I was wondering what you all think will happen if STO goes free to play like champions. Will the lifetime subscripers all get extra cryptic points or something? Will we get some sort of additional content?
I was wondering what you all think will happen if STO goes free to play like champions. Will the lifetime subscripers all get extra cryptic points or something? Will we get some sort of additional content?
STO has no plans to go F2P, and if they did, then it would be like Champions where Lifetime people would have access to everything they do now exactly the same rather than free players who get limited on everything.
Now that Champions Lifetime is back on sale, I might get one because I'd rather have 16 character slots and be able to mix and match powers and have access to everything. Free players don't get that. They even get limited to one inventory bag. That is insane, as I fill four bags in one playthough with loot drops.
I've played LOTRO for a few years now, they went F2P a few months back. Until their announcement of going F2P, they always denied they had plans to switch to F2P, afterwards they always said "Well when we made that announcement we had no plans" which is of course technically true. Cryptic could do the same thing.
In LOTRO, lifetime subscribers stayed as lifetime subscribers, they got all the perks that normal subscribers get in F2P (full access to the game + 500 points per month to spend in the store) but they don't have to pay a monthly subscription. In other words, it stayed exactly the same as before. Cryptic would probably do something similar.
Lifetime subscribers become Gold Members automatically. They will not be charged a continuing subscription fee. Basically, nothing changes for Lifetime subscribers: They continue to have complete access to the same content, items and adventures they always have.
Nothing changes for lifetimers when F2P hits. The free to play model they are going with is basically everything is the same for subscribers as the way it is now, with a free to play mode being added that's more like a super demo mode with options for people to buy extras piecemeal through the C-store and designed to be limited enough to entice you into buying a sub.
Speaking personally for myself.. if STO went F2P tomorrow, I'd fire up Amazon.com and buy two copies of the game as gifts for friends who have shied-away from the game because of it's monthly fee structure.
No sour grapes for this Lifetimer. Knowing Cryptic, they'd dish some perks on us in compensation.
Speaking personally for myself.. if STO went F2P tomorrow, I'd fire up Amazon.com and buy two copies of the game as gifts for friends who have shied-away from the game because of it's monthly fee structure.
No sour grapes for this Lifetimer. Knowing Cryptic, they'd dish some perks on us in compensation.
And then put those perks on the C-Store four months later, lol.
Cancelled LotRO because of that humongous store sack they slapped on the abilities bar when they went F2P.
That sack is so out of proportion compared to the inventory pouches, it is like playing Alice in Wonderland. So I'll take this time to praise the *current* size, placement, and design of the C-Store button.
It got the appropriate visibility, access area, and size. Hooray! I'm even using it now and then as my way of saying "thank you Cryptic for not slapping things in the face in the most obnoxious manner imaginable".
I was wondering what you all think will happen if STO goes free to play like champions. Will the lifetime subscripers all get extra cryptic points or something? Will we get some sort of additional content?
Since the devs have stated at this time there are no plans to go F2P your questions your questions cant be answered. They are not going to give you a heads-up on something they have already dismissed.
That does not mean that STO will never go F2P just that it wont until an official announcement is made. This means that everything posted in this thread besides this is speculation at best.
If the devs did (and they say there are no plans for it), they'd probably give lifers the same benefits as subscribers.
You see, the industry is actually paying attention to the Subscriber/Premium/Free Hybrid model and not the F2P model you're referring to.
Yes, people can play the game for free but they won't have all the cool features that subscribers and lifers have. The free version is gimped and limited - while subscribers and lifers get all the content they paid for prior to the conversion.
Developers like Turbine (who the executive producer of STO admires) sweetened the pot by offering extra incentives to subscribers and lifers that simply couldn't be "bought" in-game.
So, in a word, don't worry because it's not planned to happen (and if it did) you'd still be okay.
warhammer has a version of f2p too, that endless trial in tier 1, its god awfull imo too hehe, just awfull.
if sto offers a free limited version to gain more subs more power to them i wont complain that i bought a lifetime sub and they drummed up more buisiness via having an endless demo available for free as long as those people arent allowed to spam my zone channels any worse then the rest of you currently do when i log a fed toon in on esd.
And then put those perks on the C-Store four months later, lol.
But thats absolutely ok. Lifetimers, and us peon monthly subbers, would get those perks as part of our subs, while free players have to buy em, or put in for a monthly sub. You still dont lose anything.
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Read the sticky:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=185819
STO has no plans to go F2P, and if they did, then it would be like Champions where Lifetime people would have access to everything they do now exactly the same rather than free players who get limited on everything.
Now that Champions Lifetime is back on sale, I might get one because I'd rather have 16 character slots and be able to mix and match powers and have access to everything. Free players don't get that. They even get limited to one inventory bag. That is insane, as I fill four bags in one playthough with loot drops.
In LOTRO, lifetime subscribers stayed as lifetime subscribers, they got all the perks that normal subscribers get in F2P (full access to the game + 500 points per month to spend in the store) but they don't have to pay a monthly subscription. In other words, it stayed exactly the same as before. Cryptic would probably do something similar.
Nothing changes for lifetimers when F2P hits. The free to play model they are going with is basically everything is the same for subscribers as the way it is now, with a free to play mode being added that's more like a super demo mode with options for people to buy extras piecemeal through the C-store and designed to be limited enough to entice you into buying a sub.
No sour grapes for this Lifetimer. Knowing Cryptic, they'd dish some perks on us in compensation.
And then put those perks on the C-Store four months later, lol.
Cancelled LotRO because of that humongous store sack they slapped on the abilities bar when they went F2P.
That sack is so out of proportion compared to the inventory pouches, it is like playing Alice in Wonderland. So I'll take this time to praise the *current* size, placement, and design of the C-Store button.
It got the appropriate visibility, access area, and size. Hooray! I'm even using it now and then as my way of saying "thank you Cryptic for not slapping things in the face in the most obnoxious manner imaginable".
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Since the devs have stated at this time there are no plans to go F2P your questions your questions cant be answered. They are not going to give you a heads-up on something they have already dismissed.
That does not mean that STO will never go F2P just that it wont until an official announcement is made. This means that everything posted in this thread besides this is speculation at best.
You see, the industry is actually paying attention to the Subscriber/Premium/Free Hybrid model and not the F2P model you're referring to.
Yes, people can play the game for free but they won't have all the cool features that subscribers and lifers have. The free version is gimped and limited - while subscribers and lifers get all the content they paid for prior to the conversion.
Developers like Turbine (who the executive producer of STO admires) sweetened the pot by offering extra incentives to subscribers and lifers that simply couldn't be "bought" in-game.
So, in a word, don't worry because it's not planned to happen (and if it did) you'd still be okay.
Still... Free stuff is Win... Digital or not.
if sto offers a free limited version to gain more subs more power to them i wont complain that i bought a lifetime sub and they drummed up more buisiness via having an endless demo available for free as long as those people arent allowed to spam my zone channels any worse then the rest of you currently do when i log a fed toon in on esd.
But thats absolutely ok. Lifetimers, and us peon monthly subbers, would get those perks as part of our subs, while free players have to buy em, or put in for a monthly sub. You still dont lose anything.