Free to play for 3- or 5-days every so often
Disobedient
Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
To be honest, I got this idea from looking at Steam, they're advertising a game called Myth of Empires. The game is free to play for the next 3 days, and I haven't played yet, but it looks good. I would not have bought the game if it cost money, but now that I have a free period to try it out, why not? If I'm not having fun I don't buy it, if I'm having fun, it'll justify me buying the game. This method can only work if your game is good.
Looking at this, I thought about Ashes of Creation and the sub model they're putting forward (which I'm a huge fan of and it's the best win/win for everyone), but I think it lacks accessibility. Imagine if you guys implemented a 3- or 5-day free play period, like every 3 months or so? People who tried it in the beginning and maybe didn't like it, would normally not resub. Even during new content release, some might resub but not all. All of that changes with a free period, the number of people who will try it again, the number of people trying for the first time, all of it will increase, and how many of those people will convert to subs? A lot. Probably a lot more than if you didn't do a free period. It's a great way to bring back old blood and get new blood at the same time. That being said, I think you should do this for the launch of the game, for obvious reasons. I'm not an expert in this field, I just recognized the genius of this strategy from seeing Myth of Empires doing it with Steam. I hope this suggestion helps!
Edit: I want to emphasize because there's been a little confusion. Some people think I meant 3 or 5 days free to play any time someone creates a new account and this is not what I'm talking about. What I'm saying is, I like the idea of a specific time period that is 3 or 5 days that the game can be played for free (Example: December 1st - 5th). In this example, if someone decides to try it out December 4th, then they'd only get 1 day to play for free.
Looking at this, I thought about Ashes of Creation and the sub model they're putting forward (which I'm a huge fan of and it's the best win/win for everyone), but I think it lacks accessibility. Imagine if you guys implemented a 3- or 5-day free play period, like every 3 months or so? People who tried it in the beginning and maybe didn't like it, would normally not resub. Even during new content release, some might resub but not all. All of that changes with a free period, the number of people who will try it again, the number of people trying for the first time, all of it will increase, and how many of those people will convert to subs? A lot. Probably a lot more than if you didn't do a free period. It's a great way to bring back old blood and get new blood at the same time. That being said, I think you should do this for the launch of the game, for obvious reasons. I'm not an expert in this field, I just recognized the genius of this strategy from seeing Myth of Empires doing it with Steam. I hope this suggestion helps!
Edit: I want to emphasize because there's been a little confusion. Some people think I meant 3 or 5 days free to play any time someone creates a new account and this is not what I'm talking about. What I'm saying is, I like the idea of a specific time period that is 3 or 5 days that the game can be played for free (Example: December 1st - 5th). In this example, if someone decides to try it out December 4th, then they'd only get 1 day to play for free.
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Comments
Bot-based ecoterrorism will literally destroy the game.
that do be true
Well it would be nice, as OP mentions, for their to be opportunities for previous players to come in and test out new content or just re-dip their toes to see if they're feeling it.
Countless times back when Blizzard still had real customer support I would come back after like a year hiatus and ask them for a day of game time so I knew if I wanted to drop the 15 for a month.
3-5 days is too much, I think 2-3 is more appropriate. Although it might just not be a great idea either way because that window opens up botters to come in free of charge and keep coming even after a ban, for a few days.
Unfortunately.. otherwise I'd say it's a no brainier. Of course you want to give out free samples of what you got if what you're selling is as addictive as crack cocaine(I still remember seeing a university study about this in regards to WoW way back when, and I believe it haha).
I've never purchased gold in any game but I do see a value in bots, gold sellers and multiboxers in mmorpgs. It makes my mouth taste like vomit to say this to people....but it does add a level of "activity" to the servers. I used to hate the idea of bots or gold sellers/farmers but I have grown accustomed to seeing them everywhere and as long as there are hefty temp bans for gold buyers and bots....more power to them. Not a popular opinion but one that was taught to me by others who played mmorpgs for 20+ years.
Do you want Lost Ark? Because that's how you get Lost Ark.
So give a free trial X time week probably be best, but limit that account on what they can do without purchasing a subscription.
No gathering profession items when they attempt to pop up a window with a youtube video that explains how the crafting works
No typing in game to avoid spamming chat about gold websites etc...
No access to any type of trading like action house or menu that allows trading to player
Free trial player can only reach X lvl (10??)
Free trial player have a symbol on player name plate that shows everyone its trial player
Just rip there privileges away the main focus of the trial should be how the game is played example "classes/Quests/combat" Any real player interaction should be put behind a subscription fee its a MMO not a single player game.
Even better just make a Server that only free trial players can play on, but once that trials is up they have to pay a subscription fee and remake their character on a subscription server and the stuff they had in the trial server is lost, but they get the basic gear from that level and starting gold for that level. Honestly might be better just to boost that character they make to 10 regardless what level they were on trial server, because every MMO I've ever played 1-10 is always the tutorial phase
This way ^ bots cant bother actual subscription players and they wont be able to transfer anything, because its a new character.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just my two cents on how I would approach this.
Game is being designed for long term play centered around player-drive. node development. Why not just pay one month for a subscription if you want to try. If you can’t afford that, then how are you a customer? Lots of free to play games out there if you want to pay zero.
Point of the free trial in my opinion is to lure the people who over looked this game and didn't think all to much about it and because they didn't think much they're not going to be willing to try it out, but if you give them a chance to play with zero cost to them they may rethink their stance on the game and might even become a long term customer
I mean when I was growing up World of warcraft had a huge stigma you're a nerd if you play this and that alone while in school told alot of people stay away. Same thing with DND Some people with that stigma might just try out the game because there a free version of it to criticize it just to realize this is actually pretty dope.
