Before I start I would like to say this doesnt apply to all f2p games. For example I think League of legends handles f2p very well, you are never at a disadvantage (perhaps a little versatility right at the start but that is all) yet spending money is tempting enough to support the game. Some fremium games are fine in my eyes, and I dont mind dropping some money for convenience.
However... for the vast majority, freemium games are truly awful in their practices. Honestly I am amazed people actually pay at all. A couple of examples would be a game I recently installed: world of battles, and another I read about: Blacklight Retribution. Now blacklight does a good job of hiding the cash shop on its website so I cant verify, but what I heard was that unlocking the upgrades on just one gun costs 30-40$. The price of a new game pretty much!
In world of battles they want the same subscription price as AAA mmos like WoW, £9 a month. And its pay to win quite clearly.
Now I dont mind paying for games. I have payed sub fees for a few MMOs and over a few years, I paid £700+ to play wow for example, but I never felt ripped off for that because of the development costs of big MMOs, constant updates, time spent playing per month etc. But to pay that for an RTS seems pretty insane, especially when you look at the prices of buy to play competitors. On amazon most games similar to this are £5-10 all in, and at most £30. Starcraft 2 for an example is £24.74. Cheaper than a 3 month sub to world of battles. Shogun 2 (a direct competitor and similar game) is £10.
Of course some people will pay. If they play for 20+ hours a month then £9 isnt very much really, but I would think for every 1 subscriber, 100 people would look at the prices and say: 'that is overpriced and I'm not paying it'.
There are many examples of different cash shop and freemium systems, and some get it right and some get it wrong, but ultimately for most of the time it breaks the game, sometimes in a small way sometimes in a big way. Tribes ascend sells power, but in such a small way that most people dont mind, and time spent playing will unlock a balanced character pretty fast. However to unlock a second gun for example would take about 300 DM games, its a pretty big time investment. For me this is about the limit of how far I would go in a freemium game. I have already paid about $35 to unlock some guns and perks and I feel that is reasonable for a fun game that tribes is. I would probably pay as much as a full priced game, as I believe the quality is there, but I wouldnt even be close to unlocking the full game, and what is left is exceptionally grindy. I would rather just buy a box and have a game balanced around fun and not making money.
What do you think about freemium models in games and do you feel they break the game's enjoyment and essentially waste a fun game experience? How much are you willing to throw at a game just to play it normally or for it to be balanced?
I really hope planetside 2 has a decent system, will be pretty upset if it costs the earth to feel competitive, or they sell power etc.