Well, this might be the ultimate reason not to buy this game. Saved alota money.

Well, you have a frist class and second class society. Anno domini, this was normal. You buy a first class, second class or third class ticket for a train. Today, we have first and second class, but these two classes are more similarly than Hellgate London with these radically separation.

I hope, this system will have no success.

It sucks to have a “peasant” class, but to be fair, charging this fee will allow new content to come out, and also provide financial support for mp. You really can’t expect 50 people to work for free. You get what you pay for, and free stuff generally sucks. Nothing is worse than a great game with terrible mp support, just look at Company of Heroes. There is plenty you can do as a non-elite, and if you really become so invested that you want to be a guild leader, I think $9.95 is not much to pay. I think Flagship made an error in how this elitist policy will reflect on the reputation of the game (encouraging the feeling that most people are “missing out on something”), but there is certainly nothing unfair about wanting to make money. I’d rather pay $9.95 for a great game than have a mediocre free one. At least that is my opinion.

Are all you people that say this sucks or they won’t get the game missing the big point here?

This is not a MMORPG … it is a single player game. You don’t have to play it online; It is not WoW or GW.

However, if you MIGHT want to play online, it’s, now get this, FREE! You can play with both sets of players.

And, if you wait five months and start the service, you get ALL OF THE CONTENT that was released in those past five months!

Ok, first i was like “wtf this shit sucks! this gives the VIPs a huge imbaness!”
after readig it again there are only two things i really dislike:
- 3 characterslots just are insufficient
- if the VIPs get new (harder) dungeons and new (harder) monsters the new items would have to be more powerful, right? so VIPs get better equipment than free-players.

i really dont care about 24h support or glow effects or stuff like that but you should keep the balance. i think nobody wants to play a game where others get advantages over you for spending (rL-)money.
in other words, the multiplayer part will suck if you dont pay, so you will loose a lot of potential customers.

my idea: as free-player ypu can choose to play either on the VIP server, together with the VIPs, or on a “free-only” server where they can play without the fear of beeing disadvantaged.

l00k @ my id3a itz t3h g00d!!!!!1!11111

>Big whoof! That won’t make them have any real advantage
>over the rest.

This is how it starts.

I think having a free play is an awesome idea. I’m not normally into MMO games mainly because you have to pay to play, which I find annoying and expensive. I know this isn’t a MMO, but it still has online features and it is good to know us cheapskates out there can still access them.

maintaining any game content and ensuring that content is fresh and exciting is a daunting and expensive task for any game development company..

I would think that it is hard to realise this until you actually work in a game development company. Not that I have but it isn’t hard to realize that you need to put bread on the developers’ table.

Hence, rather than to go all negative about this biz model, why dun you applause this model which effectively promotes game community and yet provide hardcore gamers with what they wan..

juz my view anyway…

I seem to remember EQ Legends server that did a similiar pay structure and it eventually failed to.

Keep in mind that the $9.95 value is a bit steep for not being a true MMO. I would consider cutting it by at least half or more. As a game player I can not afford to every month subscription price tht the gaming market wants to impose upon me. This leads me to having to choose one over the many out there.

I will probably still get this game, but I will be one of the peasants if I choose to play it online.

I’m paying 10 bucks to play Guild Wars is that what you’re saying?

Because it sure sounds like it. Ten dollars per month for an outpost where i can see my avatar. LOL.

Ten dollars to play in a party of five? Even Diablo 2 supported 8 players and we play for free on Battle net.

No thank you, i wouldn’t even buy HGL now.

I’m all in favor of new content post launch. And the developers deserve to be somehow payed for it. But to limit players who ‘only’ bought the retail game to half the item slots and one quarter of the character slots is just absurd. People who were looking forward to a game with free multi-player will be so pissed off by this that I really think it will hurt their sales.

What I wish they’d do is something like the system used in Battlefield 2142. Once the developers finish a meaningful amount of new content, you can choose to buy the booster pack online for $10. This may not seem like a lot of profit for them, but you’ve got to keep in mind that when you buy a $50 boxed game, much of that goes to materials, shipping and retailers. Whereas online sales are pure gravy for them.

i could pay 4-5 a month, but come on, 10 is like playing wow, it’s just too much

A system very similar to this worked perfectly for a MMORPG called Tibia (www.tibia.com). Fees there are only slightly lower there, and the quality of the game is very bad indeed. I’ve played it, and you will really _want_ to pay to be able to be ahead of the rest, or even, not behind the rest.
I like the concept.

