I think the news about TOR going free to play is coming from a lot of sources some of which are quiet reliable. There is no smoke without a fire so there has to be some truth to it.*The question I want answered from the community managers is how true these rumors are and what is the timeframe we are talking about. F2P is a make or break for a lot of people and we want to know the future plans with respect to that. If nothing is changing for the next year or so I am not that worried but I do wanna know if I am investing time and money into something that is going down the F2P path.I understand these decisions are made by people much above the community managers pay grade but you gotta give some info cause this IS a big deal.

No. There isn't a "lot of sources some of which are quiet reliable." Those "sources" are all referencing the same article, which has since been yanked from the site. There has been no "sources," only "source."

I can't speak for Guild Wars 2, but the first one was a disappointment for me. It really wasn't an MMO, and the combat wasn't all that fun compared to WoW (this was 3 or 4 years ago). It felt like a first person shooter, in that I paid once to play a single player campaign, and then to do some multiplayer on occasion when I feel like it. Rinse and repeat when the expansion comes out.

 

There's nothing wrong with that, but it certainly doesn't feel like an MMO. Of course neither does this game, which is why I probably won't be staying long.

You're absolutely right, but then GW wasn't developed to be a classic MMO. GW2, however is developed to be a standard MMO, and having played each public event so far, I can say the game does indeed feel like it--more so than this one for sure. So imagine an MMO that provides all the features and content of its competitors, but for only the price of the box. Sounds like a winner to me.

No. There isn't a "lot of sources some of which are quiet reliable." Those "sources" are all referencing the same article, which has since been yanked from the site. There has been no "sources," only "source."

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/15/ea-boss-swtor-absolutely-going-to-embrace-free-model/

Here, enjoy.

This game doesn't deserve to be a subscription driven game. Development is pathetic, at least with free-to play players really don't have to expect too much.

Sure it does. They've released two content patches and are about to bring out a feature patch. Bioware is working for the money you're spending. If that's not good enough for you, fine. But, they most definitely deserve the money if you enjoy the content.

Would you people stop bringing up guild wars? It's DESIGNED to be that way. You might as well say "yeah well counter strike is free too!" It's STUPID.

Its a GAME in the same GENRE that has built a successful set of games with F2P, how is it not relevant? Oh are you going to tell us what evidence we can use for claim that invalidate your point

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/15/ea-boss-swtor-absolutely-going-to-embrace-free-model/

 

Here, enjoy.

*sigh*

Try here. Which is the full article that is in no way related to what the OP is talking about. And even this article references the removed gamestm article to back up their assertions.

The question I want answered from the community managers is how true these rumors are and what is the timeframe we are talking about. F2P is a make or break for a lot of people and we want to know the future plans with respect to that. If nothing is changing for the next year or so I am not that worried but I do wanna know if I am investing time and money into something that is going down the F2P path.I understand these decisions are made by people much above the community managers pay grade but you gotta give some info cause this IS a big deal.

Well, EA probably never intended to answer questions about this right now. They probably expected they'd have time to discuss whatever plans they had before the magazine the original quote was in published - in July. But here's a pretty high-level response:

http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/swtor-free-to-play/

EA President Frank Gibeau said, "We're going to be in the business from a long term standpoint so absolutely we're going to embrace free access, free trial, ultimately some day we can move in and embrace [a free-to-play] model.”]

So basically they're saying yeah, it's going to happen. And no, they don't want to tell you when.

You're absolutely right, but then GW wasn't developed to be a classic MMO. GW2, however is developed to be a standard MMO, and having played each public event so far, I can say the game does indeed feel like it--more so than this one for sure. So imagine an MMO that provides all the features and content of its competitors, but for only the price of the box. Sounds like a winner to me.

Perhaps. It still seems to be more focused on PvP than I really care about, but that's a personal preference rather than a design problem. I like to explore and feel like I'm part of a living, breathing world first and foremost. From watching a friend in the recent beta, it just seemed to be more focused on competition.

There aren't nearly enough mmoRPG's anymore.

