Article on F2P

Welcome to the TOR forums. You'll find quite a lot of people are kidding themselves

I think his first part was a little overly harsh with some misinformation, but I think he at least redeemed himself by giving his opinions on how to make F2P better. I don't agree with EVERYTHING he said, but overall, I think it was pretty close - especially when talking about the restrictions to Flashpoints and Warzones.

I saw an interview with the lead designer for Planetside 2 recently and he said the most ingenious thing I have ever heard about F2P people.

In a nutshell (without quoting) he said that they love free to play people and don't want to gimp them much because at the end of the day, while they may not pay much or anything to play the game, just having those people in game and playing with the actual subscribers makes the subscribers game even better.

So while these people may not pay money to play they are actually doing them a favor by playing with the people who DO pay. Bioware really should listen to this advice.

Funny how a good F2P system (Planetside 2's system is infinitely better than SWTOR's) starts with mindset...

I like that. We like F2P players because they make our Pay-to-Play experience better. That would work here, too. As a PvPer, the more people who participate, the better. That doesn't really fix stale content, though. The novelty of a new WZ doesn't last long, especially when it's mediocre entertainment-wise. When will we get Ilum back?

Be interesting to find out what the devs think of the article and what they are going to do in order to improve or counter the issues raised.

Some can't seem to form their own opinions.

I liked the following comment the most:
And this one is one I'm worried may also be true:
You don't have to agree with the guys article, but to write it off as a non-nonsensical tirade is foolish. He has some very valid points.

They'll do what they did while 2 million customers walked out...nothing. They'll ignore any negative or critical feedback like they have been doing.

Well before BioWare can have that mindset I think we as subs need to get over the idea that F2P people are the scum of the earth and should be moved to their own F2P only leper colony servers. Gathering from the forums there are a decent number of people who viscerally hate F2P people just for being F2P so any move by BioWare to treat them as beneficial (likely in the form of relaxing restrictions) would just be met with even greater hatred of the F2P community by the subs unless we reform out attitude towards them.

I agree. Bioware needs to realize there are a helluva lot more potential F2P customers out there than there are current paying customers. I don't care if someone is F2P or a sub...players are players. The intentional massive gimping of new players is a huge mistake by Bioware. They should have added INCENTIVES to sub, not ridiculous restrictions that drive off players who weren't willing to buy the game for $15.

Most of what this reviewer stated is true. The F2P or at least Premium players, maybe remove restrictions completely after a small fee, should be allowed into the group content. I think it should be added in with the cost of the artifact equipment upgrade. Bam! you can equip purples and unlimited access to at least Flashpoints and Operations. This gets people hooked and sticking around rather than leaving after spending maybe five bucks (if BW is lucky). Then, like the author said you start implementing guild ships, personal ship decor, name changes, server transfers, and so on to get the player base to buy vanity items galore. Now to be fair I do think the Legacy system being locked out and maybe increasing the Cartel Coin monthly bonus and having to pay to unlock new areas like the Section X if you are Premium should be implemented or stay. All in all the system they have needs lots of work, but it could vastly increase the games player base and potential moneymaking capability.

Before I get hate/flame/ZOMG'd I really do enjoy the game. I'd just like to see it thrive more and the current system isn't going to cut it in the long term.