Age of Conan going F2P

[Velorath]

Launching sometime this Summer, they have a breakdown of free and premium content up, as well as an FAQ.

There's a lot of information in the links, but these are the basics:

General

When will the hybrid model be launched?
The current plan is to switch to this new model during summer 2011.

What does it mean that you are now introducing a hybrid business model?
In the simplest terms, anyone can play ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’ at no cost. No subscription is required. You can download and play for free.

‘Age of Conan: Unrated’ offers player the option of playing the game for free, without obligation. The business model is a hybrid of the 'store only' free-to-play model and the tiered offering that includes a Premium subscription option. This allows us to let players experience everything Hyboria has to offer, while still offering great added value to Premium subscribers.

Will I need a credit card to play?
No. There are no upfront obligations at all for playing ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’. However, should you wish to purchase items from the store, or upgrade to a Premium subscription, you’ll need a valid payment method.

In addition to major credit and debit cards, we also accept Paypal, PayByCash and ClickandBuy for purchasing points.

I liked AOC enough that I'd be somewhat interested in this, except that I really dislike the class limitation, and there's no word on what happens if you make a "premium" class character and later switch to free (in other words, do you lose use of that character).

[luckton]

Well I guess that's it then...this is the way things are done with the current generation.  If your game fails to make a good first impression (and honestly, did anyone actually expect anything different from the same people that launched AO?), thus failing to retain a good chunk of people to justify a monthly subscription, then you go F2P in order to get back those you disappointed back and hope for the best.

This is how it should be done now, and I expect this to happen to FFXIV, Fallen Earth and even WAR before the year is out.  Older titles that are still alive probably wouldn't benefit as much, like DAoC or EQ, since development for them is essentially just monthly maintenance and balance tweaks.

It's not a bad philosophy, I mean..gotta make that money and put food on the table, but I'm sure it's gotta be disheartening to the devs to see all their work go to entertaining the internet bottom-feeders.

[WindupAtheist]

stuff

 

[luckton]

stuff

 

/goes back to lurker-mode

[Hawkbit]

I was mildly interested, then noticed that both AA and Sieges are not available at the free level.  First rule of F2P should be:  Don't limit character advancement, limit content.  Sieges are more of a personal opinion; I would go back for free if sieges were available.

[palmer_eldritch]

Having played up to max level in AoC, I suspect high levels will feel too hard and very frustrating without AAs. Whether that will encourage people to pay a sub fee or just give up in disgust remains to be seen.

Edit: No, this is wrong. I got the AA system mixed up with feats.

[Threash]

I played Age of Conan during launch and don't remember any alternate advancement, can someone explain it to me?

[Malakili]

I only ever tried the demo of AoC.  Going free means I might give it another chance if I'm looking for something MMOish.

[K9]

I was mildly interested, then noticed that both AA and Sieges are not available at the free level.  First rule of F2P should be:  Don't limit character advancement, limit content.  Sieges are more of a personal opinion; I would go back for free if sieges were available.

Surely sieges are content?

I might give this a go; the free-to-play version of AO convinced me to sub and play for a couple of years. I don't have as much time now as I did then, but I'm content to take a look, especially since I'm out of wow for the forseeable future.

[Hawkbit]

Yeah, I didn't word that properly.  Sieges should be included, or at least allow players to pay $5.00 and unlock them on the free account.  Something... other than just not allowing them at all.

[Morfiend]

Yeah, I didn't word that properly.  Sieges should be included, or at least allow players to pay $5.00 and unlock them on the free account.  Something... other than just not allowing them at all.

This jumped out at me too.

Looking at that list, seems like the free accounts are pretty limited.

[luckton]

Yeah, I didn't word that properly.  Sieges should be included, or at least allow players to pay $5.00 and unlock them on the free account.  Something... other than just not allowing them at all.

