Free to play games, and how free they really are.

[thedreadlobster]

I've downloaded many F2P MMOs just for the pure curiousity of how other MMOs play. That being said I still have no clue how free these MMOs really are, which is my problem when contemplating playing them past level 20 or so. I would love some insight into how free some of the following MMOs are, and how I could get maximum enjoyment for minimal prices .

Everquest 2: From what I have heard from friends, Pay one month and you get all content?

Dungeons and Dragons Online/Lord of the Rings Online: I have no clue how these two games work in terms of content and how to obtain them. Is there a similar way to play these games with all content as there is with EQ2?

Also, How are the endgame content of each? When I say that, how is PVP? (If the game has it) And how are the Raids? (Faceroll boss strategies? Or fun fights that require thought?)

[Caiada]

Most of them are free for casuals, more expensive for hardcore people.

I think DDO and LOTRO both rely on you buying 'chunks' of content at a time, but I don't remember very well.

[thedreadlobster]

Would "Hardcore" be a label given to the average player looking to raid?

[kailtas]

Would "Hardcore" be a label given to the average player looking to raid?

This would be the case for Age of Conan.

[Uriel]

I tried several "free" games.

Most of them arent worth your time.
In some games you only find basic items and very rarely a good one. You easy get destroyed by those who spend massiy Money in Itemshops. Most Browsergames are like this especially PvP games you get owned by highlvl maxgear players.

Nee4Speed World for example people can buy the fastest cars only in the itemshop, the ones you can buy for ingame Gold arent compareable, combined with countless Powerups and Carenchatments most of those Payers are unbeatable even if they have less skill than you.

The closed Diablo clone Mythos offered a fun gameplay and you didnt need stuff from itemshop. It offered only stuff to level or travel faster. The game got canceled cause the developer didnt earn enough money to care for it. So in the end most major Bugs didnt got fixed until the game closed down entirely.

I played Age of Conan before it was F2P. It was fun but boring cause there was a lack of Social activity. Noy you can only choose basic classes and need to pay when you like to run an instance.


My conclusion is you cant play a F2P Game seriously without paying. It is frustrating that a noob can surpass you with money EASILY.

[Deleted]

Notch said it best. Most Free to Play games arn't actually free to play, just pay what you want.

[Isrozzis]

League of Legends is "free."

Though most people I know that play it have sunk a lot of money into RP (myself included).

So yah, technically it's free, but you get more stuff if you pay a little.

[bw42]

I play Spiral Knights sometimes. It's an interesting one, it can be played completely free, but doing so goes really slow gearing up. The characters don't have levels, it's all based around getting more powerful gear to handle the harder instances. It plays a lot like Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past, as in it's a hack in slash type mmo. There are no tanks or healers, some gear setups work better for melee range with swords and shields. Then you can also use bombs as your weapons of choice, dropping them to nuke things, or freeze them, or poison them. Then there's guns that let you kite things around and destroy them at range.

It's a lot of fun, but if you want to actually get geared up to run the harder dungeons you need to pay money to buy energy or gold to craft items. I was having fun with it for a couple weeks, until I realized I had just spent enough in two weeks gearing up to pay for a years subscription to WoW. Then I stopped playing it. The cost to buy energy or gold to craft items is really expensive. Energy can be purchased for in game currency, but it takes a long time to farm up enough to buy energy going the free to play route. It's really sad, cause I really liked that game, but it just costs way too much to play for more than a half hour a day.

[Scripted Sigma]

League of Legends is "free."

Though most people I know that play it have sunk a lot of money into RP (myself included).

So yah, technically it's free, but you get more stuff if you pay a little.

Yes, but you don't get better stuff if you pay.
The only thing you can buy with real money but unavailable to free users are skins.

[Edge-]

I actually think f2p games make more money than p2p.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schel...real_life.html

Interesting to watch.

The most recent numbers show it (f2p/item shops) about 5% behind subscription based games in revenue, but it's been closing the gap pretty quickly over the past few years.

OT: Can't speak for DDO/LoTRO, but I think you can do almost all the raiding content in EQ2 without paying anything, and if I remember correctly the strategies can be as complex as those found in Rift or WoW (although with the way their tiering system works the lower tiers are generally very easy). that being said though, since you can't use legendary/fabled/mythic gear without either subscribing or purchasing tickets that allow you to equip them...yeah, you're not really going to be able to do the end-game very well without paying : /

PvP...yeah I never actually PvP'd in EQ2, but from what I heard it's not spectacular but it's not bad either.

