Free MMO's

For PvP lovers i highly suggest you try this game if you enjoyed such games as diablo and starcraft.
http://www.bloodlinechampions.com/

Im unable to give a good enough personal review on it atm but it did take me 4 days to get signed up cuz they said they werent really planning to take any more american testers.
I didnt want anybody to miss out on the opportunity. This is a team pvp only game. Definitely try to check it out if youve always enjoyed pvp in your games.

If you do want to play this i have 2 key invites i can send out.

Its very fast action.
 
When you get a little bit of time maybe youll want to see the "gameplay walkthrough" video that was added (i dont know when) to this main site.

http://www.firefallthegame.com/

I had found out about this game a couple months ago and hadnt really followed it. One of the like 20+ mmo sites i visit now had a recent "news" thing for this game so i checked it out again.
The new video blew my mind. Of course we dont all have the same likes and dislikes and all that stuff but im just here to share, if youre not interested its ok. :p

This is gonna be a FPS mmo and to me just looks incredible.
I honestly wouldnt be surprised if it gets as many players as WoW has. Thats just how i feel from lookin at it tho. :p



Oh yeah, in the future dont be surprised when im like "neener neener i told you so" when WoW goes free to play. :p
 
Interesting read here
#5 Free to Play is the Future
Let?s face it ? free to play is the future of MMOGs. New free to play MMOs and MMORPGs are launching each and every month, with many of them being extremely high quality games. On top of this, more and more pay to play MMORPGs are dropping their subscription fees. Sony Online Entertainment already released a free to play version of EverQuest 2 while Pirates of the Burning Sea and Champions Online announced that they would be going free to play in early 2011. North America has always been the biggest market for subscription based games, but with so many of these games in dropping their subscription fees, it will be difficult for Final Fantasy 14 to justify its fee.

Its a list of reasons final fantasy 14 would go free to play. But ive been seein this for myself for the past few months, its incredible practically 3-5 new free mmo betas are out every week.

For the full review you can see it here: http://mmohut.com/editorials/final-fantasy-14-will-go-free-to-play
 
You should work as a game tester hawn hehe
 
Read the review, sounds like FF should go free to play because well, its failing BUT it still has the backing of a really major brand.

However if you point was that WoW would go free-to-play anytime soon, I'd disagree. Unless they make a severe blunder (i.e. account/credit card details leaked) leading to a loss of player base or a lawsuit, the only other way would be for Blizzard to believe that its revenue model will fail them. Currently WoW is rich, and they're playing it very smart -- Cataclysm re-does Azeroth -- its a great way to introduce a new player base. Blizzard's biggest enemy down the road imo, is Blizzard -- if they release some other MMO. Heh.
 
nah
Point is "Free" is the future of the mmo's. :p
Like everybody else in the world blizzard will have to adapt. Every month theres at least one free game just as good as WoW coming out, soon enough theyll be even better. Theres already plenty of games that are on par with WoW.

With all the micro transactions blizzard has been doing with WoW i think its funny you dont see it coming.

At this point i wouldnt be surprised to see Diablo 3 come free to play with the micro transaction stuff.
Terrible but funny!
 
Interesting read here
#5 Free to Play is the Future
Let?s face it ? free to play is the future of MMOGs. New free to play MMOs and MMORPGs are launching each and every month, with many of them being extremely high quality games. On top of this, more and more pay to play MMORPGs are dropping their subscription fees. Sony Online Entertainment already released a free to play version of EverQuest 2 while Pirates of the Burning Sea and Champions Online announced that they would be going free to play in early 2011. North America has always been the biggest market for subscription based games, but with so many of these games in dropping their subscription fees, it will be difficult for Final Fantasy 14 to justify its fee.

Its a list of reasons final fantasy 14 would go free to play. But ive been seein this for myself for the past few months, its incredible practically 3-5 new free mmo betas are out every week.

For the full review you can see it here: http://mmohut.com/editorials/final-fantasy-14-will-go-free-to-play


Hmm. The main problem of free-to-play games particularly from Japanese or Korean companies are that they usually have some kind of item mall or "cash shop" where you can buy items with RL cash

It wouldn't be a problem if it was just aesthetics and cosmetic equipment or items which you can wear over your normal equipment, but a disturbing trend is that many of such games put powerful equipment and bonuses such as 2x EXP into such cash shops or item malls. The player base will end up paying MORE $$ to keep up and be competitive, compared to if they had paid a fixed subscription fee. It does not help that usually better items will be released to keep the money rolling in from the existing playerbase, constantly adding better equipment necessitates the spending of more $$ to be pumped in to keep your character at the top, sometimes, even vital skill for new classes will have to be bought with real life $$.

