I didn't see it state anywhere that races introduced post-launch would be free. Like I said, I've never seen an official from Cryptic state that, but if you can find a quote, more power to you.
0
ivca115Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 13Arc User
I didn't see it state anywhere that races introduced post-launch would be free. Like I said, I've never seen an official from Cryptic state that, but if you can find a quote, more power to you.
go on the link i gave you and look for this (*note: copy pasted):
Will it cost ZEN to unlock additional Races and Classes?
All the available races at launch will be free. We are planning to release the regular Drow for free post-launch (after at least 60 days to allow for Founder's Pack exclusivity). Note that only the regular Drow race will become available; the Menzoberranzen Renegade will always remain exclusive to Hero of the North Pack purchases.
Details regarding additional classes and races should be announced soon!
if classes will be free, then there is no reason for races not to be... there may be some again cosmetic things related to new races
if classes will be free, then there is no reason for races not to be... there may be some again cosmetic things related to new races
Personally the fact that they have said over and over that future classes would be free, while not saying this about future races, says to me that they want the option to charge later if needed. Maybe they will and maybe they won't. I just think they will make that decision when they get to it because they never gave the "free guarantee" they gave on classes.
0
ranncoreMember, Moderators, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 2,508
edited April 2013
I'm honestly surprised they aren't charging for classes, but it's a smart move. With only 5 at release, a lot of people aren't going to want to pay for the 1 class they're interested in getting for the game. That's pretty much buy2play. Furthermore it only leads to heated debates about which p2w class is the best.
Granted, there will probably be p2w race arguments, but the racial bonuses are so subtle and minor, it's much more of a cosmetic choice, which is why I personally don't mind paying for races.
go on the link i gave you and look for this (*note: copy pasted):
Will it cost ZEN to unlock additional Races and Classes?
All the available races at launch will be free. We are planning to release the regular Drow for free post-launch (after at least 60 days to allow for Founder's Pack exclusivity). Note that only the regular Drow race will become available; the Menzoberranzen Renegade will always remain exclusive to Hero of the North Pack purchases.
Details regarding additional classes and races should be announced soon!
if classes will be free, then there is no reason for races not to be... there may be some again cosmetic things related to new races
That is just FAQ. It to help players and reflects current status.
There has been no official statement that Races will forever be free. The have explicitly always said "Classes and content will always be free" "classes and content will never be charged ever"... never said it about the races.
We assume that races will be free, for now the races are free (except for racial variant) - but will they always be free? Will dragonborn and genasi be free? - Nothing has been explicitly mentioned.
0
baka777Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited April 2013
I'm rather looking forward to playing this game without buying a single zen & seeing how well I can compete with the big spenders.
Cryptic has never stated that races will be free. If you think they have, I'd like to see a quote. They have, however, stated that future classes will be free.
Quoted directly from Cryptic CEO Jack Emmert at PAX East:
"We're going to be adding new classes that are 100% free. We don't charge for any of that. And it's going to be coming on a regular basis."
Take from an interview at MMORPG.com: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setView/videos/gameID/634/videoId/3021
Not sure if anyone responded to this yet as i'm still reading the rest of todays comments but in an interview with Totalbisquit (big name youtube celebrity) one of the devs was giving him a tour of the first or second beta and during their interview the topic came up and i believe the dev said to his knowledge they were intending for all future races/classes to be free and that they didn't like the idea of splitting up the community and really would make whatever the community wanted them to. (this means it could have a price tag to get them first but after awhile say... 2 months they will be free) (don't quote me on that though but feel free to check out the vid should be easy to google.)
I'm rather looking forward to playing this game without buying a single zen & seeing how well I can compete with the big spenders.
probably pretty well actually, if you play more than someone who spends money on zen weekly by around 5 hours a day you actually should be stronger until you hit level cap... and even though it takes someone to hit the same cap less time you'll have hopefully gotten better drops which means you should still be at least on par. just my hypothesis baised on what i and a friend achieved over 1 weekend.
