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The Importance of Player Feedback with the New Free-to-Play Option


CourtneyWoods

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Previous to finding out about the slight improvement in the quickbar (IMHO) debacle I decided to find out what It would cost on the free to play option to get what I consider a fully playable character for each of the 16 advanced classes minus consumables.

 

It would cost 101840 cartel coins, bought the most affordable way is a few cents shy of $730 USD

 

Meanwhile if you unlock things like Sector X, Crew Appearance, Additional Cargo, Titles, Legacy Name, etc and also things like Speeder Piloting and Legacy Race unlocks, You can up that total to 144765 cartel coins or just short of $1060 USD.

 

That is at $15/mo 5.9 years of play or just short of 7 if you by 6 mo at a time. That is without consumables like passes and medical probes, without weekly passes for conflict content, and then, if I understand it right, you after spending all that money have a second class citizen account that will never be as good as the subbed players.

 

Maybe someone didn't mention this but you make a profit in the free to play space by making it up in volume.

 

The design of this model is so hostile to free to play players that as soon as they realize you play with a crippled version of the client that doesn't do necessary things, they have to pay for those things... for every single character they make and play, you will have killed of most of your replay incentive right there.

 

You at Bioware/EA are very smart people so the only conclusions I can come up with are either you designed it to MAKE people who want to play multiple characters subscribe or you are setting up the first dominoes that will fall and bring SWTOR down with it.

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Here is my Player Feedback: EA / Bioware have become VERY greedy. Only two months after f2p, but prices have greatly increased (tree, bomb etc) and also p2w and events stuff in shop. :mad:

 

EA / Bioware, WHY!? Why are you doing this, the game has already died for you? :rak_02:

Edited by Glower
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Subscriber Benefits

 

The primary subscriber benefits are:

* Unlimited Warzones

* Unlimited Flashpoints

* Unlimited Space Missions

* Unlimited Operations

* Increased XP

* Economy - Credit Cap and Commendation Costs

 

As someone who is a subscriber and heavily participates in all of these activities, I am concerned about future development in these areas. F2P players and non-subscribers can generate a lot of revenue and enjoy the game, but in my opinion they do not participate and effectively monetize these activities. As players we don't have any metrics or analytics for how many weekly unlocks get sold, only BioWare does. In a vacuum, my concern is that development efforts could move away from expanding these activities in order to better monetize a broader base.

 

Cartel Packs

 

There is a lot of hate on these for being a "lottery" or "gambling". Having a background in TCGs, I understand and am OK with the business model. The pack-in items (boosts, companion gift, crafting materials) are nice, but generally only results in a small credits savings or GTN revenue (less than 50k, unless RNG grants Molecular Stabilizers).

 

The only real problem I have with these is the RNG of the "rare items." This is all determined by drop rate. The current system results in a glut of unwanted items and opening packs with little to no value at the chance of a chase rare. Having items cross-over between packs exacerbates this, and I would like to see it dissuaded. There is some overlap in the common items between the two existing Cartel Packs.

 

This business model (while some believe to be predatory) is effective and the fluff rewards are rather fun. My concern is that there is a rather limited amount of fluff rewards in the game itself to achieve and collect, and hope that development in that area picks up in the future.

 

Purchasing Space Ship Parts:

 

I don't like slippery slope arguments and this won't affect the core game at all, but I'm not a fan of this. I also don't like having items that are attainable by in-game means being available straight-up in the Market because it creates an artificial floor for the value of the time/materials/investment of achievement. The entire structure of the game (outside of social interaction) depends on overcoming challenges and paying to completely subvert those is a problem.

 

I appreciated the necessary gear progression to kit out your ship and was impressed with BioWare's plan to make it non-trivial and rewarding in 1.6. Minigame progression existed, and it seemed like a fun side note. This was destroyed. Players don't need to spend commendations on upgrades at all. The schematics implemented are pointless due to the very high material cost to create it versus the minimal Cartel Coins required. The one part you straight-up buy with credits would be an OK Cartel Market purchase with me.

