Dear NCSOFT & Carbine Studios,
I recently have heard rumors that WildStar might go free-to-play (based on this wildly spread Steam-DB Link). This is, without a doubt, the biggest tease that society has ever teased me with next to the concept that the Segway was some kind of universal solution to mankind's every problem. Well, perhaps the invention, nay the idea, that WildStar could be free-to-play is a bit beyond any of us in terms of, you know, the benefit society has received by having mall cops be easily identifiable as they ride across valiantly on their segways.
Comical genius aside, including preying on the easy to use mall cop trope, I do ask that this be a reality in which we all are about to transverse into, a reality where I can play WildStar free of charge. Let me first say that it's me, not you. I have grown to enjoy the freedom of choosing when and what to play and no longer feel obligated to give a single company a tithe to utilize their services.
As such, it's hard to feel the need to give you money to play your game. I don't mind paying for access to a plethora of goodies - these all incentivize me to play further. Accounts that are decked out with a wild array of cash shop items are my most valuable and I often work to maintain the prestige of having all of my pretty loot.
However, I don't really want to have 10 $15 a month charges coming across. That $150 goes a long way to feeding me and keeping me happy in the real world. While, we can all admit, the amount of time we spend on MMOs is enormous and if you broke that down hour by hour, then of course there is value for your money. Yet that data is fake, false, not real, nothing of reality to it. When I'm playing a game, I'm working, working rather hard to achieve something.
The entertainment games impose isn't something like a theater where you sit down and have everything taken care of for you, from your own thoughts to food. I have to utilize this keyboard and work hard playing the actual game, not to mention, most of the time I spend playing MMOs is chatting. Heck, my WoW subscription exists mostly to just message my friends who can't be bothered to alt-tab into Skype.
Let's get something straight here - WildStar is amazing. This isn't some official Ten Ton Hammer opinion here, no, it's just my opinion. I played so, so much of the game until the servers became barren and all of the friends I played with disappeared. Sadly, the game forced me away, not the mechanics, all of which I was enamored with.
That's important to note that, by asking you to give your game away for free, or at least not require a subscription, I am by no means saying your game is bad, just that your monetization is dated. No longer do we want to tether ourselves to a monthly fee for anything beyond Netflix, which at a lower price than a subscription will do all of the thinking for you, up and including recommending movies for you.
I do not want to say your game is bad Carbine, by any means. I love it and the lore and the gameplay. I just don't love having to give you money each month to play, but I would love to buy skins and cash shop items and even possibly pay for a subscription on months when I do want to play a lot and not pay for it when I'm just logging in to see what's new.
Let me consume your content in the way that I want to and I promise, I will play your game, and even support it. There is nothing stopping me right not from spending even more than what a monthly fee would be outside of the fatigue a subscription brings.
No hard feelings in this request, your game is great - but I would like it to be 2015 great, letting us consume it without a subscription. Please, pretty please, with sugar on top?
Yours truly in 1v1,
Xerin
