No plans for micotransactions..

[Eaglestrike]

Honestly they should just let you buy gil in-game, remove what's left of the chinese gil farming and generate additional revenue. Since I merc I know there are people that buy gil (not all my customers do, in fact I don't think most of them do, but some...almost certainly do...) and I'd rather this be additional revenue for SE than to an outside company.

The biggest issue with this happening is the inflation would be nuts, so I'm not sure how to deal with that.

[Eaglestrike]

Also, are there any free to play MMO's that are actually good? I don't know of a single MMO considered "good" by the community that is free to play. Last I checked MMO ranking went:

1) WoW
2) FFXIV
3) Eve (if you're weird and into that style of game)
4) ???
5) No profit

Obviously FFXI is there, and best I can find only like 20k actual EVE players exist so we're a good bit above that. But I haven't heard good things about LOTRO, Rift, Aion, ESO, Star Wars, Star Trek, Wildstar, etc. in forever and ever after they've gone F2P. Guild Wars 2 and Lineage might be the most successful MMO's to compete with FFXI for 3rd place. Don't feel like looking up their numbers.

But yeah...F2P games are basically all dead and the cash shop just lets them pay for a few devs. Major thing is those games were made for the PC, so it's a lot easier to generate new content for them, when it isn't for FFXI. As well they're trying for monthly events/updates in FFXI, where you might get only like two a year in those f2p games. So there's a major difference in how the games are being developed.

[vienne]

Also, are there any free to play MMO's that are actually good? I don't know of a single MMO considered "good" by the community that is free to play. Last I checked MMO ranking went:

1) WoW
2) FFXIV
3) Eve (if you're weird and into that style of game)
4) ???
5) No profit

Obviously FFXI is there, and best I can find only like 20k actual EVE players exist so we're a good bit above that. But I haven't heard good things about LOTRO, Rift, Aion, ESO, Star Wars, Star Trek, Wildstar, etc. in forever and ever after they've gone F2P. Guild Wars 2 and Lineage might be the most successful MMO's to compete with FFXI for 3rd place. Don't feel like looking up their numbers.

But yeah...F2P games are basically all dead and the cash shop just lets them pay for a few devs. Major thing is those games were made for the PC, so it's a lot easier to generate new content for them, when it isn't for FFXI. As well they're trying for monthly events/updates in FFXI, where you might get only like two a year in those f2p games. So there's a major difference in how the games are being developed.

In EVE you buy game time with in game currency (PLEX) or real life money. I'll note that aquiring enough of this in game currency as a beginning or casual player to be able to fund for game time is very difficult. The majority of EVE players buy PLEX with rl money, PLEX can be sold on the AH so they can also invest in more ships to get blown up. Most people, like in FFXI, have multiple accounts or buy multiple PLEX a month to finance the fact that they suck at playing EVE
I'd say EVE's monetary system is very well thought of. Around 40k weirdos were playing it in 2015 iirc.

[Deirdre]

For what it's worth, I've met a few people that play ESO and Aion off and on, but not many. What about Everquest, anyone have any numbers on how many people actually play that one still? It's sub based right?

[Castanica]

Also, are there any free to play MMO's that are actually good? I don't know of a single MMO considered "good" by the community that is free to play. Last I checked MMO ranking went:

1) WoW
2) FFXIV
3) Eve (if you're weird and into that style of game)
4) ???
5) No profit

Obviously FFXI is there, and best I can find only like 20k actual EVE players exist so we're a good bit above that. But I haven't heard good things about LOTRO, Rift, Aion, ESO, Star Wars, Star Trek, Wildstar, etc. in forever and ever after they've gone F2P. Guild Wars 2 and Lineage might be the most successful MMO's to compete with FFXI for 3rd place. Don't feel like looking up their numbers.

But yeah...F2P games are basically all dead and the cash shop just lets them pay for a few devs. Major thing is those games were made for the PC, so it's a lot easier to generate new content for them, when it isn't for FFXI. As well they're trying for monthly events/updates in FFXI, where you might get only like two a year in those f2p games. So there's a major difference in how the games are being developed.

Every mmo is good to someone, or they would not be playing them.

How do you classify good? Number of active players? if so wow is better than ffxi, ffxiv, tera, eso, swtor and a few others combined.

[Eaglestrike]

Every mmo is good to someone, or they would not be playing them.

How do you classify good? Number of active players? if so wow is better than ffxi, ffxiv, tera, eso, swtor and a few others combined.

And in many, many ways it is. I played it for years over FFXI and do not regret doing so. I just now prefer horizontal over vertical progression so FFXIV/WoW/etc. are not for me. And when it comes to job balance and a well programmed game WoW absolutely destroys FFXI.

But yes, having enough income is pretty paramount to being a good game. I think the f2p models basically let a small group of people with fat wallets keep a game afloat, which means even less people are around in your "mmO", which kind of defeats a bit of the enjoyment of the whole thing.

[Diavolo]

For what it's worth, I've met a few people that play ESO and Aion off and on, but not many. What about Everquest, anyone have any numbers on how many people actually play that one still? It's sub based right?

EverQuest adopted a three tier system over four years ago: free to play, one-time fee and monthly fee.

[Castanica]

Just wanna point out that almost every f2p game offers an optional subscription, which many do choose to pay.

[Seiowan]

Also, are there any free to play MMO's that are actually good? I don't know of a single MMO considered "good" by the community that is free to play. Last I checked MMO ranking went:

If you're talking true F2P, then probably none. Guild Wars 2 deserves an honourable mention though, since it doesn't have subscription fees and is actually a damned good game through and through.

[Zeldar]

Too bad "damn good game" doesnt always translate to a successful game . Turbografix 16 was a damn good system, but when I mention it to people my age (yes, I'm 40+ and owned one when I was about 16-17) most have never heard of it. Ys, Bonks Adventure, all the ripoffs that were the same game just renamed ( Street Fighter=Fighting Streets, lol)....some great games on a great system, but it wasn't all that successful. Sorry for the slightly off-topic post.