When Bill Roper left Cryptic Studios, I couldn’t help but feel that great change was to come to the world of Cryptic’s two MMOs: Champions Online and Star Trek Online. It isn’t that Roper is necessarily a bad person, just that he loved cash shops with the kind of passion that can only be found between a man and Scarlett Johansson. Since then we’ve received news that Cryptic is leaving the MMO scene on future titles, putting less of a focus on the cash shop in Star Trek Online, with more to come.
After a year of mandatory subscription, Cryptic announced that they are moving towards the free to play model, ala Turbine, the cash shop will start offering healing aids, buffs, reward multipliers, and more. The subscription will still be there, but players will have a free to play option with limitations.
- Silver Members:
- Have access to all zones.
- Do not have access to custom archetypes.
- Have 2 character slots (Gold = 8).
- Have 1 inventory bag slot (Gold = 4).
- Cannot utilize power tinting.
- Can place 5 items at any time on the auction house (Gold = 10).
- Cannot access veteran rewards.
- Chat restricted for first 20 hours.
- Forums restricted to posting in certain boards (can read all boards).
- Self-help knowledge base (Gold access free live support)
- Do not have priority login (Gold gain priority)
- Purchasable for Silver:
- Gold archetypes.
- Adventure packs.
- Gold costume parts (have access to 3,000+ parts initially).
- Gold costumes.
- Gold travel powers
Hopefully Cryptic Studios will enjoy the same success with this transition that Turbine and Sony have enjoyed with their respective free to play transitions. The model Cryptic presented sounds a lot less over-encroaching with the cash shop, and maybe MMO Fallout’s favorite Cryptic representative will stop by and give us a one on one? I’m already in the bathroom performing the ritual, just stand in front of the mirror and say: CapnLogan CapnLogan CapnLogan!
Of course, this transition brings up the age old question: Is Champions Online going free to play DDO-Style or LOTRO-style, meaning is it changing systems because a forced-subscription model is no longer viable and this is Cryptic’s Final Fantasy (Dungeons and Dragons Online) or because the previous model was fine but Cryptic sees this model doing even better (Lord of the Rings Online)? The answer, of course, can only be found in speculation, and hopefully my sentiments about Star Trek Online turn out to be true.
“I have my concerns about Champions Online passing the MMO Turing Test, but I have a lot more faith in Star Trek Online’s long term viability.”
More on Champions Online as it appears. There is currently no set date for the free to play transition, however the beta will begin
MMO Fallout 