I think what people fail to realize is that paying a monthly subscription is probably the least expensive form of entertainment…ever. You have television (with cable), you will probably watch less of that than you do actually playing a game, and you spend about 30-50 dollars a month for that. Now, if you don’t have cable you get some shitty basic cable which you still have to pay for in taxes. People are so against paying 10 dollars for extra features in a video game, but will pay 30-50 for television that they probably use less.

Now, let’s say you and your girlfriend/boyfriend go to movie and a dinner. The movie tickets alone will cost you more than the 10 dollars for that 1 month.

You have to realize…no online game is truely free, nothing in life is free. Name me one free onlien game and I will tell you how your argument fails. On xbox you pay 8.99 a month for xbox live and STILL have to pay extra for content upgrades on video games. Battlefield 2142, you need to buy the content upgrades or you wont be able to play with your friends on new map, Guiildwars you need to by an expansion which is 30 dollars every time or you won’t be able to play with people you want.

People, you don’t even realize the extent of the elite account. There is no major difference besides a few character and inv slot, with the privledge to make guilds (which is a good thing because guild leaders should be commited to the game anyway, so if they’re paying they are commited =P.) They will have no distinct advantage over you where they will be able to kill you when you’re 10 levels above them, or anything absurd for that matter. Go make an incredible online game and charge no money to play it, please. I want to see you all fail.

There’s no way that 90% of the WoW population will be leaving for this game, no way in hell, but I’d imagine a pretty good portion (Maybe even as high as 15-20%) would. A lot more will probably head over to Age of conan and especially Warhammer. We’d get more of the Diablo players that never hgot into WoW, and a few others. But all in all this game looks amazing, despite the monthly fee, but knowing who the creators are, the guys behind Diablo, I’d gladly pay the 10 dollars a month for an elite account if this is, as it will be, Diablo on crack.

As a 16 year old with no real source of income, im initially freaked. I’m saving up all my money for a game that will cost who knows how much money(hopefully no more than $50) and now I have to pay $10 a month to get over level 40 or play in certain game modes? But then I realized, hey, it’s better than WoW by $5, and it’s an overall better game. Not to mention, i usually get a new game every 2 months or so anyway, and if I ask my parents to just pay for a subscription instead, so much the better. But they should at least have a discount for bulk ordering, like 1 year for only $100. Oh, and 30 days for $10 is finding about 35 cents on the ground everyday, or asking a friend for a dime, and another friend a quarter.

My prediction about the ramifications of the 2-tiered peasant/elite strategy as opposed to just making the best game possible with no subscription fee separating the player base into two classes:

1) Maybe 5% of the original potential audience likes the idea, because they’ll get off in some way by flaunting their “elite” status to the peasants. That 10% buys the game and happily pays their membership fee to be a cool elitist.

2) 75% of the original potential audience hates the idea, and realizes there are other games they can buy in this genre where they do not have to pay an extortion fee to avoid being part of the peasant class. This 75% says “Screw this, I’ll go play Diablo 2/Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2/TitanQuest/Sacred/Sacred 2, etc.” Furthermore, they realize that by saving the $170 it would cost them to play HGL in the first year, they can actually play pretty much all of these other games FOREVER without feeling like they are a peasant. Or buy 3.5 brand new games of their choice and play them FOREVER without feeling like they are a peasant.
This 75% which would have bought the game decides not to buy the game.

3) 20% of the potential audience are clueless and buy the game off the shelf because it looks cool. They are not aware that the game will make them feel like a peasant unless they pay the monthly extortion fee. When they find this out they are pissed off, quit playing the game, and swear to never buy another Flagship title ever again.

I hope for Flagship’s sake that the money they get from only 25% of the initial sales they would have had, plus the monthly fees from 5% of the original potential audience adds up to more profits. It really all depends on how long that 5% decides to keep paying the monthly extortion fee.

Seriously, paying for hard mode? We have to pay them to increase the monster’s hitpoints or something? Paying for extra content, etc. I understand but game modes? PvP should be free too, I mean EVERY RPG has PvP. I’ll buy the game though since I don’t like PvP, I doubt anyones going to pay for Elite when that money can go to something better.

Subscriptions tend to make me feel that I HAVE to play the game since I’ve paid for the month already. I know that I can stop the subscription but say I want to play again? Its a hassle to start the subscription, etc.

