[Airik]

It has been awhile since the last dev watch with me Airik, for that i appologise but now with this installment i intend to look at something different, Over the past week and abit i have been thourghly engrossed in a game that has just gone through one of the biggest transitions an MMO can go through. It has gone from a Subscription based model to a F2P game. I am of course talking about DC Universe Online, first and foremost i have to say my opinions are not unbias i really have enjoyed the fact that i can now play this fun game for absoloutley no cost to myself (after how i felt SONY handled SWG i vowed never to play another MMO produced by Sony Online Entertainment, i feel i can justify playing DCUO because im not actually investing money into it and so into SOE).

That said i do intend to be critical about the Launch of DCU onto the free to play market, see it went F2P on tuesday the 1st of November i didn't even bother trying to download this game and play it until the wednesday and even then on the wednesday trying to get logged in and stay logged in was a pain (infact i spent most of that first week logging in and out trying to load into the game sitting in queues that would then allow me to get Disconected because a map wouldnt load and repeating the process.) The server population is very high and Stability issues where rife.

Now A week after launch a number of server patches hotfixes and far to much unscheduled downtime later we have a game that is playable and enjoyable. The point of this you see is to prepare you for the hell that is going to be Free to Play, those of us that where around at STO's Launch will remember with fondness how much of a nightmare logging in was, it was not pleasent at the time of launch more people than where expected bought the game and played now imagine how many more people will be trying to log on if the only barrier to entry is how fast you can download and patch the client? It will not be pleasent i might even just not play that week.

However i dont want you all to think of it as doom and gloom because i feel Stephen De'Angelo has been very clever, the Tribble F2P build will be hitting Holodeck a month Earlier than the F2P Launch that gives them alot of time to test the build with a far larger playerbase than they currently have on the tribble test server, this meens that they should be able to find and fix any bugs that occur due to the transition before the initial slew of Freepers (free players) hits Holodeck. Cryptics PR training as clearly paid off as his spun this to us as a reward for being valued customers getting to play with it first (simmilar to the headstart those of us who beta tested the game had at launch) what infact is happening is we are the first wave of guinea pigs to test if the Tribble F2P build can handle a greatly increased userbase.

Do not expect the F2P launch to go off without a hitch Star Trek is popular im sure the number of free 2 play members will far exceed there initial expectations but like at the game launch and with SONY and DCUO some unscheduled Downtime a number of hotfixes and probably some new servertech later STO will be better than before, a bigger playerbase means reduced queue times for PVP, PVE and STF's as well as a Influx of new blood into UFP. For those of you who think PVP night is fun with 10 of us imagine it with 20 for those of you who enjoy STF's imagine being able to run Infected space and clear it every 15 minuites. This is the future Free to play offers and i embrace it.

[Grace Pryde]

Interesting read and observations Airik.

[Airik]

the idea is more to kind of raise awareness now of what the situation will likely be come free to play launch

[Chugster]

hmm, wont be able to try this....my sub runs out on the 20th and i cant afford to renew....so i wont be playing again until F2P is up and running