NS2 doesn't need F2P (but it will help), it needs marketing (while its already done and game is old), better load times (fine if you have SSD), and better on boarding for new players. (Mostly beta engine)
This game is pretty much dead in my eyes. Good servers are usually empty or dies easily if someone leaves. Last spring was playable, but now I think this season could be last one for us (Saunamen). The biggest problem to hold players was the engine and learning curve (ns1 was a way harder than ns2). The game sold like crazy but why players left this game.. Many ns1 players or quitters told that engine was the blame.
While in Germany many comp players were talking with flayra and many agreed that f2p can be a good thing to ns2. I played NS1 (1.00 to last 3.20) and it was free. No big drama against cheaters or jackasses and ofc it will need more admin work. I will bet that f2p will be a good business move to sell current skins (I will buy all of them) if flayra decide to go f2p finally. And one more thing... After a long wait the combat comes back and I think its good to have (fast learning to play in aliens).. BUT remember this, combat will give more empty vanilla servers
If you hate rookies, just give rookie status at least to ?50hours? (steam hours) and they can join non rookies server if they want... NS2stats hour can be used for like pro servers.. Its easy to kick players today when comparing to NS1
My personal opinion is that game launched too early.. UWE got many angry customers and too many unsatisfied NS1 lovers. I can play easily AAA games without problems, but once I return to play this game I always get same feeling. Still buggy, hitreg (low rates/server performance),fps drops and game just feels laggy (finally got G-Sync)..But in the end I still love NS2 and I think f2p will help.
NS2 doesn't need F2P (but it will help), it needs marketing (while its already done and game is old), better load times (fine if you have SSD), and better on boarding for new players. (Mostly beta engine)
This game is pretty much dead in my eyes. Good servers are usually empty or dies easily if someone leaves. Last spring was playable, but now I think this season could be last one for us (Saunamen). The biggest problem to hold players was the engine and learning curve (ns1 was a way harder than ns2). The game sold like crazy but why players left this game.. Many ns1 players or quitters told that engine was the blame.
While in Germany many comp players were talking with flayra and many agreed that f2p can be a good thing to ns2. I played NS1 (1.00 to last 3.20) and it was free. No big drama against cheaters or jackasses and ofc it will need more admin work. I will bet that f2p will be a good business move to sell current skins (I will buy all of them) if flayra decide to go f2p finally. And one more thing... After a long wait the combat comes back and I think its good to have (fast learning to play in aliens).. BUT remember this, combat will give more empty vanilla servers
If you hate rookies, just give rookie status at least to ?50hours? (steam hours) and they can join non rookies server if they want... NS2stats hour can be used for like pro servers.. Its easy to kick players today when comparing to NS1
My personal opinion is that game launched too early.. UWE got many angry customers and too many unsatisfied NS1 lovers. I can play easily AAA games without problems, but once I return to play this game I always get same feeling. Still buggy, hitreg (low rates/server performance),fps drops and game just feels laggy (finally got G-Sync)..But in the end I still love NS2 and I think f2p will help.
As someone already mentioned, the only thing that can save the game at this point is marketing.
I disagree. Marketing is not the Problem at this point. When there are Humbles or Sales the player peak raises to 5000 (actual av. 500-700). The problem is NS2 can't keep the new players. That is what we need to fix first.
It has been a long time since a sale has generated those type of numbers.
Jeah cause there were no sales or Humbles.
Last Humble was December 2013, check the Image:
And to the others, I don't think the game is dead. My favourite server (SEK2000) is running every evening, sometimes both servers are full.
@Squishpoke
Those could be options, but for 100h playtime make it free...? Your system would avoid the rookiewave on regular servers, but UWE loses a lots of cash.
And we still need something to keep the new players, with only rookie servers I don't believe that this problem is solved.
== Merge Combat and NS2 into the one game
- Merge combat and NS2 into the one instance that allows players to freely go between combat and NS2, as you would in cs:go between dm, normal, and comp matchmaking. The issue with this is the logistics involved, as combat appears to be using new code, maybe a new version of spark too. Ideal world, they are both in the same launch screen/menu (think LoL client) at the very least.
