With Eve gone, only sub based MMOs left are FFXIV and WoW

[AlexionSkylark]

Unless things have changed since the announcement, EVE is planning to go F2P in November. Or in the least have a F2P model.

I don't know if you know EVE, so I'm gonna state a few things about the game just to be sure:
The "world map" of EVE, the galaxy of New Eden, is comprised of a couple of thousands of systems (maps), each one with a handful of planets, stations, asteroid fields, etc. Each system has a number associated to it called a Security Rating, which can vary from 1.0 (very secure) to 0.0 and beyond (hell-like lawless land). The differences are:

Highsec (sec rating 0.5 and above) - If you attack another player, CONCORD (the police) ships will attack you on sight (and there are lots of CONCORD ships patrolling each sector, and they are FUCKING OP). Besides that, you'll incur penalties and criminal status, which bars you entry in most space stations (AKA the places where you do everything in the game, since you can't land on planets)

Lowsec (sec rating 0.1 to 0.4) - CONCORD will not attack you if you shoot other people, but you'll still incur criminal status and sanctions if you do that a lot

Nullsec (sec rationg 0.0) - 100% lawless territory. Do whatever your heart desires, nobody is gonna stop you.

Geographically, the closer to the center of the galaxy, and to the borders of the NPC empires described in EVE lore, the higher the security. The so-called newbie zones are all in 1.0 space. Now, the thing is, The entire late/endgame of EVE is done at nullsec. It's only in Nullsec that you can have player corporations (EVE's FC/Guild component) lay claim to space stations, all the late-game minerals and materials are only found there, and that's where all those stories about huge battles and year-long cons happen - But like I said, there are NO LAWS in this place, so it's a PvP-heavy zone. And by heavy I mean RUTHLESS - Everyone who ventures in nullsec (and even on lowsec, even there it's not pretty) needs not only to know lots of stuff about how to protect themselves and not being seen, they also need a STRONG SHIP, because of the SEVERAL HUNDREDS of players just waiting for an opportunity to mercilessly kill you and steal your cargo, or just for a laugh. ALMOST EVERY SYSTEM has like one or two of players hunting ships 24/7, and most of them are GOOD hunters that can track you and triangulate your position even while you pull a good effort to stay below the radar. Not to mention that if a player corp has claim on a system, they are hostile to everyone who's not in their corp, so there's their automated defenses and drones too flying about - in a state of permanent everyone-against-everyone war, and Player-Owned stations are VALUABLE, they need to defend themselves.

Eve Nullsec is WILD WEST, amigo, and that's where all the cool kids are. And the Alpha players (the F2P model players) can only learn how to pilot tech one ships of their own race. That, in practical terms, means they're confined in highsec, cuz if they try to venture further, they'll undoubtely be ganked to oblivion by a ship orders of magnitude stronger than them. T1 ships are WEAK. They are made of PAPER compared to what the vast majority of players have now.

To make a comparison, it's like WoW in a PvP server, but you can't lvl past 20, and all contested zones are filled to the brim with lvl 100 players who love to pop newbs and camp their corpses.


So, that's why I say that EVE IS NOT GOING F2P. All they're offering is a GLORIFIED TRIAL, you won't see or play the vast majority of what EVE has to offer unless you shell out a sub or buy a PLEX (which essentially means someone else paid your sub).

[Alestorm]

If I remember hearing correctly Wild Star is going back to purely sub based. It's pretty bad when a game starts out that way, goes free because it's almost dead then goes back out of nowhere.

[Teraluna]

If I remember hearing correctly Wild Star is going back to purely sub based. It's pretty bad when a game starts out that way, goes free because it's almost dead then goes back out of nowhere.

Nearly as bad as a game having to lose it's subscription for a while, then closing down because it was so poorly received while the devs revamped the whole thing........oh wait :-)

[Dreamsoap]

Having money to spend on a sub doesn't mean that you are going to be a positive member of the community.

That said, I'm all for FFXIV keeping its sub as well. My only concern is the increasing costs and frequency of stuff in the cash shop. IMO it is ridiculous that even extra retainers are in the cash shop, but since then we've seen even more ridiculous things imo.

