Free Realms to introduce new job, pets, player housing and more

by Shawn Schuster Nov 3rd 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, MMO industry, Player Housing, Free-to-play, Casual, Free Realms, Massively Interviews, Kids

The world of Free Realms is about to get a bit bigger this holiday season as even more content is being added and improved for the game. According to Sony Online Entertainment's Creative Director for Free Realms, Laralyn McWilliams, the game is about to see a new job, new job structure, new pets, player housing and more added by mid-December.

We caught up with Laralyn to get a few more details on the upcoming improvements before the first stage of these updates goes live this week. Follow along after the jump for the complete interview, and in our gallery below for some exclusive screenshots of the new content.

Gallery: Free Realms

Massively: What's coming down the pipe in this newest update to Free Realms?

Laralyn McWilliams: We have a ton of new content going into Free Realms by mid-December. We're adding a new Fishing job and minigame, a bunch of all new pets and a simpler way to train them, a Coin Shop that's just as easy to use as the Station Cash Marketplace, your choice of tints on items you purchase, a new action-oriented style for combat featuring all new weapons with special abilities on them, and the winter holiday celebration! As you can tell, the team has been really busy since Free Realms launched!

As far as the new jobs, are they for VIP members only, or free members as well?

There's one new job, Fisherman, and it's going to be handled the way all jobs are being handled. It's a much simpler system.

How so?

Players have asked to try out all of the jobs, and we listened. So as of early November, free player characters that are newly created will be able to play any job (Ninja, Chef, Postman, Kart Driver, Demo Derby Driver, Brawler, Miner, Soccer Star, Archer, Wizard, Medic, Blacksmith, Warrior) in Free Realms up to level five for free. When level four is completed, the job becomes Members Only.

We're thanking original free players for their support by making sure the jobs that are currently free on each character that exists when we release the new system remain free for that character, forever. These original player characters will also be able to try previous Members Only jobs up to level 5 as well!

Player housing is huge, as it's one of those top features players have wanted since launch. Can you explain some more details on player housing and how it will work?

In Free Realms, you'll be able to tour available houses (including your friends' houses) and really get a good idea of what you want before you buy your own house. I should really say "before you buy your own houses" because you can own more than one house! When you travel to your house for the first time, you'll find all the pets you own playing in the yard, waiting for you. You'll be able to purchase items for your house interior and exterior, and decorate however you want. You can even buy items like dance floors and jukeboxes that are interactive and have fun effects! Another fun element is the fact that we're making lots of different furnishings and you can put most of them anywhere you want. So if you want a fountain in your living room or a toilet in your garden, feel free!

Beyond this update, what else can you tell us about upcoming updates?

The Free Realms team already has several new jobs and minigames in the works. I can't say too much about them quite yet... but let's just say the Ninjas might get some worthy adversaries, and players who love to craft will get to make their own dyes for both clothing and furniture. Watch for those features, plus the new items and pets you've come to expect from Free Realms, to go live during the first half of next year.

Thanks so much for your time!

Tags: content, fisherman, fishing, free-realms, laralyn-mcwilliams, pets, player-housing, soe, sony-online-entertainment

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

primetime said on 6:00PM 11-03-2009

Did I just read that right? Under the new system coming in mid-December, all the classes will be free to play up to level 5, and then will become Member-Only classes.

This means that any new players after this update will only be able to play up to level 5 on every class. That sucks! I like the original system better where a free player can play up to level 20 (max) on every free class and can't even play the non-free classes, which are very few.

So FreeRealms is going to become a little "less" free. :(

Priceless said on 6:25PM 11-03-2009

gotta admit very smart business thou. get ya hooked on being a wizard or archer then you must pay to play. cant wait i been saying we need houses this first online game i played with so much social but no house for ya. i still think we need an adult server too must be over 18 to get on. and less filter lol

Pingles said on 6:45PM 11-03-2009

I subscribed to Free Realms and played for several months. Mainly because the FREE portion was so good that I really wanted more.

Since then I have played several F2Ps and have not subscribed to ANY of them because they give such a limited amount of game away that I was never convinced to subscribe.

In other words their OLD model was enough to get me to subscribe. Their new model would not have.

It's a good game and I hate to see them making this change.

Wade said on 10:40PM 11-03-2009

This is pretty much the last straw. There was the value nerf which made everything we owned nearly worthless unless you had been lucky enough to sell off your stuff before it happened. Then there is the total lack of communication with the player base. Quests that are pretty much impossible unless you buy cash shop items with real money. Crafting is a joke, unless you want to lose gold with every item. The chat filters are stupid beyond words.

So much for the original idea they were promoting of moving member jobs to the free side as new jobs were added for members!

Now they are limiting new "free" players to level 5 on everything. It is pretty clear they are only interested in making a fast buck on "rich kids" that will buy tons of stuff in the cash shop and then move on to some other game after awhile. While I don't mind spending money on games (in fact I was a FR member for several months and have bought cash shop outfits, pets and a racing car), the prices are crazy. Much cheaper to just subscribe to a regular MMO.

They really had a fun little casual game. Now it is a grindy money grab, with really annoying timed quests that need cash shop purchases. I'll still stop in each day, even though it looks like all my friends have already left, but I won't be spending any more money on FR. Sony = Greed. Shame.

Pigeon-ko said on 11:09PM 11-03-2009

I think the level 5 job trial-esque-thing is a bad idea because I think most people, upon hitting the non-member level cap, would go "yeah that was fun but onto something else now!" Not liking this change.

monkeystick said on 2:49AM 11-04-2009

Even with a level 5 cap, there's soo much content for a new player to try in the game.

Anyway, why the outrage over five bucks per month?

Amana said on 6:05AM 11-04-2009

I'd hesitate to guess it's because, once again, SOE have drifted far from their original spiel to consumers.
The premise was 'lots for free, more if you'd like to pay'. It's hardly that anymore, is it.

It's amazing how they continue to let this happen on the inside, time and time again. Surely it's just one executive team constantly being short-sighted and overly ambitious with their profit forecasts.. you'd think they'd have learned by now that there's more value in long term relationships; unless of course they've decided that the entire project isn't where it was expected to be and they're making an attempt to a least pull in revenue that covers original commitments to the board.

One need only look so far back as Legends of Norrath to see this in full effect, and how many folk play that still..? Oh, yah *tumbleweed*.

Seriously SOE - you're going to run out of folk to pull the rug from under at some stage.

Sean said on 9:30PM 11-04-2009

I too can remember pre-launch interviews in which they stated that the majority of the content would be open to all subscribers, paying and otherwise, and that as new content was added the proportion would remain the same. I don't begrudge SOE for using this business model, but in what sense is Free Realms different from the newly revamped Warhammer Online with its unlimited free trial up to level 10 or FusionFall? Instead of a Free2Play game, Free Realms is fast becoming "my first subscription MMO" for the younger set and their parents; which is fine, but the "Free" is then a deceptive misnomer.

Priceless said on 4:45PM 11-04-2009

i love of the changes. i already pay for three accounts. they might loss a few ppl that are to cheap or to young to pay the 5 bucks a month to play game but they will gain more ppl. i have played alot of mmo's this is cheapest pay account ive played and i always have to have more then one account so that makes it good for me .

monkeystick said on 9:45PM 11-04-2009

Hmm.. Trial Realms doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

xxmcky_johnxx said on 10:25PM 11-05-2009

I dont thnk its really fair 4 only "members" 2 get all the gud stuff....they should atleast give "free players" stuff 2 do. Higher up not 2 level 5 but mayb lvl 10..really cmon give us some slack ;)...PLZ! :D

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