Considering that Combat gives players a much easier time as far as learning the game goes, which leads to retention, then to popularity, I'm going to assume that someone is going to make an NS2:Vanilla mod for Combat which will essentially do just this.
But I agree, some way to easily switch between the two games would be nice, but I think it would require too much communication/coding between the two companies(especially since they are meant to be two different games).
We need a coaching system that allows 1-2 Veterans to play as Commanders on said servers. We need this HARD. Enticement with badges and whatnot will probably have to happen.
If rookie only servers do become a thing, maybe a third player state, "Mentor" should be made to simplify this whole thing.
(Green = rookie, white = standard, Red = Mentor)
That is, only "rookies" and "Mentors" can join rookie only servers. Mentors are only allowed only to command/spectate (if spectate slots are available).
- After commanding on Rookie servers for 10 hrs of winning/20 hrs of loosing, the mentor is awarded with an upgraded version of the commander badge!
In order to prevent rookies from becoming mentors, maybe require the standard commander badge before they can enable this status?
This actually sounds like it has promise both in getting experienced players to assist greens, while also encouraging more experienced players to engage with the community!
I can see how comp players, especially of the extremely skilled variety, can feel like the game is dying. I can also see why aus players do to.
As a NA pubber I can usually find some really fun games every night. It doesn't seem every one can.
The other night I was on calegos server and had a good game. A few players said that was the first good game they have had in a long time. Last night @Bensonthecasual played with me in my usual server. He specificly mentioned there were more mics than his normal servers, which as he told me was "whatever is on top." He seemed to have a great time. Maybe we as a community need to use social forces to create more quality games.
Long time ago december 2010 I bought this game and my all time favorite server HBZ is down. HBZ was the ultimate server in beta and couple weeks ago. It was the oldest and THE BEST (4.8ghz sandybridge but If I recall it died after 2 years) public server I´m I right @dePARA. Thank you HBZ for these good times and it was nice to see some of you in Germany
We are soon on beta level player count do you really think people will stay to play this game when there isn't anything big to come... I saw how NS1 died, when the good servers "died" people were just playing on shitty servers (custom/oversized), combat, only pcws/gathers or moved to another games (where was players). Today my friends list is changed, many NS2 players are playing DOTA 2 or CS:GO. ENSL/NSL league is changed and rules are more relaxing (mostly playing times), why? Because activity is low and teams don't have this motivation what used to be.
I don't know are other premier teams talked or have some issues in motivation but we had conversation before joining to season 5.. Do we really want to play in this season and one issue was team count and do we get players back when holidays are over.. Player count was a little problem before the big humble sale (December, more like warning), activity was a little problem before WC announce and people were concerned 8 months ago in Germany that player count is dropping all the time. People just want to play this game, but its getting too hard already. F2P isn't direct answer like many said pubstomp is a big problem to rookies and rookie only server is a good idea but how to do it.. Maybe official UWE servers only but rookies status is hard to say, maybe just playing hours/skill/personal level/completing certain achievements (for commanders also) combination or other factors..
As long as the Rookie Only server providers could be figured out (AND MAINTAIN 30 TICKS!!)
And a proper interactive tutorial was included with a small mandatory section. (to make up for no vets around to ask)
@Squishpoke
Those could be options, but for 100h playtime make it free...? Your system would avoid the rookiewave on regular servers, but UWE loses a lots of cash.
And we still need something to keep the new players, with only rookie servers I don't believe that this problem is solved.
The point isn't to maximize UWE's monetary profit at this point, but gaining new players without hurting our average match quality.
The point isn't to maximize UWE's monetary profit at this point, but gaining new players without hurting our average match quality.
There are plenty of totally disoriented users already, lot of marine players that hover under 10% accuracy. Adding f2pbabbies wouldn't hurt the average match that much.
