143900-wildstar-ftp-too-generous

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As a returning player, I did level new character up to lvl 30. And in those few days I really didnt feel any need to buy something from the shop. Its like the game in its FTP stage has really everything.
To me personallx its a great thing, but Im a bit worried what if other players feel the same?
We wont be spending any or very little cash in the shop, so WS might get into problems financing itself.
I also tried Swtors Ftp, but it isnt really satisfying, I just had to sub in order to play comfortably
, too many things esential behind paywall. While its ftp isnt generous to players, it is generous to Bioware as it gives incentive to players to sub and to secure steady flow of cash for future content.
So whats your opinion on WSs "generocity" FTP?	
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The ideal for any free to play game should be that the game itself offers a sufficient experience to merit further investment.  The optimal way to do this would be through cosmetic and quality of life (xp potions, for example) items that don't have a significant impact on the experience as a whole.
 
What SWTOR does is handicap the free experience in order to incentivize players to subscribe to the game and buy their cash shop currency.  XP gains are reduced, rewards from content are limited, access to various aspects of the game is limited, and you have a maximum wallet size.
 
Wildstar is quite generous with its free to play model and, one hopes, it will prove to be successful.  At this point only time will tell.	
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Might be underestimating people's desire for cosmetic items :D
 
Personally I parallel wildstar's f2p model to RIFT's f2p model, both have a lot of cosmetic cash shop items, a subscription you can buy that adds bonuses, and a reward track for spending money in the cash shop for exclusive things, I sub to these games when actively playing them for the bonuses and still buy cosmetic items from the cash shop if they strike my fancy.
 
They did mention that f2p was the entire game as it was before I believe, so if you were ok with it when it was sub only, then not too much of a difference I guess?	
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@OP: Remember, as a returning player you already have a number of facilities unlocked that F2P do not benefit from, so right off the bat there is some impetus for players who enjoy Wildstar to spend a small amount unlocking essential account features.
 
That said right now I don't feel there is much on the cash shop that draws my attention. I suspect what they're doing is looking to see what does sell, and they'll begin developing new content along those avenues; are people buying stuff for their plots? The costumes? Weapons? Dyes? - They need more data to best commit development resources.
 
Right now my biggest concern is whether they can retain the player numbers to even sell cash shop items to, there is still some serious bugbears driving people away. Out of the group of half a dozen who I managed to convince to try Wildstar the main factor above all else that drove away all but two of us (and still grate on us even then), is the race/class combinations locks. If that drove away 4 out of 6 of our group, then across all of the new arrivals this probably represents a serious retention leak and demands priority attention.
			
				
	Edited October 17, 2015 by RyuujinZER0	
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			Free to play games do not need to limit their content to be successful. They make their money through micro transactions from cosmetics and convenience items mainly. Look at warframe for example,  everything is available for free to everyone but players can spend money to gain items faster, convenience, and people are dropping money left and right in that game. Or Tera, all content is free to the players but people are dropping loads of money for cosmetics. SWTOR does f2p poorly in regards of its players, players are basically given a trial version of the game and cornered to either sub or make micro transactions if they want the full or even just a decent experience. If the game is healthy and something they know players would sub for then its a method dev's can use but wildstar is not healthy, and using a f2p model similar to SWTOR would end the game. 	
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I am in F2P right now and new to wildstar. As soon as I can close out one of my subs to another game I will be subbing to wildstar. I just can't do that until the server mergers on that other game are done and I am sure the Kinship I run for the family doesn't need a rename (can only be done by a subscriber).
 
My incentive is I looked at how many NCoins I would need to unlock most of the stuff and the overall pricetag of that and said to heck with it we will go with a Sub. BEsides the fact that I will likely have to start a family guild so at least I have to be subbed.
 
If my history in the game mentioned holds true Wildstar will get plenty of cash from me over and above that subscription anyways. I got a thing for cosmetic pets and mounts.
 
EDIT: Please don't judge me that my entertainment budget is so tight. I am on a fixed income (being retired and disabled) and having to cover the final expenses of a near family member that passed last summer. Side Note : for the love of your family please have at least SOME life insurance. Those medical bills can be horrific.
			
