RIFT is going free to play......

Just a heads up to any of you whom played Rift, (as I did), or are looking for a game to dabble in.....

I just got an email that they were going free on June 12th....

Not sure how it will change the gameplay, but it certainly might urge me to go back and dabble with it for awhile....

Makes you wonder why any MMO's bother with subscriptions; WoW dominates the subscription market and private servers spoil the chances that newcomers have of making a difference. The biggest problem is that when these MMO's go free to play, they generally become pay to win as well.

Number 1 sign of a dying MMO, it goes from subscription to F2P model.


Heeeeeere comes the item shop!

Originally posted by Lysergic
Number 1 sign of a dying MMO, it goes from subscription to F2P model.


Heeeeeere comes the item shop!

actually f2p revenues are far greater than in p2p... so... I dont know

reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy

Makes you wonder why any MMO's bother with subscriptions; WoW dominates the subscription market and private servers spoil the chances that newcomers have of making a difference. The biggest problem is that when these MMO's go free to play, they generally become pay to win as well.

Your right and I tend to agree with your statement.

Here is a link to how they are saying what they are doing "will not" make it pay to win. So who knows at this point...

They do show the differences between paid players and free players...

Rift Announcement

I've been thinking about going back to Rift, but didn't want to have to fork over cash for it.
Cool, I'll have to check it out.
It's been a while...

reply to post by FraternitasSaturni


Well I figured if it started out as a subscription then became a f2p it was a last ditch effort, but if the game was intended as f2p well thats the new model. Item shop for everything. While the power of the items at an item shop vary game to game.

Rift was cool for about a couple months when it first came out but it lost its enjoyment rather quickly as did GW2 and starwars.

Maybe an Item shop couldve saved saga of Ryzom, who knows.

reply to post by Lysergic


And I used to think that way too... but after seeing the values especially in NA... f2p is really doing better than p2p.

I wish I could post the article for you to read, but I cant remember where I read it... if I do I'll send you.

Trion has no "bad" reason for going f2p with rift - its doing fine - trion itself is doing fine also, they just released defiance and they got the west's license for Archeage... so theres only one answer - f2p is dealing the cards now.

As someone who has been playing since beta, I am a little worried about this. If it brings people back and brings in new players then great. I really hope that is the result and the game doesn't die because of it.

I do think this is a little unfair to the people who payed a year in advance for the expansion.

I do like the fact that you won't be able to buy gear or anything else that helps you progress. Those items still have to be earned.

They say they still have a lot of new content planned. I hope they continue with that, since that has always been one of Rifts main selling points.

reply to post by seeker1963


got couple of Promo Codes for Rift lol,
Had an interview with Hergen Thaens

Originally posted by Lysergic
Number 1 sign of a dying MMO, it goes from subscription to F2P model.


Heeeeeere comes the item shop!

Actually that's not all true. Some MMO companies are finding they can make more money off F2P and P2W style games. People will buy dumb cosmetic gear, mounts, XP boosts ect. Basically anything they put in there will sell.

Tera for example is doing 100% better since they went F2P.

-SAP-

reply to post by SloAnPainful


dont forget world of tanks
one advantage is the Ammo type you can buy along with Tanks (which I admit compared to ones you play to get and increase suck)

I played Rift for a very long time because its a really good game, but left because of low population numbers. Telara is so big that without high numbers it feels almost like your playing a single-player game. I'm sure going F2P will boost the numbers but the question is by how much? and for how long?

reply to post by Eonnn


Sounds like you were on a low pop server. They do have free server changes.

reply to post by calstorm

I was on an oceanic server most the time but did make a few switches here and there. What is more noticeable though is the large drops every time a new game came out... D3, GW2, SW:TOR there used to be hundreds of people during an invasion now there's hardly anyone.

Still a good game I just wish it were more popular, I guess that's the problem with MMO's they aren't really an MMO unless it's massive.

Originally posted by Lysergic
reply to post by FraternitasSaturni

 

Well I figured if it started out as a subscription then became a f2p it was a last ditch effort, but if the game was intended as f2p well thats the new model. Item shop for everything. While the power of the items at an item shop vary game to game.

Rift was cool for about a couple months when it first came out but it lost its enjoyment rather quickly as did GW2 and starwars.

Maybe an Item shop couldve saved saga of Ryzom, who knows.

You're very very out of touch with videogame economics, F2P is more profitable of a design, Rift is run by the best remaining MMORPG company other than A-net (which also runs f2p exclusively).

The fact that you think "Item Shops" still exist is just priceless. baha

Well for my 2 pence worth, I was there before F2P and I'm still there now lol.

It doesnt seem like it made a whole lot of difference in either the way the game plays or the quality of players in there when it went F2P

Rift is still a great game with a huge fanbase and 99% of the people you meet are pretty nice folk. (myself included)

I'm an English guy playing in the shatterbone>wolfsbane server in the US and there's normally plenty of people about even with the time zone issue

Would I recommend it? "HELL YEAH" although i would still recommend getting patron status (monthly subscription) as it does help

Any questions? Feel free to ask

Peace.

M.