Free-to-play is it the future of online gaming?

I am a big fan of free stuff; who isn't?  But what about games?  Should they be free?  It seems like free-to-play is the wave of the future.  Every time I log onto Steam there are more and more free-to-play games being promoted.  But are these games any good?  Are they really free, or are game companies promoting them as free to then bog you down in microtransactions once you start playing? I think it's a gamer-beware type of situation.

I have played very few free-to-play games but I have played a few.  Yesterday I wrote about Team Fortress 2.  I think it is a great example of a game that is almost completely free-to-play (I would say 99.9% free--the introduction of loot crates seems to be mostly motivated by making you buy keys to unlock them, but you don't have to).  I'm sure that there are ways that people spend money in TF2, but for the casual player you really don't have to.  Most of the items in the game are unlocked through achievements and random drops.  On Steam you can also get promotional cosmetic items (and some weapons) when you purchase other games.  TF2 is a shining example of a great free-to-play game.

Another FTP game I enjoy is Blizzard's Hearthstone.  Hearthstone is a collectible card game that is themed in the World of Warcraft.  Hearthstone is a game that really can be totally FTP, but there are microtransactions (and not so microtransactions).  You can complete "quests" by winning matches to earn gold or compete in the arena.  It costs 100 gold to buy a new pack of cards.  This could mean completing 3-4 quests before you can buy more cards.  However you can also buy packs of cards with real life money (1 pack for $2.99).  It is definitely much faster to buy cards than to spend the few hours completing the quests.  Many people argue this makes Hearthstone "pay-to-win."  I think the reality is that Hearthstone can be completely FTP, but the player will have to understand this means putting in the time to earn gold and buy cards.  One thing I was a little disappointed about was the release of the single player Naxxramas campaign.  The first "wing" is completely free, you can play through it and unlock a legendary card for free.  The remaining wings can be purchased with in-game gold or real life money, each wing costs 700 gold to unlock or $6.99.  I was hoping it would be compltely free, and I suppose that technically it is, I would just have to put in the hours to earn the gold.  Hearthstone is a very fun game at it's core, but expect to face people who have spent money to build better decks.

These are two great games that function very differently on the free-to-play scale.  If you are thinking about picking up a FTP game you might want to do your homework first and find out if it's truly free or if players who spend real cash are going to have an edge.  Many FTP games allow players to purchase cosmetic features like skins that have no effect on gameplay.  I think FTP games are going to become the standard in gaming and that the big dogs, like World of Warcraft, will eventually end up going this route.