 

That being said, they added a medium-core grind to a casual minigame that was probably too steep for most people. In order to get commendations to buy the gear to help, they needed to grind inefficient older missions or complete the new missions (which you can't do without gear).

 

An optimal solution would be to offer blue, somewhat neutered options in the Cartel Store that are inferior to the BIS crafted/commendation pieces, but enought to complete some of the new heroic missions and earn commendations/progress. That way players could take a shortcut to catch up and complete some of the new heroic missions, while working on getting the purple pieces from crafters / commendations, like "Recruit" gear for space missions.

 

That cat is now out of the bag, though. I am strongly opposed to this implementation, and hope that it does not go this way in the future. BioWare will lose people if this becomes a trend, or this model is applied to other game systems.

 

The long and short of it is: Space Mission gear progression is largely irrelevant. It sucks though, because they squandered an opportunity to engage players, all while enraging people who care about the game (and also those who erupt into angry slippery slope P2W rants).

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Another suggestion I just thought of...

 

Remove the XP penalty for non-subs and make it into a XP bonus for subs. F2Ps will get frustrated by being behind the level of the planet they are on and there is no readily apparent indicator that says "Hey you are leveling slower, sub to level faster".

 

This should have the same effect, benefiting the subscribers for their investment, however it will reduce the negative view of the game that might come of being outleveled by the content without realizing why.

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I don't understand all this complains: "Oh, I am F2P, but give me this, I want that and this is insufficient for me". Jee, you are freeloader in initially pay to play game. They let you in, be grateful, and if you want more - subscribe. And if you dot like it, there is allot of others games, where playing is free and you have all you want... For a price.

 

Subscriber Benefits

 

That being said, they added a medium-core grind to a casual minigame that was probably too steep for most people. In order to get commendations to buy the gear to help, they needed to grind inefficient older missions or complete the new missions (which you can't do without gear)..

 

Before the game gone F2P, all of us was going trough that, and no one had any problems, as I recall. Well, as long as you have some brains and time. You just do side quest (for some commendation), kill some mobs (commendation drops from them), do FP (daily quests). And I never had any problems with planets been too hard for me. Of course, after game went F2P, Iv seen some... "unique" people that ran around Dromund Kaas at lvl 9 or 10-14 but without sub-classes and wondering why "life so harsh here".

 

But continuing the them about armor, I would like to point out that there is a PvP gear for 20 lvl, for 40 and 50. But why there is no PvP gear for 30 lvl??? I am visit War Zones quite often and find it the one of the best aspect of the game, with some issues of course. And my PvP commendation at theirs cap, without a possibility to let me spend them on lvl 30 PvP gear. I think that is something you have to address in the next update, and the sooner the better.

Edited by Ithaniel
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I just canceled my sub in preparation of going F2P, but then I did some quick calculations and realized it would cost me well over $60 to acquire account-wide authorizations for all the good stuff that makes this game complete (purple gear, customization options, etc...).

 

I already bought the game. I bought the collectors edition and that proved to be a gigantic waste of money. I don't want to pay for this game AGAIN after already having been subscribed for an entire year!

 

EA/Bioware really knows how to alienate their customer base and piss off some of their most loyal followers. I'm done. I'm disheartened, resentful, and burnt out. Thanks for ruining what could have been an awesome game. Instead of recommending this game to my friends I'm telling them all to steer clear.

Edited by JamesDisaster
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Previous to finding out about the slight improvement in the quickbar (IMHO) debacle I decided to find out what It would cost on the free to play option to get what I consider a fully playable character for each of the 16 advanced classes minus consumables.

 

It would cost 101840 cartel coins, bought the most affordable way is a few cents shy of $730 USD.

 

:rak_02:

Dude... whathell you're smoking? I can get every single unlock for less than 10k CC except for the cargo/inventory ones.

