PA comic: Wednesday December 21, 2011 - Inevitability

Jacobkosh

Jacobkosh

My Chiss also looks like a space pimp. He's got that kind of smugly good-looking Jude Law face. I wish there was an emote where he could slap himself.

Henroid

"This Chiss is bananas"? I threw up a little in my mouth.

I also kinda resent this comic for reinforcing the "LOL F2P" shit. It's gotten pretty obnoxious how people are crying the death of a game that's barely out.

Edit - Keep in mind I'm not blindly defending the game, I'm just saying there's a difference between skeptical / critical and frothing at the mouth like an idiot. "If it's not WoW, it's gonna be F2P and fail, lolz." Give me a break.

Hamju

In the last few seconds before the servers went down before the official launch my Chiss, with his chiseled frame, went to the local cantina, unequipped his armor, and danced on the bar until the server could take no more and shut down.

Jacobkosh

Henroid wrote:

"This Chiss is bananas"? I threw up a little in my mouth.

I, uh

sure thing dude

Henroid

Jacobkosh wrote:

Henroid wrote:

"This Chiss is bananas"? I threw up a little in my mouth.

I, uh

sure thing dude

Not familiar with the song, Jacob? <_<

Jacobkosh

Henroid wrote:

Jacobkosh wrote:

Henroid wrote:

"This Chiss is bananas"? I threw up a little in my mouth.

I, uh

sure thing dude

Not familiar with the song, Jacob? <_<

no but now I think that was the best part of the strip!

Radius

what song?

Henroid

Are you guys kidding about not knowing that song?

Mojo_Jojo

I think Henroid could be a hollaback girl.

SabreMau

Henroid wrote:

Are you guys kidding about not knowing that song?

If I had said something about not knowing that song, or at least not recognizing it, I wouldn't have been kidding.

May have heard it at some point, but I don't recognize any song out of there at first glance.

Henroid

Shit, now I'm the one outed for recognizing it!

KoopahTroopah

SabreMau wrote:

Henroid wrote:

Are you guys kidding about not knowing that song?

If I had said something about not knowing that song, or at least not recognizing it, I wouldn't have been kidding.

May have heard it at some point, but I don't recognize any song out of there at first glance.

K-I-D-D-I-N-G.

Good strip. Haven't played it yet but yeah, good luck to this one. Hope it does better than Galaxies.

Ivar

What song?

Henroid

I hate you guys for making me do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Kgjkth6BRRY#t=149s

PikaPuff

man seeing lots of 4th panels I see them talk like that all the time and it's great when they say things like that.

And Henroid? "I threw up in my mouth a little?" Ugh... I threw up in my mouth a little.

King Riptor

I don't think they're complaining about the death of a game more that F2P is proving to be a better business model than Monthly.

Honestly for an MMO I don't know how that could be true but whatever I'm not a money wizard.

Henroid

King Riptor wrote:

I don't think they're complaining about the death of a game more that F2P is proving to be a better business model than Monthly.

Honestly for an MMO I don't know how that could be true but whatever I'm not a money wizard.

The thing is, there's a stigma attached to the F2P model. I talk to people all day in CoX and DDO about how each of those games are "failures" even though they're holding on strong.

Falx

Finally a good guest strip.

Opty

Also a lot of games that go F2P end up making more money than they were as subscription-based.

PikaPuff

cox is f2p now?

King Riptor

Henroid wrote:

King Riptor wrote:

I don't think they're complaining about the death of a game more that F2P is proving to be a better business model than Monthly.

Honestly for an MMO I don't know how that could be true but whatever I'm not a money wizard.

The thing is, there's a stigma attached to the F2P model. I talk to people all day in CoX and DDO about how each of those games are "failures" even though they're holding on strong.

The stigma is " I paid full price but now the guy who waited paitently instead of grabbing a day one purchase doesn't"

Admittedly for Team Fortress I can see being a bit miffed but it was like ten bucks so even there it's not really justified.

If anything if a game can go that route and last a month I would wager it's more of a success.

fightinfilipino

ok, i so do not need a new game addiction, but this comic is pushing me further into actually subscribing to TOR. thanks Obam...Gabe.

what really bites is that i'll have to drop $60 for the game AND an additional $15 a month on top of that. dammit, i'd rather eat and/or wait for Steam sales.

Henroid

Opty wrote:

Also a lot of games that go F2P end up making more money than they were as subscription-based.

Indeed. But a lot of people don't pay attention to that info, or choose to not believe it, and become obstinate loud-mouths about it being a sign of failure. It's really perpetuated by a few titles making the change when things looked grim. Didn't the new Final Fantasy MMO make the change like one month in?

