Free-to-Play: What's good?

[chronovore]

It probably has a lot to do with their position in the industry. Warframe needs as much attention and interest generation as possible, and those are great ways to keep their fan base engaged AND generate new player interest in their project. 

Blizzard more-or-less managed to create the RTS genre, inspiring hundreds of copycat projects over the years. Then they revolutionized the Rogue/NetHack model, creating more copycat projects. Then they stole the show for MMOs. No matter what they're doing, everyone else wants to do it. So it makes sense that Blizzard doesn't open their kimono particularly often.

[Stoney Mason]

After putting maybe 15 hours into Warframe I can say a few more things about it and why I think its a pretty good thing.

1.) First off I think its good for a company like this to be able to do something like this and stay in the industry. Not too many years ago, this model didn't exist. So a company like this may have just went under doing throwaway product like Dark Sector, etc. Here they are able to find their niche and carve out an identity and find an audience instead of just doing sub-par work for hire games that nobody is interested in.

2.) The Free-to Play model here is implemented pretty well. You have to grind to get stuff but it is possible to get the stuff without dumping a lot of money. And grinding is inherent to a Phantasy Star Online/Diablo model anyway which they are doing here so it feels like less of a big deal. You were going to be grinding away.

3.) There are enough Warframes (20 currently) so that a pokemon effect starts to happen. You want to collect a number of them. Even if you know some are better than others, there is a desire to try them out just because they have different abilities and look different.

4.) I like the idea that I only have to be as committed as I want to be. One of my turn-offs with Destiny, is this idea that I'm entering a never ending money trap where I buy the base game and have to end up spending another 100 dollars on a never ending parade of DLC content. Borderlands feels the same way to me to a degree. Here I feel like the only commitment is time. I benefit from all the extra dev work that is being done to expand the game no matter what. I just have to be willing to grind for it.

5.) How much work they put into the product makes me respect and like them. I'm actually a lot more likely to spend some money in the game, maybe 15 or 20 bucks just to tip them and say thanks. I don't feel that way with a lot of free to 2 play products where it seems like the development ends when the game is in "open beta" even though that concept is becoming more and more nebulous.

[chronovore]

Earlier this year Doritos Crash Course 2, which was completely F2P, and needed no premium purchases to easily complete the game, was shut down.

This week I'd just happened to start up Ascend: Hand of Kul, and found that it will be shutting down in November.

I logged in tonight to World Series of Poker: Full House Pro, and saw that its premium currency service has been disabled, and the game will be permanently shut down on March 4, 2015.

Inexplicably, Spartacus is still running, though it's easily the least playable title in the bunch, online.

[Stoney Mason]

I logged in tonight to World Series of Poker: Full House Pro, and saw that its premium currency service has been disabled, and the game will be permanently shut down on March 4, 2015.

Sadly I feel like they never handled that game right. And they put it out too early when it had a lot of issues.

[Take My Breh Away]

I logged in tonight to World Series of Poker: Full House Pro, and saw that its premium currency service has been disabled, and the game will be permanently shut down on March 4, 2015.

Sadly I feel like they never handled that game right. And they put it out too early when it had a lot of issues.

It was rushed out because the TV Company that was behind 1 vs 100 pulled the licence out on them (To reboot the TV Show. It sucked) and left them without anything for the next "Season".

Shame because they really had something in that "Live Gaming" concept. 1 vs 100 was worth the Live subscription in itself   

[chronovore]

I heard a number of good thinks about 1 vs 100, but didn't make it into the beta. It sure sounded interesting. Too bad Hollywood messed it up; THANKS, OBAMA.

As for WSOP, it still has a mess of issues. I've never figured out how they managed to make a laggy poker game. Lag. In a poker game. Personally, about 1-in-3 times it will lock up prior to the Start Menu (system freeze) or during the initial Loading/Connecting screen (game freeze, Guid available). One in motherfucking three, I do not exaggerate. When Pipeworks said the game was out of improvement and fixing mode, and would get no further updates, I knew it wasn't going to last.

Any other developer would do a send-off, bring back double or triple XP events, show appreciation for the fans who supported them, but Pipeworks is a bare-minimum developer, so I expect an unceremonious disconnect some time on that last day.