Its a GAME in the same GENRE that has built a successful set of games with F2P, how is it not relevant? Oh are you going to tell us what evidence we can use for claim that invalidate your point

I could pull you the quote from the developers of GW1 stating that GW1 isn't an MMO any more than diablo is but you would refute even that in some alien logic. So I won't.

The point is not that GW is free to play, the point is that it's designed to be so from the get-go. That means they don't need to try and siphon every penny from players. They don't need to make it a scam like most free to play games are.

Well I was going to tough it out with bioware and stick with the game.

But if it ever goes F2P i will definitely leave swtor behind. F2P games are a cancer and I refuse to be nickel and dimed to do anything in future content.

*sigh*

 

Try here. Which is the full article that is in no way related to what the OP is talking about. And even this article references the removed gamestm article to back up their assertions.

Who cares what the OP was talking about? You replied to a post that was talking about this article. Their assertions are completely irrelevant, whats relevant is what the EA guy said.

Perhaps. It still seems to be more focused on PvP than I really care about, but that's a personal preference rather than a design problem. I like to explore and feel like I'm part of a living, breathing world first and foremost. From watching a friend in the recent beta, it just seemed to be more focused on competition.

 

There aren't nearly enough mmoRPG's anymore.

Really? I'm much like you; I prefer exploration and being part of the world as opposed to a tourist on a ride. The PVP and WvW game in GW2 is very much a focus of development--and rightfully so. It's great. That said, the rest of the game--the PvE game--is extremely vibrant, dynamic, and exploration-heavy. In fact you can gain levels just by exploring the world and unlocking waypoints and points of interest. The world is huge and it's alive.

Unfortunately I can't say the same about SWTOR. In fact, what I can say is that it's the exact opposite.

Actually, your logic whilst correct from a very simple mathematical standpoint, may be incorrect as you have not taken into account several factors.

 

1) WOW is a 7 year old game. With that, it has amassed years and years of revenue, but also costs to build and maintain the infrastructure. It is safe to say that the wow infra is easily few t imes more than maintaining the swtor infra. How corporates work is they place value in how much revenue growth the game has, rather than what it currently has. Even if wow has 10M subscribers, Blizz wants to know how they have more subscribers, or if sub numbers are not growing, how they can get more from this current 10m subscribers. They know they cannot increase sub fees, so they introduce things such as extra services.

 

2) WOW going f2p is a perfectly conceivable idea, but I would say that its too early. Not until they fully implement a RMAH feature like D3. D3 RMAH is a testbed for Blizz, and personally, I can see that it may be the revenue generator that Blizz is expecting to augment their current subs revenue If it works, implementing the same in WOW wont be too too difficult if D3 works. Also, if Titan is ever going to be released, you can bet that a RMAH type will be included. However, being a wow player

 

SWTOR going completely F2P likewise is conceivable, but by doing so, they will just hasten the demise of the game. While I know a lot of "players" and trolls like the idea of a F2P swtor, as a personal opinion, I see no point in it, because it encourages loads of casuals and you-guessed-it trolls. From an official revenue standpoint, there are no real benefits to such a model, unless you are trying to sell in game items, which they can't atm, or if you are trying to project an image of "success". However, I do encourage a F2P model up to a certain level, this does encourage try outs.

 

Being a Wow player for 6 years, SWTOR has all the underpinnings of a really good MMO. What they fall short, in summary, is actually managing player expectations. Literally, Bioware OVERSOLD it and probably too much to a significantly large wow player base. What happens is that whilst wow players might welcome an interactive voice over missions, quickly they tire and spacebar the entire experience, in order to get to endgame. This unfortunately is a bad habit created by Blizz with their last 3 years expansion, where you get achievements by being first in everything and rubbish nonsensical filler quests. SWTOR didn't expect players to hit level cap so fast, where clearly they should have, and hence fail to cater to endgame hardcore players with raids/operations.

 

BW did everything right for a single player MMO . Their story remains rich and diverse, and the IP can literally go on forever.

