The game died noone can argue with that, Just go look at EA's library this year they handled all thier major franchises like this, Battlefield 3 for example got promised "Premium" an added P2W feature and three weeks later Battlefield 4 is published, Swtor will be no exception, F2P/Subs at first then gradually go the biggest wallet wins.

 

I think People on both sides need to wake up a little and start to close thier wallets in the future, Don't by these kind of games, I bought alot of consoles as I collect them and They give me more gametime for WAY less money.

 

Wii U, Ps4 and Xbox 720 is probably coming soon, try one of those perhaps? I got a Super Nintendo with games such as Phalanx and Mario Bros 3, And those games for about 20 years have given me so much satisfaction compared to the last 3 MMO games I've bought.

 

Try something new and Best of wishes!

Your delusional....... In 7 months Bioware hasn't added any updates to class missions... what makes you think all of a sudden now it's F2P were going to gets lots of content, hell they just fired most of the staff, so who exactly is going to create all this new content each month?

 

I will end this conversation with a we will see.

Congrats. i was going to go another 6 months sub. just cancelled it and will at most take a month or 2 to check out this new system before I leave the game.

 

Cash shop is just fail and to make me bleed money and time.

 

Enjoy the future, its proven by economists that Micro-transaction model and Hybrid model will always out commerce the Subscription only model. Companies are in business to make money, players are here to enjoy the game. These two things do not always co-exist but sometimes they do.

 

If we all stick by our words saying none of us support pay to win then they wont release it. NEVER FALTER NEVER WAIVER NEVER GIVE INTO THE SHINY PROMISE OF YOU NO LONGER BEING TERRIBAD AT EVERYTHING

If you resubscribe after being a free player for a while, you'll regain access to content you lost access to as a free player. However, if you transition back to being a free player at any time, you will have free player restrictions placed back on your account.

 

Tell us something we don't know...I don't think that's what he was asking. I think what he means to say is will we be able to keep our current aspects, like character looks (Becuase F2p changes the races available) so if i'm a pureblood, will I be transfered to a human, then if I re-sub later will I get my pureblood status back etc.

Edited July 31, 2012 by kharnoss
I missed something out.

Well I guess it's officially hail mary pass time.

 

Lets hope Rudy catches the ball shall we.

 

Depressing.

why can the yellow posters post so many times in 1 thread but not in the last o say 100 threads ?

I can't see this turning out well, especially if they go the route of LOTRO. Only time will tell...

this is purely a forum rumor.. nothing to see here

Wrong, lol. It's official, and it's coming in the Fall.

Correct me if im wrong, but I dont rmember to many games going F2P and having a healthy patch history......could this mean we can kiss the upkeep goodbye

 

Lotro has used a very similar model very healthily. And updates are coming quite frequently.

why can the yellow posters post so many times in 1 thread but not in the last o say 100 threads ?

 

Most popular thread tends to get the most mod posts, its a way of trying to make 1 main thread rather than 100 seperate threads.

I am just wondering how the Cash shop will work. The point of a cash shop is we spend more money buying stuff in there than we do on the subs, but thats fine cuz we are playing the game for free and the new outfit I bought is mine and at least I got to choose it. However for this to work there has to be enough stuff in a cash shop to make it worth while. If its like a few outfits and a couple of pets its not going to make any cash.

Tell us something we don't know...I don't think that's what he was asking.

 

They won't tell us anything until after it is implemented or they get your sub like with everything else.

If you resubscribe after being a free player for a while, you'll regain access to content you lost access to as a free player. However, if you transition back to being a free player at any time, you will have free player restrictions placed back on your account.

 

So the best payment plan will be as follows:

 

Sub for a month to clear new Operation content.

Cancel Sub for 2-3 month

Re-sub for 1 month to clear new Operation content

Repeat

Lotro has used a very similar model very healthily. And updates are coming quite frequently.

 

so f2p = lots of patchs paid subs for 7 months = 1-2 patchs erm somthing not adding up there

This FTP model is a good FTP model.