[Stoney Mason]

As for WSOP, it still has a mess of issues. I've never figured out how they managed to make a laggy poker game. Lag. In a poker game. Personally, about 1-in-3 times it will lock up prior to the Start Menu (system freeze) or during the initial Loading/Connecting screen (game freeze, Guid available). One in motherfucking three, I do not exaggerate. When Pipeworks said the game was out of improvement and fixing mode, and would get no further updates, I knew it wasn't going to last.

What was odd was Full House Poker looks to run on the same engine and it didn't have nearly as many issues.

[chronovore]

As for WSOP, it still has a mess of issues. I've never figured out how they managed to make a laggy poker game. Lag. In a poker game. Personally, about 1-in-3 times it will lock up prior to the Start Menu (system freeze) or during the initial Loading/Connecting screen (game freeze, Guid available). One in motherfucking three, I do not exaggerate. When Pipeworks said the game was out of improvement and fixing mode, and would get no further updates, I knew it wasn't going to last.

What was odd was Full House Poker looks to run on the same engine and it didn't have nearly as many issues.

...Avatars are hard?

The thing is WSOP is 60fps on its opening screen, where your Avatar is posing and you select game mode. The moment it goes into any actual game, it's clearly suffering from really weird lag. I understand they need to track player input and display it for some of the player interaction -- who they're looking at, what chip trick they're doing, etc. -- but I suspect they're surveying players for actions every frame instead of every 10 or 30, which would be more than sufficient for those inputs role in actual gameplay.

Full House Poker, which I've only played once, had a strictly 2D interface IIRC, and was really straightforward in its presentation.

[chronovore]

Christ, the number of "BINGO!" players in WSOP has increased four-fold. A mess of chumps basically coming in and going all-in on pretty much every hand.

I guess I should play tournaments anyway, as it discourages this play-style. Still:

[chronovore]

WSOP Tournaments: I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.

Even in tourneys the players are going in for BINGO early on, just so they can get an early cache advantage or just lose quickly so they can get on to the next tournament. 

Still enjoying World of Tanks, but Brit tanks seem to be completely shit. COMPLETELY.

I recall that Defiance MMO was also being definanced -- does anyone know, was that only the PC version, or is the 360 version also going free?

[Stoney Mason]

Unfortunately that's always been the flaw with any sort of "free" poker game. I wish online poker wasn't illegal in the US. Before that happened I use to play for small dollar amounts online and it was so much better. Even a few bucks makes somebody take it a lot more serious and play less like a goon.

[benjipwns]

Remembered Stoney was playing Nosgoth some time back, GMG has a starter pack thing for like a buck sixty incase anybody likes it and wants a little boost:
http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/en/pc/games/mmos/nosgoth-veteran-pack/#item-s3

Some random junk and +50% XP/Gold. I know some of these games have like a level five or ten where you actually finally get anything fun.

[Takao]

I heard good things about Rusty's Baseball on 3DS, so I downloaded it. Is it actually a F2P game or just a trial with a haggling mechanic? I ask because it looks like I'm only allowed to play a single mini-game before the sickly dog asks me to cough up cash.

[The Legend of Sunblade]

The latter. The absolute lowest you can haggle it down is like $2 per game, but you still have to buy them. The haggling is part of the game, since it'll even warn you a couple of times that you can get the games for cheaper when you try to buy it at any price higher than the lowest (but of course, won't stop you if you really want to give Nintendo a few extra free bucks).

[chronovore]

Tried playing World of Tanks on PC. My PC makes my 360 version look like a Caravaggio. PC has a new mode, using the "Chaffee Sport" model tank. It's a race. Couldn't suss out the PC controls. Camera defaults to first-person view, so my first game was a race, in a tank, using tank controls from first-person.

We were not victorious.

[fizzel]

WSOP Tournaments: I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.

Even in tourneys the players are going in for BINGO early on, just so they can get an early cache advantage or just lose quickly so they can get on to the next tournament. 

Still enjoying World of Tanks, but Brit tanks seem to be completely shit. COMPLETELY.

