Is it Time to Drop The "Free To Play" Marketing Ploy For DCUO

Marvel Heroes Online. Most mobile games. just to name a few.

Right.

If you like you can think of it as a very long and exhaustive demo--far longer and more involved than any PlayStation or X-Box demo.

I don't get these rants at all--first, you're arguing semantics.

Second, this is a game which is undoubtedly very expensive to produce and maintain. I suspect very few of us would even be able to afford their office utility bill never mind the heftier expenses they incur. Do you seriously think you should be able to play for free? Does that make the slightest sense to anyone given our current economic systems?

The free-to-play aspect was what brought me to this game. It gave me the opportunity to play a massive portion of the game without investing a thing other than my time. It gave me such ample opportunity, in fact, to discover I could actually run it on my computer decently and enjoyed playing so much I decided it was worth subscribing to continue the experience.

I never dreamed for a moment it was anything other than a sort of extended demo--why on Earth would I have any expectation to access such an involved and obviously expensive game for free in perpetuity? That's obviously ridiculous. The game could not exist on such terms without a very rich benefactor footing the bill for the rest of us.

Alternatively, perhaps we could all settle in for several minutes of advertising before and after each instance and intermittent pop-ups telling us of the latest antics of beautiful people in cola commercials. Better?

I think DCUO offers good value for money (and I don't even work for the company!) considering the pennies per hour nature of the bill. If you don't think it does, it's obviously not the game for you. Nothing wrong with that--consumer choice in action.

Want things like this to be free? Change the political and economic systems which demand the practical impossibility of such things (I'm right behind ya).

While I agree the term free-to-play is somewhat misleading to those unfamiliar with MMO gaming business models, such is the nature of marketing. Besides, the main game is free to play--as you pointed out the DLCs are what cost money. Alternatively, we may subscribe and gain access to all DLCs plus some minor additional benefits.

This is now true of practically any game--even the PS and X-Box games we pay $70 for up front. We're then are asked to pay $5, $10 or more for small add-ons or DLCs (which are then rendered useless within a few months as the next $70, very slightly altered version is released and if we don't have the latest and greatest, our friends won't play with us anymore).

All in all, I think it boils down to definition of terms and unrealistic expectations. There are people in the world who would create such things simply for the pleasure and pride of creating them. Unfortunately, these same people realize they must have walls to keep the wind and snow out and food to ingest. Currently, these things require money and lots of it.

Until that changes, subscribe if you like, play if you can and if you really don't think it's worth it, don't bother with it at all.

Seriously?

Do you really think mobile games are comparable to DCUO? Please reconsider your logic.

Free to Play content:Tier 0: Levels 1-30
Tier 1: Everything
Tier 2: All solos, HMB thru Outer Caverns, all raids, tier 2 sets
Tier 3: All solos, Bane's Lighthouse and Subway, Stryker's to LOA, all raids, Zod/Kryptonian sets
Tier 4: Inner Sanctum and Magic Wing sets (with extreme grinding)
Tier 5 (maybe): Manta set (idr if its dlc locked or not)

Pay for Convenience/to Play content:
Tier 2: All duos, Star Labs Research and Sciencells
Tier 3: Police Station and Ferris Aircraft duos
Tier 4: Daily missions for Arkham and Steelworks, Soul Alchemy operation, Gates and Prime raids, Unpaid Dues and Seeds of Rot
Tier 5: Iconic Anomalies: Bizarro and Huntress, Ranx daily missions, all duos, Trigon's Prison, Gotham/Metro operations, Nexus and Paradox, and Assault and Battery
Tier 6: Iconic Visions: Circe and Wonderwh-, Spark of Parallax, Supply thru Spark of Ion, Themyscira Divided thru Act of Defiance, Necropolis thru Throne of the Dead (Elite), Artifacts and Love and War.

This is content differences without including: an extra weapon (Shield), pvp maps, the escrow differences, and special access (like Lair Mainframes), even the PvP items are pay for convenience/to play since they start off at more than the F2P $1500 allowance.

The game is very Pay to Play/Soft Subscription, but doesn't exactly affect you detrimentally until reaching the Tier 3/4 plateau, so...its Free to Play for a set time before its commanded to pay up or just move on.

To Op,

It was free to play for me. I made about 10 different characters and took most of them up to around level 27 before scrapping them. Finally settled on 4 characters that I wanted to spend money on after reaching level 30. But I would say, as a casual gamer, I got 5 months of gaming time for free working on those 10 characters. I didn't pay a cent and I left the game after that to play other games.

I only recently came back and bought the DLCs, armories and base amenities to continue on with the game. No regrets doing so. And what some folks post in the forums, you can make it up to T5 without buying any DLCs. Might be more of a grind but it is still free to play.

According to this article, DCUO is 40% Free-to-Play.
http://www.f2p.com/f2pmeter-dc-universe-online-truly-free-play/

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-play

Source: http://www.techopedia.com/definition/27039/free-to-play-f2p

Yep, DCUO fits these descriptions. So, it really is Free-to-Play. The DLCs you're talking about, OP, they're not required to be purchased in order to play the game. A membership is not required to be purchased to play the game. They're optional. You only purchase them if you want additional content. You can still play the game without buying anything.

