Nostalrius shut down

[Daywolf]

Yup, the f2p model is trash. They target a select few players that compulsively pay wads of money. Not just from the shops, but content is designed to cater to the compulsion of these potential "mmorpg whales"(G).

imo the trend started [in the West] by the popularity of wow, and the potential cash cow of making fast money from the new massive swarm of casual players in wow getting bored waiting for the next wow expansion. Though these players would remain committed to wow and the next expansion release as they had shown, publishers looked for a way to grab cash from some of these players rather than trying to invent a superior game which could potentially fail - or at least generate lower revenues than investors expected. Thus the rise of the clone wars.