Age of Conan was an AAA title that went free to play after starting with subscriptions I think. It largely followed the same pattern of decline as WAR, too. LOTRO went free to play as well, didn't it?
You'd think WAR would do the same considering where they are right now.
Those games are not EA published, if I am not mistaken.
What I am implying is that EA is skeptical or dismissive of the F2P thing.
Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield play4free, ios Theme Park, the new WAR thing, Tiger Woods online, Battleforge, Lords of Ultima and Fifa Online would suggest otherwise.
EA has issues putting more money into an already very expensive and failed project (WAR)
Conceptually I don't think they'd have even the slightest issue converting the game to F2P. But yeah the development team pretty much does not exist anymore and I can assume WAR's budget is at best extremely minimal so any sort of total conversion of the game is probably on permanent hold for now
I think the main resistance towards F2P is that WAR has always had performance issues regarding huge battles. So much that they actually implemented player caps at keeps and forts, porting out players when a cap was hit.
Going F2P would definitely get a lot of people in, and maybe the game still isn't able to handle that kind of player load.
I didn't even think anyone consider Warhammer a for pay MMO anymore, lol.
I have used the free call to arms thing at least 3 times by now to come back and give warhammer a spin. I have never, ever made it through the first of the two free weeks they give you.
I think F2P would give this game a serious kick though.
I was excited about Wrath of Heroes until I realized that it's basically nothing like WAR. If you're expecting it to be WAR's gameplay only dumbed down a bit for the scenario-only gameplay, well...
I think the main resistance towards F2P is that WAR has always had performance issues regarding huge battles. So much that they actually implemented player caps at keeps and forts, porting out players when a cap was hit.
Going F2P would definitely get a lot of people in, and maybe the game still isn't able to handle that kind of player load.
To be fair that was when guilds were exploiting the server load limits and crashing the defenders to take forts. I havn't heard of anyone porting out of a keep or fort since they removed forts.
AFAIK EA has never pushed an MMO into F2P. Earth and Beyond was shut down. Ultima Online is still subscription after almost 15 years. Dark Age of Camelot was inherited, but still subscription afaik.
DnD and LOTRO are both Turbine. AO and AoC are both Funcom. (And I can't believe they're trying to make a 3rd major MMO after how utterly they failed at management of the first two...)
On the one hand, the game actually runs well. I dunno what they did, but on my old PC I was running the game better than I ever did on WAR proper. Maybe it's the uniform gear every character wears or something, but it runs well. So, from a tech standpoint, it a step up from the parent series.
If, however, you are expecting WAR with the crust cut off or whatever, you are in for disappointment. There is no tanking, little customization and basically anything to do with WAR's old combat. It's much faster and you have only five skills. Basically a standard attack, three other attacks and a moderate cooldown skill that is big CC or a defensive thing. What irritates me is the utter lack of a rest mechanics. If you're low on HP, you might as well die, as you will respawn faster than the time it takes for the game to up your HP regen once you're out of combat.
This is fun but pretty shallow. They did add a tactics system, where you get some general purpose tactics every X levels and slots to shove them in. But at the moment they are incredibly lackluster (5% chance to heal like ~72 HP on attack...when I have 1250 max?)
And I will say that three sides in a scenario is just stupid. There is very little strategy when one side wins, you want to win, but side #3 is rocks stupid and goes for you instead of ganging up on the winner. It's just classic Mythic not understanding what the hell we wanted. Scenarios were fine with two factions: it was the RvR campaign that was a mess with only two sides. It's not terrible, but you kinda don't give a shit after a while because playing well isn't enough. You have to hope the other team has a sense to watch the scoreboard.
So...I dunno. The game still has a way to go before launch, but the best way to sum it up is "shallow." In their haste to mimic LoL the left you with very basic combat skills and it plays very little like WAR. On the upside it plays better as a game, but what you get isn't terribly fun after a while. It's kinda like eating icing from the tub.
I just don't understand why they would make a spinoff of war at all. I mean, did they have some programmers left over doing nothing and they are like "well, have them make some action game based off of our dead in the water MMO that everyone forgot about two years ago or more?
To me it would be like a new Tabula Rasa spinoff being announced. Could it be a good game? Sure. But, frankly, ANYTHING 'could' be a good game, and it just seems a weird place to start with.
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MrVyngaardLive From New EtoileStraight Outta SosariaRegistered Userregular
edited October 2011
They saw someone making money and wanted in on some of that money.
I think they might have blinked over the details on the way, if that snapshot estimate above is any measure.
Also, I am not seeing a Witch Hunter among those heroes in that video.
