Relic is heading in the direction we asked them to go!

They need to market this game better. If they marketed the Western Front Armies they way they did with AA, there would be A LOT more people. Even my friends that don't play RTS say the trailers for AA really had them thinking about buying the game (most of them did).

That is a horrible idea. Most "free" to play games becomes riddled with "pay-to-win" DLC and in reality are far from free. We are many people who charged a lot of money for this game, are you saying that when they finally fix all the bugs and balance and make this game enjoyable, they will make it free, basically making us paying customers beta-testers?

That's the challenge I was talking about. Turning a game into a real F2P and not P2W is hard. I've said that you can't compare this RTS with other game titles, but look at LoL, TF2, WoT, WT etc. They some how managed to make true F2P games.

The fact that we have paid for this game is true, but so did TF2 players. I my self think that if making the game F2P means more content and support for many years, constant updates, bigger player base, ESL partnership and big tournaments with huge prize pool, that would be great. Although I have paid for this game, I've had enjoyable 600 hrs so far for around 60 bucks and I would rather play it for many more years instead of it going into my good ol' days archive.

Either way, your points are valid, and it's not like they are gonna make it F2P because of some post on this site. I was just pointing out one possible (although debatable) decision that they could make.

Well, competition wide of course has nothing to look forward.

For me the normal ladder games are really satisfying. I'm already waiting until I can have my day at server after work today. Maybe it is because I can manage to play 9-12 hours / week only.

Also in other games, let's say CS:GO (please don't hang me for this), there isn't usually that big changes ahead. It's usually new maps. For that reason I'm a bit surprised that in this community people are always needs something to look forward.

Don't get me wrong though, I welcome especially all patches and big tournaments (even though I won't participate on those) since they are good for the community and for the game in general.

+1

I have a question.
How many of you who are making fun of the game (about esport potential) will take part on the esport turnaments when they start? I have a feeling that it will be a small percentage. I cant know that you will say but i have a feeling.

So much aggression about something that a few people will take part, i dont know man...

Do you think Counter Strike esports players care about gun skins?

- Yes, they do!!!

That's the challenge I was talking about. Turning a game into a real F2P and not P2W is hard. I've said that you can't compare this RTS with other game titles, but look at LoL, TF2, WoT, WT etc. They some how managed to make true F2P games.

The fact that we have paid for this game is true, but so did TF2 players. I my self think that if making the game F2P means more content and support for many years, constant updates, bigger player base, ESL partnership and big tournaments with huge prize pool, that would be great. Although I have paid for this game, I've had enjoyable 600 hrs so far for around 60 bucks and I would rather play it for many more years instead of it going into my good ol' days archive.

Either way, your points are valid, and it's not like they are gonna make it F2P because of some post on this site. I was just pointing out one possible (although debatable) decision that they could make.

+1

I could care less that I paid over 100.00 US for this game. Let it go F2P so that the ladder gets filled out. Its very hard to get better for me when I either play rank 10000k players then the next game a top 10 player.

I am too skilled for one and under prepared for the other. There is 0 wrong with a larger player base. Allowing Relic to hire more staff is also a plus as we could get balance patchs and content faster. There are more for a F2P model at this point then against it.

I get that people paid for this game but we have ALL gotten our monies worth at this point...

This. The thing that got my attention was Greg saying: CoH2 is accessible for most players in ways of understanding what is happening". I have never thought about this. He is right, when you observe a MOBA game you have to first master the game to understand what the hell is happening. But as he said, when you see a tank attacking infantry you can understand what is going on and who is gonna win.

They have to use this to their advantage, start big competitions with reasonable prize pool and keep this game alive. Making the game F2P in a year or so, despite having a lot of challenges, would be a good move IMO. I remember they once said that they have a five year plan for CoH2.

RTS games are challenging and hard to master compared to games like LoL and they become boring for many players. But blizzard could keep SC franchise alive and going. I know we can't compare Relic with blizzard and CoH2 with SC2, but they can learn from them (I'm sure they do study other companies' policies).

I tend to argue, that coh2 could be far more entertaining then SC2 to look at. Because of what you stated and the flow of the game on high level play. But it would be is really hard to cast to its max potential level. Great undertanding of meta strats, reading the players choices and what they want to achieve with them. Incorporating the different little battles deciding points for many minutes while shit is going on on several places all over the map. Maybe even cinematic sequences, when big pushes are going to happen.

