I haven't even used mine yet, I'm still a bit overwhelmed by all the choices and I fear screwing things up lol
If you scew up you can always delete the character. You won't lose the FF slot.
True that. Make a few test characters and run them through the first few levels to get a feel for what you like best then start a new one once you have it figured out.
I used it on my third acct- Silver. Got plenty on the others.
Cactus Jac (Jacqueline) on the grounds that Spiky was already taken by one of the other characters. A sort of plant person.
I still say they should leave it in the stop and never remove it... that way EVERYONE gets a free one, period... not just "everyone who logs in for the weekend" but everyone who ever plays... everyone deserves to get 1 free form to try out and decide if they want to pay for more or not...
I agree with this, specifically because I dabbled in this game for awhile, but eventually lost interest. When I caught wind of the free freeform slot, it not only drew me back, but actually got me interested in the game. So yeah, they have a lot to gain by making it a permanent, one-time unlock.
Of course, the counterargument is that I could just make a new account every time I want a new character, effectively bypassing the need to sub for "proper" access to freeform. And that's a legitimate concern.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Of course, the counterargument is that I could just make a new account every time I want a new character, effectively bypassing the need to sub for "proper" access to freeform. And that's a legitimate concern.
The same logic applies to character slots. You could create unlimited free accounts and never have to buy one. But the main reason people don't do that is because you lose access to all of your purchased/unlocked costumes and account bound devices on other accounts. And even if someone did create multiple accounts to get multiple FF slots, chances are they would still wind up buying some costume or vehicle that they wanted on each character. All of that said, I'm sure some people would exploit the system, but I think that in the long run you would attract many more new people to the game and wind up making much more money than you would lose.
Of course, the counterargument is that I could just make a new account every time I want a new character, effectively bypassing the need to sub for "proper" access to freeform. And that's a legitimate concern.
The same logic applies to character slots. You could create unlimited free accounts and never have to buy one. But the main reason people don't do that is because you lose access to all of your purchased/unlocked costumes and account bound devices on other accounts. And even if someone did create multiple accounts to get multiple FF slots, chances are they would still wind up buying some costume or vehicle that they wanted on each character. All of that said, I'm sure some people would exploit the system, but I think that in the long run you would attract many more new people to the game and wind up making much more money than you would lose.
Yes, but none of those are really as game-changing as unlimited access to freeform. The level of effectiveness between when my character was an archetype vs now that it's freeform is like...massive. Worth giving up random costume unlocks and such, in many cases.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
thanks, I have yet to find a concept I like before trying to get the powers though.
I know right? When you only have that one slot, it's like this magical thing and you want to make sure to put the perfect thing into it n_n ...then one day you're buying a subscription because you can't take it anymore and you want a whole bunch of slots so you can be whimsical with your creations!
Of course, the counterargument is that I could just make a new account every time I want a new character, effectively bypassing the need to sub for "proper" access to freeform. And that's a legitimate concern.
People that would do that would never have bought a freeform slot anyways, so no sales are lost.
People that would do that would never have bought a freeform slot anyways, so no sales are lost.
So true. I'll remember this brilliant response every time that "legitimate concern" is voiced.
Cheers for that.
Well then, rather than making assumptions, how about you take it directly from a newer silver player such as myself:
If I end up liking this game enough, I might buy my way to have freeform access because archetype play just doesn't compare. On the other hand, if I can make an alt account and get a free freeform character without having to pay, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Remember, not everyone has a ton of account-wide unlocks, or cares about having to give them up in exchange for unlimited freeform access.
Don't misunderstand, I'd actually like to have a freeform slot available to every account. Since I am also capable of seeing it from Cryptic's perspective, I can totally understand why they may not want to do so.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Well then, rather than making assumptions, how about you take it directly from a newer silver player such as myself:
If I end up liking this game enough, I might buy my way to have freeform access because archetype play just doesn't compare. On the other hand, if I can make an alt account and get a free freeform character without having to pay, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Remember, not everyone has a ton of account-wide unlocks, or cares about having to give them up in exchange for unlimited freeform access.
Don't misunderstand, I'd actually like to have a freeform slot available to every account. Since I am also capable of seeing it from Cryptic's perspective, I can totally understand why they may not want to do so.
Do you think you'll ever buy a costume pack?
See here's the issue for me. Character slots cost money. And yet they give you 2 of those for free with every account you make. And yet, people are buying character slots, just to have all their Archetype characters on one account.
If what you say is true, then shouldn't Cryptic have stopped giving away these character slots long ago?
Well then, rather than making assumptions, how about you take it directly from a newer silver player such as myself:
If I end up liking this game enough, I might buy my way to have freeform access because archetype play just doesn't compare. On the other hand, if I can make an alt account and get a free freeform character without having to pay, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Remember, not everyone has a ton of account-wide unlocks, or cares about having to give them up in exchange for unlimited freeform access.
