EverQuest II Extended went live this past week and that has given a lot of writers something to think about. Freemium is the talk of the town and it is reaching out from the niche market and into the mainstream. It is changing how we think about MMORPGs and really starting to show signs of growing pains. Everyone claims that the subscription is dead but that isn’t exactly fair. Freemium is the newest kid on the block and we haven’t seen how it will play out yet. Next year freemium might be on its way out.
Chris is concerned about power
My buddy Chris over at Game By Night has asked me rather directly about how I’d feel if a game offered to sell me statistics. He phrases the question to me as a guild leader. I noticed in the comments that some folks waved this off as a simple “raiders are already sitting at cap for everything” situation. To that point I must certainly disagree. In some games that may be true. In others it isn’t. Looking at EQ2 there is absolutely, positively, no possibility of any player maxing all relevant statistics at this time. They may get diminishing returns but there are still returns! Other statistics, such as potency, critical bonus, critical chance and double attack must be balanced and I’ve yet to see someone reach 100% in all four at the same time. If EQ2 Extended started to sell a one time bonus to any of them in the same way that LotRO has you will start to create a situation of the “haves” and the “have nots.”
Players may pawn this off as a “minor increase.” As a raid leader you simply cannot see things that black and white. I look at everything from the perspective as a coach. Each time any one of my players is upgraded the team gets better. We may get four minimal upgrades on a raid night that offers four separate players only a .25% increase in their primary ability. The team, however, just got 1% better. If these statistic bonuses added only .10% value to a player it would add 2.4% to a 24 man raid. That adds up quicker than you think folks.
You also have to look at these statistic increases as outside the realm of usual upgrades. These “small increases” are not dependent on gear. They’re not dependent on a column A or column B choice. They’re simply a innate character improvement that cannot be removed. You’re either an enhanced character or you’re not. No new expansion or content will make you want to undo this choice. You can buy your way into potency and then use your gear to get critical bonus. That will make a huge difference. In short, this is a very dangerous thing to do regardless of how small the increase is. Should something like that occur on EQ2 Extended it will most certainly wreak havoc on the raid game.
Free to play players aren’t capping
Green Armadillo of Player Versus Developer makes a rather interesting note about DDO’s free to play. Evidently a lot of the players there are simply not reaching the end game. Green suggests that this condition is based on the fact that DDO charges directly for content. That makes sense to me. You’re playing, having a good time, and then you’re suddenly stopped by a message that says, “Pay $4.99 to continue.” That would create a reasonable stopping point for most and I imagine in a lot of cases it does.
I’m concerned that the same situation will occur on the EverQuest 2 Extended server. If you look at the membership matrix you will quickly see that if you ever plan to reach “end game” you simply have to be at the gold level. You will be unable to raid and complete harder instances with only expert spells and treasured gear. No matter how much someone wants to tell me that you can get by with that, you can’t. Treasured gear is trash and is never meant to be used on a raid or in harder instances. Raids can carry a few players with it but not many. My assumption is that on the EQ2 Ex server you’ll see more players at the silver level than anything else. That will make raiding particularly difficult. Given that the gold level membership is a worse deal than an EQ2 live subscription I’m not even sure EQ2 Ex will have a viable raid community. The value just isn’t there. If you want to raid or do high end instances you need to be on EQ2 Live.
A different model for a different player type
When it comes right down to it I just don’t think the freemium (I refuse to call it free to play because usually it costs more than a subscription) is for players like me. Raiding depends on the notion that the rules apply equally to all regardless of money. The only advantages you can get are time and skill. Anything that gives raiders an advantage will be utilized and I can quickly see players without money falling by the wayside. I know the industry is going crazy for the freemium model but I’m wondering if it isn’t anything but a fad for anyone but casual players. It is a great deal for them but when it comes to guys like me it seems dubious. Thankfully EQ2 isn’t forcing me into it and really appreciate that.
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If Iniquity can routinely down 4x raid bosses with as few as 10 players, I’m sure that SOMEONE can and will down 4x raid bosses with a full raid of non-subscribers using only adept spells and treasured gear (and maybe mastercrafted?), just to prove that it can be done. (Indeed, this would be a purely cosmetic exercise, since the raid in question won’t be able to equip the loot that drops.) The bigger concern that I’d have for the longterm fate of EQ2 (both versions) is that this type of group will be the ONLY groups to be found on the free server due to the restrictions on classes and loot.
If you take out the entire group game, and even the legendary rewards for many high level solo quest lines, what exactly is going to keep these new players in the game? Housing, I suppose, but that’s one area where the free restrictions don’t actually do that much to hinder players from leveling a carpenter and buying a house.
If Iniquity can routinely down 4x raid bosses with as few as 10 players, I’m sure that SOMEONE can and will down 4x raid bosses with a full raid of non-subscribers using only adept spells and treasured gear (and maybe mastercrafted?), just to prove that it can be done.