0
kotliMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 577
of course that no one is asking money from you, after all, how could they dare? i think that i am not alone with my statement that 200 bucks is overpriced. i dont want to offend anyone here for buying the packs, but just look at what you get for HON money? Snip
Well the thing is it comes down to do you want all of the stuff in the pack if it worth the price or not some of the things are hard to price though, to me it worth the price tag. One thing I can say for sure is the Guardian pack is great value for money as to get a rank 3 mount and a companion in the Zen shop will cost you $50 and it gets $12 of diamonds thrown in (based on the minimum conversion ratio of Diamonds:Zen) meaning the rest is all freebies (might you this is dependent on you planning to buy a mount & pet similar to the direwolf).
if classes will be free, then there is no reason for races not to be... there may be some again cosmetic things related to new races
There is a perfectly logical reason for races not to be, and in fact at it's core it can be summed up as "because classes are free, races might not be". Because this game isn't a volunteer effort by people in their spare time; it's written by a large team of professionals, who insist on stubborn things like "eating" and "feeding their children" and "living in a house with a floor and a roof".
If you're going to have things that take as much development effort as a class be free, you can't just restrict yourself to purely cosmetic things to charge for. Races are a good compromise; there is no role that can't be filled by another race, and there is no gear that drops that can't be used by another race. Classes make sense, there will be gear drops for classes you might not own, if they were paywalled; but races? You won't be getting constant drops of items only usable by, say, githyanki.
Oh, there might be some Epic items that are restricted by race; I'm not aware of any in this game, but they exist in the source material. But you're not going to go around getting drops like that on a daily basis.
You will, however, get drops for Control Wizards, and it would be pretty annoying if you had to spend money to get a Control Wizard so you could use them.
0
silvergryphMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 740Arc User
edited April 2013
"We're going to be adding new classes that are 100% free. We don't charge for any of that. And it's going to be coming on a regular basis."
This is not a promise that all new classes will always be released for free. Just that there will be free ones released on a regular basis. But, the "...for any of that", bit could be seen as implying so. I do think that they are unlikey to charge for classes, but this statement leaves wiggle room. Also, if they come out with Hybrid multiclassing at some point they would be likely to monetize that somehow. I remember, but cannot find, a dev running a walkthrough somewhere in the many hours of beta footage out there saying that Hybrid would be the kind of multi-classing they would do. But, I can't find that or any other reference to it. If they do add multi-classing though it would have to be Hybrid multi-classing because the multi-class feats don't fit in with how they have structured feat points in NW.
"All the available races at launch will be free. We are planning to release the regular Drow for free post-launch (after at least 60 days to allow for Founder's Pack exclusivity). Note that only the regular Drow race will become available; the Menzoberranzen Renegade will always remain exclusive to Hero of the North Pack purchases."
Likewise, this in no way implies that ALL races will be free. Only the ones at launch and the Drow 60 days later.
Here's what I think they should do on classes. It's a slight modification from my previous suggestions on the issue.
All the Player's Handbook 1 "suggested builds" should be free, period. That's basic game content.
For each class in PH2 and PH3, there should be at least ONE "suggested build" class released, free. Ditto for the other official source books, such as the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide.
Further "suggested build" classes from PH2 and PH3 could optionally be cash shop items. "Hybrid" classes not directly based on a suggested build should absolutely be cash shop items, and there are an effectively infinite number of those they could introduce. There are balance issues to be addressed with those, and the best way to ensure those are addressed is if they're a source of income.
In this way, everybody who wants to play their favorite 4e class would have some method of doing so, but there would still be compelling reasons for some players to choose to spend money on something that better fits their playstyle or better matches their pen and paper character.
0
elewyndylMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
UGC is why Neverwinter Nights attracted so many D&D players who weren't otherwise gamers; it's why Neverwinter will do the same with D&D players who aren't otherwise MMO players.
Seriously what is UGC? I guess most in this Forum do not know what UGC is... I have played Baldurs Gate , Neverwinter Nights , WOW , Age of Conan, and tried DDO for 2 weeks and I have know idea what UGC is?
