Are you Elite? (updated)
that’s what Hellgate: London wants to know. And by “Elite”, they mean, are you willing to pay $10 a month to have your game be cooler than the plebes? Details follow:
* Elite subscribers pay $9.95 a month
* 24/7 phone- and internet-support
* No (server) queues for elite subscribers, with preference over non-paying customers
* 3 chars per account for non-elites, 12 for elite-customers
* Elite subscribers can store up to 40 items (instead of 20 for non-subscribers), which can be accessed from any char in an account-wide item vault.
* Visible distinction from other players. Elite subscribers are recognisable from their equipment and may trade subscriber-only equipment to other elite subscribers.
* VIP-Shuttles to remote areas
* Housing and founding of guilds are enabled for subscribers. Elite subscribers may attain officer/leader priviledges within their guild.
* Elite subscribers have access to additional game modes, including Hardcore mode.
* Elite subscribers and non-subscribers can play with each other.
* Costs actually depend on where you live. Subscription fees in the Asian market will cost considerably less, in accordance to the market conditions and expectations of the players and local publishers within the region.
Those aren’t half bad features…except, well, if you aren’t paying, this game is going to suck. Here’s what you don’t get if you choose to play for free. You don’t get Shuttles to “remote areas”, which translates to lots of walking. You don’t get housing and/or guilds. That’s a big one. You DO get server queues, assuming they will exist. Not Elite? You get to wait in line. Oh, and everyone else you see in the game, will be wearing/holding/sporting something to show they paid and you didn’t.
I honestly don’t know a whole lot about Hellgate, other than the few snippets I’ve read here and there, but looking at their business model, I can predict they will tank it unless there game is REALLY REALLY good. For one, no one that plays for free is going to like having their noses rubbed in the fact that they get less, but it will be prominently displayed every time they log in, see another character, want to travel, etc. That’s not going to make for a strong player base if the game is just mediocre.
Now, if the game is REALLY REALLY good, the non-paying bastards, the plebes, will use the free play version as a demo and then subscribe. So here’s hoping they know what they are doing and really have a good game on their hands. Or here’s hoping this doesn’t bite them in the ass at the very least…though if the game is stink, it will bite them very hard.
What Would Matt Do: Not only do I wonder about their new pay-to-be-elite model, I wonder what happened to not having to pay anything at all. Apparently the Guild Wars model didn’t work out so well?
Update: You know what really chaps my ass about this whole new system they are talking about? NO LAN. None. How can that be? If this is supposed to be the next Diablo, how come I can’t play it on my own network? I honestly didn’t catch that as I was posting yesterday. Now the game just went from a maybe, to a probably not. I played Diablo2 on BNet for about 30 minutes maybe. I played Diablo2 on my LAN for FAR too many hours. My wife would still be playing it right now if I would do it. I don’t know what they are thinking here, other than, “We hate LAN players!” or something.