Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Subscription or F2P
stolyaR
Member
TAKE IT EASY!!! I'LL PAY THE SUBSCRIPTION NO MATTER WHAT!!!
BUT.
I think It can be an issue for many people to start paying from day one without actually touch and feel the game.
(I know I know you don't need to buy the game and its huge but still.....)
I think DEVS must think of many different ways to drag people in.
Like:
"Free Saturday":
Try to catch gamers while they at home and give them the opportunity to get into the game.
If they will like it they will subscribe.
"Play free until level 10 or 15 with restrictions on trade and chat":
In that case people will start, create an character, see and feel the game.
After that they will have something in AoC world that can bring them back any time.
"Watching AoC streams gives you a key to try the game for 3 days"
(Valorant developers did something like that)
(limited amount per Twitch account)"
After that you can give them:
"Watching AoC streams gives you some tokens to extend the subscription period.
(limited amount in month per account)"
"Friend invite reward":
That idea taken from real world head hunters.
Once you inviting a friend and he gets he gets one month or less of free play time.
After his grace period if he stays in the game you as a inviter gets a extension of you subscription for every 10 level your friend gets.
"Pay subscription with in game currency"
Cons: Paying sub with ingame currency heavily encoureges RMT which we can agree is really bad.
I really want Ashes of Creation to succeed!!!
I don't want to see another ambitious project to disappear
(like Wildstar they also started with subscription and after that turn to F2P but it was too late and we all know where they are now.)
Please share you ideas guys of how to bring more people in and make AoC a huge game.
BUT.
I think It can be an issue for many people to start paying from day one without actually touch and feel the game.
(I know I know you don't need to buy the game and its huge but still.....)
I think DEVS must think of many different ways to drag people in.
Like:
"Free Saturday":
Try to catch gamers while they at home and give them the opportunity to get into the game.
If they will like it they will subscribe.
"Play free until level 10 or 15 with restrictions on trade and chat":
In that case people will start, create an character, see and feel the game.
After that they will have something in AoC world that can bring them back any time.
"Watching AoC streams gives you a key to try the game for 3 days"
(Valorant developers did something like that)
(limited amount per Twitch account)"
After that you can give them:
"Watching AoC streams gives you some tokens to extend the subscription period.
(limited amount in month per account)"
"Friend invite reward":
That idea taken from real world head hunters.
Once you inviting a friend and he gets he gets one month or less of free play time.
After his grace period if he stays in the game you as a inviter gets a extension of you subscription for every 10 level your friend gets.
"Pay subscription with in game currency"
Cons: Paying sub with ingame currency heavily encoureges RMT which we can agree is really bad.
I really want Ashes of Creation to succeed!!!
I don't want to see another ambitious project to disappear
(like Wildstar they also started with subscription and after that turn to F2P but it was too late and we all know where they are now.)
Please share you ideas guys of how to bring more people in and make AoC a huge game.
2
Comments
I don't want NO exploits
IMO biggest hook ashes have is open world setting where you strive to excel
― Plato
It cost $15 to try the game out once it is live.
If you don't like it, that's only $15.
I'm sure most of us have spent significantly more than that one games we didn't end up liking - or have a few dozen game on our Steam account we never even downloaded.
The point is to bring as many people as possible in to the game.
Do you agree that to start playing with subscription is more difficult for some people then start to play without it?
Once they are in and they like it the subscription is not a problem anymore.
If the $15 cost of entry in to teh game is too much for them, they will not be willing to pay the $15 every month to play the game.
Something like this could be useful when the games player numbers go down drastically, but shouldn't be around at launch.
Do you agree that to start playing with subscription is more difficult for some people then start to play without it? YES/NO
How do you think why other publishers even the successful ones use those ways?
A combiniation of those 3 would make sense imo.
People could level until 15 and get their keys and tokens from watching streams, maybe with an additonal mount skin or whatever. This would give the game more exposure which is crucial for a mmo´s launch, hype around games are often more important than gameplay for financial success especially in the early stages.
But as you said those things would need some heavy restriction.
Also don´t forget the whole AoC apocalypse thing with the BR, horde mode and castle siege mode is supposed to be a free to play entry to AoC. This might be Intrepid´s approach to get broad attention
However do not forget that high entry cost is the most effective way of dealing with botting and RMT from that
― Plato
The idea behind AoC is the be the Non-Standard MMO since the MMO genre is missing a game that doesn't follow the common mold. There have been plenty of F2P MMO's and Trial MMO's that have completely failed despite using the common standard that so many other games follow, just because a bunch of people try it doesn't mean it will be successful (especially since it's gotnopen world PvP and a lot of casual players will get spooked)
One of the main reasons I say no is that there will be a ton of YouTube and twitch streams out about the game prior to launch, if the person cant make their mind up after watching all that they aren't that serious about it in the first place.
soooo, do you want some exploits?
