Maybe free to play is a good thing

F2p isn't free. Sure, some "freeloaders" get to SOME content but far from all. I am looking at you LOTRO and DDO f2p (or "freemium") fanbois. Those that pay subs pay for the "freeloaders" as do those that actaully fall for the item shop. Everything is more expensive if you pay through the item shop but if you sub, you get less because so much goes into that shop instead of being included for your sub. Sure, you a "stipend" but it is so puny that you can never purchase a lot with it from the shop.

F2p will only SLOW content in the end. Slow that is EXCEPT for item shop trash. LOTRO/DDO don't have a good model nor do any of the other so-called f2p games on the market. I will not play (or pay) for a game that trys to scam its players in such an insulting way.

so long as they dont give their customers that bought the game the middle finger, and don't slack off on development, i would be ok with it.

wut if you think they implement change so slowy.. check that one 29 Nov 2011, the date WoW released their latest content patch, you know before this game was even released.
You get Free points per month with the sub and you can get points with Deeds in Lotro and something else in ddo (havent played in a year).
In Lotro. never had to buy any points pack since, but a bit too much expansion for my taste.

Turbine does not "scam" it's players. You know right up front what you get from the game. I have bought several items from the cash shop by using the in game points. Which you earn in a variety of ways. Not spent a single penny on any of those ether. Sure there are limitations, but you have a lof flexibility to play the game and enjoy it without spending any real money. Depends on what your goals are within the game for your chars. LOTRO is a excellent FTP model.

SWToR had the benefit of, literally, walking in WoW's footsteps. Warzones, Operations, the method of gearing (tokens, the valor system, warzone commendations) literally none of this is anything but a rough trace over what WoW has already done, given that, how can it not be possible to expect them to release a game that is competitive?

By your logic, developers should just give up on making MMOs anyhow, because according to you, none of them can possibly push out a good enough game that can compete with WoW in it's current state. It's been 8 years since wow released. You cannot possibly convince me that with the newer methods of development, better technology, and the benefit of being able to trace over what WoW has already done, that it is impossible for a MMO to release that will compete with WoW *now*.

Do I expect a game to release with 8 years of content? No. Does wow actually have 8 years of content with it's constant vertical expansions? Not anywhere near it. We should really stop pretending that anything more than Cataclysm is actually *relevant* content on WoW.

Final fantasy 11 and final fantasy 14 2 MMOs made by 1 company with very different outcomes

if it goes f2p then i will unsub faster then a***** teen can undress herself. i loved lotro and when it went f2p i spended more those 6 months then the previous yrs combined including the game itself! im not gonna fall in that trap again.

its too attractive to bring out your credit card for this and that. in the end such people like me are paying for the i- want-everything-for-free generation.

What're people afraid of if a game is B2P (Buy to play)?
What could be so horrible with the addition of F2P after buying the game? Micro transactions won't imbalance the game if BioWare does it right.

It can also suck if done incorrectly and Pay to Win is not the only F2P model that is a problem. The Gamble to Win model is a problem too.

Look at STO. They went F2P. Changed all of their end game stuff into a grind that rewards boxes. These boxes then require keys which you have to buy from their store. Some people get lucky. Many others do not but they have to keep grinding for boxes and buying keys trying to get what that one guy got on the first try. Yeah, that model sucks unless you are among the lucky few.

I mean sure, LoTRO, DDO and GW have F2P models that work for them, but they really have no sense of community. And there are still a lot of people who will never play them, which limits their audience to childish, impatient, easily distracted players with little to no interest in actually building or being part of a community.

No thanks. I prefer they stick with the subscription model and just deal with the fact that they aren't the WoWkiller they wanted to be. They're still making profits. They're just not making as big of a profit as they hoped for. Take the money and keep on trucking. Don't be so greedy.

Come back and pitch this falacy again in about three months, after GW2 has gone live, it's been swarmed by sociopathic locusts, and pronounced a failure and people stop playing in droves (even though it's free to play)