Phantasy Star Online 2 F2P; Also coming to Android/iOS

[Sora de Eclaune]

Well, there goes my purchase.

F2P in MMOs means Pay2Win. Free users will be severely gimped out of items that people who have excess money can get easily.

I'm afraid it's going to go this route as well. Unless it's proven that the paid things give no in-game advantage (so just like, fashion), then I won't play this either.

I was really looking forward to it, too, but I've had enough of Pay2Win.

Well if its pay2win then count me out. I'll wait for more news before i'll rush out and get this.

One time, I played a pay2win MMO and ended up beating a higher-leveled character with paid items in PVP combat.

I ran around a lot.

This is not "worst-case", this is all-case.

All-case?

THIS!
IS!
REALM OF THE MAD GOD!

It doesn't even have anything to pay for with real money!

 

[Arras]

Well, there goes my purchase.

F2P in MMOs means Pay2Win. Free users will be severely gimped out of items that people who have excess money can get easily.

I'm afraid it's going to go this route as well. Unless it's proven that the paid things give no in-game advantage (so just like, fashion), then I won't play this either.

I was really looking forward to it, too, but I've had enough of Pay2Win.

Well if its pay2win then count me out. I'll wait for more news before i'll rush out and get this.

One time, I played a pay2win MMO and ended up beating a higher-leveled character with paid items in PVP combat.

I ran around a lot.

This is not "worst-case", this is all-case.

All-case?

THIS!
IS!
REALM OF THE MAD GOD!

It doesn't even have anything to pay for with real money!

Actually, it does. Some aesthetic items and more room in your vault. It's definitely not pay2win, though. (To everyone: it's a great game. Go play it here if you haven't tried it before.)

 

[Just Another Gamer]

Well, there goes my purchase.

F2P in MMOs means Pay2Win. Free users will be severely gimped out of items that people who have excess money can get easily.

I'm afraid it's going to go this route as well. Unless it's proven that the paid things give no in-game advantage (so just like, fashion), then I won't play this either.

I was really looking forward to it, too, but I've had enough of Pay2Win.

Well if its pay2win then count me out. I'll wait for more news before i'll rush out and get this.

One time, I played a pay2win MMO and ended up beating a higher-leveled character with paid items in PVP combat.

I ran around a lot.

Lucky. Usaully in pay2win MMOs I lose to those who pay and I just quit.

 

[Ultymoo]

Hmm, lotta controversy here. I'll sum up why I'll plan on getting this regardless of the P2W status.

A. PSO 2.
B. It's my choice if I pay for those items. If I get a month of satisfying gameplay out of it for a $50 to $60 (estimated) pricetag, I still feel it's money well spent even if I do end up '"left in the dust."

 

[Rock Raiyu]

To who are complaining about Pay2Win items, Sega have addressed this in Famitsu. Translated by duckroll from neogaf:

- They will NOT introduce pay items at high cost which provide high stats to unbalance the game to the benefit of paying customers.

 

[Satangel]

Much more interesting now it's F2P. MUCH MORE. Might actually give this a try now.

 

[Youkai]

Well i would have preffered a similiar model to Guild Wars ... Buy the game for some bucks and than either free or maybe a "small" fee

I know that pay to play games mostly are better quality and there aren't as much idiots on the server as there are with free to play games still for me pay to play games allways want way to much money -.- pay 50€ for the game and than every month 12-14€ extra thats so stupid -.-V

 

[LightyKD]

I'm glad that this game is coming to Android OS. I was just telling my best friend that Android could use a Phantasy Star game

 

[Qtis]

With Runescape, the servers for paid and free are separate, and while paying players can go on free, their extra stats and skills are not usable on free servers, so they don't get a benefit in competition.

Going very much off topic, but while Runescape was f2p, the game was really meant to be played p2p. I mean honestly, being a p2p player, you could pretty much make 2x the amount of xp, not to mention the amount of money per hour just by paying to play and going to certain p2p places. Sure the member skills weren't possible to use in the f2p servers, but all the normal skills were. They counted about 90-95% of the skill in the game (at least when I played the game back in the days)..

On topic: I should really get me the games for the PSP and try them out.. This seems pretty amazing in the video

 

[Yatashi Strife]

OMG im definitely getting this! i love phantasy star!

 

[FluffyLunamoth]

People are apparently forgetting that Guild Wars is F2P...

 

[prowler]

People are apparently forgetting that Guild Wars is F2P...

If you buy the game.

 

[FluffyLunamoth]

People are apparently forgetting that Guild Wars is F2P...

If you buy the game.

