Iron Mace statement on the F2P "Fiasco"

[Howl]

sdf — Today at 12:50 PM
THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND OUR FREE TO PLAY MODEL
@everyone, Hello new adventurers!

Our launch on Epic Games and Steam marks a major milestone in the availability of Dark and Darker.

We would like to address the Free to Play label. We’ve heard your feedback loud and clear, and would like to explain the reasons behind our current Free to Play model. We would also like to clear up any misunderstandings and layout our plans going forward. We apologize to anyone who felt misled by the game being marketed as Free to Play and acknowledge that we should have chosen a better method to introduce it in that regard. Throughout the game’s Early Access development, the game was always a paid product, and we intend for the full experience to remain this way. This ensures we uphold our promise to our loyal early adopters, and helps combat cheaters along with RMT to keep the dungeons clean for all to enjoy.

The main reason we released our game as Free to Play (F2P) was because we made a promise to our early loyal adopters on Blacksmith, that we’d do everything possible to not force them to repurchase the game again if it went to major platforms. We do not believe in double-dipping or taking advantage of our fans who are the sole reason we’ve come this far.

When we had the opportunity to release the game on the Epic Games Store and Steam platform we were thrilled to be back on large global platforms. However, due to the large number of previous customers on Blacksmith, it was not feasible nor fair to our platform partners for us to distribute thousands of keys to Blacksmith customers for free, increasing their risk with little benefit to them. The solution to overcome the technical, logistical and contractual hurdles we faced was to transition to a Free to Play model which would allow our current customers to naturally transition to a partner platform of their choice without the use of any abusable keys.

When we designed our current free to play system, our intention was to ensure that previous customers did not feel as if they were taken advantage of for supporting us. We wanted to make sure they felt properly compensated for their loyalty while still feeling excited for the new transition to a free to play version.

As a bit of context and history, we implemented the current Normal game mode that restricted items to common grade back in November of 2023 where it quickly became a fan favorite. Our Blacksmith players saw the mode as a solution to a divisive item gap disparity and many viewed the mode as the most fair and balanced mode rather than a limiting system. We decided to open the Normal mode to the free version precisely because of its high value to the community. We naively thought this mode would be compelling enough for incoming players since they got access to the most popular and accessible mode in the game for free. We had failed to take into consideration how brand-new players not knowing the development context would have a different perceived value for this mode, and how it could easily be construed as us trying to bait and switch them. This is the farthest thing from the truth as we are continually striving to find fair and open ways to run an online game while respecting our loyal customers. (edited)


[12:50 PM]
A secondary reason for restricting free players to the Normal mode was to act as a barrier, and lower the incentives for hackers to disrupt the game. Like many other competitive online games, we face the challenge of fighting those that look for advantages through unfair means. We knew that once we went free to play, we would be sending an open invitation to hackers around the world. In our quest against hackers, our bans show they almost exclusively attempt to exploit the High-Roller dungeons as that was where their exploits would bear the most fruit. Limiting hackers with free accounts to the less disruptive Normal modes was also a preventative measure to try and compartmentalize the damage they could do.

When releasing our Squire and Legendary account models, our intent was to offer a free version of the game that had no time limit. This would give players a commitment-free opportunity to see what Dark and Darker has to offer. The free account status allows players to experience Normal mode dungeons with a single character, stash the loot they acquire, and complete quests. This improves their standing with the merchants - improving pricing and wares, while also expanding the arsenal of items the Squire merchant provides players with.

Despite our intentions, we failed in anticipating the expectations that new players would have when approaching our game. We did not intend to deceive our players, and we now realize that the current Normal/High Roller bifurcation is not well designed for F2P players. We built a full loot extraction game and then forced upon a large contingent of the player-base the inability to utilize their hard-earned loot without any workarounds. We now understand the absurdity of that situation and are looking to make amends.

We are currently working on solutions that take into consideration both the needs of existing and new players. Our goal is to give new players the ability to experience a complete loop of a full loot extraction experience and risk their loot while still respecting the loyalty of our existing players. We’re still working on the details for that plan that will address access to the High-Roller dungeons, the ability to unlock character slots, and will make an announcement very soon as the details are finalized. Our goal is to be fair and just with our players, and we’ll do our best to show our appreciation. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your incredible support over the past two years as we work to make Dark and Darker the best it can be. We could not ask for a better, more passionate community – thank you for holding the line!

