We sat down with GamersFirst's Joseph Willmon and Fallen Earth's Marie Croall to talk about the post-apocalyptic MMO going free-to-play.

ZAM: Can you reflect a bit on the transition from launching as an independent title to becoming a part of GamersFirst?

Marie Croall: The main thing for me about the transition is that it’s been really nice to have a different experience set to draw from. We never want to get stuck in one mindset as designers and having people come in and look at the game with a fresh perspective has really allowed us to be more creative in our approach and try things we may not have considered as viable previously. GamersFirst loves Fallen Earth as much as we do so it’s been awesome getting their feedback

ZAM: The $29.99/month Commander subscription is an interesting twist on the standard free-to-play model. Why did you decide to add it? Was it difficult to balance all of the pricing options?

Joseph Willmon: Yeah, we’re really proud of the Commander subscription and everything it brings to the table. Looking at the three Premium subscriptions available it’d be easy to assume there’s this linear progression of “Good” “Better” “Best,” but that’s not really the case. Commander Premium is for the type of player who finds him or herself hosting Vent servers, building community-oriented sites, leading raids, or renting clan servers in FPSes. Players that like to take care of others, and gather people to their cause. It’s also helpful because in Fallen Earth we really don’t want to have to sell a whole lot – no armor or guns or resources, things like that – so we’re betting that there are a good number of people who really want to support Fallen Earth, and will go the extra mile to do so. As far as pricing, we did spend a LOT of time debating the pricing structure, and in the end we think we have balanced the levels rather well. I mean now, for the price of the pre-Free2Play subscriptions you’re actually seeing an improvement in crafting times, harvesting, experience gains and the like.

ZAM: The launch World Event system has been pushed back to next week. Can you give a synopsis of what to expect? Does it run automatically, or do the developers start the events manually whenever they want to spice things up a bit?

Marie Croall: The Events will trigger randomly and automatically across the world adding a bit of danger and life to parts of the wasteland. However the system is pretty open and will allow us to really build out some sophisticated and more custom events as we go forward.

ZAM: The free-to-play switch is being released right after the game's two-year anniversary. What are some of your favorite memories since Fallen Earth launched?

Marie Croall: I think every time I get into the game and interact with players I get a new favorite memory, but this year’s valentine’s event was really something special. Devs Getinthecar and Maenad came up with a recipe for players to actually rip out their hearts and give them to other players. Watching this play out was the best combination of tender and gruesome.

ZAM: Free-to-play is a big step for Fallen Earth, but MMOs are constantly changing and evolving. What do you have planned next for players?

Marie Croall: Well, we’d tell you everything if the marketing department would let us! But seriously, we’re really driving at being the premier Free2Play sandbox game, and the World Events system is the first step toward that goal. Next up is taking faction and PvP to the next level by providing more benefits and consequences, so Faction Territory Control is the next big thing on deck! Factions will get to battle over sections of land and the right to exploit the unique advantages each territory provides.

ZAM: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Joseph Willmon: Only that, if you haven’t tried out Fallen Earth, now is the time.

Marie Croall: Yep, download the game and we’ll see you in the Wasteland!

Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland, Staff Writer