Dragons for free??!

[Jessica Stargirl]

I know that I'm probably not the first who ask this, but I really want to know why aren't dragons free to play? I mean that's the entire sense of Istaria: dragons!
And if this is the only game in wich you can take the role playing as a dragon, why do we have to pay? I'm sure that I'm not the only one who can't pay or simply don't want to pay.

Thank you for reading this,
Jessica Stargirl

[Sigi]

If you don't want to pay, you can't play a dragon.
This game needs paying customers. Wy should it give away one of it's greatest assets for free?

[Morphaz Bladewing]

If you don't want to pay, you can't play a dragon.
This game needs paying customers. Wy should it give away one of it's greatest assets for free?

What the cat with the glasses says. I actually WANT to pay for Istaria, and I WANT others to pay for it too, simply because of the fact that the devs made dragon's playable, something not one single other developer team has done so far (or not in a decent way at least).

[Dragonboy]

It sure is a nice try, but like Sigi says not a good idea.
As free human a player can have many hours/days/months worth of gaming.
A dragon is Istaria's greatest treasure... Bad idea to make that free.

[LOVWYRM]

Istaria is not designed to be free to play.

Making humans free2play is only an additional feature.

[Ettanin]

Bad idea imo. As told above, it's only a feature of the game that humans are playable without a subscription.

Dragons should stay pay to play, otherwise VI won't make enough money to cover regular operation of Istaria and get an acceptable ROI and profit. I've suggested playing Hatchlings for free and making RoP requiring an active subscription, but this was rejected for ethical reasons by a community representative of VI.

Really, it's not a problem to pay Istaria. There are multiple options, if not even the most varieted layout of options, to pay a subscription.

I, as a german for example, can pay via
- Credit card directly
- Paypal (using credit card or bank transfer, it's a trusted account)
- Moneybookers (using Giropay or Sofortüberweisung.de (payment-network.com))

Even for the fact that it is as expensive as WoW (a full account allowing a plot/lair costs as much as WoW monthly), i'd rather pay for Istaria than for WoW.

[Darkwing_Duck]

well the reason we pay to play is to keep the game running. our contributions to the company is what keeps VI in bussiness, and keeps the game running.

[Jessica Stargirl]

I understand they need money, but we could pay for the rest of the characters, not for dragons. Like dragons would be free and they still make money from the other characters.
Anyway, it was just a question and I'm sorry if any of you got upset with that.

[Ettanin]

Over 50% of all player characters are dragons.
There are not many players playing the non-human biped races.
If dragons were playable for free, VI could close Istaria after 2 months for insolvency.
Do you want that? I hope not.

[Zanon]

Over 50% of all player characters are dragons.
There are not many players playing the non-human biped races.
If dragons were playable for free, VI could close Istaria after 2 months for insolvency.
Do you want that? I hope not.

Over 80% of the players who pay are dragons or have dragons its rare to see bipeds other than free humans which are abondant. seeing another race is very rare. rareer are high lvl bipeds.

[Draeconis]

At the time of this posting, there are 49 dragons and 38 bi-peds online (not including hidden players). 17 of those bi-peds are humans (unknown how many are on free accounts). Which means, at a minimum, 70 paid accounts, which means income for VI. If dragons are made free to play, then you'd end up cutting the income by more than half. Which in turn would mean, very few, if any updates to the game, very limited support, and would more than likely end up with the game being shut down.

Free to play humans and 14 day trials are the lures (as most games that offer a free to play option have their lures).

[Steelclaw]

Once the trial period is over, you can play a dragon for just $10/month. That's pretty reasonable. To put it in perspective, that's less than the cost of a movie ticket, less than the cost of three fast-food meals, less than the cost of one restaurant meal, and less than the cost of a single admission to a theme park.

Of course, if you're still unable to pay due to some hardship, there are other alternatives. In particular, someone else may purchase a gift subscription for you. Make some friends and go from there.

Though, to answer your question, Istaria has operating costs roughly proportional to its player base, and those costs are supported by subscriptions. Making dragons free to play means far fewer subscriptions and those that actually want to pay and can pay have to shoulder a greater financial burden (i.e. higher subscription costs and other revenue models like in-game advertising).

[Raptress]

Like dragons would be free and they still make money from the other characters.

That doesn't make any sense, sorry. Dragons are one of the key features of the game, therefore dragons are a feature that Istaria should be charging for. Features that make a game stand out are features that get people to pay. Making such things free is completely backwards from a marketing standpoint.

I wouldn't have even supported making just hatchlings free. Even that would have been giving away far too much.

[Kesqui]

I understand they need money, but we could pay for the rest of the characters, not for dragons. Like dragons would be free and they still make money from the other characters.
Anyway, it was just a question and I'm sorry if any of you got upset with that.

The problem is that Istaria's the only game with player dragons, and there are plenty of other games with the other types of characters that people might want to play that don't charge for them.

So people who desperately want to play one of the other kinds of characters but can't/won't/don't want to pay will go to another game to play THEIR free version of the other races.... and will come to Istaria for their free dragon fix. Istaria doesn't make any money then - and without money, the game simply won't run. I currently pay for two subscriptions - mine and my partner's - strictly for the dragon characters.

[Grodec]

Dragons are free to play. For 14 days. That is plenty of time to determine if you like them or not.

[cageddestroyer]

I agree, with the creater of this thread, but like pay or the other races, make dragons free to play, but limit them to not being able to fly or build lairs without paying. Like, a F2P Dragon can never reach adult hood (or Ancester hood, which ever). But I think the graphics could be way better and same with the clumbsy interface.

[cageddestroyer]

And I am thinking of getting my old Dev team back togethor and program a
F2P MMORPG where you can play as a dragon for free.

[Ramaj]

..................But I think the graphics could be way better and same with the clumbsy interface.

Maybe so, but "great graphics" alone will never make a game as enjoyable to play for a (very) long time for so many players as Horizons/Istaria has done and still does, even despite "dated graphics".
Istaria has many special aspects (of which the community is one!) that one will rarely (if at all!) find in other MMORPG's.
As for "the clumbsy interface": there are several (player-made) mods....
I'm sure you could find one that you would find to your taste

[Ramaj]

And I am thinking of getting my old Dev team back togethor and program a
F2P MMORPG where you can play as a dragon for free.

By all means! Go for it !

[Drakarius Shadows]

And I am thinking of getting my old Dev team back together and program a
F2P MMORPG where you can play as a dragon for free.

Dont forget we want no lag great items and fantastic crafting.

I know of more than one person who has tried this over the last 20 years because they did not like XX or YY's game and thought they could do better.

Guess what they "Failed in the first six months."