A new 'pricing model'?

[Rycul]

So I just saw that Lord of the Rings Online will get a new so-called 'pricing model' this autumn. (Read more here) What this means is that LOTRO will be completely free to play for everyone, however there will be premium features that can only be accessed by players who are 'VIP's'. Ofcourse to be a 'VIP' you will need to pay. Also, existing players will automatically become 'VIP's'.

To anyone who has ever played something like RuneScape; I guess you can compare being a LOTRO 'VIP' to being a (paying) member of RuneScape.

Now I'm curious as to what you guys, the players of WoW, think of such a feature for WoW.
Keep in mind that the game would be free to play except for certain 'premium' features which would still require you to pay (or perhaps not if you're an existing member, I'm not sure about this because the info is a little vague on the explanation there).

Please vote and post with an explanation, suggestion, idea, whatever you can come up with really Obviously there are pros and cons, do you think either of them weighs up to the other?

[mööh]

well this lotro thing is gonna be fun to see how it goes but from what i have heard LOTRO is a failing MMORPG. And i don't think this idea will work for wow ever because they have a lot more servers and a lot more staff then the LOTRO team.


and it's activision blizzard... nothing is free

[levitate]

Leaning towards "no" because I think the current price model is working just fine and doesn't need any fixing. Blizzard is already offering "premium" features too.

[Deleted]

Activision Blizzard wont do it idd. Even if they did the money they'd get would drop down so much that they wouldn't be interested in upgrading the game as much, thus I'd rather pay the 13€ a month.

[anti-wow]

That would kill WoW.

Seriously.

If anyone wants to play free WoW with limited features just make over 9000 trial accounts.

[Gallador]

No. Current pricing model has worked for 5+ years. And in a certain way they already have that system. Currently you pay just for maintenance + some profit, and content patches are just to keep you play. The expansions are the VIP parts of LOTRO, you don't have to buy them. Still almost everyone does but you don't have to.

[vesseblah]

LOTRO is going free because they can't get subscribers any other way. As long as WoW is the most popular paid MMO on the planet, Blizzard has no need to change anything in their pricing model.

[Reyina]

no. it's fine how it is.

all i can imagine them doing to wow if they make it like that is paying for gear.

[Wonderboy]

You mean like if WoW had a trial version that allowed you to play for free but limited certain features like trading?

In all seriousness though I agree they should make the trial indefinite.

[Kubex]

Wow already has sooo many people willing to pay subscription, why would they suddenly offer a part of it for free when they are getting so much money

[Rätti]

No thanks. That would propably just bring the kind of people to WoW that most of us don't want to ever even touch the game. Current pricing model is just fine and hopefully Blizz won't change it, at least that radically.

[anti-wow]

Yeah, just think about the people of the private servers coming all to official WoW.

O_o

[Deleted]

Actually its not, but 2 points for trying.

Turbine tried this model with Dungeons and Dragons online (which was a failed MMO) and it saw a significant rise in players, along with a sustainable revenue stream from the in game store that free players could buy everything from potions to classes to races and so on and so forth. From that success, they are implementing it for LOTRO for no doubt similar reasons.

Actually it is, -3 points yourself.

The only MMOs that use this pricing method are those that aimed low to begin with or tried the normal pricing methods and failed. Yes, failed, that is the correct word in this case. It was make this move or close down soon after.

In situations such as DDO, this move saved them. They now get some revenue where they were projected to fall further and further behind.

In LOTRO's case don't let the fact that LOTR is a rich and valuable world in which to place an MMO, and that it had so much potential, make you think it was in any way a failure in terms of original expectations and in comparison to (perhaps arguably) the world leader in MMOs

[AtotheJ]

Doesn't work and I'm sure Blizzard will never do this

LOTR fails in MMO marketing thats why they are doing this. They know they can't compete.

[Eixel]

I prefer everyone pay per month the same so everyone is on the same playing field.

[Zka]

We have enough retards playing already. Making the game free would attract a lot of idiots (think about private server players who are mostly an utter failure).

[Daljo]

The F2P model for Runescape was one of the reasons it's bad, as in the community is full of prepubescent loudmouths with an affinity for angst and hate.

I still enjoyed playing it when I was a prepubescent loudmouth though :<

[blahism]

The F2P model for Runescape was one of the reasons it's bad, as in the community is full of prepubescent loudmouths with an affinity for angst and hate.

I still enjoyed playing it when I was a prepubescent loudmouth though :<

And wow is different how?

I find the community at LOTRO to miles ahead of the WoW community in terms of being humane to one another.

[Jenkkis]

I don't see problem in current pricing model. So no, not at all.

[Metian]

Voted no.

Simply because I don't want to see VIPs or anything else in the game, I want to pay each 6 months for the game, and enjoy every bit about the game. I don't want to pay, just because then I can get ilvl 300 instead of ilvl299..