So, even Wildstar is going f2p...

[sharazisspecial]

Wildstar's company behind it are not willing to take a loss or low profits then they expect.
FF14's company behind it ARE wiling to take a loss or lower then expected profits.

Thats the only difference between them. Neither is objectively the better game. Each has its pros and cons. Thier base gameplay feels quite different too with WILDSTAR being alot faster and FF14 being more stylized.

F2P as a model is just better and more successful for western games. Some F2p games are ruined but alot are very good and the amount of good f2p games will just increase as time goes on.

Besides If you love sub ff14. Whats the problem with other games going F2P? Now you can try these f2p mmos for fun, with it costing you nothing.

[DarkStaoneDragon]

F2P as a model is just better and more successful for western games. Some F2p games are ruined but alot of very good and the amount of good f2p games will just increase as time goes on.

I have to disagree with this statement, I've played plenty of F2P games, and for the most part they were bad-terrible, and most people dont stay on F2P games from what I've seen including myself, I prefer the P2P model due to the fact the company can operate a more stable schedule for updates and improvements (example heavensward).

[sharazisspecial]

I have to disagree with this statement, I've played plenty of F2P games, and for the most part they were bad-terrible, and most people dont stay on F2P games from what I've seen including myself, I prefer the P2P model due to the fact the company can operate a more stable schedule for updates and improvements (example heavensward).

Well your opinion will get outdated as time goes on. Because things change and technology improves. F2P was bad and unstable previously but it will just get better and more stable.

What do you mean even Wildstar? Did anyone really ever expect anything else from NCsoft?

Yes SE cares about their company image alot more then NCSOFT they will never go f2p. NCSOFT primary model is f2p too.

[SakuraMidori]

Well your opnion will get outdated as time goes on. Because things change and technology improves. F2P was bad previously but it will just get better.

How so since most can be shut down whenever the company feels hey we got our cash lets jump ship and to top it off most end up being pay to win

[sharazisspecial]

How so since most can be shut down whenever the company feels hey we got our cash lets jump ship and to top it off most end up being pay to win

Well compare the current best f2p mmos to the previous crap stain f2p mmos and see the world of difference in how they improved. It can only get better it cant get worse.
F2P is probally not the right model for SE though.

[Zaft]

it cant get worse.

Famous last words.

[DarkStaoneDragon]

How so since most can be shut down whenever the company feels hey we got our cash lets jump ship and to top it off most end up being pay to win

This. 10 char.

[CGMidlander]

Well your opinion will get outdated as time goes on. Because things change and technology improves. F2P was bad and unstable previously but it will just get better and more stable.


Yes SE cares about their company image alot more then NCSOFT they will never go f2p. NCSOFT primary model is f2p too.

Unless there is some previously unheard of innovation, F2P basically hinges on balancing between having Cash Shop content that is desirable to purchase, but not game breaking for people who do not buy said content.

Depending on the game type, this can be difficult. Games like LoL & WoT pull it off quite well, but many (most?) F2P MMORPGs often go overboard with extremely potent cash shop items, lottery boxes, and ways to circumvent what would otherwise be impossibly bad RNG.

[sharazisspecial]

Unless there is some serious previously unheard of innovation, F2P basically hinges on balancing between having Cash Shop content that is desirable to purchase, but not game breaking for people who do not buy said content.

Depending on the game type, this can be difficult. Games like LoL & WoT pull it off quite well, but many (most?) F2P MMORPGs often go overboard with extremely potent Cash Shop items, lottery boxes, and ways to circumvent what would otherwise be impossibly bad RNG.

I have never played it or researched it in anyway.

But isnt Destiny like a successful modern day b2p mmo?
This type of model seems like the one that will take off, pay for content instead of every month. Casual friendly as well. Maybe wildstar has made enough from its subs now it will go F2P to attract more potential customers that would not touch it with its sub fee.

[Alberel]

I have never played it or researched it in anyway.

But isnt Destiny like a successful modern day b2p mmo?
This type of model seems like the one that will take off, pay for content instead of every month. Casual friendly as well. Maybe wildstar has made enough from its subs now it will go F2P to attract more potential customers that would not touch it with its sub fee.

B2P and F2P are completely different beasts. With a B2P model every player in your game HAS to invest money to play; with this in mind the developers have a more stable income stream than a F2P where they rely on 5% of the playerbase to spend enough money to fund the entire game.

GW2 is also a B2P model though and they've been doing terribly for the past few years. They had literally added no new persistent content to the game until last year. It took them three years just announce their first expansion... The B2P model leads to very slow content releases.

As for Wildstar though: I don't think you understand how the subscription model works from a business standpoint. If Wildstar had made enough money back through subscriptions to cover its costs it would basically be a free money farm for the devs and publisher as all subs from there on would be pure profit. It would actually be very stupid to upset that model by spending a fortune on converting the game mechanics to suit the F2P model and risk losing all those subscribers in the process (there is a reason why P2P subscribers usually abandon a game when it transitions to F2P). No developer would take such a risky move unless they didn't have much to lose, and if they don't have much to lose it means the game was not doing well at all.

In contrast FFXIV is the most successful subscription based MMO after WoW. They have an awful lot to risk losing if SE were to ever consider a F2P transition. They won't do it unless the game suddenly tanks, which is honestly unlikely at this point.

There are some decent F2P MMOs, Warframe comes to mind as one such, but they're typically built from the start to be F2P. Converted games usually don't strike the right balance.

Hasn't it been receiving less of their time though? Minions and some of the wedding stuff, sure. Since then though? It's mostly just turned into "Lets get real money for these old event items". Other than the minions (which I assume there are more of coming eventually) they don't really seem to be putting a great deal of development time into it. The most unique thing the shop has gotten is Sleipnir, but that was basically in the game already (was shown to be a possible player mount during beta).

I actually think the community backlash over the Sleipnir mount caused them to rethink their approach to the cash shop. As you say their cash shop releases have slowed to a crawl and they mostly just focus on re-releasing missed event items now. That and the expansion has probably taken all of their attention.