Don't misunderstand, I'd actually like to have a freeform slot available to every account. Since I am also capable of seeing it from Cryptic's perspective, I can totally understand why they may not want to do so.
Do you think you'll ever buy a costume pack?
I snagged a few Gravitar pieces if that's what you mean. There's so many default options available though, so giving those up for additional freeform slots would absolutely be worth it.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
This is getting funny, because it seems like some people are forgetting that Cryptic was just giving away free FF slots last weekend. And guess what? People could create as many free accounts as they wanted then. So either the people that work at Cryptic are idiots...or they already decided that issue was not a major concern. Granted, 1 weekend is not the same thing as all the time. But they obviously thought that giving away free slots was worth it if they wound up making more money from other sales, from all of the people coming back or trying the game for the first time because of the giveaway. Lots of people buying small things is better than only a few people buying big things. That is the entire philosophy behind the F2P model.
This is getting funny, because it seems like some people are forgetting that Cryptic was just giving away free FF slots last weekend. And guess what? People could create as many free accounts as they wanted then. So either the people that work at Cryptic are idiots...or they already decided that issue was not a major concern. Granted, 1 weekend is not the same thing as all the time. But they obviously thought that giving away free slots was worth it if they wound up making more money from other sales, from all of the people coming back or trying the game for the first time because of the giveaway.
Granted, 1 weekend is not the same thing as all the time.
Exactly.
Someone who tries this game because of the weekend freeform may or may not have had the foresight to make say, 10 accounts so they could have 10 freeform characters later on. It's far more likely that someone who tries the game with that promotional, limited-time freeform slot may decide to subscribe or whatever is required to unlock freeform. After all, they don't have the option to make additional free accounts with built-in freeform slots anymore.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
This is getting funny, because it seems like some people are forgetting that Cryptic was just giving away free FF slots last weekend. And guess what? People could create as many free accounts as they wanted then. So either the people that work at Cryptic are idiots...or they already decided that issue was not a major concern. Granted, 1 weekend is not the same thing as all the time. But they obviously thought that giving away free slots was worth it if they wound up making more money from other sales, from all of the people coming back or trying the game for the first time because of the giveaway.
Granted, 1 weekend is not the same thing as all the time.
Exactly.
Someone who tries this game because of the weekend freeform may or may not have had the foresight to make say, 10 accounts so they could have 10 freeform characters later on. It's far more likely that someone who tries the game with that promotional, limited-time freeform slot may decide to subscribe or whatever is required to unlock freeform. After all, they don't have the option to make additional free accounts with built-in freeform slots anymore.
Ok. And what about...everyone else? All the people who are currently silver players? They aren't clueless noobs, and could have created hundreds of alt accounts if they wanted. Do you think Cryptic just forgot about them? Obviously not. Obviously they decided that the pros outweighed the cons. Again, lots of small sales > few big sales. That is what F2P is all about.
I snagged a few Gravitar pieces if that's what you mean. There's so many default options available though, so giving those up for additional freeform slots would absolutely be worth it.
The magical girl set alone makes me emphatically disagree with you.
Aesica, if you had purchased any of the costumes from the C-store, not just ones from drops, you'd likely be more inclined to want to keep all of your characters on one account. Also, I find your statement of:
If I end up liking this game enough, I might buy my way to have freeform access because archetype play just doesn't compare.
Really doesn't counter the argument made, it really just further supports it. Those who would abuse the system and make hundreds of accounts weren't going to buy a freeform slot or subscribe anyways. As a teacher once told me, "'might' and 'maybe' are just 'no' in disguise"... When your asked if you will do something saying "I might" or "maybe" just says to everyone "I don't want to"...
1 free freeform slot for everyone all the time would bring along a few abusers who make 1 character accounts for free freeforms, but they will be few and far between. There are numerous factors that will keep most players to a singular account.
1) Purchased costumes from C-store with real money - If you bought costmes with real money, or bought a discontinued rare costume in game that you want to use across multiple characters your highly HIGHLY unlikely to make multiple accounts for free freeforms, you'll be more inclined to buy additional FF slots or subscribe. 2) Friends - How likely are you to add all your friends to every account you create? Not very... there's a reason people get annoyed when a new MMO comes out and the friends list is per-character with no account-wide friends options... no one wants to clutter their friends list with 50 entries for the same friend or go through adding all their friends again with every new character. 3) Hideout Storage - Without this your back to the old system of mailing yourself everything when it comes to helping out an alt... or multi-logging and risking a ToS violation... 4) BoA Heirlooms - Can't use BoAs to power level an alt if your alt is on a different account... 5) Simplicity - It's just far simpler to have all of your characters in one place.. decide you wanna play another character? Well now you gotta log out rember which account they were on loginto it and load up ther character... alternatively you could just have them all on one account, logou to character select and switch characcters...
