[Subscription should not be its pay model]

To be as honest as possible the subscription model helps keep masses of unwanted trash players, that will never spend 1.00$ on the game, out of the game.

 

NovaQuark should not use the Titanic game model that has been going ever since WoW took over the MMO market.

 

Can anyone name me a memorable free to play / cash shop game that they have stuck with and played for any length of time? They don't exist.

 

Planetside 1 in its time was vastly more fun than Planetside 2 will ever hope to be.

 

TOR, Wildstar and all the others that start as pay 2 play and go free to play is because they overhype and break the ship in half. There's nothing wrong with their games staying pay to play, but they don't want to put any effort into making the game better so they cop out ditch the sub and put in a cash shop.

Nobody is happy with 50,000 to 300,000 active subscribers anymore its laughable that the industry thinks the gold standard is reaching 1 million active sub's minimum to keep a game alive.

 

WoW and EV.E are the only successful games out there, though both of them are bordering dangerously close to failure with their cash shop's.

 

If you overtap your playerbase for money they'll burn through the content and ditch the game, sure you get a quick buck, but eventually your' game becomes lost in the wind of all the other free to fail games.

 

Once you start putting shares, quarterly revenue reports, and stockholder opinions above the quality of your' game you've lost, you aren't a game anymore.

All they care about is hyping stuff up in order to drive "traffic" into the game, and subjecting them to the highest degree of advertising and pressure to buy garbage from the cash shops.

 

If you like the sound of this game, if you want a community, if you want content, support the developers in their quest to return the glory of subscription's.

 

I never played planetside 1 so I dont know if planetsid2 two wasn't as fun but I loved it and invested money into planetside 2 (until daybreak took over and those money grabbers can't crash and burn for all i care.

 

As for eve and wow boarding close to failure because of their shops, I don't agree. they are trying to stay competitive. that is the crux of it. 

 

Have you noticed the changes primarily have happened in wow.  lets see. 

 

• Faster to level (this I feel is because today's gamers don't have the stick-ability to take a year to level and learn there toon, I gave up when power levelled tanks can't tank)
• Able to buy mounts and pets (what is this, can't you little Adhd players grind for the satisfaction of when you get that illusive mount)

and 

• Able to jump into random dungeons to level with people who you can't guild with because they are on a different shard. (Welcome to the game you whiny little shits who leave because the groups can't kill a boss first time even though it was your fault we wiped)  

 

Best example I have come across was a Warrior Tank who queue in random as a tank and then said to me a druid. oh sweet you can can't I will DPS. problem was I was the healer and told him to Tank as he queued in and I didn't have tank gear. he told me I was a loser because I didn't dual spec and carry tank gear.

[Subscription should not be its pay model]

I can understand your sentiments on this mish, but it has been my experience that paying regular instalments actually keeps the quality of the game high and content consistent. In the past, I would not play any MMO that was free or micro-transaction based because the quality was usually equivalent to what you pay for, free = terrible. 

 

 

I would agree with you to a certain amount Ferran.  The Pay to Play model in the past has usually been paired with games of high quality and regular updates. But as the gaming industry has started to understand is that a p2p model is a high pay wall that most people are not willing to pay anymore.  I see many people play f2p or b2p and sometimes complain about the quality but in general they are still not playing p2p games.

 

This game potentially needs to have a huge community and p2p may make that hard to achieve. and micro-transaction for customisation's and non game mechanics changing this is extremely lucrative if done right.  maybe even Make limited edition ascetic items, maybe 1000 of a particular texture set for a ship. maybe so I can fly around with one of the only 1000 18 carat gold destroyers... Woot

 

That first part was a bit of an overstatement, and actually overwhelmingly untrue. The subscription model certainly has some problems, but it does not, as you say, force you to keep buying a game. Ferran's points are true...with a subscription model, developers have incentive to further update the game, or else players will simply stop paying and playing. Players continue to have access to better content, and developers have a steady stream of funds to further improve content. With buy-to-play, developers see a huge influx of money at first, but that soon runs out and players are left with the game as it is, or worse, even more expensive DLC and expansion packs.

 

Take Netflix - you pay monthly for access to its library of titles, not buying all of the TV shows and movies themselves - that would be enormously expensive. Dual Universe is similar - you don't pay for the entire game and all of its content upfront - you pay periodically for access to a constantly evolving and constantly improving system.

 

Astrophil, you are correct you do not have to keep buying the game...  as you have never brought it in the first place.  The p2p model is a lease on a game that perpetually can update bringing you new content.  but for a lot of people that has stopped being an acceptable way to consume media.

 

I invested (both proud and shamefully) about 6 years into World of Warcraft.  Do you know what stopped me from continuing to play?  the p2p model and then on top of that the shift to anonymity of the random queues.  the pay to play model did not stop people from being assh....'s and in the end they changed the game completely under me from a game I loved to something that was horrendous.  and what am I left with.

 

I spent more money on that game then I have on my entire steam library and now I don't get to play it and can't even see my beloved character on the armoury as I have been inactive too long.  This is reinforced by the fact Blizzard went after the largest private server who was hosting classic wow because they were threatened by it.  If blizzard would roll up a heritage server to go back and have vanilla or before cataclysm then I would buy a once of payment to play on it. Oh and buy the way, did you hear that WoW keeps loosing active players.

