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Wasteland Diaries: F2P -- What to expect

Edward Marshall — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Business models, Patches, MMOFPS, Wasteland Diaries, Post-Apocalyptic

Fallen Earth is going free-to-play on October 12th. That's the plan, anyway. Four different subscriber levels will be available. The free accounts will actually have quite a bit of freedom with in the game (in fact, I'm shocked at how few restrictions they will have). The highest tier is a bit pricey for what you get, but we don't want a pay-to-win system, right? There's a fine line between giving paying customers something worthwhile and upsetting the balance of the entire universe. I'll discuss each subscription level later on in the post.

There are still a few concerns that many in the Fallen Earth community (including me) have about the F2P transition, and not all of them are technical concerns. I'm really not sure what to expect exactly as far as numbers of players, but I'm sure we'll see a huge influx of players both new and returning. How many exactly? I don't have a clue. I'll cover the sub levels first and then discuss my fears about what's to come afterward. So click past the cut and let's get started.

Continue reading Wasteland Diaries: F2P -- What to expect

Wasteland Diaries: F2P -- What to expect originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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APB Reloaded blog talks hackers and cheaters

Jef Reahard — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, All Points Bulletin, Crime, Dev Diaries

Bjorn Book-Larsson has a lot to say about APB Reloaded, the forthcoming reanimation of APB's corpse, courtesy of free-to-play publisher GamersFirst. Book-Larsson, the company's COO/CTO, has been blogging about the resurgent title for a few weeks now, and veteran players and prospective newbs alike will want to take a gander at his latest entry.

The blog focuses on APB's anti-cheat protections and, while it doesn't go into great detail for obvious reasons, Book-Larsson does make a decent case for APB Reloaded's level playing field. First off, he points out that the server-driven game is "more resilient to cheaters than most other F2P MMOs" due to the fact that F2P titles generally don't spend the same kind of money on infrastructure in comparison to your average P2P title. "In APB we are going to run a giant experiment to basically determine if hardware costs/specs have progressed far enough to make F2P server-driven games financially viable," he says.

Book-Larsson goes on to discuss the aim-bot problem, as well as various denial-of-service attacks that GamersFirst has dealt with over the past few years. It's an interesting read for anyone curious about APB Reloaded or MMO security, and also offers a humorous bit of insight relating to the over-reporting of cheaters.

APB Reloaded blog talks hackers and cheaters originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atanas Atanasov talks Earthrise PvP, crafting, and payment models

Jef Reahard — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, New titles, PvP, News items, Earthrise

GameOgre has scored an interview with Masthead Studios director and Earthrise producer Atanas Atanasov that's worth a read (and not just because Atanas Atanasov is quite possibly the coolest game dev name in history, with all due respect to Tasos Flambouras and Ragnar Tornquist). Anyhow, Atanasov answers a hefty number of questions covering a wide range of topics including the inspiration and backstory for the game, the purpose behind the title's open PvP, and a few details on the crafting system. "Almost every item in the game comes from crafting and the whole economy and combat system is aimed at conquering territories and supplying resources to the guild and friendly crafters," he says.

Atanasov also weighs in on the decision to go with a subscription model for the sci-fi sandbox, a move that bucks current industry trends and is something the Masthead dev team has alluded to before. "A subscription-based game puts players on level ground by giving them all access to the whole world and every game feature. We want to make sure that every player in Earthrise will be treated equally and there will not be paying and non-paying players, players with purchased gear, and players with free gear. Earthrise is an all-inclusive title, pay once and enjoy everything that's included," he says.

Atanas Atanasov talks Earthrise PvP, crafting, and payment models originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content

Brianna Royce — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Trailers, Video, Classes, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, New titles, Previews, Opinion, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on, RIFT

Just a few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Trion Worlds' Gamer's Day in San Francisco to get some hands-on time with a couple of the company's upcoming titles, including Rift: Planes of Telara. If Rift seems to have come out of nowhere, that might be due both to the acquisition of EverQuest II veteran Scott Hartsman to head the project as executive producer, and to a clever name change meant to reflect the team's shift in development focus.

In fact, that shift in development focus is precisely what I was at Trion's studio to test -- I got to check out the Rifts themselves in all their glory, in the context of the greater dynamic content system that the developers are so excited about. Massively's writers have been able to play and report on character creation and the starting areas of Rift several times over the last year or so, including earlier this summer at E3. But until today's embargo lift (coinciding with the reveal at Gamescom), no one had quite seen the fabled planar invasions and takeovers in action.

Now we have.

Continue reading Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content

Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Tattered Notebook: F2P bombs and views from the fallout shelter

Jef Reahard — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook

Well, this week takes the proverbial cake when it comes to the least amount of time spent head-scratching over a column topic. Thanks to Dave Georgeson and the executives at Sony Online Entertainment, I pretty much had this little opus sketched out by dinner-time last Tuesday.

