Full Free to Play

[Thecrow91]

Can you please make all of the expansions free? Just keep subscription around for xp boosts and monthly shop points. At least let people still playing this game enjoy it with a population before it burns out.

[Lazy]

they're milking as much money as they can with as little invested until they pull the plug lol. the only reason it's still around is because only the whales that buy 5 accounts or spend hundreds of euros a year on fc points still play ao :/

[Vanitra]

Access the playfields and quests of the expansions for all to participate would be one possibility, but make all advantages of the expansions (such as Perks, AXP, Research, Symbiants ...) accessible only to subscribers.

- powered by www.deepl.com

[Stratah]

Lmao... Please explain how making the full game & expansions free to play makes Funcom money?

If you don't want to pay the paltry monthly subscription fee (50 cents per day) then obviously, you won't be giving Funcom any money through the item store either. You aren't a "customer" if you aren't giving them money. The whole point of basic AO being "free to play" is to entice players *to become customers*. It's a free sample to tempt you to make a purchase. Funcom isn't a charity. It's a for-profit business.

Why on earth do people think they should get things for free? Do you work for free at your job?

AO is already one of the cheapest possible forms of entertainment (other than free). You can't even buy a coffee or soda per day for 50 cents. Free players already get access to a great, full game. Yet free players want more in exchange for representing zero dollars on the company's balance sheet?

[Lazy]

^ found the funcom shill. pass this on to your handlers: for 17 euros a month we expect more than a glorified pay-2-win chinese mmo

[Stratah]

I'm not a shill for Funcom, I just understand how business works in the real world. It's pretty simple: goods and/or services in exchange for *money*.

You really expect MORE for a little over fifty cents per day? Are you joking? It's fifty cents. You can probably find it in your sofa cushions.

This may be a shocker for you: Did you know that in the old days (and still in some places) people would pay 25 cents to a dollar to play ONE round (5 mins?) of a game at an arcade? Somehow even 10 year old kids could come up with a dollar or two to go to the arcade for a little fun. Fifty cents for a month of unlimited play is certainly a steal.

If you are disappointed with the service you are getting for your fifty cents per day (or the service that you receive for free), why keep playing (and paying)..? I don't like everything about AO, but I understand that the tiny amount that we pay only goes so far. Sure, I believe there are ways to improve the game, but I also believe that the game is worth the amount I pay each month. To me, it was worth it in the beginning of AO too, before the expansions, when the game world was much smaller and the problems were bigger.

I don't understand why someone would advocate for AO to be totally free to play. Without producing revenue, Funcom would be forced to shut down the game sooner - then none of us would be playing, whether free or paid.

[ByLogic]

Amen to that

[Lazy]

I'm not a shill for Funcom

lolok.

This may be a shocker for you: Did you know that in the old days (and still in some places) people would pay 25 cents to a dollar to play ONE round (5 mins?) of a game at an arcade?

did you know in the old days people had to read by candle-light and get around on a horse and buggy? who cares about the old days? it's 2017. by no sane metric is ao a competitive product in the mmo scene and the population reflects that fact. The market has changed. it's the one of the most expensive MMOs currently on the market, one of the last to still use a subscription model and one of the most expensive cash stores with real pay-to-win items. the only reason this game stays afloat is because the population that remains consists largely of whales with multiple accounts (3-4 being the average among friends, that's 2 dollars a day, not 50c), and people that spend money on grace to ebay for creds ingame.

I also believe that the game is worth the amount I pay each month.

probably because the subs we pay directly support your paycheque

[Le-Quack]

when you already bought the game it should be enough when its no longer updated, i dont mind to subscribe, but for now the game should be free.

anyways, the game is so screwd up that i hope they consider to just reset and wipe evrything and forces evryone to start from scratch, i been here since 2003 and i wouldnt mind to start all over if the game can get uppgraded codes to make it a littlebit harder for new xploited programs to enter this game. i would sacrifice my 220 alts and evrything i accived and gladly subscribe for this.

