What I like about F2P

[solvogero]

The following nonsense is the product of 1 lightweight (aka 'me') + 3 glasses of cheap red wine in a screw-top bottle....prepare yourself.



When I compare F2P to P2P, the major difference is that there's way more freedom in F2P.

Looking back to my 5 years of p2p, the moment I logged in (bearing in mind I've never been what I call hard-core) I felt pressure...pressure to grind dailies...pressure to run 5-man pugs for crap that I need.....pressure to accept an invite to a guild 5-man run when there's just nothing i need out of it, other than good guild karma....pressure to raid in a pug because my guild probably wouldn't invite me as an alt...pressure to NOT raid in a pug for fear my guild might invite me and I'd have to turn them down...pressure to research my green crap so I can put it on the AH and max my return to buy more crap...pressure to grind just a few more consumables for the next time that i can raid.

There's none of that when it comes to f2p and I find it extremely liberating. When I get my hat, its mine forever. When I get my trinket, its mine forever. (well, maybe not, but you know what I'm saying). There's no guild pressure...just a loose group of friends that may or may not be on. There's a few vendors I touch base with, but they don't miss me if I don't show up. There's some herbs I grind, but there's no pressure if I run a BG without the pots they make....its pretty care-free and I love it.

Someone posted a comment on my blog asking about hit stats (not 'hit' as in 'hit', but 'hit' as in, "what are the odds of me hitting a target"...like 'not miss'. Its a project I took up pre-MoP that I had fairly well [imo] answered and I had started to look into it again in MoP (the hit stat is easy---its an obvious straight-line...dodge and parry are not...i have no clue what it does when the opponent is 4+ levels above the player), but i put it on the shelf.

But when I read the guy's question, I thought to myself..."well, okay, I'll take that project back up. it'll take me a good month or two of IRL play-time to get the 15,000-20,000 data points that i want, but shit, I have nothing else pressing that i want to do in-game, so why not?"

that last thought process would never occur to me if i was P2P.

Edit: Wait, when's the next DMF? I still need my bear.

 

[Kincaide]

Can we add things that we like about F2P too?

One of the things that I like about F2P that doesn't get a lot of airtime, is something that my old P2P guildmates never understood when I invited them to do F2P instead of abandoning WoW altogether.

I really like the idea of playing a character that is (for its own purposes) at max level, but in a world that is extremely deadly and could kill you in one hit if you aren't extremely careful. For me it's always seemed very strange that, whatever the level cap was at any point in the game, we the players were walking around in a world in which we--but for a few exceptions locked away in dungeons somewhere--were the most dangerous creatures.

Real fantasy isn't like that. You get a much more exciting experience when you actually have to watch your back when running through most of the world. I liken it to the difference between stock car racing, and Formula One. F2P is like stock car: the purpose is to get the most that you can out of the limited set of tools you can use. If you tried to be "BiS" in top-level P2P, you would never get there... the system just isn't set up like that. It's an actual achievable goal to strive for here at the F2P level. And that's another reason why I like it.

 

[MarzRider]

What i like best about f2p is that I got to meet lots of peeps.

 

[Buckeye]

Not running the gear treadmill, hamster wheel, whatever, is enough for me.

 

[Srs]

^This, with a side of more this. In Soviet p2p, gear has a shelf life, and a short one at that. And if you forget to pay up, the Blizzard repo man comes and takes it. Twinking on a p2p accout avoids the gear threadmill, on the most part, but it still succumbs to the latter point.

One thing I really enjoy about getting a little p2p chocolate in my f2p peanut butter, is that when I'm done paying for a subscription, I get to keep a lot of my stuff on my fp2s. No pure p2p can say that. How much would you pay for that service? A faction change is $30; I think it's worth way more than that.

I really wish Blizzard would grasp the fact that they could pull in some decent cash by developing an actual f2p version of WoW, with paid services — I mean, a version of the game that didn't put ridiculously low limits on gold and professions. You've got f2ps buying TCG tabards for real cash. You know they could sell a ton of glamour pets and such, especially if they added pet battles (you know, for the kids). I think it would be a great experience for the players, and provide Bobby Kotick with the revenue he demands — everybody wins.

 

[Buckeye]

^ I will follow your 'this' with one of my own.

Blizzard is losing out on a TON of potential revenue by not coming up with a viable f2p/micro-transaction stream. I've actually been thinking about this for a couple weeks. Maybe I should put something together and send them a proposal.

 

[Crystalpall]

Hello!
I dont know if the thread maker asked us for sharing what we like in f2p, but i think its great idea and probably it will make epic thread, so I will list the things i love about Trials.
-I can log on when I want, not when the guild run is set.
-If I dont want to do Bg's or dungeons, there are still plenty things to do
- Still new glitches are found and it like determines the new things - TBH since I started, I was never bored
- Limitations = fun, because everybody is extremely limited, things like ICC now make us look outside the box, get something more.
- Pets! I thought of collecting pets on my p2p but its too easy now when I can just capture a squirrell and go away.
- As Kinc said, its more like fantasy, that we cant just stand for example in deadmines at whole dung pulled and dodge all attacks.
- Guides! @90 you look at noxxic, check gems/enchants/stat priority get items and go own. @20 most of people have BiS gear so skill counts more.
- We can raid mobs 50 or more lvls higher than us, and 90s cant
- I love the "lol ur trial? so how do you get heirlooms/that bear/that shirt?!
- Its free lol. Fun never stops
- we have some extremely rare items like Shadowfang, which actually make us better. 90s get everything from conq vendor / raids.
- Twinkinfo community
- We actually can do most of vanity stuff end gamers do, but its alot harder and simply makes more proud of our achievement.
- Grandfathered gear, which will not become useless at next expansion
- We can't just buy stuff off AH, we have to get everything ourselves, so not much people have it (eg. Swiftness pots)

That are the best points i can think of, but ofc THE COMMUNITY IS GREAT and I really miss that im not AP US But on my magtheridon there are still nice players, so Im happy
Cheers!
Crystalpall

@Edit - About the micro transactions, i thought about it long time ago and Live-chatted with GM lately about it, and he said there is absolutely no option they will implement it, but he wont tell me why ;/ I wanted to change Crystalpall to blood elf, grab dat shield enchant, 2nd argas, boots of the hero and change back But i think that buying pets will destroy Pet Collectors a bit.

 

[Omghax]

There is still a grind to BiS though once there (or relatively close) you are competitive. Thank god for DMF.

Free casual semi-twinking reminicent of the old pre-xp off brackets. Fresh 1k health 20s are very much like the old levelers used to be.

But i think that buying pets will destroy Pet Collectors a bit.

Blizzard has shown that it cares very little about devaluing all your hard work by making it suddenly easy to obtain stuff that someone else worked long and hard for.

Bob

 

[sevenslacks7]

I just like pushing the limits on what a f2p can do, I think thats fun.

 

[Kibbies]

F2p is perfect for me, i hate leveling and love pvp in general. I wouldnt have time for all classes at 90 and BiS but i can do that on f2p which is nice. if i did pay i would twink at some bracket and get roughly the same experience i already do for nothing also as a f2p i like pushing the limits and 'fighting the man'

 

[Jeralulz]

Nice topic and obvious hit is the hitcap you can recieve (always like 2 - 3 levels above your current level) + 3 % for each after that. What I like about F2P is... I can log in whenever I want.