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Developer Update: Free-to-Play Option


CourtneyWoods

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Darn it, someone beat me to it.

 

Everything was old info so I don't really get what this was for.

 

Edit: reading Joveth's post below confirms my suspicions. At first I was like "does he mean that they've put the alpha on the live servers?".

Edited by MidichIorian
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The first core rule is that we want to be sure that players can reach level 50 without paying a cent, if so desired. The final design meets this requirement: Free-to-Play players can play levels 1 through 50 and enjoy the vast majority of the classic storyline and side quests during their journey.

 

What is to stop people from leaving after level 50?

 

This addage applies here: "If you are giving the milk away for free, why would they buy the cow?" :p

 

And we have not forgotten about those of you who once had accounts, but cancelled. We are hoping to get you to come back and play! Any player who has ever paid a monthly subscription fee will be given Preferred Status automatically when Free-to-Play option is launched. Players with Preferred Status do not face the same limitations as a Free-to-Play player and will find that some restrictions are either removed or greatly reduced.

 

In addition, Preferred Status can be earned by any Free-to-Play player who spends a minimum of $4.99 at our web store.

 

So basically everyone that ever had an account will be Preffered Status and anyone who ONLY pays the minimum of ~$5 US. FOREVER? It is not stipulated. If one only has to pay for a slightly degraded subscription for a one time fee of ~$5 US. Why would they ever subscribe?

 

Anyone else see the flaws in this plan?

 

:cool:

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I must say, deminishing the game experience for people who bought the game at first, should never, ever ,ever be something a gaming company should strive for. Even when F2P, we have paid for it, pre paid, bought it for a lot more than later joiners of the game.

 

I don't see why quick bars and cargo hold should be denied any kind of player - period.

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In a strange way I actually think they will hit the targets they set out for themselves. The free to play model looks to do exactly what it says on the tin. No change for subscribers, free to play an option, new outfits, pets and speeders to buy. I think they have done a very safe cash shop.

 

However - Personaly I dont like the random loot boxes. They just smack of cash sinks for people to try and get new uber loot in the boxes. Also I would have liked them to put some things in the cash shop which would actually have made me say cool. New space ships, new species, new compaions. However I think BW is playing it safe and doing a standard cash shop.

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What is to stop people from leaving after level 50?

 

This addage applies here: "If you are giving the milk away for free, why would they buy the cow?" :p

 

 

 

So basically everyone that ever had an account will be Preffered Status and anyone who ONLY pays the minimum of ~$5 US. FOREVER? It is not stipulated. If one only has to pay for a slightly degraded subscription for a one time fee of ~$5 US. Why would they ever subscribe?

 

Anyone else see the flaws in this plan?

 

:cool:

 

I must say... you are getting more and more cynical here recently Urael. :(

 

Basically, I disagree with your assessment. Making the game actually playable to level 50 is a good move. It draws players in well beyond any "trial" feel (which is what sub-only MMOs are locked into)... and yet they have sufficient attractive perks for sub-50 to draw players in early. And let's face it... if if you see nothing to do once you get to 50... then why did you play to begin with. Sure some freebs will do exactly that.. but many will move beyond that. But they will also get conversions to subs and plenty of business through the coin shop.. all of which are healthy for the game and in turn for the plyaer base as a whole.

 

TL;DR they don't need every player who plays to stay.. they only need a solid core of the player base to stay, and to be able to attract players into the game that would otherwise pass it by because they are averse to subscriptions.

 

Just because you are jaded about the game right now does not invalidate the flexibility (and draw/attraction) of play they are offering with the dual access sub/freemium approach. ;)

Edited by Andryah
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I must say... you are getting more and more cynical here recently Urael. :(

 

Basically, I disagree with your assessment. Making the game actually playable to level 50 is a good move. It draws players in well beyond any "trial" feel (which is what sub-only MMOs are locked into)... and yet they have sufficient attractive perks for sub-50 to draw players in early. And let's face it... if if you see nothing to do once you get to 50... then why did you play to begin with. Sure some freebs will do exactly that.. but many will move beyond that. But they will also get conversions to subs and plenty of business through the coin shop.. all of which are healthy for the game and in turn for the plyaer base as a whole.

 

TL;DR they don't need every player who plays to stay.. they only need a solid core of the player base to stay, and to be able to attract players into the game that would otherwise pass it by because they are averse to subscriptions.

 

Just because you are jaded about the game right now does not invalidate the flexibility (and draw/attraction) of play they are offering with the dual access sub/freemium approach. ;)

 

I think that recent events say that the majority of people "like free stuff". I don't think as many of those same people will actually be revenue streams for EAware as EAware is banking on. And you are right I have become very cynical or more correctly even more so. If the game was actually worth the subscription fee then I don't think SWTOR would be at this stage of the game. I am just tired of the continued use of "Emperor's New Clothes" Tactics while delivering "Stone Soup". Which is about as positive as I am able to muster today. :p

Edited by Urael
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It's good to see that things are moving along.

