Introducing Need for Speed World Starter Pack

[Bojan]

A second paid feature, the first being the SpeedBoost has been introduced for Need for Speed World. It's called the Need for Speed World Starter Pack and to explain what exactly it is, let me just quote the official site:

Need for Speed World is a free-to-play game. After downloading and installing the game, you’ll be able to play the game for as long as you want without having to spend any money. However, you will only be able to progress to a certain driver level. Once that level has been reached, players will still be able to play for as long as they want, but will not be able to gain additional Rep to progress. In order to continue progressing in the game, it will be necessary to purchase the Need for Speed World Starter Pack. With the Starter Pack you will receive:

- Access to continue progressing your Driver level
- $20 USD worth of SpeedBoost
- Item Bundle of Power Ups (available to all newly created drivers in an account)
- One exclusive vehicle(available to all newly created drivers in an account)

The price is currently unknown, but as with all Need for Speed World news, we'll let you know as soon as the information becomes available.

[Hydro_PT]

How obvious was this move by EA.

WTF is their idea? Free-to-play game? Sure...

Making it impossible to keep leveling up and unlocking cool stuff is just a dirty move by EA. I don't have nothing against the other method, the SpeedBoost, because you can still get what you want by playing and not paying. But this is just plain ridiculous, I have to pay to keep progressing??

My money EA is not going to see, and as far as World is concerned now, I don't really care. I'm not even going to participate in more betas or give feedback/suggestions. Stop being such a bunch of greedy bastards and get over these methods of sucking money out of the players. If it's a free game, let it be really free. If you want to pay to get certain things, good, but allow non-paying players to access them too, just in a harder way (by playing).

PS: I'm probably even going to send a message to Drew (not that it will change anything, but OK). At least he will know how players are feeling (I sense I'm not the only one thinking this is unfair).

[ElvenAvenger]

Ah, here we go again. Another game i have to ignore now. I was foolish to think that EA would learn. Have fun anyone who is going to play NFSW, it was fun but suddenly they went over the top with paid stuff. I won't be surprised if you will be able to buy best cars of the game for 5$ right from the start...time to abandon the sinking ship, eh?
Good that there's the NFS coming made by Criterion.

[jayson74]

Completely agree with the previous posters. As a Guild Wars player, they have an excellent business model. You pay one time and have access to all of the content. Other items such as costumes or extra storage is optional and requires a fee which is fair.

The fact that EA is limiting the progression of players is just plain wrong. Asking players to pay for vanity items/parts that don't affect the gameplay is fine. But if they wanted the money, they should just have asked for it up front to begin with. This ISN'T a free to play game anymore imo.

[BASGTA]

When I first read this via their Facebook. I told them this "free-to-play" game is really just a demo. It's the exact same thing as if they said Most Wanted was a free game but once you unlocked the second part of the map it told you you can't go any further and you have to buy it. They advertised this game as a "free-to-play" game, and that's 100% false advertising.

Of course when I posted it in the comments on that Facebook link they didn't respond to me but a few of the other guys.

Also, one thing I wanted to point out from the Facebook link they posted. Someone asked "Just one question. Once you buy the Starter Pack, will you have to buy other packs at some point? I mean, I know we have a cap level for the non-buyers. But will the Starter Pack have a cap level?" and whoever is in charge of the FB page replied with "@Eduardo - I can't say confidently, but I haven't heard anything regarding future packs like the Starter Pack."

Facebook Post

[Dr Houbenheimer]

That is NOT cool. I agree 100% with the previous posters, sure, you can ask for things with real money in the game, but to limit progression! Just not on. Why can't they look at EA's previous free tp play model in "Battlefield Heroes", you can pay for certain elite guns and costumes, a faster rate of XP and stuff like that, but everyone can still progress up to the level cap.

For me, EA has crossed a line here, and I think it will be counterproductive for them. Out of anger and frustration with the stupidity of EA, less and less people will be interested in World and less players will result.

They say people can play for as long as they want once they reach the "free" level cap, but I can say 90-95% of people dropping out almost instantly after hitting the cap, as they have no more goals or sense of a acheivement, the whole idea behind an MMO. Imagine for instance, World of Warcraft without the levelling or XP, you think it would still have 11 million players, playing solely for the enjoyment of going around grinding for hours on end without reward? Didn't think so.

Hey, it's EA. Get used to it.

[XCROSSX]

When I first saw this, I was like OMFG... I expected that they would ask money... But limiting the level cap is the most stupid thing to ever do... It would be nice if EA would atleast give the starter pack for free to the Beta testers....

[bloke12]

free-to-play... for a while until you want progress, kinda crappy EA, kinda crappy.

[Bojan]

What would be the fair price for this starter pack then?
$1, $2, $5, $10 ?

[MarioManeski]

I agree with all the guys above me, and I think that very soon-there will be a pirated version,just like WoW.So,my idea was that you should sell the game on DVD, for a fair price of around 20$ or less,because most of us who live on the balcan don't have the money to afford spending hundreds of $ on a game.So,make it a cheap game, and the starter pack should be around 10$, containing everything BUT the level thingie,because that would be unlocked instantly after purchase!Personally,I might buy the game that way, but I don't know about the other guys,so,EA,be4 u do it again, try learning from Drift City,because it's an awzum game.Sry 4 da bad grammar,writing this on my Itouch.

[Dr Houbenheimer]

@ Bojan, I would probably say $5 (max), that would seem reasonable, but $1 or $2 if they have more packs you need to get later on. From that, we can assume that EA will double it to $10 XD

[J-J Studios]

Oh, well. It's EA we're talking about after all. Not so surprised by any stupid move they make.

