BattleForge gets 'Play4Free' edition

I told my Gamestop when I bought this game that the servers would probably peak at a worldwide population of 5000 and go offline by August with this business model, but at the time I didn't care and was addicted to the beta. I didn't quit the game until I realized that you have to grind 'PvE' (think any typical RTS campaign level) over and over again for a chance at a certain upgrade card to drop. That MMO model sucked every ounce of fun I had from this otherwise amazing game. Most squandered potential of the year.

so... its like an extended demo? 32 cards doesn't sound like much. I've never heard about this game but i'll check it out if I can ever tear away from plants vs zombies & tf2.

I'm willing to try it with this announcement. I doubt that I will stick with it given that I have no urge to get sucked into a micro transaction game. Maybe it will surprise me though.

The game is an utter blast and is addicting as hell. Just wait until you realize what you have to do to get the upgrade cards you want though.

BattleForge -29.99 Price Points

Another free game is fine by me... although the people who bought it already probably will be pissed that they just wasted $30 on a game.


Hopefully the free version will come to Steam as well. :)

So it's fun to play and they got a lot of it right for the most part but to up the replay value they force you to grind your life away for the upgrade cards? Am I understanding this correctly?

Meh. It isn't free to play. Sure you can play a little of the game for free, like a demo, but to be an active participant in the game you have to pay: you have to spend money to expand and get more cards. So if you want to play the game for free and spend no money you are screwed, you could never be competitive. Your paying opponent will always have more and stronger cards. Really though, this method is fine I suppose, it was never intended to be free afterall. But it does gripe me cause some morons are going to go "FREE!" and think it is free, when it isn't really. Not any more free then a demo.

The main beef I have with this game and this model is the micro transactions. This is the perfect model for EA; they can just release more and more powerful cards and people have to continue buying in order to stay competitive. Instead of $60 one time you end up spending infinity dollars to continue play the game. $120? $400? Who knows how high it could go! That is what EA is thinking. More money out of your pocket the better. This isn't a MMO, they don't have to put a ton of effort into maintaining the game. It is just an RTS, like starcraft before it. It doesn't require a constant expense on behave of EA, like an MMO's common excuse is. Therefore, you get an ordinary RTS with an ever expanding need to spend money if you are to to stay competitive with the online competition. Infinite dollars. Isn't that just great? And if you like the game and don't want to keep paying, you have no choice but to either drop the game or keep on paying. There is no such thing as a single payment plan for it.

This has been EA's goal for some time. More money, less game. Less effort and more rewards. Who loses in this arrangement? The costumer. YOU.