I really felt like it being free to play is going to diminish the quality, but (I quote my introduction) "after seeing the recent gameplay video, all my worries are washed away".
I love the idea that they're doing this, in fact. It gives everyone a chance to play, whether they have money or not. I can send my friends the link and say "Hey, check out this game." They can install it quickly, and jump right in without having to worry about buying the game and paying monthly fees.
I play Tribes: Ascend right now, mainly because it keeps me from flying out to SOE HQ and shooting everyone for taking so long with PS2 (don't get me wrong, I love the fact that they're taking a long time. It means it will be a better game). The one thing that bugs me about it is that they too do microtransactions, but they have it so you can buy better guns and classes. Some describe it as "Pay2Win".
It makes me really happy that PS2 is going to have aesthetic-only items to buy in the cash shop... and I definitely will be buying decals and paint jobs and the like. As I also said in my intro, I would feel guilty playing PS2 without giving SOE money.
Planetside has always boasted the quality that the lowest ranking player can easily still kill the highest ranking player, and the aesthetic-only cash shop ensures that the player who plays the game for free can easily beat a player who has bought every single item possible.
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