Free to Play. There is no subscription payments. You have to buy it first, yes, but after that, it is free to play with very optional micropayments. PSO was not F2P. Was P2P, because of that damn Hunters License.

 

[Rydian]

I've said that in all the situations I've seen, Freemium is either Pay2Win, or just fashion, with just fashion being the minority. Can anybody actually give any examples otherwise?

Guild Wars certainly isn't pay 2 win.

Guild Wars is not Freemium. You pay once and get to play online just like everybody else.

To who are complaining about Pay2Win items, Sega have addressed this in Famitsu. Translated by duckroll from neogaf:

- They will NOT introduce pay items at high cost which provide high stats to unbalance the game to the benefit of paying customers.

Let me quote DBZ Abridged on this...

Vegeta:"I need you to and follow me on this one almost kill me."
Krillin:"Almost kill you?"
Vegeta: "Yeah."
Krillin: "And there is no repercussion for this?"
Vegeta: "I will not punch you."
Krillin: "Oddly specific."

As I posted, with examples, there's plenty of ways that players who pay can get huge advantages over players who don't pay, without direct acquisition of equipment even coming into the equation.

 

[Zarcon]

It's not like you're in direct competition with anyone.
And since it's free there's really no reason not to at least try it out.
Even if they sell things like exp boosters or something, whatever, spend $10/month on exp boosters then. Play like a subscription game.

 

[Hells Malice]

F2P is a plague. MMOs get intentionally abysmal EXP rates, unfair luck based crafting/refinement systems, suffocating game mechanics, limited gameplay, ugly characters, etc. Not all at once I mean, but I can't even name a single F2P MMO anymore that doesn't suffocate its players into paying to enjoy the game. Maplestory used to be fantastic with a pure fashion cash shop, but it has long since steered from that path.
Runescape probably has the best F2P system. You get a giant chunk of the game already, and the restrictions aren't actually that noticeable. You can still enjoy the game as a free user, though of course the game expands like...100x for members.

Unfortunately rich kids with mommies credit card shell out thousands of dollars a month on shit MMOs so they can be the best, making F2P an insanely profitable model.
I avoid F2P whenever possible these days. I'd rather pay $15 a month and be on a level playing field with everyone else, instead of paying whatever I can afford to try and buy myself to be the best I can be.
So PSO2 being F2P is definitely not good news to me.

People are apparently forgetting that Guild Wars is F2P...

It's Buy2Play actually.
But i'm just being picky.

 

[Gahars]

You know, I think it'll be a very interesting day when the smartphone version of the game will be able to play on the level the Vita will.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Hmm...F2P Vita game you say? Cool. Though I have to agree, the pay2win shit that we all know is gonna happen is making me weary of playing this now.

 

[Rydian]

It's not like you're in direct competition with anyone.
And since it's free there's really no reason not to at least try it out.
Even if they sell things like exp boosters or something, whatever, spend $10/month on exp boosters then. Play like a subscription game.

It's not that you get boosts if you pay, but you don't get penalized if you pay whereas people who don't pay get penalized versus the game operating normally. As in, vanilla gameplay features are disabled or gimped on purpose.

Using Mabinogi as an example since I'm familiar with it and it's REALLY bad for this sort of thing...

• There's a "farming" penalty (EXP reduction after killing in a certain area for a while) that is imposed on players who don't pay.
• Half of your bank is locked unless you pay. It's NOT that they double your bank space once you pay, it's visually there from the beginning and not divided into two, you're just not allowed to actually use the right-hand side unless you pay.
• There's item bags in the game, as in, from normal NPC shops bought with normal in-game gold, but you cannot use them without paying $.
• You're limited to warping between the continents once every 12 game hours if you don't pay up.
• You have a second inventory tab in-game. But in the US it's locked unless you pay.
• There's built-in systems for setting up shops, you buy licenses and the setup kits from NPCs in major towns and set them up... assuming you pay. If not the items are useless.

These are examples of limits intentionally placed on players versus normal gameplay, and when you pay the limits are removed. There is no "boosting". In fact, overseas, many of these limits do not exist, it's only the US department that decided to purposely lock out some of the vanilla game in order to squeeze out more transactions from the players.

My worry is shit like this. Notice that not a single thing there relates to paying $ for good in-game items, but there's still a hell of a lot that's done to limit the players and give advantages.

 

[Skelletonike]

I hope it's just a fashion shop or that has small stuff that don't really affect the game, just saves time like ingredients for something or whatever.
One game that I liked the cash shop for was Vindictus, I mean, you didn't buy items, only new hairstyles, clothes, expressions, etc, etc... Only really affected the looks but it was still a good way for them to earn money seeing as lots of people liked to customise their char.
If they used something like that, it'd be awesome.