So I will probably cause a bit of a storm of controversy with this, but I want to state for the record, before reading any further I would like everyone to keep a level head and keep the comments as constructive and objective as possible. Thank you in advance.
So here is the thing, as a player who is currently playing founders and has purchased all of the founders pack I simply dread the flood of free to play into the server I am on. Not because I am worried about the people who cannot afford the game, but because they will only make up a tiny portion of what will actually come through those gates.
Historically we know that free to play servers are full of unrestricted bots that the developers, (while you have been amazing so far) cannot keep up with. I played Ragnarok online before and after subscription and it was devastating. Before the they went free to play the servers were full of a fairly respectful, fun and interesting community full of active players with limited if any use of bots. After free to play the game descended into chaos, where even real players began using botting programs to keep up with the inflation caused by bots. Mr. Hakkyu, if you read this understand that I have enjoyed many many years of your games and I want to enjoy this one to its fullest and I only dread the one key flaw in the business plan dragging down the entire play experience for everyone involved.
This type of game, while exceedingly fun, also broods bots and gold sellers like a plague of locusts and they cannot be prevented in whole, no matter how good your anti-botting measures are. No matter how badly you restrict trade and interaction between people gold selling companies are out to make profit off of your art and they cannot be stopped when the server goes free to play.
So now on to the suggestion. I suggest that you allow a founders server, a legacy server, as I believed was intended from the initial post about the “founders server” though later found was actually bad wording. I was sick to my stomach that all my work was about to be destroyed because the intention was to lower the price point of the server I occupy to 0 because at that point it will become chaos.
A 5 or 10 dollar price point, or buy in to a premium or founders server, would allow players who are dedicated to the game to enter a server where they can be relatively free from the nonsense that is the gold sellers. This of course is not a 100% solution, but a 10 dollar cost to gold sellers for an account will very quickly give them incentive to at the very least, stay out of sight.
Again I know this is not a perfect solution, and yes you may be alienating a tiny tiny portion of the community that cannot for some reason afford such a low price point, but I believe that is a risk worth taking for the benefits of having a server that is more easily controlled from botting and gold selling as well as racism and ignorance on players behalf. Fear of losing an account would then mean something other than signing up again.
I beg you to consider this at some point before the free to play launch, and I will stand by your decision at IMC games… but I wanted to let you know that as a dedicated long term player who is a benefit to your game, I am fearful of the flooding of spam and botting that will accompany the release of free to play if you let those accounts enter the servers we are on.
In all honesty the game is a huge success, I would be happier if it stayed “buy access” forever… but I understand with your word on the line, free to play is inevitable. So once again, please think this over.
For players that read this. Please be constructive and give any supporting or counter arguments you have to this idea below. I respect all of your opinions as I am sure IMC does.
