12-24-2011, 09:48 PM
Interestingly enough, I like to bring up games like World War 2 Online in these types of discussions.
Basically after a few hours you can rank up to use all the "gear". WW2OL has a serious problem of motivating players to stay subscribed. Game problems aside, I think that you have to have motivation to move forward.
If Skyrim was subscription based, why would you continue to play after the main story? You'd have to have more LOOTZ to go for. Expanded storylines. But not many people want to play more storylines with the same gear. You'd want to feel even more powerful.
Even games like Call of Duty. Players hit the cap, have all gear available, and then RESET their guy to level 1 so that they can forge through the "unlocking" process again. Its part of the fun. You want to feel like you're advancing in someway and you didnt do anything except reset to level 1 and do the exact same thing over again. Check some "time played's" on these games. People are getting up into 50 days played.
Warcraft keeps going strong because of the gear advancement. Sure, its a single player based social game, but at least theres something to move forward to. New dungeon, new sword, better pvp gear. If you're stuck with the same gear, but a new dungeon is available..... I sincerely dont think that the added content keeps 11 million people subscribed. I think you have to have gear advancement, reputation advancement, guild advancement, etc.
Even if you just want to PvP in WoW, you can spend a few hours a week getting some points, and within a month you can be fairly well geared out and then your skill comes into play. But Im 100% sure that if you gear out your PvP, play for a few months, you'll be happy when the new season starts and the new tier gear is out. Because now you have something to strive for instead of just winning games.
Gear advancement or just general advancement is the motivation that keeps players paying. Without "advancement" your game dies.
Basically after a few hours you can rank up to use all the "gear". WW2OL has a serious problem of motivating players to stay subscribed. Game problems aside, I think that you have to have motivation to move forward.
If Skyrim was subscription based, why would you continue to play after the main story? You'd have to have more LOOTZ to go for. Expanded storylines. But not many people want to play more storylines with the same gear. You'd want to feel even more powerful.
Even games like Call of Duty. Players hit the cap, have all gear available, and then RESET their guy to level 1 so that they can forge through the "unlocking" process again. Its part of the fun. You want to feel like you're advancing in someway and you didnt do anything except reset to level 1 and do the exact same thing over again. Check some "time played's" on these games. People are getting up into 50 days played.
Warcraft keeps going strong because of the gear advancement. Sure, its a single player based social game, but at least theres something to move forward to. New dungeon, new sword, better pvp gear. If you're stuck with the same gear, but a new dungeon is available..... I sincerely dont think that the added content keeps 11 million people subscribed. I think you have to have gear advancement, reputation advancement, guild advancement, etc.
Even if you just want to PvP in WoW, you can spend a few hours a week getting some points, and within a month you can be fairly well geared out and then your skill comes into play. But Im 100% sure that if you gear out your PvP, play for a few months, you'll be happy when the new season starts and the new tier gear is out. Because now you have something to strive for instead of just winning games.
Gear advancement or just general advancement is the motivation that keeps players paying. Without "advancement" your game dies.