Hi.
1st of ALL i Don’t play pay per play or monthly charges games.
i am finding that this game will follow the foot steps of games like guild wars & archlord which now have no monthly fees.

i was under the impression for the last 2 yrs until today that this would be a FREE online game & basically a mix of diablo mixed with a FPS type game.
I REFUSE to pay monthly charges for ANY game including this 1 & am finding that this “practice” of “monthly charges” will continue to plague ALL genres of games including FPS games.It’s obvious to me that dev’s/pub’s are milking us gamers for EVERY cent we own & there will come a point were ppl will just stop playing games & go back to basics like chess & checkers or maybe getting physical in some sport(s).

My final thought is that if ppl continue to let themselves be bilked for their(or parents)hard earned $$$ then it’s our fault when free online gaming becomes a “myth”.
Games used to be ALL about “user created” maps,mods,tracks,levels,cars,skins,models…..etc.
What i see here is the DEATH of what made MP gaming “FUN” & exciting cause u got “BANG for ur BUCK” EVEN if u had to pay for expansion packs.
I blame the downfall of free MP gaming on ALL the fools that have tooo much $$$ in their (parents) pockets to carelessly dishout $$ for games that should stay FREE.I pay enuff for my internet connection that i don’t need additional fees for my online gaming.

1 more thing to the dude that said this “pay per play” model is cool & cheaper then watching/paying for TV>> YOU ARE A FOOL,i GET MORE then 1 channel when i watch TV which this game will NOT give me & if ur so FOOLISH to think that a few additional costumes & level designs in the past being free is worth a $10 monthly fee i hope u SLAVE to all the future play per play games of the rotten gaming future.

I’am NOT CRYING,just pointing out that this monthly fee thing is gonna become a “normal” part of MP gaming.Games that normally SHOULDN’T have a fee will start charging fees because there are so many damn E-tards.Games like unreal,quake,rainbow six…etc will get the “bright” ideaR that E-tards have too much $$$ & they’ll eventually start charging $$$.

ALL i want is for E-tards to WAKE UP !!! & stop the “home coin arcade” syndrome from becoming a nightmarish cash cow.

What a pain!!!
The demo was already very dissapointing but this Elite feeis the killer.
So many people wont buy the game at all now, a split community is really crappy and you somehow wont get around to buying…
Tag the tubewalls with ad or lower the fee…
For FFSs sake.

first of all, the level is capped at 50 for BOTH free players and elites, so they won’t be a higher level than anybody else.

Second of all, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY, just wait until they decide to make a booster pack for free players or whatever they want to do.

Third, you guys are telling me nearly 10 bucks is that hard to make?!?!

Jesus Christ, I make more than that in a hour, I’m pretty sure if you’re 16 and older, you can find a job or if you can’t, get an allowance from your parents.

It’s not exactly that hard compared with other MMO subscriptions, and to those people who compare this to Guild Wars, people get more content through either a new campaign or the new expansion pack, not through content updates.

Which is better, campaigns/a expansion pack that are years apart, or ongoing content updates?

And believe me, the non payers will benefit from the payers, mark my words. With subs coming in the servers will be funded (which is understandable as they’re looking to provide large servers) – so all those playing the game for free with have servers that are much more likely to be stable and reliable.

Remove the subs model and suddenly they will have more excuses to offer a sub-standard service to everyone.

The payers will deserve perks and the perks they get are fair.

If you like the game, play it. If having an inferiority complex is likely to force your young mind to implode in a childish frenzy then feel free to impose your selfishness elsewhere.

So if u dont get elite u cant pvp? I hope not cause that completely ruins the game for me.

Well, i think you pay for quality, this game looks rly nice and i dont mind paying 10$ so i can get new content and enjoy game to full. Come to think about it, 9mln ppl pay 15euro for WoW (including me :>) to just play it, you CAN pay twice less to get more and more conent, is that rly expnesive compared to other games and without comparing it to anything? 10$ isnt that much money.

i’m sad to see all these whiners out here. for those that pit this subscription model against Guild Wars (for which i bought and played all expansions), FSS is NOT FORCING anyone to subscribe. Guild Wars updates content through expansion packs, while HGL expands through the subscription model (also hinted that they might bundle these updates into expansions for non-subscribers).

second, refusing to play a game on principle of their partial subscription model is a childish action. if you dislike game genre, then don’t play. if you dislike the content, then don’t play. if the game is sub-par, then don’t play. but if they allow the OPTION of a subscription, then don’t refuse to play because of that feature. FSS isn’t expecting and requiring people to pay to play. they are hoping people will pay so that they can make money and provide content updates (expecting companies to not attempt to make money is ridiculous).

finally, HGL is by no means a sub-standard game. you can not compare a beta or demo to other released and updated games. and while the gameplay style of HGL isn’t revolutionary (following the footsteps of diablo 2), gameplay isn’t the only factor that goes into a game. server stability, graphics, content, replayability, and even customer service are all important factors that go into a game, yet very few people acknowledge those when comparing games. to those that feel hardcore mode should be free, consider this. the founders of FSS are the core creators of diablo 2. you all owe hardcore mode to them. if they feel hardcore mode is a perk for subscribers only, that is their say, and i’m more inclined to agree with them than the average, uninformed gamer.