Well maybe I do if UGC= User generated content.... that said Foundry is not everything in this game.
Anyway yes Neverwinter Nights was good. However I got banned for 2 weeks by hardcore roleplayers server in Neverwinter Nights because a GM though it powerplayed to much lol... so yeah I want Cryptic and not hardcore roleplayers rule this world! I do not hate roleplayers and yes I have also played DD pen and paper roleplay.
Anyone who played DDO and was there before it went f2p, can tell you that it is a wrong strategy. The number of D&D players are not enough for sustainability of the game.
The players for this game should be inclusive of all, not just D&D players.
This! I have 3 friends and they do not care about DD.
Why do my 3 friends want to play this game?
A. It is free
B. It is fun
C. It is fantasy
D. It is Action combat
E. I am their friend and they like to play with me and each other.
There is nothing wrong being roleplayer. However this game will have endgame and it is not only about the Foundry though yes I am happy this game has Foundry also.
"We're going to be adding new classes that are 100% free. We don't charge for any of that. And it's going to be coming on a regular basis."
This is not a promise that all new classes will always be released for free. ...Likewise, this in no way implies that ALL races will be free. Only the ones at launch and the Drow 60 days later.
The upper management of cryptic has already stated many times in clear words that "Classes and content will always be free" "We won't charge for content ever"
So Classes and content have been promised to b free. It was omission of Races in those statements that have lead to doubts if Races will always be free or only the current races.
Here's what I think they should do on classes. It's a slight modification from my previous suggestions on the issue.
All the Player's Handbook 1 "suggested builds" should be free, period. That's basic game content.
For each class in PH2 and PH3, there should be at least ONE "suggested build" class released, free. Ditto for the other official source books, such as the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide.
Further "suggested build" classes from PH2 and PH3 could optionally be cash shop items. "Hybrid" classes not directly based on a suggested build should absolutely be cash shop items, and there are an effectively infinite number of those they could introduce. There are balance issues to be addressed with those, and the best way to ensure those are addressed is if they're a source of income.
In this way, everybody who wants to play their favorite 4e class would have some method of doing so, but there would still be compelling reasons for some players to choose to spend money on something that better fits their playstyle or better matches their pen and paper character.
I totally agree with this idea.
0
baka777Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
I agree. And another way of looking at it is this . . . people say paying "200 bucks for any game is ridiculous", let alone those of us who bought BOTH packs . . . yet they say it's "cheaper" to pay "15 bucks a month". Really? Sure. Cheaper if you pay for a few months then quit. Does anyone besides me here remember calculating 3 years of any given MMO we like (I say 3 years because that is about the average time I put into an MMO before finally moving on. Some folks stay for a LOT longer than that). That's $540.00. 200/15=13 (rounded down). So what folks are basically saying is that anyone who stays with an MMO even for ONE year are "ridiculous". Yet that is what they desire . . .
People need to learn basic grade school math before forming their conclusions about the "reasonable pricing" of what people spend on games.
Besides . . . that's like . . . a week's wages for low end jobs and a day's wage for higher end jobs. If the game is that important to you, then it's not that much out of pocket.
$200 up front, with ways in the game to earn zen for free. . .
Or
World of warcraft played from release (November 23, 2004) with all expacs. . .
Game and expacs cost $220.
Subscription from December 23, 2004 to April 8, 2013. Cost $1485
Total Cost to play WoW. $1705
Not to mention Blizzards own "cash shop" ( Its amazing how people forget/forgive this ) where one can buy mounts and non-combat pets.
0
ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
Not to mention Blizzards own "cash shop" ( Its amazing how people forget/forgive this ) where one can buy mounts and non-combat pets.
What are you talking about?!
I mean if you pay a sub there's no cash shop! That's absolutely ridiculous you should have access to all of the content if you pay a subscription!
Ok. Sorry I couldn't resist the smart allick remark.
As I said a few pages back the ONLY difference between a subscription game and a free to play game is that subscription games make you pay for content. Cosmetics are being sold in cash shops in other subscription games and it's becoming a more and more common practice.