Freemium vs Premium FAQ is also up: http://community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&template=content&func_id=3308&table=CONTENT

Can a free player take part in Sieges?
Free players may purchase time-limited passes to the zones related to sieges (Bori and Borderlands), while subscribers may participate in as many sieges as they like, whenever they like

[Xanthippe]

It's not a bad philosophy, I mean..gotta make that money and put food on the table, but I'm sure it's gotta be disheartening to the devs to see all their work go to entertaining the internet bottom-feeders.

Someone trying out a game for free to see if they like it is an internet bottom-feeder?   

[Spiff]

I played Age of Conan during launch and don't remember any alternate advancement, can someone explain it to me?

I stopped playing a while back (and don't plan on ever returning, F2P or not), but iirc, the AA system is something they introduced with the "Rise of the Godslayer" expansion and is mostly an offline advancement system: It's a perk-system that adds certain stats (like 'stun immunity' or 'reduced incoming damage') or specific skills to each class.

You can earn points to spend from raids or epic encounters or something, or you can research them using time (you select a perk to research and depending on how advanced it is it takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days/weeks; actual time btw, no need to be logged in).

Seemed to me just another way to grind, which is what the expansion mostly was: a huge soulsucking grind (with some of the prettiest graphics I've seen in an MMO though, "House of Flying daggers" meets Conan  ).

[Shatter]

I almost went back to AOC with the ROTGS expansion last year but it quickly became clear that much of the new content was faction and AA grinding. 

[Xanthippe]

What are sieges?

I haven't played this since the first month, I think.  I really liked the game until I got to level 20.  Now I can't even really remember why I didn't, other than hating the community from the get-go, which may not be fair; a game community the first month isn't representative of the community that ends up sticking.




(Edited due to premature postulation).

[Samprimary]

This is just the kind of free play mode that allows people to have just enough access to the game to make absolutely sure that they don't want to pay a dime for it.

This isn't F2P, it's a vaccine.

[PalmTrees]

It got me interested in taking my old AoC char out for a spin, but since it's a Herald and not one of the free classes, I promptly lost interest in AoC again. If they'd let me play my old char again for free they'd might be able to get  few cash shop bucks out of me.

[raydeen]

Interesting. I got an email saying my account was reactivated through the end of May so I d/l'd the client and patched and tooled around a bit the last couple of days. Made it to Tortage with a barb and started to do the first quest to get my manacles removed and thought, 'Yeah, it performs a bit better than it did originally and it is kinda fun but I don't think I'll be subbing again'. Well now, F2P changes everything. This way I can still play a bit and convince my wife that it's ok to spend another $8 a month on Netflix!

[Lantyssa]

Can't be a Dark Templar.  Lost interest.

[01101010]

That is a very limited class list. Should just put in a 10day or 14day trial rather than this crippled system.

[VainEldritch]

Yeah I got that E-mail too - shame my PC's not up to it anymore...  

On the other hand AoC was a love/hate thing with me. I love the graphics/animation, the melee system and the AA system even the sieges (when they worked). I hated the magic system, the PvP levels and the glacial rate at which they attempted to balance the classes or address even blatant unbalances (like casters decimating anything with the affront to wave a pointy thing at them for - what - two years?).

F2P may well get me back into the game - at least until SWTOR comes to a galaxy near me.

[luckton]

F2P may well get me back into the game - at least until SWTOR comes to a galaxy near me.

And really, isn't that what we're all waiting on? 

[Ashamanchill]

Can't be a Dark Templar.  Lost interest.

 

I remember being psyched about the Dark Gimplar Templar from way before release. Then when I actually played the game, and realized it was the worst class I had ever played in an MMO, I switched over to the less cool, but WAAAAAAY more powerful Guardian.

I wonder how many of the people that get drawn into this are new people, who might have heard about AoC but were scared away by the accurately bad reviews, or returning folks like us who played and left out of disgust.

[Lantyssa]

Even gimped I loved my DT.  It had the exact flavor I wanted.

[Xuri]

I liked AOC enough that I'd be somewhat interested in this, except that I really dislike the class limitation, and there's no word on what happens if you make a "premium" class character and later switch to free (in other words, do you lose use of that character).

