Free to Play...Really?

As the title would suggest, I have a bit of skepticism about whether or not this game will be 100% free to play. Most of the games that advertise "Free to Play" are actually only allowing you to play through the first or possibly second acts free, then you have to pay real money for a pass to play the rest of the game. Hellgate Global is one that I've been playing to pass the time while waiting to get into the Beta here, and for Diablo III. The fact I have to wait for someone to sell an Act 3 Ticket or a Tokyo ticket on the Marketplace for Paladium or buy those tickets myself for TCoin, makes the game not "Free". If the game were 90% bug free, that wouldn't be such a hard hit, but as some of you might know, Hellgate is loaded with bugs as old as its founder. Kinda funny though, Hanbit has the expertise to come out with a Tokyo expansion, but can't seem to fix longstanding bugs? This may have been addressed in another thread somewhere in this forum, in which case please relocate this rant appropriately. I welcome any enlighting feedback, but please refrain from flaming the thread, as this is a genuine question, and not a troll.

BTW, if this game is going to be as good as I think it is, I'd gladly pay $40-$60.00(USD), up front, to play it on the servers for "Free".

Hellgate Global is just one game I've played recently that I decided to use an an example. Now if GGG is using the item shop in PoE as their sole form of revenue for this game, that would be great for us. But, if those items carried something with them that allowed players to access certain areas of the game not accessible to other players, well then, that wouldn't be so great.

Understood on the directive to read the manifesto. Sometimes it helps to RTFM! Can't hurt to get other player's ideas on the matter though.

After reading through the manifesto, I see there are still no plans as of yet for microtransactions.

On closer inspection using the nifty tool provided "Search" DOH! I found the thread for Microtransaction Suggestions.

Thank you Torin for pointing out the FAQ. I suppose if I had read that instead of just reflecting on the manifesto, I would not have posted this thread. Thank you to everyone that helped to clear things up for me, and I'm sure there might have been others in doubt as well.

When you say "most" games that say they're F2P aren't actually fully free to play, do you actually know for a fact or is that just anecdotal evidence based on your playing of Hellgate?

Hanbitsoft don't really have any expertise at all. Tokyo was pretty much already done by Flagship before they went under (as I understand it, please don't quote me on that), and in three years, they've managed to introduce some pretty critical bugs to the game that people didn't encounter before.
They're also entirely useless in communicating with their player base, and their community manager/marketing guy contacts people from his personal hotmail account.

I don't really know what direction GGG plan on going with the item shop, so I can't comment on that directly.

It has been said often and with persistence, that they only want to monetize ethically exactly because of your experiences. Monetizing ethically is only on cosmetic upgrades, like a nicer looking fireball a flaming sword or such effects. There is and has never, as far as i know, been any plans of monetizing the game as it stands in any way that could hamper the competitive experience.

Remember to read the beta manifesto for informations on a timeplan for upcoming content.

The 'standard' model for free to play games is to have some sort of microtransaction shop to monetize the game with. The developers aren't making the game out of the kindness of their own hearts; they have to make money somehow. It varies from game to game what is being sold and how necessary the items are or if they are obtainable through other means.

I prefer things that are quality-of-life improvements that don't hurt the players who don't want to pay. More character slots, larger storage, things like that seem like a fine idea for making a bit of money.

I'm not sure if GGG has announced their plans in this regard, but I doubt they're going to make you buy acts beyond the first or to unlock a level cap or anything that extreme, though.

Free to Play?


But pay to win.

"

Kenner wrote:

Free to Play?


But pay to win.

Uhm.. no..?

"

Crashcart wrote:

The 'standard' model for free to play games is to have some sort of microtransaction shop to monetize the game with. The developers aren't making the game out of the kindness of their own hearts; they have to make money somehow. It varies from game to game what is being sold and how necessary the items are or if they are obtainable through other means.

I prefer things that are quality-of-life improvements that don't hurt the players who don't want to pay. More character slots, larger storage, things like that seem like a fine idea for making a bit of money.

I'm not sure if GGG has announced their plans in this regard, but I doubt they're going to make you buy acts beyond the first or to unlock a level cap or anything that extreme, though.

They did announce their plans. It is on this webpage. Read the FAQ.

"

Kenner wrote:

Free to Play?


But pay to win.

Only applies to shit Free to Play games. Go download Dungeon Fighter Online. Everything can be beaten with paying zero real life dollars. Even the cosmetic items that also give stats can be bought with gold.

Path of Exile is unique not only as an ARPG but more as a MMO that has an ethical f2p model, and by ethical I mean that you're paying for customization/uniqueness and not power, which is hard to say about other f2p MMOs. This is also the reason I respect the developers and feel that they're deserving of every penny they make by choosing to go this path.