Subscriptions are to pay for new content. The cosmetic cash shop as it appears in Neverwinter would exist with or without a subscription model.
So thank you Cryptic for supplying a great game free of charge!
What are you talking about?!
I mean if you pay a sub there's no cash shop! That's absolutely ridiculous you should have access to all of the content if you pay a subscription!
Ok. Sorry I couldn't resist the smart allick remark.
As I said a few pages back the ONLY difference between a subscription game and a free to play game is that subscription games make you pay for content. Cosmetics are being sold in cash shops in other subscription games and it's becoming a more and more common practice.
Subscriptions are to pay for new content. The cosmetic cash shop as it appears in Neverwinter would exist with or without a subscription model.
So thank you Cryptic for supplying a great game free of charge!
I know, and i agree mostly with you.
I just added WoW's cash shop because it seems 99% of the MMO community thinks it does not have one. . .
(also, looking back I could have bought a nice new PC with the money I spent on WoW. I REGRET NOTHING!)
"We're going to be adding new classes that are 100% free. We don't charge for any of that. And it's going to be coming on a regular basis."
This is not a promise that all new classes will always be released for free. Just that there will be free ones released on a regular basis. But, the "...for any of that", bit could be seen as implying so. I do think that they are unlikey to charge for classes, but this statement leaves wiggle room. Also, if they come out with Hybrid multiclassing at some point they would be likely to monetize that somehow. I remember, but cannot find, a dev running a walkthrough somewhere in the many hours of beta footage out there saying that Hybrid would be the kind of multi-classing they would do. But, I can't find that or any other reference to it. If they do add multi-classing though it would have to be Hybrid multi-classing because the multi-class feats don't fit in with how they have structured feat points in NW.
"All the available races at launch will be free. We are planning to release the regular Drow for free post-launch (after at least 60 days to allow for Founder's Pack exclusivity). Note that only the regular Drow race will become available; the Menzoberranzen Renegade will always remain exclusive to Hero of the North Pack purchases."
Likewise, this in no way implies that ALL races will be free. Only the ones at launch and the Drow 60 days later.
i have to say that i would not be surprised that they do anyways... one way they can do it, it is like in STO. One ship at low level for game currency, the same one slightly tweaked and more powerful for real money(but with something else somehow equivalent obtainable by playing). in NWO, you can have a draw for free or buy the fancy one HoN got for $10... easy don t worry they ll find a way to monetize classes, races etc...
The upper management of cryptic has already stated many times in clear words that "Classes and content will always be free" "We won't charge for content ever"
So Classes and content have been promised to b free. It was omission of Races in those statements that have lead to doubts if Races will always be free or only the current races.
With all my respect Gill, Cryptic devs are not known to stick to their words...many times they said something and few month later peddled back... what they say is only good for today...that s the only promise they can make. trust me.
0
ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited April 2013
That is the common misconception, timm4444.
I don't know which MMO started it but the number of MMO's which don't have cosmetic and convenience shops are dropping like flies.
Subscriptions are kind of like a "Legacy Effect" which is why I make a distinction between Free to Play and Freemium.
For instance Cryptic can't take away the subscription model from CO or STO even if they wanted to. Players would instantly feel like their money and time playing was wasted. Why did they spend all that money on subscriptions if everybody can get all that content for free now!?
So the solution is to make some content free and keep the subscription model and continue to release content which is both free and subscription based to keep both markets interested. Those games are Freemium: a Premium Game with free access and content.
If Cryptic's Marketing could go back in time I bet they would opt to have made those Free to Play from the start too but sadly once you have a premium game it's hard to remove the premium without hurting players so the premium remains indefinitely.
I don't know which MMO started it but the number of MMO's which don't have cosmetic and convenience shops are dropping like flies.
Subscriptions are kind of like a "Legacy Effect" which is why I make a distinction between Free to Play and Freemium.
For instance Cryptic can't take away the subscription model from CO or STO even if they wanted to. Players would instantly feel like their money and time playing was wasted. Why did they spend all that money on subscriptions if everybody can get all that content for free now!?