In such MMOs, who are the best players is not dependent on skill anymore, it depends on who has the most real life $$ which should have NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING to do with game balance.

Imagine WoW with epics far better than the current raiding tier available, but it is only accessible with real $$, then when the next raiding tier is released, a new tier of $$ items are released as well, making those who bought the original cash items obsolete, and they have to spend $$ on the new items. Or perhaps some imba skill for your class that can only be unlocked with real $$, suddenly, you are no longer accepted to raids, not because you are unskilled, quite the contrary, but rather, you lack the real life $$ to buy the powerful items or skills and do, what would be then, competitive dps.

Why do I believe that would be the fate of pay to play MMOs if they were to go free? Think about it in Economic terms (Or from what I understand as a JC1 Economics student.).

If Blizzard were to make WoW free, they have to somehow introduce another means of making $$ from it. It does not make economic sense for any company to make their MMORPGs free and have no other way to make $$ implemented in the game. The revenue increases seem suspicious to me, if you make something free, how does Total Revenue increase? Especially when Price = 0? Unless they introduce an item mall, their TR = 0, but due to the total cost of running the servers, maintaining them, making patches, paying worker wages etc., TC>0. so when TC>TR, they make an overall Profit of <0, or a LOSS, and when firms make LOSSES, it makes no economical sense to keep that game running, so a rational firm will no longer service the good, in this case, the free MMO.

Thus, free MMOs usually answer the Revenue question with item malls, funds from which would then service the aforementioned costs of running the MMO.
But gameplay wise, IMO, it is a very bad design, game balance and who does the best should not be based on who can pay more $$, but rather solely on the player skill and who knows his class best. Real life money should never, ever affect gameplay or game balance. In the end, the gamer who spends hundreds of dollars on the various items in the item malls will pay more than what they would have paid with a fixed subscription fee.

Don't let that article paint too rosy a picture for you, this is the shit that is usually behind free MMOs, most of them that I have played have some item mall or micro-transactions in them, and when you HAVE to spend real life $$ to be competitive, it gets old really quickly if you are the "purist" who would not spend $$. It gets glaring when you do less damage or take more damage compared to that joker who has too much $$ on his hands, for one simple opportunity or mistake, he would benefit so much more or take so much less punishment. Never ever makes sense to have a good or service that is completely free, they will have to make $$ somehow from it.

So examples you say?
DnD model - DnDO has a DDO VIP paid service where the VIP gets more feature compared to free players, examples are access to the full map, instant access to more content, and more gold/bank/chat/mail capacity, access to all classes, all races, and a constant influx of turbine points (which free players haveto buy with $$). Imagine in WoW you can only access the Death Knight class, Outland, Icecrown Citadel, get the bank space/gold capacity/mail space/chatting freedom you have now, and get cash for items if you were to pay a certain amount of $$ a month or spend $$ for each and every feature you want (and thats not getting the full map), oh wait, that is what you are doing now (paid subscription fee)! So whats the diff.?

MapleStory Model - Randomised free items through "lucky-dip" type tickets, 2x Exp coupons, 2x DROP rate coupons, SKILL BOOKS and aesthetic items for real $$. So now, you can randomly get EPICS with $$, get more exp than others on that leveling grind to 85, possibly jumping more hardworking players for their server first, and access the majority of your skills only if you are rich with real life cash! What a fun WoW then!

Rakion/Other free MMO models - POWERFUL EQUIPMENT WITH REAL LIFE CASH OLOLOLOLOL. Imagine you have item level 500 equipment buyable with cash in ICC. Amazing! To do top damage and be the best you have to pay $$! Not to mention getting FAR BETTER EPICS even if you have NEVER stepped inside the raid instance since the $$ buys you BETTER equipment than what DROPS FROM BOSSES! That is what is happening in such MMOs now, and I would imagine it would be a WoW you would all like to play in? Obviously not.

Runescape model - Free to play, but your can pay a subscription to get MORE professions, MORE content, and a 500% increase in map space to explore! Imagine WoW where you can only access about 70% of the trade skills available with $$, those that are free, their high level recipes are ONLY available to those who pay $$, you can only access the starting zones and quests only up to level 30 zones if you are free, to go on you pay $$, in fact, to access all content you have to pay $$, oh wait, HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM NOW?

Reconsider, think critically, don't take it at face value. Frankly, free MMOs are either money drains or subscription MMOs MASQUERADING as free.
 
uh

Jovi i know exactly how the free mmo's work. :p
I dont like the idea of cash shops, never have, but simple fact is it just keeps gettin bigger.
LOTR and DDO are just a couple of the first originally subscription based games to change that i know about amongst other games that just come out free to play.
Micro transactions have already been done in WoW with even more future plans.
Im not happy about the thought, it just makes me laugh.
 