And if uwe comes under the perception that they can breath life into the game with something like matchmaking or distribution of tradeable skins, they would likely dedicate some of their resources to ns2 again.
The point isn't to maximize UWE's monetary profit at this point, but gaining new players without hurting our average match quality.
There are plenty of totally disoriented users already, lot of marine players that hover under 10% accuracy. Adding f2pbabbies wouldn't hurt the average match that much.
Based off of what I've seen during free weekends, there is a massive difference in the quality of your average pub game, then there is without a sale/free weekend. Even if a player isn't skilled, they at least know how to play the game. The same can't be said for absolute newbies during the weekends/sales.
This is why if UWE decides to make NS2 free, there should be some kind of gateway to weed out the ones who will ice out.
As someone already mentioned, the only thing that can save the game at this point is marketing.
I disagree. Marketing is not the Problem at this point. When there are Humbles or Sales the player peak raises to 5000 (actual av. 500-700). The problem is NS2 can't keep the new players. That is what we need to fix first.
It has been a long time since a sale has generated those type of numbers.
Jeah cause there were no sales or Humbles.
Last Humble was December 2013, check the Image:
Last Humble was just over a month ago. Peak players were 1200.
NS2 Demo: the game is now free for everyone. Caveat: all players playing for free are stuck in Rookie Only servers. (Not rookie friendly).
NS2 Demo is exactly like regular NS2 except they can only play in Rookie Only servers.
Option 1: Player can purchase the game to immediately play on other servers.
Option 2: At 50 hours of playtime without payment, the player has the option to purchase NS2 at a discount.
Option 3: At 100 hours the player unlocks the rest of the game for free. At that point it's pretty much a given that they're a true NS2 player. Might as well reward them.
\
I'd say for this to work the hours would have to be upscaled... Something more like 100 hours for the discount, and 300 hours before getting access to all the other servers. 100 hours is barely enough time to learn anything in a game as complex as NS2.
I think the biggest problem with F2P is the removal of any kind of barrier or pay wall... Troll or hacker gets banned by an admin and with F2P they can be back 1-2 minutes later... Keeping the F2P portion as a "demo" locked to rookie only servers would keep that barrier in place (thus keeping the toxicity/hackers out) while allowing people to try the game for free in a rookie only environment where they won't get stomped to the ground by vets.
I think uwe should just do a cheap deal on ns2 for a week or two after combat release. Combat may interest people. Either way, can't hurt but wait. I'm sure ns2 will have an anniversary deal around them, anyhow.
I think uwe should just do a cheap deal on ns2 for a week or two after combat release. Combat may interest people. Either way, can't hurt but wait. I'm sure ns2 will have an anniversary deal around them, anyhow.
Something like this. Either an extended free weekend or an extended sale. Something in the matter of weeks in order to allow people to try both, and hopefully become hooked in NS.
I'd say for this to work the hours would have to be upscaled... Something more like 100 hours for the discount, and 300 hours before getting access to all the other servers. 100 hours is barely enough time to learn anything in a game as complex as NS2.
ooh, ooh lets have ask them trivia at the 300 hour mark with the question "How much quicker does a gorge self-heal if he breathes directly onto the ground below him?" each incorrect answer adds 50 more hours.
100 hours is plenty of time to ween out the people who are only here to troll or play for themselves (they'll die constantly, get angry and quit.) playing 100 hours of a game shows that they're dedicated and want to learn it. they already know the basics, they'll pick up on the rest fairly quickly especially if they're not antisocial and talk/ask questions. the game goes on sale for $1 every month or so, anybody who's interested in it remotely from the demo is going to buy it then no matter how many hours they've put into it, especially if it means being able to play with better players without having to sink 100 or 300 hours, at least one of them is semi-reasonable.
I like the only Rookie-Servers, but then we need to higher the time for being rookie up to 50h. Better Tutorials with scripted events would also be wonderful for rookies so they learn the basics of the game. The available tutorial are just basics of moving around and abilities. But no teamplay or strategy.
What could be an option is training/tutorial mods with tips running on the rookie only servers.
