When are we gonna see a free trial?

[SleeplessMalice]

As the title asks, when are we gonna see a free trial? Will there be a free trial? A lot of people, including myself like to be able to test drive a game before we think about spending money on a subscription.
Also, giving people the chance to try before they buy might be a way to lure players in and get em hooked =P

[Hansbrick]

The game was in open beta for 3 months and just released don't expect a free trial for a few months.

[kootenay]

Probably not for at least 6 months (as most MMOs do) which than they are probably going to do what Darkfall did and charge 1 dollar for the free trial for a few reasons.

[RisingHoly]

Well it would be a bad move to do a free trial atm.

IMO give the game one more year or more and advance it so you leave a good impression - since that is the "general time period" for an MMO to be more polished.

[blaed]

even at that, $50 for the game client is pretty steep just to try a game out. common sense dictates that there should be a trial at release. people arent always around for, or even hear about open betas. star trek online used a system where people who purchased the game recieved 10 free trial keys to give out to others. at the very leaste that system should be adopted to allow people a chance to try the game before they start shelling out all this cash for the client and the sub. unless of course the dev team would do the decent thing to do and let people have the client free and just jump to paying for the subscription, as having to drop an initial $50 to even be able to get on the game in the first place is just a little bit tarded. and i know people are going to read this and say "wow this guy is cheap", but seriously when i bought my BMW, i was able to test drive 3 of them before i made a purchase so whats a test drive on a $50 game just released or not? i think people would get past the fact it was just released and buggy, and see the game for what it is. im sure anybody here who has played ANY mmo at release knows that they are all flawed in the begining, but this should not be a reason to not let people have a taste before they start spending money on a game. and starvault if your feeling me hit me up with a trial of some sort and it will be much appreciated. :P

[badrien]

ffs... Game isnt even a month old, GTFO or buy.

[ThePotatoLord]

some people don't want to sink 50 bucks in a game before they even know if they'll like it. If possible I'd like to see a sort of miniature "free trial" server that contains maybe fab and some of the plains for people to try it out, that way we don't have free-trial griefer plagues.

[badrien]

THen those people will have to wait 6 months minimum for a free trial if there will ever be one, Simple as that.

requesting one a month after launch is just stupid

[Gixer]

your free trial can be watching videos people post on youtube

[Redgon]

well then dont buy the game.... it that easy.

and server crashes if it really crashes how dev could know when it happens?, but when they reboot it we get in game message about it 5 time before it happens

[Spike3122]

It's only 50$, if you dont like it after that no one's forcing you to buy game time. I haven't played it yet and just ordered it this week because it looks and sounds amazing, thats enough for me. If I end up not liking it (which will probably not happen unless it takes forever to be updated like Fallen Earth), then I will cancel my monthly subscription, no big deal, lost 50$, I'll make more money.

[hardknocks]

ok spike, buy it for me then, no big deal. For me, I was around waiting for this game about a year ago but missed the beta because I had other things to do at the time (yeah having a job is weird). For all you kids saying 50 dollars is nothing its ironic since most of you have probably never earned a dollar in your life, so you gtfo. You are probably the type of people that buy everything blindly because money is no object and/or you haven't ever had to work for a dollar. Well, if that is the case then I'm sure you can spare me the 50 bucks plus subscription and I'll 'gtfo'.

Every mmo game has a free trial. period. Not having a free trial is going to hurt starvault more than help, as you will have fewer people hearing about this game (since there is no free trial) and even fewer people trying it (since there is no free trial and a relatively small community of gamers). So kids, before you lash out for not having a girlfriend, think that maybe, just maybe, there are a few potential customers out there that may have not heard and/or followed this game from the beginning of its development and may want to try it now.

[Jonestwins34]

Originally Posted by xRussianx

only read the first sentence, umm free trails more hackers and exploiters, so get the money or gtfo, we dont need kids who have no money playin!

total agree

[Cronnix]

Originally Posted by xRussianx

only read the first sentence, umm free trails more hackers and exploiters, so get the money or gtfo, we dont need kids who have no money playin!

Only because someone got money it doesn't mean he wants to waste them on an unknown product, please refrain from using such stupid logic.

