SOE offering lifetime memberships to Free Realms for $30

Unless I missed something but, if ye either pay $30 for lifetime membership or pay $5 a month sub…. doesn’t that kinda negate it being free-to-play?

It’s an option. That way, it’s no longer a microtransaction based thing for you, if I understood it correctly. EverQuest just went that direction too – sort of. LOTRO will be that way too – FTP or pay via microtransactions. It’s the way most MMOs eventually will go I reckon.

@2
Except Blizzard. They stated many times they don’t see a point. Not like I blame them 11.5 million subscriptions =-P

@3 True! However, if Blizzard finds it can make a ton more money by selling extra items (gear, rares, potions, etc)for real money via an in-game shop on top of the subs, you know it will. It’s just business.

@2/4

Ahhh, can understand some games would benefit from it more than others, like Lego Universe, imo, woulda benefited more from microtransactions/lego sets, than it does with a sub. Flip side tho, if ye can just buy gear for ye characters what’s the point in end game content that currently exists in the likes or WoW? Raids aren’t accessable to everyone because of the way they’re implimented, so on one side ye could buy ye gear so ye don’t have to go. But saying that if ye could what’d be the point in goin to them anyway when you could just buy it?
Surely ye’d end up with even less to do at end game than there currently is?
Think I babbled a bit there, but meh.

I agree with ye…

Then again, if the company runs the game store gold farming is less likly a problem.

Plus lets be honest, at this point wow is ALL about end game(err I mean grinding for gear in order to get into better raids to find better gear). I have grown very tired of that type of end game myself. I will be playing EQII when it goes f2p. Maybe Lotro as well. Can go back and forth, what the hell they are free.

@7

Not true because I have fun just leveling alts and doing random things then I do with Raids. I will have even more fun when Cata is released.

I enjoy the same bits of game in wow PB. But I won’t be getting Cata. I have too many high level toons as it is now.

So fo rme the news on EQII f2p is a very welcome thing. I have played that game in the past and moved to wow because so many rl people I know play it. But the char leveling/developing is outstanding in EQII. Plus the whole 24 races and 27 classes thing helps too.

But to each their own. I am just a bit tired of wow at this point.