From your post, you gave me a great idea, guaranteed to not suck.
NS2 Demo: the game is now free for everyone. Caveat: all players playing for free are stuck in Rookie Only servers. (Not rookie friendly).
NS2 Demo is exactly like regular NS2 except they can only play in Rookie Only servers.
Option 1: Player can purchase the game to immediately play on other servers.
Option 2: At 50 hours of playtime without payment, the player has the option to purchase NS2 at a discount.
Option 3: At 100 hours the player unlocks the rest of the game for free. At that point it's pretty much a given that they're a true NS2 player. Might as well reward them.
DOWNSIDES:
Someone's gotta pay for hosting the Rookie Only servers.
We need a coaching system that allows 1-2 Veterans to play as Commanders on said servers. We need this HARD. Enticement with badges and whatnot will probably have to happen.
No guarantee that Rookie Only servers will have enough players (but hey, it's free, right? There's bound to be plenty of F2Pers.)
Without veteran commanders, Rookie Only servers are likely to be even more of a clusterfuck than usual.
UPSIDES:
Our regular games won't be infected with F2P masses.
Any player worth his salt in the F2P cesspool servers will eventually join us. Everyone else ices out.
Best possible way to get any new players, if any.
NO MICROTRANSACTIONS. NO BULLSHIT.
I really like the idea of making a rookie-only demo version of NS2, but I think the numbers you suggested are not ideal. The major downside I see to your current suggestion is that it's still possible for completely new players (0-5 hours) to face against players who already have picked up the very basics and are starting to learn new tricks (+50 hours). This will again create too much of a skill gap within rookie-only servers imo. Rookie-only servers should really only have the greenest of green players on them, people who don't know how to walljump or move properly with a higher lifeform, who stumble all over the map, who don't recognize the importance of resources.
So I'd suggest to limit the free rookie-only demo time to like 20 hours (and have all the rookie-only servers run one map only). If after that time they want to continue playing, they have to buy it. Anyone with over 20 hours played is no longer allowed on rookie-only servers.
Soul_RiderMod BeanJoin Date: 2004-06-19Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
I wonder how much UWE want NS2 to continue. I mean, obviously, they'd like to make money from the game, having it run on and played for years, but at the same time, I don't think they are too concerned if it ends up finishing.
Combat releases on 31st October, and it is going to be very popular, it may even out peak NS2 peak players, but for sure it will cost UWE some of their NS2 playerbase.
Then to top it all off, UWE themselves are releasing an early access of Subnautica on 31st October. I think UWE are really moving on, and while I'm sure they'd love NS2 to be a continued success, from a business perspective, I don't think NS2 is really a part of their life anymore.
ooh, ooh lets have ask them trivia at the 300 hour mark with the question "How much quicker does a gorge self-heal if he breathes directly onto the ground below him?" each incorrect answer adds 50 more hours.
What's the answer? Cuz I honestly have no idea with 1700 hours in this game.
ooh, ooh lets have ask them trivia at the 300 hour mark with the question "How much quicker does a gorge self-heal if he breathes directly onto the ground below him?" each incorrect answer adds 50 more hours.
What's the answer? Cuz I honestly have no idea with 1700 hours in this game.
With 1400, I do know it is quicker but not to what degree.
I wonder how much UWE want NS2 to continue. I mean, obviously, they'd like to make money from the game, having it run on and played for years, but at the same time, I don't think they are too concerned if it ends up finishing.
Combat releases on 31st October, and it is going to be very popular, it may even out peak NS2 peak players, but for sure it will cost UWE some of their NS2 playerbase.
Then to top it all off, UWE themselves are releasing an early access of Subnautica on 31st October. I think UWE are really moving on, and while I'm sure they'd love NS2 to be a continued success, from a business perspective, I don't think NS2 is really a part of their life anymore.
Wait... subnautica early access on the 31st? If that's true... well... they kinda peed on faultlines... definitely won't help.
