Blizzard: No Plans for Updated F2P Features in WoW

News
By Tuan Mai
published

Blizzard is still opposed to the idea of a free-to-play World of Warcraft.

With SOE's DC Universe going free to play last year, Everquest going free to play earlier this year and Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic quickly following suit, it seems like Blizzard's World of Warcraft is part of a dying trend. Despite an increasingly large number of MMORPGs going free to play, it seems like Blizzard isn't quite ready to give up on its subscription model.

In an interview with ComputerandVideoGames, Blizzard's lead game producer John Lagrave said World of Warcraft won't be going free beyond level 20 anytime soon. "You know, we looked at it lots, we looked at whether Level 20 would give you a good sense of what our game is, and we think it does. There's also a lot of things in the game that are special that we want to reserve for our paying customers."

Even though there's an expansion on the horizon upping the level cap to 90, Lagrave says Blizzard won't be offering any new perks to its Free-till-level 20 trial. With a rapidly decreasing player base, some may question the reasoning behind the move, but everything may change once Blizzard releases its highly secretive "Titan" project.

To read the whole interview, head on over to the CVG article here.

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Tuan Mai
Tuan Mai
Tuan Mai is a Los Angeles based writer and marketing manager working within the PC Hardware industry. He has written for Tom's Guide since 2010, with a special interest in the weird and quirky.
30 Comments Comment from the forums
  • zomow
    WoW sucks... but I've never played so what do I know.
    Reply
  • idroid
    zomowWoW sucks... but I've never played so what do I know.
    You're right, it sucks....it's such a nerdish game (just like any other RPG game)
    Reply
  • knightmike
    I haven't found a good F2P model yet. My brothers and I are currently playing LOTRO. It's scary because you can actually end up spending twice as much as you need to if you don't purchase things in the proper order. e.g. You decide to pay to have your gold cap removed. A couple of days later you decide to become a VIP member which you discover also removes the gold cap.

    I plan to try Star Wars and Planetside 2 soon. Although I don't think those will be any better. I'd rather pay a subscription for a game so I don't have to do hours of research for micro-transactions. I think a subscription should give you full access to the game including "expansions". EQ really turned me off to the subscription model plus having to buy expansions. I will give Blizzard credit. They have been fairly modest with their expansion releases.
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    I guess until they drop another 50% player base, they wont give free to play. Why would they do so?
    Reply
  • Marcus52
    One reason I still have a WoW account is it's one of the few decent MMOGs that have no F2P players.

    That being said, it is stock full of the kind of players I believe the F2P encourages anyway, so I'm not sure there's much point in supporting Blizzard to avoid it in WoW.

    knightnike, the whole reason publishers are adding F2P to their subscription based games is just what you said; F2P players, on average, spend more money than subscription players. It attracts the kind of player that doesn't want to make a commitment to a game - even just for a month - and doesn't want to have to buy the game up front, but will spend more money each month because they "can but don't have to".

    The MMOG model now is "release the game as subscription based, get those suckers to pay for a large chunk if not all the development costs by paying $60 cash up front, and charge them $15/mo for awhile so they don't feel too ripped off when they add F2P and everyone else gets the game subscribers spent $60 on for free.

    Rake in $20 million a month for a game that costs you half a million to maintain, spend $10 million on an Xpack every other year, and make over $200 million profit. Whine and cry about how you aren't making enough money, and go F2P, adding another couple of million accounts - most of which cost almost no money because they are just accounts on the books that you get to use to brag about how successful your game is, a a half million or so are giving you money as fast as they can.
    Reply
  • giovanni86
    I've been a avid wow player on and off for 5 years, and honestly this whole F2P isn't worth it for WoW. The player base went down because the game didn't cater to the hardcore anymore. Even still though its well built game, has a great modding community that hasn't died in the 8 years its been around, and for me i always find something to do that i haven't done in game and i like this type of repetition the game has. I don't know if its the sound, the environment of the game but it just appeals to me a lot more then any other RPG out there even with the dated graphics and i honestly am very much graphically inclined when it comes to games.. Saying that though, forget F2P.
    Reply
  • pharoahhalfdead
    Instead of charging X amount of $ for the game, then X amount for each expansion, why not just charge for the monthly fee alone? I think the F2P up to level 20 is a good idea, but if I was gonna buy the full game I wouldn't want to pay $70+, then have a monthly fee.
    Reply
  • hella-d
    i like wow, and if they had an all-in-one package so i could get the whole shebang in ONE package id play again, but i havent played in about two years and im WAY behind (havent played since wrath of the litch king) i dont wana hafta catch up buy buying two more installments, and i have likely lost my toons since i didnt do the battlenet switch. if i am wrong please let me know im WAY out of touch with wow ATM...
    Reply
  • I hope they will never go F2P. You can either have monthly subscription, where eveyrone pays the same, or micro-payment when one can spend 1000$ and quickly gain advantage over those that are not willing to spend a penny. Enough said, WOW with their monthly subscription makes the gameplay equal and balanced for everyone, where the other option is not. Stay like that WOW, please stay.
    Reply
  • "One reason I still have a WoW account is it's one of the few decent MMOGs that have no F2P players." BULL CRAP!! There's FAR more F2P players in WoW than anyone is willing to admit because they aren't as obvious and can blend in than in any other game!! I know... I used to sell tons of BoE epics galore left and right so the "NO F2P players" argument is utter crap! Not accounting for all the gold and account sellers even!!
    Reply