So I got an odd e-mail today. It was from Atari. The part that was odd and confusing was the wording of one of the sections.
http://dr.bluehornet.com/hostedemail/email.htm?h=f49b364bb04eac2826783448a3a9a876&CID=4833950583&ch=CAFC0450D92421655005AB0C8698FF73
So under the "A Special Invitation to Chapions Online" there is the following wording.....
We cordially invite you to play Champions Online: Free for All,
our other free-to-player superhero MMO.
The italics part is what I was baffled by the most. They are contacting me due to my STO account, but STO is not F2P. Atleast no one told me it was F2P. So needless to say I am confused, slightly lost, and if I were a Starfleet Starship I would be listing two stars to the right and straight on til morning.
So other then the confusion..... I thank you Atari, and Cryptic, for the wonderful offer to play CO for free. I am happy to play my LTS STO account when time allows. Loving all the new content, and additons (read polish) that has happened over the last year. I look forward to the future, and hopefully less 'Cryptic' e-mails.
You may now laugh at the puns I made for fun.
ha ha
Comments
So STO is going free to play. I'm so like telling everyone.
Either Way, it is very polarizing, and I am on th fence about it.
who wants Ice Cream?
Why if you're a subscriber you get 400 Atari points a month that you can use in the C-store if that ever happened.
Do not make me twack you with an internet stick. *glares* :P
And I'll have some chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and chocolate fudge, please.
lol- Death by Chocolate, eh? Nice choice.:)
You must be related to Deana Troi to like that much chocolate at once.
I would rather not see STO go F2P, but I only play STO while Cryptic/Atari own and run STO. Money keeps the warp core glowing, and I like me them glowy warp cores.
Thanks again.
nope, that would be the life sized galaxy class chocolate replica crushing you.
Should probably be:
As a LOTRO lifer I think F2P isn't nearly as bad as some here might think, I certainly wouldn't be sad at all if STO went F2P using a similar model to CO which itself is very similar to the LOTRO model. While there might be a influx of less mature players for a short while, my experience is that the free players wind up not really changing the demographic that much. Also, and maybe sadly, most of the immature people I have met in MMO's aren't kids. Though I suppose that shouldn't be surprising as the average gamer is 35!
I feel younger already!
(jumps about excitedly then grabs his back)
Oh that hurts! I think I pulled something. Okay, I am not that young anymore.
(wander off rubbing back)
Oh I need a heating pad, prune juice, and I think Matlock is on soon.
Seems like there should be some kind of marketing movement starting soon if it is still slated for a 2011 release.
perhaps - on the other hand I have seen what some of the server population has turned into on LotRo with F2P and it isn't really pretty from a role-players PoV. Game itself is solid mind you and community seems to be booming but those that care about Role-Playing on RP servers are now getting swamped with l33t names and such - hardly immersive in nature
My husband and I have been rocking a duo in Millennium City lately -- he's playing a Grimoire archetype, I'm running a freeform Dual Blades character. Lots of fun.
You should be expecting a deluge of information regarding Neverwinter soon. We're in prep mode right now, and should be hitting the airwaves strong and fast very soon.
Also, CO is definitely a fun and worthwhile experience. Even more so with those 400 free Atari Tokens for use in Champions Online. I highly recommend checking it out, and I don't think you'll be unhappy that you did.
Thanks,
Stormshade
Oh, HAI Kestrel. We met back at the Gencon that CO was demoed at. I was the lucky individual that literally received his preview invite the day the show opened (and mentioned to you that it was probably good I hadn't signed in to the forums at the booth since there was this shiny button on my page that the general public wasn't supposed to see, lol)
Yes CO is fun too. I enjoy hopping back and forth between these two games
What about an extended demo to lure prospective subscribers in. It wouldn't be based on time, but rather on location.
