Article: Summary of Second Phantasy Star Online 2 Media Briefing

[HyperShot-X-]

I wouldn't mind if there would be like a premium level service you could purchase at cash shop for $10 per month or so and get access to exclusive premium contents in game such as more mission areas/items, exp/drop rate boost etc., hopefully they find their way to balance it just right so that it won't be over used or exploited, like making certain items acct-bound if necessary, and not let it break the game completely and segregate free players from cash shop users or premium members. It's easier said than done I know, and it could get quite complicated with many decisions for them to make to please everyone, but that's to be expected with SEGA's decision to go with F2P model, they must have some plan to make it work and encourage co-op for all players. Also, make premium level members and above to be easily identifiable in lobby for obvious purpose. Lastly, something must be done about lobby chat system for those annoying spammers, it doesn't matter whether they're AFK or not, free players or cash shop supporters, they can get quite annoying at times and ruin others' experience, so there really should be a limit on how many times the same exact mssg one can spam in any given minute, say less than 5 times or so, in addition to both 'mute' function and b-list option.

[R315r4z0r]

Oh boy... it looks like we're at that point in the game's development where all the hype for the game is going to dramatically decline little by little after each announcement they make.
Free to play? Seriously? That decision right there is almost enough to change my mind about getting this game. This game was easily my most anticipated game. I hadn't been as excited about a game in a really long time. But now my joy and hopes are killed.
I don't understand how people can LIKE F2P games... sure they are free.. to start.. but you're basically restricted in anything you do and if you want to be able to do things then you have to pay for it. You end up paying $300 for what adds up to be half the amount of content you get in most $60 games...
RPGs are fun because you get to customize and level your characters up with drops and things that happen over time with probability. It isn't about who can pay the most money to get the nicest stuff...
I really hope I'm wrong about this and the game does turn out great. I just don't want such an awesome looking game to get shafted because of some lame tacked-on money making scheme.

[shinigamiefa]

In my opinion there are some few F2P games that are successful in satisfying everyone, even to those that don't get to experience all the content. For example, some games offer you three options:
(A) Download the F2P and hope the initial or some future free content is enough to satisfy you.
(B) Download the F2P game and only pay for specific content that interests which will most likely be overpriced.
(C) Download the F2P game but paying a membership that allows you to experience the full content of the game and in the long run you save more money than buying individual stuff constantly if not a member.
The problem mostly is the result of an unbalanced of the game where Members > Individual buyer > Non payer. Other implications are the quick inflation of the player economy with overpriced items in auction houses or player stores but, this related to the drop rate placed on items and how much cash(meseta) you can make by selling items in NPC stores. Some game developers take suggestions from forums and find ways to try to keep the game decently balanced (like making separate servers for members and non members) but, that is not always the case. The idea is that we should have a choice in the F2P model and understand its consequences.

[Gun96]

And once again i still dont understand why going f2p is bad. They way some of you are explaining things its like you want to give your money away. Especially since the gaming industry is doing kinda poorly nowadays and that just makes no sense to me

[BWS-1]

My concern about the F2P plan is that... if it's to mimic the way things work in Spiral Knights (made by Three Rings, a company recently acquired by SEGA), it'll be down-right crap. Imagine playing a PSO game where, say, every items up to 20 is FREE, than you need to BUY mats to get to create or find the others, or have to BUY access to 'Hard' and 'Very Hard' runs every time with ''energy'' (which could be purchased in-game). Would suck, wouldn't it? Well I guess if it's FAR FROM THAT model, the F2P idea isn't bad. It's just that my Spiral Knight experienced pretty much tarnished all hopes of seeing anything positive coming out of it.

[shinigamiefa]

I actually am happy to see its going to be F2P but worried in how the are going to implement the model. Thing is my experiences with F2P games has not been very good except maybe one or two games. My PSO ep1 in Dreamcast experience was "magical" and I hope we get that same satisfaction as we played on each episode.

[BWS-1]

I'm not sure if the PSO ep1 on Dreamcast could account for a F2P 'model'. It was a game where you could play online... and that was free. All the content was there. Like all games on console back in the day. Now the world has changed compared to over 10 years ago and when you're in a financial 'low' like SEGA and plan a F2P 'model', it likely means 'a model where there are intricate ways to charge the player while still allowing him/her to play freely... at the expense of swift/normal progress and/or content'. Then again, I can't get Spiral Knights out of my head. And possibly Diablo 3. I don't wanna go there though, ain't out yet but... that's another thing I don't have too much hopes up for. But yeeah, I want to feel that ''magical'' experience again too

[HyperShot-X-]

^@Gun96,
sounds like you are one of those free loaders with the mentality of 'why pay when I can play a whole bunch of these f2p mmo for free?' with no plan of paying for anything ever on cash shop, (maybe that's part of the reason why gaming industry isn't generating enough profit with such mentality sweeping across gaming population like an epidemic..), such people would not/may never understand what's it like being a fan to support a franchise who are willing to pay, upto a point, for that quality content to be delivered and fully experienced with much anticipation, that's far from your term 'giving away money', instead it's an investment for future development and service, *excluding select few that their cash shop addiction has taken over and ends up spending hundreds which I see none so far here btw.

[HyperShot-X-]

Again, going F2P could be bad if cash shop system isn't carefully designed and balanced, and fails to satisfy the fan base who are willing to pay and support the game, b/c millions of free user base such as above practically won't generate any profit directly, and not enough profit generated ==> less content updates/poor quality service gradually. Now that made sense, it's just unsettling at this point with so much uncertainty and unclear on how to interpret this move, by going F2P they seem to be overlooking the traditional 'buy to play, either free online or sub based' model, well, they must feel pretty confident that their cash shop system will generate enough profit to compete in f2p market or maybe they felt that there isn't enough content to make it as a full priced game and just accepted f2p as the only chance at success.. either way their choice is made, awaiting consequences.

[Gun96]

@HyperShot no im not just a freeloader who wants to play every single game for free. I payed for universe because i actually wanted to support sega since they weren't doing so hot at the time. I mean i have no problems with cash shops and supporting companies, it's just that people aren't really making sense (to me at least) when they explain why they wish mmo's or games in general want to be p2p. Not trying to cause an argument, but yeah.