Champions Online Going Free-to-Play

[TheHarlequin]

From Bluesnews; In a very special Champions Online State of the Game Update, we learn that Cryptic's superhero MMORPG is following many other MMOGs in going the free-to-play route. The update outlines how they are changing advancement and content delivery going forward before going on to explain the game's new business model involving an expanded C-Store and the benefits of what will become optional subscriptions. They say a "restricted beta" for these new features will commence next month

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Seems the success of the free to play social MMO's of southeast asia is having such a impact the western counterparts are following suit. It was only a matter of time before the formula of the MMO changed (you can only get so many people with pay to play business model) but it seems this shift is happening very rapidly as of late. Much faster then I would have imagined a few years ago.

[sorophx]

and it's all thanks to WoW, I love it. good thing I stayed away from WoW as far a possible.

[Calax]

Actually, I think this is more a reaction to "Oh crap, we made a boring lifeless game!" on Cryptics part. The gameworld was designed so you were all one one "plane" with each server running a different section of the world, but it was so big and the grouping was terribly handled (particularly in comparison to their other game, City of Heroes) that it felt dead.

 

Also, broken powers and the fact that none of the different power sets felt different (because they designed it so you could mix and match... meaning you could be super strong with nuclear farting powers, and kill the same thing as a guy who grew toenails and could generate static electricity). If you were melee you had a power to get you to your target, a power to build up momentum, and then several abilities to string together for combos. If you were ranged you had your momentum builder, a charge up ability, an aoe ability, a hold down and do a huge number of hits ability, and your nuke.

 

And that's really it...

[entrerix]

thank god, i never believed in paying a monthly fee for mmos, that is one idea i'm glad is being killed.

[Hurlshort]

It probably also has a lot to do with the fact that Turbine has seen a huge revenue jump since they switched DDO and LotRO to free to play. Although I think it's a bit misleading to call LotRO free to play, since it is much cheaper to run a subscription if you plan on doing all the high level stuff.