robertdoolittle

I'm sure the half-orcs will be F2P, but the Half-Elves will probably be VIP and purchase only. But you know, it would be nice if they added a race that was Premium & VIP, without a purchase option for F2P, but that's just me. :)

I would really like to know what Jef considers to be an Average Sub-based MMO, if he thinks RoM is not at least on-par, let alone better, than the Average Sub-based. And right now the baseline for F2P MMO's is the Turbine model. EXCELLENT quality, depth of content, and plenty of options, and that's just the Free portion. If you want you can actually get all the way to the top levels without ever spending a penny on the game, but you have the option of spending money to accelerate that process if you really want to.

You also have the ability to pay a subscription in DDO, and similar models, that give you the equivelant of a Sub-based MMO's offerings, while also allowing you to purchase additional odds and ends with the free Store-cash provided each month.

Greg, the money made by the company SHOULD be a factor for you. Yes, the FUN factor is the MOST important factor, but if the company doesn't make a decent profit their investment in the game will falter over time and the game will come crashing down.

Well, actually my opinion is based on my actual experience in DDO, and also comparing it to my experiences in WoW, SWG and EVE, as well as Runes of Magic.

You need to look into how Turbine handles the Free2Play, Premium and VIP members, and what their store offers before you can comment otherwise.

WoW!

I've never seen a more misinformed, and misinforming article on Massively than this.

Using Turbine as your primary example was a bad idea, as they have the best possible model out there for any game. You fail to see what F2P actually offers people. It offers your normal Subscription gamer the ability to pay their regular under-$15 per month subscription price and get ALL of the game CONTENT as part of that subscription, PLUS they credits to purchase other non-content related perks, which Subscription games don't even offer. And nickel-and-diming? Seriously, after paying my $14.99 per month subscription fee I'm getting ALL the expansions for no additional cost. Oh, and I got the game itself for no additional cost. Yeah, so I saved between $20 and $60 dollars on the initial game, and then another $40 to $60 dollars on each of the couple of expansions. All of that savings gives me the ability to afford more of the perks in the store, and actually, as fare as Account-based perks, it gives me the ability to buy ALL of those, on tome of other perks for some of my characters.

And then there's the Free to Play level of gaming. Wow! You can get into a High-Quality game for FREE! You can play it up to the highest levels for FREE! You can even get a decent number of credits to buy perks with for FREE! How great is that for the Paying customers to know that their game worlds are actually full of players because there is NO barrier to play now?

This was pretty decent, but I think the art of the April Fools Day NEWS posts is fading fast.

Good job Sera!

Oh, btw, can I get a set of those "Flame"-retardant Earmuffs? thx.

I'm game. Gimme

This person has not been convicted of ANY crimes.

He has a Warrant for his arrest based on Charges filed against him. He has not been Proven guilty, and thus this is not the case of tracking down a convicted criminal.

I'm quite sure this guy is guilty, but that really doesn't matter, because this isn't about "this guy", it's about the courts ability to order companies to provide this information for people when the person has not been convicted of any crime. It's not evidence of wrongdoing they requested, as that is a completely different story.

Blizzards easy co-operation with this subpoena is a very bad sign for online privacy. They were not helping capture a convicted felon, in which case I would be a little more understanding. ISP's have been fighting subpoena's for this type of information for years, and it troubles me that Blizzard didn't even try to put up a fight.

With this type of acquiescence it won't be long before there are services popping up helping people create completely Anonymous Online Entities to ensure their privacy cannot be breached by a quickly thrown together Subpoena for a Warrant issued in error.