				
	Edited October 18, 2015 by Myrany	
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I agree to an extent, but here's what you should do as a free player: Buy CREDD
 
This is how you support the game. As long as free players buy credd (using plat in game at the CREDD exchange), paid players will continue purchasing it with IRL cash.
 
You will get a month of signature time and cosmic points for credd purchases, as well as supporting wildstar in the long run.
 
As long as we support the game by spending some money on it, we can ensure it continues being such a fair f2p model.
			
				
	Edited October 18, 2015 by Kezra	
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As a returning player, I did level new character up to lvl 30. And in those few days I really didnt feel any need to buy something from the shop. Its like the game in its FTP stage has really everything.
To me personallx its a great thing, but Im a bit worried what if other players feel the same?
We wont be spending any or very little cash in the shop, so WS might get into problems financing itself.
I also tried Swtors Ftp, but it isnt really satisfying, I just had to sub in order to play comfortably
, too many things esential behind paywall. While its ftp isnt generous to players, it is generous to Bioware as it gives incentive to players to sub and to secure steady flow of cash for future content.
So whats your opinion on WSs "generocity" FTP?
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			I'm honestly struggling not to overspend. - more costume slots? Do want. - more unlock items for holo wardrobe? Do want.- still got flame dye and rich and famous dye to buy.- still got all the floors for housing to buy.- riding license is tempting. - extra 50 slots on both AH and CE would be a help. I've already spent more than I used to spend a month on a sub. The only reason I'm not grabbing extra things right this moment, is because I got this feeling that there will be some temporary items that will go up on Shade's Eve and those are a priority for me. 	
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Try Path of Exile son, then you'll know what's generous.
And how a perfect f2p is done as a bonus.
 
Wild star done it surprisingly well too however, i'm almost impressed.
Almost because how hard WS failed as p2p, had they the wisdom to make it f2p from the beginning so much crap could have been avoided..
Oh well, they do well now so i guess we can get over it and enjoy ourselves.	
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I agree to an extent, but here's what you should do as a free player: Buy CREDD
 
This is how you support the game. As long as free players buy credd (using plat in game at the CREDD exchange), paid players will continue purchasing it with IRL cash.
 
You will get a month of signature time and cosmic points for credd purchases, as well as supporting wildstar in the long run.
 
As long as we support the game by spending some money on it, we can ensure it continues being such a fair f2p model.
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F2P business models where you can get basically everything without ever paying still work. The game "Warframe" is pretty popular, despite being the sort of game that you can grind for basically everything for (and the game's "cash" currency is tradable.) I play that game, and I've given that company my money more than once, despite earning most stuff by farming. I enjoy what I play of Wildstar so far, and I plan on spending money on it once I've really settled in- maybe found a guild, gotten my house built up, that sort of stuff. You know, when I'm 100% sure I'll be playing this game for more than a month.
 
Looks like I will, though.	
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I'm honestly struggling not to overspend. 
 
- more costume slots? Do want. 
- more unlock items for holo wardrobe? Do want.
- still got flame dye and rich and famous dye to buy.
- still got all the floors for housing to buy.
- riding license is tempting. 
- extra 50 slots on both AH and CE would be a help. 
 
I've already spent more than I used to spend a month on a sub. The only reason I'm not grabbing extra things right this moment, is because I got this feeling that there will be some temporary items that will go up on Shade's Eve and those are a priority for me. 
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As a returning player, I did level new character up to lvl 30. And in those few days I really didnt feel any need to buy something from the shop. Its like the game in its FTP stage has really everything.
To me personallx its a great thing, but Im a bit worried what if other players feel the same?
We wont be spending any or very little cash in the shop, so WS might get into problems financing itself.
I also tried Swtors Ftp, but it isnt really satisfying, I just had to sub in order to play comfortably
, too many things esential behind paywall. While its ftp isnt generous to players, it is generous to Bioware as it gives incentive to players to sub and to secure steady flow of cash for future content.
So whats your opinion on WSs "generocity" FTP?
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			Female Mechari and Draken dancers for my house plz. And maybe some Mordesh.	
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The ideal for any free to play game should be that the game itself offers a sufficient experience to merit further investment.  The optimal way to do this would be through cosmetic and quality of life (xp potions, for example) items that don't have a significant impact on the experience as a whole.
 