They need to market this game better. If they marketed the Western Front Armies they way they did with AA, there would be A LOT more people. Even my friends that don't play RTS say the trailers for AA really had them thinking about buying the game (most of them did).

Publicity and word of mouth will always defeat any amount of advertising.

For good publicity and favorable word of mouth advertising you need happy customers.

Trust me, as someone who knows thing or two about advertising and marketing. Throwing money on advertising product with bad publicity and unfavorable word of mouth is a losing battle.

We live in a world where anyone can comment and leave their opinion for someone else to read. Most people will see COH2 Advertising/Promotion and read comments bellow. Those comments are overwhelmingly unfavorable thus making someone think twice before purchasing game. Further research will almost guarantee 'move on' decision

Oops, wrong thread.

Yeah there have been some PR issues surrounding CoH2, some due to Relic's decisions and others due to the nature of the game as an RTS and its insular community.

Regular, iterative updates will keep me happily playing MP and tossing a couple bucks here and there to Relic for a long time, though.

Publicity and word of mouth will always defeat any amount of advertising.

For good publicity and favorable word of mouth advertising you need happy customers.

Trust me, as someone who knows thing or two about advertising and marketing. Throwing money on advertising product with bad publicity and unfavorable word of mouth is a losing battle.

We live in a world where anyone can comment and leave their opinion for someone else to read. Most people will see COH2 Advertising/Promotion and read comments bellow. Those comments are overwhelmingly unfavorable thus making someone think twice before purchasing game. Further research will almost guarantee 'move on' decision

really? people base their desicions on internet commentary? humanity is doomed, doomed i tell thee!

on topic:

i like coh2.

i dont care that most of you dont seem to like it anymore. i have my issues with it, but i can handle that something is not what i want it to be.

i dont think i have any right to insult/accuse any member of relic studios of conspiring to deliver a terrible game, merely because i payed money for their game. i could ask for a refund if i wanted to...

i couldnt care less about coh2 being esports material. it would be nice to see some great competetive events, but first and foremost im here to have fun and im having more fun, when i stop crying about every little issue this game has.

i wrote this in another post already, but i feel the urge to repeat myself: grow up (has nothing to do with age) and learn to handle a little frustration. it took myself years to realize that getting angry about something like coh2 was futile

now, please feel patronized and offended by my advice and let me have it. this is, after all, the internet

really? people base their desicions on internet commentary? humanity is doomed, doomed i tell thee!

on topic:

i like coh2.

i dont care that most of you dont seem to like it anymore. i have my issues with it, but i can handle that something is not what i want it to be.

i dont think i have any right to insult/accuse any member of relic studios of conspiring to deliver a terrible game, merely because i payed money for their game. i could ask for a refund if i wanted to...

i couldnt care less about coh2 being esports material. it would be nice to see some great competetive events, but first and foremost im here to have fun and im having more fun, when i stop crying about every little issue this game has.

i wrote this in another post already, but i feel the urge to repeat myself: grow up (has nothing to do with age) and learn to handle a little frustration. it took myself years to realize that getting angry about something like coh2 was futile

now, please feel patronized and offended by my advice and let me have it. this is, after all, the internet

Agree 100%!!!

That's the challenge I was talking about. Turning a game into a real F2P and not P2W is hard. I've said that you can't compare this RTS with other game titles, but look at LoL, TF2, WoT, WT etc. They some how managed to make true F2P games.

The fact that we have paid for this game is true, but so did TF2 players. I my self think that if making the game F2P means more content and support for many years, constant updates, bigger player base, ESL partnership and big tournaments with huge prize pool, that would be great. Although I have paid for this game, I've had enjoyable 600 hrs so far for around 60 bucks and I would rather play it for many more years instead of it going into my good ol' days archive.

Either way, your points are valid, and it's not like they are gonna make it F2P because of some post on this site. I was just pointing out one possible (although debatable) decision that they could make.

I can see your point now and i agree that perhaps it would be a good way to get players back into the genre and the title. It might not be such a horrible idea as i thought at first.

I have only played one of the games you mentioned, War Thunder. In my opinion it is a horrible implementation of F2P because of two reasons.
1. They have made the grind so horribly tedious and slow that you are almost forced to spend money to enjoy the game. Some one had counted on how long it would take to unlock all the planes (and tanks) without buying premium, i can't remember the exact numbers but if i recall correctly it was about 8 years or something. That's insane. CoH 2 is heading in the same direction with the random war spoils, and i really hope they reverse the course.
2. Some of the premium planes are (or was when i played) blatantly overpowered. I remember one of the last game i played, it was germans vs americans and 90% of the enemy team flew the premium spitfire. They completely out climbed our whole team and sealclubbed us to death with very few losses, after that i though "screw this" and uninstalled the game. CoH2 has had these tendencies with some of the commanders launched but after massive criticism have nerfed said commanders so i hope this will not be the case with CoH.

