The Daily Grind: Are you tempted by Lineage II's 'truly free' model?

That's like asking if I'm tempted to put my hand into a jar filled with razorblades and salt.

I don't believe it's "truly free", most of companies advertise that their cash shops don't have a major impact on gameplay but then sort of push it as far as they can anyway. Although NCsoft having most of it's business in Asia makes me think that they have a pretty good idea of a good/successful microtransaction model and i have been wondering what took them so long to get that to the west.

I will be checking it out. Somehow i feel XP potions will be a necessity, but then maybe that's just a stereotype by now. We'll see.

Sorry no, I have too many games I'm playing now, and just don't have time to add another. That's the true problem with the F2P market: $ stops being the issue, and it comes down to how well they can take your free time.

Ill try just to see what GoD offers. Sadly this is not a game for casual gamers liek me.

I had an old account, so I'll definitely check it out. Don't know if I'll play for long, but it will be nice to be able to check in from time to time without paying for it.

If L2 is "Truly free, but not quite", what would that make games that are actually free? "More free than truly free" maybe.

If NCSoft intends to monetize it then it isn't free, and I wish developers would stop trying to market games like that.

Maybe, if I happen to get bored of FFXI, FFXIV, Rift, and eventually SWTOR.

Not to mention Skyrim, Trine 2, and any other title that happens to catch my attention this holiday season. Or the huge pile of older RPGs I still haven't played.

In other words ... not very likely.

I'll definetly be going to check it out, even it's just for a day or 2.

So many fond memories of L2.

If I get bored and have no other MMO's to play, yeah sure. I enjoyed Lineage 2 for a while, and it'll be interesting to see how it plays now.

It seems to me everyone is in one of two catagories: People who have played L2 and will check it out but aren't "sold". And people who simply don't care for one reason or another.

Yes because I'll be able to play more than an hour before spending money. Most other p2p games that went f2p hinder your experience and content so much that you simply can't go on without spending money. So it's worth a try for playing free from my standing point.

I've never played it before but I'm interested. It's a good game now from what I hear so it's on my long list of "would like to try out but in the end I probably never will" games. As long as its cash shop isn't controlling I think it's worth a shot.

This expectation that free means they will not monetize the game at all is simply stupid. In this context we obviously need to ask the question, what are they meaning by free? What part of all this are they claiming is free. Expecting a company to adhere to your personal definition of things is a bit self-absorbed.

What they are meaning here by "truly free" is that you get access to the whole game for free. They don't restrict you to certain zones, levels, races, or classes based on what you are willing to pay. You can go anywhere and participate in everything. That is not a bad definition of "truly free".

Yes they will sell leveling enhancements If you want to get to a certain point in the game faster then you pay for it. but you still have the option to not pay. As long as they don't sell anything in the cash shop that cannot be gotten by some other means in the game then I think it is a reasonable description. No, you wont be able to get a 2 hr double exp potion outside the cash shop but you do have the option to simply play for 4 hrs rather than just 2.

As for exp potion being mandatory that really just a function of your own expectations. Patience is always an option and it is free. If you just have to get to high level faster, then get a job.

Lineage 2 will not appeal to everyone. It is a slower, more mob grinding leveling experience. But despite the game's age and the older graphics it is definitely a much better game than most free to play games out there that already use this kind of payment model. I think L2 stands to knock free games like perfect world on their ass.

Only if I suddenly lost my job, couldn't play SWTOR or GW2 and didn't have to worry about paying all those pesky bills.

Definitely not a game for someone with other time commitments.

The only way an MMO is truely free to play is have everything available and accessible up front, no cash-shop and an option to support the game strictly through donations. So I wish these developers stop making a spin on the F2P with MT's as truely "free to play" when it's not. It's misleading at best.

...so to anwer the question: No. Not until they grow a pair and really make it truely free to play as I described above.