I just bought a yearly membership and loving the game more then I did with the "trial" version, but I can't help but to feel that everyone should be able to go anywhere and able to complete all the quests without a membership. I don't want to bash or say "This game isn't doing it right" or anything, but other free games I have played allows me to use the forums, type almost anything I want and let's me complete the story (if their is one). I know Kingsisle needs to make money as well as any other gaming company, but the other free games (apparently) live off of their "cash shop" such as Pirate101's crown shop. I'm not sure if this was brought up before and I don't want to be "that guy" that ruins a good game, but I was heart-broken when the game wouldn't AT LEAST let me catch ratbeard...

Mobex on Dec 6, 2012 wrote:

I just bought a yearly membership and loving the game more then I did with the "trial" version, but I can't help but to feel that everyone should be able to go anywhere and able to complete all the quests without a membership. I don't want to bash or say "This game isn't doing it right" or anything, but other free games I have played allows me to use the forums, type almost anything I want and let's me complete the story (if their is one). I know Kingsisle needs to make money as well as any other gaming company, but the other free games (apparently) live off of their "cash shop" such as Pirate101's crown shop. I'm not sure if this was brought up before and I don't want to be "that guy" that ruins a good game, but I was heart-broken when the game wouldn't AT LEAST let me catch ratbeard...

That's their hook though. They make you want to catch Ratbeard and make you want to become a member. They use this money though to pay employees and to buy the technology they need to make this game for us. Also, some of those free game websites get paid each time someone visits those sites or else they make their money off of advertisments on the site. Those people don't just make those sites for nothing, they probably get paid and you just don't know it. Also, because of how limited everything is in game to F2P, they should cut them off from forum posts because they won't understand most of what we are talking about as members and would probably make a bunch of F2P posts that would end up repeating. Everything has a purpose.

Mobex on Dec 7, 2012 wrote:

That is very true! I just wanted it to be free because I still feel like even though I'm a member, people who buy crowns feel superior to me and I'm use to game that you pay for (like WoW) make's everyone even. Plus I am really enjoying the game! but when my yearly membership runs out and they don't have that "59.95 instead of 79.95" offer again next year, I would have to stop playing the game I also don't feel as though there's enough content in the game so far to be a "pay to play" type of game

Honestly, with what they have done with packs in Wizard101 and what they seem to be doing with companions and wands in this game, they likely would possibly make more if it were completely free to play. At the moment all the friends I add to my friends list on my various pirates all seem to vanish or quit, they are still listed on my lists but are no longer around to be seen. Unless things change to make players more happy as opposed to the steadfast notions of the developers who don't get the players at all, I don't see the game surviving in membership mode (no friends = no reason to play). The downside of going all free is that staff needs job security, regardless of what happens things do need to change.

Max DeGroot on Dec 9, 2012 wrote:

When I see posts like this I always think, "This is a member who wants to play for free, and wants someone else to shell out their money to support their game play."

Others do indeed have it free to play from beginning to end, but every one of those that I've played, frankly, have not been worth it. I would not want to buy the schlock they sell, whether it be enhancements to the game or fan merchandise. Why would I want to wear a t-shirt that costs me $25 for a game I don't like, that basically advertises the game for them? I'm paying for their advertising that way.

At least Kings Isle lets you keep your characters during those months when you can scrape together enough to pay for another month. And when you consider that it only costs you $5/month (if you catch their sale on an annual membership) It is a bargain compared to others that cost two to three times that much.

A member who wants to play for free, yes
Wants someone else to shell out their money to support their game-play, what?!?
Who is shelling out money for me to play if the game was FREE??

If by begging to end you mean up until the part where you start getting missions to go Flotsam and those you've played....what, with? People aren't worth it to you? So forget people who can't buy a "free" game because they have been duped??? Makes perfect sense (sarcasm)!
Schlock they sell, who, Kingsisle or other gaming companies? Nobody is making you buy anything, it's optional just like buying a bed or a rug. Why would you pay 25$ for a T-shirt for a game you don't like, I know I don't, simple as that. You do realize you games can be advertised through other method's that's not T-shirts or backpack's, right? Your paying for them to advertise, what when you pay for membership or if they went free and you paid for crowns (I'm assuming your just talking about Pirate101 at this point)?

I would assume Kingsisle lets you keep your character after your months of membership, you payed for it! I don't know what "5$ a month" your talking about, last I checked it was like 9.95$ (corrected me if I'm wrong I don't keep the prices memorized) For other game's you pay for monthly, it's like 10-15$ not that far off from this game and it's game's like World of Warcraft, very recognizable games that you can go into a building of random people and say "WoW" and they know what you talking about.