What SWTOR does is handicap the free experience in order to incentivize players to subscribe to the game and buy their cash shop currency.  XP gains are reduced, rewards from content are limited, access to various aspects of the game is limited, and you have a maximum wallet size.
 
Wildstar is quite generous with its free to play model and, one hopes, it will prove to be successful.  At this point only time will tell.
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Just to nitpick...i think their SWTOR's wording on xp gains for sub vs f2p is a little confusing or at least i think they are using specific wording so that the term actually sounds worse then it does.  They say reduced XP as an F2P but i think all that happened is that the normal xp rate back when the game was not f2p just became the xp rate for f2p and subs then got a 25% boost to their xp gains.  However if you think about it changing the terms probably worked to Biowares benefit.  Ask people what their reaction is to hearing reduced xp (f2P) + regular xp (sub) versus regular xp (f2p) + boosted xp (sub).  They hear reduced xp and they think eww yuck i dont want that i'm gonna go sub right now hehe. I thought about testing it a few months back but i wasnt that worried about it.  However i did level a crapton of characters as a sub before F2P was a think and i always hit certain levels at the same place since i always followed the same routine.  Once i became and F2P and i got that "reduced xp" i was still hitting the same locations as before at the same levels.  I dont mean "close enough its the same level" i mean exactly at the same level at exactly the same place/quest hub.
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Even if that were the case that doesn't negate the myriad of restrictions that SWTOR places on free to play players.
 
Unable to color match armor.
Cannot hide head slot.
Certain races (Chiss at the least) unavailable.
 
And those are just the things I can list off the top of my head in addition to the things I listed before.  SWTOR has a very restrictive and, I would almost say, abusive model for free to play.  I've enjoyed the game in the past and I STILL enjoy the game now especially considering some of the humorous character concepts my friends and I have come up with, but we all admit that the game simply is not fun unless you're a subscriber.
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To answer the OP though i think that maybe this F2P model might be too generous. 
 
People will say that they hate SWTORs model, the kinds of things they charge F2P players for.  BUT is it financially successful? it seemed like every time there was a thread about SWTORs quarterly earnings it would go back and forth between this sucks and that sucks and there would always be that one person saying "yah but they're making money".  Wildstars F2P system may be popular but will it be able to sustain (financially) the kind of content we want them to keep adding to the game?
			
				
	Edited October 18, 2015 by wildstarnewbie	
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What SWTOR does is handicap the free experience 
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As a returning player, I did level new character up to lvl 30. And in those few days I really didnt feel any need to buy something from the shop. Its like the game in its FTP stage has really everything.
To me personallx its a great thing, but Im a bit worried what if other players feel the same?
We wont be spending any or very little cash in the shop, so WS might get into problems financing itself.
I also tried Swtors Ftp, but it isnt really satisfying, I just had to sub in order to play comfortably
, too many things esential behind paywall. While its ftp isnt generous to players, it is generous to Bioware as it gives incentive to players to sub and to secure steady flow of cash for future content.
So whats your opinion on WSs "generocity" FTP?
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Even if that were the case that doesn't negate the myriad of restrictions that SWTOR places on free to play players.
 
Unable to color match armor.
Cannot hide head slot.
Certain races (Chiss at the least) unavailable.
 
And those are just the things I can list off the top of my head in addition to the things I listed before.  SWTOR has a very restrictive and, I would almost say, abusive model for free to play.  I've enjoyed the game in the past and I STILL enjoy the game now especially considering some of the humorous character concepts my friends and I have come up with, but we all admit that the game simply is not fun unless you're a subscriber.
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			It might be slightly too generous, I'm not sure. I can say that upon coming back to the game, I have found absolutely zero reason to restart a subscription. Nothing in the cash shop has thus far grabbed me, either. I was almost willing to purchase a mount or two until I saw that they were single character bound. Nope, sorry. I will never, ever, make a cash shop purchase of a mount that is bound to only one of my characters.	
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Here's the thing:  Players who don't spend anything in Wildstar are still a useful commodity to the game.  The more people playing the game - whether they spend NCoin or not - the healthier the playerbase.  The healthier the playerbase, the more likely there will be people around who will spend money.  This is similar to the model TF2 and most MOBAs use.  Get enough people in the game so those that will spend money continue to have fun and stick around - and keep spending.
 
