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Free to Play Starcraft II - Page 6

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Caihead
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
Canada8550 Posts
September 23 2012 06:51 GMT
#101
I can only hope that you could buy one-use destructible rocks to placed on the map.
"If you're not living in the US or are a US Citizen, please do not tell us how to vote or how you want our country to be governed." - Serpest, American Hero
ScienceGroen
Profile Joined July 2012
United States43 Posts
September 23 2012 06:53 GMT
#102
They definitely should go F2P. Even if they can't make crazy bucks off the game, it's a choice between going F2P and making SOME money, as opposed to keeping it a paid product and making zero money. Practically nobody is going to buy WoL once the expo is out. There's no reason for Blizz to let WoL sit there unused when they could use it as a chance to make a bit of cash and use it as marketing for HotS.

Disengaged
Profile Joined July 2010
United States6994 Posts
September 23 2012 06:54 GMT
#103
Nah, please don't do the free to play route crap.
Boblhead
Profile Joined August 2010
United States2577 Posts
September 23 2012 06:58 GMT
#104
In all fairness the only thing to monetize is customization.
Ladder colors, SC2 is a very diverse game, and has the option for lots of customization in the Unit editor. EX: you pick 5 colors you want to ladder with, If your opponent has the same color picked you get your second color choice.

Custom Symbols/Clan tags EX: As many know when you get x wins you get a decal, This would probably be the most bought feature. You would be able to upload your own clan tag/ custom decal.

custom portraits you can only get in EX: PCBANGS like korean flag, or other portraits. Lets take Xbox 360, you can use custom portraits for your avatar.

Maybe your patriotic, or you have a special national flag you want to show off. Since HOTS will introduce unlocked ladders which will essentially let you play from anywhere it would only make sense that, you show pride for your country. Having a little flag on the side of a zealot or the side of an SCV would be cool

Another thing is customized units. Lets say you are a zerg or protoss. I think it would be fair to have the option of maybe paying for a custom animation. EX; you edit the baneling burst animation instead of being green, the goo would represent the color you are. Same with Protoss or Terran, ex 2: colossus would be able to have a colored lazer that would represent the color. Or for Terran it would be like Hellions would Shoot the color you represent in a game. Or the lets say the little animation that follows a maruaders grenade would be colored the same color you represent. Maybe something like the Collectors edition thor, you would be able to add some special thing so people would be able to tell of customization.

Name changes, no explanation here.

OF course there are tons of other things, but these are the few that actuall came to mind rather quickly
lunchrush
Profile Joined March 2011
United States138 Posts
September 23 2012 07:06 GMT
#105
Does nobody else know how easy this is? If you have an account, you get a reduced price on another account.

I honestly believe that pay-to-smurf is a legitimate monetization strategy. Maybe everyone will make a smurf and Blizzard with make 1/6 of their profits all over again. Or just maybe, everybody and their brother will buy an account at a reduced rate, and the price of the game won't be the prohibitive $60 that's been killing their sales since day one.

All they need to do is make an ingame score with ingame currency like Riot's, but sell different kings. Not skins. Accounts. Sell whatever people will buy, just start trying things until something works. Sell another campaign. For fuck's sake sell Heart of the Swarm beta keys early. And don't make it your company's policy to complain that you don't know how to do something when you've never tried. This is the prohibitive thinking that stops LoL from having a map pool. Sell cheaper HD tickets to popular tournaments.

On September 23 2012 12:38 NobledBlood wrote:
All they have to do is give us Paid name changes, and it will pay for itself. That is my honest opinion.


And yeah, name changes would be pretty a pretty alright idea too.
There is no order in the world around us, we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead. -Kurt Vonnegut
Vindicare605
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
United States16057 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-23 07:10:04
September 23 2012 07:08 GMT
#106
The added problem is that SC2 would be converting from one model to the other, so Blizzard risks frustrating its already loyal customer base that bought the original product. (Similar to TF2)

I just don't see how they could do F2P in a way that would make any sense for them. Unit skins are out and animations are out for gameplay reasons, portraits are not really going to be a profitable cash cow.

Charging for profile features or anything to do with the arcane would frustrate the people like me who feel we should be entitled to those things because we bought the original product, or because they'd be selling user made content.

