I don't intend to buy anything from the cartel shop (signature). The prices are ridiculous and I will only spend my CC grant to get the hood down armor for my Jedi.

Cool story?

Actually, that's precisely what they've said. Limited time items aren't on the table at the moment, but will be considered for the future. Note the most recent investor Q&A.

Yes it's something they admit they are talking about but haven't made any decisions to adding to the cash shop. At some point in the future they may decide to start adding seasonal items.

I'm shocked people still believe this. We've been told about a major content expansion, new PVP warzone, and a revamped Ilum hitting within the next 3 months or so. Just choosing to ignore this because they are supplementing their revenue with the cartel shop seems like a knee jerk reaction.

 

The reason it's taking significant resources right now is because they had to build the functionality of the cartel shop from the ground up. Now that the frame work is in place adding items is simple. A re-textured speeder, a re-coloring of an existing armor model, that doesn't take much to implement going forward. Anything new created for the store is paid for many times over by the revenue it brings in.

 

The dev team is active and will remain so as long as they hit their revenue goals. Creating new content to sustain the business is a given.

 

The deeper fear for you should be this. If this game can't survive with the 2nd largest subscriber base prior to F2P then the whole industry is in trouble. It's been a trend for a while now. Open an MMO, steal players from other games, bleed them out short term, and scatter the MMO players over a larger number of games reducing revenue for any specific one.

 

We are already saw what happened at Turbine when they lost about half lost their players when SWTOR opened, they haven't recovered from it and the downsizing is happening now. If SWTOR dies, the future of the MMO industry does too because funding for these type of games will dry up. Elder Scrolls will be the last big AAA game before Titan. If they both fail... get used to indie releases in the MMO space.

I hope you're correct. I think this game is great, and really want to see it expand in the future.

Regarding upcoming content, however: most of what you've referred to was already in the making and planned for release. The new WZ, for example, has been finished for some time, and, if SWTOR had been more successful, would have been released with the accompanying operation. Instead, we are receiving it months later, essentially to "save up" content to release. We still don't know what the Ilum revamp really is, a one off event or a systemic change to make it actually possible to functionally participate in open world PvP there.

What I was referring to in my post is what happens when the content that was already in the works earlier in 2012, including Makeb, dries up? What is planned for, what is now in the making, and how much future content is in limbo, based on the financial reality SWTOR finds itself in?

In his recent post to the community, even Jeff Hickman writes that some staff have left the studio because working on a F2P SWTOR wasn't what they wanted to do. What precisely will be so different that folks would abandon a title they previously enjoyed working on?

I don't think even EA knows where exactly they are going with SWTOR yet. It depends on how well F2P goes.

I hope you're correct. I think this game is great, and really want to see it expand in the future.

 

Regarding upcoming content, however: most of what you've referred to was already in the making and planned for release. The new WZ, for example, has been finished for some time, and, if SWTOR had been more successful, would have been released with the accompanying operation. Instead, we are receiving it months later, essentially to "save up" content to release. We still don't know what the Ilum revamp really is, a one off event or a systemic change to make it actually possible to functionally participate in open world PvP there.

 

What I was referring to in my post is what happens when the content that was already in the works earlier in 2012, including Makeb, dries up? What is planned for, what is now in the making, and how much future content is in limbo, based on the financial reality SWTOR finds itself in?

 

In his recent post to the community, even Jeff Hickman writes that some staff have left the studio because working on a F2P SWTOR wasn't what they wanted to do. What precisely will be so different that folks would abandon a title they previously enjoyed working on?

 

I don't think even EA knows where exactly they are going with SWTOR yet. It depends on how well F2P goes.

They've never given us any information on things that have not been solidly locked down. There's no reason to think that lack of information means lack of planning. We didn't know about Makeb until a few months ago but that's been in the works for a while given the size of the expected content and voice work that needs to be done.

Internally they have a plan, it will be altered if goals aren't met but all MMO's have plans for the future and design documents ready to go for each step. We are just along for the ride and I hope it's a good one, there's so much potential here.

After seeing the prices of some of the pay to play games on the iPad and the "extras" in free to plays, I'm not surprised at all. It's 5-10 dollars for 1 decoration in Smurf Village that I play with my son. When I cruise through other people's villages, some have clearly spent $100s just to decorate.

I believe this person has won the thread well before Tim , unless that's a personal battle , anyways I was disheartened when I realised that the 150 cc and 325 cc armors where chest plates only god , so yeah $10 -$15 equals to the total amount of on yer bike!

Legacy ship unlocks FTW or for the worth it ?

Cheers,

BadOrb.

The prices for items on the cartel market is just way too high. Do you really expect people to pay ten to fifteen dollars for an armor set or color crystals? These prices need to be somewhat reduced. The cartel conversion from cash to cc is fine, but lower the price of actual armor sets and crystals a bit.