EDIT: Seems some people are too used to trolls here so I have to explain that this is a genuine question, I'm not sure if you're for or against the idea since your two sentences are contradictory.
Few people have english as their native language - we all know what he meant by that and sarcasm is not clear in text communication
― Plato
I am nto answering that first question becasue it is not relevant to the discussion.
Most games add in a trial system of some kind after a few years - but few full subscription MMO's start out with one.
In regards to a full subscription MMO, being able to get in to Ashes for only $15 is really cheap.
After a few years, or when ever the population declines enough to make it needed, absolutely add in a trial system of some kind. Just not at launch.
I'm asking earnestl,y my friend. I didn't understand their intent. They mentioned "Something like that is fine..." then go to say it should be blocked. I didn't mean offence.
EDIT: If the sarcasm is not clear, then clearly it wasn't meant to be sarcasm lol.
Also I didn't think at all that you were trying to offend him. All I meant is that it should be kinda clear from his context that it was a typo
― Plato
I wonder how many people asking for free trials have the latest cellphone models that cost them $1200? Why not ask Apple for a "free trial model that we can use for 30 days before we commit to spending $1200"?
The subscription model helps ensure Intrepid makes money, incentivizes them to create new CONTENT and not focus on cash shop items. Notice how many F2P games seem to focus more on cash shop items than actually developing new content?
I hope they NEVER give free trials or "play until level 15". All of those gimmicks are used to pull in new players when the product is old and population is declining. When you see those types of changes you know the game has hit maturity and is on the decline. Can be a long slow decline, but still a decline.
There are WAY too many positives to a subscription based model to ever corrupt it with f2p type access.
If you CAN'T afford the 15 bucks then you probably should be doing something else with your time.
I am also against any form of free play model, even if it's only to lvl 10. The people who do this tend to generate the most asinine names which really ruins my immersion factor.
I dont think that´s the point at all.
Lowering the barrier of entry is something that is done in many fields of busines. Have a look on which aspects platform economy excells. It´s rapidly overtaking anything because of that.
Dont get me wrong i want a subscription based game, but imo intrepid does good when they can attract players that previously didnt touch any subscribtion model games because of that barrier. The new generation for example has no experience with that at all.
I personally think there is a segment of them that would certaintly enjoy good mmos but most of them just get buy2play games and play something that they know from their youtuber idols.
Lowering the barrier and creating a marketing hype through streams can help with that a lot.
Your not buying the game for $30, 40, 50 dollars, so if you cant spend $15 to have a go for a MONTH, then im sorry, stick to watching youtube videos until you have managed to save up the massive amount.
By release if it's going to be the best mmorpg on the market it will sell it self, there be 10 million Youtube videos by then, if cant decided from that, then go plug the xbox in.
If the game was $50 to buy and a $15 subscription i could see your point.
Very little
― Plato
If you can't afford $15 a month, you need to rethink your life choices. I can spend more than that in one night, in RL. There are enough F2P games out there for you.
If there is "any" free entry (ie. trial days) you will see griefing. Hardcore griefers (trolls) will make alt accounts and go around griefing the other players and the game (who pay a subscription), because there are no reprocussions to the player or account (whoopi, you banned a free trial account).
The subscription fee is there to keep out unnecessary rifraf. It also provides GM intervention (ie. Real game issues, not the silly ones ("help me GM. That rat killed me")).
How can anyone get a feel for AoC in just a couple of days? You can't experience the class system until level 25. Chances are, you can't experience the node or caravan system. You won't be getting into Siege's. What's the point?
Okay, so you want to experience the combat system. In all actuality, AoC is just like all the other MMORPGs. Well except for tab/action targeting, and that's not really revolutionary, all MMORPGs use tab, and FPSs use action, it's just a combination of the two.
I could go on. I just felt like ranting. 😁
Edit: The best way to get the word out, about your product? Make a great product, and the flocks will roost.
Free trials need to be a last resort. I wouldn't say never, but there have been games where gold sellers went as far as using free trial character bodies to spell out gold seller links. It's best to avoid free entry if at all possible. Use them if the population is really struggling. There's going to be thousands of players trying out this game at launch. There will be server queues. No need for free trials yet.