Curse

Jeremy Untouchable · May 02, 2007, 10:26 PM // 22:26

this page talks about guildwars, but the big news to me was Archlord is now free to play like guildwars.....seems Codemasters thinks Anets Business model is a hit, so they follow suit.......heres the link to the whole story http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.ph...splay&ceid=607

Relambrien · May 03, 2007, 12:29 AM // 00:29

I don't understand why people think the Guild Wars business model is successful when Anet said themselves (or at least implied) that they felt that because of the campaign format, the game was becoming very bloated and harder to manage. That's why they're making GW2.

Of course, I make the assumption there that the campaign format (or something similar) is implied in "business model," but I think that's a fair assumption.

I could've told you from the start that Anet was going to be unable to keep up their campaign format; it just becomes too much to deal with after a certain point. Unless, of course, Anet is revising the campaign format to have a new game, two campaigns, another new game, two campaigns, etc, which would result in GW3 only a few years after GW2.

Perhaps I'm being uncreative, but I can't see a way to keep up anything like an optional additional content purchase system (like the campaign format) for any extended period of time. We'll see how Archlord and GW2 do it though.

Trakata · May 03, 2007, 02:46 AM // 02:46

Too bad Archlord is pretty horrible anyway.

Kuldebar Valiturus · May 03, 2007, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relambrien

I don't understand why people think the Guild Wars business model is successful when Anet said themselves (or at least implied) that they felt that because of the campaign format, the game was becoming very bloated and harder to manage.

I think you are connecting 2 things that aren't related.

Anet did use the term "bloated" but it was in reference to how new game will handle content. It caused a huge sprawl in the playerbase and the Mission approach to story progression made for some inflexibility.

The business model of free-to-play still stands, GW2 will have Chapters or expansions that will be sold much like they are now, but the PvE content will be persistent worlds and far less linear than the original Guild Wars.

Etta · May 03, 2007, 07:59 AM // 07:59

Archlord had been free to play for awhile now, I played it for a bit during my break from GW. Sadly Archlord is suck ten kind of asses, even the short skirt bunny girl/elf couldn't save the game.

Exterminate all · May 03, 2007, 11:21 AM // 11:21

Yea Archlord is horrible, one of the worst games out. Too bad....

Jeremy Untouchable · May 03, 2007, 01:31 PM // 13:31

short skirt bunny elf girl? What am i missing here???...lol

Etta · May 03, 2007, 01:45 PM // 13:45

lol in Archlord, you can pick 3 races, Human, Orges and Moon Elf. The Moon elf are all female, who favor Victoria secret and Anne Summers outfits.

And by the way, if any online game let you buy in game gold from the offical website like Archlord. You know there's something really wrong there.

Kuldebar Valiturus · May 03, 2007, 06:58 PM // 18:58

There really are a lot of "free" games out there. But, "free" can mean many things:

-free to download and play with restrictions on non-paying subscribers

-free to play but all the good a.k.a. "elite" items have to be purchased.

-free to play but play time will be limited to non-subscribers

Those are just some of the variations you will find out there.

The technology is out there now to make "nice looking" graphical games, but you will often find that scratching beneath the surface reveals serious problems. Some games have very limited class/avatar selection and are completely centered around a money making scheme of some type that impacts the game and determines the "elite" players from the non-elite.

Guild Wars is the class act of free to play games.

Upfront they say, "You buy the game, after that you play free, no gotchas".

ANet has taken the high road, they have been very disciplined in the how and what they allow to be purchased and unlocked.

They have made a quality game, one that turned out to be more of a PvE success then they had originally intended.

I have seen no competitor emerge against ANet. The business model keeps the less adventurous away. The so-called free games out there are not ANet competitors, those games have entirely different business models...and they make for some pretty shallow fantasy gaming experiences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_MMORPGs