It's not high enough, try 300-600 dollars for a mount in wow from the card game. SWTOR needs some thing similar.

I'm shocked people still believe this. We've been told about a major content expansion, new PVP warzone, and a revamped Ilum hitting within the next 3 months or so. Just choosing to ignore this because they are supplementing their revenue with the cartel shop seems like a knee jerk reaction.

 

The reason it's taking significant resources right now is because they had to build the functionality of the cartel shop from the ground up. Now that the frame work is in place adding items is simple. A re-textured speeder, a re-coloring of an existing armor model, that doesn't take much to implement going forward. Anything new created for the store is paid for many times over by the revenue it brings in.

 

The dev team is active and will remain so as long as they hit their revenue goals. Creating new content to sustain the business is a given.

 

The deeper fear for you should be this. If this game can't survive with the 2nd largest subscriber base prior to F2P then the whole industry is in trouble. It's been a trend for a while now. Open an MMO, steal players from other games, bleed them out short term, and scatter the MMO players over a larger number of games reducing revenue for any specific one.

 

We are already saw what happened at Turbine when they lost about half lost their players when SWTOR opened, they haven't recovered from it and the downsizing is happening now. If SWTOR dies, the future of the MMO industry does too because funding for these type of games will dry up. Elder Scrolls will be the last big AAA game before Titan. If they both fail... get used to indie releases in the MMO space.

You are correct here , also the market as a whole is a lot smaller than it used to be ( it will grow again don't worry people ) , less money etc. So yeah there are 2 other games to mention EQ next and Destiny but still not many and look at diablo 3 still has no pvp , not sure about guild wars 2 but i'm sure its not as mega populated as it was the first week.

So I agree this will keep swtor at no.2 in the mmo market for now , but it will be no. 1 in the freemium market fairly quickly i should imagine.

Cheers,

BadOrb.

Sometimes there are sales too...for buying coins or discounted items. It would be appropriate for black friday, but they might not the first year. Although, a sale might generate more revenue if they did something like a grand opening sale in time for the holidays.

I don't know about most of you but to me a Sale should make a reasonably priced item into a deal. It should not be needed to make an unreasonably priced item reasonable.

i remember in sto - a star ship was something like 28$ ....and i bought it...kinda liked it.....now they don't sell them.

Anyways the only thing that really adjust's is how much i go out and spend on coffee

The prices aren't what gets me, per se. There's not much in the store to use my points on, anyway.

However, I can't say I'm eager about armor sets that I won't be able to use until I'm halfway done (or more) with a given character.

Ppl will pay. Ppl would pay 15$ on WoW for a stupid little kung fu panda pet that followed u around going HIIIIIIYA!

I am sure 15$ is a bargain for things that are actually useful....-_-

You are correct here , also the market as a whole is a lot smaller than it used to be ( it will grow again don't worry people ) , less money etc. So yeah there are 2 other games to mention EQ next and Destiny but still not many and look at diablo 3 still has no pvp , not sure about guild wars 2 but i'm sure its not as mega populated as it was the first week.

 

So I agree this will keep swtor at no.2 in the mmo market for now , but it will be no. 1 in the freemium market fairly quickly i should imagine.

 

Cheers,

 

BadOrb.

II doubt it Diablo 3 will ever have pvp. Basically, since the game tank in terms of retaining players, there is little incentive for Blizzard to invest heavily in Diablo 3. The only thing good about Diablo 3 for Blizzard it was a very effective cash grabbed, but that's about it.

The price points are fair.

I'm more than willing to pay for cool stuff that in the end supports our game.

The price points are fair.

 

I'm more than willing to pay for cool stuff that in the end supports our game.

I agree with what marak said they prices are fine especially if you are a sub getting 500 points a month makes it even cheaper if you save up and don't spend them right away

Crap, I HATE when they do crap like this. "Get it now because it'll never, ever come back, so you gotta pay NOW or never!" They really know how to play to those who like to collect stuff. I really help Bioware holds off on that one.

Relax. Every other F2P that has done this has just waited a year and then put those same items back up for sale.. they are in it to make money so NOTHING will be unique or a true 'one time only' offer.

I don't really mind the prices for the gear, but I also don't go out of my way for gear and crystals

The only things I really care about are the vanity pets and mounts, and the prices that I've seen look about right for those as well.

Relax. Every other F2P that has done this has just waited a year and then put those same items back up for sale.. they are in it to make money so NOTHING will be unique or a true 'one time only' offer.

That's good to know. I've played a couple games that started doing this, but not for longer than a year, so I didn't know that companies usually bring them out again.

If they aren't even legacy bound then what's the point? I already have my exalted set that I can mail between characters if I so choose to. Having an orange set bound to a single character is dumb.

i hear ya on the BOL thing I want the option to do different looks if i decide i want the Nihilus mask for instance on my SI instead of my SW

Appearance affects gameplay a lot.

Which I hope Bioware had realized early on.