Justification of $15 a month

[Baphomet_x]

i suppose that marks me "hostile" as well...

 

i seriously am amazed that so many people can complain endlessly like it`s armageddon,saying that the game is dieing..when its only about 5 months old

 

why dont you go play some of those 10 year old "dead necrotized hulk" styled games where you almost never receive content updates or bug fixes at all and you keep on having bugs that put chinese text in your screen

 

if you want to feel some real mmo pain i can gladly point you to some sorry excuses for game software that for some reason plenty of people still play (holding off on names for now cause im not sure about forum rules abotu other game names)

Edited June 19, 2012 by Baphomet_x

[Ngamok]

This isn't 2004 anymore. Server costs are negligent and all those maintenance are part of their job to keep the game running smoothly for their customers. Those $15 a month are suppose to go to developing new content and yeah for them to get paid but at this rate I don't see myself paying $15 a month for the same content that I ave cleared already. I mean the only new thing coming in 1.3 is ranked warzones maybe? Besides that nothing new will come from 1.3 so it will probably be 6 months after 1.2 that we see new content. Group finder is nothing new except that you no longer have to type in chat to look for people you have the game do it for you.

 

So you are saying that maintenance people taking care of the servers, security measures for your information, the GMs, people that run the website, developers working on new content as well as fixing some things, the building(s) that house all said staff and servers, pensions, insurance for employees, 401K, any other over head that I have missed....are all free and they don't need our money to operate?

 

You referenced 2004. Did you play WoW? When was the first expansion? How fast was content out then? SWG was out then. How fast was content out for that? Any other MMO you might be comparing this to that you paid a monthly for and got stuff faster? I see you mentioned RIFT. RIFT did pump out stuff faster, only MMO I can think of that I played that did.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Ngamok

[Baphomet_x]

server costs are not negligent,not by a longshot...cause for one thing,this is capitalism..OVERHEAD is included in the price of something...which means a server is in reality far more expensive than mr brick squad there thinks

[Kourage]

If you finished all the content, then cancel until more releases.

[NinjaApacHe]

Stop paying and leave the forum to those who pay cause love the game.

[kevlarto]

it depends hands down 15 dollars a month is the cheapest entertainment you will get, people in free to play with a store if they don;t watch what they spend end up spending more than 15 bucks, and I think thats what f2p companies are hoping for. I have no issue paying the 15 bucks, I think of games that charged 15 bucks and never seen new content for 2 years or more and those games are still around.

[Shingara]

Stop paying and leave the forum to those who pay cause love the game.

I sense a disturbance in the force, the light is pushing back the dark side /loveit

Edited June 19, 2012 by Shingara

[Urael]

So the devs have said that our $15 a month gets us content however the speed at which they release said content takes too long. Looking at it in a mathematical standpoint, 1.1 released a month shortly after the release of the game and that was basically "free" since people had a free month. However, 1.2 came out THREE months later at a low price of basically $45. Now we have 1.3 coming at a another THREE short months. Do you guys feel like you are getting jacked by Bioware for paying $45 dollars for content patches?

 

Of course people are arguing just play every single class possible thats a load of content. But that content came from the purchase of the original $60 we paid for the game so in turn we pay $15 a month for NEW content.

 

/sigh

 

Based on "standard MMORPG" history of content release per game, SWTOR is above average to fast in the speed it has been releasing what could be considered "content". The game has not been out a full year yet and we have seen content added to the game in the first 3 to 6 months. With the rumour of level cap being raised by years end that would imply the first major content release will be by years end. If you stack that up against the WoW who on the average released major content patches on a 2 year schedule, SWTOR is releasing major content pretty fast.

 

If you have completed all the content (e.g. played all the class stories AND all the end game content) then the fault is with you for being a content locust.

 

I am quite happy ( yeah I know couldn't believe I said it myself) with the pace of content release for SWTOR. The dev's have gotten this right.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Urael

[Baphomet_x]

the mmo i left to come play swtor (the mmo i left can be identified by "rank 9 will most likely eat most of your tax refund")

 

is pretty much a horror story of being the opposite of what bioware is doing with this game..nog bug fixes,no game updates...no chat filter...no banning for any sort of harassment or questionable activity at all...hackers everywhere...and 75% of the people on there mostly speak spanish or portuguese now

 

if you want a wee bit of trivia about the company that runs it..the company is listed in the stocks and such...it runs about a dozen different games (more on the way)...and its total cumulative player base make WoW and blizzard look quite newbish

 

but please dont go there..that company mainly survives by purchasing dead game titles ad either reviving them,or revamping them..alot like a zombie if you really think about it (and the company is chinese by the way)

Edited June 19, 2012 by Baphomet_x

[Aharx]

You get to play the game. It's a subscription based game. If you want to read "Star Wars Insider" every month then you need to go to the store and buy it or start a recurring subscription. Same thing goes for just about everything. It is strictly entertainment, and quite frankly, $15 for 30 days of entertainment is pretty good to me.

[Arkerus]

Calm down there. It is my first time making a thread of said subject and was trying to see other people opinions. Why are you so hostile?

