127198-future-content

== Content ==
			
Hi everyone,
Since this is my first time playing a game thats going from subscription to free to play I've been doing a lot of homework on the subject (looking at other games that did it) and I'm a little worried about certain things. I already posted a question concerning all my favorite things (costumes, pets and housing) mostly being in the cash shop. It was pointed out to me that the in game currency would help pay for these type of items so I shouldn't worry so much. I feel a little better about that now  :)
The other big thing was the content drops that are so awesome. I watched the livestream and they said a few times that the drops would remain the same but thats not what I'm being told by players who have seen all this before. I keep getting told that the devs will concentrate on the shop and maybe not spend nearly as much time on regular content. It's not that I dont believe the devs but I understand that they need to make a lot of money to keep wildstar going so they might not have a choice.
What do you guys think ?
Thanks.	
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			I am worried too.	
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			Honestly I'll continue to be worried until we see the final version. I'm in the same boat as you with this game being my first F2P transition.	
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			It's simple. You can trust players talking about other games from other companies, or you can trust the developers making this game.However I will contradict myself and be a player telling you about another game. The best example I can give you is another game from the same publisher (NCSoft) that made this conversion (City of Heroes). Everything we know about the Wildstar change looks very similar to what they did with CoH. When CoH converted, regular content did NOT decrease. There was plenty of new things to do as a free player, at the same time the store did add things but they were extra things that would not be expected to be part of normal drops. You could get new powersets and costumes at the store, but since prior powersets only came into the game in paid expansions, this wasn't any 'loss'Other games make pretty blatant cash grabs at the expense of paid customers. So far I have no reason not to trust Carbine though. The only reason I don't have to trust NCSoft is that despite a very successful changeover and the fact the game was making more money, they abruptly decided to close City of Heroes. That was a much older game though so I expect NCSoft will give Wildstar a longer leash.In other words, don't worry too much.	
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Other games make pretty blatant cash grabs at the expense of paid customers. So far I have no reason not to trust Carbine though. The only reason I don't have to trust NCSoft is that despite a very successful changeover and the fact the game was making more money, they abruptly decided to close City of Heroes. That was a much older game though so I expect NCSoft will give Wildstar a longer leash.
 
In other words, don't worry too much.
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Think of it this way
 
Swtor still produces a ton of content
 
RIFT still produces...decent amounts of content
 
Tera is doing pretty good as well
 
 
 
Thats the big 3 f2p mmos, and i guarantee Wildstar will eclipse them both in quality of content, and population ofc :P	
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			Wildstar nowadays is basically too good for a F2P game. After relaunch, it will be the best F2P mmo on market. Period. /fanboy mode off	
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I'm gonna go ahead and say this: The cash shop will indeed be their top priority when F2P launches.
Now don't let that scare you. It's not beacuse the devs/producers are evil monsters that want to destroy you and erase your lineage from existence. It's beacuse of a very simple and universal truth: since after the F2P transition there won't be a sub needed or a box price, the cash shop will be their primary means for making money. And more money from the cash shop means more funding for further development. Unfortunately in F2P games these 2 go hand-to-hand. So i don't mind about the cash shop as long as there are certain rules applied to the game's F2P model. As long as they release a certain amount of content or QoL features regularly and they don't throw it in your face every 10 seconds they can focus on the cash shop as much as they want. Like it's already been said CoH did a good job on this under the NCSoft umbrela so here's hoping.	
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Look at SWTOR..they push out real content while they also have a massiv cash shop...so I think the devs can focus on both:) 
 
Imo a cash shop is the place for true Carbine art team members. There they can sell their product like they sell paintings in a gallery. Its perfect...and knowing artists.,...I think they love it:) 	
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It's simple. You can trust players talking about other games from other companies, or you can trust the developers making this game.
 
However I will contradict myself and be a player telling you about another game. The best example I can give you is another game from the same publisher (NCSoft) that made this conversion (City of Heroes). Everything we know about the Wildstar change looks very similar to what they did with CoH. When CoH converted, regular content did NOT decrease. There was plenty of new things to do as a free player, at the same time the store did add things but they were extra things that would not be expected to be part of normal drops. You could get new powersets and costumes at the store, but since prior powersets only came into the game in paid expansions, this wasn't any 'loss'
 
Other games make pretty blatant cash grabs at the expense of paid customers. So far I have no reason not to trust Carbine though. The only reason I don't have to trust NCSoft is that despite a very successful changeover and the fact the game was making more money, they abruptly decided to close City of Heroes. That was a much older game though so I expect NCSoft will give Wildstar a longer leash.
 