All in all, i think if they can make a F2P game and avoid these two big issues i think it might be a success. I still think though, that us "paying beta testers" should get some kind of compensation the F2P people will not. A custom (non-overpowered) commander or something. Just as a gist, a "thanks for your time and sorry for the bugs".

i like coh2.

i dont care that most of you dont seem to like it anymore. i have my issues with it, but i can handle that something is not what i want it to be. (...)

-snip-

Well said, spam.r33k. I fully agree.

i couldnt care less about coh2 being esports material. it would be nice to see some great competetive events, but first and foremost im here to have fun and im having more fun, when i stop crying about every little issue this game has.

I care.

Certainly not because I am a good player, but because events makes me want to play the game, try out new stuff. It's a reason for me to want to improve myself. It inspires and it makes more new people play the game, meaning I get a better match when in automatch. It keeps the game fresh without adding new content.

Honestly, to the people who don't care, I just don't think you see the benefits. Sure, there is excessive whining on the boards, but not caring doesn't show some kind of soulful maturity, just a lack of vision.

IMHO of course.

I care.

Certainly not because I am a good player, but because events makes me want to play the game, try out new stuff. It's a reason for me to want to improve myself. It inspires and it makes more new people play the game, meaning I get a better match when in automatch. It keeps the game fresh without adding new content.

Honestly, to the people who don't care, I just don't think you see the benefits. Sure, there is excessive whining on the boards, but not caring doesn't show some kind of soulful maturity, just a lack of vision.

IMHO of course.

my statement was in regards to me not having fun. if coh2 had thousands of competetive players and i still could not enjoy it, i wouldnt play (i stopped playing dota for the same reason. it is competetive but the general population of players makes me want to abandon humanity and live with the martians). that said, i do enjoy coh2 (if im actually able to play) to a certain degree without the aforementioned #esports

All in all, i think if they can make a F2P game and avoid these two big issues i think it might be a success. I still think though, that us "paying beta testers" should get some kind of compensation the F2P people will not. A custom (non-overpowered) commander or something. Just as a gist, a "thanks for your time and sorry for the bugs".

Of course, why not. If they ever gonna make that decision, they will give us something in return. Things like tons of Skins and faceplates (which are easy to design) and bulletins all based on how much you have paid for the game. We have also had a couple of good years with this game and will have a head-start against new players.

PS: The "beta-selling syndrome" (I don't know the exact marketing term if there is any) is quit common in the industry right now. You can find a buttload of games which have been in alpha for years, and they may never end up as expected. One example is "NETHER", it's been in "development" and beta phase for quit some time now, and the devs mentioned that they are working on another game. Even WT and WoT are in beta, but at least they don't charge you directly.

PPS: This is not a thread about making the game F2P or not so I'm not gonna argue anymore, but as a conclusion turning CoH2 in a F2P game-if done right- in a couple of years could keep this fantastic game alive for many years to come.

A very simple and basic way to implement F2P in CoH2 would be to just make the vanilla factions F2P in multiplayer. Players who want to play the campaigns, ToW missions, or the AA factions would have to buy them separately. The drop system and option to purchase commanders and skins on steam could remain the way it is now.

Whether F2P is the best way to go for CoH2 is another matter entirely but it would at least help grow the playerbase.

There are some game model where F2P doesn't apply well, or the market/design isn't mature to make it viable.

A game like Coh2 multiplayer with a monthly subscription to access 100% of the game, with a F2P area with limited functionalities working as Demo can probably be a viable solution.

F2P is a joke. The good companies giving us their games for free but "oh wait", we have to pay for some extras or new units or or or.
Such a BS playing with our minds and pockets!!!

I am sure that good F2P games exist but i believe that they are not that many.

really? people base their desicions on internet commentary? humanity is doomed, doomed i tell thee!

Sure more and more people do little research and make educated decision, but you always have proportion of population that will buy things because they look cool in ads and because they are bright and shiny...

'Internet commentary' is why most companies today, give a fuck about your satisfaction with product...

People don't seem to realize that this will never be an esport because of the massive RNG.