I have no desire to pay a monthly, and I would buy DCL; however, the escrow kills it for me - it is too limiting.
What do you suggest then ? not needing to pay for a monthly sub and get unlimited cashflow ? but just have to pay for the DLC's ?
Plenty of other payment models out there. *shrug* This one is unlikely to change, at least in the near future though, so if he finds it too limiting there are lots and lots of other games out there him. Plus you know with a Douglas Adams quote in there I already have a soft spot for him. <3
Yes. This is the only game I have played that limits this, and what it locks on me is very annoying: auction house is useless I cannot craft or buy decent soder I cannot craft or buy decent mods without decent soder and mods, I am severely limited in PvP more of a liability, and likely to be booted faster in 8 man raids I am not lobbying for anything else for F2P players, and I understand if the escrow is limited/unlocked to auction house and/or mod vendors.
Compare what you can do with other free games. You can get and do a lot. What you cant do is get the best of everything. You will have to pay something/anything eventually. When the game was pay to play you got 1 free month to try it out. That's all, not really much of an incentive for people. Nowadays you can stay free or prem for as long as you like. There are work a round for everything. Giving free and prem any more then what they get would cause more subs to drop as there would be no point in them. I am well aware some f2p and prem don't care about that which they should as they are keeping the game alive by spending coin. The simple solution to your problems is to sub and right now 10 bucks a month for 3 months forever (if you keep it recurring) is the best value of them all. That deal has only been around 3 times in this games history. I am not saying sub, but I agree with the limitations of free to play as it would trivialize the legendary sub completely. At the core of it, this isn't a free game, it isn't free to make and it will not give free and prem anymore that it already has. If I didn't care to give dcuo any money at least I know I could play this game for as long as I want as a free player. Being Prem and buying the DLC and then getting an escrow token every now and then would be cheaper in the long run. As you dont own dlcs when you sub.
The problem is it was never designed as a f2p game and at it's core it remains a subscription game - even if you're prepared to shell out for escrow it'd already cost you, what $20 a month? and that's before you've considered buying DLCs, replay badges and other consumables or style items. If you look at it as a subscription game it makes perfect sense, but that's just not what everyone is looking for. If you compare it to proper (as in designed from the start) f2p games, they make their money in a slightly different way and a considerable number of them allow trade of cash items for in game money allowing people with more money than sense to essentially fund the non paying population (and the non-paying population creates the demand and therefore still add value to the game). I'm happy enough to sub at the moment, but that's because I considered it a sub game from the start. The horribly crippled free and premium versions of the game don't really make it a proper free to play game and the attitude of the community is always that of a subscription game, constantly telling free/premium players that they should sub and stop complaining about the restrictions. There are loads of f2p games out there that won't lock you out of content, and some of them are awful and some of them are awesome. Mostly (as with everything else) you try a few, state your opinions and then move on until you find one that fits you. Btw RageQQ I originally turned up here because I saw the title and your name as the last post and though you were leaving and I was miffed because I usually find your posts very well thought out.
No, when compared to other F2P games, this one is very limited: - WoT: can buy anything except the equivalent of Station Cash - WoWP: can buy anything except the equivalent of Station Cash - SWTOR: only thing that is limited are certain mods, zones, and upper levels - need to buy the equivalent of a DLC - SO: you can even earn the equivalent of Station Cash in F2P - CO: you can even earn the equivalent of Station Cash in F2P - PoTBS: you can even earn the equivalent of Station Cash in F2P The list goes on and on. Yes, there are some exception like WoW and RIFT - and for the same reason, I don't play them. But of the games listed above, only one or two do not have a healthier population, and are making money - maybe not PoTBS. In this game I have to buy a sub, DLC, Reply Tokens, extra slots - inventory for example - and so on. Economically, it is cheaper in the long run then a monthly sub - especially since I will play, pause and then return. I bought the Fight for Light DLC when it came out, and I still have access to those powers and content; however, because this model is very limiting in game play, it is not economical for me. The model for MMO has changed to the micro transaction, and I have no issue with that as I buy something like a DLC, but I'd hope, since the last time I played, the escrow, which is why I left a month or so after buying the Fight for Light, was removed. Yes, I get a game has to make money - people have to eat. But, as this is a free market economy, and as much as I like the game, I can move on, and I will stop playing it for now. Doesn't mean I stop reading the forums.