 

What BW should do is to while expanding wow-feature like updates, such as group finder, they also need to put more end game content, as in MORE not 1 or 2, and also more iconic END GAME bad-*** characters, along the likes of Arthas or illidan, gives a sense of purpose to the hard core raiders.

 

my 0.02 cents.

I liked your article. I pretty much agree with just about every point you hit on.

Really? I'm much like you; I prefer exploration and being part of the world as opposed to a tourist on a ride. The PVP and WvW game in GW2 is very much a focus of development--and rightfully so. It's great. That said, the rest of the game--the PvE game--is extremely vibrant, dynamic, and exploration-heavy. In fact you can gain levels just by exploring the world and unlocking waypoints and points of interest. The world is huge and it's alive.

 

Unfortunately I can't say the same about SWTOR. In fact, what I can say is that it's the exact opposite.

Well that alone might be enough for me to give it a try.

Well that alone might be enough for me to give it a try.

If that's the kind of game you're looking for, definitely. I highly recommend it, from one explorer to another.

 

I agree. But with TOR..in 5 months, only one level 50 FP?s Where as in WoW I can run 3 - 6 raids per week? I feel like the monthly sub for WoW is well worth it. It really does boil down to how you feel your money spent each month is worth it or not. Now if during the last 5 months, apart from the initial purchase price, TOR was FTP, would I feel the same way with TOR? More than likely not. Because apart from the lack of end game content to do in a timely manner and thier crappy crafting system, it is a great game.

I dont understand, One level 50 fp? Swtor has 2 or 3 normal mode level 50 fps and 5 or more level 50 hm fps, 3 ops and more on the way. thats as much or more than what wow had when i went back and played cata at release. And if bw keeps up with the same pace of releasing content they will even pass Rift and leave Wow in the dust.

I dont understand, One level 50 fp? Swtor has 2 or 3 normal mode level 50 fps and 5 or more level 50 hm fps, 3 ops and more on the way. thats as much or more than what wow had when i went back and played cata at release. And if bw keeps up with the same pace of releasing content they will even pass Rift and leave Wow in the dust.

Seriously who cares about "cata" L2spell by the way. This isn't wow of 2004, 2008, or 2012. This is swtor and it doesn't matter what any game has or had and sure won't help the help the game in anyway apparently so let's forget about every other game and concentrate on this one hmm? But yeah there is content, 3 ops now and another one that is coming plus another pvp arena mixed with ranked wz. Seriously is a shame for the game to be doing this bad with that much content in 6 months.

Weather you think the game is good or bad, or you think F2P is good or bad, Bioware keeps going from PR nightmare to PR nightmare.

400k subscribers lost

Layoffs

Server Merges disguised as free transfers

And now they are "looking" at Free-to-Play

Swtor is getting slaughtered by the media and public opinion is that the game is failing/failed, heck even some of the subscribers wish the game to fail (which is silly because basically they are wishing to lose all the money the invested in the game)

Free-to-play almost always sucks for the consumer, because the mentality of it is, "We can't attract and retain enough customers, so how do we gouge the hell out of the ones that stick around?"

With very rare exception, the F2P model is designed to:

A) Entice people to a game by pretending to offer a full game experience, only to "force" them to pay for content or abandon the game entirely when they realize how much of the product is completely unavailable despite being "free to play."

B) Encourage avid supporters to spend more money on stuff than the average 15$/month you'd pay for an all-encompassing subscription.

Many F2P models offer a sub option on top of all the cash-shop milking that will temporarily unlock most of the content, but even those tend to suck. Someone worked out the math on LOTRO, for example, and if you thought you'd play the game for more than X months it was actually wiser to spend $$$ on "Turbine Points" and just manually unlock everything, rather than pay the sub fee. But, then, that's not including all the overpriced "bonus content" that you could buy like mounts and such, and the bonus stuff (or extra points) are included with your subscription, which makes you want to sub, even when it would be cheaper to do it the other way. In then end, you screw yourself no matter which option you pick, unless you sub and plunk down cash in the cash-shop, which is exactly what the greedy bastards want you to do.

