Guild Wars 2

I read a thread about the supposition that what if GW2 turns into subscription?

and literally everyone on the thread, not even one exception, answered they’d leave and don’t look back until it’s not subscription again, saying they’d play WOW or etc

so, i’ve recently been thinking i’m losing a bit of interest in this game, and just playing daily pvp. and I concluded the reason is very little reward. I mean, in case of pvp, maybe pvp leaderboards can be seen ingame. that would inspire me so much to play. since I don’t see any progress on my position ingame, when i win I think yay, and when i lose I feel ‘maybe next time’, and that’s all. maybe that’s exactly what Anet intended but we still can see the leaderboard on forum, and why not ingame?

back to my main point, I wonder if you guys are thinking GW2 is not fun enough to subscribe. or does monetary system have nothing to do with fun?
I want your opinions cuz if people are playing GW2 not because it’s fun, but because it’s soso, but free(after purchased at first), it sounds a bit sad

Subbing for a game I feel is worthwhile is no problem to me. Hell I still have a sub for EQ taht I haven’t played in over a year. I won’t pay a sub for GW2 because they simply don’t give the kind of content updates that warrant a subscription.

I play because I enjoy it. Same with GW1.

And I’m fundamentally opposed to paying a monthly subscription. I haven’t yet, very much doubt I ever will.

I played a lots of games and especialy mmos in past 20 years and GW2 is only game what trully deserve my money. It will never happen because guys from Anet arent one of those greedy kittens but hypoteticly if it will happend I will pay without blink of the eye.

they are just tight fisted and think all online games should be free because they don’t want to spend / afford the luxary of subscriptions.

people forget that WoW is a relic of the past and the only reason ppl still sub to it is due to the 10 + years its been out and the attachment to their toons.

I personally don’t mind paying a sub if it meens better quality updates.

then again if u look at Warlords of dreanor you have to ask where is all this sub money going for such pitiful content.

It depends on the game when it comes to paying a sub. Personally I prefer sub based games over F2P models due to usually sub based games being higher quality, better content, and the focus being more about the game then about how to make the game profitable. However GW2 would have to be overhauled in many aspects to warrant paying a sub, since right now it wouldn’t be worth the monthly cost.

Deadlift.2415:

I read a thread about the supposition that what if GW2 turns into subscription?

and literally everyone on the thread, not even one exception, answered they’d leave and don’t look back until it’s not subscription again, saying they’d play WOW or etc

This is incorrect, as I did not answer so.

And it’s hardly a fair comparison. GW2 doesn’t have the same amount of content you would see in an MMO with a sub, because it doesn’t have a sub. The game would surely be different if it did, and so it’s difficult to speculate about what it would be like, whether the same people would play it, etc.

I was on the thread, I said I’d be willing to pay for a subscription.

So not literally everyone on the thread.

But one of the biggest selling points to GW2 is the fact that it’s casual and buy to play, not a sub. If they suddenly introduced a subscription to the game I can see some people leaving (Some people are on a low income, and a game subscription isn’t exactly a necessity).

I adore GW2, and would gladly subscribe if they ever introduced the option to do so, I spend a fair bit on gems as it is to do my small part to support ANet

Deadlift.2415:

I read a thread about the supposition that what if GW2 turns into subscription?

and literally everyone on the thread, not even one exception, answered they’d leave and don’t look back until it’s not subscription again, saying they’d play WOW or etc

so, i’ve recently been thinking i’m losing a bit of interest in this game, and just playing daily pvp. and I concluded the reason is very little reward. I mean, in case of pvp, maybe pvp leaderboards can be seen ingame. that would inspire me so much to play. since I don’t see any progress on my position ingame, when i win I think yay, and when i lose I feel ‘maybe next time’, and that’s all. maybe that’s exactly what Anet intended but we still can see the leaderboard on forum, and why not ingame?

back to my main point, I wonder if you guys are thinking GW2 is not fun enough to subscribe. or does monetary system have nothing to do with fun?
I want your opinions cuz if people are playing GW2 not because it’s fun, but because it’s soso, but free(after purchased at first), it sounds a bit sad

Actually, I never said I’d go play WoW or any sub based game. I simply stated that I wouldn’t play GW2 anymore. Which I wouldn’t. I have played sub based games, but I honestly don’t feel there is even one that is worth that monthly payment. Not in addition to having to purchase the game, purchase the expansions, and end up time gated all to hell. Overcharged is what that is.

