When I think of subscription games that have switch to the free to play model, Star Trek Online pops into my head, and has for some time.
And then I have had to remind myself that no, the game is not F2P, not yet.
Now though, that appears to have changed.
Perfect World Entertainment, which is apparently my company of the day, and which acquired Cryptic Studios back in May, has announced that Star Trek Online will be going F2P this year, or so reports Massively.
F2P... it is a gold mine... like re-runs!
Now, as a lifetime subscriber facing yet another company changing business models, I do wonder how they will treat me. Not that I have played the game in the last year. My one year anniversary post for the game is still sitting as a draft.
Look, I logged on long enough to get a screen shot!
The Lord of the Rings Online transition from subscription to F2P treated lifetime subscribers very well I felt. I was quite satisfied with how that turned out last summer. I will be interested to see how this plays out with STO.
And you can just bet if they shaft the lifetime subscribers, I will complain about it despite having no real investment in the game. It is just the way it has to be.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
As a lifetime subber it has to be good news for you. You are currently bored and not playing for a return on your investment of nil. You will almost certainly get some incentive to go back and tour around for a bit when the F2P launches for a return on investment of some.
Some > Nil as mathematicians like to say.
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If they do a similar model to Champions Online, I think it’ll be a good thing. For example, wherein non-paying players hold “silver” accounts, and paying players have “gold” accounts:
* Silver Players do not have access to certain races (C-store races, custom alien)
* Silver Players must spend C-store points to access Featured Episodes or play Foundry content
* Silver Players must spend C-store points to get additional costume options
* Silver Players cannot create Foundry missions
* Silver Players must spend C-store points to access certain ships (Tier 5 refit)
* Silver Players cannot spend Emblems/Marks (or whatever replaces them after the currency consolidation)
* Gold players access does not change from current (P2P) standards
* Gold players get free access to all Featured Episodes, Foundry Content, Foundry Editor, and can spend Emblems/Marks normally
* Lifetime subscribers get Gold account access forever, and get a monthly stipend of 400 Cryptic Points (might also apply to Gold players with subscriptions that remain in good standing)
This is just something I came up with – I obviously haven’t heard/read anything about how STO will implement F2P, but I would be surprised if I was too far off.
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As another lifer, I’m happy about it. Well, that is, if they do a similar thing that LotRO did. I do have to say that I wish I had waited to buy those few points I needed to get the outfits I needed right off the bat, but this monthly “point stipend” will allow me to get the few things I will probably want down the pike without any further purchase from me.
win/win
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I like the news. It’s been strongly implied that things will work similiarily to Champions, which means us lifers will get a stipend of Cryptic points. Which, if you don’t play very often, means when you do pop in, you can pick up the new ships and stuff without spending any money. I wish they had done that awhile go, so many of the ships I did buy, I could have gotten free.
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I am a lifer in Champions, but do not play the game much. I get everything the gold players get, including Cryptic points etc without doing anything.
Those times when I actually play the game I have a fair amount of points to spend, if I want – so from my point of view it is free to play without restrictions just looking at what I spend on the game today.
It would most likely be something similar for STO lifers.
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