Heresy.
MrVyngaard on
"now I've got this mental image of caucuses as cafeteria tables in prison, and new congressmen having to beat someone up on inauguration day." - Raiden333
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ArchonexNo hard feelings, right?Registered Userregular
The whole thing is just bizarre.
They'd make more money taking WAR F2P and designing a steady stream of new content.
Also, ditching the bullshit pay to win aspects it has now. That "level cap" pack is grade A nonsense that belongs to shitty Korean MMO's.
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Liquid GhostDO YOU HEAR THE VOICES, TOO?!Registered Userregular
Also, ditching the bullshit pay to win aspects it has now. That "level cap" pack is grade A nonsense that belongs to shitty Korean MMO's.
I actually had a dream that someone like Nexon bought WAR(uhh, somehow) and made it free to play, but it had a fatigue system and you had to pay to unlock "tiers" of levels and to unseal certain items so they could be equipped.
They'd make more money taking WAR F2P and designing a steady stream of new content.
Also, ditching the bullshit pay to win aspects it has now. That "level cap" pack is grade A nonsense that belongs to shitty Korean MMO's.
I fail to see how that differs from any expansion pack with cap increase.
The shitty part is that you can literally buy level-ups for characters.
Thing is, when you buy an expansion, you get a large amount of content. WoW included a new continent. City of Heroes includes a few new zones, and a vast number of new, game changing features. Everquest continues the proverbial quest snd added a couple features. Even FFXI included new features like a coherent story, new group content, and other similar stuff, each expansion.
Unless they changed what the pack contained from when it was first announced, what EA/Warhammer did was sell a pack that boosts your max level slightly higher then everyone else's. Which is pretty messed up. I know if I had hit the cap, and then they just released a P2P "pack" that boosted the levels, i'd be pretty pissed. There's nothing you actually get with that. Except more of a tedious grind.
Edit: To explain, this is what the pack actually contains.
Characters with the progression pack will advance through the Renown Ranks at an accelerated rate, allowing them to get up to the new Renown Ranks quicker than ever! Note: This passive bonus applies to Renown Ranks 1-80.
Purchasing the RvR pack will allow all characters on your account to progress all the way to Renown Rank 100 and be able to enjoy all the rewards that come with those added levels.
Characters will have access to all new Renown gear and Item Sets as they progress through Renown Ranks 81-100. This includes two new Split sets of Armor with unique looks and bonuses available at Renown Rank 90 and 100.
Characters will have access to three new sets of Scenario Weapons as they progress through Renown Ranks 81-100. These weapons are available at Renown Ranks 81, 90, and 100.
Outside of new shiny weapons and armor (Something every other game provides in content updates for free.) the only thing you get is increased leveling speed...And more levels to grind out. Which, given how insane the grind for the upper renown levels gets to be, really counter-balances the former once you hit a certain point.
Yeah, that's pretty much a pay to win pack. A higher level cap than those that don't buy it, and the ability to get to that cap faster.
I'm guessing someone asked the question "what's the easiest thing to make that will still sell a lot" and someone answered the obvious "the ability to be more powerful in pvp (in a game that is designed around pvp)" and nobody had any sense of shame left so it looks like that's what they made!
I was hoping to give it the benefit of the doubt, but after playing for a couple hours during the test I was just underwhelmed.
The removal of the talent trees is understandable from a "churn out more champions" perspective, but without them there's just no depth and the spam gets boring quick.
I hope the next builds improve performance as well. I was chugging far worse than any keep battles and this is with an upgraded system from the last time I played war as well.
So starting tomorrow I'll be done my schoolwork until January (still have some small stuff to work on but not much, significant free time) and was debating between WoW and WAR (never played either, but have played a LOT of other MMOs.) My debate is between these two since I'm on a Mac and recently upgraded to a smallish SSD and don't want to waste space with bootcamp.
Anyway, is this still worth getting in to?
How is the server population?
Is it reasonable newb-friendly?
I was going to try the free trial first and then upgrade if it's any good, but noticed they are limited to certain servers and there's a 'recruit a friend' program that could get me a free trial to any server + 30days free subscription for the recruiter if I decide to subscribe. Anyone interested?
If you guys are still playing this game, what server? what realm?
EDIT: Or if you guys mostly play on one of the free servers thats cool too.
1. It's worth is largely dependent on how much fun you get out of it. I will say that there is a spin-off game called Wrath of Heroes that is free-to-play but will have perks for players subbed to WAR.