If you resubscribe after being a free player for a while, you'll regain access to content you lost access to as a free player. However, if you transition back to being a free player at any time, you will have free player restrictions placed back on your account.

 

Ok so just to clarify, say I have 1000 credits and 50 items in my inventory (not real numbers) and I'm a subscriber, but then i choose to go Free to Play, so i'll have to say leave 500 of those credits and only take 25 items with me, but then when I return to a subscription I will get back those 500 credits and 25 items and if I ever decide to go F2P again I will have to choose what to take with me again...the loop continues. Is that a decent analogy of what is going to happen?

Free to play can be all right if implemented properly. It did work out OK for LOTRO and Turbine. Unfortunately, they are not implementing it properly. The concern is not pay-to-win; it does not appear they are going in that direction. The main problem with F2P's current implementation is this:

 

They are giving away the game's strongest, most unique and defining aspect for free and requiring you to pay for the most generic, boring, or superfluous parts.

 

Even though I find LOTRO's storytelling more enjoyable than that of most MMO's, it is still fairly similar to generic WoW-clone MMO's. The same applies to most F2P MMO's out there. SWTOR is different. The experience is comparable to that of other Bioware single player RPG's. It's like they're giving away BG1&2, Jade Empire, KOTOR, Dragon Age Origins, and the Mass Effect trilogy for free. The only thing that really sets SWTOR apart from other MMO's is Bioware's stock-in-trade RPG story tellling. That is the part that presumably cost most of the $300 million budget and development time. That is the part they are giving away completely for free.

 

All the MMO aspects of the game - group dungeons, raids, and pvp - are not significantly different from other MMO's on the market whether you consider them well-implemented and enjoyable or not. I personally enjoy the PvP in SWTOR very much (and you can still do that for free under F2P, just somewhat less often), though I've barely bothered with the flashpoints and raids which I find extremely boring. The dungeons and raids do incorporate Bioware storytelling but in that setting it's more of a nuisance IMO than anything else, especially after you do it once.

 

It is probably far too late to change the model, as it has likely been decided at the highest levels, but for SWTOR F2P to be successful, the least they could do is something like this:

Class Story Chapter I: Free

Class Story Chapter 2: One time permanent unlock fee of $1 per class or $5 for all 8 (or $2/$10)

Class Story Chapter 3: One time permanent unlock fee of $1 per class or $5 for all 8 (or $2/$10)

 

That's quite a deal considering that KOTOR still costs $10 on Steam normally, Dragon Age 1 $20, and Mass Effect 1 & 2 cost $20 each. Even the very old Baldur's Gate games still cost $5-$17:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=baldur%27s+gate

 

However, even if you love the PvP and flashpoints and raids, that is still no reason to give away all of SWTOR's story content for free. Even LOTRO requires you to pay for quest/story content. You only get the epic story part of LOTRO completely free. But that is not analagous to SWTOR's class stories. The LOTRO epic story is virtually the same for every class and is a comparably much less signifcant aspect of LOTRO than the class stories are to SWTOR. Most of LOTRO's story content is region-based, and you do have to pay for that:

 

VIP Premium Player Free Player

Quest Packs* Eriador, Lothlorien Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land, Lonelands Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land, Lonelands

(can purchase more) (can purchase more)

(source: http://www.lotro.com/free.php?)

 

Doing the same thing in SWTOR would be something like giving the planetary quest stories for tython/ord mantell, Coruscant, Taris, Nar Shaddaa, Tatooine and Alderaan away for free, but requiring you to pay one time fees to unlock the quest arcs of Balmorra, Quesh, Hoth, Belsavis, Voss, and Corellia. It does not appear that this is being done, so SWTOR F2P is giving away far more for free compared to LOTRO F2P (less incentive to pay anything) even if you don't consider the aforementioned fact that the class stories in SWTOR are not analagous to the epic story in LOTRO. And that is completely ignoring the differences in how compelling and unique that storytelling is. At least personally, although I find LOTRO's storytelling and questing more compelling and enjoyable than that of most MMO's, it is still based on the WoW text-box quest model with no dialogue trees and character camera-centered cutscenes (most cutscenes are played out from the standard character control camera as opposed to Bioware's cinematic cutscenes), and are thus far weaker than that of SWTOR's IMO.