F2P is typically no "free-er" than a demo of a console game that you can download on the Xbox. You're playing a slice of the game with the marketers' hope that you'll get hooked and give into the non-stop petty nickel-and-diming required to experience any meaningful amount of content.

Since EA has their filthy, sticky hand in this, I can't imagine a TOR F2P scenario that doesn't bend its players over a barrel and go right through the pants (for the wallet, get your minds out of the gutter)

Weather you think the game is good or bad, or you think F2P is good or bad, Bioware keeps going from PR nightmare to PR nightmare.

 

400k subscribers lost

Layoffs

Server Merges disguised as free transfers

And now they are "looking" at Free-to-Play

 

Swtor is getting slaughtered by the media and public opinion is that the game is failing/failed, heck even some of the subscribers wish the game to fail (which is silly because basically they are wishing to lose all the money the invested in the game)

They are going from PR Nightmare to PR Nightmare, because they tell fairy tales.

They say how great everything is, they say how successful everything his, how big, how amazing, how unique, how fantastic.

They tell this fairy tales until the truth emerges onto the surface.

Until financial call in May they said EVERYTHING is amaaaaaaaazing. And after that? They continue with telling these fictional stories.

Please, if you ALWAYS tell that everything is excellent and awesome but in reality it's not you have to expect PR Nightmares.

 

I agree. But with TOR..in 5 months, only one level 50 FP?s Where as in WoW I can run 3 - 6 raids per week? I feel like the monthly sub for WoW is well worth it. It really does boil down to how you feel your money spent each month is worth it or not. Now if during the last 5 months, apart from the initial purchase price, TOR was FTP, would I feel the same way with TOR? More than likely not. Because apart from the lack of end game content to do in a timely manner and thier crappy crafting system, it is a great game.

***? 1 level 50 FP? There is at least what 5 level FPS. Kaion Under Seige, Lost Isand, Battle for Ilum, False Emperor and Directive 7.

You can run 3 raids in SWTOR a week too 6 if you play Story mode and hard mode, You have Eternety Vault, Karaga's Palace, and Exposive Conflict.

How is that a lack of an end game? Thats a lot of content for a game that has only been out 6 months and they intended to add a new operation and flashpoint plus a whole new planet with more levels.

Free-to-play almost always sucks for the consumer, because the mentality of it is, "We can't attract and retain enough customers, so how do we gouge the hell out of the ones that stick around?"

 

With very rare exception, the F2P model is designed to:

 

A) Entice people to a game by pretending to offer a full game experience, only to "force" them to pay for content or abandon the game entirely when they realize how much of the product is completely unavailable despite being "free to play."

 

B) Encourage avid supporters to spend more money on stuff than the average 15$/month you'd pay for an all-encompassing subscription.

 

Many F2P models offer a sub option on top of all the cash-shop milking that will temporarily unlock most of the content, but even those tend to suck. Someone worked out the math on LOTRO, for example, and if you thought you'd play the game for more than X months it was actually wiser to spend $$$ on "Turbine Points" and just manually unlock everything, rather than pay the sub fee. But, then, that's not including all the overpriced "bonus content" that you could buy like mounts and such.

 

F2P is typically no "free-er" than a demo of a console game that you can download on the Xbox. You're playing a slice of the game with the marketers' hope that you'll get hooked and give into the non-stop petty nickel-and-diming required to experience any meaningful amount of content.

 

Since EA has their filthy, sticky hand in this, I can't imagine a TOR F2P scenario that doesn't bend its players over a barrel and go right through the pants (for the wallet, get your minds out of the gutter)

Which is why I won't be playing if (or is when now...) it happens.

They are going from PR Nightmare to PR Nightmare, because they tell fairy tales.

 

They say how great everything is, they say how successful everything his, how big, how amazing, how unique, how fantastic.

 

They tell this fairy tales until the truth emerges onto the surface.

 

Until financial call in May they said EVERYTHING is amaaaaaaaazing. And after that? They continue with telling these fictional stories.

 

Please, if you ALWAYS tell that everything is excellent and awesome you have to expect PR Nightmares.

Game's doing great!