[Spike3122]

Originally Posted by hardknocks

ok spike, buy it for me then, no big deal. For me, I was around waiting for this game about a year ago but missed the beta because I had other things to do at the time (yeah having a job is weird). For all you kids saying 50 dollars is nothing its ironic since most of you have probably never earned a dollar in your life, so you gtfo. You are probably the type of people that buy everything blindly because money is no object and/or you haven't ever had to work for a dollar. Well, if that is the case then I'm sure you can spare me the 50 bucks plus subscription and I'll 'gtfo'.

Every mmo game has a free trial. period. Not having a free trial is going to hurt starvault more than help, as you will have fewer people hearing about this game (since there is no free trial) and even fewer people trying it (since there is no free trial and a relatively small community of gamers). So kids, before you lash out for not having a girlfriend, think that maybe, just maybe, there are a few potential customers out there that may have not heard and/or followed this game from the beginning of its development and may want to try it now.

Same situation, I missed the beta and was waiting for it over a year ago, I moved. I also work 2 jobs and 50$ isnt much if you're willing to spend it lol. I agree there should be a free trial and there probably will be one later on, but if they have a free trial right now while they're ironing out the bugs and they dont even have the graphics high like in alpha then people are going to get a bad impression of the game and never take another look at it again. By waiting until they iron out issues, they're doing the smart thing and if they can update it fairly quickly or at least get a lot done fast, people will see that they are compitent at running an MMO and it will bring them more business in the long run.

[marioch666]

I work. 50€ are an amount to take in consideration for a common spanish worker. I missed the beta. I bought the game because I liked how it looked and am glad of having bought it.

50€ are a night out with some whisky, not so big deal if you think the massive quantity of hours you're going to enjoy this awesome concept of game.

[Pancake Effct]

Read the forums, and watch lot's of youtube videos. Then make an informed purchase. Many games don't have a free trial. Specially on release when they need money.

[roidanielsen]

There will probably be a trial in 6 months or so. Maybe not even a FREE trial, but a 1 Dollar Trial or something :P

[Aramir]

At the moment it would be very bad move for SV to do free trials. For that game needs to be finished, otherwise people wanting to try will move out and never get back. That would result in very bad promotion for game.
At the moment game is mostly for "fans", who can leave with tons of bugs and server crashes, wanting to help SV fully develop game, and be first to play and experience game. And free betas can't last too long for small companies.
I suppose that free trials will be available when most of bugs get fixed, maybe in 6 months or year time.

[Bispberg]

Two very passive, but nonetheless dedicated members here has been greeted three times for birthdays. It's me, and it's my father. Unfortunately, we both missed the chance for the betas.

A trial, at least for a 7-day period, would make us very happy to see what have become of this project, now released game. Also very unfortunately, the too early release of Age of Conan (I was in the alpha/beta testing, which were great and filled with laughable bugs) made most anticipating fans giveup when not even picking wool, completing the first quest for a profession, or climbing a ladder without glancing upwards functioned correctly.

Personally, I would appreciate an oppurtunity to test the game free. In a long-term point of view, it's best for the game-community and developers to remain the so called "Pay-to-test"...

Greetings, and best of luck to all of you wishing Mortal to become a great addicting gamedrug!

[Lysa]

Hello everyone, my first post and my initial question was...is there a trial, but from the hostilities of the replies, trials do not seem too popular here.

In the last 2 months I went on a gaming spree due to having alot of free time(expecting our first baby) and have purchased over $300 worth of games thinking each time that this one would be the one I want to spend time on, and yet each time fail to get me hooked. As you can see my hesitation now to spend another $50 for a game that looks really promising but many have commented "needs fixing/polishing".

In the end, if I like a game in my family, its X2 the cost for me, as my husband usually gets onboard as well. As it stands, would love a trial, even if they charge $10 for a limited 5 day run. I'll move on and check back in a years time. Hopefully most of the kinks have been ironed out.

[Archaegeo]

The game isnt even 50 right now. Go look at the summer specials

And yes, the game will be much better in 6 mo or so, wouldnt expect a free trial till there is much more polish to show off

[Calidor]

Depends on their retention rate. They need X subscriptions to stay afloat. If they are at X they will wait until the game is more finished.. say Q1 2011. If they lost people recently and are below X they will probably try deeper discounts.. and if that fails they will open free trials. Probably before Christmas.