 

I've enjoyed SWTOR much more than any other MMO's I've played. I disagree that going F2P was necessary and in the best interests of the game. Rift is still going strong and is still subscription based. However, I hope SWTOR is successful under this model. LOTRO continues to release huge expansions and constant free epic story updates under its free-to-play model. If SWTOR does the same thing, I will be happy. But I doubt we will ever see Chapter 4 of the class stories, which is what I want more than anything else. That will require more money than the current F2P model is likely to generate.

If you resubscribe after being a free player for a while, you'll regain access to content you lost access to as a free player. However, if you transition back to being a free player at any time, you will have free player restrictions placed back on your account.

 

What restrictions exactly? What does travel restriction mean? No quick travel, no taxis, no speeders? What is the credit ceiling? 10k? 50k? 100k? How many character slots? Just one? Two?

Hope I can play my Twi'lek Trooper if I go Free to Play. Oh... it's not one of the accessible Race Class combos, guess not.

In a move that surprised no one........Well i play several F2P MMOs and..they are pretty good..new content all the time to keep the F2p's paying and the sub people pay the same as always but get a bunch of new content at no extra charge....sign me up!

I can't see this turning out well, especially if they go the route of LOTRO. Only time will tell...

 

Don't forget though according to Turdbine everything is amazing, revenue and players are up, obviously they are far too busy producing high quality new content to actually produce any quantifiable figures to prove any of this.

With 50-60% of the game going free to play (100% of the levelling experience) how is it that the subscription fee remains the same?

 

If i order a Big Mac and Fries and the Fries go free 2 play, im only going to pay for the Big Mac right?

 

How is the $15 a month substantiated?

 

Free Cartel Currency for exp boost packs that i have no use for?

Edited July 31, 2012 by Tylerlee

They won't tell us anything until after it is implemented or they get your sub like with everything else.

 

Haha, so for being a loyal subscriber you get kept in the dark about game changing aspects that will ultimately effect our subscription. Makes sense.

There going to charge you for EVERYTHING.... Free to Play title is very misleading.... Odds are the people who go the F2P route will end up spending more money then the people who pay there flat fee $15 a month...

 

My concern is the low life's who will now invade our servers and cause havoc because they can just create new accounts if they get banned.

 

 

Oh, I completely agree with 'Free to Play' being a misleading title.

 

I'm just worried that, actually, as a *paying* customer I will end up spending more than I do already due to 'character specific items' bought with Cartel Coins.

 

While, as I mentioned, there are account wide rewards already (like the Tauntaun pet) the most recent patch introduced character specific legacy perks.

 

So the question is:

 

I buy the "Lost Helm of Darth Nihilus" - when I get in-game, do ALL my characters get one in their mailbox, or is it limited to just one?

 

Sure, it will be my 'choice' to buy the same item for each character if they're character specific. But I feel that continuing to pay the subscription fee on my account should mean that items bought with Cartel Coins should be tied to your account, not individual characters.

 

Somebody mentioned 'Why aren't I just getting the items automatically? Why do Cartel Coins exist?"

 

It's a good question.

 

I also share your community concern. The Swiftsure general chat was a toxic dump of a place. I moved to the Progenitor and that was fantastic. Then, while the server merges bought more people to the Prog, it also increased the number of trash talking idiots.

 

I can't see that improving with the population increased further but this time with people that probably will have no investment in the game - either socially OR financially.

 

Like I said, I'll stay subbed and see what happens. But I have a bad feeling about this...

 

QS

Edited July 31, 2012 by quantumsheep

Its not necessarily a bad thing. Lotro actually saw a massive boost in activity when it swapped to F2P. So if SWTOR can do it right then it might actually benefit the game.