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Quarterly Producer Letter for Q2 2024 ×

Official F2P Announcement


Quinnt

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Looking at the features, most people don't run a lot of Flashpoints or Space Missions, so I don't think limiting them for Free players is really going to matter much. So at the end of it all, people will be paying 15 bucks a month to run an Operation or three a week (depending on how hardcore they are), and to play in Warzones when they aren't raiding.

 

I really don't see this working out myself.

 

Wrong. They wont be able to raid as often, they wont be able to run WZ's as often, FP's, they will have limited bank slots, limited inventory slots, limited credit amount. By limiting your credit amount you cant even repair sometimes or buy expensive things. Also they will only be limited to a certain amount of character slots, probably 2. There are a TON of limitations which ive seen by playing DCUO F2P and LOTRO F2P. If you really like the game you will need to pay a sub to really get full enjoyment out of it.

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http://www.swtor.com/free/features

 

So you can see yourself what the free option means

 

Those are some pretty significant differences if you ask me. No access to Operations being the big one. This effectively also cuts F2Pers off from top tier gear. Login priority is another big one though there hasn't been much in the way of queue issues of late. As I subscriber I'm cool with that.

Edited by LordHartigan
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If I have to wait for hours to log into my sever(s) because of F2P players taking up all the space, I'm unsubscribing. I wont sit there and pay for something I can barely play while others pay nothing and get more time than me.

 

Thats what the mega servers are for.

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LOL LOTRO is getting rdy to release a major expansion actually. Get your facts strait before talking man..

Lotro is now a huge game after going to FTP with all the expansions they have released.

 

Lotro since F2P has issued a fair amount of content nothing that impressive compared to MoM. Most of this content has been pretty generic, bug riden and designed to be extremely grindy (with the option of buying your way around the grind in the store). Yes, so much to look forward to in the future. From what I saw on Gilrain a large section of the original P2P players have quit since F2P came in.

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If I have to wait for hours to log into my sever(s) because of F2P players taking up all the space, I'm unsubscribing. I wont sit there and pay for something I can barely play while others pay nothing and get more time than me.

 

^ this too, can we get some clarification on how that is going to work? do we need to make the line like everyone else or do we get priority on the server Qs if the situation becomes that its a heavey populated server?

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LOTRO went Free 2 Play - never went back

Star trek online went Free 2 Play - never went back

DC Universe Online went Free 2 Play - never went back

Star Wars: The Old Republic going Free 2 Play - probably never going back

 

Personally, I want an MMO that wants to put out a product that MAKES the customer WANT to pay $14.99 a month to play it, rather than a game that sits on it's hands and when there are customer issues, says "What do you want from a FREE game?"

 

Take some pride in what you do. This is absolutely embarassing that a company like Bioware (successful by all standards) can't make a successful game out of a property with "Star Wars" in the title...

 

CONSTANT problems and glitches since release, transfer problems, hemorrhaging subscriptions consistently, announced to be going "Free 2 Play up to level 15 or whatever" and now going Free-2-Play entirely. But to the apologists, it's "still a successful game"!!

 

So ask yourself, at WHAT point do we consider the game to be failing? What HAS to happen?

 

When the servers are offline its no longer successful, nuff said.

 

If they stop making profits its not considered successful and will be shut down. This game is still miles above WoW imho, and the fact it will have a f2p option wont sway me.

 

I think the outrage is stemming from people living in the past, the worlds economy isnt how it was 10 / 15 or even 100 years ago. We are producing more, cheaper, and faster products. We are able to provide it to more people at little to no extra costs, internet is now cheap to produce, distribute and maintain.

 

Less cost = more profits = more wiggle room = more rewards for more risks. Economics 101 So Hard to understand.

 

EA and Bioware are doing a smart economic decision by placing a competitive spin to draw in customers from other mmos, free to play and otherwise. Noone would be complaining if this was Best Buy giving people free Ipads for bringing in a coupon on a Thursday before 4:00pm to generate foot traffic and cause people to likely buy other products due to human impuslivity.

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economy my foot! , if 50 cents a day really break your budget you should have pawned that pc a long time ago, what bioware should have done was sell client game codes+free month for 5-10 dollars and keep the subs if they wanted more customers/subs , that would have been a good "the economy is tough" sub booster, but as a paying customer from day 1 , i feel downright insulted that i will have to deal with the incessant ninja looting, whining, complaining and downright disgusting communites in the f2p game scene nowadays

50 cents a day can break a budget, yes. But the PC is not worth pawning. You clearly have no idea what a used PC is worth to a pawn store - practically nothing. I know plenty of people who can't afford 50 cents more a day, but live just fine. Also, when you think about it, with SO many games out, it becomes a choice thing. Saying that somebody can buy this game and then play for free, but get some new items for money or subscribe every once in awhile for better access makes more sense. It gives them the option of where to put their money in any given month.

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More content faster, rofl. They couldn't make content even when people were throwing money at them, now that it's sunk to the lowest of the lows, content will be non existant. Mr. Lucas must be proud of this amazing masterpiece

 

So true. Anyone that believes content is going to pushed out faster is delusional. Where are our content updates that were supposed to be coming every month since 1.2?

 

Any new content is just going to be half-assed. "A fully-voiced MMO"... well, until you reach level 50 that is.

Edited by Ashania
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Servers are going to hit the max capacity and you're going to have a wait time to login no matter what. And if your computer can't handle 200+ people in a single area, you're screwed. Also considering you could probably have multiple accounts for little or no cost, you could max gathering skills on tons of characters and generate mats at an unbelievable rate, then transfer those to your main account and sell or use them to your advantage.

 

When the players lvls dramatically increases they will just open new servers. No big deal.