[Dufer]

on my account page I read something about a trial code? how do you obtain those?

[Maerlyn]

Mortal Online currently does not offer a trial.
We are following industry standards and you can expect a trial offer in the future (usually 6-12 months post-release).

[ctdummy80]

Originally Posted by Maerlyn

Mortal Online currently does not offer a trial.
We are following industry standards and you can expect a trial offer in the future (usually 6-12 months post-release).

No offense, but have you seen the gaming market lately? Industry standards are not working. Your beta launcher was hosed when I last tried to test the game. From what I have read it was one huge snafu early in your release that lost you a huge player base.

It's sad to say because trial offers cost you that initial box purchase price to cover expenses, but if you truly stand behind the quality of your game a trial should be at the top of every new games list of things to do. Too many companies are launching cookie cutter mmos that are flooding the market and no one wants to take a chance on box purchase anymore because there have been so many overhyped terrible games released.

If the game is everything ex UO players are hoping it is, then a limited trial key release, even if it's a limited amount of trials released through something like fileplanet, or invite a friend system would be huge for your player base.

A huge reason late trials fail to give that extra boost to a games player base is because of the established communities that people don't feel they can contend with. There's nothing worse than joining an MMO late and having to deal with the elite pks running around taking out new players.

I know I have edited this post several times but to avoid back to back posts bare with me.

The real issue that companies have with early trial release is because they haven't worked out the kinks yet and released, forgive me, a shitty product. If that is why you are afraid to release a trial then your game already has one foot in the grave because out of all the lost customers from a bad release only a small percentage ever return to see if it has improved. If you find yourself in that position it would be best to switch back into a beta stage of trials and ask for recommendations from the player base which is something that has sadly been taken for granted and rushed through in recent game releases. From what I understand shortly after launch the majority of the player base requested a wipe that was granted and refunds had to be given out to the player base that did not approve.

[Glargath]

Completely right, if a game does not have a trial, than i always wonder what they're trying to hide.

Have learned by experience that most games are so unfinished at release, that i would never pay a dime before i had a chance to look at it myself. Expecting that from me, is expecting me to behave plain stupid, which i could feel insulted by (if i cared enough).

And even if i had been in the last day of beta, that does not necessarily reflect the game at release. (Ideally it should not, since beta is by definition unfinished, and released _should_ be finished - uncommon as it is.)

[Sethii]

There is no trial, from what I understand, mainly because indie companies developing niche MMOs don't have money pouring out of their noses, and thus need funds at a relatively early stage of the game from the hardcore followers thata re willing to do that sort of commitment or investment.

Talking in terms of finished is not very meaningful in terms of MMO. They are never finished, and they release, generally, based on a weighting of economics and playability. As said above, this means earlier release if you can't afford to develop for an extended period of time, or if the development takes longer than expected, and you have a budget set that you can't easily override.

The MO devs have stated numerous times that they want certain systems in place before they will market the game seriously, and the same is probably true for the trials, which would be a natural thing to accompany a marketing drive.

Right now, the game is for those curious that can afford it, and for those that think the concepts of an open world sandbox full loot game are worth supporting.

The rest, I suppose, will get their chance in a few months time.

[Cheith]

There is also no trial because the developers will probably have not coded in trial restrictions, or even decided what they should be.

Trials are great for exploiters, gold sellers and fly by night gamers so you have to be really, really careful when you introduce them.

As to the person who said that folks are afraid to join up later on because they will be 'behind the curve' I don't think it applies as much to MO as it may to some other games. I do have a problem, too, with those that don't want to invest the time and/or money to start at release and still expect to be up with those that did. It is a trade off you make knowingly in all MMOs.
Cheers,
C.

[Brandon Greymoor]

Wait for the game to have Epic's new patch fully integrated, tested, bug fixed, new features avaliable added. Then you'll see a free trial. I believe that's the devs intention anyway.

Like the poster above said, you won't be behind on some form of leveling curve. A couple of weeks and you'll be as strong as other players it's just being used to the mechanics and having good aim that sets players above others.