 

Unlock: Crew Skill Slot - 945 account wide

Authorization: Crew Member Appearence 725 account wide

Access Authorization: Section X 1350 account wide

Authorization: Artifact Equipment 2700 account wide

Authorization: Event Equipment Requisition 400 account wide

Customization Control: Display Titles 200 account wide

Customization Control: Hide Head Slot 775 account wide

Customization Control: Unify Colors 775 account wide

Customization Control: Display Legacy Name 200 account wide

 

8070CC. The rest of the unlocks you can get by playing the game (race unlocks/speeder unlocks), by buying this ammount of CC u're already a Prefered player, so you'll gain for "free"

 

- 2 crew skills

- sprint at lvl 1

- at least 1 Cargo hold unlocked

 

 

Anyways... 8070 is still the same price as paying at least 5 months of subscription... it's not a lot, but's still more than a lot of ppl is willing to pay.

 

 

Anyways, the credit cap for Prefered players HAVE TO GO and the XP penalty as well . Aside from that i don't have a lot to complain about the prefered players restrictions. And for F2P i think it's fine for a "demo" of the game.

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Anyone elese out there experiencing massive Lag due to increased traffic on existing servers. I have been a subscriber since inception and last night was booted off server every 10 minutes. Getting really frustrated on my end! Other than that and the incessant General chat, I have had few issues with F2P members. Really ought to think about separate servers for F2P and subscribers to cut down on traffic though...just a thought.
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Honestly this fixes the main two problems I had with the free to play option- the character and skill limits. Everything else is primarily cosmetic in my opinion. Those two things allow free to play to be the full experience. Is it perfect? Maybe not, but I think it's incredible for being able to play a game like this for zero cost. Keep up the good work!

 

I agree. F2Per's be thankful you didn't have to pay $77 for 6 months of play with all of the glitches associated with last years release. I am of the opinion that something, whether restricted or not, is better than nothing and prior to the F2P release, that is exactly what you got: nothing. I have no issues with F2Per's other than they are apparently whining about not having "Full access" status. If you want to do it SUBSCRIBE like the rest of us!

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:rak_02:

Dude... whathell you're smoking? I can get every single unlock for less than 10k CC except for the cargo/inventory ones.

 

Unlock: Crew Skill Slot - 945 account wide

Authorization: Crew Member Appearence 725 account wide

Access Authorization: Section X 1350 account wide

Authorization: Artifact Equipment 2700 account wide

Authorization: Event Equipment Requisition 400 account wide

Customization Control: Display Titles 200 account wide

Customization Control: Hide Head Slot 775 account wide

Customization Control: Unify Colors 775 account wide

Customization Control: Display Legacy Name 200 account wide

 

8070CC. The rest of the unlocks you can get by playing the game (race unlocks/speeder unlocks), by buying this ammount of CC u're already a Prefered player, so you'll gain for "free"

 

- 2 crew skills

- sprint at lvl 1

- at least 1 Cargo hold unlocked

 

 

Anyways... 8070 is still the same price as paying at least 5 months of subscription... it's not a lot, but's still more than a lot of ppl is willing to pay.

 

 

Anyways, the credit cap for Prefered players HAVE TO GO and the XP penalty as well . Aside from that i don't have a lot to complain about the prefered players restrictions. And for F2P i think it's fine for a "demo" of the game.

The problem with that is that ZERO new f2p players are expecting to play something as long term as 5 months, so it's hard to justify a $60+ purchase on a game that has been struggling to grow for months . EA/Bioware can't be picky considering their reputation with the game over the past 12 months. Even as a new sub I'm not expecting anything more than 3 months because EA/Bioware are showing no signs of changing their current trend of milking subs and veterans with packs only. They're not being clear if they plan on doing anything about F2P but more importantly, if they plan on doing something about their cartel market prices (which no one is falling for, 1200 cc for a reskinned set really?). I'm not confident in their ability to keep this game out of the water by just selling packs. They need to diversify and put in place ways to entice people to buy more cartel market stuff and just packs and one way to do that is with reasonable prices that are accessible to more people. They need to put in place a better F2P system that can guarantee new players every month because the current isn't and WILL NOT do it. This game will not remain afloat with the current population (especially since some people will eventually get tired of packs). They need to act pronto before the attention the F2P shift brought fades away.