But personally speaking, the only games I'll spend additional money on are ones I fully enjoy.  If I'm not having fun in a F2P MMO, I'm not going to spend money in hopes that lifting certain limitations will fix that.  I imagine this is the mindset Carbine is trying to appeal to.
 
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Might be underestimating people's desire for cosmetic items :D
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As others have stated, I side with the current f2p model mostly. I was a deluxe edition day 1 purchaser back when the game was launched and have recently returned via the f2p.
 
My problem is that I WANT to spend money but nothing strikes me as remotely interesting. The only costume I'd even consider is the deputy looking one, but nothing else in the entirety of the shop strikes my tastes. I spent over $3,000.00 in skins on league of legends before I worked for the company and then left a year later. If the quality of the in game costumes were to go up, I could see myself getting lost in them.
 
Of course, that's probably just a personal taste thing, but who knows.
			
				
	Edited October 18, 2015 by Frosthaven	
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As others have stated, I side with the current f2p model mostly. I was a deluxe edition day 1 purchaser back when the game was launched and have recently returned via the f2p.
 
My problem is that I WANT to spend money but nothing strikes me as remotely interesting. The only costume I'd even consider is the deputy looking one, but nothing else in the entirety of the shop strikes my tastes. I spent over $3,000.00 in skins on league of legends before I worked for the company and then left a year later. If the quality of the in game costumes were to go up, I could see myself getting lost in them.
 
Of course, that's probably just a personal taste thing, but who knows.
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I agree and I noticed this in f2p beta too. None of the costumes look good enough to me to want to spend money on.
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Well, my uninformed opinion would be that Wildstar will accel or tank on it's own merits and pitfalls, and I think that the "generousity" of the F2P will likely not change that...if anything, IMO, it will help Wildstar gain and retain new players.
 
When I first played this game in beta I disliked the title (and almost everything about it) so much that I wished I could have had the time back. It was REALLY horrible IMO.
 
The game has improved IMMENSELY since I played it last. It, however, has a LONG way to go IMO before it truly becomes a market force AAA MMO.
 
It is now a viable contender from my perspective. But it isn't quite there yet....
			
				
	Edited October 18, 2015 by Lordartemis	
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I've already spent $50 on stuff and Fortune Coins. I haven't subbed again yet as i don't want to out level my friend when playing.
 
Personally IMO If you are a Brand new player after the Free-To-Play launch and lets say you have been playing for 2 months & enjoy the game but still have not spent anything on the game, then i would call you a free loader.
If you enjoy the game as a New player you should give the Devs some praise and money for their hard work, even if that means you buy CREDD off the exchange.
 
As for do i think it's too generous? Hmm that's a debatable situation, Swtor makes cash because players give in to being forced on things. Limited time mounts & costumes or seasonal event only costumes/mounts or other cosmetic items could work in Carbines favour. Due to peoples Need to collect. Especially if it looks cool.	
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Personally IMO If you are a Brand new player after the Free-To-Play launch and lets say you have been playing for 2 months & enjoy the game but still have not spent anything on the game, then i would call you a free loader.
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As a returning player, I did level new character up to lvl 30. And in those few days I really didnt feel any need to buy something from the shop. Its like the game in its FTP stage has really everything.
To me personallx its a great thing, but Im a bit worried what if other players feel the same?
We wont be spending any or very little cash in the shop, so WS might get into problems financing itself.
I also tried Swtors Ftp, but it isnt really satisfying, I just had to sub in order to play comfortably
, too many things esential behind paywall. While its ftp isnt generous to players, it is generous to Bioware as it gives incentive to players to sub and to secure steady flow of cash for future content.
So whats your opinion on WSs "generocity" FTP?
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That's kind of defeating the point don't ya think :P? It's free to play after all :blink:.
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So whats your opinion on WSs "generocity" FTP?
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Might be Free-to-play but Devs need money in order to continue said game and earn a living. It shows disrespect if you are just a free loader.
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Hehehe just playing devil's advocate :P.
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			The cosmetic items in the shop are pretty bad right now... they really need to bring in some better stuff.	
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As a returning player, I did level new character up to lvl 30. And in those few days I really didnt feel any need to buy something from the shop. Its like the game in its FTP stage has really everything.
To me personallx its a great thing, but Im a bit worried what if other players feel the same?
We wont be spending any or very little cash in the shop, so WS might get into problems financing itself.
I also tried Swtors Ftp, but it isnt really satisfying, I just had to sub in order to play comfortably
, too many things esential behind paywall. While its ftp isnt generous to players, it is generous to Bioware as it gives incentive to players to sub and to secure steady flow of cash for future content.
So whats your opinion on WSs "generocity" FTP?
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Might be Free-to-play but Devs need money in order to continue said game and earn a living. It shows disrespect if you are just a free loader.
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			The funny thing is... In the 6 or so months I played Wildstar at launch I haven't played a third as much money as I have now in the first month of F2P. >_>	
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Might be Free-to-play but Devs need money in order to continue said game and earn a living. It shows disrespect if you are just a free loader.
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			I still have my monthly service active, and i've spent an additional 60 dollars. For me this is a better system. as i've purchased five subscriptions just myself. While i'm unsure how successful they've been so far. i know of other players who have spent hundreds. It's likely many people like myself will pick up the "slack" of the F2P. Only time will tell however.
			
