F2P-Betrayal--it was all preventable

I dont....wait.....

Nevermind....

And here I was thinking that I was the troll...

Apparently 200-300 million with another 200 million in marketing costs wasn't quite enough....

Some random points about your allegations ...

Your laptop? Was new? With what you call a higher end graphics card? And the game was unplayable?
My 15" Sager laptop was one year old when TOR launched and had one notch down from best high end card AT THE TIME of purchase (nVidia 460 mobile) and it played TOR with no problems on mostly high settings getting 25+ fps everywhere but congested fleet and in most cases 40-60+ in low-to-moderate pop areas. My desktop that ran it fine was bought in the fall of 2008 with a pair of nVidia 260 GTX (orig, pre-Fermi) in SLI. So I 3 yr old gaming desktop and 1 yr old gaming laptop didn't have a problem OTHER than their graphics optimization which they improved on. And that 3yo desktop (now pushing 4yo) was running 4gb of ram, no solid-state drive and a Core 2 Quad (Intel 9400). Not exactly really flashy hardware when TOR launched.

The simple reality is this. If you're going to play computer games you are at times going to be faced with either upgrading or out right buying a new rig. Unlike an XBox 360 or PS3 where the graphics capabilities are locked in place for the shelf life of the unit, PC hardware is constantly improving. Graphics cards with more capabilities, faster CPUs, faster and larger quantities of memory, faster access hard drives, etc etc. Developers are going to take advantage of these things to provide better visuals in their games. And unlike a stand-alone game where developers have MUCH greater control of how many things are being rendered on a screen at once, MMOs have a much more difficult time of this. Consider this: A large guild in a MMO could have 100 members or more descend on a single location for a guild meeting ... when was the last time you had 100 npcs/mobs in Skyrim rendered on the screen at once. MMOs already cut some corners graphically to make situations like that work ... through things like lesser graphics than what you see in some single player games, instancing, etc.

Now personally I found TOR looking much better than say WoW. HOWEVER, I don't think TOR could have released with 7yr old WoW graphics just to appease those who can't buy even a decent 3yo computer.

As for grouping and things like WoW I find it amusing how everyone assumes that a) if it was in game X before it has to be in every new game and b) just because it existed in a game previously means the source code on how to implement it is freeware just out there waiting to be utilized.

Now then, some would say, and I over time became one of them, that this game is too much like WoW. Fun leveling experience and then a rinse-n-repeat of end-game content for the gear grind. Insert *yawn* here. I spent 7 yrs at that and many folks coming to this game spent several years doing that. We were hoping for something a bit different. What we got was decent voice overs to some engaging character story lines ... and then WoW with light sabers.

People complain about it lacked a group finder. Actually TOR had one, it just wasn't the most intuitive and feature rich. As opposed to when WoW launched ... NO group finder. People complained about the GTN interface. When WoW launched the auction houses in different cities weren't even linked but that worked just fine. Took Blizzard 6yrs+ to allow players to wear the gear they wanted look wise with the stats of better gear. Was addressed MUCH earlier by BioWare.

Was TOR perfect? Hardly. But then, no MMO is. But I don't think the things you're harping on are the nail in the coffin you think they are.

OMG seriously...I thought you still had to buy the game to get to f2p in the first place??
So if all those people that try the trial for free and then decide to buy the game??...$$$$
Then if they decide to sub??...$$$$
It's going to help out all around..and if it doesn't,then WE as consumers have the right to STOP buying or renting (depending on how you view it) this product.
Crying and yelling won't help now, suggestion might be heard but we can only hope for so much. Welp we can only wait and sit back to see what the future brings...........

You expect Bioware to know what's wrong with their game?

Biowares job is to make games.

Not fix bugs, broken content, lag and otherissuesconstantlyreportedontheseforumsthathapp enedtoalsobeinbetaandalpha.

See problem with people calling others trolls is that...trolls don't have electricity under bridges so

how would they be able to play SWTOR?

tor didn't have one til 1.3

I fell betrayed, so if I want to stay subbed I get all the same items without paying for them in the FTP cash shops, but instead I have to work for them versus buying them with real life cash. so when I want to go pvp and the whol other team has purchaced the new w/e pvp armor will come out, wile Im here trying to earn it but cannot because they have the edge for buying it. the game wont die because of it,. they will loose alot of players FTP only makes more money for companys because of cash shops. once bioware and EA see that there $$$$ is comming from people that want the newest in armor and weopons. you will see more items than content. I myself will be leaving not because the game is broken and needs to be fixed before new content, or the fact that they say they they would fix the known bugs and yet to do there jobs. I will be leaving because I dont feel like getting frustrated in trying to earn said gear when the other player just simply bought it, which in turn makes it harder for me to try and aquire it.

you all can say w/e want about your opinions but the fact is you'll be paying for cash shops, eventuall content will slow down to the point were you will see it mabie a couple times a year, but items will come out every month or 2. they wont be seeing my money.

what? exactly how high are you? that is PRECISELY what their job is.

seriously, puff puff pass, because that stuff is some top shelf hydro you're smoking

Look, i've played many other MMO's tried a bunch of F2P, they all sucked for various including LotRO. The charging for anything and everything with the "coins" of the game sucked the fun out of it. I played Rift and enjoyed it. I may go back and try it again. I don't see people flocking to this game, not because it is not a good game, i think it is a lot of fun. Needs more end game but it's young. The main reason is going to be the graphics requirement. Most of the people who play event F2P won't have the computers to play this or will get sick of spending tons on money for everything. I'm not a hater, I really wanted this game to survive, I will say again how much I like the game. Each and every story line. They screwed up in a couple of areas and instead of fixing them they are going to let it die a long slow death with minimal improvements. It's all about the money now, they don't care if we are going to enjoy it long term.

I don't feel betrayed at all. In fact, the F2P option hasn't changed my opinion of the game at all. Actually, more than anything, I am hopeful it will open the door to more people. I will continue to sub as I am now because its worth my money each month.

This game has seen so many free trials, has seen price reductions, etc. They've pretty much been bending over backwards for the last eight months desperately begging people to come try their game.

It's extremely naive to believe that there are really that many people out there that haven't already seen this game and moved on that are actually going to feel that it is worth the subscription fee and commit to it.

Most people that had any interest at all have already come and gone. There is no secret pocket of SW fans hiding out there that haven't seen or heard enough from this game to turn them away.