Producer's Letter & Dev Diary - Introducing RIFT Free-to-Play

[MissMarmalade]

Buyer Beward shouldn't be "Watch out for underhanded tactics" but it is.

Either way my ticket is submitted and it was really shady of them to push year subscriptions when SL was released if this conversion had truly had been in the works for awhile.

I don't actually believe their marketing line that the conversion had been in the works that long. I think that they started pursuing it when SL subs and player retention didn't live up to expectations. Of course they -say- it's been in works for a long time; no company is going to say "we thought SL was going to do XYZ but it didn't meet expectations over the long term, so we had to make this business decision".

But I guess people also asked for their sub money back after paying into the Annual Pass in WoW...and then getting no content for 9 months.

[xanduin246]

- Summon Banker, Guild Banker, and Trainer

I assume that those of us who already own a summonable bank/mailbox/vendor will not have it taken away? EDIT: Also, the site says that F2P players get 3 bag slots to start with. What happens if I already have 5 bags? (I plan on being a Patron, just curious)

I think that used to be the sentiment, but the world we're in now is very F2P friendly. IMO, anyway. Gut reactions aside, I think we'll be definitely be seeing people give us a look.

I'd like to hope so, but I (and I'm sure you do too) often browse the forums of other MMOs, and while you do get people who will say F2P is good and the future many state defiantly that it is the result of a failed game and they will quit/never join if it becomes that. I truly hope you guys experience the former.

[Fragasm]

Part of the point is that a subscription is now going to be optional - we don't ever want you to feel you're required to have one, but we offer a number of incentives that many will find worth it:

- Bonus to currency drops
- Summon Banker, Guild Banker, and Trainer
- +10% Mount Speed Bonus (Persistent)
- Daily Reputation Boost
- Daily Experience Boost
- Daily Token Bonus
- Daily Favor & Prestige Bonus
- Patron status contributes towards unlocking Veteran rewards (which we'll have a lot more specifics on next week)

I know that's kind of a non-answer, but that's because we all need to shift the way we look at what a subscriber (Patron) is

Cheers,

Daily Experience boost, Daily Token bonus, Daily Rep bonus, how much? I've paid for ages and loved it, will these be worth continuing the sub for?

[Daglar]

ps. plz sell sex & race change scrolls.

Those are supposed to be worked on this week.

~Daglar

[Rodario]

"After June 12, all players will have total access to the entire world: every dungeon, every raid, every Warfront, and every level. We won’t be locking our content or advancement behind walls – our goal is to break down every barrier. We want more people playing together and more people having fun together. A new free player has restrictions on their starting inventory, character slots, and you won’t have access to the Storm Legion souls, but you really are getting the whole game for free."

That statement is kind of a paradox i must say.

There is always a catch. Always.

[insodus]

Ah man, so disappointed in this. So many games follow the same pattern...

Pander to the masses in hopes of bringing in new players. In reality end up bringing in 12 year olds with no money or casuals who dont want to pay for the game anyway.

Result: Game population initially spikes (with an official announcement declaring victory no doubt) and the game all but dead after 6 months when they all move on to something else. RIP Rift, my favorite MMO ever.

[Shaidar Haran]

As a Subbed "Patron?", I think that is what I am going to be called until Feb (when my sub ends) I find the Bonuses that Trio is offering to be Lackluster at best. Let's go thru them:

1. Increased Mounted Speed 10%. The world is not large enough to warrant this making me feel special and 10% is surely not remotely close enough. Consider this - if you are grouped with people (let's say you are RIFTing (GH, Crafting, etc)) well you get to the tear faster, but you still have to wait on the people with the 90% mounts and once someone else who is much slower than you gets there you still have to hear the "Can someone summon plz?"

2. 15% currency: Consider that RIFT has always been a game NOT focused on platinum and there are prolly 10,000s of accounts with 5k+ platinum on their account at this moment. This is just one of those "Deer in a head Lights" effect in my mind.

3. Bonus XP: I am damn near max PA already without focusing on it.

4. Insta Access to G banker, banker, Trainer - Meh...

5. Bonus tokens: Trion's Policy and Company attitude of Parity between the Diff types of players makes this marginal at best, this is another "Deer in the Headlights" effect in my mind. Eventually, people will gain all these they need and it will be another waste.

