Expanded Starter Edition Proposal

[shoc]

We saw how the Hearthstone promotion brought in a fuckton of new players to WoW. The Warcraft Movie is supposedly going to come with a WoW license in some capacity, so I think it is fair to say that we can expect a fuckton more of new players a few months from now.

My argument is that the current F2P 1-20 experience is not enough to retain the interest of a new player, and if Blizzard wants to turn those new entrants into paying customers, some changes have to be made. I know similar things have been proposed a lot in the past, but I think this suggestion differentiates enough to warrant a new thread.

TL;DR turn the F2P experience into as close to a Vanilla WoW experience as possible.

- Increase level cap to 60.
- No access to Dungeon Finder.
- Increase Gold Cap to 250,000.
- Allow F2Players to /w and Trade
- Allow P2Players to access Auction House
- Allow F2Players to Form and Join Guilds
- Allow F2Players to access Group Finder
- Allow F2Players to form 40 player Raids
- Restrict Trade/Global chat frequency
- Restrict Flight
- Dramatically increase Mount / Epic Mount cost.

The above changes improve the 'F2P Vanilla' experience, without interfering much with the subscribing max level population.

- New Raid Difficulty (Legacy).

Legacy Raids are tuned for 40 level 60's. Minimum level to enter raid is 40. Anyone above level 60 is scaled down to level 60.

40 player F2P raids (in order of progression)
- Molten Core (Easy)
- Blackwing Lair (Medium)
- Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (Hard)

Now the F2P players can raid, punishing old school style.

Arguments

"What incentive will there be for players to subscribe if there is enough content in F2P to keep them busy?"

In a day and age where microtransactions make up huge percentages of revenue share, there is value in having a large number of F2P customers.
The Gold Cap is high enough that players should be able to save enough money to buy at least 1 month of subscription with a WoW Token. At that moment, a "sale" is made and the F2P content's goal has been accomplished.

"People won't want to play old content with old restrictions, that's stupid!"

There's definitely a desire within the playerbase and currently unsubscribed players for a nostalgic, Vanilla WoW experience. To be able to come back for free, alongside a large number of new, wide-eyed players would be an amazing opportunity. The popularity of 2007scape and Vanilla WoW Private Servers are evidence of such.

"Won't this split the playerbase into two, like it did with other games with a large F2P/Subscription divide?"

I doubt currently paying subscribers will unsubscribe to play the free version, that would imply that there is dissatisfaction with current content and that is evidence pointing towards a different problem.

"40 player raids are terrible! Organizing a crowd of idiots through a raid is the worst! WildStar failed because of this!"

I'm pretty confident that the F2P community will be large enough to support 40 player raids. Besides, what's the point of a Vanilla WoW experience without 40 player raids? I know it sucks, but the "Vanilla Experience" is not synonymous with "Easymode Experience". If they want properly structured raids, they can subscribe and raid at max level.

"Blizzard would never invest in old content! The last time they tried to improve the old world experience Cataclysm happened!"

The potential financial gain here could be tremendous, especially if the F2Players are monetized correctly. Not to mention Blizzard absolutely crushing what's left of the F2P MMO market share.





I'd like to hear your thoughts. Inb4 someone says it's a terrible idea.

[Trep]

I like A LOT of the ideas here. I think it is a great idea actually. I would even create a new "starter" account just to go and play this F2P option when I was bored (which always inevitably happens in any MMO) instead of running around in my Garrison (or Class Hall in Legion) as well as pay my monthly fee for my main account just to have something to do in the downtime.

The only thing I disagree with what you have is the increase in mount costs. I think they should just be restricted from epic mounts all together and no flying at all. They would still have plenty of content for a F2P MMO and still have proper incentive to upgrade to the 15 a month sub. I agree with you that the financial gain could be exponential.

[Kolvarg]

mmm I agree with the overall idea. The overall F2P experience is way too limited, especially for how much of an investment WoW is overall.

