All good points for and against.
I brought this very idea up in a tread in GD about 6 months ago, the "if you were in charge what would you do" one.
IMO blending some free to play with our current game COULD work in terms of getting more subs and players. This is how:
By creating a simple yet fun infantry and artillery experience, one where you could steer little groups of simple soldiers about like we drive tanks, and use the jeeps and GV transports to move them as well as letting them move more slowly on foot. Incorporate some arty and mortars and such, and MGs etc for squads to employ. It would also give the MGs on tanks something to do other than shoot at the very rare troop landings. Anyhow, allow say 200 or so players in the arena to play these things for FREE. They would mostly be targets for aircraft and other GVs, but it WOULD get people involved in the game that otherwise wouldn't be, and attract a certain percentage to getting the full subscription, so they too could fly planes and use the GVs other than say the Jeep and M16 and a towed arty piece.
It would do a few things IMO - give guys who like attacking ground stuff a lot of fun targets (infantry strafing, what more could you want, haha), it would create new kinds of fights regarding taking bases, it would give GVs more to do (attacking infantry formations), and it would most importantly bring new blood into the game. Yes, the 200 slots for infantry/jeep/arty would be FREE in my idea, without access to any of the other stuff in the game, but many of these guys would sub up I believe. Even when they wouldn't, it would give subscribers more targets and stuff to do like I said, which creates a circular fun environment which increases overall subscribers all round IMO.
The graphics wouldn't have to be any better than the troops we have now IMO, it wouldn't be a "fps" per say, just controlling small groups of troops at squad and platoon level say, and moving them about in GVs or with the wsad tank controls while on foot. There could be rifles, MGs, mortars, Bazookas/Panzerfaust, Solothurns (20mm rifle pew pew pew), as well as being able to use crew served weapons like stationary guns and perhaps a mobile arty piece like I said.
Anyhow, I like the OP idea, as mine above was one I thought could help at little cost to HTC (I'm sure HT could make something like this work in days). I fully believe that. Remember the "Claw" and Mothership HT whipped up for that Con one year? I swear, if they gave the Claw a Battlestar Galactica skin, they could have marketed that game and made a lot of $, having battlestars and fighters in space combat. Making something like that - I have full confidence HT could make little infantry group units with say a 1/2 dozen weapon systems, and some towed arty pieces. I think it would be a lot of fun.