I feel if you pay monthly, you shouldn't have added content in a cash shop. Cash shops are ways for free MMO's to make money. Subs are for those of us who want quality content without cash shops. :\

Personally I am 100% fine with cash shops in any game as long as it's only superficial/ aesthetic items that don't give payers a significant ability to play the game better. Played so many games where cash shops like those completely ruined
PvP. What I am against however is exorbitantly priced items in a game that you already pay just to log in to.

[Kaurie]

Personally I am 100% fine with cash shops in any game as long as it's only superficial/ aesthetic items that don't give payers a significant ability to play the game better. Played so many games where cash shops like those completely ruined
PvP. What I am against however is exorbitantly priced items in a game that you already pay just to log in to.

Indeed, we each have our own opinions of them. Personally, I am just as against a cash shop in a sub game that only does aesthetic items as one that has ability bonuses. I pay monthly to access all of the content. That said, I'd be a bit less bothered by it (and may even take part in it) if the prices were more reasonable. For example, I'd pay $3 for the Chinese Outfit, but $18 is ridiculous.

[Xiao_]

Eve Nullsec is WILD WEST, amigo, and that's where all the cool kids are.

dangerously off-topic, but the cool kids are in wormholes

[AlexionSkylark]

dangerously off-topic, but the cool kids are in wormholes

Oh well, now that's ANOTHER THING ENTIRELY.... hahah
W-Space is like the top cream of the top cherry rs. The majority of the late gamers tho are in Nullsec. Highsec is only for the newbs and the occasional con artist based in Jita, and that's where alphas will be mostly confined to.

Anyhow, I don't think its so off-topic, since the premise of the OP was saying that FFXIV is the last bastion of sub-based MMO now that "EVE is gone". I wanted to prove that eeeh... EVE is not gone. So, the case in point is at least partly invalid.

Also, worth noticing is that WoW is sub-based too. Sure, it has a PLEX-like system, but subs through that are actually MORE EXPENSIVE than normal subs, so its not something a lot of people do.

[Jandor]

Oh well, now that's ANOTHER THING ENTIRELY.... hahah
W-Space is like the top cream of the top cherry rs. The majority of the late gamers tho are in Nullsec. Highsec is only for the newbs and the occasional con artist based in Jita, and that's where alphas will be mostly confined to.

Anyhow, I don't think its so off-topic, since the premise of the OP was saying that FFXIV is the last bastion of sub-based MMO now that "EVE is gone". I wanted to prove that eeeh... EVE is not gone. So, the case in point is at least partly invalid.

Also, worth noticing is that WoW is sub-based too. Sure, it has a PLEX-like system, but subs through that are actually MORE EXPENSIVE than normal subs, so its not something a lot of people do.

Eve has a lot of new player based null-sec orgs now, low skill point players in tech 1 ships aren't exactly a valuable commodity but big coalitions do want them.
High-sec isn't just for newbs either, it's still where the majority of construction takes place. I don't think any null-sec organization is totally self-sustaining when it comes to supplying themselves.

It all depends what you consider 'end-game' or 'late-game', it's a sandbox game, people come up with their own goals. If you want to be an Industry mogul manipulating the markets then being based in null-sec is pretty much a waste of time.

And yeah, I totally agree, EVE isn't gone, they're basically just removing the time limit from trial accounts. It's quite a clever move from CCP to be honest, I was thinking about logging my main back with an alpha clone just to check on my old alliance and catch up with a few people. Tagging along with them in a cheap T1 cruiser has got much more chance to pulling me back in game than any marketing campaign ever will.

[AlexionSkylark]

low skill point players in tech 1 ships aren't exactly a valuable commodity but big coalitions do want them.

Now that's news. What for? a zerg-type kamikazi fleet?
But yeah, granted, I forgot about the market manipulators skewing the Jita boards, however... construction, rly? I'm a somewhat "mid-tier" player, and I thought that the heavy industrialists were all in POSses, since you basically can't offer competitive prices with all those taxes...

[JMadFour]

ESO died a little for me when they started spending most of their cosmetic dev time on the store, it died completely for me when they released lockboxes. I prefer sub because it's piece of mind that this won't happen (excluding a few store-bought scion and event outfits).

Lockboxes suck. didn't realize ESO had them. maybe it is because I am on PS4 and we didn't get them yet or something.