If the game were to go F2P + microtransactions, what will old subs get?

The issue is not about the game but about the MMO market. There have been threads here already on the forum with links and I read the interview where they explained that they are looking into f2p options and why.

With all the f2p MMO's out there, the market is under pressure. These f2p's are getting better in quality and have no subs. Also this is a time where many new MMOs are coming out. SWTOR will be followed by The Secret World in a week or two, TERA is out, Guild Wars 2 is close and later this year Neverwinter. I am sure there may be more.

What we see now is market saturation. Too many games as a whole and too many f2p's as well. Look at Guild Wars 2 that will have no sub either.

Now before you jump all over this, please note that I am for the sub model and I think most of this games will not be able to match what SWTOR has done. Sure SWTOR has bugs and needs more features, but it's growing and it is turning out to be a really good game.

Still, the issue is that we have got the new generation of entitled people it seems who want everything now and for free. This is the generation that spits on subs that cost about 150 bucks a year and rather play a free game where they will be constantly enticed to spend money in a cash shop and end up paying double of that. F2P isn't free, it just has no subs.

Sad as it may be (wizard's first rule), people rather have the illussion of freedom and then paying double the price than actually think about what they are spending money on and realise what the best deal is.

If SWTOR under this market pressure ends up deciding they need to go to a f2p model, my sincere hope is that the sub model will still be an option and that the cash shop doesn't turn into a pay 2 win situation.

I want to be able to pay my sub and have all the game has to offer. I will only accept a cash shop that offers cosmetics and services and obviously the stuff that people will have to pay for who don't have a sub.

Just don't want to deal with ingame advertising and don't want a cash shop button in my UI (unless I can hide it from view). Let the f2p crowd pay real cash for inventory, speeders and instance cooldowns for all I care. But don't screw over the sub payers in the process is all I'm saying. I suppose if you have lower standards for a game then you could technically do without, but that's not what I would want.

Subs are cheaper than f2p games if you want the full game experience. Sadly the market is full if people who can't see that and stare themselves blind on the f in f2p.

TL;DR F2P isn't free. The real problem is stupid people and consequently the market putting pressure on subs as a whole.

TL;DR F2P isn't free. The real problem is stupid people and consequently the market putting pressure on subs as a whole.

The game isnt going free 2 play... God people are daft.

Regardless, losing ninety percent of your player base in a matter of months is not good news for any company.
Losing half of you sub base is okay (even though it means -50% income), but losing 9/10 is worrying to say the least.
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Ok stop right there. Show me 100% hard evidence that the game has lost 90% of its subscribers. Hell show me that it has even lost 50% of it's active subscribers.

If you can do that continue if not then stop talking right now and stop spreading false information.

All I have to say is this: look at the player numbers in-game. Look at how crowded the ~100 North American servers were in the first few months. And now 10 are left with >= standard population. How can you seriously think that this is not a reason for concern, even from a business standpoint of a developer?

And if we do simple math:
aprox. 200 crowded servers at launch (Europe+North America)
aprox. 20 crowded servers today (Europe+North America)
That means that ~90% of the playerbase left. And there is NO reason for concern?

[...]remember that there are many people (including myself) who are benefiting from the free 30 days offered as a promotion after patch 1.2. These players also count towards the current number of total subscribers.

I will quote myself on this one. A post I made on the second page of this thread.

I will quote myself on this one. A post I made on the second page of this thread.

That's not proof, not even close.

At launch everyone would have been on at the same time, during "normal hours" people come and go all the time so you only have a small percentage online at once.

that may be the biggest logic fail i have ever seen.

You do realize that active subscribers and active players do not equal each other.

In fact it was blizzard who said years ago that only 10% of their subscribers are ever playing during prime time. You honestly don't think that 11 million people are logged on playing WoW do you?

Why would everyone be online at the same time at launch and not be today as well?