Nothing says they can't be doing both. The problem is they're doing it at all. I do not approve of the way they are using my money, so you know... no more money from me.

/Ignore

Uhuh... and right now they are using our sub fees to design and implement a cash shop and new ingame billing systems, instead of new gameplay features and content.

Irrelevant comment that contributes nothing to the discussion.

If you could speculate on future events in the stock market you'd be rich... oh wait.

F2P is bad for this game because it didn't start with that model. It's effectively an admission of non-confidence in the product, and it tells your existing sub base that their support is worthless. Now everyone still subbed is paying for them to implement new billing systems and a cash shop, instead of new gameplay features and content.

Very well said. The industry has become infested with vultures and scavengers. It's no longer enough to simply sell a box, then release period expansions like they did in the 90s. There's no reason at all why you couldn't make an MMO where you buy a box periodically. Oh that's right, Guild Wars 2. The first Guild Wars wasn't an MMO, but it was certainly a multiplayer game that ran this model. Yes, they both have a cash shop, but everything in the cash shop can be found in the game proper. Unfortunately, someone decided this industry didn't exploit enough people somewhere around the end of the century, when nickel and diming started taking over everything. It really is a case of product confidence.

Access to all the current content is not the same as access to all future content. Subs get a monthly allowance of Cartel points while freebie players have to buy Cartel points... take a guess on what you'll be spending those points on. That's right, new content.

That is certainly what I would do.

Weird. The common consensus is that the Agent story is the best in the game.

Unless HK turns out to not be one of the 5 existing companion archetypes, and is far more effective than other companions of whatever archetype he is ($100 says he's a ranged DPS), then this is exactly the kind of thing you can expect to pay for in the cash shop. You know what else you can expect to pay for in the cash shop? New story content, since story doesn't make your character any more powerful than anybody else. The thing that makes the game unique is what they ought to and probably will be monetizing. You want the new storyline? You pay for it.

A lot of that is true. The problem is I don't have a problem with the way GW2 is doing it. You buy a game.. you buy its expansions, just like every game in the 90's. I don't even have a problem with Blizzard making SC2 three seperate games. Having an up front cost with the game (or any product) implies some transfer of ownership. Personally if I'm giving somebody money, I want to own what I'm paying for, even if it's just a CD in a box. If I don't like what the devs are doing with the product, I can stop paying them; cancel my sub, or stop buying expansions. A free to play game feels like there isn't any way for the players to exert pressure on the developer because not paying them has no meaning when the core game costs nothing as it is. Little bit of a tangent, but this video talks about a section of digital ownership. I like the series and it's a shameless plug for them. http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/digital-resale The other problem with F2P is that it's always a bit shady. There's no transparency from the developer about what is and isn't sold for real money, because they reserve the right to say one thing, then reneg on it down the road, which is typical corporate practices. However, when it comes down to it, it is one thing for a game to be created from scratch using the F2P model, or tiered hybrid model, versus starting out P2P and going F2P later. It also doesn't look good, because the perception of the loyal subs who got the product off the ground in the first place is that their money, love and wishes aren't good enough. It feels like the developer is abandoning its vision and selling out for more money. Personally, I don't believe that every product has to have, or can have, positive growth for the duration of its lifetime. It is physically impossible. I will never understand why a business cannot simply cover its expenses to be successful.

And the boxes sold is just as irrelevant in the face of profitable continuously paying accounts.

Because it is a lot easier to inflate numbers in a F2P system. We have 100 million accounts. - How many are multi-boxers? - How many have logged in for more than 1 hour this week (my definition of an active account)? - How many are gold sellers? It is a lot easier to say how many paying accounts there are in a P2P system, which is the barrier to entry that cuts off a lot of superfluous accounts.

Unless HK turns out to not be one of the 5 existing companion archetypes, and is far more effective than other companions of whatever archetype he is ($100 says he's a ranged DPS), then this is exactly the kind of thing you can expect to pay for in the cash shop. You know what else you can expect to pay for in the cash shop? New story content, since story doesn't make your character any more powerful than anybody else. The thing that makes the game unique is what they ought to and probably will be monetizing. You want the new storyline? You pay for it.

That's not at all who was at the guild summit. Everyone there was a totally casual altaholic, barely knew anything about Star Wars, and was more interested in vanity items/pets and class stories. I didn't hear any talk what-so-ever about the depth of gameplay, feature sets, meaningful PVP, or anything else that is actually required to have a successful game. Most of the people there weren't even allowed to talk. It was an excuse for BioWare to make a powerpoint presentation showing that faction balance wasn't as bad as everyone thought, and how rich everyone is or isn't in the game. ... Oh, and to hype up the Legacy system, which turned out way lamer than what they described.

I'm a Star Wars fan. This is not good enough to me, and hardly feels like Star Wars at all 50% of the time.

Good article. I agree with most of it... albeit it's all stuff I already knew. SWTOR is actually quite a bland game once the novelty wears off, and the group content is mediocre. Only Denova is remotely challenging in any way, but it was too little too late. 4 interesting bosses out of an entire universe of bosses does not long term investment make.

Yes. That is the direction that the industry is heading. Every other MMO of note coming out this year is F2P.

I for one would rather not see MMOs become the "wallet scavenging" genre.

And there it is... Tiered pricing... haves and have nots. Seems to me like MMOs are increasingly the scavengers of the gaming world.

They're fine. You don't have to move that often.

I got that email too. 2 days after I already did all my transfers. If anything, their timing needs serious improvement.

Fortunately, I haven't had any issues with being grouped with people who were undergeared for the content. I've had a couple of instances where a couple people were pretty awful though.

I don't mind that particular sink. What I mind is when I have two rank 22 mods, one blue, and one purple. The blue one costs 3500 to remove. The purple one costs 20000. Uh what?