 

I am calm. I'm just telling you that YOU are the consumer. You make the choice. YOU decide if the fee is worth it. Just because person XYZ thinks one way doesn't mean you think the same. Make your own choice.

[Baphomet_x]

You get to play the game. It's a subscription based game. If you want to read "Star Wars Insider" every month then you need to go to the store and buy it or start a recurring subscription. Same thing goes for just about everything. It is strictly entertainment, and quite frankly, $15 for 30 days of entertainment is pretty good to me.

 

i agree.but some people cant see that....they make the tragically bad mistake of attacking game devotees on there home turf when they have clearly been identified as such

[Selethar]

So the devs have said that our $15 a month gets us content however the speed at which they release said content takes too long. Looking at it in a mathematical standpoint, 1.1 released a month shortly after the release of the game and that was basically "free" since people had a free month. However, 1.2 came out THREE months later at a low price of basically $45. Now we have 1.3 coming at a another THREE short months. Do you guys feel like you are getting jacked by Bioware for paying $45 dollars for content patches?

 

Of course people are arguing just play every single class possible thats a load of content. But that content came from the purchase of the original $60 we paid for the game so in turn we pay $15 a month for NEW content.

 

Yet another dead horse ...

 

There is plenty of glue in the world Sir. If you think it's too much then the door is ------> way

[DPCummerbund]

The OP also demonstrates bad math.

 

It has been estimated that SWTOR cost about $200 million to develop.

 

The game costs, on average, about $50 to buy / download (sure, they've sold some Collector's Editions, but it's doubtful those are more than a small fraction of buyers).

 

Therefore, if the game "paid for itself" with just the box/download costs, EA/BW would need 4 million subscribers ($200 million / $50).

 

To date, they've had maybe 2 million (rough guess, with 1.7 million being the highest figure out there).

 

Thus, just on box costs, they've recouped only 50% of their development costs so far.

 

So yes, I'd say a good chunk of your $15 monthly subscription is still going towards that.

[Riotus]

No where does it say you are paying 15 a month for new content. you are paying 15 a month for access to the game thats it. If you dont like it dont play.

 

Speaking of the speed of content coming out..... Ive played MMOs since UO came out. Ive played every big name MMO you can think of with the exception of everquest 1 (uo vs. everquest was like coke vs. pepsi back in the day) anyways the speed that bioware is putting content out is phenominal. Wow has had one major update since the release of swtor and were looking at number 3. I remember mmos that had major content updates once or twice a year....

 

The pace they are putting out content is perfect, would you prefer they rush it out and it fail like Illum did?

[Wolfeisberg]

For me, no there is no justification for $15 a month, and really wish I didn't pay for a 6 month sub. The game is just almost a clone of WoW. I had a blast with WoW for many years, but I got bored of the game play. When I play SWTOR I literally feel like I am playing WoW all over again but with a SW skin. WoW style of MMOs is just not for me anymore, it used to be though.

 

If SWTOR was a buy to play game, with a cosmetic and convenience cash shop, then it would be worth the initial cost and then the few buck I would pay every once in a while in the cash shop, but my play time would only be a couple hours per week. But currently paying $15 a month for a couple hours per week is not worth that price.

 

It comes down to personal preference. If you feel that you are not getting your monies worth, then cancel. This day and age we have lots of choices when it comes to MMOs, there is just about every kind of MMO buisness model out there to make one happy. For me, GW2 Buy to Play model with Cosmetic, account services, and convenience items shop is perfect match for me.

[Ngamok]

The OP also demonstrates bad math.

 

It has been estimated that SWTOR cost about $200 million to develop.

 

The game costs, on average, about $50 to buy / download (sure, they've sold some Collector's Editions, but it's doubtful those are more than a small fraction of buyers).

 

Therefore, if the game "paid for itself" with just the box/download costs, EA/BW would need 4 million subscribers ($200 million / $50).

 

To date, they've had maybe 2 million (rough guess, with 1.7 million being the highest figure out there).

 

Thus, just on box costs, they've recouped only 50% of their development costs so far.

 

So yes, I'd say a good chunk of your $15 monthly subscription is still going towards that.

 

$60 x 1.7 million = $102 million

 

$15 per month x 1.7 million = $25.5 million per month

 

Depending on how many people have been paying per month, I'd say game has paid for itself a few months ago.

[Kurfer]

Content is one of the things these guys are doing right, if you're complaining about the rate of content in this game then you must be new to MMO's.

 

In WoW if you get content twice a year then it's big news. I wont even talk about rift or older games like swg/eq.

 

Welcome to MMO's you pay $15 to play, that's how it works and you knew this before you bought the game.

[Riotus]

For me, no there is no justification for $15 a month, and really wish I didn't pay for a 6 month sub. The game is just almost a clone of WoW. I had a blast with WoW for many years, but I got bored of the game play. When I play SWTOR I literally feel like I am playing WoW all over again but with a SW skin. WoW style of MMOs is just not for me anymore, it used to be though.

