Think of the Froobs

[Kuegen]

the trick is for Funcom to find the right balance between making the game attractive enough for froobs to stay on longer than Noob Island or ToTW , but make the gap between froob and paid game experience wide enough to entice as many froobs as possible to go paid...

This balance is already here, many froobs are enticed to becoming paid, they just tend to keep their level 200 froob for buffing purposes or bragging rights. But then again, I dont know how many froobs actually stick with the game in the first place...

[Junttius]

I don't completely agree on froob version being a teaser. It is an entirely different experience compared to full expansions. Not having the expansions stuff makes the game much less linear and cookie cutter(excluding the stupid CoH weapons).

There is a reason why some stay froob and do stuff as froobs. Don't screw up the froob experience.

[MrTrocks]

I started a froob it is great fun, i even have froobs that i still lvl when i am bored. They generate a lot of revenue for fc too ads and all. it is a challenge you gotta fight hard and long not sit down at kite hill and /afk dinner.

[haxi]

I started a froob it is great fun, i even have froobs that i still lvl when i am bored. They generate a lot of revenue for fc too ads and all. it is a challenge you gotta fight hard and long not sit down at kite hill and /afk dinner.

Where are these revenue generating ads? The only ones I ever see are for Gridstream, AO-Universe, and "in game' stuff like dreadloch, other orgs.

[Murskaink2]

Where are these revenue generating ads? The only ones I ever see are for Gridstream, AO-Universe, and "in game' stuff like dreadloch, other orgs.

It is completely possible that AO-universe and gridstream might be paying funcom to show those ads. So yes, they do generate revenue.
I think i also saw some movie ad when i played froob, but that's long time ago.

[haxi]

Completely possible does not equal "yes they do generate revenue". I have su****ions regarding the depths of greed pursued by FC management, but even so I doubt they want to charge two of their largest supporters for ad space. FC has a history of supporting game organizations and fan sites with free advertising.

[Metalynx]

It is completely possible that AO-universe and gridstream might be paying funcom to show those ads. So yes, they do generate revenue.
I think i also saw some movie ad when i played froob, but that's long time ago.

Nope. Actually they pay nothing. By having both Gridstream activly doign radio andparties, and AO-universe having infomration, its better for Funcom to advertise them. Noone gets a red cent out of those deals.

Personally, when the Fr00bs started, I saw commercials for mt dew and other products. That would be paid advertisment (money to Funcom) from said companies. Now I dont se that so the excuse of "well fr00bs bring in money" seems weak.

I could be wrong, but It sure looks that way. Moot point since many other games now have free trial accounts (some time limited, some free to play) so kicking the Fr00bs out doesnt make sense. Increaseing their content?..... Mmmmm dunno if I would spend much time on that per se, but as more expansions come out (if any) or new content for paid people, nothign wrong with spliffing froobs a little more of the older paid content that is outdated.

if you want something shiney and new, and are a fr00b, then stop being one, participte in sending money to help fund this game, and invest like the rest of the paid players. Otherwise, enjoy what ye got right now.

[Valour]

And on another note, to all those who argue that the future subscriber base can't be found in froobs because high level froobs supposedly never upgrade? I count at least 3 such high level froobs who have since gotten paid accounts posting in this thread alone, at least 2 of which have made fully endgame level 200 characters, and know of a bunch more in-game. And that's just the ones *I* know. :P It does happen.

ive been froob for how many years, had my paic acc 9 months, bought things for item store, still have my 15 tl5+ froobs that i leveled pre-dailies, with a lot of team mishes/effort

Froobs shouldnt be getting screwed in the rebalance, despite what ANY paid player says, i am a paying player, and for my payments, i would like ALL aspects of my gaming to be fun, not "oh shi* cant do froob only raids any more.

Being a froob got me into being paid in the first place, so id say the £500 FC have made from "a froob" is paying my way.

