Over the last two years, the MMO scene has become bloated with "free-to-play" games. How free these games actually are is open to debate, but they're here to stay. Once upon a time, Western MMO devotees turned their noses up at any mention of micro-transactions and games that didn't require you to subscribe. The assumption was (usually accurate) that any game that didn't ask you to pay for it wasn't a quality game. In Korea, it was a different story. I remember buying the Echoes of Faydwer expansion for EQ2 and having a lengthy discussion of this new cash shop thing blowing up in Asia, and how dumb people were to spend money like that on a game. My friends were convinced it would never take hold with Western gamers, that we would never allow ourselves to be nickled and dimed by our devs. No, we preferred our fifty dollar annual purchases, and our all-inclusive fifteen dollar subscriptions. I disagreed- and not just because I was borrowing over half of the money for my expansion from a guildmate. I knew it would take some time, but sure enough... the f2p/cash shop model has managed to really take root in the industry. Sub-based games are the minority now, and recent attempts to hold to the traditional model have flopped gloriously. Of major titles released in the last three years, none are still subscription-only (that I know of). As of this week, only World of Warcraft stands as it was at launch- and the debate on how good a thing that is gets pretty heated. (At least in this household.)
Yesterday, Trion Worlds' Rift went free to play. I've been playing in fits and bursts since the release of their Storm Legion expansion, but it wasn't until I realized just how awesome a game I was about to have access to for jack all that I actually dove into it. Trion isn't kidding when they say they're offering one of the most player-friendly features matrices. Everything in game is available. The currency caps are reasonable. There are no level or gear restrictions based on how much you've paid them. Now, I'm not seeing a lot of the potential handicaps of a froobie because I've still got over a hundred days of subscription time left, but so far... I'm impressed. Their services are reasonably-priced, and the ingame toys are neat. You can buy costume versions of basically every armor set in the game, mounts, fluff pets, house items...houses... for between five and twenty dollars. If you subscribe? You get a credit bonus. If you've bought the game, or expansions, or whatever? You get bonuses for that. Your store purchases and subscription time get you loyalty credits, which are basically veteran rewards. The nice part, like I was getting at a minute a go, is that nothing in the store can be considered mandatory for game quality of life or performance, and even if they add stuff like that in at some point...you can buy credits with ingame plat thanks to their rex system. (Think Krono from EQ2, only usable for everything, and not just subs.)
So...yeah. If you haven't tried Rift, or you've been gone for a while, drop back in and see what you've been missing. I'm Roxina (you saw that coming), on Faeblight. Friend me and hit me up with a tell, and we'll smash shit.
