the dev team put it best: They're making a game that should be able to attract and hold players based on creating a good game and content that's actually worth it.

Let's put it this way: WoW has/is getting premium services that lets you form parties with friends across other servers. This is a service you'll be paying for (lolKotick). Guild Wars will be offering what appears to be vanity items, and the same exact unlocks and whatnot that the current GW offers. More character slots? Yes please.

They actually have to work, in this case, to get their money: They aren't just charging you for access. This reveals the backwards nature of subs. You're paying them no matter what they do, and lets face it: You have to pay them for every expansion as well. They just sit back and the money rolls in. ArenaNet instead says "We're going to work for our money, we're going to make a great game, and strive for balance. Y'know, like we did in Guild Wars".

Who knew that you could buy a game and actually own it? Most companies seem to think they're justified making you RENT their games at full price...

@ShivanSwordsman You don't own your characters. You don't own anything more than the installation of the game when it comes to online games.. You are doing nothing more than buying game time. They could wipe your account for any reason they see fit and not have to give a reason. You should really read the ToS when it comes to online games.

@Alex Oglitchkin I think that we know the ToS denies us ownership of our characters.

The ToS is the problem.

I own my character. I will act as if this character is my property. If any game company goes out of its way to enforce it's IP bull on my playtime, I'll go elsewhere.

Player investment begins with player ownership. When game designers realize that they are service providers and NOT producers, we'll all be better off.

@PacketBurner

Actually mate F2P games are making loads of dosh, if done well you can make more than a restrictive subscription model. Acquiring and retaining players is a huge business achievement. You can make $ if you have a fair pay or play game mechanics so people can participate in activities, in their own time, they enjoy.

anyways back to it...

@elliotrock

Where you play it as you want? I want to play a game that a monthly fee unlocks everything, and doesn't include a cash shop where purchasing 3 items to "play as I want" costs 300% of the subscription fee.

@(Unverified)
"and doesn't include a cash shop where purchasing 3 items to "play as I want" costs 300% of the subscription fee."
It's a good thing that there are next to no decent F2P games that actually do that anymore, unless you're living in some kind of crazy, hellish fantasy world.
Or just trolling, either way.

@(Unverified)

I'm never going to end game raid in wow for the sole fact that i don't have the spare time nor the willingness to comply with the obligations that a raid heavy guild requires.

Used to do it probably never will again.

Yet with wow that 15 dollars a month goes solely to either creating new raids and then rebalancing the classes based on the new stuff

A Subscription fee should apply to more elements than pandering to the end game raiders.

Lotro is a good example its something i play extremely casually as something different from my normal fare.

Buying a quest pack or 2 once a month is still cheaper than the subscription fee that would be maintained all the time regardless.

@alinos
Exactly why I don't care about WoW and am very excited for GW2. A non-subscription themepark MMO isn't forced into the pitfall of a subscription one, namely gear resetting and pushing out newer and newer raids, pandering to a specific player base. Not to say that casual leveling in WoW isn't fun, however in GW you can be casual and go about doing quests using your main, without outleveling all but the most recent content. In WoW, you either have to only stay in the latest expansion zones, make a new character to experience other zones, or be content with being grossly overpowered, as you try to experience Burning Crusade content on your maxed out main.

In a subscription themepark, you experience the latest content, made to hold you in the game for a few more months, and then be forgotten and never touched again, by neither players nor devs, as a new "tier" arrives. In a f2p themepark, you either grind your way to the unreachable max level, or, in the case of GW, you reach maximum power quickly, and then continue experiencing the world of the game, with updates being made to increase said world and become a permanent part of it.