In other words, don't worry too much.
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I agree with this and I want to add on to this.
 
Nexon has announced that they will be tugging on NCSoft's leash a bit harder, and if Nexon's games show anything its that they probably wont put WildStar on the chopping block anytime soon, but they will use it as a platform to make their money back.
I don't fear carbine
 
I fear NEXON and NCSoft and the money angle.
 
I don't think that Content will cease to be produced or reduced, but I am afraid that NCSoft(NEXON) will make moves to make WildStar more profitable and there for much more cash grabby.
 
We saw this crap First Hand what NEXON did to Vindictus.
The method and status quo of the game has changed immensely over its service and it's pretty shameful some of the things that has been pushed into Vindi's cash shop, and content base.
A lot of immersion breaking things have made its way into Vindictus, and it's a much less recognizble game now than it was back upon it's release.
 
Vindictus has done only a moderate amount of improvements, but quite a lot of content has been added that requires no cost.
NEXON has complete and total control over DevCAT and how Vindi is treated so if we can use Vindi as an example of what might happen to WildStar with NCSoft having NEXON on their ass, then we can expect a flow of content no doubt, and I think they will try hard to preserve the game. but I fear what may change to the game's model to make more money and what might make its way into the game that could completely crush the games immersion.
 
It's much more cost effective to salvage a F2P game and alter it to make money than it is to sign a new IP, and Staff and have a new game produced.
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			If they handle it right, it could be a great boost to the population and Wildstar will thrive. If they do it wrong, Wildstar will go down the toilet. I am slightly worried given Carbines track record but we can hope.	
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If they handle it right, it could be a great boost to the population and Wildstar will thrive. If they do it wrong, Wildstar will go down the toilet. I am slightly worried given Carbines track record but we can hope.
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People always forget that in a hybrid f2p model there are two methods for making money. The first and most obvious is the cash shop purchases, but the second is getting people to convert accounts from f2p to subscriber. The nice thing about subscriber income is that is much more predictable source of cash flow. It is also easier to build revenue models based on subscriber income. If you look at some of the best f2p mmos, they don't just bank on the whales buying a ton of items, but offering good perks and no additional cost of subscribers to convert players to that model. Whales are just gravy.
 
Edit, I forgot to get to my point. 
 
Content and good perks keep subscribers subscribing. Cash shops don't. 	
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To add my two-bits:
 
DC Universe, a game near and dear to my heart, went F2P and I stayed through that transition. It was traumatic at first, mostly because 1) we didn't know what to expect and 2) Sony didn't have the best rep when I came to getting it right.
 
However, three years down the road, the game is churning out TONS of new content, and not just cash shop stuff. In fact, very little in the way of costuming/vanity items goes there since it transitioned. You do have to purchase DLC if you choose not to subscribe, but the perks of keeping a sub are so good, it's totally worthwhile to keep it active. They've put out a half-dozen or more Raids, more instanced missions, craploads of playable PVP characters (what they call Legends), PVP maps and a whole range of open-world content. Honestly, if it weren't for Wildstar, that's were I'd still be, because they proved they could do it the right way.
 
In short, only the future will tell, but given how many good examples they have to look at, I am hopeful that the team follows suit.	
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{| class="blockquote"
People always forget that in a hybrid f2p model there are two methods for making money. The first and most obvious is the cash shop purchases, but the second is getting people to convert accounts from f2p to subscriber. The nice thing about subscriber income is that is much more predictable source of cash flow. It is also easier to build revenue models based on subscriber income. If you look at some of the best f2p mmos, they don't just bank on the whales buying a ton of items, but offering good perks and no additional cost of subscribers to convert players to that model. Whales are just gravy.
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{| class="blockquote"
To add my two-bits:
 
DC Universe, a game near and dear to my heart, went F2P and I stayed through that transition. It was traumatic at first, mostly because 1) we didn't know what to expect and 2) Sony didn't have the best rep when I came to getting it right.
 
However, three years down the road, the game is churning out TONS of new content, and not just cash shop stuff. In fact, very little in the way of costuming/vanity items goes there since it transitioned. You do have to purchase DLC if you choose not to subscribe, but the perks of keeping a sub are so good, it's totally worthwhile to keep it active. They've put out a half-dozen or more Raids, more instanced missions, craploads of playable PVP characters (what they call Legends), PVP maps and a whole range of open-world content. Honestly, if it weren't for Wildstar, that's were I'd still be, because they proved they could do it the right way.
 
In short, only the future will tell, but given how many good examples they have to look at, I am hopeful that the team follows suit.
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