Edited by Atrimentus
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my take on f2play?

cynical all across the board - especially towards subs.

I cancelled my sub.

 

if they don't end up binning the game erasing 1000 of chars like I heard it happened in the previous SW mmo, I might come take the temperature now and then see if they've cleaned up their act.

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These changes are a step in the right direction.

 

- Additional hotkey bars.

- Additional character slots.

 

Now, I'd ideally like to see some of these handed out to the standard free-to-play crowd (I've said before that you absolutely require 3 hotkey bars to play any class in the game at higher levels), but at least now these features are available for the one time purchase of "preferred" status, instead of requiring a full subscription or requiring multiple purchases.

 

I still believe that the standard F2P options should be called a "trial", with the preferred status as the "full" F2P option. The optics would have been much better. Instead of offering one of the most restrictive F2P options the MMO market has ever seen (and far worse than their main competition, GW2) you would instead be offering one of the most expansive "free trials" ever seen, with a full time F2P option that could perhaps begin to compete with GW2.

 

-Macheath.

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I just canceled my sub in preparation of going F2P, but then I did some quick calculations and realized it would cost me well over $60 to acquire account-wide authorizations for all the good stuff that makes this game complete (purple gear, customization options, etc...).

 

I already bought the game. I bought the collectors edition and that proved to be a gigantic waste of money. I don't want to pay for this game AGAIN after already having been subscribed for an entire year!

 

EA/Bioware really knows how to alienate their customer base and piss off some of their most loyal followers. I'm done. I'm disheartened, resentful, and burnt out. Thanks for ruining what could have been an awesome game. Instead of recommending this game to my friends I'm telling them all to steer clear.

 

So let me get this straight: you were under some misguided impression that some how, some way the Free-to-Play option was going to be better, or possibly even equal to, the experience of a subscription? You have no one to be angry with but yourself. This is a business. $15.00/month is really nothing if you make even a decent living.

 

The choices are to at least support SWTOR with a sub or by purchasing unlocks as a F2P and stick with it while you are having fun OR stick to something else, which it is apparent you will now do.

 

I'm sorry buddy, but your anger can only be directed at yourself.

 

Cheers.:D

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So let me get this straight: you were under some misguided impression that some how, some way the Free-to-Play option was going to be better, or possibly even equal to, the experience of a subscription? You have no one to be angry with but yourself. This is a business. $15.00/month is really nothing if you make even a decent living.

 

The choices are to at least support SWTOR with a sub or by purchasing unlocks as a F2P and stick with it while you are having fun OR stick to something else, which it is apparent you will now do.

 

I'm sorry buddy, but your anger can only be directed at yourself.

 

Cheers.:D

 

^It amazes me how many people expect everything to be handed them on a silver platter.

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So let me get this straight: you were under some misguided impression that some how, some way the Free-to-Play option was going to be better, or possibly even equal to, the experience of a subscription? You have no one to be angry with but yourself. This is a business. $15.00/month is really nothing if you make even a decent living.

 

The choices are to at least support SWTOR with a sub or by purchasing unlocks as a F2P and stick with it while you are having fun OR stick to something else, which it is apparent you will now do.

 

I'm sorry buddy, but your anger can only be directed at yourself.