I wonder how much UWE want NS2 to continue. I mean, obviously, they'd like to make money from the game, having it run on and played for years, but at the same time, I don't think they are too concerned if it ends up finishing.
Combat releases on 31st October, and it is going to be very popular, it may even out peak NS2 peak players, but for sure it will cost UWE some of their NS2 playerbase.
Then to top it all off, UWE themselves are releasing an early access of Subnautica on 31st October. I think UWE are really moving on, and while I'm sure they'd love NS2 to be a continued success, from a business perspective, I don't think NS2 is really a part of their life anymore.
Wait... subnautica early access on the 31st? If that's true... well... they kinda peed on faultlines... definitely won't help.
I really like the idea of making a rookie-only demo version of NS2, but I think the numbers you suggested are not ideal. The major downside I see to your current suggestion is that it's still possible for completely new players (0-5 hours) to face against players who already have picked up the very basics and are starting to learn new tricks (+50 hours). This will again create too much of a skill gap within rookie-only servers imo. Rookie-only servers should really only have the greenest of green players on them, people who don't know how to walljump or move properly with a higher lifeform, who stumble all over the map, who don't recognize the importance of resources.
So I'd suggest to limit the free rookie-only demo time to like 20 hours (and have all the rookie-only servers run one map only). If after that time they want to continue playing, they have to buy it. Anyone with over 20 hours played is no longer allowed on rookie-only servers.
I think it's important that we don't actually call it a demo, or limit the playtime until they are forced to pay. I know that I called it a demo on my original post, but in hindsight this was a mistake. Demos have negative connotations attached to it that we want to avoid (namely, the idea that demos aren't feature complete).
Basically, I want NS2 to be "F2P" in the marketing sense, but keep the barrier up for the "real" NS2. I can imagine a more positive reaction to NS2 being "F2P" rather than a demo, especially in popular gaming blogs like RPS. The trick is that we give them the entire game (including all maps) but limit them to rookie-only servers until they pay up or play long enough to be rewarded with the game for free. The number of hours before this happens is debatable: 100 hours might be too much or too little depending on who you ask. Me personally, I'd be happy to lower the discount wall to 10 hours, and the "graduation" barrier to 50 hours. I'd argue that even if players are unskilled at 50 hours to be kicked off the rookie only servers and put into the real NS2, at least they have demonstrated the willingness to play and learn the game if they stuck around the Rookie Only cesspool for 50 hours.
Ideally, the best way UWE can implement this is to do the following:
1) NS2 on the store is now free. Maybe even have it show up in everyone's library, but I don't think Steam does that for free games anymore.
2) Add a DLC option to get them out of the rookie only servers. Call this DLC "Rookie School Graduation" or something similar. Any other DLC (Shadow, Deluxue, etc) automatically includes Rookie School Graduation.
3) While F2P rookies are playing in their little rookie-only paradise (heh), show a popup at the end of every round, showing the following info:
Hours played so far
(reward) Hours left to get a discount for immediate Graduation
(reward) Hours left until they Graduate without having to pay
A link if they want to Graduate immediately with full price. Include marketing buzzwords like "this is where the real fun begins!" and "you'll get a special badge for paying money, too!"
4) UWE can revamp their badge system or add in achievements if they want to. I hate achievements, but other games seem to implement them just fine and it gives certain players the illusion of achieving something. NS2 doesn't actually need anything like this.
The more I read about the psudo-F2P model the more I like it.
And all this talk of "graduation" makes me think rookie-only servers should be called "Academies" (makes it more clear that these are for lower-grade players).
As far as the skill gap between players with 50-100 hrs, and 0-5, I don't really think it will be a problem. In fact, it may be more beneficial to have brand new players learning from people who have just gone through that same experience.
I know that I have a hard time understanding the issues brand new players have since I learned on ns1 so long ago...its been almost 10 years since I first learned that the floor was lava.
My only concern is if the work required to make these servers/conditions happen is even realistic....
I like the pseudo-F2P as well. Renaming it from "demo" definetely makes sense as well from a marketing stand-point.