So the solution is to make some content free and keep the subscription model and continue to release content which is both free and subscription based to keep both markets interested. Those games are Freemium: a Premium Game with free access and content.
If Cryptic's Marketing could go back in time I bet they would opt to have made those Free to Play from the start too but sadly once you have a premium game it's hard to remove the premium without hurting players so the premium remains indefinitely.
The only reason why STO and CO still have subscriptions is due to lifetime subscriptions. If there was no lifetime subscription, then they would have no subscription at all. STO has the worst incentive to be a subscriber that I have ever seen. Subscribers are now an endangered species. With the current system, STO is saying fork over $200 or so to be a lifer or quit paying a subscription.
I don't know which MMO started it but the number of MMO's which don't have cosmetic and convenience shops are dropping like flies.
Subscriptions are kind of like a "Legacy Effect" which is why I make a distinction between Free to Play and Freemium.
For instance Cryptic can't take away the subscription model from CO or STO even if they wanted to. Players would instantly feel like their money and time playing was wasted. Why did they spend all that money on subscriptions if everybody can get all that content for free now!?
So the solution is to make some content free and keep the subscription model and continue to release content which is both free and subscription based to keep both markets interested. Those games are Freemium: a Premium Game with free access and content.
If Cryptic's Marketing could go back in time I bet they would opt to have made those Free to Play from the start too but sadly once you have a premium game it's hard to remove the premium without hurting players so the premium remains indefinitely.
Dude, World of Warcraft Invented the Cash shop, just like they invented the MMO genre.
With all my respect Gill, Cryptic devs are not known to stick to their words...many times they said something and few month later peddled back... what they say is only good for today...that s the only promise they can make. trust me.
You can't really expect them to. The people that sign their paychecks make the decisions for them. They can't predict what the market for this game is going to be like 5 years from now, or even in 6 months. Even if upper management makes the call, those calls change. That's just the way the world works.
You gotta remember, Benson's Animal Farm went somewhere. (kudos to anyone who gets that)
There are 10 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.
For instance Cryptic can't take away the subscription model from CO or STO even if they wanted to. Players would instantly feel like their money and time playing was wasted. Why did they spend all that money on subscriptions if everybody can get all that content for free now!?
Cryptic has my main char held hostage, in CO. I made him early access, pre-launch. Spent over 2 hours on his costume, and he's christian bale & chuck Norris put together. In a nutshell, I love him, but to play him... I gotta shell out 15 bucks a month. Can I switch him to silver status? Sure... but that would take away his uniqueness. Could I pay FIFTY DOLLARS!!!! for a free-form slot... sure, but f^*& that!
The only reason why Im willing to give this game a chance, is because I shouldn't have that problem... but that deep seated hatred will forever be there.... forever
0
omnlnkMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Cryptic has my main char held hostage, in CO. I made him early access, pre-launch. Spent over 2 hours on his costume, and he's christian bale & chuck Norris put together. In a nutshell, I love him, but to play him... I gotta shell out 15 bucks a month. Can I switch him to silver status? Sure... but that would take away his uniqueness. Could I pay FIFTY DOLLARS!!!! for a free-form slot... sure, but f^*& that!
The only reason why Im willing to give this game a chance, is because I shouldn't have that problem... but that deep seated hatred will forever be there.... forever
Wait wait....was this whole thing over a grudge? Welp, 12 pages of reading and scratching my head as to "why" you said anything now makes sense.
Dude, World of Warcraft Invented the Cash shop, just like they invented the MMO genre.
Also, I agree with you.
"World of Warcraft" didn't invent anything. Not the MMO genre or the Cash Shop. EverQuest was successful years before WoW launched. Not that it was the first MMO either, but it is an example of a successful MMORPG that existed years before Blizzard launched WoW.
As far as the cash shop goes, I have no doubt the reason they have a store to sell game items at all is because they are testing the waters about going Free to Play at some point and because Blizzard will not pass up the opportunity to squeeze another nickel out of their customers lol. They certainly didn't have a cash shop before anyone else lol. There were already several free to play games that had cash shops before Blizzard launched theirs and I am not even going to talk about the sad state of their store either or the poor selection lol.