***PS*** $9.95 is a relatively low price. no gamer has the right to decide if games should be free. companies are the ones that decide how much to charge (you don’t go storming out of walmart when you find out food prices have gone up, you whine a bit and deal with it).

to the person saying paying for TV gives you multiple channels, YOU CAN’T WATCH ALL THOSE CHANNELS AT THE SAME TIME. the comparison is hours of gaming fun vs. hours of T.V. fun, not channels of T.V. vs. modes of gameplay (that would make a batch of minigames the best “bang for the buck” choice).

I will be encouraging clan members to get this game …

HOWEVER ! I’m paying 90$ australian for this game and I get 3 slots online ? Haha nothing like encouraging people to crack the servers and make an emulator hey ?

I don’t see this lasting very long before it gets completely cut this game had some serious potential online but now its going to get torrent’d to high hell which will cost the HGL team a hell of alot more than they could possibly make from a 9.95 monthly fee.

to those of you saying “o but you don’t have to pay” Your right but 3 slots ? and a halved stash ? ok do me a favour give me the ability to buy an extra character slot for a one time fee of 5 bucks to get another character slot.

ok so its saying it will cost me less as I live in the asain region … I wouldn’t mind betting it will cost me more to connect to a high ping server.

I have a feeling this idea will be the downfall of HGL.

Take a leaf from guildwars let me buy cool looking gear and character slots that don’t give me the visible label of “elite”
and make everyone else second class.

well, i duno….d2 was great and the awesome part of it was not having to pay to play multiplayer. and how long has d2 been around?….exactly…and how much have they made?….exactly…even w/o charging a monthly. hell, i STILL play d2 after all these years….it was just that good. the depression of no d3 that has lingered all these years could have gone away…with the release of HGL, now that hope of a COMPLETE “d3″ that could compete with the greatness of d2 is long lost. sometimes i wonder how Roeper could turn his back on his d2 faithful.

$10…. agreed, its too much for having a “different” online experience for not being a full MMO and the amount definitely needs to change. I didn’t make the move to WoW or any of the others for just the reason of havin to blow the $ to buy the game and then an exorbitant amount monthly so you get everything along with it? cmon now….overkill is overkill. Buying the game is enough and you should get what was intended with all whistles n gadgets……how bout a complete game?. Many other multiplayer games (oh and uh single player games too O.o … cough cough…. oblivion cough cough) have had no problem keeping their businesses afloat based on sales alone…and in actuality the fees kill most games nowadays because you end up buying the game multiple times a year when you should buy it once. the solution is solid games with LONGEVITY, which are few and far between nowadays.

-disgruntled

Btw disgruntled.

You wouldnt happen to notice that the company that made diablo 2 is called bliszzard and that they sell alot of other games like starcraft and warcraft and nowadays wow. They have a HUMONGOUS budget. Also they get sponsored with servers, here in sweden Telia has the servers and they get good PR for that.

10$ a month seems a little much for flashier weapons and some extra storage space. A lot of the people who will be playing HGL also play games like WoW where they’re already paying a monthly a fee. So in their minds they can either pay 25$ a month to play both games or just play one. HGL has gotten mixed reviews so when it comes down to “Do I really want to waste money on this game?” The answer is no. Maybe once the game picks up speed subscribing won’t seem nearly as “outrageous”.

However $9.95 in general is just too much, take it down to $5.99 and you’d see a lot more subscriptions. Although it’s just a measly four dollars cheaper it seems like a lot less in the eyes of the consumer.

We live in a world driven by money soon enough all mmos will cost money, if you don’t like it tough go do something else.

wtf i must pay 9dollar shit game

Well not to complain one way or the other, but I can also give my thoughts about this.

If a person wants to pay the 10 a month, more power to them for all the updates and extras, which I think is only fair. (4.99 a month sounds better to me and I would pay that).