However, I'm curious, how would we prevent people from getting the impression that the "pseudo-F2P" might not fully-featured? How do you educate the masses about the difference between F2P version of NS2 and payed version of NS2?
It seems to me, that we would first of all have to be completely transparent with the potential new buyers. Meaning, we would have to make it clear, in a more diplomatic fashion of course, that the reason their version is free is because the rest of us aren't interested in playing with them, and that even if we did, we would just ruin their gaming experience as well.
The logistics of making a message like that reach the target audiences, is a PR nightmare in my head. It actually makes my head hurt thinking about it.
I like the pseudo-F2P as well. Renaming it from "demo" definetely makes sense as well from a marketing stand-point.
However, I'm curious, how would we prevent people from getting the impression that the "pseudo-F2P" might not fully-featured? How do you educate the masses about the difference between F2P version of NS2 and payed version of NS2?
It seems to me, that we would first of all have to be completely transparent with the potential new buyers. Meaning, we would have to make it clear, in a more diplomatic fashion of course, that the reason their version is free is because the rest of us aren't interested in playing with them, and that even if we did, we would just ruin their gaming experience as well.
The logistics of making a message like that reach the target audiences, is a PR nightmare in my head. It actually makes my head hurt thinking about it.
You're overthinking it :P
Just release the game for free, slap on marketing blurb "totally free! no P2W micro-transactions!" Which is technically correct. Nobody is required to pay anything. They can get out of the academy grind if they pay up, or else they can just put in the number of hours needed to graduate. In fact, we don't even need to notify them that they are in the "academy" until they are already playing the game.
The type of players that will stick around past the academy are the ones most likely to purchase Deluxe/Shadow skins in support of the game. Take a look at the active players in NS2. A good portion of them are shadowbadgers, and those guys didn't get the base NS2 game for free, didn't they?
Comments
Well said, friend. +1
Well said, and well thought + 1
Jeah cause there were no sales or Humbles.
Last Humble was December 2013, check the Image:
And to the others, I don't think the game is dead. My favourite server (SEK2000) is running every evening, sometimes both servers are full.
@Squishpoke
Those could be options, but for 100h playtime make it free...? Your system would avoid the rookiewave on regular servers, but UWE loses a lots of cash.
And we still need something to keep the new players, with only rookie servers I don't believe that this problem is solved.
Considering that Combat gives players a much easier time as far as learning the game goes, which leads to retention, then to popularity, I'm going to assume that someone is going to make an NS2:Vanilla mod for Combat which will essentially do just this.
But I agree, some way to easily switch between the two games would be nice, but I think it would require too much communication/coding between the two companies(especially since they are meant to be two different games).
If rookie only servers do become a thing, maybe a third player state, "Mentor" should be made to simplify this whole thing.
(Green = rookie, white = standard, Red = Mentor)
That is, only "rookies" and "Mentors" can join rookie only servers. Mentors are only allowed only to command/spectate (if spectate slots are available).
- After commanding on Rookie servers for 10 hrs of winning/20 hrs of loosing, the mentor is awarded with an upgraded version of the commander badge!
In order to prevent rookies from becoming mentors, maybe require the standard commander badge before they can enable this status?
This actually sounds like it has promise both in getting experienced players to assist greens, while also encouraging more experienced players to engage with the community!
As a NA pubber I can usually find some really fun games every night. It doesn't seem every one can.
The other night I was on calegos server and had a good game. A few players said that was the first good game they have had in a long time. Last night @Bensonthecasual played with me in my usual server. He specificly mentioned there were more mics than his normal servers, which as he told me was "whatever is on top." He seemed to have a great time. Maybe we as a community need to use social forces to create more quality games.
Ns2 is only as fun as who you play with.
We are soon on beta level player count do you really think people will stay to play this game when there isn't anything big to come... I saw how NS1 died, when the good servers "died" people were just playing on shitty servers (custom/oversized), combat, only pcws/gathers or moved to another games (where was players). Today my friends list is changed, many NS2 players are playing DOTA 2 or CS:GO. ENSL/NSL league is changed and rules are more relaxing (mostly playing times), why? Because activity is low and teams don't have this motivation what used to be.
