henrycc265 said:Hegenox said:I wonder if VR already made some estimations concerning number of players at launch, 5 years after launch etc - and how big would these numbers be. Obviously they need to take such things into consideration for number of servers (not to mention games profits).
Ben Dean, Producer & Director of Communication from VR has stated that just 10k subscription players would be sustainable for this game
Just do the math. 10k * 15 * 12 = 1.8M/year.
Not enough to cover salaries for 30+ FTEs, payroll, taxes, benefits, etc. and fixed costs(office, elec., etc.) and cloud infrastructure bills. So not sure why he says that. If FTEs drop to <25, maybe doable. And maybe sustainable if they aren't creating content, that takes bodies.
Hegenox said:I wonder if VR already made some estimations concerning number of players at launch, 5 years after launch etc - and how big would these numbers be. Obviously they need to take such things into consideration for number of servers (not to mention games profits).
"The number of players"? Impossible to predict. So many ways things can get hyper-charged with social medium and gamers spreading the word.
The real issue is how do you plan for such a possibility.
Almost ALL other games of this type that have been released in the last 15 years have been 'instanced'. Instanced worlds, instanced zones, instanced cities, etc. So rolling up another server means nothing.
But with persistent worlds, things are much different. A new server is perpetual and there aren't an infinite number of copies possible. Once it's live and populated, you own it. If the server limit is 3000 players, then that's it. Time to add a new shard.
So if VR gets crushed with 200K people wanting in on the Beta (in 2022)? What do they do? Will all those worlds they created for demand get wiped on full release (in some future life).
Or will they do like some of the big KR MMOs and queue people, limiting access to servers. In ArcheAge release players waited hours and hours in queue to get on the server with their guilds and such.
I see this as a very complex problem for VR. And potentially a costly one, and dangerous as it can really damage their image if they mishandle it. So many other games have failed miserably in the past I predict now that it will be no different for VR. I suspect they know they can't afford to roll up 40-50 named servers, and in months have them each become 50-70% empty as the hype and launch craziness passes. They will have to throttle somewhere.
I hope there is absolutely no F2P aspect in the game. I'm not saying there is, but if there is some kind of F2P up to X level like some people have mentioned, I hope there is a completely seperate instance/VM for that so that they cannot interact with subscribers at all. Temporary F2P with access to production servers would be a candyland for gold farmers and other bot spammers... and probably compromising other F2P accounts (or any accounts that react to the links if not in an instanced server). Ban a bot account and blacklist the IP - no problem, they use VPNs so they can just burn an IP and make a new F2P account, or use one of the compromised accounts if there is no MF authentication enforced. With that said, the F2P players would likely be inundated with spam and the purpose of having temporary F2P (to attract new players) would be mute.
Just like having the Pre-Alpha pledges cost more money, when people are paying to play and be a part of the community at least you know they are there to do just that.
My $.02
Darch said:I hope there is absolutely no F2P aspect in the game. I'm not saying there is, but if there is some kind of F2P up to X level like some people have mentioned, I hope there is a completely seperate instance/VM for that so that they cannot interact with subscribers at all. Temporary F2P with access to production servers would be a candyland for gold farmers and other bot spammers... and probably compromising other F2P accounts (or any accounts that react to the links if not in an instanced server). Ban a bot account and blacklist the IP - no problem, they use VPNs so they can just burn an IP and make a new F2P account, or use one of the compromised accounts if there is no MF authentication enforced. With that said, the F2P players would likely be inundated with spam and the purpose of having temporary F2P (to attract new players) would be mute.
Just like having the Pre-Alpha pledges cost more money, when people are paying to play and be a part of the community at least you know they are there to do just that.
My $.02
Section 15.0.1
Question: Will I have to spend money up front before I experience the game for myself?
Answer:
No, absolutely not. The first 5-10 levels of the game (details TBD) will be absolutely free, with some limitations to throttle potential abuse. Nor will there be a physical box you have to buy (although we are not ruling out the option of purchasing a special, premium box for those who like to have something tangible to go along with their virtual world). We feel strongly that you should have the opportunity to play and experience Pantheon for a time and then decide if the game is right for you before having to pull out your wallet.
This has been in the FAQs for a fair while now. The details I've heard are about limitations on the free trial. No use of global or regional chat, no /tell to anyone unless you're on their friends list, limits on max currency on the account and use of mail system, etc. No talk of a special starting area though that I've heard.