A lot of people don't realize that Blizzard knows they will most likely have to go Free to Play at some point down the road if they want to remain competitive. They have stated that they were not considering it right now, because they just launched an expansion not too long ago, but they are considering the possibility in the future if the current Free to Play trend continues. In other words, if their current trend of declining subs continues lol. They still have a massive player base currently, but they have gone from 13.5 million subs, during the time of WotLK, down to around 9 million. That is 4.5 million subs down from their peek. I don't really know what their numbers look like from the last few months of this year, but I can't imagine that the Pandas have suddenly drawn in several million new subs.
Games like Neverwinter are the future. Better gameplay mechanics, better responsiveness, better graphics, and....FREE. Mark my words, it may not be this year, or the even the next, but sooner or later WoW will go free to play (or at least they will call it that). I suppose though when Blizzard finally makes WoW free to play, people will say that they invented free to play too lol.
Comments
I didn't see it state anywhere that races introduced post-launch would be free. Like I said, I've never seen an official from Cryptic state that, but if you can find a quote, more power to you.
Will it cost ZEN to unlock additional Races and Classes?
All the available races at launch will be free. We are planning to release the regular Drow for free post-launch (after at least 60 days to allow for Founder's Pack exclusivity). Note that only the regular Drow race will become available; the Menzoberranzen Renegade will always remain exclusive to Hero of the North Pack purchases.
Details regarding additional classes and races should be announced soon!
if classes will be free, then there is no reason for races not to be... there may be some again cosmetic things related to new races
Personally the fact that they have said over and over that future classes would be free, while not saying this about future races, says to me that they want the option to charge later if needed. Maybe they will and maybe they won't. I just think they will make that decision when they get to it because they never gave the "free guarantee" they gave on classes.
Granted, there will probably be p2w race arguments, but the racial bonuses are so subtle and minor, it's much more of a cosmetic choice, which is why I personally don't mind paying for races.
That is just FAQ. It to help players and reflects current status.
There has been no official statement that Races will forever be free. The have explicitly always said "Classes and content will always be free" "classes and content will never be charged ever"... never said it about the races.
We assume that races will be free, for now the races are free (except for racial variant) - but will they always be free? Will dragonborn and genasi be free? - Nothing has been explicitly mentioned.
probably pretty well actually, if you play more than someone who spends money on zen weekly by around 5 hours a day you actually should be stronger until you hit level cap... and even though it takes someone to hit the same cap less time you'll have hopefully gotten better drops which means you should still be at least on par. just my hypothesis baised on what i and a friend achieved over 1 weekend.
Well the thing is it comes down to do you want all of the stuff in the pack if it worth the price or not some of the things are hard to price though, to me it worth the price tag. One thing I can say for sure is the Guardian pack is great value for money as to get a rank 3 mount and a companion in the Zen shop will cost you $50 and it gets $12 of diamonds thrown in (based on the minimum conversion ratio of Diamonds:Zen) meaning the rest is all freebies (might you this is dependent on you planning to buy a mount & pet similar to the direwolf).
There is a perfectly logical reason for races not to be, and in fact at it's core it can be summed up as "because classes are free, races might not be". Because this game isn't a volunteer effort by people in their spare time; it's written by a large team of professionals, who insist on stubborn things like "eating" and "feeding their children" and "living in a house with a floor and a roof".
If you're going to have things that take as much development effort as a class be free, you can't just restrict yourself to purely cosmetic things to charge for. Races are a good compromise; there is no role that can't be filled by another race, and there is no gear that drops that can't be used by another race. Classes make sense, there will be gear drops for classes you might not own, if they were paywalled; but races? You won't be getting constant drops of items only usable by, say, githyanki.
Oh, there might be some Epic items that are restricted by race; I'm not aware of any in this game, but they exist in the source material. But you're not going to go around getting drops like that on a daily basis.