Just don't see why would they "reel in" players and make them experience an outdated way of raiding they decided to move away from. How would Vanilla-like 40man raids make people want to pay to do 10~20man raids? =P

[ComputerNerd]

The "desire" you mention is not from new or non-wow players, but those who have the wow experience.
I agree with an increased level cap, but I cant agree on arbitrary rules just trying to replicate some "vanilla" experience.
What players need to keep them in, is a good experience of group content.
More than just what they can experience upto level 20, as well as some access to non-content game systems such as the auction house, mail, and guilds.
Those should though be limited to just those players who have not bought game-time or the base game.
That way it can be experienced with less influence from those who had lapsed accounts.
Otherwise you could have a starter account to buy stuff on the AH cheap, and then flog it for more on the main AH.
While I think there is absolutely a benefit to them experiencing a more complete game, you have to be careful of cross-over.

It would need a huge re-think though as to the progression and gating of the raid content in particular.
Dealing with systems such as resistance gear, attunements, expected routes of progression etc.

[Dartz1979]

We saw how the Hearthstone promotion brought in a fuckton of new players to WoW. The Warcraft Movie is supposedly going to come with a WoW license in some capacity, so I think it is fair to say that we can expect a fuckton more of new players a few months from now.

My argument is that the current F2P 1-20 experience is not enough to retain the interest of a new player, and if Blizzard wants to turn those new entrants into paying customers, some changes have to be made. I know similar things have been proposed a lot in the past, but I think this suggestion differentiates enough to warrant a new thread.

TL;DR turn the F2P experience into as close to a Vanilla WoW experience as possible.

- Increase level cap to 60.
- No access to Dungeon Finder.
- Increase Gold Cap to 250,000.
- Allow F2Players to /w and Trade
- Allow P2Players to access Auction House
- Allow F2Players to Form and Join Guilds
- Allow F2Players to access Group Finder
- Allow F2Players to form 40 player Raids
- Restrict Trade/Global chat frequency
- Restrict Flight
- Dramatically increase Mount / Epic Mount cost.

The above changes improve the 'F2P Vanilla' experience, without interfering much with the subscribing max level population.

- New Raid Difficulty (Legacy).

Legacy Raids are tuned for 40 level 60's. Minimum level to enter raid is 40. Anyone above level 60 is scaled down to level 60.

40 player F2P raids (in order of progression)
- Molten Core (Easy)
- Blackwing Lair (Medium)
- Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (Hard)

Now the F2P players can raid, punishing old school style.

Arguments

"What incentive will there be for players to subscribe if there is enough content in F2P to keep them busy?"

In a day and age where microtransactions make up huge percentages of revenue share, there is value in having a large number of F2P customers.
The Gold Cap is high enough that players should be able to save enough money to buy at least 1 month of subscription with a WoW Token. At that moment, a "sale" is made and the F2P content's goal has been accomplished.

"People won't want to play old content with old restrictions, that's stupid!"

There's definitely a desire within the playerbase and currently unsubscribed players for a nostalgic, Vanilla WoW experience. To be able to come back for free, alongside a large number of new, wide-eyed players would be an amazing opportunity. The popularity of 2007scape and Vanilla WoW Private Servers are evidence of such.

"Won't this split the playerbase into two, like it did with other games with a large F2P/Subscription divide?"

I doubt currently paying subscribers will unsubscribe to play the free version, that would imply that there is dissatisfaction with current content and that is evidence pointing towards a different problem.

"40 player raids are terrible! Organizing a crowd of idiots through a raid is the worst! WildStar failed because of this!"

I'm pretty confident that the F2P community will be large enough to support 40 player raids. Besides, what's the point of a Vanilla WoW experience without 40 player raids? I know it sucks, but the "Vanilla Experience" is not synonymous with "Easymode Experience". If they want properly structured raids, they can subscribe and raid at max level.