2. Enough in Tier 1 and 4. You can expect to largely do quests and stuff in tiers 2 and 3.
3. They revamped their introduction stuff, and that includes a nice tutorial for new players.
Both WoW and WAR have a free, unlimited trial now. So I say try both. WAR is going to favor PvP, whereas WoW is basically an actual game with a content patch en route. The main advantage of WAR is that it costs $14.99 to get it on Steam, whereas WoW is going run you $80 right now to get the base game + expansions. Though it is the week prior to Black Friday, which means you might be able to grab WoW + expansions for closer to $50 or $60.
Is this game free to play yet? I miss my witch elf in scenarios and pvp but I don't miss it enough to pay for a month
Im in the same boat. The game was fun, but its so dead right now it isnt worth the fee. If it was free and they charged for a few items, i'd probably give them a few coins here and there like i did DDO. But the monthly fee just locks everyone out.
they may not even have the resources to shift this into a F2P model and just figure it's better to let it slowly die.
and yea, tier 1 battlegrounds is the best part of the game.
They have been given the go ahead to make a wholly new F2P game with an actual beta going on. So I think people tend to exaggerate how dead WAR really. The problem is that WAR is dead in the middle parts, meaning you enjoy PvPing up until 15 or so, and then the game basically turns into WoW until Tier 4.
As I said before, I think the concern with going F2P is that the game can't handle it. Fallen Earth basically buckled under the load, and DCUO has massive queues during primetime. Keeps and Forts would be an utter mess, and they would have to undo their changes to the starting experience if they made the swap. Right now everyone just starts in the Empire/Chaos area, which would be a nightmare if the game went F2P.
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I think Star Wars is going to the grave as a subscription game (Galaxies, not TOR).
You'd think WAR would do the same considering where they are right now.
What I am implying is that EA is skeptical or dismissive of the F2P thing.
Now, just list the MMOs.
Adjust my statement based on the numerical qualities of this new list.
Conceptually I don't think they'd have even the slightest issue converting the game to F2P. But yeah the development team pretty much does not exist anymore and I can assume WAR's budget is at best extremely minimal so any sort of total conversion of the game is probably on permanent hold for now
That video is how I would like to remember WAR.
Maybe we should have a separate thread for it?
I still do. Gladly.
Going F2P would definitely get a lot of people in, and maybe the game still isn't able to handle that kind of player load.
I have used the free call to arms thing at least 3 times by now to come back and give warhammer a spin. I have never, ever made it through the first of the two free weeks they give you.
I was excited about Wrath of Heroes until I realized that it's basically nothing like WAR. If you're expecting it to be WAR's gameplay only dumbed down a bit for the scenario-only gameplay, well...
To be fair that was when guilds were exploiting the server load limits and crashing the defenders to take forts. I havn't heard of anyone porting out of a keep or fort since they removed forts.
If the game went free, that might be a concern.
DnD and LOTRO are both Turbine. AO and AoC are both Funcom. (And I can't believe they're trying to make a 3rd major MMO after how utterly they failed at management of the first two...)
EA is fine with releasing some MMOs as F2P, but they are strangely opposed to any kind of transition.
It's...a thing.
On the one hand, the game actually runs well. I dunno what they did, but on my old PC I was running the game better than I ever did on WAR proper. Maybe it's the uniform gear every character wears or something, but it runs well. So, from a tech standpoint, it a step up from the parent series.
If, however, you are expecting WAR with the crust cut off or whatever, you are in for disappointment. There is no tanking, little customization and basically anything to do with WAR's old combat. It's much faster and you have only five skills. Basically a standard attack, three other attacks and a moderate cooldown skill that is big CC or a defensive thing. What irritates me is the utter lack of a rest mechanics. If you're low on HP, you might as well die, as you will respawn faster than the time it takes for the game to up your HP regen once you're out of combat.
This is fun but pretty shallow. They did add a tactics system, where you get some general purpose tactics every X levels and slots to shove them in. But at the moment they are incredibly lackluster (5% chance to heal like ~72 HP on attack...when I have 1250 max?)
And I will say that three sides in a scenario is just stupid. There is very little strategy when one side wins, you want to win, but side #3 is rocks stupid and goes for you instead of ganging up on the winner. It's just classic Mythic not understanding what the hell we wanted. Scenarios were fine with two factions: it was the RvR campaign that was a mess with only two sides. It's not terrible, but you kinda don't give a shit after a while because playing well isn't enough. You have to hope the other team has a sense to watch the scoreboard.
So...I dunno. The game still has a way to go before launch, but the best way to sum it up is "shallow." In their haste to mimic LoL the left you with very basic combat skills and it plays very little like WAR. On the upside it plays better as a game, but what you get isn't terribly fun after a while. It's kinda like eating icing from the tub.