Plus, a company as EA can't just make products and give them away for free.. how unfair it may be to us, they just won't. EA should've never claimed it was a free game in the first place though.

[BASGTA]

What would be the fair price for this starter pack then?
$1, $2, $5, $10 ?

They should have a donation feature in the game, but all the donations would go strictly to making NFS World better. Then again, but most people would just ignore that feature because it's EA. It's not so much the price for me, it's the fact the repeatedly said it's a free-to-play game, then they come out with this.

[KammyworldRacerGT4]

Seriously, guys. It really is a free-to-play game. To me this is a few extra features for those who buy this starter pack. It's no different from other MMOs that do this sort of thing. Runescape does it. BattleOn Games does it. Hell, Warcraft (as bad as THAT game is) does it.

It's stuff like this that makes me wonder if the franchise really is heading down a hole on its own or if it's being pushed down a hole by insatiable fans (like a certain hedgehog we all know), retro and modern. Also, MMOs release starter packs, account upgrades, etc. for a reason. It's so that EA can continue running the servers and solidify the positives of World Online and improve the negatives. If that pack doesn't sell, the servers are not surviving.

And Bojan quoted it in the first post, you can still play as long as you like, so what's the big fuss about? Oh yeah, because EA did one unpopular thing that is done ALL THE TIME so lets lynch them for it. Worse, it might be for the sole fact that EA is the subject matter so lets lynch them for anything. That's all I'm seeing.

I will say this, $20 is a bit steep for an account upgrade in a video game. Then again, I can easily cover that with whatever is in my (or my mother's) wallet.

[J-J Studios]

Well I don't mind paying a monthly subscription for an MMO, since that is what they're known for, but paying for the ability to level your account is not exactly free to play, since in my book leveling is part of the 'playing' experience.

[ElvenAvenger]

If anything, you can hope that they will come up with some extra bonus for beta testers, and then 1 month later release it to everyone for 5$. Unfortunately, World died. not even World of Warcraft does this....i mean, level caps? maybe charge 10$ so you can go faster than 330 km/h in game? or 0.99$ for every street to become available?

[Hydro_PT]

Seriously, guys. It really is a free-to-play game. To me this is a few extra features for those who buy this starter pack. It's no different from other MMOs that do this sort of thing. Runescape does it. BattleOn Games does it. Hell, Warcraft (as bad as THAT game is) does it.

So making it impossible to level up is just a "few extra features"? That completely removes the objective of a game. When you beat a game, what do you do with it? Put it aside, right? You don't keep playing and playing if you don't have any objective, right? So, imagine that EA decides to stop at Level 20. You will probably still have low tier cars. How fun will it be, roaming around World in your Volkswagen while most players have fun in their Lambos (for example)?

The franchise has been going down a hole for a long time already. I'm not even going to speak about that, I mean just look at what they keep doing all years. Fortunately SHIFT was a good game, and I hope EA and Criterion keep on the same path. We don't need more bad NFS games.

As for World, they say it's a free-to-play game. Alright, this has a lot of meanings. Even with this pack, it is still free-to-play: you don't pay a cent. But not allowing you to keep progressing is just ridiculous. It's ok if you want to pay for certain stuff earlier, like a better car or something like that. But let all other players get to the same level without paying. It is as simple as that. If they need money to keep the servers running, put ingame publicity. That works well.

IMO this is just stupid, and I'm certainly not going to pay to keep progressing. I'll go where it is possible to go, and then I'll just leave the game. It will be like any other game. Beat it, put it aside. That's not the objective of a MMO.

[KammyworldRacerGT4]

Even then, though, I bet there are quite a few bugs reported to the World team. I wouldn't be too worried about the cost (or existence - or even whether or not EA lied about this game being F2P - which I personally have nothing that leads me to believe such a thing) of a starter pack if I were you.

[Bojan]

I don't want to sound too much pro EA, but maybe wait and see how high the level cap will actually be and how much the starter pack will cost?
If it's a $5 or even $10 purchase at a fairly high level with decent extra features, then maybe getting the pack might even be a good deal. I'd say it all depends on the quality of the final product and how much the game will be supported after release.

[KammyworldRacerGT4]

I agree to that. It may not be so "apocalyptic" as people are making it out to be.

[Hydro_PT]

@Bojan: True. We don't know the price, and we don't know the restrictions for those who decide not to buy the pack. But, knowing EA and their modus operandi, I bet this "Starter Pack" will cost much more money than it is worth, and they will probably limit the levels so much that you are almost "obliged" to buy the pack if you want to keep playing.

I'm honestly worried about this. I don't want World to be a failure, the game has potential, but this things just keep players at bay, they don't encourage players to at least try the game. That's my opinion, at least.

[ElvenAvenger]

New "Free 2 play" definition made by EA: play and get owned by others for free, play and win for $$.

[kostis1993]

Ahhh... that's why I had nightmares last night...

[KammyworldRacerGT4]

But, knowing EA and their modus operandi, I bet this "Starter Pack" will cost much more money than it is worth, and they will probably limit the levels so much that you are almost "obliged" to buy the pack if you want to keep playing.

You can't just assume that EA will charge up the ass with the starter pack. That's just as misguided that Sega will make a horrible 3-D Sonic game because of their history of 3-D Sonic games (and even that is based on personal thoughts and likes/dislikes).

[Hydro_PT]

I'm just pointing out a very probable chance of this happening.

Just look at what most companies do nowadays. All they want is money, money and more money. EA has been this kind of company since I remember. Recently they even approved a new method of getting more money: pay 10$ to activate the online mode of a game that you bought in second hand. How cool is that?

I honestly hope the Starter Pack will have a really low price and that they will let players access most features without paying. But, and as I said, knowing EA well enough, I'm just expecting the opposite.

Only time will tell...