Jars

league is bigger than wow now. f2p has merit

FF14 is completely free because it's that bad

fightinfilipino

F2P leaves a bad taste in the mouth because you essentially pay for better gear and items, rather than leveling up like everyone else in a subscription-based mmo.

PikaPuff

unless it's lol where you literally are paying money to look cool

Radius

Oh see, here's the problem, I love No Doubt, but hate Gwen Stefani.

-SPI-

Henroid wrote:

Opty wrote:

Also a lot of games that go F2P end up making more money than they were as subscription-based.

Indeed. But a lot of people don't pay attention to that info, or choose to not believe it, and become obstinate loud-mouths about it being a sign of failure. It's really perpetuated by a few titles making the change when things looked grim. Didn't the new Final Fantasy MMO make the change like one month in?

FF14 just stopped charging because the game was a pile of shit and broken. They're planning to start charging again soon.

Ivar

Oh, THAT song. Yeah, I heard it on the radio a number of times some years ago, but it didn't seem very interesting, and I never noticed the banana part. No Doubt is pretty good, though.

Dark Raven X

So TOR ain't all that then? I heard nothing but good things.

Tim-Yates

Henroid wrote:

Shit, now I'm the one outed for recognizing it!

Ahahaha I didn't get it until I read a couple of the back and forth between you and jacob. And yeah, you totally lose street cred for even picking up that it was a reference to that song. Like -2 to street cred man.

Also, for having a webcomic about the freakin game you'd think I'd be playing it by now, but nope. No time!

Turambar

I think it's great

It's basically WoW from a couple of expansions ago + newer graphics + Star Wars + BioWare dialogue and characters

North

Don't kid yourself. MMO's go f2p when their subscription based models are failing to pay the bills. It's absolutely a legitimate sign of failure when a game has to make that jump.

Tube

No, it isn't. If a company can make more money on one business model than another, they should change to that business model. "failing" has nothing to do with it.

Pony

North wrote:

Don't kid yourself. MMO's go f2p when their subscription based models are failing to pay the bills. It's absolutely a legitimate sign of failure when a game has to make that jump.

yeah no

City of Heroes was actually very profitable and was riding a pretty big surge in subscribers after Going Rogue came out

their decision to go quasi-F2P was based on "Gentlemen, is there a way we can make more money?" and the answer was "Yes, we switch to a free/premium model like Champions Online and DDO"

they switched and have seen a manyfold increase in profit since that switch

they could have stayed with a pure subscriber model and continued to sustain the exact same amount of money they always have, the game's been around for nearly eight years, it's older than WoW, it ain't goin' nowheres.

it was purely a decision of "We're making this much profit now, but we could be making more"

Fiendishrabbit

North wrote:

Don't kid yourself. MMO's go f2p when their subscription based models are failing to pay the bills. It's absolutely a legitimate sign of failure when a game has to make that jump.

Dunno. I like the model, especially for DDO (which has returned to be one of my favorite MMORPGs). While I still have to pay (over time) to enjoy the game the way I like it I'm no longer feeling the pressure to play (except over very very short periods of time).
No pressure to "get the most out of my month". Which means I can play, drop the game, pick it up again and drop it as I like.

Ivar

The cost of running a MMO does not decrease if they go from subscription to free play, assuming the same number of players.

Athenor

I object on the grounds that Chiss did not come out of the Unknown Regions until after the death of the Emperor. They should not be in The Old Republic.


I'm sure I'm the only one who cares about this.

Pony

Athenor wrote:

I object on the grounds that Chiss did not come out of the Unknown Regions until after the death of the Emperor. They should not be in The Old Republic.


I'm sure I'm the only one who cares about this.

dude this is the internet

odds are there's a whole forum dedicated to just that specific gripe

The Good Doctor Tran

There are some definite upsides for the company in the F2P model, particularly in the 'make a lot of money' area. For a player it kind of bugs me, especially in the MMO space, and not because I think the quality of the players decreases. That argument can only be made successfully in very particular cases. What bugs me is that I actually find subscription MMOs to be a better gaming value than many other games. This is not to say that I begrudge other games their price tag, but when I'm deeply invested in an MMO I'm paying $15 for basically my entire month's entertainment, whereas when I'm out of an MMO I'll drop $60 on a new big label game, or a lesser amount on several indie games. With F2P MMOs I usually end up paying way more than I did when they were subscription, because I have poor impulse control. I know that's on me and I know I'm the sort of person who's validating their business model, but it has led to me playing fewer and fewer MMOs

Also I got the Hollaback Girl reference at first glance. Because I love that song. No shame.