Hmmm… at this point it would require some sort of legal sledgehammer, like banning in app purchases. It’s so lucrative. And people who only dabble with games are so used to everything being 
…free….
There is also the issue of the revenue stream needed to maintain a live game. 
People don’t like the subscription model, either.
I think we might be starting to stray away from the OP at this point, but I think it’s deeper than just legal regulation. I feel there’s something to be said about the largely-discontinued practice of offering demos for games as well. I’m not going to wade into the morass of how much content should be included with a demo, but the aspect of “try before you buy” making a comeback could help things along.
I’m of a mixed mind here. I’ve been playing MMOs since 1999. I’ve played both subscription-based and F2P versions of these games. Of the two, the subscription model feels better to me as a player - I don’t have to worry about feeling like there is content gated off.
This doesn’t mean that F2P can’t be done “right”, but it does mean that in my own personal experience, I’ve yet to find a F2P experience that matches a subscription experience in the MMO sphere. I’ve also become jaded enough towards F2P in general that I’m not sure it can ever be done “right” in my eyes, and it’s why I’ve stopped looking. I’d just rather pay up front for something and know what I’m getting.
I’ve yet to find a F2P experience that matches a subscription experience in the MMO sphere
Maybe someday somebody’s going to figure that one out. I think F2P lends itself well to games that excel at (competitive) gameplay. I’ve put in thousands of hours into F2P MOBAs and first person shooters that didn’t want my money for anything but cosmetics. F2P MMOs and collectible games almost invariably gradually put less effort into gameplay and gradually more effort into ‘you need this to keep up’ mechanics until there is too little gameplay meat left on the bone and the game goes from ‘game’ to ‘scheme’.
I will be the dissenting voice to what the above players have thought about PQ3. I came into this game disappointed that PQ3 was going to a f2p model. Having played it for several weeks now, I found it enjoyable. Some points I want to address:
This game does not currently have a pay wall as someone above has claimed. Tacet has proven that you can complete the story mode without having to run up against a pay wall. There is non of that annoying energy system that many rpg f2p games have employed either. You can play the game as much as you want.
Loot boxes: Yes there are 5 (6?) lvls of rarity. However, the way they implemented it is more reasonable than in many other established f2p rpgs. Every 24 hrs you get 2 keys for the 2 lowest rare treasure chest. The higher rarity keys you can get through your guild and other means. Also, you can open any treasure chest no matter the rarity through the use of pets. Now the downside is that this is essentially 1 of the biggest bottle neck to progressing in the game. If you got that sweet diamond chest but not the key to open it, you will have to wait anywhere from 24 hrs and up (don’t recall how long pets take but it depends on rarity of treasure chest and rarity of pet). Also you start off with only 2 slots to hold treasure chest. If you have both slots full and find a 3rd treasure chest you can’t open, you are forced to sell it.
Story: So far I’m enjoying the story. The story is well done (I’m only on chapt 4 though). It does its job well by keeping me very involved in the story and hence the game. I want to know what happens next. Each location follows the format of an intro dialog, a battle or 2 followed by an interrim dialog, another battle or 2 and a final dialog.
Comparison to GoW: PQ3 has way more mini transactions than GoW. I’m still figuring out all the economies in PQ3. Guild is much more robust than the PQ3’s equivalent called kingdoms. Battles are generally shorter than GoW making this game much more pick up and play. PvP on the other hand is more robust than PoW.
EQ? Or AC? I started MMOs in 97 with UO and then jumped to EQ in 99. I also liked subscription better than ftp. But we are not the market anymore. My first console game was literally PONG. My first computer games were “trash 80.”
The big market today are people who would have never played any one the games out there before smart phones.
I started with UO and moved to EQ within about 6 months.
The reason why I will not ever play puzzle quest is not because I have a problem with the monetisation model. Heck, I’m VIP 20 here so more than happy to support a game financially. However, of late I feel we have been treated with nothing short of contempt by the devs and this has created such a level of bad will with me that I’ll be darned to give them another chance unless they actually treat their player base with respect and sort out some of GoWs issues.
“You’re all welcome to your feelings” and “Mmmmm Salty”? That is just unbelievably rude. Just one example.
There’s a huge elephant in the room though. Just because there isn’t any paywall right now there isn’t any guarantee there won’t be a crushing number of them the very next day. Just look at Gems of War, the most recent patch paywalled off kingdom upgrades, you now need to pay > $10000 if you ever want to reach upgrade level 20 with all your kingdoms. Free to Play usually ends up Free to Suck once enough whales have been reeled in.