[SharpTony]

Oh boy, glad I stopped in on the forums today! Firstly, Lazy is 100% correct. Aint no reason this game should merit a subscription fee anymore. The state of the game is pathetic, and generally with MMOs, you pay for upkeep and maintenance with your subscription fees, as well as future content. Funcom provides none of that. The game is a joke, the exploits and bugs are just marvelous. If it was free, at least people would play for a few minutes before they began complaining that the game became so pay-to-win that it's still unplayable anyway. One love salvia and I'm out.

[Stratah]

by no sane metric is ao a competitive product in the mmo scene and the population reflects that fact. The market has changed. it's the one of the most expensive MMOs currently on the market, one of the last to still use a subscription model and one of the most expensive cash stores with real pay-to-win items.

I won't argue with you on those points. The difference is that those points bother you, but they don't bother me as much. Has it occurred to you that Funcom does not intend for AO to compete with the newer, cheaper (or free) mmos? AO is what AO is. AO isn't those other games, AO has always been "different". As for the cash store - that's probably a flexible issue. Maybe in the future, Funcom will change some of the cash store offerings.

the only reason this game stays afloat is because the population that remains consists largely of whales with multiple accounts (3-4 being the average among friends, that's 2 dollars a day, not 50c), and people that spend money on grace to ebay for creds ingame.

^^This is exactly my point. The game stays afloat because enough of the population which remains, PAYS to play the game. Without PAYING customers, the game would shut down immediately. So why would you advocate for the whole game to be free to play? Do you WANT the servers to shut down? If you enjoy the game, it would be better to encourage more people to pay for subscriptions, in order to keep the game running.

Like your friends, I also have multiple accounts (two paid, one froob atm) but even with multiple accounts, AO is still dirt cheap (else your friends wouldn't pay to maintain 3-4 accounts each). You certainly don't need to be a "whale" to afford to pay an AO subscription. Most people who play computer games could literally flush two dollars a day down the toilet and not even miss it.

This study: http://www.aicpa.org/Press/PressRele...e-Grades.aspx] from 2012 shows that a child's average allowance in the US is $65 per month. So $2 for four AO subscriptions would still be "cheap" if a 16 year old kid were paying for it out of his/her own pocket. I imagine most AO players are older than 16, but that illustrates just how little an AO subscription costs. So don't try to convince anyone that AO is "expensive".

It is simple - If you believe the AI, SL & LE expansions are worth paying for, then continue paying, play the game, and have fun. If you don't believe they are worth paying for, then have fun playing classic AO. If you don't believe the game is worth your time, even playing for free, then stop logging in. You know what you are (and are not) getting for your money. Accept that AO is what it is, then make your choice. Complaining that free players are not getting MORE for free will never be a compelling argument.

probably because the subs we pay directly support your paycheque

I doubt FC could afford to pay my salary.

[Stratah]

Oh boy, glad I stopped in on the forums today! Firstly, Lazy is 100% correct. Aint no reason this game should merit a subscription fee anymore. The state of the game is pathetic, and generally with MMOs, you pay for upkeep and maintenance with your subscription fees, as well as future content. Funcom provides none of that. The game is a joke, the exploits and bugs are just marvelous. If it was free, at least people would play for a few minutes before they began complaining that the game became so pay-to-win that it's still unplayable anyway. One love salvia and I'm out.

Yea, yea we get it. The game has disappointed you or hasn't met your expectations, and you don't want to play it anymore - so why are you here? Just to complain?

[Lazy]

Yea, yea we get it. The game has disappointed you or hasn't met your expectations, and you don't want to play it anymore - so why are you here? Just to complain?

yeah. believe it or not, we still care about the game and want it to succeed. we want what's best for the game and the community as a whole, unlike you who only cares about funcom's bottom line and shareholder revenue.