I suppose they could do something like Map Packs or something similar and disable the arcade for players playing on the free version, but all of those solutions don't sound profitable the way League of Legends skins do.

aka: KTVindicare the Geeky Bartender
Sylfyre
Profile Joined January 2012
Australia222 Posts
September 23 2012 07:11 GMT
#107
On September 23 2012 15:53 ScienceGroen wrote:
They definitely should go F2P. Even if they can't make crazy bucks off the game, it's a choice between going F2P and making SOME money, as opposed to keeping it a paid product and making zero money. Practically nobody is going to buy WoL once the expo is out. There's no reason for Blizz to let WoL sit there unused when they could use it as a chance to make a bit of cash and use it as marketing for HotS.



I might be wrong but I thought you needed WoL to play HotS since it's an expansion as opposed to a stand alone game?
Apolo
Profile Joined May 2010
Portugal1259 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-23 07:13:55
September 23 2012 07:13 GMT
#108
No ways to monetize it?

Pay for:
- Playing aggainst people higher than a certain league;
- Being placed on a league, or being able to be promoted higher than a certain league;
- Access to single player;
- Name changes;
- Clan tags;
- Being able to play on all of the maps available for ladder;
- etc.
Veerus
Profile Joined February 2012
Germany1 Post
September 23 2012 07:14 GMT
#109
NO! Please don't even think about it!

Considering f2p being an option doesn't mean anything. Blizzard is considering many other options that they will never make happen, i think.

I really like the idea of making something more available to more people, BUT...
...it also makes this game available to a lot of idiots.
...can you imagine the maphacker/cheater thread being 1000s of pages instead of 146?

From my experience many f2p communities are just terrible. The last recent one is LoL that i started playing sometimes a few months ago. I really like the game but it's much less fun with that many trolls and people bm'ing the shit out of each other. There are rules and stuff but if someone gets banned he can immediately create another account and keep going.

Although i don't participate that much in the SC2 community i love it and don't want it to become a place like that.

Well, i bet many people bought games for a similar amount of money as SC2 that they maybe played 6-8 hours and then never again. You can play SC2 for years... In my opinion it's more than worth it's money and it shouldn't be changed.

The most important thing about the f2p thing is the money, right? But really... if someone is able to afford a computer that can run SC2, this person should also be able to afford the game that he or she really wants to play.

So i think that the "more available to more people" thing is not really a strong argument. Good for eSports? It would change the amount of players, yes, but wouldn't change that much in the quality of the players, i think. On ladder yes, but not in competetive play. Maybe a few new names in tournaments, that's it. I really don't know if that's something that is "good for eSports". You always have to have a look at both sides of a medal and then think if you want to take the risk or not. Why would a company take a huge risk with a product they sold millions of times?

When i went to school there was a teacher who said something like this: "If there are 100s of flies flying around a piece of poo. The piece of poo can't be bad, right?". I hope you understand what i want to say.

What about adding a LAN mode to the game and make only this f2p? If people want single-/or multiplayer they then have to buy the full game anyways.
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13389 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-23 07:18:43
September 23 2012 07:16 GMT
#110
I read an awesome idea about a F2P online, and a paid for single player/arcade experience.

It might not be micro transactions, but if people want to play arcade games or single player they buy the expansion pack and then everything is unlocked for full use. Would invite more people to play the online who want to try it, and the same people who want to buy the single player story will do so.

Also: you can buy Dance animations. I wanna have a gangnam zealot to manner them peeps on ladder. GOGO
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
TheSwedishFan
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
Sweden608 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-23 07:23:43
September 23 2012 07:22 GMT
#111
I'm for the f2p model. But why the hell would you pay for a namechange when all you have to do is just make an new accunt?
"Suck it" - Kennigit 2012
Halcyondaze
Profile Joined January 2011
United States509 Posts
September 23 2012 07:23 GMT
#112
Once they milk everybody for both expansions maybe. But only good business, good idea really. More games should go free-to-play after their prime is over. Its a great way to extend the life of your game
CodeskyE
Profile Joined January 2011
United States777 Posts
September 23 2012 07:24 GMT
#113
i think it's safe to say sc2 will be free to play once all the expansions are out
BlackPanther
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States872 Posts
September 23 2012 07:24 GMT
#114
On September 23 2012 12:45 Niriw wrote:
-Buy Clan tags
-Buy Name Changes
-Buy unlimited access to arcade and unlimited ladder games (maybe limited to 3-5 games a day of both arcade and ladder)
-Priority on the match queu (VIP [aka players who pay] have a 1/3 of the waiting time in queu for a match)
-All options and customizations unlocked (Options menu: graphics, hotkeys, sound, etc)

And I could go on forever

Edit: just for typos


The day I have to pay for ladder access is the day I quit starcraft. Fuck that to hell.
myRZeth
Profile Joined June 2011
Germany1047 Posts
September 23 2012 07:24 GMT
#115
On September 23 2012 16:13 Apolo wrote:
No ways to monetize it?