 

As for Netflix, this is a completely different type product and subscription on here makes sense.  but that is because you are not subscribing to one developer for one product.  Netflix is bringing you a multitude of company's bringing you regular diverse updates to all different type of programming.  This doesn't even come close to what you would be subscribing to for a single game by an independent developer.

[DevBlog: Monetization, player happiness and economic viability]

I'm not going to go over all the points due to the fact that many other have amply covered the pros and cons of each. However I will state my preference. I see the biggest benefits comming from a PtP. However I wouldn't mind seeing a lifetime subscription come up in the very beginning of (let's say) the Alpha build. This is due to the fact that the people who buys these subscriptions will most likely be people who have been around for awhile and have been supporting the game in some way. However, the flip side to this is, the majority of people that would buy a lifetime subscription would be the ones who would also happly pay for a subscription anyway. Now apologizes ahead of time if my logic is somewhat scewed but those are just my thoughts.

 

If the game continues to show promise and I can some how be involved to test out the game, all be it by some closed alpha or beta process and I deem it good enough I will pay for an life time subscription as long as that price is not too exuberant. 

 

I will not however pay for a subscription like I used to for WoW.  There are two many other developments out there that are progressing well that have a b2p structure and even some f2p systems are working to some success and can be very financially lucrative.

 

I see a subscription as a sure way to cripple a game.

• Wildstar : gone f2p with optional Signature service(subscription)
• Elder scrolls online : gone b2p - dropped subscription
• Guildwars 2 : gone free to play with buyable expantions
• Rift: gone f2p with optional Patron status(subscription)
• SWTOR: gone f2p

Even WoW has partially gone free to play with level cap and a possible Veteran Edition could be coming for players of old to play without paying.

 

The two most successful new developments I have seen (only my opinion) are Ark survival evolved, and Star Citizen...  

 

Ark has even added a Free way for you to be able to play a portion of the game to wet your appetite with the survival of the fittest.

 

My view is. I wont... wont pay for a subscription on a game that has so much competition out there, and have so many developments that don't come to completion for what ever reason. So much risk of lost investment with early access. and I have brought many EA games (cry's over cubeworld, starforge, nether, Entropy, Tug... the list goes on)

 

I would pay a retail price and pay for expansions like I have with Elite Dangerous. I will buy founders packs for games and then in-game purchases for games I thing have merit in the f2p style. like Planetside 2 (only while owned by Sony and not the abomination of money grabbing Day Break) and Firefall.

 

I want to see this game succeeded and I want to be involved. you have a epic task to make this game available to enough people to make the community good and you have the same epic battle to hold the attention of the ADHD generation of gamer's that are emerging and driving the f2p style as they can't stay on a game long enough to make subscriptions viable.

 

This is the age of the independent developer and at the same time the struggle to get enough people religious about your product. In my own circles we have about 20-30 people on a community teamspeak and about another 30 or so close mates on steam and we all diverge into different games - all different walks of like and different game genre interests.  The games we come together to play are either buy to play, where sometimes we gift to people who can't afford or f2p so we can all play.  Not once have we ever grouped together in a subscription based game.

 

I don't believe with the multitude of choice, that a required subscription based payment structure is something an Extremely Massive multiplayer Online (EMMO) style game survive on.

 

But this is only my opinion which will not be shared by everyone.  But fingers crossed what you choose will suit me and enough of my mates that we will able to participate in this journey with the Dual Universe Community.

[DevBlog: Monetization, player happiness and economic viability]

I do fully understand the opinion of those that are wanting the p2p subscription model.  I was a World of Warcraft player for many years and happily payed for the subscription and very rarely did I go without having an active subscription. 

 

But here in is a situation that I fall into now.  I am an older generation of player and I am someone who loves to game. I have limited time as I am busy in my career and my family but I am also a IT person working in a middle income tax bracket with work to do, and house hold bills and mortgage payments.

 

I do no like the idea or f2p as this is as people have said been the harbinger of doom for many games with people of no respect either flooding the community to scam or sell currency or just be royal "owner operators".  Being able to roll a new account when ever they please.

 

But I also don'd believe in the p2p subscription model anymore as what was said in the OP about two types of players skips my type out completely. I have limited time and limited money. This is the reason I have not played EVE past the initial purchase pack and time it had included.  I would not have a family to come home to if I needed to play enough to make enough PLEX to continue to play each month.

 

So this leaves me with only two options. play a f2p game that is likely to not be enjoyable because of the anonymity of as many accounts as you choose to make or to go with a B2P model and B2P expansions. I can put a sum of money down at the beginning and buy cool cosmetic items (non game changing!) some times when I have extra funds between bills and then can pay for expansions, I have been doing that with elite dangerous and they have made fair coin from me.

 

So in Summary

I would love to play this game as what potential it has looks amazing, however if subscription based I will look else where to find my entertainment, if f2p I will play and if community managed well (almost impossible task) then will continue to play and support through cosmetic shop, if B2P (my preference) I will likely be a dedicated supporter of the game and help the community flourish.

 

I hope to be able to join you in game and crew with the best, but if subscription based is the way you go, I guess I will see you where I have brought an experience with star citizen rather then renting a snapshot of Dual Universe.