IRONMACE

[Howl]

As I predicted the devs are being very chill and understand of peoples complaints and are actively working on making it better for the f2p players which is more than any other studio will do for a f2p player keep in mind.

[Howl]

Also make sure you frequent the discords announcements as well to keep up with down times and whats being changed.

[DragonSaintEmperor]

Everything they said was well polished and obviously official. We are glad that there is more work and consideration being put into previous decisions with the goal of impacting both groups of players positively.

[Lemon Cat (Soundcloud in bio)]

People just like to complain, they are the same people will go buy the next COD ultimate deluxe pro edition for 120$ and put in 300$ in cosmetics

[CyanCatMan]

Originally posted by Howl:

Also make sure you frequent the discords announcements as well to keep up with down times and whats being changed.

Well appreciate people like you to keep everyone in touch who doesn't use discord.

[Howl]

Originally posted by DragonSaintEmperor:

Everything they said was well polished and obviously official. We are glad that there is more work and consideration being put into previous decisions with the goal of impacting both groups of players positively.

I agree its not often you see devs care about f2p players very much enough to change the game specifically for them

[Howl]

Originally posted by CyanCatMan:

Originally posted by Howl:

Also make sure you frequent the discords announcements as well to keep up with down times and whats being changed.

Well appreciate people like you to keep everyone in touch who doesn't use discord.

Thank you that's why I posted it here too, figured not everyone has one or wants to be a part of discord, ngl its so nice having new people lol I have been helping new people learn all day today and yesterday lol its too wholesome

[CyanCatMan]

Originally posted by Howl:

Thank you that's why I posted it here too, figured not everyone has one or wants to be a part of discord, ngl its so nice having new people lol I have been helping new people learn all day today and yesterday lol its too wholesome

Always a joy to see people willing to help and not be elitist or become discord shills. (As in they won't shut up about joining and to go there instead of helping)

[CyanCatMan]

Oh dang they even posted a steam announcement version.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2016590/view/4178857302247209900?l=english

[lewis]

I actually have zero issue with squire status as it is.

Being locked to one character, no shared stash, no access to high roller or trading seems perfectly fair. There's no point to a shared stash or trading when you can't bring good gear into normal mode anyway, or when you can only play one class and have to delete the stash to switch. All the stash is good for in F2P is saving up gold to stock up on healing items and/or whatever poor/common gear you care to grab from the merchants. The restrictions all work together very well without restricting the core gameplay loop. Most of my friend group wouldn't play high roller often anyway - no interest in rolling the gear score dice any time we come across other players.


My two big issues with the system are the lockout timer - which seems like it's being reconsidered (hallelujah, l hope they just remove it and keep it out) - and the fact that you have to purchase their premium currency in-game to upgrade to legendary status, instead of it being something like a Steam DLC. Those two factors are so grossly anti-consumer IN PRACTICE that I will never even consider upgrading to legendary status until they are done away with.

The only two justifications for the lockout timer I've seen are hackers and RMT, and neither make sense to me.

If you want to mitigate hackers, implement better anti-cheat. As for RMT, I just don't think it's a big enough issue to justify the lockout. Take this with a grain of salt from someone who has no plans to play high-roller often even if I eventually end up getting legendary status, but whether the person I got gear-diffed by acquired their gear themselves or bought it off of someone with real money doesn't really make a difference to me. Maybe some kind of gear score bracket system for matchmaking in high roller would alleviate the issue?

As for the fixed-price premium currency being needed to purchase legendary status, I literally have no idea why they didn't change that for the Steam/Epic versions.

Regardless of whatever intentions they had with those two decisions, it doesn't change the fact that they neatly sidestep Steam's consumer protection policies - namely the regional pricing and refund policies. You can argue morality about those policies all you want, but if Ironmace wants to use Steam to expand their player base, they should pay lip service to their policies.

[Tristin]

Sounds like they will work on having F2P be able to unlock stuff with enough given time of playing, as of many F2P actually do. This in turn is likely to turn more profit for them, by keeping players engaged.