This is why I won’t try PQ3 as well. I spend money on this game, but the devs’ behavior of late is making that change. I currently have a support ticket in to ask for gems back, which I paid for, after I bought a faction assault sigil with gems and then my game crashed courtesy of the lycanthropy bug, making me lose that delve run. 
I don’t have evidence to back this up, but I’m fairly sure this is a common strategy in f2p games. Start out being super friendly for f2p players to attract a wide audience, then gradually tighten the bottleneck.
Yep, it is common. I actually dont mind it. Its effectively the same as the older version of first month is free, or first few levels are free.
The real question is if you still play after several months, how much is it then?
Being able to vault the paywall, due to arguably broken mechanics, is not the same thing as there not being a paywall. Tacet has even alluded to the fact that the broken (unbalanced?) mechanics are what is making this possible. Once they nerf all of that, the pain for ftp will really sink in. Those of us in before the nerf are going to have a huge advantage.
An even better question is, how much is the cost going to keep increasing? Even if you’ve paid $50 each month for years, there’s no guarantee that you won’t suddenly have to pay $200 each month to maintain the competitive status you’ve achieved. A subscription based game couldn’t pull this off, an F2P game is always able to hold you hostage by past investments, both in time or money, by threatening to make them obsolete if you don’t step up payments yet another level.
Sirrian originally made it pretty clear what he considered fair conduct for Gems of War, to never let it devolve into “that type of game”. Unfortunately his design philosophy was lost when he left the game, with the past year driving exceptionally hard to make Gems of War very much “that type of game”. We are now at the point where players can buy permanent stat bonuses for a really huge amount of money, through the new kingdom upgrade flash offers, and it’s the only feasible way to get them. You can bet your bank account that Puzzle Quest 3 will take the same route, just very much faster.
Based on what some quick Google-fu turned up, while he may not actively be developing GoW, he was/is still involved on the management side of things for IP2. This means he’d still be in a position to influence game direction/collaborate with 505 regarding game direction. The press release for 505’s acquisition of IP2 noted that he’d be joining the 505 management team.
Unless there’s something I’m missing, the change absolutely happened on his watch, and ultimately, he got promoted for it. He doesn’t get a pass.
He moved on to other projects. He had a guest appearance or two on Salty’s Stream where he seemed to have little knowledge about what had been happening to the game. When asked about the Soulforge he claimed that all old weapons would be available for crafting, which then caused the devs to reveal an ever growing list of cash only exceptions over the course of the next week.
I guess he’s just used as a figurehead nowadays, sort of like you put a “Bio” sticker on any food product not enitrely composed of nuclear waste in order to increase sales.
It’s safe to say I have no more faith left for this company. I will not be playing PQ3. Best of luck.
Fair point. If GoW did not in fact fall under his chain of responsibility at all, I’ll retract the statement about it happening on his watch. Thank you for providing the information.
The fact that IP2’s massive success with F2P led to the acquisition and by virtue of that, his promotion, still applies. Even if it’s not the game he wanted, he certainly benefited from it.
This world wouldn’t be able to progress if everybody didn’t do what they had to do even if they didn’t like it at some point in their lives.
Quoting for emphasis.
There are essentially two groups of players in Early Access right now, those who are using the stunlock borderline-exploit (in GoW terms: Beetrix/Gobtruffle everything), and everyone else.
Those who have the capability to abuse the stunlock have already cleared the “base” game that will be available at formal launch and are continuing to use the tactic to clear end-game content with functionally newbie-tier gear.
The ability to do this is absolutely broken, and I cannot see how the game can be formally released with this strategy as the meta tactic for playing the game as it circumvents all sorts of critical systems in the game.
And yes, when this tactic gets inevitably nerfed at some point before formal launch, all of these players will come crashing down to earth hard. The game is designed to require many months of grinding to reach intended initial endgame power levels. Having fancy endgame equipment is very nice for sure, but an Epic/Legendary piece of gear at level 10 is going to be mostly weaker (outside of possibly the special effect at high rarity) than a Uncommon or Rare piece of gear that has been leveled to 20.
When the nerf inevitably comes, gear score checks are going to eat these players for breakfast.
I’m chiming in from holiday to say that we are still doing a lot of balancing in pq3. The game doesn’t look close to what it will at release, as it is only in early access. There will be a need for some grinding to reach end game, but the progression won’t feel as steep as it does currently.
There is a lot to be changed, tweaked and refined before launch, so when the game releases a lot of the balance will be very different, and there will be more features included that haven’t been put into the early access build of the game thus far.
Just wanted to let you all know that our early access is just that, early access, and is in a state of flux.