You will, however, get drops for Control Wizards, and it would be pretty annoying if you had to spend money to get a Control Wizard so you could use them.
This is not a promise that all new classes will always be released for free. Just that there will be free ones released on a regular basis. But, the "...for any of that", bit could be seen as implying so. I do think that they are unlikey to charge for classes, but this statement leaves wiggle room. Also, if they come out with Hybrid multiclassing at some point they would be likely to monetize that somehow. I remember, but cannot find, a dev running a walkthrough somewhere in the many hours of beta footage out there saying that Hybrid would be the kind of multi-classing they would do. But, I can't find that or any other reference to it. If they do add multi-classing though it would have to be Hybrid multi-classing because the multi-class feats don't fit in with how they have structured feat points in NW.
"All the available races at launch will be free. We are planning to release the regular Drow for free post-launch (after at least 60 days to allow for Founder's Pack exclusivity). Note that only the regular Drow race will become available; the Menzoberranzen Renegade will always remain exclusive to Hero of the North Pack purchases."
Likewise, this in no way implies that ALL races will be free. Only the ones at launch and the Drow 60 days later.
Champions Online Advanced Forum Search
All the Player's Handbook 1 "suggested builds" should be free, period. That's basic game content.
For each class in PH2 and PH3, there should be at least ONE "suggested build" class released, free. Ditto for the other official source books, such as the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide.
Further "suggested build" classes from PH2 and PH3 could optionally be cash shop items. "Hybrid" classes not directly based on a suggested build should absolutely be cash shop items, and there are an effectively infinite number of those they could introduce. There are balance issues to be addressed with those, and the best way to ensure those are addressed is if they're a source of income.
In this way, everybody who wants to play their favorite 4e class would have some method of doing so, but there would still be compelling reasons for some players to choose to spend money on something that better fits their playstyle or better matches their pen and paper character.
Well maybe I do if UGC= User generated content.... that said Foundry is not everything in this game.
Anyway yes Neverwinter Nights was good. However I got banned for 2 weeks by hardcore roleplayers server in Neverwinter Nights because a GM though it powerplayed to much lol... so yeah I want Cryptic and not hardcore roleplayers rule this world! I do not hate roleplayers and yes I have also played DD pen and paper roleplay.
This! I have 3 friends and they do not care about DD.
Why do my 3 friends want to play this game?
A. It is free
B. It is fun
C. It is fantasy
D. It is Action combat
E. I am their friend and they like to play with me and each other.
There is nothing wrong being roleplayer. However this game will have endgame and it is not only about the Foundry though yes I am happy this game has Foundry also.
The upper management of cryptic has already stated many times in clear words that "Classes and content will always be free" "We won't charge for content ever"
So Classes and content have been promised to b free. It was omission of Races in those statements that have lead to doubts if Races will always be free or only the current races.
I totally agree with this idea.
Let's keep it PG-13 eh, buddy?
$200 up front, with ways in the game to earn zen for free. . .
Or
World of warcraft played from release (November 23, 2004) with all expacs. . .
Game and expacs cost $220.
Subscription from December 23, 2004 to April 8, 2013. Cost $1485
Total Cost to play WoW. $1705
Not to mention Blizzards own "cash shop" ( Its amazing how people forget/forgive this ) where one can buy mounts and non-combat pets.
What are you talking about?!
I mean if you pay a sub there's no cash shop! That's absolutely ridiculous you should have access to all of the content if you pay a subscription!
Ok. Sorry I couldn't resist the smart allick remark.
As I said a few pages back the ONLY difference between a subscription game and a free to play game is that subscription games make you pay for content. Cosmetics are being sold in cash shops in other subscription games and it's becoming a more and more common practice.
Subscriptions are to pay for new content. The cosmetic cash shop as it appears in Neverwinter would exist with or without a subscription model.
So thank you Cryptic for supplying a great game free of charge!
I know, and i agree mostly with you.
I just added WoW's cash shop because it seems 99% of the MMO community thinks it does not have one. . .