I used it on my third acct- Silver. Got plenty on the others.
Cactus Jac (Jacqueline) on the grounds that Spiky was already taken by one of the other characters. A sort of plant person.
Nice!
I can't bring myself to make a plant person until they actually have some plant powers, though (I do have one Nem, but...disappointing). I know I may be holding my breath forever.
See here's the issue for me. Character slots cost money. And yet they give you 2 of those for free with every account you make. And yet, people are buying character slots, just to have all their Archetype characters on one account.
If what you say is true, then shouldn't Cryptic have stopped giving away these character slots long ago?
Big, big difference between two archetype-only character slots and one freeform slot, both functionally and monetarily. The functionality you get with the freeform and the amount of money you'd save by getting a bunch of free ones is a much larger incentive to create extra accounts for.
If I end up liking this game enough, I might buy my way to have freeform access because archetype play just doesn't compare.
Really doesn't counter the argument made, it really just further supports it. Those who would abuse the system and make hundreds of accounts weren't going to buy a freeform slot or subscribe anyways. As a teacher once told me, "'might' and 'maybe' are just 'no' in disguise"... When your asked if you will do something saying "I might" or "maybe" just says to everyone "I don't want to"...
Not really a fair point, since he is still new so he has no idea if he'll even get to the point of liking the game enough to subscribe.
I snagged a few Gravitar pieces if that's what you mean. There's so many default options available though, so giving those up for additional freeform slots would absolutely be worth it.
Gravitar pieces are in-game drops, and still avaialable... had they bought some costumes from the cash shop or bought a rare discontinued costume piece they'd most likely be more inclined to be unwilling to give them up for additional free freeform slots.
Kinda playing Devil's Advocate here, but when I unlock a certain costume piece, I don't want to use it on all my characters. If I have a classic superhero characters, he's not going to want anything to do with a lot of the in-game drops. Like all the Westside stuff, for instance. When you have a lot of character slots on your account, you want to hoard all the stuff you can because "maybe you'll use it on a new character later." When you just have one character, I can see compartmentalizing drops and unlocks on different accounts not being a terrible problem.
I think the way they're doing it now works fine. I think free freeform for everyone would hurt the game. For people who missed it? They might bring back that same store item later, so those who never got it can get it, without showering freeform slots everywhere. Only Cryptic knows if it drives sales and/or subscriptions, though, so if it was good for the game, we'll likely see more in the future.
Only Cryptic knows if it drives sales and/or subscriptions, though, so if it was good for the game, we'll likely see more in the future.
This I agree with completely. If their "test" worked, they'll do it again, and that will be the end of the "giving away FF slots will hurt the game" argument. However, if they never do it again, that would also prove that it apparently did not work. So just to give us some frame of reference, if they have not done it again by this time next year, I'm willing to admit it obviously didn't work. My only caveat is that they didn't really do any advertising outside of their own website, so you can't expect huge success unless you are willing to really get the word out there.
Only Cryptic knows if it drives sales and/or subscriptions, though, so if it was good for the game, we'll likely see more in the future.
This I agree with completely. If their "test" worked, they'll do it again, and that will be the end of the "giving away FF slots will hurt the game" argument. However, if they never do it again, that would also prove that it apparently did not work. So just to give us some frame of reference, if they have not done it again by this time next year, I'm willing to admit it obviously didn't work. My only caveat is that they didn't really do any advertising outside of their own website, so you can't expect huge success unless you are willing to really get the word out there.
Unless they didn't want the word out cause they didn't want a whole bunch of folks making free accounts ahead of time to take advantage. A ridiculous fear on their part if that was actually the case . . . but also a possibility.
Or it could have just been their usual lack of a marketing/advertising department, ie, the Cryptic/PW marketing team being made up of just one or two people dedicated to CO. (More likely just one person.)
But as stated, only Cryptic/PW know the business plan.
EDIT: To be clear if they do do it again more power to them. With that said I think the only REAL thing that can help the longevity (attract and keep new players) of this game is a constant flow of new actual content. Being able to play pick and choose with powers is irrelevant if you've already run the same damn content over and over again for two years+. Which is where I am as a person that has had Freeform from the start of the game.
4 years here. 100+ alts at 40. still running missions, for some reason even with the same build, things don't always work out the same when runningthem
Gravitar pieces are in-game drops, and still avaialable... had they bought some costumes from the cash shop or bought a rare discontinued costume piece they'd most likely be more inclined to be unwilling to give them up for additional free freeform slots.
