F2P Tutorial Model - Settings to reduce abuse
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I know you're considering or have already considered a F2P limited gameplay approach. These models do historically have good results in isometric games. In the case you do go through with it I have some suggestions that will make new account abuse less impactful to the game and its economy.
Trial accounts talent point limited to 30.
Can only start beastman
Can not use portal
Can not use 3 point abilities
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@Meiki They will get 80 hours of protection.
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@Foreskin Thats valid point. It cant be Human because of that Or... F2P acc will not have protection. Only one solution
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Yeah, you would have to block the market, trade, using chests and being lootable.
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@spoletta I dont think blocking market or trades is necessary. We want people to be grouping and interacting in Terra. An account with 30 talents points and only 2 point abilities will farm very slowly compared to a maxed account.
Gold sellers will not be able to be competitive without at least purchasing the game. And then they run the risk of getting the hammer later.
They will also be restricted to Terra, I expect over time the more dangerous areas of the map(s) will be the most lucrative and have access to uniquely competitive farming content. IE: Rev caves(OSRS) or Wormholes(Eve)
You will have to purchase the game to access this content.
Fractureds leveling process is its strongest point right now, that and the unique class building system for your character. It is very fun leveling your char in fractured. We should give prospective players a taste of that.
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But I wouldn't them restricted to a race choice and planet choice.
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Restricting the trial players to one planet sets you up later(in the future) for good game theory implementation. You can gate the most engaging, fun content on the planets that require a purchased title to access. When people come in to try the game with their friends they will be able to play on Terra with them but as soon as their friends go to engage in high-tier content they will have to watch from the sidelines. This will promote sales. Naturally it makes the most sense on Terra as trial accounts will have the least abuse potential there.
If you do not set it up initially in this way there is no going back, this option is typically never reversed once implemented.
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The main problem with going Free2play with Fractured is it tends to lead such games into the realm of pay2win microtransactions, something the Developers have assured us this game will not do.
Even the VIP subscription system is supposed to be limited to mostly cosmetic or convenience benefits, but not actively pay2win.
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I would prefer a F2P trial account to be something like:
- cannot allocate more than 3 points in any talent node (this means the player can only use the inner part of the talent tree and prevents the player from using the middle and outer circle of the talent tree.)
- cannot claim plot.
- cannot claim city.
- cannot be invited as part of the 20 settlers for claiming a city.
- can only use fleshing beams and cannot use any crafting stations.
- can build campfire but cannot build any other items like wagon and handcart.
- cannot trade with any player. (prevent item exchange)
- cannot use market place. (prevent item exchange)
- cannot join city as citizen.
- cannot join guild.
- cannot create guild.
- cannot gain access right to friend or co-owner to any plot, crafting station, chest, handcart and wagon. (prevent item exchange)
- cannot join party.
- cannot create party.
- cannot change alignment.
- cannot pull wagons.
- cannot pull handcarts.
- cannot attack any other player. (prevent looting and item exchange)
- cannot be attacked by another other player. (prevent looting and item exchange)
- cannot participate in raids and sieges.
- cannot use Legends altar.
- cannot chat in-game (prevent spamming and rmt advertising)
The purpose of trial account is to let the prospective customer to try out the game in a limited fashion before committing to the purchase.
The reasons for all these restrictions are to prevent the trial accounts from impacting the economy. In this way, this will:
- create deterrence to botting and rmt.
- limit trial accounts to using only primitive weapons, common clothes armor and hide armor.
- prevent trial accounts from imbuing and enchanting items.
- prevent trial accounts from getting too powerful in pve and competing for farming spots with other players.
- prevent players from using trial accounts for griefing other players.
- prevent trial accounts from creating influx of resources to cause imbalance to the economy.
- prevent abuse of creation of F2P accounts for claiming plots and cities.
- prevent items and gold from exchanging back and forth between F2P accounts and other players.
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@GamerSeuss No one said anything about free 2 play. Its a limited gameplay account. For those of you familiar with OSRS; the portal system in Fractured could function as a de-facto Falador members gate.
To get through that gate, you need to purchase the title. Taking this approach now gives us flexibility later. Years down the road there could be a map that is subscribers only, while people who purchased the game but are not actively subscribed can only access the original 3 maps...Not saying this is the path you necessarily will take or want to but setting yourself up with the most available options in the future is a good strategy.
As of right now I think a limited gameplay account would monetize better then finishing the VIP system. The game has had very little exposure, the reddit fractured community has under 2000 members. The demographic we are targeting is the desktop clients on OSRS/Albion and of those players, very few are aware this game exists.
The only complication I can think of is Steam. I don't know if it can handle limited game play accounts and subscriptions. But I guess it can because EVE has the same model and you can play entirely through steam.
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Limited play IS a f2p option, and like I said generally goes into the microtransaction/pay2win model. I played OSRS extensively, and in fact it was my main game previous to Fractured, and much of OSRS is on a Free2play type model that relies on microtransactions to continually fund their MMO.
The major saving grace OSRS had was the ability to buy memberships with in-game gold via their AH, and of course the heavy focus on the Hardcore mode community.Fractured on the other hand is meant to be a pay once, play forever with no limitations game. Original backers are supposed to have access to the entire game, and nothing is supposed to be locked behind paywalls over and above the initial purchase. Even VIP is supposed to only give mostly cosmetic benefits.
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@GamerSeuss said in F2P Tutorial Model - Settings to reduce abuse:
Fractured on the other hand is meant to be a pay once, play forever with no limitations game.
There is absolutely no way I believe this. That's like saying WOW vanilla was also pay once, play forever. What active MMO that is also dev'd with regular updates is run on that business model? There are none to my knowledge.
You either pay for expansions or your pay for subs. Fractured is in a spot where it could chose to do either of these. Because the Portal system mesh's well with the expansion model.
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Expansions aew most likely the way after this for FO to monetize, although cosmetics is an avenue for cashing in as well if they take it.