I recall that Defiance MMO was also being definanced -- does anyone know, was that only the PC version, or is the 360 version also going free?

From when i was playing heavily. (about january/feb this year)

Matilda is a great medium heavy, covenanter, crusader, are decent light mediums. Cromwell and Comets were god tier. The churchills were an acquired taste (i got used to them by playing the lend lease churchill for a year). The centurions trading blows with the soviet mediums for being the king of all rounders and the caernarvon was an enjoyable grind for the modules, but i stopped playing the game before i could get a decent crew on it.

Brit tanks were all about the looooong range high dps guns and bouncy turrets.

[chronovore]

What's a "bouncy turret"?

[chronovore]

Xbox has had Defiance up for a little bit. After a 5GB initial download, it wants to install an additional 7GB of packs and patches.

I’m almost certainly going to regret playing this, as all the Achievements look grindy, I tend to like solo- over multi-player games, and Defiance as a TV show is no Farscape. I mean, if they’d made a game of the latter, I’d probably have just played the female characters and spent a lot of time staring into a mirror. Not that I’m fixated. It’s not like I’ve gone back to Golden Eye and freeze framed Virginia Hey’s cameo there, or her appearance in The Road Warrior’s oil rig gang.

It’s honestly not as bad as all that.

So I let it download over the last few hours. I’ll tell more about it here once it lets me play.

[chronovore]

Update: After two hours of playing, I’ve determined that it is third-person perspective Borderlands,  re-skinned with Defiance characters. Skill trees for unique chosen abilities. Limited quick-access gun slots, though two load-out slots are unlocked at the outset. Bases offer instantly-created vehicles for traveling long distances.  They’ve really not gone out of their way to reinvent the wheel here; even Mission acceptance dialog windows look familiar (though you don’t return to the Mission “giver” to claim a reward, thank god), and the UI typeface is even identical to BL1.

I do like 3rd person more than 1st, but if you can imagine BL as a game which is tuned to be grindy, but not over tens of hours but rather hundreds, you’ll have an inkling of where this is headed. My first drops are weapon mods for classes of weapons which haven’t yet appeared. 

Then again, no-one on this board has brought the game up since its launch in December, so I’m wondering if I’m the only person who’s tried it out.

[Stoney Mason]

Regarding defiance.

I only tried the beta/demo when it launched on 360. I was curious to try it on PC when it went free to play but never got around to it.

Also world of tanks is coming to xb1

[ToxicAdam]

Just played The Curious Expedition all night long. It reminds me of an Oregon Trail Rogue-like. It's so fucking good.

Gonna buy the alpha for 12 dollars.


http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/11/28/hands-on-curious-expedition/#more-253371

[chronovore]

They’ve also confirmed that Xbone World of Tanks will transfer 360 version’s player progress, so... woot?

[Stoney Mason]

[Take My Breh Away]

Xbone's getting a bunch of F2P stuff now in the next few months

World Of Tanks
Smite
Neverwinter
Onigiri
Happy Wars
Fable Legends

Also really embracing the e-sports now. I guess if you lose the graphics race. Go for the gameplay.  Wonder if there will be any more announced during GDC

[Kara]

In my MOBA heyday I played A LOT of bad MOBAs. Willingly. And without regret.

Even then Smite was a bad MOBA.

It is however really the only kind of MOBA you can bring to console.

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.winbeta.org/news/new-unreal-tournament-windows-now-available-pre-alpha-and-it-looks-amazing

Link for if you want to try the unreal tournament pre-alpha.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Regarding defiance.

I only tried the beta/demo when it launched on 360. I was curious to try it on PC when it went free to play but never got around to it.

Also world of tanks is coming to xb1

This excites me. I loved it on 360 (which I gave to my son), great game to play 3 or 4 matches off at a time. The grinding is shitty if you don't invest money but the Tier 5 and Tier 7 matches are pretty fun.

Try to fucks with me in my KV-1

[Stoney Mason]

Its always seemed like a good franchise. I've just always been a little intimidated to try it as I feel like it would take me a long time to learn how to play properly.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Its always seemed like a good franchise. I've just always been a little intimidated to try it as I feel like it would take me a long time to learn how to play properly.

