SWTOR "looking at free-to-play"?

[Devlonir]

And back on topic for me: I also think the words in the article are not very specific and seem to be open to different explainations. At least they are looking at the option, but I know a lot more options could be looked at without ever being really implemented. So, no worries here untill a real announcement.

 

Have to love the 'sky is falling' mentality of some posters at the slightest mention of a F2P possibility though.

[Shingara]

And back on topic for me: I also think the words in the article are not very specific and seem to be open to different explainations. At least they are looking at the option, but I know a lot more options could be looked at without ever being really implemented. So, no worries here untill a real announcement.

 

Have to love the 'sky is falling' mentality of some posters at the slightest mention of a F2P possibility though.

 

On that point, i think that some people wish this game would crash and burn into nothing simply because in there minds they cant see that this can be big and succesful without harming any other mmo, in there minds nothing can ever hurt wow. But anyone with common sense knows thats not why the majority of us want this game to be successful.

 

This game has over a million subs at the 6 month mark but they get bial in there throats before even admiting that even though the offical numbers showed 1.3 mil. I think if it were 5 million at this point they would still say but people have left thus its dieing and ow no now it cant have 5 million its gotta be 3 million.

 

But here is the crux of it, most of the people who says its dieing, its dead, its fail are from wow so whats that say about wow where they chose to subscribe and play swtor instead of wow. Could it possibly be guilt over what they held so high for so many years.

Edited June 15, 2012 by Shingara

[Sabredance]

Will not happen.

[vingmotor]

Will not happen.

sure hope not. better with quality then quantity.

Edited June 15, 2012 by vingmotor

[Hambunctious]

On that point, i think that some people wish this game would crash and burn into nothing simply because in there minds they cant see that this can be big and succesful without harming any other mmo, in there minds nothing can ever hurt wow. But anyone with common sense knows thats not why the majority of us want this game to be successful.

 

This game has over a million subs at the 6 month mark but they get bial in there throats before even admiting that even though the offical numbers showed 1.3 mil. I think if it were 5 million at this point they would still say but people have left thus its dieing and ow no now it cant have 5 million its gotta be 3 million.

 

But here is the crux of it, most of the people who says its dieing, its dead, its fail are from wow so whats that say about wow where they chose to subscribe and play swtor instead of wow. Could it possibly be guilt over what they held so high for so many years.

 

If this game had a over a million subs they could not all fit on the limited number of destination servers they have right now. Think about that.

[LilSaihah]

If Bioware knows what it's doing, this game could certainly do just fine on a F2P model. That said, I'm really worried about the influence that EA might try to have over it.

 

If SWTOR moved to a GW2 style buy-and-play model, and released their content patches as properly-priced mini-expansions, a F2P model could work well while still pulling money.

[Lord_of_Mu]

Didn't the WoW Devs make a comment similar a good year or so ago at a Blizzcon? The" we'll keep our eyes open but we're not going F2P just yet" style press release that sends the masses into a frenzied seizure inducing storm in a tea cup.

 

I'll worry about the game going F2P when it becomes F2P. Till then, It's game on!

[Shingara]

If this game had a over a million subs they could not all fit on the limited number of destination servers they have right now. Think about that.

 

Think about this, not all subscribers are active, not all subscribers play 24/7, some play 2 hours a day or just on weekends or at night, or dont even play every day. some dont play weekends, people in real life have to work continental shifts, have familys that mean they dont get to play everyday or for 4 hour sessions.

 

As such they would most definatly fit upon the servers, because everyone doesnt log in at the same time, for the same amount of time or are even have a level 50 and not all gamers are teenagers. And not everyone is on destination servers yet, no where close.

Edited June 15, 2012 by Shingara

[Kailthir]

Think about this, not all subscribers are active, not all subscribers play 24/7, some play 2 hours a day or just on weekends or at night, or dont even play every day. some dont play weekends, people in real life have to work continental shifts, have familys that mean they dont get to play everyday or for 4 hour sessions.

 

As such they would most definatly fit upon the servers, because everyone doesnt log in at the same time, for the same amount of time or are even have a level 50 and not all gamers are teenagers.

 

And here is another thought....

 

How many of the 1.3 are actually active players vs those that are just waiting for their 3, 6, or 1 year subs to end, and not logging in. I haven't logged into LOTRO or TERRA in months but they still count me as a sub.

 

A sub means nothing unless it is active. Well it means $ for BW/EA but as far as the game goes... I am more concerned with active subs that login and play rather then those that are subbed and just waiting for it to run out.

[Dirtyshadow]

Free-2-Play... seriously.

Please... dear god.... please dont go free-2-play.

 

Of all the games I have played that I had a paid subscription in... that went free-2-play... I STOPPED PLAYING.

