Link to the article (26/06/13): http://www.tentonhammer.com/opinions/wh40k-eternal-crusade-f2p-commodity Back in the early 2000s free-to-play games where, well, free-to-play. There were games that literally had nothing for sale, you just logged in and played. You exchanged your beta testing prowess in exchange for their services at the eventual promise that the game would go free. The best example I can think of is Ragnarok Online, but RuneScape is another good example. Eventually the games adopted a monetization system. For some games it was a subscription fee, for others you leveled quickly through the first 20% of the game but then hit an XP grind wall only alleviated with potions from a cash shop. It’s a bit different now. Players find the cash shop XP potions unsatisfying. So much so that most games keep the potion but ditch the grind. So now, to a certain extent, pay-to-play games are using free players as commodity. They either exist to shore up lower level zones and keep a population going (World of Warcraft), taunted with delights and loot keys (Guild Wars 2, Neverwinter), or in the case of the upcoming Warhammer 40k: Eternal Crusade they will act as a horde army. Here is how it works, according to interviews so far. All of the races are pay-to-play, except Orks. The Ork Boyz, which is the horde army similar to the Imperial Guard, Necrons, or Tyranids where options exist to field tons of lower point cost units that are weak and only succeed through massive chance. In the various dice rolls, an Ork Boyz will have a 1 in 4 chance of defeating a Space Marine, giving the best scenario for the Orks, so imagine having 30 of them on the field. Of course, a Space Marine Terminator has a less than 1 in 10 chance of falling to an Ork Boyz, so you can see where their weaknesses are. Well, free-to-play players will get to only play the Ork Boyz and will serve as the massive reaching horde army. They will be weak and incapable of doing much (other than fighting other Ork Boyz) without massing in numbers, but the general idea is that since free-to-play players have no investment in the game, it’s totally fine for them to be uncoordinated. They will just roam around and do whatever they want, much like the real Ork Boyz, while pay-to-play players can decimate them. So the idea is that the game will be populated by a large swath of free-to-play players who will all be Ork Boyz. Since “free-to-play” players generally aren’t invested in a game nor do they listen to orders, it’d make a lot of sense if they’re like all Ork Boyz and running around being silly and stuff. However, here’s the other part – free-to-play should be free-to-play, you should get to play and enjoy a game without restrictions or issues getting between you and fighting other players. It’s a very unsatisfying experience to be powerless and forced to pay money in order to have the same ability as another player. On the other side, EVE Online, while it doesn’t have a free-to-play program (per se), it does invite in people who don’t want to invest time into the game into running tackling ships, which are powerless rust buckets that can tackle and lock down a bigger ship. Hilarious story, in WH40k the meaner and tougher looking you are, usually the weaker you are. See a Grey Knight vs. Genestealers. Although, there are some massive units which do look very scary.Yet, that’s an option, one that you can partake while advancing. In WH40k: Eternal Crusade there won’t be any advancement for free players, outside of being able to buy new animations for their characters. It’ll basically be like a free trial, but you’ll have pay-to-play players bashing your heads in en-masse. Again, though, that is satisfying in a sense for those who pay. The whole idea of World of Warcraft twinking is to utilize advanced resources to get a huge advantage over players just starting and obtain tons of killing blows. So for gameplay, those who pay will enjoy the trueWarhammer satisfaction of smashing enemies endlessly, but those who don’t will be nothing more than cannon fodder. Assuming that the entire game isn’t just F2P players, in which case it should just be called Ork Boyz vs. Ork Boyz, the Final Showdown. Then again, those who are dominated by overpowered players / twinks have no fun at all. Warhammer, the universe, isn’t fair. The depth of horror that the lore has is insane. Pretty much everything is waiting for the inevitable end, the Tyranids eating everything and Chaos reigning in the end, unless at some point Games-Workshop and the Black Library feel like introducing a solution to the problem of the failing emperor. As a quick aside, the Emperor is a pretty cool dude, after pretty much almost dying, gets put into a throne to guide humanity through the stars while people are sacrificed constantly to empower it. Oh and the throne is dying, in addition, the Eldar have already lost, the Orks are a non-issue and will basically reproduce infinitely, the Tyranids are on course to eat everyone. Oh and the Tau are a non-issue crazy group going around being the good guys and searing the flesh off of anyone who doesn’t ally immediately with them and join their empire. In the end, Chaos reigns and after they disappear, all that will be left is the Necrons. Anyway, it’s an unfair universe. Considering the iteration on the tabletop gaming through the years, it’d be hilarious not to say that anything could go lore wise, but gameplay is what keeps people playing. Black Library offers a ton of lore centric stuff and races allying with other races and the grim darkness just flowing everywhere as pretty much everyone wins at the sacrifice of losing. Then again – gameplay is king. Can you justify gameplay decisions that might be not very fun for some based on lore? Should free-to-play players be forced to be nothing more than a commodity in order to have a chance to even log into the game? The Orks can’t fight one another, unless open world PvP is going to be a thing, so the free-to-play players will require pay-to-play players to exist. It’s an interesting economy and something to definitely think about. What are your feelings? Are you okay with someone using F2P players to enhance the gameplay of those who are paying and/or think it’s an awesome idea or do you think F2P should be on equal footing with those that pay (ala Guild Wars 2).