Once you adopt the "never charge in" and "angle your armor" policies things come into focus quite quickly.

Also

when you're high tier in a game

when you're a level 7 and see five level 9's in a game 

[Kara]

KV-1 aka #lifehacks the tank.

[chronovore]

Regarding defiance.

I only tried the beta/demo when it launched on 360. I was curious to try it on PC when it went free to play but never got around to it.

Also world of tanks is coming to xb1

This excites me. I loved it on 360 (which I gave to my son), great game to play 3 or 4 matches off at a time. The grinding is shitty if you don't invest money but the Tier 5 and Tier 7 matches are pretty fun.

Try to fucks with me in my KV-1

KV-1 aka #lifehacks the tank.

I don’t get the reference, though I follow Lifehacks and roll a KV-1 with the best of them. Wot about WoT?

[Kara]

irl the KV was almost indestructible (during its era, of course). It was one of many #lifehack tanks the Red Army used.

More of an IS man myself for obvious reasons I trust.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

irl the KV was almost indestructible (during its era, of course). It was one of many #lifehack tanks the Red Army used.

More of an IS man myself for obvious reasons I trust.

Ya gotta love the ol' T-34 with the 85mm cannon. Total cheat code against tigers.

[chronovore]

My least favorite games are played as artillery, and within those, my least-least favorite is when my team basically blasts out in such a diffuse pattern that the suicide scouts will blow through our offensive line, and disappear until they’re within artillery’s direct-view range, i.e. “You’re already dead” range -- /fistofthenorthstar  -- The lack of cooperative effort is really surprising, particularly when it’s the central core to success, considering the different roles of each class.

I’m going to peep the T-34 and see if it’s tasty.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Arty sucks.

I use to mad rush their locations with my speed tanks. 2-3 easy kills confirmed.

However GOOD arty can change a fight with one salvo.

[chronovore]

Agreed.

Choosing to play as arty with randoms, it’s a dice roll before the game ever starts. Will they realize there are artillery waiting for targets? Light and Medium tanks frequently park right next to me in the early game, not scouting and providing no defensive benefit.

The days though when someone de-treads a Heavy, leaving it immobile long enough to drop shots through its top armor... it’s pretty sweet. It’s also great when that kill saves a teammate. Hopefully it gets them thinking about protecting arty in the next fight.

I looked up your T34 -- dude, you’re rolling a Tier VIII Premium tank worth 12,000 Gold?   

That is a different level of investment from mine!

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Agreed.

Choosing to play as arty with randoms, it’s a dice roll before the game ever starts. Will they realize there are artillery waiting for targets? Light and Medium tanks frequently park right next to me in the early game, not scouting and providing no defensive benefit.

The days though when someone de-treads a Heavy, leaving it immobile long enough to drop shots through its top armor... it’s pretty sweet. It’s also great when that kill saves a teammate. Hopefully it gets them thinking about protecting arty in the next fight.

I looked up your T34 -- dude, you’re rolling a Tier VIII Premium tank worth 12,000 Gold?   

That is a different level of investment from mine!

I have a few premiums.....That one was gifted to me by an employee for helping guide newbies in their forum back when the beta was out on xbox360. In fact I was the only one to have it on the xbox360 for like 2 months

[Stoney Mason]

Smite beta codes for X1 are being sent out. I'll record some video.

You can sign up here if you haven't got one.



http://www.hirezstudios.com/smite/xbox

[Stoney Mason]

Definitely alpha. Took me like 5 tries to successfully get into a game. Kept getting dumped from them at some stage.

Like I assumed its more suited for controller commands than probably pretty much any moba. It feels like an action game which is a good thing.

Graphics and such are meh.

I was going to game dvr it and post it but our team got destroyed in arena 43-3. So yeah...


Maybe when I'm in a less embarrassing match.

[Stoney Mason]

Here is me in a loss but a slightly less embarrassing ass stomping. Just posting to give you an idea of how it translates.

[Stoney Mason]

I'm becoming addicted to smite  :'(

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Where do I find this smite? Is it on xbl.

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.hirezstudios.com/smite/xbox

You have to apply for a code.