Questions of cost

This week I received the following email from a chap (or chapess) going by the name of Dorath:
 
Great work with the Bloody Blog! I wanted to submit a couple questions regarding the free-to-play and subscription models for WAR that you might use as a topic or topics.
 
1) What's your current take on how the free to play portion of the game is working out? Are you aware of people who try then sub?
 
2) What are your thoughts on the following subscription model:
* T1 access, rr to 20 = free
* T2 access, rr to 40 = 5/mo
* T3 access, rr to 60 = 10/mo
* T4 access, rr to 80 = 15/mo
 
-Dorath

 
Interesting questions and certainly you often see Free 2 Play being suggested on forums and other blogs. However you may (or may not) have noticed that I’ve never commented previously in any way regarding the F2P concept for WAR. The reason for this silence is quite simple. I just don’t like F2P games. That said, the questions Dorath has posed are sensible ones and well worth discussion, so I will attempt to answer both.
 
1) What's your current take on how the free to play portion of the game is working out? Are you aware of people who try then sub?
I think it’s worked out very well, tier 1 is buzzing almost constantly and there seems to be a constant stream of new characters appearing. However I am wary of the F2P section being scaled up beyond tier 1. As an introduction to the game I think it works perfectly, but beyond that I am very wary. I really don’t want WAR turning into another of those hideous F2P games with crappy content and progression defined by how much you spend in a store. That’s not to say it couldn’t be done, but I don’t really see the point. The game is profitable now, so why risk changing the payment model further?
 
As for players subscribing after their trial periods, it’s most definitely happening, though I have no clue on the numbers. While mooching around in tier 1 I’ve met a lot of people that said they are going to sub and have also seen lots of people saying so in region too. However, there are also a LOT of people going into tier 1 and trying to sabotage the game by spouting WAR-hate in region. Quite often based on out-dated views of tier 4, which makes one suspect some of the free trial players are ex-WAR players from 2008 with an axe to grind. Why people make the effort to do this I don’t know, but they clearly are, the nonsense being spouted is pretty obvious. As such I would recommend people treat everything said in tier 1 region chat with a large pinch of salt.
 

2) What are your thoughts on the following subscription model:
* T1 access, rr to 20 = free
* T2 access, rr to 40 = 5/mo
* T3 access, rr to 60 = 10/mo
* T4 access, rr to 80 = 15/mo

I think there could be some merit in a staggered cost, but not at those prices. Out of principle there is no way I’m paying £15 a month for tier 4 and why as a veteran WAR player should I be punished? That’s more expensive than an EVE online account, which is in a position where it can justifiably be a bit more expensive, plus that cost also includes 1-2 free expansions every year.
With some tinkering though this idea could work. I would suggest:
* T1 (restricted as it is now) = free
* T2 (with access to IC, etc so just level capped) = £5 a month
* FULL access = for the existing £8.99 a month
 
The thing is though; I just don’t see WAR’s payment plans as an issue. Not even vaguely. WAR’s problems are:

It still has a reputation for game, performance problems, despite them being primarily fixed. How Mythic combat this perception I don’t know.

Some times the EU servers suffer badly from random lag spikes, particularly when the a city gets sieged, a zone locks, etc.

PvE instances are still too buggy and on EU servers and are dramatically effected by the above lag spikes despite being unrelated “instances”. I think these 2 points are GOA’s issue, I’ve not heard of the US servers suffering in the same way.

The game has been active long enough now that veteran players are running out of content.

There needs to be further encouragement for small scale play, less zerg warfare and to make more use of the game’s zones, instead of shoving us into a handful of areas at any one point.
 
It must be said though, WAR has come on leaps and bounds. Mythic have made massive improvements, particularly to performance and there are now a wealth of ways for the new player to progress their character. If WAR had launched as it is today, then I think we’d be seeing a much larger current population. So considering that the game is now pretty damn good, it is making a profit and has future content planned. I don’t really see any benefit of going F2P.
 
Sorry Dorath if that’s not the answer you were hoping for! I’m just a nasty F2P hater :D