Point being is that either they have a pay-to-play option, which eventually people will take, or have an item mall, DDO has a p2p option, if wikipedia is accurate. LotR has an item store. It free-to-play with strings attached, which makes me wonder why even call it free at all.

If the future is item malls, it hurts gameplay a lot, I really hope that would not be the case. When WoW goes that way IMO it will be a sad day indeed

If it is free to play for a small portion of the game, with the rest of the content accessible to subscribers like DDO and RS, then it is just a subscription fee game masquerading as a free-to-play game, I don't see the difference then. This is the FAR more platable future, but I fail to see HOW is it different from now? After all, why stop at level 30 free-to-play, or just have Azeroth as a whole, when there is level 80 or Northrend to go? I would imagine a scenario where the base WoW is free to play, but to access end-game raiding content and expansions, you have to pay a subscription, which again, is not different from now.

So the future is either a) Bleak, or b) The same as the present, just disguised better.
 
I'd go with b. :p

I was hopin to edit my previous post before you got back but i didnt make it in time!

I love your knowledge and passion.
I wasnt expecting this thread to ever start an argument or anything. haha

I'm with you on disliking the cash shops and stuff. However so far in my experience it depends on the game itself and what they do with those cash shops.
Like you said there are games that you must spend cash in if you want to succeed in it at all but theres also games where you can access all the content but have a harder time doing so i.e. professions are a huge pain if you dont buy bag space past the free inventory you get.

Most cash shops that ill call "westernized" are mostly cosmetics from what ive seen. I think a lot of these games are quite possible to play 100% free, just would want to have more patience if youre not a spender. :p

Ever since i found these ive been watching whats goin on daily for the past few months now you know, so i just wouldnt be surprised to see WoW go free to play. I definitely wouldnt be happy about it.

The futures behind us man!
 
Heh, for a moment, thought you actually preferred free MMOs.

WoW may or may not go free, it depends on the number of subscribers and Blizzard's product philosophy.

IMO I would accept a WoW where say classic is available for free, maybe even BC and WotLK, but Cataclysm only content requires $$. Not "like", but accept with some reluctance, any MMO going free will introduce a larger player base, from my experience, most of them are pretty unfriendly and rude. IF trade chat is bad, it will get a hell lot worse :p

So long as WoW is still the most played MMO on the market, then I wouldn't imagine it going free. No matter if some new game plays better or looks better, so long as WoW still has a truckload of subscribers and churns out new raid content, it would never become free. Besides, I have never seen a free game with good, fun endgame raid encounters with excellent mechanics, a well-developed party/raid system and add-on/interface-changing support, excellent breadth and depth of classes like WoW, in terms of sheer polish and experienced developers, WoW always takes the cake. Cataclysm, in fact, looks set-up to be a MAJOR step up in terms of improvement, call it "raising the already high bar".
 
TBH, if WoW were to introduce paid items in the future that actually affects the game in more than cosmetic ways, it might be enough for me to stop my subscription heh.

I have a lot of friends who are against joining WoW because they're like -- "I have to buy 4 expansions!"; or "I have to pay a subscription" -- Can't really blame them especially if they weren't MMO players before, or don't really know the extent to how enjoyable the game really is, so I guess like Jovion mentioned, it is a possibility that they make it more accessible. Just like how they made the game more accessible by having in-built hit rating calculation etc...
 
Yep I Cant believe that a new player to the game needs to buy classic, bc, wotlk AND cata.., that's just silly...
 
Yeah it is pretty silly, but im pretty sure thats happened with every single game ever that had expansions isnt it?
 
Battle-chests is a cool implementation I guess, but they sure as hell don't come along too often!
 
Take a leaf from Bill Gate's play book, free is good, just not best.

They said the free OS Linux would kill Windows, but it didn't, coz it costs money to get skilled folks to install Linux for you.
They said free Open Office would kill Ms Office, but it didn't, coz it didn't have better features. Stupid Sun Microsystems almost went bust trying to be the crusader of the free. IBM probably made more money off Java, arguably Sun's best free product.
The best developers in the world don't work for free, so a software with a strong revenue stream tends to attract the best developers.
What these "free" touts don't tell you, is that the total cost of ownership (TCO) is often higher than the paid versions.
People need to be re-trained to use the "free" software, and there are productivity losses from using the "free" software that is almost, but not quite, as good.

Bring that back to WoW terms, Blizz can afford to hire the best game developers to make WoW the best MMO.
Other MMOs will just have to settle for the remainder.
For people like me who have less time than money, I want to be sure that my time is spent on the best MMO there is.
I would not be inclined to play the 2nd best game, simply because I don't have the time to.