Pay for:
- Playing aggainst people higher than a certain league;
- Being placed on a league, or being able to be promoted higher than a certain league;
- Access to single player;
- Name changes;
- Clan tags;
- Being able to play on all of the maps available for ladder;
- etc.


name changes okay

rest is just stupid
really
Dakure
Profile Joined February 2011
United States513 Posts
September 23 2012 07:27 GMT
#116
On September 23 2012 16:06 lunchrush wrote:
Does nobody else know how easy this is? If you have an account, you get a reduced price on another account.

I honestly believe that pay-to-smurf is a legitimate monetization strategy. Maybe everyone will make a smurf and Blizzard with make 1/6 of their profits all over again. Or just maybe, everybody and their brother will buy an account at a reduced rate, and the price of the game won't be the prohibitive $60 that's been killing their sales since day one.

All they need to do is make an ingame score with ingame currency like Riot's, but sell different kings. Not skins. Accounts. Sell whatever people will buy, just start trying things until something works. Sell another campaign. For fuck's sake sell Heart of the Swarm beta keys early. And don't make it your company's policy to complain that you don't know how to do something when you've never tried. This is the prohibitive thinking that stops LoL from having a map pool. Sell cheaper HD tickets to popular tournaments.

Show nested quote +
On September 23 2012 12:38 NobledBlood wrote:
All they have to do is give us Paid name changes, and it will pay for itself. That is my honest opinion.


And yeah, name changes would be pretty a pretty alright idea too.

This is the type of post that Blizzard NEEDS to see. Please, make this on Reddit. I along with a million other Redditors will upvote you to make sure these brilliant ideas are heard.

I'd like to add one thing, though. Selling tournament passes at a cheaper pass is a great idea, but going the Dota2 route might be worth considering too. In Dota2, you're able to spectate tournament games with a pass. Instead of having to deal with mediocre casters and observers, we can jump into the game ourselves and view exactly what we want to see. And sure, Blizzard should take a cut of the profit here, but the majority should go to the tournament holder to ensure that this addition does not interfere with their profits too much.

But the selling accounts was probably the best part of the post. Especially considering that at one point in time Blizzard had the UI implemented into StarCraft such that this addition would make a lot of sense. Does everyone remember when after logging in you had to select which character/account you wanted to play as? I mean immediately after entering your Email/Password there was a selection box that displayed your Character ID and Portrait. This screen would be immensely useful in implementing "bough-smurf accounts" at a lower price. The new accounts would still be tied to an email so it's not as if Blizzard is really losing all that much money (since two people can't log in at one time, this prevents an existing user from buying an account for his friend [though this isn't necessarily a bad idea]). Instead, Blizzard missed their chance with this and we now have the even more useless Initializing screen.

Another thing I read somewhere in the thread was something about how giving skins to units might result in unwanted advantages for different units (ie recognizing when roaches have burrow-movement). There could be an option that:
1. Disables all custom skins
2. Disables enemy custom skins
3. Enables only your own custom skins

Any of these would help remove confusion among competitive players. Hell, this option could even be something that you need to buy with Blizzard Points or whatever.
Flamingo777
Profile Joined October 2010
United States1190 Posts
September 23 2012 07:33 GMT
#117
By "Starcraft 2", does the OP mean Wings of Liberty?
Ammoth
Profile Joined August 2011
Sweden391 Posts
September 23 2012 07:36 GMT
#118
I see alot of stupid ideas tbh, nam changes and clantags are all good, custom skins as well if I can turn them off. However, pay for stuff that affects my game, like ladder maps and what not... I would uninstall within 5 seconds
kollin
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United Kingdom8380 Posts
September 23 2012 07:40 GMT
#119
On September 23 2012 16:13 Apolo wrote:
No ways to monetize it?

Pay for:
- Playing aggainst people higher than a certain league;
- Being placed on a league, or being able to be promoted higher than a certain league;
- Access to single player;
- Name changes;
- Clan tags;
- Being able to play on all of the maps available for ladder;
- etc.


Those ideas don't make sense. You realise the out roar that would happen if people payed to be higher than platinum. It would be stupid, it's basically pay to win.
Soma.bokforlag
Profile Joined February 2011
Sweden448 Posts
September 23 2012 07:40 GMT
#120
is it possible that they will add a monthly fee or something like that? i cant see any other ways to make money really
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