MMO from November 1999 pay to play.

If F2P was inevitable from the start. I wish they had just launched with F2P. The whole going from sub to F2P has a huge negative stigma attached to it as that to many means failure to keep subscribers entertained and engaged enough to warrant a monthly sub. I actually think Bioware bit off more then they could chew by setting the bar too high.

I actually think (looking back) that SOE got it right on a lot of things with Everquest. I didn't start playing that game until Runes of Kunark came out. WOW wasn't even a thought yet as far as I know. A game like that just couldn't make it now though. The EPIC WEAPON quest alone would have lost 90% of SWTORS launch level subscriptions. No one wants a quest that could take 6 7 8 or even 9 months REAL TIME to finish. Just getting the RED and GREEN scales from world bosses took me 4 months. People would camp toons at the spawn points and check and call-in the troops as soon as the dragon popped. There were raids that took 50 or more people and 8 or more hours to complete.

There were many many things in EQ that were bad but the overall leveling experience and each expansion came with at least 20 or more zones and each of those were as big as some of the planets in SWTOR.

That is what is needed in SWTOR LARGE numerous leveling zones. Slower exp gain by a factor of 10 and 50 times the quests to do. I should be able to level all 8 classes and (aside from the class quest) not have to repeat one planet except maybe a starter world.

C'est la vie one can still hope I guess..

AC has been a ghost town for a decade. Sure it has a small cult following, but the masses left AC back in 2001-2002 for other MMOs. It's a shell of it's former self since 2005.

This game servers have increased noticably since F2P.. and if you watch /general chat... a lot of the the new folks love it and many are even converting or planning on converting to subs.

And by the way... the owners of AC invented the Freemium model and applied it very successfully to their two newer MMO properties (LoTRO, and DDO).

You need to find a new horse to beat on IMO.

I understand the OP's point but like many pointed out, we are dealing with a whole new generation.

Its like commenting on how awesome record stores are and how the music store down the block has been open 35 years. That wont change the fact that most music is going digital and that CD's are on the way out.

Nonsense.

Just because a vocal minority go hippy hoppy in the forum about how F2P means failure, does not make it a failure. Most people see it positively or neutral to the game.

And from a business standpoint... launching subscription meant 2M+ box sales at top dollar launch prices, and for EA box sales at full retail is king to them in terms of short term revenue. If they launched F2P, they would have missed out on a couple hundred million + in box sales. You don't have to like it, but for them it was the right business decision to launch as subscription and see if it sustained and then switch to freemium if needed later.

call me crazy

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-3.png

but im sure SWTOR has WAY more subs than this PoS game you're talking about

The better question is... why has Blizzard pretty much admitted WoW is their last subscription only MMO?? Their new MMO in development will not go live as "subscription only".

Hey I wasn't knocking it. I am a capitalist what they did was fine. If you have something others want and they are willing to pay. Then by all means go for it. That's what makes what used to be America great. That's another topic for another MSG Board.

It does.

However the number of subs does not indicate profit.

You could have a bazillion subscribers but if the cost of running the game is a Bazillion and One then you lose money.

actually most people do not

most people laugh at the game because it went F2P within a year

and you can pretend that it's just a vocal minority on the forums if it makes you feel better. but when gaming websites, news, etc are reporting the game is a failure, it DEFINITELY creates a horrible stigma about the game when other people talk about it.

lol, your posts are so narrow minded it's laughable, almost pathetic

and you're saying swtor isn't profitable? you're saying it hasn't made it's money back? ill let you respond and dig your own grave for this one

edit - lol do you even know what you're saying? i get what you MEANT to say, but i dont think you know how to express yourself. . .unless you're talking about a game that subs for 1 dollar