test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
What you can expect when F2P goes live
System
Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
I"ve been with Cryptic since its City of Heroes days and followed them to Champions and from there to STO. I jump back and forth between Champs and STO and happened to be on the Champs side when it went Free to Play. Some good stuff and some bad stuff happened with this so if things follow what happened there to here then here's some of the things you can maybe expect to see.
Zone Chat - Expect to see an increase of 100% more trolling and trolls. Zone Chat literally went in the gutter after F2P on Champs. If STO attracts the same crowd, and I hope they don't, then be prepared to see grammar TRIBBLE's, verbally abusive language, & coversations maligning race, nationality, beliefs, etc.
Duel Harrassment - Champs has a duel option that's akin to STO's challenge, a neat idea really but be prepared to be harrassed with this by the F2P'ers. If you stopped for a second you were immediately hit with duel request after duel request, some from the same person you turned down and wouldn't take no for an answer. Duel requests broke conversations with contacts or stopped your toon while traveling until you either accepted or denied the request, both were very annoying and more than one person used this to grief you. My suggestion is to white lsit challenges.
Open Instance Thieving - A lot of the missions on Champs are open instance involving escorting an NPC to safety. A problem with these was while you were fighting the bad guys someone on ocaasion would come up and steal the guy you were to escort. This behavior increased dramatically after F2P came to town. Thankfull most of the escort missions auto-credit anyone who zones into the open instance on STO, I haven't seen any missions where someone can steal anything on STO like they can on Champs but if there are then rest assured it will happen more often with F2P.
PvP Increase - A majority of the F2P on Champs crowd were PvP'ers and that was their main focus so expect to see an increase in the PvP queues. PvP better be up to snuff or these guys will go somewhere else. Champs doesn't have the complexity of builds that ships do in STO so my suggestion to cryptic would be to offer in addittion to regular PvP a stripped down version with just your ship, weapons, shileds, engines, abilites earned from rank increase, and deflector with no BOFFS, consoles, or stations. I believe this will attract a bigger crowd since PvP as it stands now is more active at the lower lvls where there are fewer of those things I said to exclude present, suggesting people enjoy the more simple LT and LT Comm PvP battles.
An increase in content - Because F2P brought a vast increase of players to Champs they had the money to put back into the game. Every week new content came out and about once a month we got new missions that would be released a mission a week throughout the month. The only thing I wish Cryptic would've done was for every five things sold in the C-Store give the subscribers something free. Lets hope they concentrate on us Klingons 1st.
Full Game/Creative Control by Cryptic - A lot of the fears with PW buying Champs, (Same thing STO players are afraid of), would be they would turn it into one of those grindy asian type games. That never happened with Champs and it won't happen with STO, Cryptic has full control of their games and content.
You have to take the good with the bad and the payoff for F2P on Champs was it saved and improved a game that was going broke and it will do the same for STO. Having a F2P option is actually a good idea. It gives people a taste of the game hooking them so they get a subscription. Some were content to remain F2P but most ended up wanting more. In the end the influx of people by going F2P will bring in much needed capital that will benefit STO.
Zone Chat - Expect to see an increase of 100% more trolling and trolls. Zone Chat literally went in the gutter after F2P on Champs. If STO attracts the same crowd, and I hope they don't, then be prepared to see grammar TRIBBLE's, verbally abusive language, & coversations maligning race, nationality, beliefs, etc.
Duel Harrassment - Champs has a duel option that's akin to STO's challenge, a neat idea really but be prepared to be harrassed with this by the F2P'ers. If you stopped for a second you were immediately hit with duel request after duel request, some from the same person you turned down and wouldn't take no for an answer. Duel requests broke conversations with contacts or stopped your toon while traveling until you either accepted or denied the request, both were very annoying and more than one person used this to grief you. My suggestion is to white lsit challenges.
Open Instance Thieving - A lot of the missions on Champs are open instance involving escorting an NPC to safety. A problem with these was while you were fighting the bad guys someone on ocaasion would come up and steal the guy you were to escort. This behavior increased dramatically after F2P came to town. Thankfull most of the escort missions auto-credit anyone who zones into the open instance on STO, I haven't seen any missions where someone can steal anything on STO like they can on Champs but if there are then rest assured it will happen more often with F2P.
PvP Increase - A majority of the F2P on Champs crowd were PvP'ers and that was their main focus so expect to see an increase in the PvP queues. PvP better be up to snuff or these guys will go somewhere else. Champs doesn't have the complexity of builds that ships do in STO so my suggestion to cryptic would be to offer in addittion to regular PvP a stripped down version with just your ship, weapons, shileds, engines, abilites earned from rank increase, and deflector with no BOFFS, consoles, or stations. I believe this will attract a bigger crowd since PvP as it stands now is more active at the lower lvls where there are fewer of those things I said to exclude present, suggesting people enjoy the more simple LT and LT Comm PvP battles.
An increase in content - Because F2P brought a vast increase of players to Champs they had the money to put back into the game. Every week new content came out and about once a month we got new missions that would be released a mission a week throughout the month. The only thing I wish Cryptic would've done was for every five things sold in the C-Store give the subscribers something free. Lets hope they concentrate on us Klingons 1st.
Full Game/Creative Control by Cryptic - A lot of the fears with PW buying Champs, (Same thing STO players are afraid of), would be they would turn it into one of those grindy asian type games. That never happened with Champs and it won't happen with STO, Cryptic has full control of their games and content.
You have to take the good with the bad and the payoff for F2P on Champs was it saved and improved a game that was going broke and it will do the same for STO. Having a F2P option is actually a good idea. It gives people a taste of the game hooking them so they get a subscription. Some were content to remain F2P but most ended up wanting more. In the end the influx of people by going F2P will bring in much needed capital that will benefit STO.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Griefing will happen, spam will flood the chats and thieves will come out of the woodwork, true.
Though its worth it, if it means more content for all and PvP is revied.
Me, I am just waiting to see the new KDF unvieled.
Any content would be great and PvP needs some revision, I rarely PvP but it seeems the queues are always empty at the mid to higher lvls and you have a long wait at the lower lvls although there are people present there. Im more interested in good PVE missions and content that you can immerse yourself in and feel like a part of the Star Trek universe. So hopefully some of that comes about too. I'd like to see more content from the other Klingon races view point and not just from a Klingon view of the galaxy. But that's probably a pipe dream.
Expect bad PMs though as some have forgotten its an OPvP zone of sorts.
Heck just rum would be nice.
and some NPCs on Qo'nos singing drunken KDF fight songs.
Honestedly though I know not what to expect as far as the NEW KDF content is to be...
I only know to expect it and wait to see if it arrives ina timely and fully fleshed out manner.
The new ships and the academy on Tribble though look great and are going in the right direction in my opinion.
They never followed up to their promises.