 

Dungeons and Dragons Online

Lord of the Rings Online

Champions Online

City of Heroes

Star Trek Online

DC Universe Online

All Points Bulletin

 

The reason I stopped playing them... is after they went free-2-play they started to produce far-less new content than they did when they were subscription based, and some of them started to slow down to a grinding halt while they "restructure". Star Trek Online stopped producing new content for over a year, only publishing token vaniety items, while they sorted out their whole activision/perfect world business problems.

 

I love end-game content, and I see free-2-play as the end of regular end-game content. If the game cant update on a regular interval, then the games end-game content is repeatetive, grinding, unrewarding... and people stop playing.

[Drudenfusz]

If SWTOR moved to a GW2 style buy-and-play model, and released their content patches as properly-priced mini-expansions, a F2P model could work well while still pulling money.

I would like to see SWTOR go in that direction. Wouldn'T mind if they add then cosmetic stuff one can also buy.

[Shingara]

And here is another thought....

 

How many of the 1.3 are actually active players vs those that are just waiting for their 3, 6, or 1 year subs to end, and not logging in. I haven't logged into LOTRO or TERRA in months but they still count me as a sub.

 

A sub means nothing unless it is active. Well it means $ for BW/EA but as far as the game goes... I am more concerned with active subs that login and play rather then those that are subbed and just waiting for it to run out.

 

Well if you look at how many came back for 1.2 when they thought ranked was coming most servers went from dead to very active, when ranked wasnt in 1.2 they became dead again and the safe servers eg fatman, jedi, eclipse etc remained healthy.

 

So i would say a large number are inactive but subbed until ranked hits, we also know that alot are inactive due to no group finder, quality of life basically and the bulk of 1.3 is quality of life. so when 1.3 hits your guess is as good as mine to how many inactives become active, but until 1.3 hits we shall not know for sure.

 

And alot of people will keep subs and not play and be more then happy to wait for content to come.

Edited June 15, 2012 by Shingara

[Devlonir]

And here is another thought....

 

How many of the 1.3 are actually active players vs those that are just waiting for their 3, 6, or 1 year subs to end, and not logging in. I haven't logged into LOTRO or TERRA in months but they still count me as a sub.

 

A sub means nothing unless it is active. Well it means $ for BW/EA but as far as the game goes... I am more concerned with active subs that login and play rather then those that are subbed and just waiting for it to run out.

 

How about this though.. How many of those 1.3 actually are very active players in vibrant guilds/communities that are enjoying this game on a daily basis?

 

Really though, a sub means everything as long as they are paying. That is really all that matters not just for BW/EA but also for the future of this game (which is, incidentilly, closely tied to the financial longevity for BW/EA). This whole 'you arent a real sub unless you are active' stuff is silly and Bioware themselves actually made the mistake of thinking subs = activity by opening too much servers at the start.

 

I have played MMO's for long enough to know that many, many people come and go when it comes to activity but also subscription. For many reasons people either drop subscriptions while hoping to be able to get a subscription again soon, or keep a subscription despite not playing more than once a month. Bottom line, subscription numbers keep the game alive, not activity.

[DarthVoi]

I think Bioware made the mistake of opening too many servers in the beginning, without taking into account that part of the initial crowd might leave after a few months. Had they opened only half of the servers at launch there wouldn't be as much population loss as it is right now. One misstep and its hurts.

 

Compare to other MMO, ToR has great personal story to back it up, so even the first 15 levels should be able to lure people into playing the game. I really hope the game doesn't have to come to the free-to-play model but it may be inevitable after their miscalculation on server populations.

 

Anything to keep this game alive has my money. I love this game too much to see it go.

[MrsBlunder]

You do realise that they have upped the numbers able to play on servers, didnt you notice how you dont have to q or lag even when there is 600 on your side on the fleet never mind the rest of the server or other side. They have basically made what was in wow battlegroups on swtor a server.

 

Kid yourself all you want but if you think its so bad how come your still here and not on wow or another mmo or game.

 

Can I ask what the point, or perk is, to upping the numbers permitted to play on the servers when SWTOR has an UNGODLY and unnecessarily large amount of servers?

[Linkyboy]

This concerns me; as it should any other loyal fan of this game. If it goes free to play, does that mean the quality of future content degrades? I assume that a store would be added to buy aesthetic additions, but what happens to people who have been paying for the game all this time?

 

Star Wars: The Old Republic definitely has its flaws right now. But one thing I've always loved about it is the fact that the developers are constantly working on making it better. I haven't seen any other mmo compare to the speed and quality that Bioware provides to update their game and improve it. The game is definitely a World of Warcraft clone, but when you compare the quality to Blizzard's work, it is far superior. Bioware has released more content and features in the last 6 months than Blizzard has in the last year, and has plans to release even more. The E3 announcement boggled my mind. They're releasing stuff that Blizzard would charge you $40 to have; and then they top it off by continually following up on their promises and releasing major updates every 2 months. Not to mention the graphics engine is much more modern (being a 3D animation artist myself, I know that it can be tough work to make an environment as large and as detailed as SWToR).