"it was never designed as a f2p game" - excuse number 1 LETS look at trek ....the dilithium mining means you can get everything free just its one heck of a grind....HERE....not so , cause even when you do go legendary the elitist stuck up top players do everything they can to prevent you form attaining CR ....i know ive seen it and i go so pissed off for a week all i did was NON t1 and t1 raids.... now most of those are t5 and guess what same type a people....so few helpful people THEN that disgusting thing i saw happening with exobits....where a latino hero and villain league were buying up all the exobits villain side and taking them hero side ....FORTY FIVE PAGES OF STACKS A EXOBITS and they seemingly now appear every time i log on and goto my lil farm zone.... like ill be flying round no prob then poof from 1-4 of them that's not fun and i'm going to make the accusation that its one of the devs trying to do this to people via others....or what not so we pay forever and get no where HERO TO VILLAIN ACCOUNT SHARING is the problem...end it and you might actually see people come back to the game. OH and any league caught acting with a villain league or vice versa should either be banned OR have to respec each member to a villian or vice versa.... when you have people doing that it wont matter about escrow you need mods....and WHOOPY make v mods synthetic right? WELL that borked my base mods on my all my toons after equipping onto pve armor 3 weeks technically i could not play so i farmed.... and farmed i've sold a few hundred stacks to see that hero side and i know whose doing and all involved.... gonna go play rift....or GU2 or star wars or trek....this ones a waste a cash not to mention you ripped me off of my replay badges....others say they didnt get SC , i did but got no SC and had to use 1K SC i had planned for your armories...which are over priced and now im not buying either... chat bugs that make the hud and chat disappear ( i see you fixed the base mods , i actually played THE GAME yesterday ..) it might also be more helpful to look up youtube and contact the people that make help videos and see if YOU can then do that and put mini vids in game for people to learn IT TOOK ME 12 characters before i got the mod system...TWELVE....that is how helpful people are in the game and i can say out of all the players about 4 helped me truly.... dont say i dont give back either as i have sold millions in exobits i did so undercutting everyone.... yesterday i snapped i started to sell them one at a time to find oh i have a 20 trade limit so i did what the cheaters did i put exobits onto each character and sold 20 exobits one at a time IT NOW feels like this is some kind JOB not a game.... that is when you know it time to move on.... p.s. its even worse hero side.... and a proper free to play model means what is called micro transactions....a sub can give some benefits BUT they also rely on lil bits NOW trek can be totally free right? if you really work at it....so guys like me said hey thats cool ya know what im a spend a few bucks on it to show them appreciation....700$ worth.... i'm not only one getting peeved at the latino b.s. either and im not being racist its a specific group a people trying to ruin the game for everyone and get power hungry to twist the spirit of the rules. THE idea of sharing too toons is to help thyself NOT make the game so hard to get anywhere that ill end up paying thousands before i reach CR 99 and get invited to do a nexus raid ya its elitist rich person attitude....and that escrow is just a part of it if i sell exobits at under 2K THEY BUY THEM up preventing my nice gesture to help f2p players anyone else angry yet? CAN i pay to be angry.....
Based on the anger and resentment I've read in these posts about how terrible the F2P model here is, I HIGHLY suggest that you not attempt Star Wars: The Old Republic and would humbly recommend giving Guild Wars 2 a chance. The subscription model is much nicer in DCUO, and let's be honest..it only costs about 1 beer and a cheeseburger at a quality establishment. Now I can understand that there are multiple reasons that people either can't afford or are not willing to pay a subscription fee, however as a general rule MMOs are cash-cows, they want your money and they'll find anyway they can to extort it from you. Another word of advice, stay the hell away from World of Tanks and anything that has EA attached to it.
I totally understand the Escrow but having the Premium cap only 500 above the free version is really insane. It would better if the cap was raised to 15k or 20k. I also recommend you try GW2 as I play that game and it is just getting good with the ending of the 1st season of living stories. Also everything is obtainable and there is nothing in the cash shop that can get players ahead of everyone else.
no it dont to get anywhere in any time frame my 96 dps guy is 9 months old ive had ot spend on avg 20-25 bucks a month in replay badges it was so bad at one time i played the police station duo 30 times till i finially reached enough marks to gt me anywhere and all that time i cant afford the 1.3 million for any expert mods or the 400-500 K for exceptional recoveries.... and then you have people like right now are harrassing me just for my view on this....whom wont come here cause then you will know whom they are..... the games being ruined by jerks and greedy people....and for 35 bucks a month i bet the 15$ guildwars 2 might be a good try....
Completely disagree with you on WoT. You can buy everything but Gold, Premium Account, and Premium Tanks using F2P (even than, in a good Clan with a reward system, they can gift you a Premium Tank and or Gold). I don't know the last time you played it, but Gold only makes it go faster since they allowed Gold Ammo and Gold Consumables be purchased with Creds. Granted, when not running a Premium Account, you just spend more time playing mid-tier tanks. A lot of games that use to be sub either converted well to F2P, or died. CoH was the only Sub game I seen die because they insisted on making the Sub Account so "superior" they gained no new real players as the subs took off to the elite servers keeping population low on the F2P servers - among other things. SoE has various options here for using micro-transactions, but in time, this game may end up the way of PoTBS. SoE could focus on: DLC, and ideas like this micro-transactions for bank, inventory, auction house slots micro-transactions for every 500-1000 increase in allowable cash, and/or micro-transaction to unlock 1000/5000/10000 from escrow introduce new and existing powers that can be purchased outside of DLC, off the top of my head Invincible: tank power mainly focusing on taking damage with a weakness to magic Super Strength: an offensive tank power using pbaoe to hold arrgo with high dmg melee attacks but little to weak deffense powers (if you played CoH, the Shield Defensive is a weak def but had a heck of a punch for a tank) Gravity: debuff controller focuses on holds with DoT Empathy: healer, and it's DPS aspect would be emotional manipulation Necromancer: tank with a living dead army that holds aggro, and melee power drain Time Manipulation: controller with pbaoe and aoe holds, and a vortex causing a player to jump/warp backwards Radiation: controller with a variations of holds, drains and other debuffs It's not about if a game is originally designed for Subscription, it's how you transition to the F2P market. DCUO is not doing a good job of the transition.