Here's what Famine said on the topic:

The class restrictions for free players only apply for players who never have been a Premium player before.So if a player changes from Premium to free will get to choose from his existing characters even if they should not be from the four free classes.

Example: Player Arnold is a Premium player and created a Herald of Xotli, a Guardian and a Necromancer. He then decides to become a free player and thus has to choose two from his existing three characters (as free players by default have 2 character slots available, if they don't purchased additional character slots). Player Arnold could then choose his Herald of Xotli and his Necromancer as his still active characters, even though these classes are not among the four free classes.

As to deletions, your characters will not be deleted if you do not choose them or use them when you go free.

[Sky]

Now that is kind of interesting.

[Lantyssa]

Are people who purchased the game and subbed years ago considered former premium players?  If I can choose my DT as one of mine, then it won't be so bad.

[01101010]

I liked AOC enough that I'd be somewhat interested in this, except that I really dislike the class limitation, and there's no word on what happens if you make a "premium" class character and later switch to free (in other words, do you lose use of that character).

Here's what Famine said on the topic:

The class restrictions for free players only apply for players who never have been a Premium player before.So if a player changes from Premium to free will get to choose from his existing characters even if they should not be from the four free classes.

Example: Player Arnold is a Premium player and created a Herald of Xotli, a Guardian and a Necromancer. He then decides to become a free player and thus has to choose two from his existing three characters (as free players by default have 2 character slots available, if they don't purchased additional character slots). Player Arnold could then choose his Herald of Xotli and his Necromancer as his still active characters, even though these classes are not among the four free classes.

As to deletions, your characters will not be deleted if you do not choose them or use them when you go free.

Again... 

[Ingmar]

It's not a bad philosophy, I mean..gotta make that money and put food on the table, but I'm sure it's gotta be disheartening to the devs to see all their work go to entertaining the internet bottom-feeders.

Someone trying out a game for free to see if they like it is an internet bottom-feeder?   

They already had a free trial thing, full F2P is a different crowd of players entirely. See: the largely toxic GW community.

That said I haven't noticed LOTRO's community turn into gibbering morons since it went F2P so I think luckton is being overly pessimistic. (Although I would not be surprised to see AoC specifically become a cesspit.)

[luckton]

Well I tried to login tonight since their anniversary thing goes till the end of the month, but apparently my account still shows as inactive.  I guess they don't want me to try the game that badly :P

It's not a bad philosophy, I mean..gotta make that money and put food on the table, but I'm sure it's gotta be disheartening to the devs to see all their work go to entertaining the internet bottom-feeders.

Someone trying out a game for free to see if they like it is an internet bottom-feeder?   

They already had a free trial thing, full F2P is a different crowd of players entirely. See: the largely toxic GW community.

That said I haven't noticed LOTRO's community turn into gibbering morons since it went F2P so I think luckton is being overly pessimistic. (Although I would not be surprised to see AoC specifically become a cesspit.)

And I probably am, and I mean no offense to those who use these opportunities to try the games.  Can't deny though that there is a good chunk of people out there that can only afford free, and then have the nerve to whine on the internet about how the game should be or how their rig can't run what was designed to be a triple-A title.

[Khaldun]

Look, this is something you either do or you don't. (And design to or not.) These guys are going about it like they're trying to be a little bit pregnant. Which, honestly, is a symptom of why they failed in the first place: design timidity, dull-wittery, etc.

[Stormwaltz]

That said I haven't noticed LOTRO's community turn into gibbering morons since it went F2P

My opinion: a game that begins with a strong community is better able to absorb shocks to the community.

[caladein]

Well, the starter zones* turned into an absolute mess.  On the other hand, GLFF/Moria General were always worthless pits and F2P just gave them a new thing that could set off a torrent of bitching at the drop of a hat.

*: The Shire less so than the other two .

[Amaron]

Does anyone still play?  I'm curious if this is their bid to cash in or if the population has been dwindling so much that they had their hand forced.