No trial for Warhammer Online?

[xannoside]

Okay, let me get this straight...

You are launching, for all intents and purposes, a game (while having source-material pre-dating WoW by considerable margin) whose sucess is still primarily reliant on bored WoW-players wanting to try something new, and you have NO TRIAL?!

Comments

[edgehopper]

They had a trial. It cost $5 to try out.

OK, technically that was the pre-order system and the beta. Ho hum. My impression from the beta was "nothing to significantly distinguish it from WoW," at least not in the early game. I got my preorder from Direct2Drive, so I can't return it--I've got a full month to keep trying once I feel like it. But I have a feeling I'll continue waiting for the big, non-fantasy MMOs coming out in 2009--The Agency (PS3), Champions Online (PC, consoles?), DC Universe Online (PC, consoles), and Star Trek Online (PC, consoles). Also, Tom Clancy's EndWar (XBox 360, PS3) which has elements of MMO to make it plausible to call it an MMORTS.

[xannoside]

Yeah, that's lame.

When every other MMO out there has a 10-14 day no committment free trial, that's just weak, especially for a game that inevitably would be considered a WoW-clone.

See, I would really like a Warhammer 40K MMO. I feel like that could be awesome-sauce.

Or a World of Darkness MMO. Which could also be the worst thing ever, so I see why no one would do it, but still.

I am cautiously optimistic about Champions (PC/360) and the Agency. I very much want to play EndWar.

[edgehopper]

EndWar is spectacular. I was in the private beta, and the extremely limited game we got (only multiplayer campaign mode, only 1v1 or 2v2, only 4 maps, compared to the retail version that'll have up to 8v8 matches, something like 29 maps, and a full single player campaign along with multiplayer skirmish mode) was still one of the best RTSs I've ever played. In a season that looks to top even 2007's holiday season of awesomeness (Gears 2 > Halo 3; Fallout 3 > Mass Effect; Dead Space > Bioshock; GH:WT + RB2 > GH3 + RB, Mirror's Edge has no comparison, but the closest (and Mirror's Edge is far better looking) was Assassin's Creed) I place EndWar as the most underestimated likely hit. If there's a midnight release for it, I will be there. If you want to join me, I'll be commanding a Spetznaz heavy artillery division.

It is fairly common that MMOs don't have free trials at release, though. They usually wait on the free trials until interest dies down a little bit, for some reason. LotRO and Age of Conan did the same thing.

[xannoside]

I know, and it's a strategy I don't agree with. There is really no better way to sell a continuity program like a free trial.

Game companies in general (I've noticed), tend not to be very good with their offer development, preferring to sell on brand, which doesn't do a thing to attract players who aren't intimately familiar with it.

Even more, in a day and age where you're specifically competing with WoW, and most likely for players who are already playing WoW, you're going to have a real tough time selling straight up retail.

[jlc]

Yeah, someone over at EA Just Doesn't Get It for not pushing for this, and Mythic gets it even less for not having this as a design requirement from the beginning. It seems absolutely irresponsible to design an MMO, especially one which wants to challenge WoW, without having a trial membership that delivers a solid slice of gameplay with a salient introduction to every (non-endgame) point of differentiation between it and every other MMO on the market. Otherwise, what's the point?

And I think that it goes to show that there are far too many moving parts involved in releasing a game in this market. I wonder why so many companies are moving towards this model rather than working on, say, more social features in a more traditional matchmaking-style multiplayer experience.

[edgehopper]

I wonder why so many companies are moving towards this model rather than working on, say, more social features in a more traditional matchmaking-style multiplayer experience.Oh, they are--but usually on consoles. The Agency, EndWar, and APB are all examples of "MMO"s that are running much closer to "traditional matchmaking with persistent world elements." The first and last of those are billed as MMOs (and depart from RPG style gameplay as more FPS and third person action respectively); EndWar isn't but has a persistent world with a sort of RvR system, and individual players' armies gain levels and promotions in an RPGish sort of way. Rock Band 2 & GH:WT are doing similar things in the music game world, with RB2's vast online world tour system and GH:WT's "GHTunes" and Music Studio features. But it's very hard to sell those games on a subscription model, because people don't really want to pay $15/mo. for a type of game that's never been a subscription model

[xannoside]

But yeah, EA really should have been doling out free trials for WAR. Not that it would make much difference, since the game is essentially WoW with a different art set, but still...

That's a separate, though related, problem.

It's kind of why I was hoping for a 40K MMO instead. For one thing, it would have been less been there done that. And the 40K ip is quite strong right now.

[xannoside]

No joke. You'd think that after spending upwards of $5MM (at least) on the actual development, they wouldn't choke on the marketing.

What's the point of spending that kind of money if you're not going to make it worth anyone's while to try?