I enjoy GW2. I plan on buying HoT when it gets released, but GW1 has me spoiled. I know it’s completely possible for a company to produce and maintain a game on box sales and gem shop cosmetics (cause they’re doing it now, and they did it with the prior model). Additionally, having a sub fee isn’t a guarantee of more content more often, or even better quality content. So how does a sub fee benefit me as a consumer? In short, it doesn’t. All it does is create a barrier to entry for those that can’t necessarily afford a monthly subscription fee (for any assortment of reasons) in addition to buying the game.

Although it would perhaps offer Anet a more reliable/guaranteed cash flow with which to pay their employees’ salaries. However, as long as they regularly put new shinies in the gem shop, that achieves essentially the same result.

The only way I’d pay a subscription is if they dropped the gem store and released everything through the game.

I wish people start to put into there heads that subscriptions don’t change what a game is. Earning more money or no money will not change a thing. It all depends on the higher ups in a game company and the effort they truly want to put into a game, it all comes down to that.

If a company truly wants to strive, you’ll see the effort from there true dedicated work not behind the money.

In GW2’s current format? Oh no. I’d be done faster than a fat kid eats a candy bar. But this is an illogical question. GW2 is BUILT for “free to play”. Every reward, every system, just everything in this game is built to slightly urge you into buying gems to convert to gold or buying stuff off the gem store. Most of it is economical and large part of it is psychological.

Aside from that, ANet has not managed by expectations of this game too well, much less the game itself. So, thats another turn off, unless they changed how they managed the game and communicated to the community.

Games like WoW and FFXIV are BUILT for a monthly sub model. You can tell by rewards system, how its managed, and how often they reach out to the community.

The answer, much like the question is illogical as well, for if ANet had the revenue (i’m only guessing), they would possibly have the resources to manage the game better? Who knows. I play this game as a WYSIWYG and have learned to simply not ask for more.

GW2 is more a “product” than a “service”. Games like FFXIV and WoW are “services”. Think of it that way. Can you turn a product into a service? Possibly, but the product would have to inherit the traits of a service.

Think of your car becoming a train ride, where you have to give money to the train conductor, as opposed to just putting gas into it and fixing the day to day engine issues.

DeanBB.4268:

I play because I enjoy it. Same with GW1.

And I’m fundamentally opposed to paying a monthly subscription. I haven’t yet, very much doubt I ever will.

I am the same way. I am retired with limited funds. Even when I was working why pay to play. My co-workers would go Hungary to pay for pay to play takes. That is what drew me to Guild Wars 1 to begin with. Plus I enjoy the worlds.

Deadlift.2415:

I read a thread about the supposition that what if GW2 turns into subscription?

and literally everyone on the thread, not even one exception, answered they’d leave and don’t look back until it’s not subscription again, saying they’d play WOW or etc

so, i’ve recently been thinking i’m losing a bit of interest in this game, and just playing daily pvp. and I concluded the reason is very little reward. I mean, in case of pvp, maybe pvp leaderboards can be seen ingame. that would inspire me so much to play. since I don’t see any progress on my position ingame, when i win I think yay, and when i lose I feel ‘maybe next time’, and that’s all. maybe that’s exactly what Anet intended but we still can see the leaderboard on forum, and why not ingame?

back to my main point, I wonder if you guys are thinking GW2 is not fun enough to subscribe. or does monetary system have nothing to do with fun?
I want your opinions cuz if people are playing GW2 not because it’s fun, but because it’s soso, but free(after purchased at first), it sounds a bit sad

You must have read a different thread than I did. People offered a variety of opinions on the topic.