Personally, id agree that froobs shouldnt get perks/sl content etc, but SHOULD stay as they are now.

if froobs get screwed in this rebalance, im leaving the game, taking my next £500 with me, probably the same situation with a lot of people. and go back to playing another game, which is free, and fun. (Wolf:ET!) that isnt a whine, qq or whatnot, its generally whats going to happen, im guessing the "active" froob population of ao is around 35%, Sloobs about 10% and the fully paid are 55%

say the game has 100,000 players (just a figure to explain with, but seems that way atm) 80% of the froobs quit, along with there paid accounts, taking population down to a mere 50,000 (LOTS of froobs have paid accounts also)

literally half the revenue fc had before, leading to death of the game.

i DONT want that, i want FC to pull there finger out, longer it takes for rebalance/engine, more and more money they are losing.
one of the many reasons WoW has such a huge playerbase is because updates are on time, and not "rebalance coming soon!" meaning in about 1-10 years time. hell, it could be any time.

id love for funcom to give us a date of rebalance, and actually take into consideration what people say, rather than the greed of the business, because without the players, there will be no business in the first place. and if theres no froobs, no new people are gunna try the game to produce revenue for the company, so if your reading this post FC, take it under advisement, i love playing this game, but from what i said, i speak for the majority of the froob community, and from the side of a Paid player after falling in love with the game.

[Cogline]

If the rebalance messes too much with PvP Froobs will either walk as above or stick to PvM only. And that'll make all the perked up paid content players so happy as they'll only be fighting other paying players. And as we all know from the Forums PvP is the only reason to play at all. Exploring, experimenting, and having fun is utterly pointless. /joke

[Joralf]

I'm sure froobs have some sort of benefit for FC, or they would have closed down the froob program a long time ago.

However, I think a part of the froob problem can be seen in this sentence:

ive been froob for how many years, had my paic acc 9 months....

I think this might be one of the reasons paid players hold a grudge against froobs. Because people play for free years on end and never ever contributes. This guy and some others went paid, however im sure many froobs will never contribute to keeping this game running, in any other way than actually boosting the amount of people that are online.

The in game store might lead to some extra froobs paying for themselves by buying stuff, but I still think the majority of the froobs will stay away from the in game store.

PS: This is not ment as an attack on anyone. As FC choses to have a free option, people must be allowed to use it without beeing looked down on.

[Cogline]

I've used the store to buy the odd thing such as the Death Rider and mail access for my account. Stuff like that is ideal Froob Food: it isn't game breaking, it doesn't step on paid players' toes, but it makes my gaming experience better. And before anyone jumps in I'll point out that ATM I can only play over a few days a month so upgrading my account isn't practical (for now). So as a froob I PvM with lesser gear and no perks, and see that as completely fair.

[DocJones]

Because people play for free years on end and never ever contributes.

Sorry to burst your bubbles, but this is not true, mate: Froobs contributed for a long time towards the advertisment program FC had. It has been stated several times by FC's officials that the froob program turned out to be lucrative.

[Manicmouse]

It has been stated several times by FC's officials that the froob program turned out to be lucrative.

Please post some links to support this as I'm curious

[DocJones]

Hi,

i gave up after finding one post made by a forum mod (technically NOT FC's officials, but try to argue with her, and you will see ).

There were some similar posts from other ARK's/Mod's/FC's, but i can't be bothered to refine my searches every 30 sec (crap forum software ftl )

regards
/Z

[Manicmouse]

Hi,

i gave up after finding one post made by a forum mod (technically NOT FC's officials, but try to argue with her, and you will see ).

There were some similar posts from other ARK's/Mod's/FC's, but i can't be bothered to refine my searches every 30 sec (crap forum software ftl )

regards
/Z

So Anarrina says froobs are "determined to be a viable part of the game by the company" (meaningless!) and they are "part of the game both socially and functionally".

Froobs are obviously part of the game socially and functionally and that doesn't prove anything regarding lucrativeness!

But fair enough, you gave up searching, so I'll just consider your comment about how "the froob program turned out to be lucrative" as not proven

[Gridpain]

ok, then find a post from FC saying froobs are actually costing them money ?

[Manicmouse]

Well I wasn't making claims that they were costing money

Maybe it's all in the balance?

It's all speculation by people who have no idea and FC won't comment!

[DocJones]

Kintaii loves us...

Now, i know you wouldn't accept this either. Perhaps i can be bothered to stress the search function a bit more tomorrow

[Stiffshot]

Not sure how reliable Wikipedia is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy..._subscriptions



"The income from the program—which had generated $1,000,000 by its second year—supplements revenue from paid accounts."

[Manicmouse]

Kintaii loves us...

Well that's good ^^

Not sure how reliable Wikipedia is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy..._subscriptions

"The income from the program—which had generated $1,000,000 by its second year—supplements revenue from paid accounts."

That's seemingly based on 400,000 new froob accounts, so maybe it was a good money spinner with the advertising figures. Not quite sure there are that many active froob accounts now