To me it would be like a new Tabula Rasa spinoff being announced. Could it be a good game? Sure. But, frankly, ANYTHING 'could' be a good game, and it just seems a weird place to start with.
I think they might have blinked over the details on the way, if that snapshot estimate above is any measure.
Also, I am not seeing a Witch Hunter among those heroes in that video.
Heresy.
They'd make more money taking WAR F2P and designing a steady stream of new content.
Also, ditching the bullshit pay to win aspects it has now. That "level cap" pack is grade A nonsense that belongs to shitty Korean MMO's.
Yeah. I felt shame even in my fuzzy dream state.
The shitty part is that you can literally buy level-ups for characters.
Thing is, when you buy an expansion, you get a large amount of content. WoW included a new continent. City of Heroes includes a few new zones, and a vast number of new, game changing features. Everquest continues the proverbial quest snd added a couple features. Even FFXI included new features like a coherent story, new group content, and other similar stuff, each expansion.
Unless they changed what the pack contained from when it was first announced, what EA/Warhammer did was sell a pack that boosts your max level slightly higher then everyone else's. Which is pretty messed up. I know if I had hit the cap, and then they just released a P2P "pack" that boosted the levels, i'd be pretty pissed. There's nothing you actually get with that. Except more of a tedious grind.
Edit: To explain, this is what the pack actually contains.
Characters with the progression pack will advance through the Renown Ranks at an accelerated rate, allowing them to get up to the new Renown Ranks quicker than ever! Note: This passive bonus applies to Renown Ranks 1-80.
Purchasing the RvR pack will allow all characters on your account to progress all the way to Renown Rank 100 and be able to enjoy all the rewards that come with those added levels.
Characters will have access to all new Renown gear and Item Sets as they progress through Renown Ranks 81-100. This includes two new Split sets of Armor with unique looks and bonuses available at Renown Rank 90 and 100.
Characters will have access to three new sets of Scenario Weapons as they progress through Renown Ranks 81-100. These weapons are available at Renown Ranks 81, 90, and 100.
Outside of new shiny weapons and armor (Something every other game provides in content updates for free.) the only thing you get is increased leveling speed...And more levels to grind out. Which, given how insane the grind for the upper renown levels gets to be, really counter-balances the former once you hit a certain point.
I'm guessing someone asked the question "what's the easiest thing to make that will still sell a lot" and someone answered the obvious "the ability to be more powerful in pvp (in a game that is designed around pvp)" and nobody had any sense of shame left so it looks like that's what they made!
Totally agreed.
I was hoping to give it the benefit of the doubt, but after playing for a couple hours during the test I was just underwhelmed.
The removal of the talent trees is understandable from a "churn out more champions" perspective, but without them there's just no depth and the spam gets boring quick.
I hope the next builds improve performance as well. I was chugging far worse than any keep battles and this is with an upgraded system from the last time I played war as well.
The tactics system would be nice, but EVERY effect is pretty much undertuned except for a few major ones like CC reduction.
Anyway, is this still worth getting in to?
How is the server population?
Is it reasonable newb-friendly?
I was going to try the free trial first and then upgrade if it's any good, but noticed they are limited to certain servers and there's a 'recruit a friend' program that could get me a free trial to any server + 30days free subscription for the recruiter if I decide to subscribe. Anyone interested?
If you guys are still playing this game, what server? what realm?
EDIT: Or if you guys mostly play on one of the free servers thats cool too.
2. Enough in Tier 1 and 4. You can expect to largely do quests and stuff in tiers 2 and 3.
3. They revamped their introduction stuff, and that includes a nice tutorial for new players.
Both WoW and WAR have a free, unlimited trial now. So I say try both. WAR is going to favor PvP, whereas WoW is basically an actual game with a content patch en route. The main advantage of WAR is that it costs $14.99 to get it on Steam, whereas WoW is going run you $80 right now to get the base game + expansions. Though it is the week prior to Black Friday, which means you might be able to grab WoW + expansions for closer to $50 or $60.
they may not even have the resources to shift this into a F2P model and just figure it's better to let it slowly die.
and yea, tier 1 battlegrounds is the best part of the game.
As I said before, I think the concern with going F2P is that the game can't handle it. Fallen Earth basically buckled under the load, and DCUO has massive queues during primetime. Keeps and Forts would be an utter mess, and they would have to undo their changes to the starting experience if they made the swap. Right now everyone just starts in the Empire/Chaos area, which would be a nightmare if the game went F2P.