BREAKING NEWS: STO to be Free-to-Play by year end

From PWE's earning's call:

http://seekingalpha.com/?part=qanda#article/289163-perfect-world-s-ceo-discusses-q2-2011-results-earnings-call-transcript/

In the Q&A section:

"And also Star Trek Online, after the acquisition, in fact Cryptic is working on the free-to-play model for Star Trek Online. This is going to be launched by the end of this year as well."

so question is this a good thing or a bad thing

Oh, so when can I expect my refund check?


(I know, I know, I'm only joking)

It seems I chose the wrong time to buy a lifetime sub then.

Ah well, now I get to look forward to lots of pay to win ships, and massive amounts of annoying griefers and such.

Booooooooooooo

Quote by NicholasJohn16

Booooooooooooo

This!

Considering I had to drop out of the game initially because I couldn't afford the subscription anymore, this makes me happy.

ouch....

i dont know if i want to cry or jump for joy well i not much for free to play games so i leaning for crying...

The real issue here is Cryptic up to the challenge of making a F2P for STO work?

Well we knew all kinda knew STO would follow in the path Champions took. This is just sooner than expected. Unsure as to whether it is good or bad for the game though it does open the gates to Star Trek fans curious about game, but unwilling to commit cash.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.387313,2.160280

Well you know, we knew it was going to happen.

Quote by Furlong

It seems I chose the wrong time to buy a lifetime sub then.

I'm not playing STO, i joined this guild in preparation of SWTOR. I currently play LOTRO. I bought a LOTRO lifetime the moment they announced going FTP. I haven't regretted this. There's no such thing as a free lunch. FTP means people can play part of the game for free, which is like an unlimited trial. When you want to have access to all of LOTRO's content now you have to either subscribe or buy everything from the shop. Buying everything from the shop is more expensive than the lifetime used to be.

Obviously i don't know how STO's FTP will work. They wouldn't switch to FTP if they weren't expecting to net more money this way. In theory that should allow them to spend more money on new content for the game. Unfortunately LOTRO hasn't had an increase in content since going FTP. It is assumed that the money is going to a mysterious Harry Potter MMO.

Nobody has really answered... is this a good or bad thing?

What will we have...? A whole bunch of Mirandas flying all over Sirius named U.S.S. Freebie?

Quote by renegadejtx

Nobody has really answered... is this a good or bad thing?

What will we have...? A whole bunch of Mirandas flying all over Sirius named U.S.S. Freebie?

I don't think it is a bad thing. Perfect World has built their gaming empire on F2P games that are extremely profitable. There will be some pretty amazing benefits for those who have a lifetime subs or a monthly subscription so I wouldn't worry about that. Those that do choose to play for free may have restricted access to certain ships, characters etc. Dan will reveal some information as soon as he can, including side-by-side benefit comparisons.

Keep your head up everyone :) I strongly feel that this only means that STO is going to get better and better.

While i honestly am not suprised, im still disappointed. Us subscribers once again get the shaft (and not a good one), but hey..what can you do other than hoping for the best. I also have my eyes set on TOR..

I just cant say im happy about it, thats all. All that revenue they made and such a lack of new content...

Steve

I'm not surprised by this...to be successful a MMO needs lots and lots of people and having a free option just opens it up to more players.

So I guess that means that there is no need to buy cpoints since us lifers will start getting a stipend?

Since this is my first MMO, I'm not familiar with the subscription difference before and after F2P. I'm a monthly subscriber myself and had been toying with the idea of buying a lifetime sub. I know we don't have specifics for a STO F2P model yet, but from other's past MMO going F2P experience, what is the difference in being a lifetime subscriber pre or post F2P? Are there any benefits to me still going forward with getting a lifetime sub prior to F2P?

Quote by Rasilek

While i honestly am not suprised, im still disappointed. Us subscribers once again get the shaft (and not a good one), but hey..what can you do other than hoping for the best. I also have my eyes set on TOR..

I just cant say im happy about it, thats all. All that revenue they made and such a lack of new content...

Steve

I've seen similar sentiments on STO's official forums. Why do you think subscribers are getting the shaft? LTS's will most likely get free points every month to do fun stuff with, monthly subscribers will get something, and people who are more casual can get into the game. Ultimately if they like the game enough they'll buy more stuff in game or opt to subscribe. No one is getting shafted in this model. I think the concept that F2P = everyone gets everything I paid for, but for free, because I paid for it first, is a wild misconception. I've had to stop my 3-month re-up because I simply don't have time with school and blizzcon and then peak season at UPS but I am VERY excited about this and anticipate re-upping my PAID subscription around xmas. I expect to have a better STO experience, free or paid, due to this, and I believe it will make the game more appealing to new players since an unlimited demo sounds more appealing to me than any limited time offer.

Thanks for bringing this to us, Brandon.

I personally haven't played any of the Free to Play MMOs, which is kind of funny considering I actually paid for Champions Online in the first place.

I suspect, in the end, this will work out for Lifers in a big way (free Cryptic Points), so they literally never need to spend another dime on the game, ever.

My big question, as a month-by-month subscriber, how it will work out for us. Do we simply retain the existing access we have now? Will we get a few additional perks (like a smaller C-Point stipend)?

In the end, as long as this doesn't affect additional content rollouts, so it works more like the CoH Free to Play vs. the LoTRO F2P, I see this as a good thing.

By the way, if you play LOTRO, Turbine is rolling out significant content updates to LOTRO and DDO in the coming months... at least according to X-Play.