Without a subscription you could play forever, for free, but you can't leave the starting sectors (assuming you'll be able to start as a Klingon. Free players would be able to do any missions in those two sectors but mission replay would not be available. If I were a free player cruising around Sol and keep seeing these ships much cooler than mine, and happen to be enjoying the game, there would be a better chance of me subscribing than some person looking at the game box at Walmart who occasionally saw some TNG episodes.
What is Atari's involvement in DDO, anyways?
That, and a 400 token per month stipend
(pats self on back)
Love all the info showing up here. And nice to see all the 'Crypts' sounding off (if this nick name brings gang heat on the fine Cryptic Staff..... my bad).
I may give CO a try after all. Another 'Hero based' MMO (that released recently but I will not directly say) has not been getting great reviews from my friends. Spandex is to tight, super powers fizzle, and the 'real' Heros always take the credit for good doing. All quite sad, but proves it is better to be a small fish in a big pond of small fish, then to be the small fish in an over populated fish tank with lots of big fish. Also the reports of a peeping tom with a big 'S' on his shirt who keeps burning holes in bathroom walls is rather disturbing. Do not even get me started on the rubber suit guy with a cape that run about hitting people while saying, "POW! BLAM! WHAM!" then makes squealing tire noises has he runs away.
Kidding aside. I look forward to what the future holds for all that Cryptic will offer. I have been gaming online for a decade, and while big companies might seem good I still find more quality from moderate sized game studios. Sure they may need some polish at times, but atleast they are willing to keep at it with the buffing pad. Big companies not so much. Heck if my friends like CO I might just get them to try STO. Rather not see them run back to that multi-million player game that we shall not speak of..... yeah, that one.
Still, there are worse way to shuffle off the mortal coil.
I agree, PvP would not recover from such a change as the new cry would be "I can't complete unless I buy the best equipment and I don't want to spend the money". The same could happen to PvE play but most likley to a lesser extent.
Is that Choco Cookie dough?
So if a subscriber gets 400 atari points what does a Lifer gets then?
and anyways i don't think you get anything at all !
As a lifer i don't mind getting points every month tho, at-least will that keep me calm and not go crazy
DDO went to F2P. Those who had accounts before the change were premium accounts. Those that still paid were VIP accounts. Anyone who made an account but was not paying after the change had a basic account. There was not LTS for DDO. VIPs got a 500 TP reward for every month they paid for, and access to all content. Premium had basic access, and had extra character slots (5 versus 3 if I recall). Many were not happy with how things were implemented, and this lead to some claiming F2P killed the game.
LOTRO went to F2P. Everthing was changed basically like it was in DDO. LOTRO had PVP which became a P2P option only. LOTRO had some LTS accounts, and these were given one free year of VIP access, and then would become Premium accounts. Also most were given 5000 TPs during change over. The LOTRO transition went a bit smoother I would say. I still ended up playing casually due to not having access to areas other then the base Book Quests.
My problem with F2P models is that lack of updated content, and the rather high price when it does release. You can easily run out of content, and both P2P and F2P suffer. Those who pay are overcharged for minimal content. Free players constantly grind free content to earn access to a new area, and usually burn out before gaining access to the newest content.
With the Foundry, and the Duty Roster, I think STO is finding ways to balance the need for new content, the interest in creating content for the game world, and having new ways to interact with the game. This will help keep STO alive which excite me greatly. MMOs were a time investment when I first started playing 10 year ago. You accepted that 3 or 6 months to get a end game character was normal. Many games now rarely take a month to get to end game. I do understand that player are not that patient, or want to have many alts to allow for a full game experience. This also leads to game studios having to make far more content then can afford, or are able to handle time wise. Players also jump games more frequently due to the lack of time investment. It is hard to value something that took you only a few weeks to do.
I hold out hope for MMOs, and computer gaming. Consoles still can not give you as indepth a game experience as a computer can currently. The gap is closing though, and the hardware is nearly on par. Gene Roddenberry was a visionary, and he pegged many technologies rather close. I do question if he saw the future, or if the future comformed to his vision.