Just how "free to play" is DCUO?

Cool, you can use GIF tags. Now can we actually have a conversation without trying to demean each other?

If you state blatant falsehoods, expect responses like that. Or did you like this response better?

You underestimate how cheap people can be.

Alright lets talk about the assassin time capsules. Ive been collecting a few but havent paid much attention to them till recently. Just throwing them in my bank. Then i started looking into whats needed to open them and i need stabilizers. How do you get stabilizers?

Well, one is just dropping cash. Simple enough.
Or you can grind them. Kinda.
You have to go into a specific event and kill things. Thats simple enough. But then how many fragments you get depends on if and how much money you have dropped on the game. member, you get 6. Free to play like me, half that. OK OK wallet handicaps me again. The runs arent that long, mayb 3 minutes per. I can grind out 5 pretty quick to get the full 15. No biggie.

BUT THEN YOU ADD A LOCKOUT!!!!! I cant keep earning the fragments. I cant just go grind it. I have to wait. Not sure how long the lockout is. Judging by my vault lockout over a day. How many moneywalls are you going to put around 1 thing? How badly do you guys REALLY need to handicap free to play players?


I dont mind doing the work. I dont mind the grind. I expect it playing as a free to play player. I expect working harder then those that are willing to open there wallet. But the time out so i cant even go back and earn more? Thats just low.

Edit, looks like a 2 hour lockout. Still, thats really low. For something im already getting half of you have to lock it out so i cant grind it.

Fragments are on a day lockout. It's the same for all of us. They're filled with cosmetic items (mostly), and as F2P you don't really need to worry about them. Still, you might get lucky and get a rare collection, but I doubt it. Even members have to purchase them if they really want a certain style.

As to the amount of fragments earned, yes, the game rewards subscribers with perks. This is one of them.

Correction - The Devs are not actually misleading anyone about the game being "Free To Play".

A really simple way to think about it is...

"Free to Play" means "Free to Use". Nothing More. Nothing Less.

Usage = Your ability to log-in... AND USE... the dcuo servers / software to play with your character, with other people.

Features = Any functionality that enhances gameplay, somehow.
(i.e. Like Content, Maps, Bank Slots, Inventory Slots, In-Game Economy System, Cash Caps, Weapons, Powersets, Escrow Limits, 8-man Raids, Solos, Duos, 4-man Alerts, Loot Drops, Gear, Armor, Cosmetic Items, DLCs, Episodes, Auras, Time Capsules, Alternate Character Slots, Base Items, Lairs, League Halls, Seasonal Events, Artifacts, Utility Belts, R&D Items, Mail System, Broker System, Vendor Bots, etc., etc.)

The Usage is Free.
The Features cost money.

Sorry if this may sound harsh, but... Lots of F2P gamers want something for nothing.
It's not that Game Developers (like Daybreak) don't care... It's that they want to make money.

But in order to do that, they cannot just give everything away... for Free.
Or they will go out of business.

- You guys are expecting MORE 'Features'... for Free.
- But this game only provides 'Usage'... for Free.
- Any extra 'features' they may also provide to F2P gamers is a BONUS.
- Because Subscribers pay for Features. Not Usage.

You pay a certain amount of money.... you unlock / access a certain set of features.

The Usage is Free.
The Features cost money.

Knarlydude - I think you are conflating Features & Usage. And treating them like they are 'one in the same'. (which happens all the time, to everyone) But DCUO's advertisements & how they promote the game is not wrong.

Some Game Developers just offer more 'features' in their "Free to Play" MMO Games.
While other Game Developers offer less. That's all.

Hope this helps.

It's quite clear you're either short a few or you're just trolling. Numerous people have explained in detail how the game works, the reason behind the subscription model and what you can achieve with shortcuts within the game. You've decided to continue to ignore that and spout drivel that you've clearly not taken the reasonings behind why.

If you generally want everything for free and when you want it then tough. People like you do my head in. Holding your hand out expecting everything that others actually contribute and pay for. Quite clear you don't want to spend a single dime so as far as I am concerned, you're irrelevant for the game going forward and progressing.

Thats the right attitude, if you dont pay you dont matter! Thats a great way to treat players! Right on! Crack that wallet open or go kick rocks!

If you are NEVER going to contribute financially to the game progressing, why should you matter when it comes to PAID content?

I pulled this from another article about Free games and how they differ. If you read it and you should. You will see and be able to understand how free players help free to play games like DCUO. Free players are being used as much or even more than the free players are using the games that they play.

MICRO-TRANSACTIONS
So how do microtransactions and free games work?
Usually, a player can buy small things for low prices (often less than a dollar, rarely more than five), that enhance their play experience such as styles that they can add cosmetically to their online avatar.

DO ALL THE PLAYERS SPEND MONEY
Of course not, even with the lure of micro-transactions, not all players put money down. The creators of Zynga’s Farmville said that only between 3% and 5% of players actually ever spend any money on the game. On top of that many measures which could theoretically increase the players experience, such as offering up premium bonuses that would give a competitive advantage like stat buffs, are usually violently rejected by the player base with cries of “pay to win.”
However, depending on the game, it’s often very feasible to not only make money off of the remaining 3-5% of paying customers. These games usually make a lot of money off of the 3-5%. ( Booster Bundles & TC's in DCUO )

THE REST OF THE PLAYERS
So what’s the use of the other 95% of the people who aren’t paying anything to play the game? The free players are actually a product.