I don't know are other premier teams talked or have some issues in motivation but we had conversation before joining to season 5.. Do we really want to play in this season and one issue was team count and do we get players back when holidays are over.. Player count was a little problem before the big humble sale (December, more like warning), activity was a little problem before WC announce and people were concerned 8 months ago in Germany that player count is dropping all the time. People just want to play this game, but its getting too hard already. F2P isn't direct answer like many said pubstomp is a big problem to rookies and rookie only server is a good idea but how to do it.. Maybe official UWE servers only but rookies status is hard to say, maybe just playing hours/skill/personal level/completing certain achievements (for commanders also) combination or other factors..
As long as the Rookie Only server providers could be figured out (AND MAINTAIN 30 TICKS!!)
And a proper interactive tutorial was included with a small mandatory section. (to make up for no vets around to ask)
The point isn't to maximize UWE's monetary profit at this point, but gaining new players without hurting our average match quality.
This. Being a good game is not what keeps a game alive.
There are plenty of totally disoriented users already, lot of marine players that hover under 10% accuracy. Adding f2pbabbies wouldn't hurt the average match that much.
And if uwe comes under the perception that they can breath life into the game with something like matchmaking or distribution of tradeable skins, they would likely dedicate some of their resources to ns2 again.
Based off of what I've seen during free weekends, there is a massive difference in the quality of your average pub game, then there is without a sale/free weekend. Even if a player isn't skilled, they at least know how to play the game. The same can't be said for absolute newbies during the weekends/sales.
This is why if UWE decides to make NS2 free, there should be some kind of gateway to weed out the ones who will ice out.
Last Humble was just over a month ago. Peak players were 1200.
I'd say for this to work the hours would have to be upscaled... Something more like 100 hours for the discount, and 300 hours before getting access to all the other servers. 100 hours is barely enough time to learn anything in a game as complex as NS2.
I think the biggest problem with F2P is the removal of any kind of barrier or pay wall... Troll or hacker gets banned by an admin and with F2P they can be back 1-2 minutes later... Keeping the F2P portion as a "demo" locked to rookie only servers would keep that barrier in place (thus keeping the toxicity/hackers out) while allowing people to try the game for free in a rookie only environment where they won't get stomped to the ground by vets.
Something like this. Either an extended free weekend or an extended sale. Something in the matter of weeks in order to allow people to try both, and hopefully become hooked in NS.
ooh, ooh lets have ask them trivia at the 300 hour mark with the question "How much quicker does a gorge self-heal if he breathes directly onto the ground below him?" each incorrect answer adds 50 more hours.
100 hours is plenty of time to ween out the people who are only here to troll or play for themselves (they'll die constantly, get angry and quit.) playing 100 hours of a game shows that they're dedicated and want to learn it. they already know the basics, they'll pick up on the rest fairly quickly especially if they're not antisocial and talk/ask questions. the game goes on sale for $1 every month or so, anybody who's interested in it remotely from the demo is going to buy it then no matter how many hours they've put into it, especially if it means being able to play with better players without having to sink 100 or 300 hours, at least one of them is semi-reasonable.
I really like the idea of making a rookie-only demo version of NS2, but I think the numbers you suggested are not ideal. The major downside I see to your current suggestion is that it's still possible for completely new players (0-5 hours) to face against players who already have picked up the very basics and are starting to learn new tricks (+50 hours). This will again create too much of a skill gap within rookie-only servers imo. Rookie-only servers should really only have the greenest of green players on them, people who don't know how to walljump or move properly with a higher lifeform, who stumble all over the map, who don't recognize the importance of resources.
So I'd suggest to limit the free rookie-only demo time to like 20 hours (and have all the rookie-only servers run one map only). If after that time they want to continue playing, they have to buy it. Anyone with over 20 hours played is no longer allowed on rookie-only servers.