Let's pretend that next maintenance, the Gravitar set will be retired and no longer available. Suddenly, that gives my account a limited-edition costume unlock. I'm not "giving up that costume unlock" in exchange for freeform slots on an alt account overall, since my main account can still use those pieces on any character I want. Instead, that alt account and resulting freeform character just wouldn't have that option, which is fine. What if I don't want to use those costume pieces on that particular character? I don't want to all of my characters in the same clothes, do I?
- - -
Semi-contrary to what I said previously, I do think it'd be just fine if a single freeform slot was automatically unlocked upon reaching level 30 or 40. That way, the player has to invest some time in the game first, and since in games like this, the first character is usually a throwaway, it gives them a chance to learn on a fairly fixed-path archetype so they're better educated when it becomes time to build their freeform character. Jumping straight into freeform like I did was...kind of a messy experience, because at some point, I'm going to be rerolling my entire power set I think.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Comments
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Cactus Jac (Jacqueline) on the grounds that Spiky was already taken by one of the other characters. A sort of plant person.
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Of course, the counterargument is that I could just make a new account every time I want a new character, effectively bypassing the need to sub for "proper" access to freeform. And that's a legitimate concern.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Cheers for that.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
If I end up liking this game enough, I might buy my way to have freeform access because archetype play just doesn't compare. On the other hand, if I can make an alt account and get a free freeform character without having to pay, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Remember, not everyone has a ton of account-wide unlocks, or cares about having to give them up in exchange for unlimited freeform access.
Don't misunderstand, I'd actually like to have a freeform slot available to every account. Since I am also capable of seeing it from Cryptic's perspective, I can totally understand why they may not want to do so.
See here's the issue for me. Character slots cost money. And yet they give you 2 of those for free with every account you make. And yet, people are buying character slots, just to have all their Archetype characters on one account.
If what you say is true, then shouldn't Cryptic have stopped giving away these character slots long ago?
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Someone who tries this game because of the weekend freeform may or may not have had the foresight to make say, 10 accounts so they could have 10 freeform characters later on. It's far more likely that someone who tries the game with that promotional, limited-time freeform slot may decide to subscribe or whatever is required to unlock freeform. After all, they don't have the option to make additional free accounts with built-in freeform slots anymore.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
1 free freeform slot for everyone all the time would bring along a few abusers who make 1 character accounts for free freeforms, but they will be few and far between. There are numerous factors that will keep most players to a singular account.
1) Purchased costumes from C-store with real money - If you bought costmes with real money, or bought a discontinued rare costume in game that you want to use across multiple characters your highly HIGHLY unlikely to make multiple accounts for free freeforms, you'll be more inclined to buy additional FF slots or subscribe.
2) Friends - How likely are you to add all your friends to every account you create? Not very... there's a reason people get annoyed when a new MMO comes out and the friends list is per-character with no account-wide friends options... no one wants to clutter their friends list with 50 entries for the same friend or go through adding all their friends again with every new character.
3) Hideout Storage - Without this your back to the old system of mailing yourself everything when it comes to helping out an alt... or multi-logging and risking a ToS violation...
4) BoA Heirlooms - Can't use BoAs to power level an alt if your alt is on a different account...
5) Simplicity - It's just far simpler to have all of your characters in one place.. decide you wanna play another character? Well now you gotta log out rember which account they were on loginto it and load up ther character... alternatively you could just have them all on one account, logou to character select and switch characcters...
I can't bring myself to make a plant person until they actually have some plant powers, though (I do have one Nem, but...disappointing). I know I may be holding my breath forever.
I think the way they're doing it now works fine. I think free freeform for everyone would hurt the game. For people who missed it? They might bring back that same store item later, so those who never got it can get it, without showering freeform slots everywhere. Only Cryptic knows if it drives sales and/or subscriptions, though, so if it was good for the game, we'll likely see more in the future.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Or it could have just been their usual lack of a marketing/advertising department, ie, the Cryptic/PW marketing team being made up of just one or two people dedicated to CO. (More likely just one person.)
But as stated, only Cryptic/PW know the business plan.
EDIT: To be clear if they do do it again more power to them. With that said I think the only REAL thing that can help the longevity (attract and keep new players) of this game is a constant flow of new actual content. Being able to play pick and choose with powers is irrelevant if you've already run the same damn content over and over again for two years+. Which is where I am as a person that has had Freeform from the start of the game.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
- - -
Semi-contrary to what I said previously, I do think it'd be just fine if a single freeform slot was automatically unlocked upon reaching level 30 or 40. That way, the player has to invest some time in the game first, and since in games like this, the first character is usually a throwaway, it gives them a chance to learn on a fairly fixed-path archetype so they're better educated when it becomes time to build their freeform character. Jumping straight into freeform like I did was...kind of a messy experience, because at some point, I'm going to be rerolling my entire power set I think.