Check out my latest STO column and leave your feedback about it here :)

I talk about my favorite Tactical captain abilities

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/01/captains-log-class-spotlight-tactical/

I had a feeling this was coming sooner rather than later when Dstahl randomly brought it up after the PW acquisition when he was never asked about it. It felt like he was prepping us for something.

I bought my lifetime sub when the game launched, so I've already run through the number of months required to break even on it. Going to echo the other lifers and say I'm not worried about this. However, I do have requirements if Cryptic wants to stay on my good side. The obvious one is that lifers get the paid membership level for free. Otherwise, it feels like they're invalidating a contract they made with us, and I'll be pissed. Second, given that we gave the game massive support early on, I expect some sort of Cryptic Point stipend. If we don't get this, I'll be annoyed, but not pissed.

Great stuff as always.

One of my challenges with this game has been understanding how the various abilities and skills can positively impact your gameplay - there's a lot of info out there but it's hard sometimes to relate it to the gameplay mechanics so this sort of this is extremely useful.

Cool, Brandon!

My first character was a Sci and it's definitely been a challenging character to play but it's worth it.

As somebody with a Lifetime sub to both STO and LoTRO I do not regret either. My main reason for getting a lifetime for LoTRO was it being 50% off and a real bargain at £75 considering all the upcoming F2P perks it was going to give. I do still play it and it is quite nice when I go back there to be able to quickly nip into the store and buy something without feeling guilty in any way about spending money which I need to keep quiet about to my husband.

I bought a Lifetime for STO without even thinking it may go F2P simply because I did not want to buy things in a store which I then had to pay access for (and of course the genre itself) although I was rather hoping for a bit more Elite'esque trading in game. Now it is going to go F2P I am quietly optimistic about the game. Sure things will change, especially in the C-store as I see the price of ships falling but almost certainly it will be the end of account wide unlocks but with a monthly stipend and patience I can cope with that.

Hopefully this move will be good for the game in the short and long term.

I agree with Brandon, I don't think this will be necessarily a bad thing. City of Heroes was dying before they announced they were going F2P and now I'm seeing more people on the servers than I have in years and it hasn't even gone F2P yet (its this month BTW). I think this is just were most MMO's are going excluding WoW of course. Makes me wonder if I should buy a lifetime sub now.

Actually, there is a free App for Android called Convo . It's ad supported, but it's free, and it works.

http://market.android.com/details?id=dk.rift.android.convo

Quote by DakonKor

I suspect, in the end, this will work out for Lifers in a big way (free Cryptic Points), so they literally never need to spend another dime on the game, ever.

By the way, if you play LOTRO, Turbine is rolling out significant content updates to LOTRO and DDO in the coming months... at least according to X-Play.

I have a LOTRO lifetime account. I had saved up all my TP (Turbine points) to buy the Rise of Isengard expansion. The pre-order is with real money only. If you want the pre-order goodies you still need to spend real money. There are also all kinds off stuff to make you're game-play less grindy which you can buy in the store, if you want a lot of them you'll need to cough up real money too.

Quote by Jonathon_Davis

I know we don't have specifics for a STO F2P model yet, but from other's past MMO going F2P experience, what is the difference in being a lifetime subscriber pre or post F2P? Are there any benefits to me still going forward with getting a lifetime sub prior to F2P?

Lifetimers get the same things as subscribers do, but they don't pay monthly.

FTP means you can choose between paying the monthly fee or buying content packs and limitation removals from the in game store. Subscribers/lifetimers get access to all the content with no new restrictions. Players who don't pay at all get all kinds of restrictions, these could be: limited amount of quests, inaccessible areas, restricted classes, currency cap, limited travel possibilities, no rested-xp, ... These players can grind points to get all those restrictions removed. Non-subscribers can choose to pay for each content pack/restriction removal.

FTP is a good way to try out a game without a time limitation. If you don't play the game a lot it's probably cheaper to buy everything in the in-game store. If you play the game all the time a subscription is cheaper, but the moment you cancel the subscription you loose a lot of access.

Buying a lifetime now will most likely be cheaper than buying everything from the in-game store when the game goes FTP.

Thanks for bringing this to us, Brandon.

I personally haven't played any of the Free to Play MMOs, which is kind of funny considering I actually paid for Champions Online in the first place.

I suspect, in the end, this will work out for Lifers in a big way (free Cryptic Points), so they literally never need to spend another dime on the game, ever.