Anyways…
I think Spooler made a nice suggestion
“Your right but 3 slots ? and a halved stash ? ok do me a favor give me the ability to buy an extra character slot for a one time fee of 5 bucks to get another character slot.”

I might not get to play the game every month or might just skip a month or two then come back to it.
But to pay a monthly fee or lose the features which you were paying for just does not seem right.

I do like the thought of paying 5.00 for extra characters.
Also making another $5.00 one for a character to have double the inventory as well.

Things that I think should be given for free are:
PVP
At least 3 more character slots. (so a person can at least make one of each class).

Maybe even just make it simple and set it up with a package deal – where if you buy a new character with double the space for $10.00.

Then if I want to play another new game that came out and went back to HGL my chars would still be preserved like they were when I took a time out.

If anyone from HGL does read these, just think about the suggestions, for what they are just suggestions.

But these can be also a way for HGL to make $$$ also… besides the subscribers monthly fees.

I mean this could be the stop gap that is needed to make many of people happy to play your game, especially for the people who refuse to subscribe.
Whether this being that it is against their principals or available income.

In GW when I was into that I paid for 4 extra character slots.
In oblivion I have every expansion they came out with.

Cry Baby’s , About Paying a fee for Online , not a issue here 10.00 is better then like some game , when they first come out they charge 30.00 if it was a (MMO. lets see game looks great iv played WoW,GW’s,SWG,FFXI, Pretty much all MMO’s they Charge Same yet , you here can still play online Free yes so what you ont get Other Crap , they could of just made it Online Only & charged (15.00) a month yet its 9.99.

About Chart Slot’s your kidding me Most game’s dont give you more then 2 , 3′s nice & more as Elite even Nicer.

About Items/Guilds , Like Every Online Game if you Want More Content Pay the Monthly Fee , Beats going Buying a movie that you might buy for 19.99 that you wont like, Your Geting More , the people who are making Content do alot you know.

About the Cust Support , 24/7 Pretty Nice not to Mention how many of you Idiot’s will mess your game up & Cry like a 2year Old , so 24/7 Support could be like some Game’s take’s 3days for some Support.

This whole thread fails lol…. I ready maybe about half of the page, and found out that you guys are just repeating a bunch of crap over and over. Why is this thread continuing to even go on?. And I don’t think this thread will make anyone lower or free up prices on the game for something thats Optional. So if you don’t like, kill the QQing and just gtfo out of the thread

First of all, most of you people are lamers. They are not REQUIRING a fee for anything. They are not LIMITING levels of anyone. So you have a little less inventory. That will just inspire the free players to trade items more or sell more stuff. The other ‘elite’ content IS NOT superior, it is flashier. Whoopty-F’ing-doo…. I can live with a little less bling than the other guy, can you? If not, then you are even more lame. WoW, Guild Wars, and many other innumerable MMORPGs do not have SINGLE-PLAYER MODE at all. So what if you don’t have hardcore mode. Even if you don’t play it online, you have an offline you can play. Want to waste some time with some friends, hop on the FREE servers and go beat the crud out of monsters. Perhaps you are playing online and come across a mission that is too difficult alone. You can still ask for help, even from the paying members. So where’s the problem? There isn’t one. Stop making up crap about a game you’ve not even played, or perhaps had the advantage of beta-ing for free, and argue with facts or don’t argue at all.

Facts: The game is free. There are no level-cap differences. Paying members will look flashier. You can’t get the crud beat out of you if you aren’t paying, so you don’t lose your precious exp, items, gold, levels, stuff in general to some jack who has no life and lives on the game because he has no real life. Free players get access to just as many character slots as most games people have to pay for. 20 items is not a number easily scoffed at…why would you want to horde much more than that, and why are you hording items you aren’t using anyway?

When you guys played D2 and exp, was was your goal?! When I was playing this game, I wanted to be a ”rich” player, have a lot of stuff to trade, lot of stuff to improve my characters. And then, I would go beat some guys in pvp games cause I was strong enough.

What’s the matter of paying 50$( canadian ) when you cannot benefit from this shit?! Paying 120$ a year or re-install D2 and do the same things I would do in HGL?! I’d really like to play HGL because of the graphics, the improvements and all but…..if I have to pay 120$ a year, fuckoff. BTW, i’m gonna re-install D2 even if I lost my characters and all my godly runewords ( ohhh damn no more fortitude and exile!!!!)

I think the worst part about this whole thing is that to play pvp you have to PAY! Thats Garbage, that was the best part about D2, and its was all free.