Why RIFT is going to die in 4.0 - compared to the big 3

[Veldan]

After this many years of spending absolutely nothing on the game, can you tell me why you think the 85-93% of the players that have paid absolutely nothing to date (and Trion assert they never will) are going to undergo such a complete paradigm shift and decide to spend £30 on a B2P expansion?

It's simple. Before Starfall Prophecy, the choice was:

- pay nothing and play the content
OR
- pay money and play the content

With Starfall Prophecy, the choice becomes:

- pay nothing and don't play the content
OR
- pay money and play the content

I trust you can see how this is different? A certain percentage of F2Pers will decide to pay in order to continue the game. I make no claims to how high that percentage is, but I am certain it's not zero.

[MoMo1]

Maybe because they like what they may get and have put too much time in not to advance/see new places. They will have time to explore / upgrade for the price of a couple of meals out.

We are at the end of an expansion pack and you are bored.. (Meteor) you said so yourself in other threads. F2P will be 3 years in November. They are a business but you believe everything is set in stone and they cannot alter. Reality means they have to change. You don't like it but to my mind it all depends on how good the expansion will be ..there are some very promising things.

I wish they would make patron more enticing and get rid of gamble boxes as well as make 15 person raids. I also wish they would not leave testing to the PTS because a fair few only go there to see what is new but do not test with the inevitable results. There are practices that need to change. However I have spent too much of my time not to give it a go.

We all want different things but the days of pandering to a small percentage of elite raiders ..in a lot of MMO games ... are over.

People will make their own decisions and neither you or I can speak for them.

[Eliatron]

Maybe because they like what they may get and have put too much time in not to advance/see new places. They will have time to explore / upgrade for the price of a couple of meals out.

We are at the end of an expansion pack and you are bored.. (Meteor) you said so yourself in other threads. F2P will be 3 years in November. They are a business but you believe everything is set in stone and they cannot alter. Reality means they have to change. You don't like it but to my mind it all depends on how good the expansion will be ..there are some very promising things.

I wish they would make patron more enticing and get rid of gamble boxes as well as make 15 person raids. I also wish they would not leave testing to the PTS because a fair few only go there to see what is new but do not test with the inevitable results. There are practices that need to change. However I have spent too much of my time not to give it a go.

We all want different things but the days of pandering to a small percentage of elite raiders ..in a lot of MMO games ... are over.

People will make their own decisions and neither you or I can speak for them.

Pretty sure Opie, the artifact hunter mount, needs CREDITS to be able to actually track artifacts and jump.
Yeah, they're changing.

Of course you can also sell Lucky coins (finite resource) to jump.

[Linolea]

I do.

Everquest 2, then WoW, then Rift. Not sure what'll be next.

Camelot Unchained?

[Linolea]

Forgive me if I understand something else. I have in mind the static numbers of the raid party which define the quality of the loot. e.g.
10 man raid => Loot Item Level 312.
20 man raid => Loot item Level 325. Bigger efforts bigger rewards and the reason why to gather more ppl into them.

Never quite sure why people think a bigger raid means more effort (other than for the raid leaders). often the 10-mans are harder because everyone has to pull their weight. You can afford a couple carries in the typical 20-man, in 10-man not so much (at least when it is new). The only loot difference, IMO, would be hard mode for better loot, and more drops in bigger groups.

[Darkjoy]

It's simple. Before Starfall Prophecy, the choice was:

- pay nothing and play the content
OR
- pay money and play the content

With Starfall Prophecy, the choice becomes:

- pay nothing and don't play the content
OR
- pay money and play the content

I trust you can see how this is different? A certain percentage of F2Pers will decide to pay in order to continue the game. I make no claims to how high that percentage is, but I am certain it's not zero.

I just don't understand why it's Trion's fault that you don't have $40 to give them for an expansion pack. I just don't get it. Why do you think everything is supposed to be free? You realize we live on planet Earth and that this planet is run by the dollar?

[Maelya]

Let's compare a little bit to the big 3:
WoW - 15$ a month, 40$ xpacs. Around 4 mil players. Full access to everything


RIFT. 40$ xpac. Few thousand players. Full access to everything comes after paying 15$ a month for patron...