I'm just worried that this will turn this into a short lived game. And i really want a warhammer game i can sink my teeth into and play for a few years.
i'm thinking about that free-ork-player-thing very often and i'm very afraid of an unbalanced game at the end. lots of players will play another faction, because they are familiar with the w40k-universe. but what about the new people, that will be reached. coming online for the first time, getting their butts whipped and might be ninjaquitting this game. then we maybe have an 1 orkboy : 5 space marines ratio. I hope this won't happen, but what will bhvr. do, if this happens?
Bear in mind that every time the dev's listen to a suggestion and put it into the game it costs money. Everything that is being put into the game is being done with the intention of making us (the community) happy. Personaly, I think that the f2p system with the ork boyz is fine. If I spent years of my life making a game for other people to enjoy I think I would like to actually get paid by the people who play it rather than just a few who really want to be supportive. I also think it would be a poor decision to make all classes free because it prevents people from getting the game just to 'troll' players and be stupid. I may be wrong, but I think I read that friendly fire might be on and if it is it would be pretty damn annoying to constantly be shot by a 12 year old team mate who thinks its funny. Naturally, I know that not all f2p players would be stupid and up until recently I wouldn't have been able to be a premium player but I think that if everything was free the devs wouldn't make anywhere near enough money to say add in other races later on. ~My 2 cents.
mb, I think you're making a lot of assumptions without much basis. I play F2P in several games, and I always attempt to play in teams. I succeed in finding at least a small group more often than not. The only barrier to team play as a free player seems to be when teamspeak or ventrilo is being used by pay-to-play guys. I understand why, but it tends to lead to segregation. Hopefully VOIP on consoles will cure part of this. Second, 4 or 5 boyz to a marine doesn't really sound like that bad of odds to me - especially if I haven't laid out one red cent. With those odds, I can't imagine thinking that I was getting the short end of the stick if I get to play for free, and I'd think that having a reasonable chance to chop up a marine en masse would be more than a fair enough trade for sacrificing absolutely nothing except time.
Don't forget the will be some paying players helping out the orkz. Maybe it would help if the devs put in a very good looking for group function.
Well my opinion about F2P and P2P. I played a lot with Eden Eternal. It is an anime free to play mmorpg. I loved it. But after a while the microtransaction shop started to sell items that makes you stronger: +5% crit chance, +10%mana, and hp, +5% dmg done, -10% mana cost, etc. Thats when I said i am never gonna play with free to play game again. I prefer pay to play, or the system of Path of Exile. What you can buy won't make your game easier or faster. More blood, different animations etc.
Not sure how this will work but I think most of the players will buy something for eternal crusade. The f2p orks are more or less a stepping stone to get into the game and to have fun without paying. If you play WoT you do notice that eventualy you will buy something even you would not have to. It's a great way to attract players to the game and in my opinion a working one. Also having a balance where 4 orks equal 1 space marine sounds about right and staying true to the lore in this game is a big thing for most of the players who are willing to invest time and money into this game.
But what, if there are not these 4 orks that are needed to take out that space marine? What if they are totally outnumbered, because most people play the other races? I don't doubt that it is nice to offer a race for free. And yes, if it works this way, it would be awesome to have it so close to the lore, and I'm sure it won't be a problem during the first six months after release. But people want to have some fun, and I doubt that a newbie, who is not familiar with the universe will enjoy it to have a chance against a SM just with three other orks. He will quit the game, or he will buy access to a bigger ork or access to another faction. So then...where are the hordes of orkboyz then? This is going to be a big challenge for the devs.