I’m sure it would be possible. The issue is about quality. The reason we can ten man things is because we spent the time to get the best legendary gear we could. We then adorned everything and got our masters. Certain raid bosses in EQ2 have certain thresholds. They’re almost checks. If a member of the raid does not have X amount of hit points on Y encounter they die. If they don’t have the right resist amount, they die. That sort of thing. So adding a bunch of people who are in lower quality gear doesn’t really help in most cases. Players we bring along that haven’t hit the gear threshold yet usually end up dead on the fight. Which is a big detriment. Most mobs now get a heal when a player dies. Some reset completely when a set number of players have died. I can certainly say there is the potential that a group of 24 people with experts and treasured guild could kill a mob or two. Someone somewhere will do it. People tell me all the time that in our gear level and numbers should prevent us from winning yet we do. So I have no doubt that you’re absolutely right. In general though it is like you said. It wouldn’t be a standard thing. I also do like the idea of killing something for loot you can’t use!
I have no idea why anyone would play if they couldn’t regularly do the instances for loot. Legendary gear is what drops in them! You have to go Gold and if you go Gold you’re better off going Live.
Ferrel mate, your maths is off:
“We may get four minimal upgrades on a raid night that offers four separate players only a .25% increase in their primary ability. The team, however, just got 1% better.”
Now if everyone gets a .25% increase then the team gets .25% better. If 4/10 get a .25% increase the team gets 0.1% better.
I was one of the people who commented on Game By Night that most raid leaders won’t demand these upgrades. If every last tenth of a percent matters to a guild then there’s a range of things that go with that including mandatory AA specs, class stacking, mandatory best in slot potion and food buffs and so on. Raids are followed up by parse examinations with poor rotations being identified and correction required. If you’re the kind of raid guild that doesn’t insist on all of those things why would you insist on cash shop buffs? If you do insist on cash shop buffs then what about that roleplayer who has a fun AA instead of a +0.1% damage AA or the busy Mum who didn’t have time to sort potions out before the raid?
However there’s a more fundamental issue. Non-payers can’t get legendary or mythical items apparently. So why would they raid anyway?
If I dabble with free to play EQ2 and get sucked back in again it seems to me the only sensible way to raid is to sub and transfer.
My math is fuzzy, you’re right. My point is that a small increase for four people yields a larger increase to the team as a whole. The percentages were just for example purposes. I should have went with a number value!
I can’t really agree that raid guilds won’t demand that minor increase. I look at it from two perspectives: Hardcore Ferrel and Current Ferrel. When we were competitive raiding any advantage is an advantage. We did require max AAs, max level, class stacking, food, rotation etc. Do you think for a moment we wouldn’t have mandated they purchase these upgrades in the cash shop? I most certainly would have.
Now I look at Current Ferrel. We’re laid back, taking things at our own pace and having fun. We HAVE to do more with less. Would I mandate everyone to buy this upgrade? No. Would I strongly suggest we all did because even factional increases make a difference? Yes. Would I buy it? Yes. I’m willing to be that most raid leaders would feel the same way and so should every raider. Why? Simple: Differentiation. The same goes for your roleplayer. If I had a roleplayer and a raider asking to go I’m taking the raider. The difference is it doesn’t cost that roleplayer any real money to make the choice. They chose that style of play. With statistic based upgrades you buy it or you pay the price.
I have two templars that want to go on my raid. They’re similar geared, same spec/level/AAs/etc. One bought, the other didn’t. Who do I take? You guessed it. The guy that bought. There is no upgrade too minor in an MMORPG if it effects statistics. One more 1DPS is one more DPS. Across 24 people that is 24 more DPS (I avoided the percentage!).
I have no idea why anyone on EQ2 ex would raid. It doesn’t make sense! I can see raiders in LotRO mandating the cash shop.
If I dabble with free to play EQ2 and get sucked back in again it seems to me the only sensible way to raid is to sub and transfer.
–Too bad that isn’t an option. No transfers from EQ2X to Live servers are allowed, through the divine genius of SmokeJumper.
Thanks Endraal.
Well I guess then for me it’s literally just for pootling about in when my main game is in maintenance. Can’t see any point getting a character to 90 then starting over at 1.
That was pretty much our concern too. There is currently no migration path off EQ2Ex, only onto it.
They’re not adverse to the other way but it is something for the future.
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EQ2′s Legacy playerbase seem to have cut their nose off in spite of their face in the matter of EQ2X.
When sony hinted at going free to play the current playerbase all stood up together and shouted “NOT ON OUR SERVERS!” . So Sony went ahead and made it free to play on a seperate server, what else could they have done? Everyone has an innate fear of change, its a natural human instinct and it has caused the current split between fremium and legacy servers in this case unfortunately.
I am an ex EQ2 subscriber I had multiple max level toons . I have left that behind to enjoy myself on the Freeport server because just as I thought it would be its a bustling place full of new and old players enjoying the buzz of what feels like a new game.
Once more I have to point out that anyone playing EQ2 Extended that isn’t SUPER casual needs to jump to the live game. I was over there this evening checking things out and trying to establish a guild presence so we could recruit. Much to my dismay and, despite the fact that the Matrix says you can form a guild as a silver member, you have to pay $10 to form a guild. That isn’t listed but it is an additional cost.
It really gets me wondering how many other additional costs weren’t mentioned in that matrix. Being able to “form” a guild doesn’t mean for free!