tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90459543479138763952024-02-01T23:41:34.629-08:00the molten wireSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11597484880389461060noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045954347913876395.post-74278699825086890122010-09-25T05:42:00.000-07:002010-09-25T19:40:11.496-07:00The One with p2p going f2p<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Heya. So recently we've had a lot of once successful pay-to-play MMORPGs change to a free-to-play business model. Naturally, you can and are expected to still pay, but you are not forced to do so. You might enjoy various benefits, such as more content being available to you or exclusive perks. After games like <b>DDO</b>, <b>LOTR </b>and just recently <b>PoBS</b> it seems to be an increasing trend of a swap in business models. The old "pay your 15 bucks a month" method might not be as competitive anymore as it used to be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course the question is, which games are going down the same route in the future? There are many candidates, but my top pick would have to be <b>Vanguard</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vanguard, huh? Many of you might not remember it. I don't even expect many people to have heard of it, as unfortunately this game did neither have good marketing nor a very large playerbase to spread the word. With all the problems the game had at its launch it was to be expected that many subscribers wouldn't be staying for long. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaWrWSVqPMN_QAsVGHazFBsNegmmZRMMnbsoN20wTgwRpSZK_opJAShyvvem4h8CdYyTD5ht1qwtMCfKXd9SBuKk3xiRjXu3asp0TlhTi6mcxK1VC5Q8XnOyRMp4eNI7IUNSOw9lZLaM/s1600/varanjar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaWrWSVqPMN_QAsVGHazFBsNegmmZRMMnbsoN20wTgwRpSZK_opJAShyvvem4h8CdYyTD5ht1qwtMCfKXd9SBuKk3xiRjXu3asp0TlhTi6mcxK1VC5Q8XnOyRMp4eNI7IUNSOw9lZLaM/s320/varanjar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Much to my personal dismay, as this game actually had a lot to offer for those looking for a more "oldschool" feeling in a MMORPG. Think EQ, DaoC. The world was vast; in fact probably the biggest I have personally seen and set foot on. You could easily spend a day on your journey from the northern reaches to the southern islands in Vanguard. The crafting system was superb as well. One of the most complex crafting systems at its time, it offered many various steps before you finally finished crafting your wooden board, your bow, or even your whole armor set. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the other hand, Vanguard, at launch, was filled to the brim with graphic bugs and glitches. Some people could hardly get it running on their slightly outdated PC. Compare this to runs-on-every-single-pc-in-the-world-WoW and you can see how this massively and negatively affects a new playerbase. Vanguard did get rescued in its more recent years though and that is why I think it would be SOE's perfect next choice for a new business model: f2p!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><img alt="post signature" class="centered" src="http://i54.tinypic.com/2upfdhw.png" />Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11597484880389461060noreply@blogger.com11