Anywho... a week ago tomorrow the bomb dropped. It wasn't a stink bomb, a 50-yard bomb, or even an F-bomb (though there were no doubt plenty of those uttered in some circles), but rather a Hiroshima/Nagasaki type of bomb that changed the world and effectively ended the war between P2P and F2P, at least as far as Norrath is concerned.

Or did it?

Turn the page to find out.

Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: F2P bombs and views from the fallout shelter

The Tattered Notebook: F2P bombs and views from the fallout shelter originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: Funcom's Morrison explains AoC microtransactions

Jef Reahard — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Business models, Interviews, News items

A few weeks ago, we ran an opinion piece speculating about the possible inclusion of microtransactions in Funcom's Age of Conan. The column generated a lot of discussion, and some players felt that because of the bonus items available for purchase with the recent Rise of the Godslayer expansion, Age of Conan already featured a cash shop of sorts.

Funcom's sword-and-sorcery title has featured account microtransactions for a while now, in the form of server transfers and character name changes, but has pointedly avoided introducing a proper item store aside from the bonus expansion items. We went straight to the source to clear up the confusing question of whether Age of Conan does or does not feature an item shop. Executive producer and game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison was kind enough to answer our questions regarding the Godslayer item packs as well as Funcom's future microtransaction plans.

Read all about it after the cut.

Continue reading Exclusive: Funcom's Morrison explains AoC microtransactions

Exclusive: Funcom's Morrison explains AoC microtransactions originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Do you vote with your wallet?

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Academic

There are certain changes, usually big ones, that don't exactly produce... positive reactions. In fact, they generally produce screaming rants and huge doses of rage at how they were handled and implemented. You know the sorts we're talking about. Star Wars Galaxies and the Combat Upgrade. Ultima Online and Trammel. Final Fantasy XI and the nerfs to Beastmaster "catch and release" tactics. All loathed changes, many of which led to an exodus of players.

Really, leaving a game can be the best way to express displeasure with a change. It's the surest way to send a company the message that they've done something that will no longer justify your monthly subscription. On the flip side, your individual impact is small, you once loved the game... a lot of players will choose to rough it out, in hopes that things will improve or with the knowledge that the changes can't be all that bad. And for games where you have a lifetime subscription or are experiencing it free-to-play, your absence isn't really a deterrent at all.

So, do you vote with your wallet? When you're fed up with what's been done, do you head off for greener pastures? Or are you of the mind that it's not even worth the bother, that they might well not even tie your departure to the change, even if you say so?

The Daily Grind: Do you vote with your wallet? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nearly three-fifths of users buy items in free-to-play games

Eliot Lefebvre — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Academic

There's a strong sense in most free-to-play games that the playerbase consists of two people: those who refuse to pay any money unless absolutely necessary, and those who will happily part with their income on a voluntary basis. This is largely true. What's apparently less true is the notion which goes hand-in-hand, that there are a decided minority of players forking over cash for in-game perks. As it turns out, according to a recent survey, 58% of users in free-to-play games have bought items through the in-game store. On average, users who did pay apparently dropped around $75 over the period of one year.

Traditional pay-to-play MMOs have a significantly lower amount in terms of both revenue generated by in-game purchases and average amount spent. Of course, the debate that could be brought up is the question of how much of the money in free-to-play games went toward purchasing content that, in a subscription game, would have been included in the price. Those with an inclination toward math might also note that the monthly price for such a game comes out to just over eight dollars a month, versus the larger and more regular distribution of subscriptions. Still, it starts to raise questions about how accurate the image of the paying minority in free-to-play games really is, especially as the business model picks up steam.

[ via Gamasutra ]

Nearly three-fifths of users buy items in free-to-play games originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T says internet data caps and overage fees 'inevitable'

Kyle Horner — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Opinion

Is a time really coming when internet use in America will be capped? AT&T sure seems to think so and we're inclined to wonder if they're right. Internet service providers could go about capping bandwidth in a couple of ways. They could be reasonable (hah!) and set the cap up high where it will only hurt people who're constantly downloading large amounts of files through P2P networks or -- and this is more likely, we think -- they could setup a tiered system. This could be problematic for online gamers depending on how the tiers are setup. A higher cap means a higher price. So then depending on your gaming, surfing and -- most importantly -- downloading habits you could feel some monthly bill-burn. If you were recently involved in the Age of Conan betas just think back to all that downloading you did. Consider all the game trailers you've either streamed or downloaded. Also, one computer playing an online game may not hurt much but we're fairly certain there are plenty of homes with upwards of two or three computers hooked up to the network.

Another issue is how this system reeks foul of classic greed. As time goes on and the internet infrastructure hopefully improves throughout America, will the internet service providers fairly adjust the monthly, weekly or daily caps to represent that? We also have to wonder whether or not this problem is stemming from a lack of infrastructure investment from these companies to begin with, which is a possibility as well.

AT&T says internet data caps and overage fees 'inevitable' originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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