(also, looking back I could have bought a nice new PC with the money I spent on WoW. I REGRET NOTHING!)
i have to say that i would not be surprised that they do anyways... one way they can do it, it is like in STO. One ship at low level for game currency, the same one slightly tweaked and more powerful for real money(but with something else somehow equivalent obtainable by playing). in NWO, you can have a draw for free or buy the fancy one HoN got for $10... easy
With all my respect Gill, Cryptic devs are not known to stick to their words...many times they said something and few month later peddled back... what they say is only good for today...that s the only promise they can make. trust me.
I don't know which MMO started it but the number of MMO's which don't have cosmetic and convenience shops are dropping like flies.
Subscriptions are kind of like a "Legacy Effect" which is why I make a distinction between Free to Play and Freemium.
For instance Cryptic can't take away the subscription model from CO or STO even if they wanted to. Players would instantly feel like their money and time playing was wasted. Why did they spend all that money on subscriptions if everybody can get all that content for free now!?
So the solution is to make some content free and keep the subscription model and continue to release content which is both free and subscription based to keep both markets interested. Those games are Freemium: a Premium Game with free access and content.
If Cryptic's Marketing could go back in time I bet they would opt to have made those Free to Play from the start too but sadly once you have a premium game it's hard to remove the premium without hurting players so the premium remains indefinitely.
The only reason why STO and CO still have subscriptions is due to lifetime subscriptions. If there was no lifetime subscription, then they would have no subscription at all. STO has the worst incentive to be a subscriber that I have ever seen. Subscribers are now an endangered species. With the current system, STO is saying fork over $200 or so to be a lifer or quit paying a subscription.
Dude, World of Warcraft Invented the Cash shop, just like they invented the MMO genre.
Also, I agree with you.
You gotta remember, Benson's Animal Farm went somewhere. (kudos to anyone who gets that)
Cryptic has my main char held hostage, in CO. I made him early access, pre-launch. Spent over 2 hours on his costume, and he's christian bale & chuck Norris put together. In a nutshell, I love him, but to play him... I gotta shell out 15 bucks a month. Can I switch him to silver status? Sure... but that would take away his uniqueness. Could I pay FIFTY DOLLARS!!!! for a free-form slot... sure, but f^*& that!
The only reason why Im willing to give this game a chance, is because I shouldn't have that problem... but that deep seated hatred will forever be there.... forever
Wait wait....was this whole thing over a grudge? Welp, 12 pages of reading and scratching my head as to "why" you said anything now makes sense.
Kthanxbai
See everyone on the 30th!
"World of Warcraft" didn't invent anything. Not the MMO genre or the Cash Shop. EverQuest was successful years before WoW launched. Not that it was the first MMO either, but it is an example of a successful MMORPG that existed years before Blizzard launched WoW.
As far as the cash shop goes, I have no doubt the reason they have a store to sell game items at all is because they are testing the waters about going Free to Play at some point and because Blizzard will not pass up the opportunity to squeeze another nickel out of their customers lol. They certainly didn't have a cash shop before anyone else lol. There were already several free to play games that had cash shops before Blizzard launched theirs and I am not even going to talk about the sad state of their store either or the poor selection lol.
A lot of people don't realize that Blizzard knows they will most likely have to go Free to Play at some point down the road if they want to remain competitive. They have stated that they were not considering it right now, because they just launched an expansion not too long ago, but they are considering the possibility in the future if the current Free to Play trend continues. In other words, if their current trend of declining subs continues lol. They still have a massive player base currently, but they have gone from 13.5 million subs, during the time of WotLK, down to around 9 million. That is 4.5 million subs down from their peek. I don't really know what their numbers look like from the last few months of this year, but I can't imagine that the Pandas have suddenly drawn in several million new subs.
Games like Neverwinter are the future. Better gameplay mechanics, better responsiveness, better graphics, and....FREE. Mark my words, it may not be this year, or the even the next, but sooner or later WoW will go free to play (or at least they will call it that). I suppose though when Blizzard finally makes WoW free to play, people will say that they invented free to play too lol.