EDIT: Actually, hmm. I might agree with the OP a little bit after remembering about these videos:

True about Marvel Heroes. That game is truly free to play, you could play and progress and play ALL the content without dropping anything. Costumes are costly, but they aren't needed to progress. They're purely cosmetic. You don't even need to drop money down on the heroes, you can just save up for them with in-game money.

DCUO on the other hand forces you to put money down to move up in gear and play content. They haven't added much free content. Most of it is locked behind DLC's. Boy do I wish Marvel Heroes were on PS4 so I could have another game to play, more options are always nice. ATM I have none.

F2P model is fine the way it is. Players can go from level 1 to CR 84 without ever buying a single DLC. In addition, these same players can obtain around or above 100 SP. So, F2P has plenty to offer.

F2P also gets Legends PVE and PVP that we also get. They may not have access to buy the Legends PVP characters but they do have access to the original toons.

Since 40% of the population is F2P, it is a great way to test the game out prior to buying. Considering you can reach T4 and get CR up to 84 without any DLC shows why the there is such a high F2P player base.

Personally, I started off as F2P. Than became premium and purchase a group of DLC and eventualy sub. The model works wonders, it slowly drags you into subbing and it works.

No. The model DCUO has is fine and it works like good ol' fully fledged demos. When you got some interest in the game you can download it and try it out and see if the mechanics and gameplay is in your favor. If you like the game then you can either buy one of the DLCs or subscribe or uninstall it.

The majority does understand that games this big have a price tag in the end and when you like it you'll likely pay for more. The time they have to invest until they hit the first content which is not F2P anymore is enough to decide whether to like the game or not.

Would DCUO benefit with a upfront pay wall? Hell no. It would turn down players who'll simply not even try the game since they will be infurious to pay up front and in the end not like the game - which may happen.

One could argue for a better subscription-model, however making it subscription only is not the way to go.

I came in here expecting it to be another elitist thread about getting rid of free players or something, but I was pleasantly surprised. I might not agree with everything you said, but I will agree that there are other free to play games out there with much better financial models. I really wish DCUO was one of the games that got most of its revenue from cosmetic items.

There is an entire Trope or two dedicated to it.

Indeed, I became a member the same way. It is an elaborate model I have to say.

I don't know if this is troll bait. I still cannot determine that...

Free to play is the ability to play a game for free even if you have limited access to the game's features. Think of it as a demo on steroids. Players have the freedom to play the game and then either subscribe or move on. No one is forced to become a legendary member. You can always purchase the DLC's individually and avoid the cost of a monthly subscription. Some people just stay premium members and are able to play the game just fine.

By reading your post, you obviously know what free to play is. Except you are overthinking the entire aspect of what free to play can be in a literal sense.

Are you sure you are talking about population?

When I pick random character in HQ, Metropolis or elsewhere, then it seems more like there are less than 10 % F2P players.... They are easy to recognize: They can't trade.

Marketing is not that simple my friend. This game is the greatest example of the mouth-to-mouth marketing strategy. Basicly, you tell a friend about the game and they tell an another and so on. I became aware of the game the same way, I saw someone playing (Some liked it on FB) and I invited 2 of my friends to play.

Besides, a free to play game on the PS has a kind of prestige. Most people will think that this is a simple game, some kind of lemonade between all the big franchises, then they try it, because why not, it's free after all. Then some of them will like it and go on playing and buy additional items or subscribe.

Simplicity is sometimes the best choice.

F2P does not mean totally free. Like any product, there has to be revenue to support it. People aren't going to work for free to provide games with progressive content like this to us. There are three basic methods to cover the costs:

1. Subscriptions - exclusively or optionally
2. Micro transactions
3. Advertising

Most mobile games use a combination of 2 & 3. Most console and PC games use a combination of 1 & 2. The free part is essentially to lure players in, much like drug dealers give samples to potential addicts. Once you're hooked, they get your money. Simple as that.

oddly despite the insanely one way this conversation is going it still seems to be needed to be said again. loot table will never award some people certain items regardless of how many wins you pick up in there. that is a pretty huge deterant to raid gear being at the mercy of a loot table. all a money grab because those who make decisions go for unethical money grabs.

every AAA game that goes free to play, is run this way or similarly
DDO
LOTRO
Secret World
STO
EQ
Tera (although I think most of theirs is free?)
RIFT
seriously have you been living under a rock?
most "free to play" games that let you access everything for free are korean grinders, and then many of them are "pay to win"

I don't think it would hurt (much?) if they release for free some stuff (not all of it) from some DLCs after, say, 1 or 2 years. It's not like those who''d rather acquire a DLC would buy oldn stuff since the newest is more promising, specially considering everyone is playing (or wants to) the new ontent rather than old content.

Litttle example: they could allow people whose account is 1 year old to run some raids/duos from DLCs they don't have. You want the powers that come from that same DLC? Then buy the DLC or go Legendary.

This would make it much enjoyable not only to people who play for free, but also, say, for those who went legendary for quite some time and stopped for any reason.