Hi, fellow gamer and MMO enthusiast! Fractured Online is now FREE TO PLAY, and SEASON ONE has started! Why have we gone F2P? Have players who bought a game copy gotten compensated for that? How does a Season work? Read below to get all the answers! [h3]Why F2P?[/h3] The box price of the game ($15) was very low, especially in developing markets (where it was discounted further), and only accounted for a minority of our revenues. At the same time, the fact a box price existed at all still acted as a major barrier to acquiring new users. This was made even harder by the presence of strong F2P competitors. Our initial plan was to transition in October already, but following community feedback we decided to [b]postpone[/b] so we could get [b]more content[/b] into the game! [h3]Compensation[/h3] Needless to say, everyone who has purchased the game paying the box price (be it on Steam or by buying a Founder Pack) has been [b]compensated[/b] for the $15 they have spent! More in detail, everyone has received [b]1 month of VIP time[/b], except purchasers of the Eternal Founder Pack or higher, who already have lifetime VIP. They have instead received the same dollar value in Dynamight Tokens ([b]3750 tokens[/b]). Everyone who received the month of VIP time is able to activate it when they feel like. No forced activation! [h3]Monetization[/h3] The item store and the VIP subscription are now our only source of revenues. This has made some community members concerned that we could add P2W items to the store or VIP. This is not happening: [b]there are no changes planned to our store or VIP[/b]! The only addition is a second rewards track for VIP players taking part in Seasons, on top of the regular rewards track. Also, there are no changes planned for Founder Packs, which will be renamed to Supporter Packs (a more fitting name for a released game). They are still there to offer greater value compared to purchasing VIP and tokens separately! [h2]Season 1[/h2] Season 1 is set to last for [b]90 days[/b]. Individual characters get rewards right away as they increase their season progress, while guilds get rewards at the end of the season. [b]Every player can take part in a season[/b], gaining points for themselves and their guild, and earning rewards. [b]No "battle pass"[/b] or anything of the sort is required. The only difference between a free account and a VIP account is that the latter gets an additional rewards track - more on the topic below. Let's get into the details of a Season now! [h3]Glory[/h3] Glory is the measure of [b]personal player progression[/b] in a Season. It's character-based, not account-based. It can be earned the following ways: [list] [*]Completing daily quests [*]Conquering fortresses [*]Running PvE God Trials (killing Exalted and Infused monsters) [*]Running PvP God Trials (killing Galvanos Legends, opening Corrupted Rewards and Coins of Fate) [*]Crafting artifacts [/list] If an action can be completed by multiple players (e.g. conquering a fortress), the Glory gain is equally split among each player who participated. The more your Glory bar progresses, the more rewards you get! [h3]Personal Rewards[/h3] Season 1 has two [b]personal[/b] reward tracks. One is available to all accounts, while the other is only for VIP accounts. Rewards are automatically sent to the special slots of your inventory when unlocked. They include crates, pouches and scrolls that when used transform into the following: [list] [*]Crafting materials [*]Runes (materials required to craft artifacts) [*]Primal energy [*]Gold [*]Crafting recipes [*]Artifact schematics (materials required to craft artifacts) [*]Achemical supplies (elixirs and other consumables) [*]Dynamight tokens [/list] All accounts get [b]100 rewards[/b], while VIP accounts get 100 more. Once the progression bar has been completed, VIP players can keep farming runes and schematics! Please note that runes and schematics are meant to be obtained through [b]dungeons[/b] and [b]NPC crafting orders[/b] respectively. We've chosen them as Season 1 rewards to allow you to craft artifacts before these new features are implemented! [h3]Supremacy[/h3] Supremacy is the measure of [b]guild progression[/b] in a Season. Each time the member of a guild earns Glory, their guild earns an equal amount of Glory, which is then converted into Supremacy with a ratio that depends on the type of action. In general, Glory obtained through PvP events enjoys a better conversion rate to Supremacy than that obtain through PvE content. Adding to the above, guilds can obtain Supremacy directly by having [b]cities[/b] pledged to them (max 3 per guild), and can steal the Supremacy of other guilds by [b]raiding[/b] their cities! If by the end of a Season a guild has managed to enter the [b]Diamond bracket[/b], all its members receive a unique Peckodon skin. Moreover, the third, second and first guild in the leaderboard get even more cosmetic rewards! Please note that a player must be a member, and must have been a member of said guilds for at least [b]one month[/b] when the season ends to get the cosmetic(s). No last-minute switching to the winning side! ;) [h3]Alliances[/h3] Together with Seasons, we have released Guild Alliances! The concept here is classic. The leader of a Guild can create an Alliance by paying gold, then invite other guilds to join it by inviting their guild leaders. If a player is part of an alliance, the tag of the alliance will be displayed after the name of the guild. Members of the same Alliance enjoy a shared [b]chat channel[/b], see each other's names in green, and can [b]defend fortresses[/b] together. Whenever a guild that is part of an alliance gains [b]Glory[/b] through the contribution of one of its members, it receives only 50% of it. The rest is split equally among the guilds that are part of the alliance, including the guild itself. In practice: if guilds A and B are part of the same alliance, and a member of guild A gains 100 Glory, guild A gains 75 Glory (50+25) and guild B gains 25. This is all for today's preview. An overview of Artifacts, already implemented, coming soon! Cheers!