A couple things that usually drives players to play multiplayer games are:

1. To have a wide competitive experience: With a far larger pool of players provided by the low barrier to entry on the game, the paying player is more likely to find opponents within his or her skill range and is therefore more likely to be satisfied by the game and continue playing (and purchasing micro-transactions).
2. Playing with friends: Many players want to spend online play time with friends. However, it’s difficult to get online friends corralled together, and this is doubly difficult when said friends have to pay their way into a game. When the game is free, it’s much easier to get a critical mass of people to give it a try.

THE COSTS TO PLAYERS
So if a player tries out a free-to-play game and they don’t pay microtransactions, is the experience free? Well, not quite. As stated above, players who aren’t paying aren’t really customers anymore, they’re contractors employed by the game company to provide opponents for the paying players. As such the developers want to keep these types of players in the game as long as possible. This means that it often takes much longer to achieve things as a “free” player than it would in a paying game or than it would for a paying player in the same game.

This ladies & gentlemen is how DCUO should be working but they continue screwing themselves with all the paywalls throughout the whole game. When or if DCUO goes open episodes we will start seeing more players & better content. If not then it's going to be a slow agonising death like it has been since DCUO went Faux Free to Play in 2011.

You are totally ignoring that the concept and purpose of a game developing company is not just creating joy in the hearts of gamesr. The purpose is to make money and to sustain oneself.

As many many people have pointed out here is that the core game is free to play for everyone. There are just perks and DLC content that is locked behind a paywall or things that are only available for subscribers. If you don't pay any money on this game, you are not really relevant to the concept and purpose of a gaming company up until you downloaded the game and tried it out. The moment you decide you won't spend any money on it, you indeed don't matter. It sounds tough and harsh but that's basically what a free to play model is all about.

Free to play is ment to draw interest in the game so that you get a subscription or pay some money to get certain things you want - not all but only the things you paid for. I have listed pretty much everything you can do. If you're not ready to pay after you played all of this then there is no need to give you more to try out.

How would having more inventory space or cash cap as free to play make you want to spend more money on inventory space or cash cap? It would not. Never ever. I have never in my live seen a business that is interested in people who won't make them money.

You've never played a real free to play game then.

Read my comment above and you might learn something about how real free games operate.

All true but that's why you have four tier stages of free content, seasonal events, PvP (yes I know..) and Event Versions of new Content. A majority of active paying players is in the endgame. There is no increasing experience from Free to play players there and even only a small amount of premiums - the ones who payed for their stuff to even get to the endgame.

Your post might be true for some free to play models but certainly not for all of them. Also, Farmville ...

And finally, they are maybe screwing themselves in your eyes, but if they really would do that, there wouldn't be a DC Universe Online to complain about anymore.

I only play games I am interested in. If a in your eyes "real free to play game" is not among them, then so be it. We are talking about DCUO. And because of this I see no need to play a game I don't like just because it would be practical as an argument. I listed all the things F2P players can do, I started the same way in this game and I stand by my opinion that it is enough. The only thing I would agree on is that Home Turf could be accessable to F2P players. It's not much and Utility Base and Lair System are seperate things anyways. Just to give F2P players more Tier 4 stuff to do. And that's all.


Also: Nobody said that DCUO should or is a "real free game". Not does it has to be one. Don't know where you're getting this from...

I understand what you are saying but opening up everything like open episodes did will only benefit the paying customers more. The rest of the Free to Play stuff is here and it's here to stay. Like it or not. We might as well bring in more people so that we can have a better time.

I'm a subscriber and I see where this is going because I've played my fair share of free games. The only thing left is open episodes and it will be better for everyone whether you realize it or not.

One last thing, I love my sub.
If DCUO did not have it I would not play but I also understand the benefits of a 100% Free to Play game.
DCUO has had the perfect blue print right in front of them for years but they refused to use it to their full advantage.

Why settle for one type of player ( subscriber ) when you can have more?

Because the subscribers provide regular income, which is what the game needs. While free players, especially the sort who refuse to pay anything, provide nothing.

They provide plenty. If the game right now banned all accounts that never spent any money you would lose 80-90 percent of your player base. Free to play players provide the majority of your player base.

I would literally see zero difference in Endgame. Or when queueing up for anything above Tier 4 (and some tier 4 instances as well). Only queue times for Area 51 and League of Assassins would be longer. That's it.

Just go to dcuobloguide for a second and check what instances are DLC-bound. All of these will never ever recognize the disappearance of all free to play players.

Hmm...

DCUO is "Free to Play" as long as you "refuse to pay". This is true for all MMO's with Free To Play.

These days, MMO's are VERY careful about how they describe their "free to play" models; for example, DCUO never advertises HOW MUCH of the game is free. Not many MMO's can claim that all content in their game is free to level up your character to the max level. The word "free" is very attractive and distracting; it brings many gamers to the yard, which is what MMO's want. They want you to try out the game and hopefully buy into it. However, most of those MMO's will only give you a taste, a sample of what the game has to offer. Those samples have been expanded, but they are still just that; samples. It is up to YOU to figure out how much of the game you want to play and how much you want to pay for it.

I too am an old time gamer and I remember those "free trial periods" when the major MMO's would allow you to play their game for a certain period of time (about 1 to 2 weeks) for free. Some games, like Wow, limited that free access by restricting that free character to level 20; after that, you had to subscribe. This was how MMO's used to try to get new players in and invite former players back. Sometimes, if you were lucky, you got a free demo disc of the game that you could play over and over until you got tired of it.

Free to Play has opened up the way for MMO's to attract more people to their games, plain and simple. However, those companies still need to make money and having a' la carte services, DLC's and content packs are their tools for making a profit.

In short, you get what you pay (or don't pay) for. *shrug*