Though I am curious about what happened to Cathar. I thought that they were supposed to be in and playable when the game went free-to-play, though I can't say for certain and I could be remembering wrong. Will Cathar not be in with F2P?

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I really can't understand why for some people the glass is always half-empty.

 

In my experience the F2P conversion always pays off. Both for the game and players. I loved it how many people arrived in Middle Earth, I enjoy the number of Captains who decided to join ranks of Starfleet, and even the world of Conan seemed to be attractive after they went for the F2P option.

 

SW:TOR lacks updates, new content that could keep people entertained. This and also some higher population would be nice :). I sincerely hope that F2P will force Devs to work harder on the updates. Because if a game goes for the free model and is not updated - it will eventually die in this very competitve market. Even if it has one of the best franchises in the history.

 

I just hope that we will see soon new species and way more appearance customization options (and I don't mean the gear, but facial features). Also the revamp of space system would be nice... and so on and so forth. :)

 

In short - I'm looking forward to the future, and most certainly I shall continue paying the subscription.

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I just want to point out one thing: this blog was written a few weeks ago, so if it reads that way...well, that's why!

 

Soo...the reason why you didn't post this weeks ago when the information was still new and relevant is because...?

 

I find it very odd that you guys spend so much time with this and the State of the Game post and all the videos you guys make rehashing the same old information over...and over...and over again. We know F2P. We know Makeb. We know HK51. Half of those things are already on the test server.

 

Joveth...isn't this part of the problem?

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If you have certain things like UI options and color match and other things gated the way you have, the FTP option is nothing but a punishment. Gate content if you want. That makes sense. But even with this talk of "Preferred Status", you need to seriously reevaluate what the model does and does not restrict if you think people are even going to bother with it.

 

Having quickbar slots or title be purchasable unlocks is the most harebrained thing I have heard. One of the things that having preferred status gives you is the ability to send mail. These things should be basic quality of life things that everyone has access to. Gate content. Limit warzones, limit flashpoints and looting. Do all of that. But making the option to hide headslot something to buy? Making quick travel something to buy?

 

All you are doing is gutting a product of quality and either a) merely rolling things back to how certain things were before certain patches insofar as QoL or b) imposing limits on things that should be granted.

 

And it's transparent. It's a money grab. Other games with ingame stores or FTP options at least have some of the content purchases seem smart. In LOTRO, you could buy access to all the quests in an area. Hell, you want to make money, you do that. Person wants to raid? Which raid would they like access to? Do they want to pay extra for access to the Tier One raids in a bundle pack? Only buy Eternity Vault? Maybe buy all of them for a large flat rate?

 

THAT's how you gate things. That's how you manage your content in a FTP system. It doesn't come from saying "If you want more quickbars, please insert 25 cents".

Edited by AlyxDinas
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If you have certain things like UI options and color match and other things gated the way you have, the FTP option is nothing but a punishment. Gate content if you want. That makes sense. But even with this talk of "Preferred Status", you need to seriously reevaluate what the model does and does not restrict if you think people are even going to bother with it.

 

The UI and Color match/hide head slot do not restrict any ability to play the game. They are ease of play or cosmetic. You don't need anymore than they are giving players to actually play the game.

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I just checked, and according to the figures given, I will be given cartel coins for 9 months worth of subscription.

 

However, that only goes back to March when the Oceanic servers launched, but I've been subscribed since December last year.

 

That means I should be entitled to 11-ish months worth of cartel coins.

 

Please do make sure that these calculations are correct, and that you're not inadvertently ripping off those Oceanic players who didn't wait until March to subscribe.

 

If the calculations for this are still being worked on, and I've jumped the gun here... well, carry on.

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The UI and Color match/hide head slot do not restrict any ability to play the game. They are ease of play or cosmetic. You don't need anymore than they are giving players to actually play the game.

 

You're missing the point. The issue is that even if they want to maximize their potential revenue from FTP players, there are a lot better ways to do it. Furthermore, "Preferred Status", as it stands, is something of a joke. Now, I'm a subscriber. I intend to remain as such but...if BioWare or EA wanted to figure out a better way to go about their restrictions, they really should keep it to content and not, say, the ability equip purples for $2.50 or whatever arbitrary value they choose.

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I just checked, and according to the figures given, I will be given cartel coins for 9 months worth of subscription.

 

However, that only goes back to March when the Oceanic servers launched, but I've been subscribed since December last year.

 

That means I should be entitled to 11-ish months worth of cartel coins.

 

Please do make sure that these calculations are correct, and that you're not inadvertently ripping off those Oceanic players who didn't wait until March to subscribe.

 

If the calculations for this are still being worked on, and I've jumped the gun here... well, carry on.

 

Each PAID month. Your first month was free. You also probably got the free month for being level 50 or having legacy level 6 or whatever it was. If you upgraded to Collector's that's another free month. So you have to subtract up to three free months.

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"subscribers should not experience any degradation of their gameplay experience" - this should always be your number one priority. And as long as it stays that way(and you start adding content more often) I am happy.

 

Anyway glad to see that we(the subscribers) wont have to pay for any of the new content and our gamplay wont be damaged in any way. Keep that up.

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