For me, one of the selling points of GW2 is that there is no sub fee, so I am not obligated to pay 120/year just to keep playing. I am willing to forgo some of the advantages of sub-based MMOs.

I really enjoy the game, but I cannot afford to pay 10-15 bucks every month for an MMO (or I’d have to give up something else, which I’m not willing to do).

Thus, I’m not playing a boring game just because it’s free. I’m playing a great game that I can afford to play.

However, that misses another point that people are making in the other thread: ANet designed the game and marketed it based on having no subscription. If suddenly they changed that, it would feel like a bait and switch (and arguably, it would be) — people would have an intense emotional reaction to being treated that way, which affects one’s ability to enjoy the game.

In other words, it’s not so much that the game isn’t worth 10 or 15 dollars/month, it’s that people didn’t sign up for that.

With so many free to play games paying a sub seems outdated unless it’s a game that has a lot more going on than other games or is extremely unique in comparison to other games.

Take EVE Online. It’s a sandbox MMO where you have freedom to do all kinds of things including be a criminal and scam other players or hunt people down and kill them. It’s a unique experience.

Most MMOs have about the same features and it’s just about the fine details of the content separating one game from another. There’s no good reason at all to pay a sub fee for an MMO these days unless it is extremely unique to other games.

GW2 and other games has proven that a cash-shop system can be done without ruining the game. (though of course some games HAVE ruined the game with a cash shop, but a lot of that is in the past)

I wouldn’t pay a sub for GW2 or almost any other MMO because there’s no reason for game X to charge a sub when game Y can give me just as much content without a sub.

It’s not that I don’t want to give ANet my money. I spend plenty in the gem store that probably equates to the cost of a yearly sub or more. But I get to freely choose when I give them my money. And each time I give my money and spend gems it’s a targeted message of support for what they’re doing at that time.

Instead of paying by default, ANet has to constantly impress or entertain us to keep us spending money in the gem store. It’s good for the consumers. Somewhat bad for gamblers and compulsive buyers though. >.<

I chose this game because there is no subscription. I play it because I enjoy it. I’d have to quit if there was a subscription.

Why is this tread here?This game will never have monthly sub,Anet already said that.

I prefer the subscription-based model, but I had my fill of the WoW formula (and its “community”) years ago. Now I’m in kind of a holding pattern until something worthwhile comes out. Specifically, I’m waiting for a subscription-based MMO that can manage the following:

• Defined roles in group play. Developers seem to think all players just want to do damage. I actually prefer playing a solid support role, even if that means my damage is kitten. Enabling others is more fun and preferable to me than seeing big numbers. It’s one of the reasons I loved soaking up damage as a protection warrior back in the day, aside from just finding defense/mitigation a more interesting mechanic.

• Break the player mentality of meta builds in late game. Specialized builds for certain tasks are inevitable, but some wiggle room to infuse personal play-style with that build would be nice. Too often end game player mentality is “use X build or you’re wrong.” Meanwhile, the developers advertise the game as “play as you want.” There needs to be some sort of happy medium here. This is a tough one, I know.

• No (or very limited) cash/gem/coin/whatever shop. I’m okay with cosmetic stuff being here, so long as they remain purely cosmetic. The main thing is that it shouldn’t feel like priority has been placed on getting people to open their wallets in the cash shop over the core game.

• Seemless transition between zones. WoW was fantastic for this, and it really gave the world an immense feel. Running through portals all over the place with a following loading screen is just lame. I’m aware technical limitations exist, but still.

There are plenty of other things I could add, but they’re some of the biggies for me.

I think it’s a response thread to some other thread about monthly subscriptions. I dunno. You go back through old posts you could probably find these kinds of discussions happening over and over again.