"Blizzard would never invest in old content! The last time they tried to improve the old world experience Cataclysm happened!"

The potential financial gain here could be tremendous, especially if the F2Players are monetized correctly. Not to mention Blizzard absolutely crushing what's left of the F2P MMO market share.





I'd like to hear your thoughts. Inb4 someone says it's a terrible idea.

I like it! let's pass this idea to blizzard quickly!

[Eleccybubb]

No point restricting flight just let them fly in Azeroth. Also 40 player raids especially at 60 would be hard to do even if there was an influx of new players from this and then again this is reliant on that influx and getting 39 other people to do it unless you allow them to do it through LFD/LFR. Other ideas are pretty decent though.

[shoc]

mmm I agree with the overall idea. The overall F2P experience is way too limited, especially for how much of an investment WoW is overall.

Just don't see why would they "reel in" players and make them experience an outdated way of raiding they decided to move away from. How would Vanilla-like 40man raids make people want to pay to do 10~20man raids? =P

The purpose of the 40man raids isn't to 'scare' players into subscribing so they can experience 10-20 player raids in current content, rather, as a means to capitalize on the nostalgia of the Vanilla raiding experience. I'm well aware that it's not a "good" system, but I believe that the positive experience gained from reliving the 40man Molten Core / BWL / AQ experience, even if it is only once or twice, can entice players to want to experience "better, modern" raiding.

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No point restricting flight just let them fly in Azeroth. Also 40 player raids especially at 60 would be hard to do even if there was an influx of new players from this and then again this is reliant on that influx and getting 39 other people to do it unless you allow them to do it through LFD/LFR. Other ideas are pretty decent though.

I disagree, I think there could be a high enough F2P population to support a small 40 man raiding scene, at least at population levels relative to ~2006. But I'm very open to discussion on how a system such as this could be improved.

An issue I see with making MC/BWL/AQ 20 man or even flexible would be that the nostalgia "big raiding clusterfuck" experience is lost, not to mention the current classic raids are not currently designed for sub 40 players.

- - - Updated - - -

No point restricting flight just let them fly in Azeroth. Also 40 player raids especially at 60 would be hard to do even if there was an influx of new players from this and then again this is reliant on that influx and getting 39 other people to do it unless you allow them to do it through LFD/LFR. Other ideas are pretty decent though.

I see flight as an incentive to subscribe, flight was a powerful incentive to grind out enough gold to earn flying in Burning Crusade, epic mounts in Vanilla, etc. I think that incentive can be translated to F2P players to subscribe.

[Eleccybubb]

The purpose of the 40man raids isn't to 'scare' players into subscribing so they can experience 10-20 player raids in current content, rather, as a means to capitalize on the nostalgia of the Vanilla raiding experience. I'm well aware that it's not a "good" system, but I believe that the positive experience gained from reliving the 40man Molten Core / BWL / AQ experience, even if it is only once or twice, can entice players to want to experience "better, modern" raiding.

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I disagree, I think there could be a high enough F2P population to support a small 40 man raiding scene, at least at population levels relative to ~2006. But I'm very open to discussion on how a system such as this could be improved.

An issue I see with making MC/BWL/AQ 20 man or even flexible would be that the nostalgia "big raiding clusterfuck" experience is lost, not to mention the current classic raids are not currently designed for sub 40 players.

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I see flight as an incentive to subscribe, flight was a powerful incentive to grind out enough gold to earn flying in Burning Crusade, epic mounts in Vanilla, etc. I think that incentive can be translated to F2P players to subscribe.

Mmmm I don't believe in putting features like that behind a sub paywall. Rift does a lot of quality of life behind a paywall for example and it's horrid. Maybe greater XP but nothing stupid like Dungeon Charges or PvP charges or what not.

[Trep]

Mmmm I don't believe in putting features like that behind a sub paywall. Rift does a lot of quality of life behind a paywall for example and it's horrid. Maybe greater XP but nothing stupid like Dungeon Charges or PvP charges or what not.

