f13.net

If you create an account between 15 December 2004 and 15 January 2005, your account will be free, even after that time period.

http://community.anarchy-online.com/content/news/articles/8387L

Seems like a sweet deal, until you read the fine print:
"The free version does not include access to any of the three expansion packs. Should you wish to upgrade to any of the expansion packs monthly subscription and client fees will be added."

So, only the basic game is free -- but once you buy an expansion pack, you gotta start paying a monthly fee.

Bruce

PS - Okay, so it seems like your account will only be free until 1/1/2006 (https://register.funcom.com/)

They've been making these very good offers because subscription is probably not looking good at all.  When Euro-Wow is released, I can't see them holding on to more than 30 or 40 thousand subscribers.

That's still not bad. Reminds me of the old Softdisc/id shareware distribution scheme where you can get the first few levels free but have to pay for the rest.

Sounds like a good plan to me. AO seemed to me to be a much better game than EQ.

And you should read the forum after the new game director have taken over.

Omg the happiness.

Simple changes to long time anoying things.  Dev's is talking to people..its like something is happening.

FC must be getting a little worried about the competition. And with good cause. Its a little thin on the servers, and around 50% of the guild im in is moving to WOW once it gets out in Europe.

But its still a good game that is getting better alle the time, and the new account is nice to have to dual log with to transfer stuff :)

Wasn't AO supposed to have a storyline that ended after five years?

Yeah, right.

This definitely makes the game worth checking out again... for the first time.

Will be interesting to see if AO evolves to another Near Death Studios situation.

Their numbers are far too high at the moment.

AO classifies as a "niche" MMO game at this point, IMO.  As such, they should consider experimenting with unusual pricing schemes.  Example:
- $10/month for a "family" account for 2 people, 100 hours maximum.  Build in an alarm feature to let me know if my time is expiring.

My wife and I play these games together.  When you factor in box prices, expansion boxes, and dual monthly fees, this hobby gets expensive.  I cancelled AO because I enjoyed it, but I was unwilling to pay $60/month for 2 accounts in both DAOC and AO.  Nevermind the situation today, where I'd love to *casually* play DAOC, AO, EQ2, and WoW.  That would be a cool $120/month for me and wife, add another $14 if we want 8 toon slots in EQ2.

This free account deal is nice, but it does nothing to address my issues.  Casual players need cheap pricing schemes, and companies need to do more to encourage couples with "family" deals.

Oh yeah, I should mention I own the ShadowLands expansion for AO, which is why this deal would not be especially great for me.  I'd have to make new toons from scratch, and I couldn't use my expansion.  Otherwise great, free stuff is free, but obviously they hope for people to end up paying monthly fees, or FunCom goes under.

I think the idea is fantastic. It'll probably breathe signifcant amounts of life into the gameworld, as well as provide subscribers that do eventually turn into $$. However, this is going to be such a CS headache that I'd actually probably quit just before they did this if I worked there.

I'm in the same boat but I'm more than willing to dump Shadowlands for a new free account. Shadowlands introduced nothing more than camping and powerleveling like mad, so I found myself playing alot more in Rubi-Ka simply because that's where I found AO's heart to be.

I may have to cut into my CoH time and reinstall it again. I really enjoyed running around exploring Rubi-Ka. I seem to recall the soundtrack wasn't halfbad for a MMOG either.

I own Notum Wars, SL and Alien Invasion expansions. Pretty sad considering that I usually only re-up for a month or two per year. Heh. I have to admit I would miss alot of expansion features, but I may just give the free account a go. Saving money is good. Hell, it'll probably cause me to resubscribe more often. Good marketing plan.

Isn't AO going to be flooded with the typical 'free online game' crowd now?   Will paying customers appreciate those new members?   Especially with no credit card to sign up, it will be griefer heaven.

This is a possibility, but then again the original no-expansion AO was a pioneer in instanced "missions".  Nobody can grief you there.  PvP exists, but almost nobody bothers with it, and it is easy to avoid.  The main problems would be in a few of the non-instanced dungeons, where there were already problems with spawn-camping.

Grief is going to exist no matter what. I would be more concerned about the muling potential. Getting another six characters to serve as pack mules and banks for free is a prospect any cyberpunk catasser will undoubtedly be looking into.