The reason I don’t like sub MMOs is because I prefer to be in control of when I want to support the devs who made the game without being punished in some way in case I don’t feel like it.

Well, the fact that GW2 had no sub was one of the reasons I stuck to this game. Unless Anet can come up with a new way to please both those who are willing to pay a monthly fee and those who aren’t, I’d feel better if it stayed sub-free. Though I can think of something close where Anet can implement an autopay feature where it can just take money off a credit card in exchange for gems and a free random item from the Promotions in the gem store.

I was in that thread. I never said id go play WOW. I said id stop playing GW2 as i refuse to pay to play every month. This game will never have a sub, anet has already stated that, i do not get why these threads pop up at all.

I came from 8 years paying and playing a subscription game that was closed down suddenly. The sense of loss and betrayal was overwhelming. I vowed never to become so emotionally involved with a game or community ever again and certainly not in the tune of over $1000.

GW2 required minimal investment and due to it’s very closed universe and lack of free character customization, there was no chance to become vested with any of my characters. I’m no more connected with them than a Diablo II character.

Edit: And unlike true F2P, there are no nasty pay walls, just minor optional nickel and diming.

Dante.1763:

I was in that thread. I never said id go play WOW. I said id stop playing GW2 as i refuse to pay to play every month. This game will never have a sub, anet has already stated that, i do not get why these threads pop up at all.

Because people seem to think subscription = better game. More content. Better quality. Yatta yatta. And no matter how many times we tell them a != b necessarily, they don’t believe it because they have been brainwashed into believing a = b whole-heartedly.

There is a difference between requiring that a game be non-subscription to play it, and playing it only because it is non-sub.

Playing it only because its non-subscription is saying you will play whatever, having no particular taste in what you play, so long as you can play it for free.

Requiring that a game be non-subscription means that you won’t play subscription games for whatever reason, but still have other qualifiers which decide whether or not you will play a game.

I for example, wouldn’t play GW2 if it was subscription, or any other game with a subscription. In my experience it is a monetization policy which encourages the most heinous corporate dishonesty and inevitably bleeds in to the design of the game, causing poorly made gameplay that is addictive and time consuming over enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing.

However, if GW2 didn’t have gameplay I enjoyed, I wouldn’t play it even for free. Nothing is really ‘free’ because everything costs time, and a game that I don’t enjoy isn’t worth any of my time, no matter how little it costs monetarily speaking.

Because I see it as this:
“I just bought this new game! I wanna play it right away!”
Developer: Oh? you want to play a game you just bought from us? Well, you have to use OUR servers, and that’ll cost you money a month.
“oh, ok, I guess I can do that”
(months pass)
“I don’t really like where the game is going, or the changes you did, but you took my money anyway just so I could play.”
Developer: Don’t worry! We’re listening to your feedback! Just keep playing and keep paying!
“Well….”
(more months)
“Ok, I now hate the game, I want to quit, but I invested so much money with the fees and the initial buy that it makes it hard”
Developers: "Don’t worry we are…
“NO! I’m stopping, taking the loss and leaving!”
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Buy to play model
“Yay! I got the game and can play right away!”
(months pass)
“I really like what they added or did in this patch. To help support, I’ll buy some gems!”
(months pass)
“I didn’t like this patch. Not only will I say on the forums my displeasement, but I will not give money to show it as well!”

with the B2P model, I feel the player has a better way to show if they like where the game is going or not. Subscription is basically forcing you to pay for a game you just fully bought, in which case it causes the feeling of investment, so giving up is harder.

Pointless debate, the game would be vastly different if they started with a Pay to Play method, they’ve made the game it is now because of the Buy to Play model they’ve adapted. So everything else is extraneous hypothetical that isn’t mirroring how the game would be changed, just how it currently is.

