ARR is a savior!Follow

Irrelevant stuff as a result from poor reading comprehension.

Basic logic.

If the Living Story is a TV show, it’s the filler arc that people watch not because it’s compelling or enjoyable or even embodies what you liked about the show in the first place, but because it’s filler that allows you to spend a little more time in the world you bought into because of the main plot line. No-one is unhappy to see the filler arcs end and the story return to the main plot. Fillers are pacifiers, things that keep you occupied until what you really want comes along. Yeah, GW2 needs an expansion, Living Story is falling short.

Expansions add all new dungeons, all new weapon sets, all new maps, all new armour sets, new traits and skills (let’s be honest though, the current traits and skills aren’t even remotely balanced or complete), all new story (and not some side story like Flame and Frost which feels like it may as well have never happened, but something big and appropriate for the heroes that took on an elder dragon).

I will admit that the Consortium make a better enemy than Zhaitan ever did, not because they are more threatening but because they have motivations and not some mindless beast. They are compelling. This doesn’t make the Living Story good, it makes the Personal Story weak. Having said that, I feel that story telling efforts would be better spent on a real meaty story that has some greater relevance to Tyria. The Living Story so far just feels like the tiny selective plots from each of the maps of Tyria (like the human struggle with the centaur in Harathi) released slowly over a period of three months (show me someone who spent three months happily and actively playing in Harathi) with a major cash shop component and a mini-dungeon that relies on being temporary to supplement the need to be quality. The primary reason people play Living Story is the carrot on a stick (two back slot items, a bunch of titles and crazy MF buff) not because of compelling gameplay or story content.

If Living Story was more robust (and had more free content instead of most roads leading to the gem store for cosmetic or desirable loot) it might adequately supplement an expansion or at least give an more satisfying experience until it comes, but its current form is not enough. It’s early days but the story we’ve completed so far was mostly irrelevant (just an excuse for refugees, the Molten Alliance were terrible enemies both in terms of their motives and the consequences or lack thereof from defeating them, the consequences of that chapter are trivial compared to an elder dragon exhaling) and the additions to Tyria were frustratingly temporary.

If this was a TV show, I’d be tuning out until the filler arc ended.

None of the Living Story content even comes close to how robust the WoW content updates are. WoW updates add whole new raids, weapons, armours, boss fights (with phases and different mechanics – their dungeons are also more robust than GW2 dungeons) daily quests, robust class balance (in a game with less class discrimination due to poor balance) mini pets and the like. The GW2 updates have brought lesser versions of each of these things.

For what it is, the Living Story is enjoyable and the Secret of Southsun appears to have improved upon and learned from Flame and Frost, but it’s no replacement for an expansion. It might help bide the time until one and it will help to strengthen the core game (one that was released unfinished and needed strengthening) but it isn’t adding the value that an expansion would add to the game.

Which of any of the games we've discussed launched as a free download?

I do believe this shows P2P models have greater financial potential than F2P models.

In that sense, I guess you're right... no AAA title has ever launched as a F2P game.

accusations of lock-outs, rampant temptation, poor content delivery and quality, and being nickel-and-dimed relative to current games that's gone on in this thread.

Cynicism is healthy.

I agree, I think EVE has the best hybrid model.

Wildstar's business model.

Not to rekindle the debate, but there's just one point I want to make that's completely separate from the revenue discussion. I also want to be clear that this isn't an argument that FFXIV should or should not be F2P, I'm just using the current experience to note why F2P can be an extremely consumer-friendly model.

I decided this morning to cancel my FFXIV sub. There's stuff I like about the game a lot, and I'm definitely not going to say I dislike the game. It's not quite the game I expected it to be, and I haven't gotten over that yet, but I've enjoyed much of my time playing. I'm just too-often bored (I'll put a spoiler at the end of the post in case people wonder why I'm leaving, but it's not the point of my post).

Thing is, I WANT to keep playing.

But that sort of sucks. Because while I want to play, I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth the cost. But if this was a scenario with a F2P game, I wouldn't be quitting. I'd keep playing like I did, and the chances of me eventually playing more, and spending more money, etc. go up. I'd be around for each content patch, which brings in a whole new chance for the company to really grab my attention.

So what am I doing instead? Installing RIFT. I never really played much of the game, because it launched when my PC was too weak to run it, and then I didn't have any friends playing it. And when it went F2P, I was still playing a lot of TOR.

But that's the thing. There is no reason not to try RIFT, now. I might hate the game, but I'm still giving the company a shot at my attention. The worst case scenario for the company is that I don't give them any money (which is the exact same scenario as if the game was P2P). The best case scenario is that I give them money (and best case is that I sub).

Maybe I won't love the game. Maybe I'll play it exactly like I've been playing FFXIV the past week. But the thing is, I'll actually be playing their game, and there might be a scenario where I'm willing to toss a few bucks their way. Or maybe I end up loving the game, and buy some cool armor skins, or sub.

As the consumer in this scenario, I can only win by ubsubbing from FFXIV, because the game just isn't worth paying for, for me. I also get to win in that I have a free shot at games like RIFT.

The only company losing here is SE. Because now they don't get my revenue. Whoever runs RIFT might ALSO not get revenue from me (unless there's an ad in the launcher or something), but they at least have a chance of it.

F2P is just the more consumer-friendly model in this specific scenario. When you love a game, yeah, the subscription doesn't feel so bad. But, frankly, $180 a year is a lot of money to be playing a game that's not giving you a really high-level experience when you're playing it, let alone before you take the amount you play into account. It adds up. $180 is 20% of a new rig. Cut out 5 things that cost you $15 a month and you've just saved up for a vacation in one year.

P2P is a consumer-friendly model if and only if the consumer is actually winning by playing. And, well, it's feeling increasingly uncommon for MMOs to be hitting that point for me. I have a life, and my free time is really limited.

Generally I don't even think about any of this. MMOs are designed to keep people playing, and I know this going in. But I'm also not under a delusion that FTP games are cash grabs from evil developers who prey on their fan base while PTP games are works of art from benevolent developers that have no goal other than creating a great game for their fans. Both styles have their business model which clearly influences game design, and yes, they are both there to make money and there's nothing I or anyone else can do except find one we like and enjoy the ride.
Edited, Feb 19th 2014 9:36pm by Susanoh