[phulekiller]

My question is when are we going to see a free "try the game again" for all the people that quit.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by blaed

even at that, $50 for the game client is pretty steep just to try a game out. common sense dictates that there should be a trial at release. people arent always around for, or even hear about open betas. star trek online used a system where people who purchased the game recieved 10 free trial keys to give out to others. at the very leaste that system should be adopted to allow people a chance to try the game before they start shelling out all this cash for the client and the sub. unless of course the dev team would do the decent thing to do and let people have the client free and just jump to paying for the subscription, as having to drop an initial $50 to even be able to get on the game in the first place is just a little bit tarded. and i know people are going to read this and say "wow this guy is cheap", but seriously when i bought my BMW, i was able to test drive 3 of them before i made a purchase so whats a test drive on a $50 game just released or not? i think people would get past the fact it was just released and buggy, and see the game for what it is. im sure anybody here who has played ANY mmo at release knows that they are all flawed in the begining, but this should not be a reason to not let people have a taste before they start spending money on a game. and starvault if your feeling me hit me up with a trial of some sort and it will be much appreciated. :P

common sense dictates: free trials have never worked in games - never, you should know why.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by phulekiller

My question is when are we going to see a free "try the game again" for all the people that quit.

prolly when the game is stable and - uhm - works...

[Stekt Sko]

Originally Posted by fisheye

common sense dictates: free trials have never worked in games - never, you should know why.

Most games I've bought are AFTER testing them out, either by trial or "the forbidden" way aka pirated copys.

If the game is good I buy it, if it ain't well no money from me. Scrap and delete.
Being disabled and therefor having a low income(yeah I love the goverment too) my fun-fund are quite low, hence why I use this way of filtering out games that fail to deliver what they claim to.

50 dollars to see if a game is up to my standards? I'd more likely date my sister.
A dollar or even 10 to be able to check the game out for a week or so, sure, but 50?

[choibai]

Originally Posted by Stekt Sko

50 dollars to see if a game is up to my standards? I'd more likely date my sister.
A dollar or even 10 to be able to check the game out for a week or so, sure, but 50?

wow, you would rather date your sister than spend $50 on something you may or may not like.... I think you should see someone about that because you have issues. No amount of money loss should make you choose your sister.

[rs3080]

I think once the Epic patch comes out then it would be a good time to buy as it will improve the game immensely, according to SV. For now, I'd say just wait a few weeks, download the game client and keep it on your hard drive so that when the Epic patch is out then you can just buy a subscription and start enjoying the game

[Artorius]

A free trial now would hurt the game a lot more than it would do good.

The game need to be in a much better state before to make a free trial. Every single critical bugs must be fixed and as many features as possible must be in and working as intended.

Somekind of tutorial for new players could also help but no freaking divine protection flag. Just put free trial players on a remote island that need to be well designed to give them a good experience.

When the game is ready for that, then, they could start real promotion, good prices and videos, reviews, interviews, etc. all over the internet.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Artorius

A free trial now would hurt the game a lot more than it would do good.

The game need to be in a much better state before to make a free trial. Every single critical bugs must be fixed and as many features as possible must be in and working as intended.

Somekind of tutorial for new players could also help but no freaking divine protection flag. Just put free trial players on a remote island that need to be well designed to give them a good experience.

When the game is ready for that, then, they could start real promotion, good prices and videos, reviews, interviews, etc. all over the internet.

This!

Broad advertising now? no way - trial accs are the curse of mmos - there need to be proper measures and systems in place before introducing such a scamming and exploiting platform.

[Aelus]

Originally Posted by kootenay

Probably not for at least 6 months (as most MMOs do) which than they are probably going to do what Darkfall did and charge 1 dollar for the free trial for a few reasons.

Not that a dollar is a lot, and nor should anyone have any problems receiving that, i'd just like to point that it was clearly a mistake for them as it was removed. It's a senseless action and can drive some people away.

[Melt16]

SV agrees and knows the game has its teething issues and it is not at a point where they feel it is polished enough to offer free trials.

As soon as MO moves to free trial status, it will be like a rebirth, game reviews will be re-written, and there will be a whole new swarm of players taking an interest in the game.

SV understands these sort of things and knows that this new swarm of players will be important for the future of the game so when the free trial is offered, it will only make sense to offer a highly polished bug free MMO that people will not hesitate to resub.