I think flight and epic ground mount etc are perfect for a paywall. What I hate about paywalls in most games is that they easily become pay to win mechanics. They may start with innocent intentions but quickly turn into a Pay to Win game and we definitely don't want WoW to come anywhere close to being associated with a P2Win atmosphere. To do this right they would need to use everything that is in game NOW as an incentive to Sub followed by a rework of the sub Cataclysm game/experience as a whole to give a pleasing gaming experience while still inciting them to want to pay for more without polluting the game. A F2P option should not affect the post 60 experience in anyway meaning that you shouldn't have to pay for more xp. If I sub and I want my buddy to try the f2p option to see if he wants to purchase the rest of the game, I don't want to out level him. Etc ETC.

[Syri79]

I think this would risk walking too close to the landmine Wildstar stepped on, giving too much away for free. Yes, I'm all for expanding the starter (and un-subbed veteran) restrictions, but I think giving too much content, in WoW's case, would actually hurt subscriptions. Furthermore, with the removal of restrictions on chat for free accounts, guess what you'll see more of... yep, spam. All varieties of spam will increase, not least gold sellers, especially if they can use the AH for free as well...

My own suggestion would be to increase the level cap to 50, as this opens up a fair amount of content, to really get stuck into the game a bit, but still leaves a lot to face once you subscribe. At that point though, you should have a better idea whether a subscription is right for you or not, as let's face it, level 20 doesn't really show you much of the game, and barely gives an idea what each class is really like. I would keep restrictions on chat, but allow some more use than present, like allow veteran accounts a few more chat facilities, like custom chat rooms, though still not full chat use. Only allow replies to whispers, unless you both have each other on friends lists, those kind of things. It'd be a lot more inviting for a new player to come and try it out, rather than just being a nostalgia trip for unsubscribed players to come back and try without giving Blizzard any money.

[emilylorange]

I did the starter thing recently because inactive accounts were granted starter perks for free.

And I will agree that the starter experience is a poor representation of wow, current or past. It's too fast for a person to be 'hooked' and not very rewarding. The dungeoning, if you're allowed in at that point, is awful. You out-level a zone before finishing the main storyline of the quests (even with no heirlooms). And honestly? The cata quest experience, especially in the low levels, relies on prior/vanilla knowledge for you to enjoy it thoroughly. Otherwise the 'big reveals' that you're working toward (like say, Vanessa VanCleef) have zero impact.

If I'd never played WoW before and tried it for the first time this week I'd be baffled that anyone played it for 10 years.

Edit: OH AND I REALLY ENJOYED BEING ABLE TO PICK UP THE PET BATTLE QUEST BUT BEING LOCKED OUT OF PET BATTLES AND UNABLE TO DELETE THE QUEST THX BLIZZ

[shoc]

I think this would risk walking too close to the landmine Wildstar stepped on, giving too much away for free. Yes, I'm all for expanding the starter (and un-subbed veteran) restrictions, but I think giving too much content, in WoW's case, would actually hurt subscriptions. Furthermore, with the removal of restrictions on chat for free accounts, guess what you'll see more of... yep, spam. All varieties of spam will increase, not least gold sellers, especially if they can use the AH for free as well...

My own suggestion would be to increase the level cap to 50, as this opens up a fair amount of content, to really get stuck into the game a bit, but still leaves a lot to face once you subscribe. At that point though, you should have a better idea whether a subscription is right for you or not, as let's face it, level 20 doesn't really show you much of the game, and barely gives an idea what each class is really like. I would keep restrictions on chat, but allow some more use than present, like allow veteran accounts a few more chat facilities, like custom chat rooms, though still not full chat use. Only allow replies to whispers, unless you both have each other on friends lists, those kind of things. It'd be a lot more inviting for a new player to come and try it out, rather than just being a nostalgia trip for unsubscribed players to come back and try without giving Blizzard any money.