You don´t get full access to everything in Rift and that was the point, when I quit. I still have Patronstatus, but I don´t play anymore.

If I log in, there is always the feeling of incompletion. Conveyed to locked areas I still feel that I should invest more money.
I must also skip missions. I don't need them, I know this, but everything conveyed: buy, buy, buy.
Also with a current subscription one is excluded from the bonus system of the new expansion.

I simply pay my subscription in the other game and I am welcome to everything. There is no feeling of incompleteness, there is no extra money needed to get access to something.

[Kat Head]

As someone soon to return (part time) to Rift, I personally dont mind buying the xpac.

However, I feel this is probably a bad move for the game overall as a lot of free to play players will move on. Some may say this is good, good riddance leachers. However, I have played with some exceptional people that were f2p (outside of unlocking the market) and this game without those people would by a shell of what it is with those people.

[KnightFalz]

Hello. We all know that we lost a huge part of the playerbase since NTE began. However, this is undoubtedly the last nail in RIFT's coffin. Hear me out.

Let's compare a little bit to the big 3:
WoW - 15$ a month, 40$ xpacs. Around 4 mil players. Full access to everything
Gw2 - 50$ once, then free forever. Half a million players. Cash shop only sells cosmetics. Full access to everything
FFIV - 15$ a month. Half a million players. Full access to everything

RIFT. 40$ xpac. Few thousand players. Full access to everything comes after paying 15$ a month for patron(which I'll explain in a second), and paying for souls.

Full access to everything in WoW requires a subscription and the purchase of expansions as they come out. They offer a feature and level limited trial for free.

Full access to everything in GW2 requires additional purchases. They charge for each new expansion pack. You must also purchase Living World season packs to experience them. They also have a very expensive cash shop, which includes the expansion of a very limited initial inventory. The cash shop is not limited to only cosmetic items.They offer perpetual play of the initial pre-expansion GW2 at no cost.

Full access to everything in FFIV: RR requires purchase of the original game and the expansion pack, and a subscription. They offer a very short feature limited free trial.

Full access to the Rift game will soon require the purchase of an expansion pack and a subscription. They also offer feature limited continuing free play up to level 65. The soul packs are optional purchases that simply allow you to play the game differently, full access to the game does not require them.

For accurate comparisons to be made you have to accurately describe that which is being compared.

[KnightFalz]

As someone soon to return (part time) to Rift, I personally dont mind buying the xpac.

However, I feel this is probably a bad move for the game overall as a lot of free to play players will move on. Some may say this is good, good riddance leachers. However, I have played with some exceptional people that were f2p (outside of unlocking the market) and this game without those people would by a shell of what it is with those people.

The potential loss of f2p players is a valid concern. Not only are some of them exceptional people and some exceptional players (with some no doubt being both) they also provide population which makes group activities easier to do. If a great many f2p are lost this could create problems for the players that remain, including subscribers.

Yet, the game has to make revenue some way.

To make sufficient revenue to keep a game running, and expanding, while keeping most of it available to f2p players can be a difficult balancing act. I don't envy those tasked with it.

[havenslight]

1) Take away the $40 xpac because it was said that all content will be free by a certain high level boss person.

You know that guy that has ?? for a level that works at Trion.

2) Make the game a sub game at $10 a month. 200,000 players = $2,000,000 a month everyone is paid and happy.

3) Make everything unlocked (i.e.) nothing behind a pay wall like souls/gear because the $10 a month allows you to have everything.

4) Take away all the gear from the shop and make it cosmetic only. (Mounts / cool looking gear / things like that. If you want to get new gear take the tokens you got to xyz vender and buy xyz gear. I know there are a bunch of people that will pay for a mount or cool gear as long as it not stupid high. $15 or $20 for a mount would be great.

5) Leave REX in game as an extra way to make money. REX can be use to buy anything off the store including game time. Game time should be sold at the Plat price of a REX because a REX is $10 and game time is $10.

6) For the Love of the Planes please oh please put real prices on drops. This 1 silver thing is killing the market value of everything!!!!! Please Please Please Please!!!!

7) Hired more people to help with the game. If your making the $2,000,000 a month you now have a little money to hire more people.

8) I know someone is going to say $2,000,000 is not enough but think..... that is only the sub base at 200k people. That is not including sales from the store. If 100k people bought something off the store say a mount that's another $1.5 million in sales at $15 a mount.

