EQ2 Sorta Free to Play – Pitchforks or Pom Poms?
Yesterday, Senior Producer Dave Georgeson made the major announcement that Everquest 2 is adding a free to play, microtransaction server, called Everquest Extended. The long and short is that the current servers will remain unchanged, and a new free to play server will be added that includes a larger marketplace and a greater variety of pricing plans to choose from than on live servers. I believe this is the first time we’ve seen a game decide to make the jump to free to play, but not do it on established servers.
So what are the pros and cons?
The Good: The Free to Play server with the robust marketplace will probably generate a nice lump of revenue, which helps the game overall (if, of course, it goes back into the EQ2 kitty and not into some other project). The current marketplace on live servers seems to be used quite a bit, and I often come across players sporting the appearance armor and mounts. There have been a lot of great art resources added into the game over the past couple of years, and if it can be used to generate more revenue for the game, that’s always a good thing.
Second, this is a great game, with a lot of fun content. Everquest 2 often gets overlooked in the mass sea of MMOs, but it’s well worth playing. Players I come across in game are usually impressed with the game features that have been added over the years, and they often remark that when they move to another game they realize how much they miss certain things in Everquest 2. It’s nice that more people will get to experience that through this plan.
The Bad: I can’t overstate how big of a downside there could be from adding the Extended server. Everquest Extended turns the idea of community on its head, because the new players on the Free to Play server will never be able to transfer their characters to the regular servers. Once a character is created on an Everquest Extended server, that’s where it remains, even if the person ends up subscribing.
Above: Last years tepid turnout at the Guild Faire in Antonica. A glimpse of the future?
And there’s the root of the problem. New players will undoubtedly go to the F2P servers, which will lack the onramp to socialization that older servers with well established guilds can offer. This is huge, because guilds are a key part of enticing a player to stick with a game over the long term. I’d go as far as saying that the high turnover rate of free to play populations might even discourage potential subscribers from making that jump and investing themselves in the game.
Meanwhile, old servers will be faced with the slow evaporation of the playerbase that naturally occurs. Everquest 2′s population is very guild centric (and I say that as a good thing). Without a stream of new players, these guilds will have a very hard time recruiting new members and maintaining healthy rosters. Community will slowly dry up, and the incentive for the remaining players to stay will slowly diminish.
I understand the desire to keep store bought items away from the classic servers, but in an attempt to do so, EQ2 is going to end up undermining the whole concept of community that’s been such an important part of the game. I really hope they continue to examine how much this will affect the future of the game on current servers. If they stick with this plan, there are two things I’d like to see:
1. Let players transfer from Everquest Extended to live servers. I’m going to face up to a big taboo and ask, why not let players with purchased gear transfer over? There need to be two stipulations though – one, the purchased gear should not be better than raid or rare heroic dropped gear, and two, it should be no trade. But if that’s the case, why not? And yes, I’m posing that question as much to the EQ2 playerbase as to the development team.
There’s another reason I’d like to see transfers. When you step back and look at the larger picture, you need to consider the small portion of players that do opt to create characters on live servers – primarily, friends of those that are already playing on live servers. These new players are important, because they’re much more likely to subscribe and stick with the game. But they’re essentially penalized, because they can’t do anything meaningful with their friends until they do the level grind, which is largely solo. While Extended players will be able to shorten up that climb on the level ladder with purchasable gear and potions, friends on regular servers won’t have that chance. Sadly, the Recruit-A-Friend perks don’t do much to balance those scales.
2. Take a serious look at ways to keep the community strong in Everquest 2. Ideally, new players should look at the live servers and want to be there, even if they’re starting out on the Extended Servers. Rewards can’t just be limited to fluff rewards and cutesy incentives like appearance armor and titles. People who have made a loyal and longterm should feel like they’re the VIPs of the game.
Veteran players and guilds are immensely important to the game, because they are the ones that make it easier for new players to feel a part of the larger community on the server. So while I think that loyal subscribers should be rewarded, I also think they should be given more tools to help them be the game’s ambassadors, and they should be nudged into taking a much more active role in that process of bringing new players into the fold. (And I’m talking about more than grooming someone to raid at the endgame).
Finally, while we debate the effects of an Extended server on both revenue and community, I think it’s worth asking why the Senior Producer would so publicly and so loudly brush off rumors that EQ2 is going Free to Play, just a few weeks before this announcement? We can get into a Clintonesque quibble about the meaning of the word “your,” but what purpose does that serve in the long run? MMO players are extremely cynical. If you’re trying to win over their trust, being coy isn’t the way to do it. Hit them with brutal honesty and sincerity, and you’re much more likely to have players meet you half way on sensitive game changes like Everquest Extended.
Overall, I am taking a wait and see approach to the new Extended server. I think it’s still to early to break out either the pitchforks or the pom poms. And to some extent, yesterday’s news about the future of the live servers will have an effect on things. I’ll blog more about that announcement later today, and there’s a lot in there that I’m very excited to see.
Posted by jayernh under Archive | Comments (10)
