Is this game completely free?

Ha ha i get your comment,but sorry its the same thing. Barbies and GI Joes sorry if thats an American reference you don't get. Males like to customize their armor whereas girls color their pets. You have to see the logic is very similar their. We still care about aesthetics maybe not make-up,but what color blood is,etc. You get my point though?
To some people aesthetics are more important and i am talking about male characters. Besides they wouldn't invest this much time and money if they didn't do their research or had a consultant about their business design. The fact that everyone is excited is a very positive sign as well. Overall i wouldn't worry.

Look at League of Legends. Free to play dota style game. They thought they would do ok... now they have gone from 15 employees since open beta to 100+ and have 100+ openings. This style of business model works because noone has the commitment to purchase the game before buying. If it's good, then people will want to get cool stuff to make their char cooler or w/e. There is no barrier to entry and therefor more people will try it than if it cost 30 bucks. thus, maybe some people wont spend any money but MORE people will try the game than if it cost cash to buy cuz ITS FREE!

Aye. Wouldn't worry at all. F2P and various microtransaction models are here to stay and doing splendidly all over the world. If you haven't taken the opportunity to try a modern f2p mmo/online game - please do so. While there certainly was a stigma to the model initially (now many years ago) - it has since moved into the realm of AAA titles and uniquely advanced development styles. Long-gone are the days of "pay to win" - today's f2p games are overwhelmingly enjoyable and playable on every rung of the cost-investment ladder.

In fact, don't think of them as "free to play"/f2p/microtrans - think of them as "customized personal entertainment" games. F2P offers both the studio/publishers and the consumer the opportunity to customize their gaming experience and entertainment dollar to suit their individual tastes and needs. It often translates into much more profit than the old school buy-a-box + mandatory subscription model westerners got accustomed to in their online game offerings over the years. Those days are coming to a close - and fast. AAA titles across the board are moving to the f2p model.

Like many here, I'm a... "mature gamer"... ;P and was raised in the age of the box purchase. But 3 or 4 years ago me and my family abandoned that market and now play exclusively from the f2p title genre. With all the excellent games being published under this model - it's just dang'd near impossible to recommend pay-to-play games anymore. Why bother? Chances are fantastic that there is something similar available for free, where the consumer/gamer can make their own decisions on how much, when and where they want to spend their dollars.

Even the international, multi-game, hardcore mode gaming guild I've belonged to for many years has switched its focus almost exclusively to the f2p market. Playing pay-to-play games just stopped making sense, as it excluded too many members and possible recruits. While we continue to pursue and anticipate a couple of p2p games here and there - the atmosphere, arpg-format, and most importantly - the f2p model - are what have us salivating for Path of Exile.

I wish GGG all the best with their coming title, and will most certainly be playing (and enjoying the microtrans purchase options of) Path of Exile with my wife, daughter and many guildmates.


Edit:

"

tormenta wrote:

One can sell just about anything to females. Male players, which account for majority of RPG players, are very different species.

Again, this is outdated information. There have been quite a few marketing demographic studies done recently which throw this notion out the window. Online games of every genre are skewing heavily toward a 50/50 gender participation rate. Time to eschew the notion of your fellow, unseen gamers as being predominantly male - it's just not true anymore. Remember that the next time you're beaten in PvP - there's a 50/50 chance you've just been beaten by a grrl gamer. And more power to em! I married one, and wouldn't want her any other way.

F2P + microtransactions is obviously good model - some people pay for extras, which make them more powerful in-game. But with Path of Exile model, "ethical" microtransactions, there is no "make them more powerful in-game" part. From my own experience, very few players using cash shop, and those buying cash items from them for in-game currency / items, go for such a deals.

Majority of RPG players are males. Period.

I must say as a F2P rpg follower it depends on the person.
Some people are addicted to having new stuff every 2 weeks or such and therefore will spend money to get those *premium* items.
As for me I would only spend money on a Freemium game if it deivered me long term pleasure and had a value for money cash shop.
I admire how League of Legends does this. Every 2 weeks they offer 3 bonus items half price. Its a pretty good system.

F2P model only means GGG really trust their game, which should be a good thing for us. With this model they will reach a huge player base and we all know how addictive these kind of games are. Then it will probably be easy for them to find enough money for their lives :)

If PoE lives up to our expectations (it looks it will) the plan is just flawless.

Free to play can work, example would be Dungeons and Dragons online F2P saved that game from certain death.

In honesty I think this game will flourish in the time before Diablo 3 just to fill that void. It remains to be seen.

Theres a reason D&D was close to death and it certain wasnt because it was p2p, it was just another example of a crappy mmo at release

as for using their example, thats like saying allods was the free wow.. even though allods was more expensive to play lol

you take ROM D&D LOTR and allods and you have the 4 worst balanced big title F2P games ever in terms of cash shop and "free" and 2 of them are by turbine

the reason its worked for them and others are going the same route is because they can make more money from a cash shop than a sub

and dont get me started on cryptic


i do hope POE does well, but if it doesnt id much prefer to have a small sub to play it than an "adjusted" cash shop or a dying game, id hope the devs would say it too as im sure alot of us would be willing to pay for the game, but not for advantages

Subscription models are a dying breed. And what happens when Diablo 3 releases and (if) battle.net is free? Goodbye subscribers.

Tear apart the Turbine examples if you will, but their profit charts don't lie. Crap game or not free to play is the way to go.

It's all in what you're selling. Account "options" like spell effects, dyes, storage etc thats the way to go. I think GGG will make plenty of their planned model.

turbine and other pay to win cash shop devs/publishers only get the money because people are stupid enough to spend it in the 1st place and then you have the other group which is willing to pay anything to be "cool" and over powered, thats why they are working well and because of that, thats nearly all we will get from now thanks to these people

and i think youll find i said IF not i want it a sub at release, if the game is going to die id be glad to buy a sub to save it and so would alot of others, i could care less if half of the floaters jumped ship because they will anyway lol. id rather see a game with 20k loyal subs than a game that died because it didnt change

plenty of good games have died because they didnt change

subs system will never die out completely, OP cash shops can make more money but some people care about the game they made and the community which plays it

just to explain, im not saying POE model will fail