Deadlift.2415:

back to my main point, I wonder if you guys are thinking GW2 is not fun enough to subscribe. or does monetary system have nothing to do with fun?
I want your opinions cuz if people are playing GW2 not because it’s fun, but because it’s soso, but free(after purchased at first), it sounds a bit sad

For me it’s that I don’t want to be bound by a contract. Call it strange but I’m not much into longterm energy contracts or mobile contracts either. But that doesn’t mean I would play ANY game only because it subscription free.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Because people seem to think subscription = better game. More content. Better quality. Yatta yatta. And no matter how many times we tell them a != b necessarily, they don’t believe it because they have been brainwashed into believing a = b whole-heartedly.

You are probably correct! Its just old to me to see these threads, same with Dueling and Mount threads. T.T

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Because people seem to think subscription = better game. More content. Better quality. Yatta yatta. And no matter how many times we tell them a != b necessarily, they don’t believe it because they have been brainwashed into believing a = b whole-heartedly.

This is because from a business perspective its how it should be. Sub based games are based off of retention rates and longevity in order to keep revenue flowing. Which means developers should be more inclined to not only continually create content to keep longevity but also work on quality to keep retention high. However what ends up happening is when sub rates start to fall or plateau, devs will have 2 choices in order to counter the decline, either push more more content to keep players, or increase accessibility(dumb down) to entice new players to join. MMOs recently have been doing mostly the latter.

F2P models however are top heavy when it comes to revenue streams, the bulk of players don’t pay and the game is supported by the minority who do pay. From a developers perspective it creates a mentality of favoring the minority to insure revenue. This means more development is spent on promoting sales then it does quality or overall content, or the game is developed around promoting MTs.

The failure of sub based games recently is due to the profolition of F2P games, and Devs not willing to risk making sub based games. Which is why you probably see resistance against them.

PS: The post wasn’t directly targeted at GW2 but at MMOs in general. However I don’t think Anet or GW2’s current model is as sustainable/successful as people think it is.

I find the game awesome and amazing!
Although there are times when I don’t feel like playing, but I attribute that to old age rather than the game not offering much.
But one of the major draws was the No-Sub. If it had been a sub I wouldn’t have even considered it.

BrooksP.4318:

PS: The post wasn’t directly targeted at GW2 but at MMOs in general. However I don’t think Anet or GW2’s current model is as sustainable/successful as people think it is.

GW1 has lasted 10 years without a sub, i dont see why this game would do any different unless they kill it off.

When MMO’s first came out, yes they had monthly, but they were DESIGNED to make you play for LONG periods of time so that they make a lot of money off of YOUR time. GW2 is not and as someone typed above, a major restructuring of the game would have to happen. There are some of us that have very limited budgets so monthly options would NOT be viable for us.

I think the point of this thread is a little different than the other.
Its basically asking the question.
Do people still play guild wars 2, only because they already bought it? IE is gw2 not entertaining enough in a long term fashion?

Then he poses the question, how can guild wars be more entertaining/engaging after people have played it a bit.

Dante.1763:

GW1 has lasted 10 years without a sub, i dont see why this game would do any different unless they kill it off.

And UO stills exists even with a sub after 17. I don’t pay much attention to how GW1 is maintained, however I don’t think they put much resources into it other then keeping the servers active. Not to mention since GW2 existence and its link to GW1 it would make sense to keep it active even if it running at slight loss. Also I didn’t say it wasn’t sustainable, just not AS sustainable/successful as people think.

BrooksP.4318:

And UO stills exists even with a sub after 17. I don’t pay much attention to how GW1 is maintained, however I don’t think they put much resources into it other then keeping the servers active. Not to mention since GW2 existence and its link to GW1 it would make sense to keep it active even if it running at slight loss. Also I didn’t say it wasn’t sustainable, just not AS sustainable/successful as people think.