Combat releases on 31st October, and it is going to be very popular, it may even out peak NS2 peak players, but for sure it will cost UWE some of their NS2 playerbase.
Then to top it all off, UWE themselves are releasing an early access of Subnautica on 31st October. I think UWE are really moving on, and while I'm sure they'd love NS2 to be a continued success, from a business perspective, I don't think NS2 is really a part of their life anymore.
What's the answer? Cuz I honestly have no idea with 1700 hours in this game.
With 1400, I do know it is quicker but not to what degree.
Wait... subnautica early access on the 31st? If that's true... well... they kinda peed on faultlines... definitely won't help.
I think it's important that we don't actually call it a demo, or limit the playtime until they are forced to pay. I know that I called it a demo on my original post, but in hindsight this was a mistake. Demos have negative connotations attached to it that we want to avoid (namely, the idea that demos aren't feature complete).
Basically, I want NS2 to be "F2P" in the marketing sense, but keep the barrier up for the "real" NS2. I can imagine a more positive reaction to NS2 being "F2P" rather than a demo, especially in popular gaming blogs like RPS. The trick is that we give them the entire game (including all maps) but limit them to rookie-only servers until they pay up or play long enough to be rewarded with the game for free. The number of hours before this happens is debatable: 100 hours might be too much or too little depending on who you ask. Me personally, I'd be happy to lower the discount wall to 10 hours, and the "graduation" barrier to 50 hours. I'd argue that even if players are unskilled at 50 hours to be kicked off the rookie only servers and put into the real NS2, at least they have demonstrated the willingness to play and learn the game if they stuck around the Rookie Only cesspool for 50 hours.
Ideally, the best way UWE can implement this is to do the following:
1) NS2 on the store is now free. Maybe even have it show up in everyone's library, but I don't think Steam does that for free games anymore.
2) Add a DLC option to get them out of the rookie only servers. Call this DLC "Rookie School Graduation" or something similar. Any other DLC (Shadow, Deluxue, etc) automatically includes Rookie School Graduation.
3) While F2P rookies are playing in their little rookie-only paradise (heh), show a popup at the end of every round, showing the following info:
4) UWE can revamp their badge system or add in achievements if they want to. I hate achievements, but other games seem to implement them just fine and it gives certain players the illusion of achieving something. NS2 doesn't actually need anything like this.
And all this talk of "graduation" makes me think rookie-only servers should be called "Academies" (makes it more clear that these are for lower-grade players).
As far as the skill gap between players with 50-100 hrs, and 0-5, I don't really think it will be a problem. In fact, it may be more beneficial to have brand new players learning from people who have just gone through that same experience.
I know that I have a hard time understanding the issues brand new players have since I learned on ns1 so long ago...its been almost 10 years since I first learned that the floor was lava.
My only concern is if the work required to make these servers/conditions happen is even realistic....
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/comment/2219111/#Comment_2219111
However, I'm curious, how would we prevent people from getting the impression that the "pseudo-F2P" might not fully-featured? How do you educate the masses about the difference between F2P version of NS2 and payed version of NS2?
It seems to me, that we would first of all have to be completely transparent with the potential new buyers. Meaning, we would have to make it clear, in a more diplomatic fashion of course, that the reason their version is free is because the rest of us aren't interested in playing with them, and that even if we did, we would just ruin their gaming experience as well.
The logistics of making a message like that reach the target audiences, is a PR nightmare in my head. It actually makes my head hurt thinking about it.
You're overthinking it :P
Just release the game for free, slap on marketing blurb "totally free! no P2W micro-transactions!" Which is technically correct. Nobody is required to pay anything. They can get out of the academy grind if they pay up, or else they can just put in the number of hours needed to graduate. In fact, we don't even need to notify them that they are in the "academy" until they are already playing the game.
The type of players that will stick around past the academy are the ones most likely to purchase Deluxe/Shadow skins in support of the game. Take a look at the active players in NS2. A good portion of them are shadowbadgers, and those guys didn't get the base NS2 game for free, didn't they?