[moguri]

Yes, but you don't get better stuff if you pay.
The only thing you can buy with real money but unavailable to free users are skins.

Well, not the only thing. If you're new, you can buy XP and IP boosts that give you access to champions faster, level 30 faster, and more runes faster. Basically money just saves time in LoL which is one of the main reasons its so popular. If a gave offers anything but time savers for cash shop items then I don't even bother playing it.

[Scripted Sigma]

Exactly. If I need to pay for getting the "top tier" items, while I can't get the same item quality by just playing, then I'm playing the wrong game.

[thedreadlobster]

I have been playing League for close to a year and a half, possibly longer now . I'm looking more at a fun raiding option while I wait for a new game/Mists. Like I said, I have heard EQ2 is really free after buying 1 month of play time? Can anyone confirm this? and if so how is their raiding?

[chadwix]

The closed Diablo clone Mythos offered a fun gameplay and you didnt need stuff from itemshop. It offered only stuff to level or travel faster. The game got canceled cause the developer didnt earn enough money to care for it. So in the end most major Bugs didnt got fixed until the game closed down entirely.

Nice to see another beta mythos player, one of the better games ive played and didnt notice any bugs.

They got shut down because they had to use the ip as collateral for a loan, they called in the loan early and took the ip. It was a very shady deal and crappy on banditsoft (i think that was the company, not sure). The same devs are now working on torchlight2

Dc universe online is now f2p too, really good. F2p seems to be the new business model, not sure how they can make as much as with subscript or boxes, but they are.

[AdrianCC100]

Guild Wars 2 comes to mind. You do have to purchase the game up front, but after that everything is free. All the content is free and you don't have to pay a dime. They do have a store, but nothing in the store will give you any advantages over people who don't spend money on the game.

[Deleted]

League of Legends is "free."

Though most people I know that play it have sunk a lot of money into RP (myself included).

So yah, technically it's free, but you get more stuff if you pay a little.

I think you can only get skins for paying which are purely cosmetic. Sure, you can get stuff faster if you buy RP but everything is achievable by not spending a single cent too.

As for the free MMOs, only Runescape is semi-decent if you can look past the dodgy and often silly graphics. But it's technically not a free MMO either. The free part is more like a trial while paying monthly gives you full access.

But with others that I've tried, I'd say they are a waste of time. Most just need you to keep buying items or unlocking stuff to stay competitive.

[Deleted]

I haven't tried many F2P MMO's, but those that I have tried have been Korean... and oh man, that game is SO not free, free players have to rely on 000.0000000001% luck in order to be decent, and even if you pay you STILL rely on luck.

A game I have played and seems pretty fair is All Points Bulletin : Reloaded.
If you pay each month you basically get more money and reputation each mission, so someone who pays can ''finish'' the content in 3 months instead of 6 (to say something).

There are special weapons to buy, which yes, they do provide some sort of advantage but in the end, skill and teamwork wins the game.

[Ulvhedner]

I used to play Perfect World International. Pretty good game considering it was F2P, at first the boutique (IRL money shop) only sold comsetics and utility items, but later realised how much they could earn by selling gear. They've now made the game even more unbalanced than it started out as and a lot of game mechanics are broken, like the dedicated tank class can't tank due to the DPS hitting 5 times in a second which makes it impossible for the tank to keep aggro.

If you ever want to play PWI, you have to remember, free to play, pay to win

[Deleted]

I used to play Perfect World International. Pretty good game considering it was F2P, at first the boutique (IRL money shop) only sold comsetics and utility items, but later realised how much they could earn by selling gear. They've now made the game even more unbalanced than it started out as and a lot of game mechanics are broken, like the dedicated tank class can't tank due to the DPS hitting 5 times in a second which makes it impossible for the tank to keep aggro.

If you ever want to play PWI, you have to remember, free to play, pay to win

Yup, still I was AMAZED how many people bought the cosmetic outfits that made their chars look like japanese maids or high school girls.
Add that the items that give real power = Wowzers.

[Lancer]

In my opinion, there are some F2P games which do an excellent job. Such as TF2.