I'm feeling Nickel and Dimed by Makeb

I play video games (at this point pretty much only ToR) an average of 3 hours a day. Thats 21 hours a week 84 hours a month. That is $0.18 an hour to play this game. If they tack on 10-20 bucks every 6 months for a planet lets do some math and see what that ends up being.

504 hours / (90 dollars for sub + 20 for expac) = $0.21 an hour.

Lets redo that using 1 hour a day on average

180 hours / (90 dollars for sub + 20 for expac) = $0.61 an hour.

Lets compare this to a movie.

2 hours / 13.00 a ticket = $6.50 / hr

How about watching cable tv for 3 hours a day for a month

90 hours / 29.99 per mo (thats the intro price for basic cable from Comcast) = $0.33 / hr

So yeah, this is still the cheapest form of entertainment available.

At what point are defenders going to realize that it's not about the money.

No, it is a very different thing (historically in an MMORPG context).

Don't for a second think they didn't consider that seriously before deciding to call it an "expansion", what they are relasing is an "adventure pack", I suspect they are calling it an "expansion" so they can attempt to deflect "paywall" criticism with the level rise.

When they stop making threads titled "I'm feeling nickled and dimed by Makeb".

No, it is a very different thing (historically in an MMORPG context).

Don't for a second think they didn't consider that seriously before deciding to call it an "expansion", what they are relasing is an "adventure pack", I suspect they are calling it an "expansion" so they can attempt to deflect "paywall" criticism with the level rise.

So your issue is just what they're calling it? Who cares what it's called. All that matters is the content and the price. Call it a value meal for all it really matters.

By the way, it's looking like a good deal for the money.

Meh, none of us here seriously know exactly how large this "expansion" is beyond what said by Bioware employees, unless you have insider information, therefore we cannot even draw to those conclusions. The best thing to do is actually sit and wait to see how large/small this really is.

I can tell you this though, I'm not really gonna miss my $10. Even if it is an adventure pack, I think its priced accordingly to standards of adventure packs out there.

Although I think adventure packs don't come with level increases. Think of Dragon Age games, those DLCs didn't raise your level at all, but afforded you some extra quest and companion, some shinys or something for a total of $5-10. Now look at Fallout games, those packs only had 6 hours of gameplay and increased your level by 5, but they charged you $20 when it first came out. Then you have Dragon Age Awakening priced at a full game, but almost the same amount of game content.

i've been having a generally negative feeling all week about the announcement to charge for the next content update. I'm someone who has kind of grown up with the subscription model. The business model that i'm used to has me paying 15 dollars a month for a game to play, including regular content updates including solo content, open world group content, minor gameply updates -i'm not talking about bugs-, and raiding updates.

I want to be careful to say that i'm not being critical of the makeb content update. I think you guys have done a fine job of releasing new content on a timely scale. If not for the nickel and dime aspect, i would be energized and excited about a nice planet to play next spring.

Every couple years, i expect an expansion that significantly updates the game. In swtor i would expecte a full rework of all classes so they play different and the game legitimately feels updated. I would expect a full act 4 including a minimum of 3 voss/belsavis/corelia sized planets, a class story that progresses through each planet for all 8 base classes, and some evolution of my relationship with my companions. I would also expect to see at least a couple new flashpoints, and at least 1 new tier of operations. I would pay 40 dollars for this. I also wouldn't expect this to happen this year. It would be a 2014 thing.

This is the business model that i'm comfortable with.

Instead, in a few months, i'm going to be asked to pay additional money to download a content patch hidden behind a paywall. If i don't pay, then i don't get to continue playing endgame content. It feels wrong and it makes me wonder if this is going to be the new normal for swtor. If it is, then does that mean i shouldn't ever expect to see a big expansion that reworks all the classes and makes the game feel fresh again? Should i never expect to have months of new class stories to discover? Will there even be an act 4? How many times will i have to plunk down 10 dollar bills for content updates in addition to my 15 dollars a month i already pay before i see a real expansion?

I've kind of been feeling crappy all week about this announcement and i haven't been sure how to word it. I'm not going to pre-order the patch and hopefully, my opinion will evolve as more information comes out.

Regardless, i realize that when this content is released, i will be making a final decision to accept the new "pay us 10 bucks when we tell you to" business model or leave the game i enjoy playing forever.

That is, unless the business team behind the game changes their mind and offers the patch for free to subscribers.

We know exactly how large it is - the size of Belsavis.