Hey Jeff,
Bear with me, as this will likely be a long, detailed post (filled with constructive criticism) but it will EVENTUALLY get to my feedback on F2P.
I'm one of the players who fell off shortly after launch... here's why my sub ended. After making the haul to 50 (which was the most enjoyable leveling experience of any MMO I've played--and I'm a vet of the vast majority of them), I found the end game content lacking. Flashpoints and Ops (I'm not much for pvp) just didn't have the draw to motivate me to come back week after week--they need totally epic gear, and drops (substantially better than the casual gamer could obtain) to reward the effort of playing them... what's more, they need to be difficult to gain access to, and difficult to find success in (read: a reason to establish community--think WOW vanilla/BC)... those hardcore few, strolling around the spaceports in the most elite gear, riding the rarest speeders... those are the ones who inspire the gaming population to come back, and spend more time/effort/money making themselves elite, to establish guilds of likeminded players, to bring the MMO feel that this game lacked from the beginning. Space combat... grrr... rails--I'm sure you've heard this before, but SWG did that right, and you're foolish to not replicated that success with a JTL-style xpac... done right, that in and of itself could be a major, MAJOR sub draw for you. So, to summarize... I left due to end game challenge, lack of MMO feel, and lackluster space combat. F2P doesn't address any of those problems...
Now, I just re-subbed two days ago... and I'll tell you why... the leveling experience (not your recent marketing, not free to play... just my initial interest and experience with game, and a lack of anything better to do--read: Skyrim, GW2, MOP and many others had lost their luster). I had left thoroughly intending to come back and try other characters (my first 50 was an Inquisitor, and I plan to level at least the force users, possibly all 8 classes)... this is where free to play wins... it gives people a chance to get hooked on the fantastic efforts the development team sunk into the class stories and leveling process. After reviewing the limitations F2P set, which looked rather crippling, I opted to just renew my sub as the monthly fee is only nominal to me (if I'm actually playing).
My suggestions for making F2P (and the game as a whole) a success are as follows:
-Let loose all the F2P restrictions up to level 49 (no more second class citizen treatment), and lock the lvl 50 content behind subs... people WILL pay to finish their stories (so that'll get you a month.. but sadly as the game stands, it will not do much for sub retention).
-Scrap the cartel market... or at the very least buying cartel coins with cash. If you can buy your upgrades, then why play? As a person of means... what's to stop me from sinking a few hundred bucks into coins to just buy the shineys I want? I think you'd be much better off gating those items behind quests, rare drops (read: time sinks, that keep people paying month to month--include some long term rewards that take 1 year of consistent play to complete)
-Release an xpac that fixes space flight and addresses the endgame issues I've brought up.... and gate it behind a sub as well (with maybe just a taste for F2Pers).
Well... that's just my 2 credits
Hope you find some of it useful... moreover, I hope you put some of my advice to use. I see SWTOR as a game of immense potential (even if much of its untapped), with a great foundation... it SHOULD be an industry leader, certainly still could be with the right effort, management, and attention.
Cheers!
Narce
Hey Jeff, Bear with me, as this will likely be a long, detailed post (filled with constructive criticism) but it will EVENTUALLY get to my feedback on F2P. I'm one of the players who fell off shortly after launch... here's why my sub ended. After making the haul to 50 (which was the most enjoyable leveling experience of any MMO I've played--and I'm a vet of the vast majority of them), I found the end game content lacking. Flashpoints and Ops (I'm not much for pvp) just didn't have the draw to motivate me to come back week after week--they need totally epic gear, and drops (substantially better than the casual gamer could obtain) to reward the effort of playing them... what's more, they need to be difficult to gain access to, and difficult to find success in (read: a reason to establish community--think WOW vanilla/BC)... those hardcore few, strolling around the spaceports in the most elite gear, riding the rarest speeders... those are the ones who inspire the gaming population to come back, and spend more time/effort/money making themselves elite, to establish guilds of likeminded players, to bring the MMO feel that this game lacked from the beginning. Space combat... grrr... rails--I'm sure you've heard this before, but SWG did that right, and you're foolish to not replicated that success with a JTL-style xpac... done right, that in and of itself could be a major, MAJOR sub draw for you. So, to summarize... I left due to end game challenge, lack of MMO feel, and lackluster space combat. F2P doesn't address any of those problems... Now, I just re-subbed two days ago... and I'll tell you why... the leveling experience (not your recent marketing, not free to play... just my initial interest and experience with game, and a lack of anything better to do--read: Skyrim, GW2, MOP and many others had lost their luster). I had left thoroughly intending to come back and try other characters (my first 50 was an Inquisitor, and I plan to level at least the force users, possibly all 8 classes)... this is where free to play wins... it gives people a chance to get hooked on the fantastic efforts the development team sunk into the class stories and leveling process. After reviewing the limitations F2P set, which looked rather crippling, I opted to just renew my sub as the monthly fee is only nominal to me (if I'm actually playing). My suggestions for making F2P (and the game as a whole) a success are as follows: -Let loose all the F2P restrictions up to level 49 (no more second class citizen treatment), and lock the lvl 50 content behind subs... people WILL pay to finish their stories (so that'll get you a month.. but sadly as the game stands, it will not do much for sub retention). -Scrap the cartel market... or at the very least buying cartel coins with cash. If you can buy your upgrades, then why play? As a person of means... what's to stop me from sinking a few hundred bucks into coins to just buy the shineys I want? I think you'd be much better off gating those items behind quests, rare drops (read: time sinks, that keep people paying month to month--include some long term rewards that take 1 year of consistent play to complete) -Release an xpac that fixes space flight and addresses the endgame issues I've brought up.... and gate it behind a sub as well (with maybe just a taste for F2Pers). Well... that's just my 2 credits Hope you find some of it useful... moreover, I hope you put some of my advice to use. I see SWTOR as a game of immense potential (even if much of its untapped), with a great foundation... it SHOULD be an industry leader, certainly still could be with the right effort, management, and attention. Cheers! Narce