IGN Report

That quote could mean anything, different ways to play could mean that they are making it playable with kinnect, i know its not but it could mean that, it could mean all sorts of things, but i doubt it means a full f2p game, the whole game would need reworking and bioware and gw2 both now have a date at which they have to be set for mop which just got a release date.

WoW is Free to Play.

The only free to play they have talked about is free to lvl 15. Then people get selective listening and hear what they want to. I certainly wouldn't put stock in any report from Ignorant Gaming Nerds (IGN)

^^^^^ This

and before anyone says "yeah till level 20" they even advertise it as F2P.

This x1000000000

^^^ This.

Big difference between "considering" something and "doing" something. With Guild Wars 2 on the horizon, it's only common sense to "consider" the impact that game will have on the competitive picture.

Thing is, GW/GW2 are very different MMOs compared to SWTOR. The big selling point for GW was the short ramp-up into competitive PvP. The game didn't have a long levelling-up process, or the sort of emphasis on Story that we find here in SWTOR. Their model was to let the players equip and gear up their players rapidly, so they could commence quickly with the killin'. Hence the name, GUILD WARS.

I predict GW2 will have a big initial splash on the MMO scene. Then, as players get their fill of the PvP, they will move back to other MMOs. But for GW2, the F2P model makes sense. Not a lot of expensive content to create, players can jump in and out, and retail box sales can drive revenue.

I doubt that model would suffice for SWTOR, a game marketed around Story. Theoretically, BioWare could make this F2P and sell lots of retail expansion packs to add storylines. But the expansion packs would cost more, since the game wouldn't have a revenue stream derived from monthly sub fees. This appears to have happened to an extent with LOTRO: Previous expansion packs (Moria, Mirkwood) cost $30 when they released; this summer's Rohan pack cost $40. And LOTRO's content isn't fully voiced.

Bottom lin is, Robert Heinlein's "TANSTAAFL" acronym still holds true: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Anyone who thinks "Free To Play" really does mean free to play is deluding himself.

The industry trend is going F2P like it or not.

But what gets me is why people think that F2P means you have to pay for every little thing. No you don't. Show me one MMO where you do. What I've seen from other MMO's with the F2P model you have the option to purchase a subscription while the person who does not is forced to buy content if they want more out of the game.

So if you're happy with your sub I will stake everything on it that when TOR eventually goes completely F2P (and it will) you will still be able to retain your sub and continue on like normal, just with the option to buy fluff.

For 20 levels. After that, you pay a sub fee. Finish the sentence, please.

"Fluff" has a nasty tendency to morph into "pay to win." Worse, it has an even nastier tendency to morph into "pay a LOT for something we've decided to make a necessity now that you're hooked," and "We're going to fabricate huge, contrived grinds -- but you can get it now for only $X.XX!" I saw all three in LOTRO, and quit the game because of it. Me, the biggest walking LOTRO Lore geek in my circle of friends and a continuous subscriber from Day #1 of LOTRO's Open Beta -- I walked away because LOTRO went F2P and did with it what they swore they would never do.

THAT is what is inevitable if EA ever sticks the crack pipe that is "F2P" into SWTOR's mouth.

As for your challenge to "Show (you) one MMO where you have to pay for every little thing," it depends on how closely you want to parse the qualifier, "every little thing." To answer this, I again need look no farther than LOTRO.

Sure, you can play LOTRO for free -- at first. You even get a goodly sample of the in-game experience... until you out-level the Lone-Lands. THEN you indeed pay for "every little thing" -- quest packs, stable routes, task packs, relic-removal scrolls to enable you to salvage those costly relics from your Legendary Items as you out-level them, and on and on. And it's all paid for in "Turbine Points." Theoretically, you can earn TP's in-game by completing deeds or gaining character levels -- but those are gained in increments of 5 to 15 TP for each achievement, and each is a long, painful grind especially if you haven't bought quest packs and task packs for the zone you are in. And a single perk generally costs hundreds of TP, so if you want to actually build your character up via the TP system, you are FORCED to buy Points, which are generally worth a penny per point.

So, to put that into perspective, a single Relic-Removal Scroll at the time I finally quit LOTRO cost my character 499 TP. That's $5 worth of TPs -- for a single-use scroll on ONE of my FIVE high-level characters! (Plus three more level-40+ characters that were into LIs.) Oh, sure: I could just kiss that item's three tier-6 relics goodbye -- but they EACH represent MONTHS of grinding.

I really, REALLY hope BioWare has the sense to not even step onto that slippery slope. In my book, F2P is a recipe for seething, white-hot liquid hate.

Having just pressed [Cancel] a couple days ago, whether they go this route or not may be moot for me. I haven't written off returning but, no set plans to.
If they went F2P, I may return to see the end of my class stories but, that's about all I'm interested in at the moment. And that aspect of the game plays like a single player RPG and I have Skyrim and others in my Steam library I haven't finished, or some I haven't touched, to satisfy my desire to play something in the genre.

As for F2P models in general, since I'm not a person who likes being nickled-n-dimed with bunches of separate fees, the ones I prefer are ones that offer you a "premium" type service at a monthly fee like current subs OR f2p where you then purchase the additional content on an as-need/want basis. As well as the premium style might contain additional perks like 1 or 2 more char slots, etc.

What I will never play in a F2P setting is real-cash-for-in-game-advantage system. I don't play "Keeping up with the Jones" in RL with my money and I'll be damned if I do it in an online game.