GameBanshee Forums

So I've generally been staying away from f2p MMORPGs because I tend to hate playing incomplete version of games, and from my past experience that's what playing from f2p games feels like.

But I've recently tried playing Star Trek Online, and it's f2p model is pretty good. You can easily play without buying anything in the online store. And you don't really feel like you're hitting a glass ceiling at any point. Most of the store items are convenience or vanity items that you don't need to play.

I've played other MMORPGs before where that wasn't the case. Where you pretty much HAD to buy items or play at a significant disadvantage. I've also seen MMORPGs that limit what you can play and what levels you can play (Everquest 2 and DDO). As I said earlier I'm not a fan of that kind of a model.

So my question is. Are there other MMORPGs that have more of a STO kind of f2p model that doesn't limit your gaming experience and sells mostly convenience and vanity items?

DC Online, hands down.

Dungeons & Dragons Online is great. I have been a subscriber since 2006. When they went free to play I didn't lose anything as a subscriber but gained the ability to use points I got for free each month to buy tomes I couldn't afford with in game currency at the time and similar options. The only thing I think I bought that couldn't be had in game as a subscriber is veteran status and 32 point builds so I could enjoy it on new characters on servers other than my main server. Well, they could be had through game play, but it takes a while and only unlocks on that server which is about the most negative thing I can say about the store, but it only unlocked on the one server before the store was introduced so I can't really blame the store for that. I remember this game struggling and it's a company I want to support so I am aware I have that bias and it is a factor on my decision to remain a subscriber as well. In fact, we have two subscriptions and a couple of free accounts for the kids. The subscriptions were part of a deal of thirty US dollars every three months instead of fifteen every month, and we have them staggered to not fall on the same month. The kids love their free accounts and we haven't had to spend much of anything on their accounts.

When the game first went free to play there was a group that figured up the costs of all the content packs. If bought from the store at full price it was eighty some odd US dollars which is roughly two thirds the cost of a year's subscription if you don't count subscribers getting five US dollars worth of points each month. There have been more content packs released since then, but if you plan to play for a year or more then it is probably still a good deal.

Lord of the Rings Online is okay. Until recently I had almost twelve thousand points accrued. I spent a bunch because expansion quests went on sale (I didn't buy the Rise of Isengard expansion) in game along with some tomes. The tomes were a ridiculous cost compared to the new quests. I don't think LotRO works for the free to play model as well as DDO did.

I have a lifetime subscription to both LotRO and Champions Online. Champions Online has some limitations on the free to play side that don't make much sense to me as it takes away some of the core features that would help draw in new players. I had been a subscriber to Star Trek Online, but I haven't tried it since it went free to play so can't comment on that.

You have me curious because up to this point I've considered DDO to have the best free to play model I have seen. I hated the EQ2 model, but the last time I looked at it the free to play people were on separate servers from subscribers and you could pay more than a subscriber each month to get less.

DC Universe Online is good, but it needs more. By that I mean all the basics are there, but it needs more of what it already has. In some ways it feels like an extended demo to me. A nice demo to be sure. It has me wanting to buy the full game if using the demo analogy. Most of my experience with DCUO is as a beta tester and an early subscriber and more content has been added since then so my primary complaint may be moot today.

I loved City of Heroes when I was a subscriber. It was the only game that I played for a few years so I burned myself out on it, but it should still be just as good. Part of the appeal for me might be because it was my first MMO if we are not counting MUDs.

Forsaken World is probably the best of the free Eastern MMOs I have tried. There is a lot going for it. The problem I had was I have gotten to where I never PuG (play in Pick up Groups) and I don't know anyone else that played the game. I don't know if things are still this way, but there came a point in my twenties where I hit a quest where I had to have social points to advance. There are quick ways to get them on an early daily, but it put a krimp in my playthrough and I dread dealing with people I don't know in games even if it is for just a few minutes.

I had fun early on with Allods Online. It has some balance issues to where you need to worry about grabbing specific dailies to horde an item even if all you log in for that day is to do that daily. You could buy this item in the item shop as well. I don't think I would have minded if trying to maintain one character didn't cost more than a monthly subscription to WoW. This might be different now as they were always tinkering with shop items and prices, but I haven't been on in a while to find out. If things still work this way then save yourself some money and buy WoW and it's expansions and play it instead.

I've played quite a few more, but those are the ones that stand out in my memory as being the most enjoyable amongst the free to play MMOs.

The greatest turn of with DDO is the fact that in the later levels it gets extremly difficult to get groups for the quests if you just have 1-2 hours to play.
The game is very entertaining if you have a group but alone you often get your ass handed to you. It is not a very solo friendly game.

I think they have refined that. All dungeons have a solo-mode now.

I stopped playing in Oktober and by the time I arrived at the dwarven district I was faced with quests that my rogue couldn't solo anymore. Especially if you are faced by enemys with different kind of resistances throughout a single dungeon the game gets extremly hard and frustrating. If you have to face wraiths as a melee you just bite into your keyboard because without the right weapons and spells/scrolls/wands you can't even scratch them.

I thought you played it earlier. I see the problem.

I know what you mean. One of my primary characters is a pure rogue. Soloing is a lot easier than it used to be due to dungeon scaling, but it still isn't a solo friendly game unless you play one of a handful of builds and plan it out ahead of time. Pure rogues are probably the class I enjoy soloing the least in DDO. It gets a bit easier later on (dual wielding rapiers that blind on critical makes a huge difference), but it is one of the harder classes to solo throughout the game. Sadly, the only real benefit to staying pure rogue from a mechanics standpoint are sneak attacks, a couple of rogue only feats, and the endcap. The ability to sneak attack is extremely limited when playing solo while leveling. That's why radiance weapons see so much use amongst rogues in the last five-odd levels.

Eight to twelve seems to be the rough period for all characters, but I felt it was six to fifteen for pure rogues. Radiance is that important to a solo rogue. I think with the newer marketplace quests and all the wilderness zones it is probably easier now, but my solo grinding with a rogue was from before the newer Coin Lord quests were introduced.

Lord of the Rings Online is definitely a good f2p mmorpgs.