Talkin The Plank on Dec 10, 2012 wrote:

All Free 2 Play games need to make money somehow. What he meant by someone else paying for the game for you is that when you have a game that is free to play all the way through, there is a business model in place where the top paying players, people who actually spend money on the game, are subsidizing all of the people who are playing for free. Someone has to pay for the game or it goes away. Period. So while he wasn't suggesting you would be begging people for money, he's saying that you want the game payed for, just not by you. You would like to play all of it for free.

The member ship works out to about $5/month if you buy the full year subscription, which costs $59.95, when it's on sale. It seems that they alternate have the year subscription on sale and the 60,000c bundle on sale.

In a game like World of Warcraft who have a full subsciption model, the people who play the game less are subsidising those who play the game more, since those who play once a week use up less server load than those who play for 4 hours every day, though they all pay the same. In that case, you end up getting more for you money if you play a lot. In this case, you typically pay more if you play more. To me, that makes a lot more sense. That's why the subscription only model doesn't work in most cases: it doesn't make sense to by $10-15/month for a game you barely play and there's no real way to get more money out of the players that play all the time.

Of course they need to make money, but look at all the successful free to play games that manage just fine, Perfect World, Aion (new), Fiesta, Flyff, Cabal, and maplestory (Only a few). He should have also been a bit more clear about that part. None the less, your always going to have the top tier players paying out the bum for a free to play game because the stuff you can buy with money in the game make you OP and is always getting updated. I always thought to myself I would never buy anything in a free to play game, but found myself buying a few thing's in 2 free to play games. The updates got really good and caught my interest.

The yearly membership WITH the sale seems fair, which is why I bought it, and because this game's really fun.

With WoW though, even if the people who are playing less aren't getting there money's worth, the people who play more still won't ever have a distinct advantage over the people who play less. Plus people who don't play that much should also make sure they are not doing to much that particular month when they buy the subscription. There is a way to make more money out of people who play all the time, it's called "loyal customers", people who you know for a fact with keep supplying you with money, if you also keep the game with mediocre graphics and (to me) bad combat system, your not spending much money and making constant money.
Also WoW you have to buy it in stores (which is like 60$ for the first expansion, idk, it's something like that) and they continue with many expansion packs, toy's, collectible's, etc...

Talkin The Plank on Dec 11, 2012 wrote:

That's the eternal discussion in MMO's and what makes them hard to balance. There are two currencies you can spend in an MMO: actual money and time. The best kind of system, F2P or otherwise, allows you to supplement one with the other to progress. If you have more time to play, you don't need to buy a very fast mount or equipment that you could just farm for. If you have more money than time, you can buy items that speed you along through the game like money and items that you don't have time to farm for. The best F2P games balance this out and I feel that KI has done a pretty good job as there is not much in the store you really need to progress, just things that make it faster to do so. That being the case, they charge for opening up new content. Maybe it's the fact that I always think of MMO's as subscriptions, no matter what the business model, but this didn't really bother me. Having seen most of the game at this point, I have remained constantly impressed with the amount of detail and production value they have added, especially with the hours and hours of voicework.

I can see what you're saying, but I don't mind that the game is pay-gated. I just think of the first 8 levels as an extended demo to help me decide if I want to buy the game. Ending on a bit of a cliff hanger makes sense in that regard.

Of course KI did a pretty good job with that system, that's because you have to pay to play beyond a certain point in the begging and then some (if you choose to buy stages with crowns and your not a member). If you didn't have to pay at all to play the whole game, then KI would be the shining example on what a free to play game should be like, but it's not.

I'm just up to Cool Ranch and the game hasn't been un-impressive yet, but just because it hasn't been un-impressive doesn't mean everything blew me away either. All the side-quests and some main quests all have been basically killing the same enemies in the sky to get sugar, or leather, or information, which apparently are all incredibly rare! That lowered my love for the game a bit, but I like how all the NPC's and crew member's actually talk instead of just having the dialog box, that's impressive and I would love to hear more! I still don't like how this game says it's "Free" but doesn't mention it's only free up to a certain point and the only place you can go to are Skull Island, Bloody Shoals, and the whale (Not counting the dungeon with monkies or the really small island with the water moles.)

The first 8 levels had me excited to keep playing until they game-blocked me by getting me too Pay to Play