Do you think allowing F2P players to play the equivalent of WoW as it was in 2006 (+ balance and QOL's) is "too much"? I'm glad that you brought up WildStar, because when they transitioned to F2P, they barely added any restrictions at all, and it was regarded as a fairly successful, consumer friendly transition. The problems came with monetization, as players had access to the whole game, there was no incentive to subscribe or spend any money.

I don't think that would be the case if applied to the Vanilla content in WoW. For starters, F2P players only have access to content up to roughly 2006. That leaves over a decade's worth of content locked behind a paywall. Rated PvP, serious raiding, the latest and most current zones, are all locked away behind an expansion and a subscription fee, and I hardly think that level 60 dungeons and raids is "giving away too much".

Like I said in the OP, I don't think unrestricted global chat is a great idea, and I agree that there should be some restrictions. Perhaps harsher penalties on spam, letting a robot determine who is spamming and simply mute the player for a few days like Runescape does.

Speaking of Runescape, I think the closest comparison I could make would be to how Runescape handled their F2P community. All the F2Players were segregated to their little portion of the world, WoW's equivalent would simply be Azeroth without Flying. There was a lot to do within the Free segment of the game, but there was always a desire to subscribe and leave the 'old world' behind.

The more I think about it, I suppose the ultimate purpose of F2P Vanilla WoW wouldn't be aimed at getting more subscribers to WoW, rather, building up a large F2P community concurrent to the existing subscribing community, and create revenue via microtransactions from free players while also providing a strong incentive to subscribe. I don't think it would detract from the existing community at all.

[Mcfart]

Nah, just raise cap to 30-40. 60's too much, and having a f2p model alongside the subscription is too complicated. Either offer one or the other, not both.


Bliz should just remove WoW tokens and make WoW f2p.

[Seifa]

I just wished i could join party with a friend. We decided to level to 20 together and have some fun in istance but.... nope :S

[WhiteEagle888]

I like this idea a lot.
Especially the gold cap increase which allows the free-to-play market to potentially buy WoW Tokens, thus enabling beneficial economic growth for Blizzard.
After the 6+-th expansion you might as well make the old world relevant again.

[barial]

I can imagine it now. Literally 1000x more bots, botting gold at level 60. The game and sub fee is free so you lose nothing if a bot account gets banned

[shoc]

Nah, just raise cap to 30-40. 60's too much, and having a f2p model alongside the subscription is too complicated. Either offer one or the other, not both.


Bliz should just remove WoW tokens and make WoW f2p.

I think a F2P model with a pseudo "end-game" combined with a gold cap high enough to allow F2P players to 'buy in' to a subscription using gold could be a powerful facilitator for subscriber growth.

[Marston]

I agree with the increased level cap and some other things, but that's it. I think 60 is a good level (witrh closed off Outland Content), however I wouldn't tune raids and raise the cost for mounts. I am also not sure about the whisper and AH thing etc. Some restrictions should be lifted, but since that will basically increase botters, it shouldn't be completely lifted. Maybe allow Whispers after reaching level 20 or 30 or something and only earlier if someone whispers you, so you can answer with /r. Also, joining guilds is okay, but creating them maybe also only at a later level. But seriously, don't touch the raids, leave them as they are now.

As said, I am all for lifting some restrictions, especially the level cap, but why invest time in "recreating" vanilla WoW experience? The time can be spent better elsewhere.

[Flurryfang]

I really like your general idea and i think you got something good here To make a F2P game inside a subscription game is pretty brilliant. It also broadens the playerbase without cutting it in half. It makes use of content which is being forgotten, it makes the new content more luring and it makes it so that loyal players, who have max lvl characters, can feel a bit strong and mature to the F2P players

[IIamaKing]

I personally would be fine if the game were FTP up until the previous xpacs cap. Give a real sense of the game that way, instead of lvl 20, which I mean there is no true sense of the game in that lvl frame.