But seriously, hands up if you think that having tokens for the endgame stuff isn't going to be abused by gold sellers?

And if there are tokens available, there are plenty of players out there who will just stock up on them with all that free CC they've got, and then cancel their sub. The possibility of bringing in a few coins for the tokens, versus the probability of losing subs since they can access everything they want without spending money on a subscription. I'm sure it's a high chance of getting a player who's never spent any money on the game, spend to get access to a system that everyone is complaining about.

I wonder which way Bioware's accountants would prefer they rely on - a "possible" money source from tokens, or a more guaranteed income from having to have a subscription?

Ah, but if they sold passes again, some F2P players WOULD bring in revenue, no? Just as some bring in revenue by buying cartel coins. Some revenue is better than none, right?

You're ignoring the fact that there are WAY too many FREE CC's floating around.

How much additional revenue would be gained when people would simply buy those passes with their FREE CC's?

You're ignoring the fact that there are WAY too many FREE CC's floating around.

 

How much additional revenue would be gained when people would simply buy those passes with their FREE CC's?

Way too many.... interesting how you phrase that.

F2P can get 100 CC's for using a security key each month. So you set the price of weekly passes to more than 25CC's, then they can't have a months worth of play for free. Hell, set the price of a weekly pass more than 100CC's so they can't get even a single pass for free. That's fair.

Oh but what if someone hoards CC's while they're a sub and then cancels, then they can just buy passes with those CC's!

OK. That's a perk of having been a sub at one point. Also those will run out eventually. What's the problem with that?

Way too many.... interesting how you phrase that.

 

F2P can get 100 CC's for using a security key each month. So you set the price of weekly passes to more than 25CC's, then they can't have a months worth of play for free. Hell, set the price of a weekly pass more than 100CC's so they can't get even a single pass for free. That's fair.

 

Oh but what if someone hoards CC's while they're a sub and then cancels, then they can just buy passes with those CC's!

 

OK. That's a perk of having been a sub at one point. Also those will run out eventually. What's the problem with that?

Johnny gets 2000 CC's each month for FREE between his subscription stipend and referral stipend. Even setting the price at 250 CC's per pass, that is still 8 passes per month with NO ADDITIONAL revenue. Now multiply that by all the players getting hundreds or thousands of FREE CC's per month from referrals.

How many players get thousands of CC's per month from referrals? How many players have their referral link in their signatures or sell their link in game?

Even if you want to say that those FREE CC's come from "subscriptions", those players are currently subscribing and are already contributing that consistent and recurring revenue. They are NOT additional subscriptions, thus not producing any additional revenue.

Johnny gets 2000 CC's each month for FREE between his subscription stipend and referral stipend. Even setting the price at 250 CC's per pass, that is still 8 passes per month with NO ADDITIONAL revenue. Now multiply that by all the players getting hundreds or thousands of FREE CC's per month from referrals.

 

How many players get thousands of CC's per month from referrals? How many players have their referral link in their signatures or sell their link in game?

 

Even if you want to say that those FREE CC's come from "subscriptions", those players are currently subscribing and are already contributing that consistent and recurring revenue. They are NOT additional subscriptions, thus not producing any additional revenue.

Your numbers are inflated, and that last paragraph simply doesn't make any sense. It sounds more like you're against anyone anywhere getting any coins for free, and less about how said coins are being used.