 

Cheers.:D

 

$15 is not "nothing" no matter how much money you make, it's $15. $15 a month for a year isn't "nothing" either, it's $180. If your significant other or kid or whatever happens to play, double that to $360. Furthermore, last I checked, video games weren't an exclusive, adult-only medium. No doubt many of SWTOR's players don't have an income, and have to ask their parents to add $15 to their monthly bill so they can spend more time on their computer.

 

Seriously, just because you view dollars as pennies doesn't mean the rest of the world does.

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No, no, a thousand times, no!

 

What you are saying is "all casual players should be able to be free-2-play and get all casual content" because they don't play very often? No way. If you want access to everything, subscribe.

 

agree 100% shouldn't get options to buy anything like, subscribe or dont f2p think not a bad idea to try and reboost the numbers they lost to bad game management.

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Yeah make something worth buying! :mad: If you want to rehash what you already have then please make plain black, dark silver accented hooded robes without lights for consulars and assassins. How difficult is that? I've not spent a dime because there's no nice looking gear or anything unique.
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It means that subscribers will basically be able to create an (almost) unlimited number of characters.

 

Why?? what is the point of that?? you can only play one at a time. 50 is already a ridiculous number i dont see why it needs to be raised B^P

 

 

to be honest i have been saying this game needs to go to free to play since it came out. Only thing is they didnt do that, it needs to go no subs and strait free to play and make money by their market.... much like most other free to play games are. i dont think this game is worth paying $15 a month for and the restrictions on free to play is ridiculous!!! i have played quite a bit of different free to play MMOs and not a one has this many restrictions, in fact only one has restrictions and only one that i know of and have played has an option for subbing and thats DCUO, everything else i have played and know of is completely free with no restrictions and they make all their money off their markets.

 

also everyone should be able to post on the forums period!!!! its stupid not to!!!

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You my friend are not correct there are plenty of free to plays that limit the speed of free to players. Its actually very common in the f2p industry

 

no its not!!! its not common at all... at least from what i have seen. also its not common for free to play MMOs to charge a subscription fee...kuz you know that kinda makes it not FREE TO PLAY! Rapelez, A perfect World, Champions, and a few others that i forget the name of do not have a subscription option they make their money off their markets and there is no limitations on xp gain, running speed, number of toons you can have (other than the usual number, hella lot more than just 2)

 

please tell us about these other free to play MMOs that limit the xp speed?? i would like to know so i can stay away from them.

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Free to play people have no right to complain, they should be happy with what they at least have considering they spent all this money to make this game, the least you can do is repay them back by paying for they game so they can make it better and work on other projects. Too the people who made this game it is rather enjoyable! good job! I love the PvP in this game.

 

that is just your opinion!!! to me this game is not worth a sub fee, it should have started off with free to play and not have a sub fee at all. its just as boring as any other MMO out there, its only draw is that it is star wars. if this company wants to make more money they need to remove some of the restrictions for free to play people, because the way it is now once my month is up ill just quit the game instead of continuing with the free to play because its just not worth it.

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Feedback, you say?

 

I understand that the Cartel Market and the F2P model are a work-in-progress and something of an experiment for BW/EA. Its a new model, and not a path you thought you'd be walking a year ago. I get that.

 

But, I'm increasingly convinced you are over-ambitiously monetising everything, just to see what the market will bear. The Market itself is a collection of largely cosmetic fluff (except for the level 7 ship parts, about which many people have already dropped their collective bundle on other threads), and boosts which are cheap and easy to get on the GTN, if one must.

 

And now we can't even save our subscriber coins and pay for the Makeb content with them? What's the point of them, then? Cartel Coins seem to have damned little value for subscribers, all in all, unless they want a complete selection of vanity items. When I log on to this game, I want Rollicking Adventure and Role-playing, not A Chance for Better Trousers.

 

Sell server transfers, or name changes, or appearance changes, or --down the track, even, when you've wrung as much money as you can from the early adopters, since that seems to be the way you are determined to go-- content. Something that tells us that our custom, as well as our money, is valued.

Edited by vian
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