I used to play collectible card games, with an annual outlay north of SGD1000. The SGD300 I spend on WoW is a savings of SGD700 every year.
Year 2008, I was busy raiding Black Temple, instead of Wall Street, and thus saved my bank account from a crushing blow.

Another thing WoW got right is that they don't sell power.
What I mean is that, all the better items are earned though your own efforts, and not purchaseable with real life $.
Killing raid bosses and grinding Arenas all require a player's active participation.
Blizz learned enough from Diablo to make most gear BoP, cutting a lot of legs off the "money makes right" crowd.
With a revenue stream already, Blizz isn't compelled to sell ever more powerful items for money.
It would only piss off the skilled, and alienate the cash conscious.

Free is good, just not best.
 
Personally, I've been searching for a Rakion replacement, like the gameplay of that game and all, but absolutely HATED the fact it is a "need real $$ to win" game.
If you can find a similar game to Rakion without a cash shop or a cash shop with just cosmetics, let me know =P
 
I just checked out a video for Rakion then visited the site, i totally forgot i had liked the way it looked already and had meant to check it out before. Think ive just been playin so many games that one didnt make it to the top of my list. Is it mostly a pvp game?

If you like it because of pvp you should definitely check out Bloodline Champions which i have repeated over and over for any pvp lover. :p
Recently BC did some major advertising and promoting for the game. I believe i still have an extra beta key if you wanna try it out.

Vindictus looks similar to Rakion gameplay wise however its the american version i guess? You may be able to find the original version under "Mabinogi Heroes."

Ely i remember seeing your post before but apparently forgot about it. Nice post dude.

I'd like to remind you about (if you knew) NetZero who were the most awesome 100% free dial-up service provider back when the internet was still fresh.

Free doesnt necessarily mean lower quality in all cases, of course its a very rare case where anything free would be awesome.

I totally agree about blizzard, they obviously have the manpower and the money to stay on top.
I dont agree with "earning" gear in WoW anymore tho, i believe the game has turned to such trash that they hand out epic loot to retards in order to make money. I dont blame them, just sayin.

The reason i started talking about WoW going free to play is simply because "free to play" has been growing and growing faster and faster only since i personally even found out about these games, and theyve been around for awhile. The very little time i discovered them i have watched these games move so fast. I dont expect WoW to go free to play, i just wouldnt be surprised.
2011 is definitely looking to be big in the "free to play" category. I think something huge is gonna be happening for online video games, im just not sure what. :p
Definitely expecting to see some new movement in virtual reality tho!
 
Rakion is a room-based MMO that is mostly PvP. Tt has a bit of PvE but it is not the main point of the game.

The main draw for me, really, is the gameplay, not so much that it is PvP, it is hard to describe why I like it, to be honest, you have to play it yourself to see.

There are 5 playable classes, each class has a certain role in the game. The game is a room-based MMO which, in battle, is similar to a fighting game. Each character has moves which can be executed by a certain button combo, all moves of a class is available irregardless of level, the level affects your stats. Same thing for equipment, they affect your stats. You can build your character anyway you want by the placement of stats.

Now, in terms of player on player battles, it really plays like a 3D fighting game, somewhat like Dissidia Final Fantasy just that there is no air game, you are fighting on your feet always except for a jump attack. :p Either you pump attack speed and really on having low delay to avoid punishment, or pump attack and play defensive by blocking and punishing any whiffed attacks. Or you can whip out the bow or wand as an archer/mage and fire away.

Each kill you get nets you a chaos charge, collect 5 or 6, you can go "chaos mode", think something like EX mode in Dissidia Final Fantasy, your character gets bigger, more powerful, and have a different moveset while in Chaos mode. You enjoy the benefits of it for a set amount of time before it runs out.

To add to the mix, players can summon creatures known as "cells" bought from the shop using ingame gold or cash bought with real life $$, these summoned creatures appear on the battlefield and attack other players. Each cell has its own unique attack. Some of these cells act as excellent support.

It gets interesting in the main gametype of Rakion "Golem", each team has a "Master Golem" they have to protect. The MGs are immune to damage. You have to kill a "Golden Golem" in a central area for a buff known as the "Golden Sword", only players with the GS can kill the MG. There can only be one GS at a time, if a GS dies, the Golden Golem respawns and the teams have to return to the area to kill it for another GS. Each "round" lasts until a MG is killed or until time runs out. It can get really frantic, and when you throw cells into the mix, it becomes utterly chaotic.

Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the game is spoiled by the fact a person who doesn't pay cannot get access to the powerful equipment and cells needed to succeed, no matter how skilled you are, that dude with cash equipments can just infinite you to death due to insane attack speed stats or have cells that can one shot you. So I have been trying to find a replacement for Rakion, but to no avail. I may try Vindictus before Cataclysm hits to see if its similar.
 
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