Lastly I would pay $10 a month for a game that I knew was headed in the right direction. That stuck to it's core values of great game play and free content. Not a company that changes it pay model every 1.6 years because someone at the top thought it was a good idea and money would just be flowing in uncontrollably.

[Gok]

1) Take away the $40 xpac because it was said that all content will be free by a certain high level boss person.

You know that guy that has ?? for a level that works at Trion.

2) Make the game a sub game at $10 a month. 200,000 players = $2,000,000 a month everyone is paid and happy.

3) Make everything unlocked (i.e.) nothing behind a pay wall like souls/gear because the $10 a month allows you to have everything.

4) Take away all the gear from the shop and make it cosmetic only. (Mounts / cool looking gear / things like that. If you want to get new gear take the tokens you got to xyz vender and buy xyz gear. I know there are a bunch of people that will pay for a mount or cool gear as long as it not stupid high. $15 or $20 for a mount would be great.

5) Leave REX in game as an extra way to make money. REX can be use to buy anything off the store including game time. Game time should be sold at the Plat price of a REX because a REX is $10 and game time is $10.

6) Hired more people to help with the game. If your making the $2,000,000 a month you now have a little money to hire more people.

7) I know someone is going to say $2,000,000 is not enough but think..... that is only the sub base at 200k people. That is not including sales from the store. If 100k people bought something off the store say a mount that's another $1.5 million in sales at $15 a mount.

Lastly I would pay $10 a month for a game that I knew was headed in the right direction. That stuck to it's core values of great game play and free content. Not a company that changes it pay model every 1.6 years because someone at the top thought it was a good idea and money would just be flowing in uncontrollably.

people are freaked out for one time payment and you are suggestion forcing monthly payments?

i am enjoying RIFT for the past couple of months since i have returned and they deserve to get payed for their great work at most of the game content.

[havenslight]

people are freaked out for one time payment and you are suggestion forcing monthly payments?

i am enjoying RIFT for the past couple of months since i have returned and they deserve to get payed for their great work at most of the game content.

I understand fully. I started this game when it was pay to play $15 a month and the game was the best thing out. So yes I am for the $10 sub as long as the content is once again made whole and good. The game will still have an option to buy game time with in game currency you just have to take the time to get the currency to pay for it.

[Ramcius]

1) Take away the $40 xpac because it was said that all content will be free by a certain high level boss person.

You know that guy that has ?? for a level that works at Trion.

2) Make the game a sub game at $10 a month. 200,000 players = $2,000,000 a month everyone is paid and happy.

3) Make everything unlocked (i.e.) nothing behind a pay wall like souls/gear because the $10 a month allows you to have everything.

4) Take away all the gear from the shop and make it cosmetic only. (Mounts / cool looking gear / things like that. If you want to get new gear take the tokens you got to xyz vender and buy xyz gear. I know there are a bunch of people that will pay for a mount or cool gear as long as it not stupid high. $15 or $20 for a mount would be great.

5) Leave REX in game as an extra way to make money. REX can be use to buy anything off the store including game time. Game time should be sold at the Plat price of a REX because a REX is $10 and game time is $10.

6) For the Love of the Planes please oh please put real prices on drops. This 1 silver thing is killing the market value of everything!!!!! Please Please Please Please!!!!

7) Hired more people to help with the game. If your making the $2,000,000 a month you now have a little money to hire more people.

8) I know someone is going to say $2,000,000 is not enough but think..... that is only the sub base at 200k people. That is not including sales from the store. If 100k people bought something off the store say a mount that's another $1.5 million in sales at $15 a mount.

Lastly I would pay $10 a month for a game that I knew was headed in the right direction. That stuck to it's core values of great game play and free content. Not a company that changes it pay model every 1.6 years because someone at the top thought it was a good idea and money would just be flowing in uncontrollably.

it's sounds good on paper, but where you going take 200k people to play Rift?

[Nasacrim]

Didn't Rift had less than 5k characters tagged on the leaderboards during the 5th year anniversary event? (meaning that less than 5 thousand characters where playing the game during the whole anniversary event...)

Idk man but 200k players sounds quite optimistic.