Thoughts on Sub Based and F2P Servers?

[Renounced]

So examining a lot of different concerns with the game, I'm interested in what the community would think if Trion brought Subscription based servers back. However, they keep F2P servers up with the cash shop for people who don't want to pay.

Allods Online did this a little while back, I can't say whether it's working out for them or not, but it's an interesting idea.

What does the Rift Community have to say on something like this?
Couple F2P Servers and a Subscription Based Server

[Hawkmoon0028]

Asked and answered.

The Developer response was pretty much (me paraphrasing) 'no, because this would segregate the community- and Trion is all about trying to bring players together.'

[Primalthirst]

This is a terrible idea, it would break guilds apart.

[Harmonia]

They did that on EQ2. It was called EQ2 Extended. They were kept separate, and in my opinion were used as guinea pigs with a shop that contained basically everything you could imagine including a weapon that would one shot anything you used it on. This was prior to the conversion to f2p.

Such was the hate between subscribers, and this free to play credit card bunch, that they even had separate forums.

I think it's a bad idea now. (now Rift is already f2p) I think the cash shop would spin out of control on the ftp server/s and we'd eventually end up with it in game, when the servers were finally merged.

http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Everquest_II_Extended

[the_real_seebs]

Yeah, pretty much that. I would never want to play with elitists! :P

[Kitasia]

Though I dislike f2p, not hate just dislike. I would never ever want to be torn apart from the friends I have made . I love how Rift is bring as many of us together as they can. When we had separate clusters it was like I lost part of my family. It is bad enough I cant be with my EU brothers and sisters. Yes I know it isn't possible but I still wish we could share one chat. So I think separating F2p and subs is a very bad idea.

[Gloea]

I used to play Allods online between quitting WoW and starting Rift. Part of the problem in that game is that the cash shop was significantly more intrusive than it is in Rift, including purchase-only combat mounts, extra talent points you had to gamble to get, and a stacking damage buff on which you had to spend at least $30 in order to be competitive, and closer to $60 if you wanted raid invites. As such, the addition of the subscription server could potentially have tapped into an entirely new market of players who wanted fair competition.

In North America, the game never really had enough population to support 2 full servers even when I was playing, and the population has only declined since then (I think it was the same in Europe). The addition of the sub server has greatly hurt the game because it spreads the population too thin. In Russia, where Allods is actually really huge, the sub server has been going strong for a year or so now AFAIK.

Edit: Also note that the sub server was added first in Russia, where the game has the player base to support it as well as a large number of free servers. Because of this, adding the sub server to NA/EU involved much less work.