But the deal is I don’t think this game needs to be popular to be successful. It fills a specific niche that some players will gravitate to. In fact, I see a lot of commenters suggesting this game becomes something it’s not for fear of missing out on being that great, mythical Wow-killer.
Before anything like this will even be implemented or even really thought of intrepid has a long ways to go no reason for it now, but down the road once the game is fully polish and out of alpha/beta why not?
Someone suggesting the game is always good and No the game doesn't need to be "popular" to be successful but why not get as many people as you can to at least try the game. I don't believe its going to harm the game as long you account for botting or anything else that could be considered a threat. Either way Im here for the long haul if intrepid doesn't decide to do a trial thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ oh well...
Normally free trials prevent being able to do some things, often it you cant use AH or trade is a common one cause the economy issue.
But either way not realy needed to talk about this for a long time :P wait till game actually releases and server queues/stability is sorted out so probaly wont see a free trial to atleast 6 months after release so long way off atm.
And it's made even worse by the fact that all of those materials are completely gone from the game, rather than going into the economy. Exactly because trial chars shouldn't be able to trade.
So trial people would end up with chracters that can't farm mobs, can't gather things, can't trade which means they can't process or craft. They will literally not be able to do anything in the game, because any actions has a consequence on the overall life of the server.
$15 is already a tiny price for a month-worth of content. Trials make sense when your game has a box and a sub purchase. Ashes will only have subs.
I disagree: Gathering mats or gold is irrelevant, only the ability to transfer matters.
So the solution is simple, trial accounts:
If a character has no means to transfer items or gold off their character, bots or gold sellers cannot benefit.
What sort of organized operation would farm low level mats with the objective of depleting an area?
Anything organized would have a monetary objective. Depleting an area offers what economic benefit to the people who are employed to do it?
I think demos and trials are good for games. I remember getting demo cds in the gaming magazines in the 2000's. Always appreciated them.
They can if they keep opening and opening new accounts to get further 3-day trials.
OK! Now I understand where the misunderstanding is coming in. I recommended a 3-day free to play time period. Not just an anytime 3-day free trial. So, for example, if someone were to play on the 3rd day of the trial period, they can only play for free for that 1 day.
Afaik people did waaay worse things in games like EVE. If Ashes is trying to be as big of a social sandbox as EVE was - it'll have to account for irl actions of players. And spamming free-trial characters to overfarm a location is most definitely one of such actions. Guilds would either do it themselves or find people to pay who'd do it for them.
This would simply lead to properly timed node attacks. Groups of people prepare for a node siege/war right before the trial period starts. They spam their free characters to overfarm everything around the node (and potentiall any other neighbors) and then attack the node, because it's now weaker.
W/o a free trial, this kind of strategy would be waaaay harder to pull off.
this guy right here would utilize low levels protected by corruption to clearcut nodes to negatively affect node environmental management. I plan to run a 40+ player mob through a node at some point just absolutely clear cutting while having a strike team set up to kill anyone willing to go corrupt by stopping them
W/o a free trial, this kind of strategy would be waaaay harder to pull off."[/quote]
I see what you're saying, and I agree it's totally valid but also not necessarily a reason for them not advertise in this way. Having a high degree of freedom in a game like this is appealing but it also comes with the drawbacks from what you just mentioned, people will always create new ways to exploit systems / situations for personal gain. In my opinion, I wouldn't let that be a determining factor in something as important as marketing for the game. Especially when the game is an MMORPG, and it can live or die by its population size.
Example: 1-week trial for $2. Or having a 1-week trial key given away at conventions/etc or added on to a purchase of something else
But if the game needs new blood a while after release, getting it on Steam would be far more effective
There is sooooooo much information about this game, and there will be so much more after launch.
If you cannot figure out if you will like a game by watching it for hundreds of hours, pay the subscription for a month. At least there is no box cost like others.
I see your point, but have you thought about if most people would do that much research before deciding on buying or not? Probably not many, maybe they'll watch a streamer play, or find a youtube video on gameplay. However, if any of these reason aren't convincing enough, then they just won't play, and that's the problem I'm trying to address here. The launch of a new mmorpg is an iconic experience that can never be replicated, despite any attempts at fresh start servers. The feeling of exploring a new, unknown world with others who know nothing, and have nothing, starting on an equal playing field as everyone else... It's an experience that will never happen again, at least not in the same game. Because it's such a once in a lifetime experience, it can literally change how many players become die-hard fans in the future, as they will always have that initial experience of playing ashes in their mind. This is an experience that should not be gated behind a paywall at the start, because if the experience is good, then the amount of people who will sub to the game after (and for the long haul) will be exponentially more than if they charge everyone money right away, and far less people play at the start, thereby missing the most compelling time in an mmorpg's lifespan.
So, to have people play for free, Intrepid has to pay for the extra programming to lock down the system so botters cannot take advantage of the exception. And pay to monitor the servers. And try to make sure that the paying people are not impacted by the people who don't care (because you know idiots who are banned are going to play the free accounts just to troll). And possibly lose paying customers when the experience is horrible since the people who don't care destroy the experience.
Just pay the $15. If they like it, their adventure has begun! If they don't, just cancel.
Second and worst of all naming characters! It's hard enough to find a good name now you would have a an infinite amount of 5 day old characters eating names up till Intrepid has to implement naming policy like passwords i.e must have minimum 2 numbers one capital letter and 1 vowel and your randomly generated name is .... First Name: Id Last: 10t.
If 15 bucks is too much for you to try the game then maybe it isn't for you