 

I for one think that the $15 a month is worth it and I know that this game could definitely take a shining spot-light if it continues to improve upon itself at the rate it is currently. But if it goes free to play, what happens then? I don't want to see the quality of the game go to hell just to boost its population more quickly.

 

Basically my message to Bioware is this. Please don't sell out - you guys are doing great and if you keep working at it you will come out on top.

[Shingara]

Can I ask what the point, or perk is, to upping the numbers permitted to play on the servers when SWTOR has an UNGODLY and unnecessarily large amount of servers?

 

Quite simple, its cheaper for bioware, the fact is that what we had 1st day early access server wise increased dramatically by the end of early access simply due to the fact that the server caps were not set high enough thus insane q's.

 

If i remember right i think there was only 5 english pve realm for example that jumped to what is it now, 20?

Edited June 15, 2012 by Shingara

[Sparklehorse]

Oh look, another Miss Cleo thread.

 

I'm buying a lottery ticket today, could I get some help with the numbers?

[Crosswinder]

Bio closed my thread. But I need an answer now. And I have a rights as a customer.

 

What is the plan for payment method in SWTOR?

 

I don't want to spend my money and time for donater game.

[Elaril]

Hopefully theyll be "looking" at giving us a name change option.

[Devlonir]

Bio closed my thread. But I need an answer now. And I have a rights as a customer.

 

What is the plan for payment method in SWTOR?

 

I don't want to spend my money and time for donater game.

 

Very simple: No official statement has been made. The Yahoo! article misrepresents the truth of what EA said at E3, and the article talking to a 'lead designer' is actually someone further down the ladder and merely says that no options are closed off completely.

 

Case closed, move along. Sky is not falling, 21st of December will not be the last day this universe exists and if Elvis or Hitler were alive, they would be dead by now.

[DexenOnone]

Bio closed my thread. But I need an answer now. And I have a rights as a customer.

 

What is the plan for payment method in SWTOR?

 

I don't want to spend my money and time for donater game.

 

Rights as a customer? Do you think they are a nation or something? They are a buisness. get over yourself.

 

Why do you wait until its not 4am in Texas to ask them questions about some single paragraph "article" that can easily be explained by looking at the E3 F2P to lvl 15 announcement.

 

On a side note, as a PAYING CUSTOMER i would demand you not open anymore threads when one has already been started.

[Sanxxx]

You do realise that they have upped the numbers able to play on servers, didnt you notice how you dont have to q or lag even when there is 600 on your side on the fleet never mind the rest of the server or other side. They have basically made what was in wow battlegroups on swtor a server.

 

Kid yourself all you want but if you think its so bad how come your still here and not on wow or another mmo or game.

 

There is no evidence at all to suggest that they have recently increased the server cap.

[Shingara]

There is no evidence at all to suggest that they have recently increased the server cap.

 

you mean beyond the fact most destination servers are running with 4 times as many players as normal, no there is no evidence at all.

[Kailthir]

How about this though.. How many of those 1.3 actually are very active players in vibrant guilds/communities that are enjoying this game on a daily basis?

 

Really though, a sub means everything as long as they are paying. That is really all that matters not just for BW/EA but also for the future of this game (which is, incidentilly, closely tied to the financial longevity for BW/EA). This whole 'you arent a real sub unless you are active' stuff is silly and Bioware themselves actually made the mistake of thinking subs = activity by opening too much servers at the start.

 

I have played MMO's for long enough to know that many, many people come and go when it comes to activity but also subscription. For many reasons people either drop subscriptions while hoping to be able to get a subscription again soon, or keep a subscription despite not playing more than once a month. Bottom line, subscription numbers keep the game alive, not activity.

 

I disagree. Unactive subs hurt the game in the long run. For example....

 

A new player subs cause he heard that ther was 2 million players in the game. He gets in the game sees it dead cause alot of the subs are inactive for what ever reason. That person came to play a SW MMO but due to little activity, the MMO expirence is lost. That player then unsubs.... Word of mouth, he tells others that BW/EA is lieing and that there is no where near 2 million ppl in the game, it's a ghost town etc, don't buy it don't sub....

 

Now we all know the best sdvertisment for anything is word of mouth... good and bad advertisment alike. BW/EA MUST worrie about the inactive subs just as much or if not more than the subs that left. There is a reason (usually bad ) why people are not activly playing. They need to figure out what that is and turn it around. Get players involved. Get them to WANT to login.

 

I mean what kind of MMO would it be if most everyone was waiting around months for the next big patch or expansion and not loggin in? It becomes a single player game for the rest that are playing. We have already seen it happen with comunities on dead servers... hence the transfers. People want to play MMO's with others... Else how do you explain the majority rerolling on Fatman etc?