Ah! Okay, wasnt quite sure what you where heading for! as for GW1 no they dont put much more into it, but thats really all thats required, i mean they had some more plans that would have been nice to see but the game is still playable and fun

I don’t care for P2P because I do not like renting games. There’s also the fact that when I’ve played sub games (and I’ve played quite a few), I find that the quality just isn’t there. For me to want to pay a full box price and a rental fee, the game had better be a lot better than a game that only costs a typical box price. I haven’t seen such a game. Finally, I don’t care for the fairly transparent systems in such games whose purpose is to kitten progress so I will pay for next month.

I don’t like F2P because (generally) the quality just isn’t there.

B2P is in a unique position as far as I’m concerned. I can try the game, and if I like playing it, I’ll play it. Generally, I’ve gotten my money’s worth, especially when you consider a new B2P MMO is going for about the same as a new SPRPG which will provide much less play time. If I run into a B2P game that I can play for thousands of hours, I win. GW was such a game. I played it for more hours than I played all of the sub games I’ve tried, combined.

GW2, the product, is the second best value of all games I’ve played. I enjoyed the vanilla game and still do, sometimes. GW2 the service (the parts added to the game post launch to entice me to continue to play and perhaps drop money into gems) I’m not so happy with. If GW2 had been more like GW, and less like those sub MMO’s I dislike, I’d have been happier — and more supportive monetarily.

BrooksP.4318:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Because people seem to think subscription = better game. More content. Better quality. Yatta yatta. And no matter how many times we tell them a != b necessarily, they don’t believe it because they have been brainwashed into believing a = b whole-heartedly.

This is because from a business perspective its how it should be. Sub based games are based off of retention rates and longevity in order to keep revenue flowing. Which means developers should be more inclined to not only continually create content to keep longevity but also work on quality to keep retention high. However what ends up happening is when sub rates start to fall or plateau, devs will have 2 choices in order to counter the decline, either push more more content to keep players, or increase accessibility(dumb down) to entice new players to join. MMOs recently have been doing mostly the latter.

F2P models however are top heavy when it comes to revenue streams, the bulk of players don’t pay and the game is supported by the minority who do pay. From a developers perspective it creates a mentality of favoring the minority to insure revenue. This means more development is spent on promoting sales then it does quality or overall content, or the game is developed around promoting MTs.

The failure of sub based games recently is due to the profolition of F2P games, and Devs not willing to risk making sub based games. Which is why you probably see resistance against them.

How it “should” be or how it “seems” to be rarely coincide with how it actually is. It’s been proven more than once that a sub fee isn’t actually ‘necessary,’ only that some sort of revenue stream is. It is actually more logical to believe a non-sub game would be the ‘better’ game as their income relies solely on optional purchases, not a required subscription. Thus, in order to make the most money via optional purchases, they need to crank out the best item they can.

I’m not even going to get into the “free” to play bullkitten games. The “if you arent paying, you may as well not be playing” games where you “play” via your credit card. Ugh, those people should be smacked.

PS: The post wasn’t directly targeted at GW2 but at MMOs in general. However I don’t think Anet or GW2’s current model is as sustainable/successful as people think it is.

Probably not. I think they need to do a bit of a cross between what they are doing now, and what they did in GW1. Which, I think is about where they are headed. LS into the expansion, after a set time, some more LS into the next expansion. At least, that how I hope they continue, and as long as the additional LS seasons remain in the game (as they did with LSS2) then it might turn out ok. I don’t think they can go ‘just’ the box route like they did with GW1 at this point.

If you use the Gem Store on a regular basis, you might as well be willing to pay a subscription and have everything available in-game. Minimum gem purchase is $10 US, if I am not mistaken. FFXI is 12.99 per month, FFXIV is 14.99 per month, don’t know what the sub on WoW or other sub based mmo’s are. But I know people in F2P games who say the same thing, they will quit the game if it becomes subscription, yet they fork over dollars after dollars… sometime $100 or more per month using cash shops.

