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Dear Funcom,
Yesterday a commenter on my blog said "Something went wrong for Funcom, that much is clear. But what was it?". Today I received an e-mail from you stating that you didn't know either, and would like to find out. You asked: "What would make YOU buy The Secret World? Let us know! Funcom is committed to expanding and improving upon The Secret World and your input will help us do a better job at making The Secret World more suited to you. So take this survey and let us know how it should be done!"
Well, thanks for asking, but I feel that I can't answer because the question is posed the wrong way. You ask what would make me *buy* The Secret World, and there probably isn't anything you could do with your now limited budget which would make me buy the game and pay a monthly subscription. If you had asked what would make me *play* The Secret World, and possibly spend money on it, the answer is clearly "The Secret World going Free2Play would make me play it, and possibly spend money on it". Probably not right now, where I am kind of busy with Guild Wars 2 and Mists of Pandaria, but I expect to be looking for a game to play in early 2013 at the latest. I see a lot of strong points in The Secret World, so if I wouldn't have to pay for it in advance to play it, and pay a monthly subscription fee, I would certainly give it a more extended try than the beta weekend I participated in.
I don't think that The Secret World is a bad game. But it is niche, and not quite my favorite niche. So for me it isn't worth a monthly subscription plus purchase. Not if a game that fits me much better, like Guild Wars 2, can be had without a monthly subscription. Some of my readers tell me that The Secret World has hidden strengths, which weren't readily apparent from the first impression I could gather in the beta weekend. Those strengths would be even less apparent to somebody just seeing screenshots and a mediocre Metacritic score. If you really believe in your game and think that people would like it if they just played it, I can only recommend going Free2Play.
Regards,
Tobold
Yesterday a commenter on my blog said "Something went wrong for Funcom, that much is clear. But what was it?". Today I received an e-mail from you stating that you didn't know either, and would like to find out. You asked: "What would make YOU buy The Secret World? Let us know! Funcom is committed to expanding and improving upon The Secret World and your input will help us do a better job at making The Secret World more suited to you. So take this survey and let us know how it should be done!"
Well, thanks for asking, but I feel that I can't answer because the question is posed the wrong way. You ask what would make me *buy* The Secret World, and there probably isn't anything you could do with your now limited budget which would make me buy the game and pay a monthly subscription. If you had asked what would make me *play* The Secret World, and possibly spend money on it, the answer is clearly "The Secret World going Free2Play would make me play it, and possibly spend money on it". Probably not right now, where I am kind of busy with Guild Wars 2 and Mists of Pandaria, but I expect to be looking for a game to play in early 2013 at the latest. I see a lot of strong points in The Secret World, so if I wouldn't have to pay for it in advance to play it, and pay a monthly subscription fee, I would certainly give it a more extended try than the beta weekend I participated in.
I don't think that The Secret World is a bad game. But it is niche, and not quite my favorite niche. So for me it isn't worth a monthly subscription plus purchase. Not if a game that fits me much better, like Guild Wars 2, can be had without a monthly subscription. Some of my readers tell me that The Secret World has hidden strengths, which weren't readily apparent from the first impression I could gather in the beta weekend. Those strengths would be even less apparent to somebody just seeing screenshots and a mediocre Metacritic score. If you really believe in your game and think that people would like it if they just played it, I can only recommend going Free2Play.
Regards,
Tobold
