Hallo Ladies and Gents and Bioware.

Since I spent about 50 bucks on this game yesterday I want to make absolutely clear to bioware why.

Because it's not because of favorable prices (in fact, your store is overpriced and and so is the benefits associated with your subscription because 3/4 of them can be unlocked permanently threw mentioned store...), great community (who i've barely interacted with, although the few interactions have been positive), great tooltip system (which doesn't make you do certain things, so I already forgotten how to reserves engineer stuff while i'm starting to have the need to do so).

No, it's because i'm a good week into the game and i'm still not done with the Sith Inquisitor story line, everything is fully voiced acted, with different dialogue options which to certain degree actually impact what happens with fleshed out characters around me, and I still have 7 other such stories I can do, and I never had to even pay for it.

The amount of quality story content reminds me of Dragon Ag: Origins and I happily paid 50 for that, so i'll happily pay 50 of this.

But your store ? Really ? Character or account unlocks ? you are going to make a difference between that to begin with ? about 10 bucks to wear epics on 1 char, or about 22 to unlock account wide, what ? that's p2w, the only reason you prolly haven't gotten roasted is because cartel coins can be earned in a decent pace in game from what I have gathered. But your store is just a milk machine, and while most digital stores in games are, most at least try and have you think they aren't scamming you, but that Account or Character differentiating feels totally disgusting. Especially since MMO wise your game is rather weak, combat feels clunky because your game has trouble finishing lightsaber animations which take longer than the GCD and then has to go into a ability animation which totally disorientate me from what my char is actually doing. Your entire selling point for this game is the fleshed out story, which you hardly monetize and then you heavily monetize the aspect of your game that's weakest.

TL;DR : Your SP storylines are so good they make me wanna spend my money, why are you so heavily overpricing and monetizing your MP aspects ? If your SP wasn't so good it already had me spend money, I would be turned off by your MP monetization. Being able to wear BiS gear is behind a paywall in a Multiplayer game, unless you are a Russian developer, is unacceptable.

Hallo Ladies and Gents and Bioware.

 

Since I spent about 50 bucks on this game yesterday I want to make absolutely clear to bioware why.

 

Because it's not because of favorable prices (in fact, your store is overpriced and and so is the benefits associated with your subscription because 3/4 of them can be unlocked permanently threw mentioned store...), great community (who i've barely interacted with, although the few interactions have been positive), great tooltip system (which doesn't make you do certain things, so I already forgotten how to reserves engineer stuff while i'm starting to have the need to do so).

 

No, it's because i'm a good week into the game and i'm still not done with the Sith Inquisitor story line, everything is fully voiced acted, with different dialogue options which to certain degree actually impact what happens with fleshed out characters around me, and I still have 7 other such stories I can do, and I never had to even pay for it.

 

The amount of quality story content reminds me of Dragon Ag: Origins and I happily paid 50 for that, so i'll happily pay 50 of this.

 

But your store ? Really ? Character or account unlocks ? you are going to make a difference between that to begin with ? about 10 bucks to wear epics on 1 char, or about 22 to unlock account wide, what ? that's p2w, the only reason you prolly haven't gotten roasted is because cartel coins can be earned in a decent pace in game from what I have gathered. But your store is just a milk machine, and while most digital stores in games are, most at least try and have you think they aren't scamming you, but that Account or Character differentiating feels totally disgusting. Especially since MMO wise your game is rather weak, combat feels clunky because your game has trouble finishing lightsaber animations which take longer than the GCD and then has to go into a ability animation which totally disorientate me from what my char is actually doing. Your entire selling point for this game is the fleshed out story, which you hardly monetize and then you heavily monetize the aspect of your game that's weakest.

 

TL;DR : Your SP storylines are so good they make me wanna spend my money, why are you so heavily overpricing and monetizing your MP aspects ? If your SP wasn't so good it already had me spend money, I would be turned off by your MP monetization. Being able to wear BiS gear is behind a paywall in a Multiplayer game, unless you are a Russian developer, is unacceptable.

You'll soon discover other fairly insulting tricks Bioware uses to try to pressure people to subscribe. For example, you cannot run any Operations (8-man content) and are limited to a certain number of PVP matches each week. You will be constantly reminded in every possible setting that you a NOT a subscriber, by having to pay far more for items, purchase unlocks to be able to hide your character's helmet in story cut scenes, purchase unlocks to be able to show off a title, etc.

In other words, instead of making subscription attractive, this game focuses on making non-subscription unattractive. The good news is that if you're mainly interested in story content, you can experience a huge amount of the game for free, and any expansions you progress through on one character as a subscriber are permanently unlocked for your entire account.

So if you run through Knights of the Eternal Throne, for example, on your main character, you can drop your subscription and take your time running it on as many other toons as you want. If you like running operations, though, you're out of luck, sadly.

Wait, there is a cap on weekly pvp for free-to-play players ? This doesn't make much sense...... that's punishing the Subs actually, since you don't get to club f2p players as much with your advantages....... That's extremely poorly though-out then.

If you are going to use semi-p2w mechanics, why would you also implementing mechanics that than curtail the likelihood of you exploiting your p2w mechanic ?

That's just insulting to both sides, the f2p and the subs. That's just stupid, not insulting, just plain stupid even.

Wait, there is a cap on weekly pvp for free-to-play players ? This doesn't make much sense...... that's punishing the Subs actually, since you don't get to club f2p players as much with your advantages....... That's extremely poorly though-out then.

