Questions about this Game

[Awaiting_Abyss]

So from my understanding, you have to pay to even play any character other than a human? You can't play a dragon without paying monthly?

I was really interested when I heard about this game on deviantART, but I can't afford to pay for yet another game. I already pay monthly for Mabinogi so I can be a guild leader... :l

Anyone know of any other games where you can play a dragon? Perhaps a free one?

[Raptress]

The only free-forever account is human-only and allows only one character. There is a free, 14-day trial option where you can try out the dragons (along with any other race), but after that point, there is indeed a monthly cost. I believe the lowest price option is about ten dollars a month.

I don't know of any other MMOs that allow one to play a dragon in any real capacity.

[Awaiting_Abyss]

Oh well, thanks for the quick reply. Guess I'll have to stick to playing as my dragon pets. :l

[sparkcal]

raptress my friends yugi and osiris from chaos found a way to play free forever dragons they told me

[Hoberton]

raptress my friends yugi and osiris from chaos found a way to play free forever dragons they told me

Interesting, please explain how

[Hoberton]

I was really interested when I heard about this game on deviantART, but I can't afford to pay for yet another game. I already pay monthly for Mabinogi so I can be a guild leader... :l

Mabinogi is a free to play, free to download game.

[opaldragon]

Mabinogi is a free to play, free to download game.

Being a guild leader is not free.

[Velea]

raptress my friends yugi and osiris from chaos found a way to play free forever dragons they told me

Because I feel it is important to debunk rumors and stop them before they get out of hand, I am responding to this post.

No, you can not play for free as a dragon forever. Yes, you can in the short term player continue to have Free Access and a dragon character, however your account will change over to one requiring a subscription after two weeks.

You will still technically have "Free Access" when you look at your subscription, but that "Free Access" expires if you have anything but a single human character on it.

[Racktor]

raptress my friends yugi and osiris from chaos found a way to play free forever dragons they told me

If I remember correctly, about a year ago playing a dragon free was possible, but the bug in the system got fixed and it was impossible since then, as Velea had said.
Also, it's rather dishonest to play a dragon free not on the free trial... Istaria has little enough supporters as is. Either way, saying something like that on the forum isn't smart because if that bug was real, your friends could get banned for exploiting. (I think anyways.)

[Sslarn]

raptress my friends yugi and osiris from chaos found a way to play free forever dragons they told me

This one sentence tells me several things.

1) As it has been stated that this cannot happen, someone is short a few fries of a happy meal to believe this.

2) IF, in fact your friends found a way, and you just ratted them out in a public forum, you are now 2 friends short.

3) This also tells me what kind of character you are, to represent to a new potential player that it is ok to cheat the system and look for a way to be a dragon for free for life.

I would think that spreading this kind of nonsense in a public forum should be deleted and warned of.
If anyone finds my post offensive, Devs please remove it. And I would also think the above should be also.
But my thoughts and principals still stand.

[Awaiting_Abyss]

If this game has few supporters then why don't they make it free to play like it advertises? Give free a free character of your choice or of each race and then make it where you have to pay for additional characters and other things. Or even a single fee for a character would be nice.. not a monthly charge.


Yes, mabi is free. I played for free for a while before I decided I wanted to be a guild leader. Everything that you pay for is optional since you get a free human, elf and giant with every account. You have to pay for pets but you only pay for them once.

[Bahkar]

It IS Free to Play, what you describe is already in place, the only difference being you only get one character slot on a Free to Play account, and it MUST be a human, besides that I'm fairly certain there is the possibilities of the game being totally wrecked by trying to swap over to the style of a micro-transaction system, Istaria is a very old game, and uses a very old client and engine.

The devs do what they can, but short of a total overhaul of the game, I dont personally believe it's possible.

If I'm wrong, I welcome someone with greater knowledge of the engine and client to correct me

In addition to that, why try to fix something that isn't broken? Istaria is the only MMO out there with playable dragons, not pet dragons, PLAYABLE Dragons. The loss of income from converting to that system you mentioned, I'm almost certain would be a disaster for the game, and VI may not be able to keep it running in that situation.

I am not saying that WOULD happen, but from what I know of, its likely.

[Raptress]

Istaria was not built to take advantage of a F2P model and the devs have repeatedly stated that they don't want to take that route. I don't think Istaria has the numbers anyway to sustain itself in a F2P model. If someone can play dragons for free, why subscribe at all? Dragons are one of the few things Istaria has that it can use as leverage, and that is why they charge for it.

The free account that is already offered is honestly more than I actually expected them to offer at no cost. The F2P human has no level restrictions, and there are no "pay to win" features in Istaria, so a F2P human can actually compete with fully-subbed bipeds.

Going F2P would also likely involve adding in charges to a bunch of things that all players used to enjoy equally, and I guarantee you that that would alienate the majority of the current playerbase who enjoy being equal as players.

[LOVWYRM]

I sign the posts of
Hoberton
Racktor
Sslarn
Bahkar and
Raptress.

Can we have that sticked?

[Awaiting_Abyss]

The free version is rather limited. I'd much rather play a human where I don't have to choose a class. Personally they would make more money if they allowed the game to be free for any certain number of character(s). When I spoke of it to my guild they were all interested until I told them they had to pay to play a dragon. I and probably most other people would be fine with paying a single fee for a dragon, but not monthly just to play a character. That makes the game like World of Warcraft.

Mabinogi has playable dragons. Pets are just like characters. You can play them and do dungeons and stuff. You can do basically anything your own character can do, except you can carry your friends on your back also.
There are also other games that allow you to play dragons.

I apologize for ever having interest in playing this game. Thank you for your rude attitudes and good luck with your gaming.

[Hoberton]

I apologize for ever having interest in playing this game. Thank you for your rude attitudes and good luck with your gaming.

This is the first rude statement in this entire thread and it's directed at us.

[meepsa]

you are not paying monthly to play A character, you are paying monthly to pay up to seven characters per subscription, and we are not being rude, we are just informing you of how things are, if you consider this as rude, that's your problem

personally, I agree that Istaria propably wouldn't have to population to keep the game running even as you suggest it, as there would be just too many people going with the other system, making the incomes only smaller for the game.

[Racktor]

That makes the game like World of Warcraft.

Istaria was planned before WoW you know... the pay-per-month is also a highly effective system to keep the game up and running. Any other real paying system may doom the game.

I apologize for ever having interest in playing this game. Thank you for your rude attitudes and good luck with your gaming.

I would apologize for any rudeness, but the simple fact is that we are not actually being rude to you. We are trying to explain to you why other systems of paying cannot work for Istaria. We're listening to your suggestions and giving feedback as to why it cannot work; all of them have been suggested before. If you believe that is rude, then that is unfortunate. Good luck with your gaming as well, sir/ma'am.

[Zorbin]

Pets are just like characters. You can play them and do dungeons and stuff. You can do basically anything your own character can do, except you can carry your friends on your back also.
There are also other games that allow you to play dragons.

.

there are "no" other games that allow you to play a dragon race. only use pets to do work and other tasks. there's a big difference. Istaria has the "only" playable dragon race

[awdz]

raptress my friends yugi and osiris from chaos found a way to play free forever dragons they told me

Perhaps they cover the cost through the method of answering surveys for credit (is it Matomy)? I'm not sure I'd recommend that, though, given the questionable reviews I've heard about the credits being awarded, as folks question whether [Matomy] gave them all that they had earned.

The Istarian free-to-play requires that you play human and that you do not own property. Other than that, all schools, multiclassing, quests, projects, etc. are available to a human character that a paying subscriber would have.