6. Favor and Prestige Bonuses: Anyone who is playing and enjoying PvP is maxing these already at a decent rate to not warrant this being anything other than lackluster.

7. Notoriety PvE: Only useful until you are maxed. Again, another useful for a short time effect.

8. Loyalty/Vet Rewards: Not much info here, will see as they come out.


To Summarize, points 1,2,3,6,7 can all be effectively negated if you are a botter (Bots being F2P, because why in the world would they pay?). All you have to do is run your Bot 24/7 while the Patron only plays 2-6 hours a day. When I think F2P, I think Trion will not care anymore about Bots because well... the game is F2P now! So there goes my ability to collect my own plants, ore, wood or at best make it so hard to find that I do end up buying it on AH.

[Taxt]

Come on guys we can get it to 100 viewers !

come join us Link is on the Sig

[Daglar]

Hypothetically, if you've been subscribed almost since launch (and up to F2P launch) and then after F2P launches, you cancel your subscription, do you lose access to anything?

(Other than the Patron bonuses)

No, you don't lose anything other than the Patron bonuses. Your account is a veteran account.

~Daglar

[RoughRaptorsOld]

It's ok guys...A WILD ROUGHRAPTORS HAS APPEARED ON CEELO'S STREAM.

[Mazui]

Maybe the super l33t folks can help teach them how to play and help integrate new folks into the community, instead of asking for segregation and telling people how terrible they are for being a new user?

In all seriousness, who says that free players are bad? That is a stereotype, some of the folks that pop into the game will probably be returning veterans.

~Daglar

You don't get to take the moral high road after informing your player base you knowingly sold them year long subs only to give them six months of service and some in store credit to make up the other six months.

Since you like being blunt, I thought I would return the favor.

[ilex011]

Unfortunately we can't do this. The servers for the US are located in Austin Texas, and the servers for Europe are located in Amsterdam. We want to make sure that there are minimal connection and latency problems for our core audiences.

~Daglar

Austin! You guys hiring? I have a degree in Psychology! I could probably give a presentation to some Trion peeps on how to plan things better so you guys who interact with us don't have to be such the messengers of doom on internet forums!

[simpa1988]

well....very surprised with the news.....
Im not a fan of F2P models on mmo, but what i read seems fine.
My only concern is that if im a subscriber i will earn each month credits so i will be able to buy things from cash shop? I dont want to be a subscriber and although have to pay real money in addition to buy the pets and mounts....Im a big fan of fluff items and this is important to me!
Thanks

[Shattered]

I hope you are talking WAY more bonuses then just the stuff you listed. Because atm your so called "bonus" list that subscribers get seem lacking when you compare the content you get for your new F2P model with the content (or lack there of) you get paying 15 a month.

Are such bonuses nice? sure... but i can say with certainty that i wouldn't pay 15 a month for what you have currently listed as "patron" bonuses. Hell some dont even affect me and i already have a summon-able banker.

If your going to expect people to continue to pay subscription models at all, your going to need to offer WAY more incentives available to JUST subscribers. I realize you have to avoid adding so much that it creates balance problems, but additional quality of life bonuses, fluff items such as cooler mounts, and other such rewards are needed. Currently its just not worth the sub when compared to what you get for free.

I have to say, I am shocked and saddened. I am one of many who got suckered into a 1-year sub with SL. It does feel very much like bait and switch. We didn't even get the full expansion, still have not gotten the full expansion, and now this. Feels like a kick in the teeth.

The list of patron bonuses is totally uninspired and inadequate. It should include at the very least a monthly allotment of REX points. That's the only thing that kept me subbing to LOTRO until they went pay to win, at which point, I left. I had 4 years invested in that game, and I walked away. I have much less time and emotional investment in this game, and I sure won't think twice about walking away from it either.

[Kiika]

I don't understand why gear has to be sold at all and not just earned like it is now. Being able to just buy gear is the only thing that worries me about this even if the gear is a tier behind that is still too good. Just don't sell gear at all