 

If you are going to use semi-p2w mechanics, why would you also implementing mechanics that than curtail the likelihood of you exploiting your p2w mechanic ?

 

That's just insulting to both sides, the f2p and the subs. That's just stupid, not insulting, just plain stupid even.

There is nothing P2W about this because this game is first and foremost a subscription-based game. Subs have 0 limitations, literally everything available in the game can be earned without spending anything extra.

F2P is not the base game mode, you are not supposed to have everything available to you. What would be the point of subbing, if you could do everything for free?

SWTOR's F2P is extremely generous compared to most other MMOs, especially to other SUB-based MMOs like WoW and FFXIV. You have hundreds of hours of story content available for free and a decent amount of group content as well.

If you want to seriously participate in the endgame, you need to be a sub. It has been like this since release, and is not going to change anytime soon.

And another thing, after numerous changes to F2P mode over the years, you now have like 2 times more stuff available to you now than at the release of F2P mode. Even before the most recent changes, I myself played as a preferred for a pretty long time and enjoyed the game nonetheless. You can also earn some unlocks for yourself during the time you are a sub, so your gameplay as preferred isn't so limited.

TL;DR : Your SP storylines are so good they make me wanna spend my money,

I agree - this is why I sub. I pay $15 a month on swtor and get dozens of hours of amazing voice acted story, fun gameplay, MMO systems, etc. It is the biggest ROI in my life. A 2 hour movie can cost more than $15. I'll skip the movie and play the Sith Inquisitor story any day.

I guess it is just perspective. But for me I want BW to make money and keep this game alive. If my $15 helps BW then that's good for me. And it's cheap as heck when I average it out by the hour.

But I totally understand why people would balk at that. I think $15 is a lot of money to spend on one game every month. So does my wife. Its just for me paying $15 a month is a no brainer considering what I get in return.

I will say that you miss out on a lot of this game if you do not sub. I think the FTP is really like an amazingly generous free demo. If you dig the story and game-play then there are 7 more stories plus the KotFE and beyond stories (which I loved). I think its the best entertainment money I spend right now.

Hope you find what works for your budget and time - enjoy hitting people in the face with Sith lightning. No matter how innocent the story is it seems like that is always a dialog option for the Inquisitor

SWTOR's F2P is extremely generous compared to most other MMOs...

Sorry, I just had to stop by to laugh heartily at this.

And... continue on.

Sorry, I just had to stop by to laugh heartily at this.

 

And... continue on.

Yeah? Go play 8 complete (to original max level) story lines in WoW for free! And a few expansions! And do space battles! Still laughing?

.. already forgotten how to reserves engineer stuff while i'm starting to have the need to do so).

I assume you mean "reverse" engineer - there's a button on the left side of your Inventory. (Top button)

But your store ? Really ? Character or account unlocks ? you are going to make a difference between that to begin with ? about 10 bucks to wear epics on 1 char, or about 22 to unlock account wide, what ? that's p2w, the only reason you prolly haven't gotten roasted is because cartel coins can be earned in a decent pace in game ...

The items in the Cartel Market are just cosmetic. About the closest the CM comes to P2W are the XP boosts. (You won't "win" by wearing fancy armor. 😉 )

As a subscriber you earn 500 CC per month. (+100 with security key), plus any you get through referrals, plus some in-game rewards. Many subs get lots of CM items without ever buying extra coins.

Wait, there is a cap on weekly pvp for free-to-play players ? This doesn't make much sense...... that's punishing the Subs actually, since you don't get to club f2p players as much with your advantages....... That's extremely poorly though-out then.

Um, no. There may be a limit on how often an individual F2P'er can PvP, but there's lots of them.

Yeah? Go play 8 complete (to original max level) story lines in WoW for free! And a few expansions! And do space battles! Still laughing?

So your answer is to choose one of the only paid MMOs and then use it as a measuring stick for generosity in F2P games? Sorry to break it to you, but the majority of F2P games are actually, you know, FREE. Completely. No paid expansions. No restrictions on content whatsoever. You can play everything you want, for free.

That's why they're also monetized with cash shop purchases.

Calling SWTOR's F2P model generous is beyond hilarious, at least according to my personal experience in MMOs. Perhaps if you've only played FFXIV and WOW, you know, two paid MMOs, you may have a difference point of view.

I assume you mean "reverse" engineer - there's a button on the left side of your Inventory. (Top button)

 

 

The items in the Cartel Market are just cosmetic. About the closest the CM comes to P2W are the XP boosts. (You won't "win" by wearing fancy armor. 😉 )

As a subscriber you earn 500 CC per month. (+100 with security key), plus any you get through referrals, plus some in-game rewards. Many subs get lots of CM items without ever buying extra coins.

This isn't technically true if you consider the Artifact Authorization legacy unlock, which costs well over 20 bucks.

Without it, your hopes of getting beyond ... 282...292? is gone. I'm fairly sure this also includes set bonus pieces, which are also of gold rarity.

This isn't technically true if you consider the Artifact Authorization legacy unlock, which costs well over 20 bucks.

 

Without it, your hopes of getting beyond ... 282...292? is gone. I'm fairly sure this also includes set bonus pieces, which are also of gold rarity.

Technically, you only need/want that if you are F2P or Preferred. Subs don't need to purchase anything like that. Without it, it would be "pay less to win" for F2P or Preferred. 😏