				
	Edited October 18, 2015 by >Daedwax<	
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Wow.. people *cupcake* about anything......
 
Look at GW2, great amount of content.. and no sub fee...
 
You want to know a BAD f2p.. look at swotor... talk about a pay walling pos system.
 
No this is a great system.. and i rather support a company for treating us right.. then to a company that forces you to pay to try to enjoy the game....
 
So kudos to Carbine and Ncsoft for not shafting us players!!!	
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I think overall F2P is in a good spot.
 
They could add a few more benefits to signature, that's for sure. 
 
And I think with the complaints about there being nothing intresting on the cash shop - might have to wait a bit?  I mean, yeah they should have a lot more out by now, but they still have to design and put in all the armor sets - I'm positive they'll get some nicer looking stuff in there - their armor designs have been pretty darn good.	
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Hmh.
People seem to always want more, don't they.	
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I think Wildstar is doing f2p correctly and I do not think it is too generous but I think there cash shop needs filling out a little. The way I look at it is if the game is too restricting then people will stop playing early on, this way people will play and the more they play the more they get invested in the game and as such will start looking at dropping money into it. I haven't looked thoroughly through the cash shop  but normally the big hitters are bank and bag slot expansions, I played GW2 and they had the right idea of throwing stuff at you, so much that you either had to sell it or mule it or spend money to open up more bag/bank slots.  If they arent selling bag/bank slot expansions so you can have more room then that would be the first place I would look at adding to the store. 
 
Then you get costumes and weapon skins, right now there isnt a whole lot in the store but when they start coming in its amazing how many people will want the latest skin if its something cool. When you then add housing into it and provide items for your house, its amazing how many people just love decorating there house's and setting them up thematically. I played SWG and a woman in the guild I was in spent literally hours decorating her house and she enjoyed it that much she went on to decorate the guild hall and spent ages collecting items and rare paintings for her house.	
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Free to play games do not need to limit their content to be successful. They make their money through micro transactions from cosmetics and convenience items mainly. Look at warframe for example,  everything is available for free to everyone but players can spend money to gain items faster, convenience, and people are dropping money left and right in that game. Or Tera, all content is free to the players but people are dropping loads of money for cosmetics. SWTOR does f2p poorly in regards of its players, players are basically given a trial version of the game and cornered to either sub or make micro transactions if they want the full or even just a decent experience. If the game is healthy and something they know players would sub for then its a method dev's can use but wildstar is not healthy, and using a f2p model similar to SWTOR would end the game. 
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I think Wildstar is doing f2p correctly and I do not think it is too generous but I think there cash shop needs filling out a little. The way I look at it is if the game is too restricting then people will stop playing early on, this way people will play and the more they play the more they get invested in the game and as such will start looking at dropping money into it. I haven't looked thoroughly through the cash shop  but normally the big hitters are bank and bag slot expansions, I played GW2 and they had the right idea of throwing stuff at you, so much that you either had to sell it or mule it or spend money to open up more bag/bank slots.  If they arent selling bag/bank slot expansions so you can have more room then that would
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