http://www.develop-online.net/news/3810 ... ee-forever

Not surprised. It makes total sense for them to do it. I honestly don't understand the rage at this.

I'm sure it's this:



They say no "pay to win" will be implemented but that is pretty hard to resist once they go down this road. LOTRO is now F2P and they've been slipping down the slope.

It would be incredibly difficult to deny anything of non-aesthetic value to tf2 players who refuse to engage in micro-transactions. This game doesn't even utilize the minimum rpg-traits of some other shooters (experience based unlocks/bonuses, etc.) I don't think there will ever be a risk of pay-to-win.

Finally, this game is highly customizable and run on independent servers, even if they did start selling weapons of insta-death, people would simply utilize cvars to disable use (ultranerdrage notwithstanding).

I'm worried about asshats we ban spinning up new accounts for no extra charge.

Good point Earl.

I don't know eth3n, these folks are no doubt inventive and the idea is to get people to spend money on these transactions. I can imagine things like health or invisibility pots, access to restricted maps, or even unlocking a new role.

lol noobie i can only hope they don't sell their souls

health pots...hahahaha

btw good point earl, now bans mean nothing, woot!

What this means is they make way more off all you fools that are enamored with hats than they do from current revenue stream from new game purchases. It's an old game, now they can attract a few more other fools that will pay 2.50-10.00 to buy nothing.

For quite a few a$$h@ts, this is too much like work and they won't do it...

Q. Won’t going Free to Play mean more griefers and cheaters?
We’re increasing our focus on making sure that hostile players can’t ruin your fun. Specifically, we’ll be keeping a close eye on players exploiting the ability to make infinite free accounts to bypass bans. We’ve built systems that’ll allow us to measure and track what these players are doing, and respond quickly.

http://www.teamfortress.com/freetoplay/faq.php

I'm curious as to what their actual strategy for combating that thing will be, and how effective it will actually be.

For example, VAC is probably the best anti-cheat system in the industry, but hacks still get through.

I agree earl, VAC is incredibly awesome, and while the delayed ban allows hackers 2 weeks of havoc before they are toast, it does quell the mainstream hacks exceedingly well.

However, in the face of free and potentially unlimited accounts, the delayed banning paradigm really takes the teeth out of their rather formidable anti-cheat detection.

Maybe they'll sell us anti-cheat armor for $1.49? Or even let us find it in a crate!