I don’t know about you guys, but that don’t make any sense to me. :-/

I’ve paid for a sub for games before but that was a while ago when I had so much time to spare I practically spent all my unhealthy time playing those games when I had the chance. Right now I’m older and alot of MMO features that stretch a game’s lifespan don’t appeal to me anymore. Nor do I have as much time to spend on a game like that. This leads me to the point that I don’t want to pay for a subscription if I can just leave at any point. With GW2 I can take a break for a day, a week or a month without having something in the back of my head saying ‘well you paid for a month but are only using X days this time… ’. If one day there will be some perfect game I might consider it again, but for now GW2 fills my MMO ’needs’ and I like that there is a game where devs implement customer friendly things into the game such as the wardrobe/wallet etc.

bottom line sub games r a rip off …. the nail in the coffin was ESO

I never play subscription games because they are literally stealing from you.

Back when online gaming was new, hard drive space and traffic bandwidth were also young and very expensive. Paying a subscription allowed the game company to actually maintain the servers that let you connect to the game. In today’s world though, we’ve made massive improvements in both technical areas to the point where a VERY SMALL amount of money can keep servers running for an eternity (well past our lifetimes, even).

Now that the maintenance costs are gone, the entire point of a subscription has also evaporated. They are now the vestigial tail of the MMO genre in which you give the game company money every month for literally nothing in return.

Cash shop games at least have the decency to give you a shiny in exchange for your money.

The lack of subscription is part of why I started to play this game. I’ve kept on playing it because I enjoy it.

I’ve been playing since launch and I’m still not bored with it. But then unlike a lot of people I’ve “only” played for just over 2,000 hours. And a lot of that was ‘wasted’ on things like trying to climb out of maps or talking to NPCs that had nothing to do with events. I’ve still got a lot of things to do in this game and I’m going to keep playing until I get bored or run out of things to do.

Danikat.8537:

The lack of subscription is part of why I started to play this game. I’ve kept on playing it because I enjoy it.

I’ve been playing since launch and I’m still not bored with it. But then unlike a lot of people I’ve “only” played for just over 2,000 hours. And a lot of that was ‘wasted’ on things like trying to climb out of maps or talking to NPCs that had nothing to do with events. I’ve still got a lot of things to do in this game and I’m going to keep playing until I get bored or run out of things to do.

then HOT will be released ….. and it sounded like there will be more expansions later down the line.

Anet must be doing something right not going with a sub

punkinkatt.4823:

If you use the Gem Store on a regular basis, you might as well be willing to pay a subscription and have everything available in-game. Minimum gem purchase is $10 US, if I am not mistaken. FFXI is 12.99 per month, FFXIV is 14.99 per month, don’t know what the sub on WoW or other sub based mmo’s are. But I know people in F2P games who say the same thing, they will quit the game if it becomes subscription, yet they fork over dollars after dollars… sometime $100 or more per month using cash shops.

I don’t know about you guys, but that don’t make any sense to me. :-/

The difference to me is that this way I know what I’m getting for my money. I can look at the items sold in the gem store and how much they cost and decide if that’s worth paying for.

With a sub I have to pay each and every month simply to play the game I’ve already bought, regardless of whether they release anything I want to pay for. And I’m supposed to do this because they promise that the money that’s not going towards the server costs (aka the vast majority) is going towards future content…which I may or may not want.

I bought the game (& quite a few gemcards) right from the start.
Had tons of fun for almost a year and then the living stories sub mediocre gameplay kittenweeweed me off so much that I left.

Now I´m back waiting for the expansion. Of course I wouldn´t pay a sub just for waiting.

Meanwhile the MMO I had invested my time in up to now is rapidly turning into a greedy subscription-mandatory grindfest, contrary to all common sense.

It has a buy2play option too, but if I had “shackled” myself to it through a subscription I would be helplessly at the mercy of every shortsighted Dev decision that happens to fire through their odd brains.