My big question, as a month-by-month subscriber, how it will work out for us. Do we simply retain the existing access we have now? Will we get a few additional perks (like a smaller C-Point stipend)?

In the end, as long as this doesn't affect additional content rollouts, so it works more like the CoH Free to Play vs. the LoTRO F2P, I see this as a good thing.

By the way, if you play LOTRO, Turbine is rolling out significant content updates to LOTRO and DDO in the coming months... at least according to X-Play.

Quote by Rasilek

While i honestly am not suprised, im still disappointed. Us subscribers once again get the shaft (and not a good one), but hey..what can you do other than hoping for the best. I also have my eyes set on TOR..

I just cant say im happy about it, thats all. All that revenue they made and such a lack of new content...

Steve

I've seen similar sentiments on STO's official forums. Why do you think subscribers are getting the shaft? LTS's will most likely get free points every month to do fun stuff with, monthly subscribers will get something, and people who are more casual can get into the game. Ultimately if they like the game enough they'll buy more stuff in game or opt to subscribe. No one is getting shafted in this model. I think the concept that F2P = everyone gets everything I paid for, but for free, because I paid for it first, is a wild misconception. I've had to stop my 3-month re-up because I simply don't have time with school and blizzcon and then peak season at UPS but I am VERY excited about this and anticipate re-upping my PAID subscription around xmas. I expect to have a better STO experience, free or paid, due to this, and I believe it will make the game more appealing to new players since an unlimited demo sounds more appealing to me than any limited time offer.

Since this is my first MMO, I'm not familiar with the subscription difference before and after F2P. I'm a monthly subscriber myself and had been toying with the idea of buying a lifetime sub. I know we don't have specifics for a STO F2P model yet, but from other's past MMO going F2P experience, what is the difference in being a lifetime subscriber pre or post F2P? Are there any benefits to me still going forward with getting a lifetime sub prior to F2P?

I'm not surprised by this...to be successful a MMO needs lots and lots of people and having a free option just opens it up to more players.

So I guess that means that there is no need to buy cpoints since us lifers will start getting a stipend?

While i honestly am not suprised, im still disappointed. Us subscribers once again get the shaft (and not a good one), but hey..what can you do other than hoping for the best. I also have my eyes set on TOR..

I just cant say im happy about it, thats all. All that revenue they made and such a lack of new content...

Steve

Episode 368 - Deep Space Nine - "Homefront, Part 1" - 01/01/1996

http://www.allstepisodes.com/megvid.php?n=3411

Sisko and Odo are brought to Earth when it's suspected Changelings are infiltrating Starfleet.

Enjoy!

Quote by renegadejtx

Nobody has really answered... is this a good or bad thing?

What will we have...? A whole bunch of Mirandas flying all over Sirius named U.S.S. Freebie?

I don't think it is a bad thing. Perfect World has built their gaming empire on F2P games that are extremely profitable. There will be some pretty amazing benefits for those who have a lifetime subs or a monthly subscription so I wouldn't worry about that. Those that do choose to play for free may have restricted access to certain ships, characters etc. Dan will reveal some information as soon as he can, including side-by-side benefit comparisons.

Keep your head up everyone :) I strongly feel that this only means that STO is going to get better and better.

Nobody has really answered... is this a good or bad thing?

What will we have...? A whole bunch of Mirandas flying all over Sirius named U.S.S. Freebie?

Quote by Furlong

It seems I chose the wrong time to buy a lifetime sub then.

I'm not playing STO, i joined this guild in preparation of SWTOR. I currently play LOTRO. I bought a LOTRO lifetime the moment they announced going FTP. I haven't regretted this. There's no such thing as a free lunch. FTP means people can play part of the game for free, which is like an unlimited trial. When you want to have access to all of LOTRO's content now you have to either subscribe or buy everything from the shop. Buying everything from the shop is more expensive than the lifetime used to be.

Obviously i don't know how STO's FTP will work. They wouldn't switch to FTP if they weren't expecting to net more money this way. In theory that should allow them to spend more money on new content for the game. Unfortunately LOTRO hasn't had an increase in content since going FTP. It is assumed that the money is going to a mysterious Harry Potter MMO.

Well you know, we knew it was going to happen.

Well we knew all kinda knew STO would follow in the path Champions took. This is just sooner than expected. Unsure as to whether it is good or bad for the game though it does open the gates to Star Trek fans curious about game, but unwilling to commit cash.


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