RIFT F2P 21st-25th

[Lathais]

People say F2P like it is flipping a switch. No expert here, but just off hand
. They have to refund everyone who has paid 1 month up to possibly 2+ years worth of sub fee's
give currency for costume items or other such in-game rewards, x amount per month left on sub. Alternatively, if Rift DID go F2P it would likely be a freemium model with a sub option, so you just keep your sub. Still not quite as easy as flipping a switch, but no refunds need to be given.
. New wardrobe items will be cash shop
More than likely some will be, definitely the popular ones. There would probably still be some from achievements and other things though.
. New mounts will be cash shop
Same as above, some but not all. They could offer it for something in game and if you don't want to do that you could just buy it. Coins, or whatever currency they use could also be traded or sold on AH for plat, negating the need to spend money if you have extra time. This is what most successful F2P models do.
. World events have to be completely re done, so they make the cash shop look easier to do then the actually event to get the items.
Or just put a higher price tag on the cash shop items so people have to decide. If it's freemium anyway and lots still sub, they do not rely on that revenue, it's just a way to attract players to the game and get them to sub.
. Free servers transfer will have a fee
Doubtful, especially as they are working to remove the server boundaries anyway
. Depends how they do it. Post 50 content might have a fee?
Not sure what this has to do with what you quoted, but yeah, of course some content will still have a fee or require a sub, that's how the successful freemium models work
. The ability to jump to another server for a zone event will have a fee
Doubtful, if anything, it will be free to subscribed users only as an incentive to sub, but as I said previously. it looks like they are working on removing the server boundaries anyway
. Add in slowed down patch cycles. No free to play MMO has kept fast patch cycles
No other game had as quick of patch cycles as Rift before going F2P either. Also, if it is a freemium model, they'll still retain most of thier subs and add a few more anyway, so it is not like much would change for them.
. Return of the bored WoW playerbase in between patch cycles making every insane request under the sun and threatening to pull their money if they do not get their way
and more than likely they will continue to do what they have done with people who threaten tol pull a sub over stupid shit and just tell them to go away. Heck, you quit for a month once, what good did that do? None, they probably didn't even notice. Most people that say they will pull their sub if they don't get something don't pull their subs anyway, they are just crying for attention on forums.

That is what I can think of off hand as a noob on game design. Now explain why would be they do all of that to essentially inflate their servers numbers to give themselves a warm and fuzzy feeling? We are talking Trion here people. They are managing Defiance. They are handling ArchAge which could be the best Sandbox/MMO hybrid in years.

Shit WoW has lost 2 mil + in less then a year. Why not call for Blizzard to make WoW free? These debates have no basis in logic.

Aside from responding to what you were saying, you quoted me and acted as though I was supporting F2P, which I never have for Rift. I think freemium F2P games have an excellent model, I just do not feel they would fit well within Rift. My post was defending the sub model though and you quoted it and responded as though I was saying Rift needs to go F2P.

[Kelimbror]

I feel like you have only seen Swtors f2p model or something.

I got the same impression.

[Arbs]

About an estimated 450k subscribers, judging by log ins and concurrency relative to other MMOs.

Not to be a dick, But Proof please?

Does anyone on both sides, have any proofs on there claims or is everyone just bullshitting ??

This is the only chart of any sort of data, I have ever seen - http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-2.png = 250k maybe less by now, who knows this is my only source of proof until I find another. (but atleast I posted something).

This was from May 2012. It may not be 100% accurate anymore, but its atleast something as everyone else seems to just throwing something out of the blue without any proof.

[Azuri]

This thread has run it's course and no longer on topic the f2p window in the thread title has long expired.