[Kesher]

^^This is exactly my point. The game stays afloat because enough of the population which remains, PAYS to play the game. Without PAYING customers, the game would shut down immediately. So why would you advocate for the whole game to be free to play? Do you WANT the servers to shut down? If you enjoy the game, it would be better to encourage more people to pay for subscriptions, in order to keep the game running.

^^ihihihihi^^ihihihi^^ yeah, it's exactly your point, only nothing like it. People are trying to explain something to you, but you're unable to understand it. He's telling you about whales, you're talking about the old subscription model, because you probably have no idea what the term whale refers to in this context.

Don't waste your time on this guy!

[Repopulation]

For just 50 cents a day, you can feed a starving Norwegian.

Your contribution will go straight to a different game, we won't send you updates, and you can join a population comparable to Antarctica...

Won't you end their suffering? Please, Call now.

[Thecrow91]

A game this old, with the amount of bugs, exploits, population issues, and economic issues, I could never justify any amount of money, never even 1 cent per year. If they open the game up as free-to-play, and embrace a new business model, I think they could save AO. They'd have to do a few things first, like lower the cost of items inside the item store and patch exploits. If you think they'll survive with their current business model, you're wrong, this game will wither and die a slow and painful death, but it isn't too late to spring new life into it. This fills a void that most other mmos can't, it is almost a sandbox MMO, offering a lot of freedom that other games don't. Anyways, Funcom will probably just go under and bring AO with it, whatever, hopefully they sell it to a Chinese company that just makes it f2p and not pay-to-win.

[Oliveerz]

If AO got back the old itemshop where you could CHOOSE what to buy, instead of HOPING to get the item you want, along with a free subscription (or a lowered fee to about 5 dollar) I would consider paying, even though i might not stop by too often. But i'd still pay for it and play casually. Now it's simply not worth playing casually with the current subscription fee.

[Rahela]

The game is not worth paying a premium sub fee for, we all know why. Neither is it the kind of game that mostpeople play for long runs (months, years at a time), it's the kind of game that former players like to return to from time to time for the sake of nostalgia.

The last time I re-subbed, I renewed two paid accounts, logged on once for about an hour, then cancelled immediately and did not return to the game again for the rest of that month. This is why I do not want to have to juggle a subscription. I'd rather they set up the item shop so that I can send some $$ Funcom's way /when I am actively/ playing without having to worry about managing my sub and payment details. A properly done item shop should be able to pull in as much money as the subs (if not more).

[Kesher]

FC doesn't make the game f2p, because the current f2p version doesn't bring in any new players, and they have concluded that neither would the rest of the game becoming subscription free. Which is true, making all AO free to play, without any other changes, won't bring many new players. Only f2p + content could, but it's too risky to try now. This should've been tried long ago. The sad truth is that no one in their right mind would invest money trying to bring this game back. The game is doomed to stay in this limbo or disappear completely.

Still, probably going f2p would keep the game's revenues at the same level, with an item shop better catering to whales, but then again, if at best stays at the same level, why even try it?

[dritst]

The game is not worth paying a premium sub fee for, we all know why. Neither is it the kind of game that mostpeople play for long runs (months, years at a time), it's the kind of game that former players like to return to from time to time for the sake of nostalgia.

The last time I re-subbed, I renewed two paid accounts, logged on once for about an hour, then cancelled immediately and did not return to the game again for the rest of that month. This is why I do not want to have to juggle a subscription. I'd rather they set up the item shop so that I can send some $$ Funcom's way /when I am actively/ playing without having to worry about managing my sub and payment details. A properly done item shop should be able to pull in as much money as the subs (if not more).

I think we all agree that F2P with a reworked item shop would be viable, sadly FC seems not to care much about AO. Breed swap/side swap are quite researched to test new setup on prof. Same goes with cans for example especially new one to twink lowbies. Kinda sad that FC doen't see the opportunities a new system might bring to a 16+ year old game.