So yeah, death to subscription.

punkinkatt.4823:

If you use the Gem Store on a regular basis, you might as well be willing to pay a subscription and have everything available in-game. Minimum gem purchase is $10 US, if I am not mistaken. FFXI is 12.99 per month, FFXIV is 14.99 per month, don’t know what the sub on WoW or other sub based mmo’s are. But I know people in F2P games who say the same thing, they will quit the game if it becomes subscription, yet they fork over dollars after dollars… sometime $100 or more per month using cash shops.

I don’t know about you guys, but that don’t make any sense to me. :-/

Its simple psychology.

We are willing to pay for stuff that we want in a simple manner – pay X to get A. When you want it, you buy it. But we dont want to be forced to pay for something where we cant define the “value”. Some people play 1 hour a week, some people play 100 hours. Yet with subscription you pay the same amount.

A subscription is also about commiting to the game. Again, forcing you to play it. But developers/publishers often arent so friendly to their consumers. What if the game shut down after 6 months? No one want to commit themselves to that kind of risk. Unlike the early days of MMO games, we now have more experience, sort of speak. We dont trust them so blindly anymore. Word spread fast on the internet. Subscription in itself is also something forced upon you if you want to return to the game, even if its just to check it out for a day. That reduces the will to commit – you start looking into the future instead of focusing on the now.

How people react to this is totally up to them because as I said, its psychology. Its in your mind. Most of us could easily afford the subscription. People always go “omg you poor its only $10 a month, you so cheap”. Its never about that when you look at an individual game.

Anet has made willing customers out of us all and that’s why we love em.

Dawdler.8521:

Its simple psychology.

We are willing to pay for stuff that we want in a simple manner – pay X to get A. When you want it, you buy it. But we dont want to be forced to pay for something where we cant define the “value”. Some people play 1 hour a week, some people play 100 hours. Yet with subscription you pay the same amount.

The defined value is based on entertainment value you gain during your time played. If you only play 1 hour a week, you can compare if that 4 hours a month is worth the $15 in comparison to other forms of entertainment which may cost more of less had you not. If I was in that situation then yes, a sub wouldn’t be worth it, though people still pay 15-20$ to go to a 2 hour movie so to some it could be.

A subscription is also about commiting to the game. Again, forcing you to play it. But developers/publishers often arent so friendly to their consumers. What if the game shut down after 6 months? No one want to commit themselves to that kind of risk. Unlike the early days of MMO games, we now have more experience, sort of speak. We dont trust them so blindly anymore. Word spread fast on the internet.
.

If the game shut down after 6 months then you got 6 months worth of gameplay. Your analogy goes both ways, paying for an ingame item and the game shuts down the end result is the same. The mentality of commitment is mainly based off of game design of older games and the targeted audience not the business model. Where as the current audience is more after instant gratification, where F2Ps and B2Ps complement that much better.

It’s the best of what’s currently out there, it’s theme park but I get tired of p2w, failed promises etc. Waiting for a real main mmorpg.

Danikat.8537:

punkinkatt.4823:

If you use the Gem Store on a regular basis, you might as well be willing to pay a subscription and have everything available in-game. Minimum gem purchase is $10 US, if I am not mistaken. FFXI is 12.99 per month, FFXIV is 14.99 per month, don’t know what the sub on WoW or other sub based mmo’s are. But I know people in F2P games who say the same thing, they will quit the game if it becomes subscription, yet they fork over dollars after dollars… sometime $100 or more per month using cash shops.

I don’t know about you guys, but that don’t make any sense to me. :-/

The difference to me is that this way I know what I’m getting for my money. I can look at the items sold in the gem store and how much they cost and decide if that’s worth paying for.

With a sub I have to pay each and every month simply to play the game I’ve already bought, regardless of whether they release anything I want to pay for. And I’m supposed to do this because they promise that the money that’s not going towards the server costs (aka the vast majority) is going towards future content…which I may or may not want.

You forgot the part where your sub dollars are funding expansion content, which you’ll be required to pay a box price for.