 

If SWTOR was a buy to play game, with a cosmetic and convenience cash shop, then it would be worth the initial cost and then the few buck I would pay every once in a while in the cash shop, but my play time would only be a couple hours per week. But currently paying $15 a month for a couple hours per week is not worth that price.

 

It comes down to personal preference. If you feel that you are not getting your monies worth, then cancel. This day and age we have lots of choices when it comes to MMOs, there is just about every kind of MMO buisness model out there to make one happy. For me, GW2 Buy to Play model with Cosmetic, account services, and convenience items shop is perfect match for me.

 

Thats on you for paying for 6 months and you have no one to blame but yourself. I never pay for advance months even though i know for a fact ill be playing this game well into next year you never know what will come up in RL. For instance i gave myself tendonitis in my wrists from playing the game to much, so i just turned off the sub till i was ready to play again.

 

F2P mmos are the worst. The communitys are destroyed and as much as i love this game if it went F2P id stop playing. 15$ a month is nothing to me, if its something to you then prehaps you should re-evaluate your lifes prioritys.

[Arasys]

Content is one of the things these guys are doing right, if you're complaining about the rate of content in this game then you must be new to MMO's.

 

In WoW if you get content twice a year then it's big news. I wont even talk about rift or older games like swg/eq.

 

Welcome to MMO's you pay $15 to play, that's how it works and you knew this before you bought the game.

 

I guess you are new to MMOs considering how you are forgetting/not knowing both UO and Asheron's Call 1 had monthly world events for years, and I bet they still do.

 

and if content is "right" how come I got geared in less than a month by only spending 2 hours a week ? Only 2 hours of raiding in 2~3 weeks is too short for a casual player.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Arasys

[Sanxxx]

Content is one of the things these guys are doing right, if you're complaining about the rate of content in this game then you must be new to MMO's.

.

 

IMO their content delivery rate is ok, it's the ease and pace of consumption that causes the 'no content' issue.

[Ngamok]

For me, no there is no justification for $15 a month, and really wish I didn't pay for a 6 month sub. The game is just almost a clone of WoW. I had a blast with WoW for many years, but I got bored of the game play. When I play SWTOR I literally feel like I am playing WoW all over again but with a SW skin. WoW style of MMOs is just not for me anymore, it used to be though.

 

If SWTOR was a buy to play game, with a cosmetic and convenience cash shop, then it would be worth the initial cost and then the few buck I would pay every once in a while in the cash shop, but my play time would only be a couple hours per week. But currently paying $15 a month for a couple hours per week is not worth that price.

 

It comes down to personal preference. If you feel that you are not getting your monies worth, then cancel. This day and age we have lots of choices when it comes to MMOs, there is just about every kind of MMO buisness model out there to make one happy. For me, GW2 Buy to Play model with Cosmetic, account services, and convenience items shop is perfect match for me.

 

GW2 is a clone of WoW with a GW skin. Will you get bored of that as well after a few months? Sure it'll probably save you 15-30 bucks when you do.

[Wayshuba]

No, it is not coming fast enough. We paid $60 game and got a bunch of content and $90 since then for so little.

 

Six months after launch we have had very little added and most of the patches devoted to fixing what was broken (or breaking stuff that didn't need fixing).

 

Rift had their fifth patch (all five of which had further content included) by the six month mark.

 

Guild Wars (a 7 year old game) had their first major expansion out six months after launch.

 

LOTRO had three major content patches six months after release including two new land areas, a raid, a ton of new instances, and additional systems (bartering and reputation) added to the game.

 

Including 1.3, we have had 2 flashpoints, 1 additional operation (still without nightmare mode), the over-priced legacy system, a new daily area and a new warzone added. That is it. Very, very light for content updating considering the size of the staff that is supposed to be working on it.

[ghettogenius]

Complaining about $15 a month to play this game is a bit sad really. Think about it, $15 gets you access to all content for 30 days. Where else can you make $15 stretch all month long? Really I want to know, because that is 50 cents a day (cheaper I think if you buy more months).

 

Most working people spend this much before they even get to work ever morning. When I was single and going out I could drop easy $50-100 a night at a bar just fooling around.

 

My other hobbies are freaking expensive, gaming is not (aside from initial investment in computer). Try snowboarding - top of the line setup might set you back $700 for a board and bindings, which under heavy use might last 1-3 seasons - might. Not to mention boots/gear and near $100 lift tickets!

 

Or how about some digital music production/djing? Since I stopped playing gigs I cant easily write off all that gear now. You know how much a new set of decks cost these days? Try $699 each for the cheapest Pioneers or $1800 for top of the line. Not to mention mixer, sound, software, additional hardware. Hell I used to pay $12 each for import LPs!

 

Mountain bike - you dont even want to know.

 

Wont even go into hobbies like dirtbikes, sailing, racing or flying.

 

Try putting $15 in your pocket one morning and see how far you get on that during the day. This might get you seeing things from a different perspective.

[Wolfeisberg]

$60 x 1.7 million = $102 million

 

$15 per month x 1.7 million = $25.5 million per month

 

Depending on how many people have been paying per month, I'd say game has paid for itself a few months ago.

 

Actually as of the last investor report, they sold 2.4 million copies.