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With F2P follows a form of mis-management that is only seen in hell:

Patches that don't work correctly and have the opposite effect on things they're intended to change

Even more shoddy patches to fix the broken patches

BRs who ruin the game for everybody

A reliance on cash shop

Thought servers were bad now, they get even worse

Slower content updates

Devs really aren't motivated at all as who are they really trying to please?

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^ this too, can we get some clarification on how that is going to work? do we need to make the line like everyone else or do we get priority on the server Qs if the situation becomes that its a heavey populated server?

 

Reading the website might help, it says subs get priority access.

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Ahahaha - great business strategy.

 

Let's give away the good part of the game - the voiced storyline - away for free and charge for the crappy part - the ops that nobody really likes.

 

Game is so screwed it's not even funny.

 

I'd pay them to remove VO from side missions :D

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To everyone that thinks the sky is falling you need to take your blinders off and see this is the future for all mmo's

 

Most paid MMO's in the past like WOW, EQ2 EQ ect.. you only got major content 1 a year with a paid expansion box. The amount of content we have gotten and will get with a paid sub is more than any mmo I know of.

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Here's what happens with F2P games, you end up with immature Idiots who will Troll and grief other people for fun, and if they get banned so what, they will just create new free accounts and start griefing and trolling all over again, doesn't cost them anything...

 

Yep this game just hit the trash bin.... I won't be renewing....

 

I find it funny people saying it worked for LOTRO and D&D when neither of those games has released any decent content since they went F2P, it's been low quality updates....

 

F2P means skeleton crew with small low quality updates....

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Most paying MMO's take 4-6 months with major content updates..

 

HECK WOW only released major update with expansions. SWTOr has given us so much free stuff compared to any MMO in the past. Stop being spoiled and be realistic.

 

Whilst I agree that most MMO's are poor in giving large updates over long periods SW:TOR has not been the best of them. Just look at what Lotro gave after it launched in April 2007;

 

Book 9: Shores of Evendim

The first free content update was released on June 14, 2007.[20]

Updates include: (release notes part 1), (part 2), (part 3)

Discovery of Evendim

Over 100 new quests

Raid in the Battle for Helegrod

Nine new monsters

Collectible armour sets

 

Book 10: The City of the Kings

The second free-content update was released on August 21, 2007 in North America and on August 24, 2007 in Europe.[21]

Updates include: (release notes part 1), (part 2), (part 3), (part 4), (crafting), (hunter), (captain)

Continuation of the Story Line.

Legendary Play – Players can now use Destiny Points to play as a Ranger of the North or as a Troll.

Critter Play – Players can now explore Middle-earth from a different viewpoint as a chicken.

New Reputation and Bartering Systems – The Reputation system enables players to earn positive and negative standing with different races and groups in Middle-earth based on both monster kills and quest completions. The Bartering system allows players to trade trophies earned in battle for rewards, such as armour sets or mounts.

Over 100 new Quests.

More customizable user interface.

 

Book 11: Prisoner Of The Free Peoples

The third free-content update was released on October 24, 2007 in North America[22] and October 25 in Europe.[23]

Updates include (complete release notes):

Continuation of the Epic Story arc, including 13 quests.

Player housing – players will be able to customize their houses with items such as furniture and doormats.

Second raid called "The Rift" – 12-player raid in which players encounter a Balrog for the first time. Turbine has stressed that this is not the Balrog from Khazad-dûm.[24]

Two new areas – Tâl Bruinen in the Trollshaws, where Gollum will be introduced for the first time, and Goblin Town in the Misty Mountains, featured in The Hobbit.

More than 100 new quests.

 

Book 12: The Ashen Wastes

The fourth free content update was released on February 13, 2008 in North America; and February 14, 2008 in Europe.

Updates include (complete release notes):

Continuation of the Story Line.

Character customization - Increased character customization "ranging from haircuts, to some (possible) additions to the trait-system." In addition, the Outfit system, along with many special social clothing designed just for it, will be introduced where a second or third set of clothing can be slotted and displayed while retaining the statistical bonuses of the currently equipped items.[25]

The Delving of Frór - A new Monster Play PVE (and PVMP under certain circumstances) area will be introduced: An expanse of caves and catacombs located beneath the Ettenmoors.

The Great Angmar Revamp - A revamp of the most high-level region of the game's current 9 PvE regions. The revamp included the reworking of many quests, areas and other changes, such as new horse routes.

Barbershop - You can customize the look of your avatar in-game with around 50 new haircuts and second set of details.[citation needed]

Updates to the Burglar, Guardian, and Champion classes.

 

Book 13: Doom of the Last-King

The fifth free content update was released on April 24, 2008 in North America and on May 1, 2008 in Europe.

Updates include (complete release notes):

A new playable map area: the Ice Bay of Forochel.

Players being able to see the ocean for the first time, confirmed as the Ice Bay of Forochel in recent developer chats.

Fishing - the first of a new system in Lord of the Rings Online, called 'hobbies'.

New PVMP Monster Healing Class - Orc Defiler.

Looking For Fellowship- and Quest-panel improvements.

 

Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion

The sixth free content update was released on July 22, 2008 in North America. It was released on July 24, 2008 in Europe.

Updates include (complete release notes):

Climax of the "Shadows of Angmar" storyline.

Added selected sections of Eregion (Region leading towards the Gates of Moria).

Epic Quest events that will allow interaction between players regardless of server.

Prelude quests for and leading up to the Mines of Moria expansion. Which will have updates leading to Lothlórien, Fangorn, Rhovanion and Rohan.

 

Book 15: Daughter of Strife

The seventh free content update was released on November 18, 2008. This update was released in tandem with the Mines of Moria expansion for players who did not purchase the expansion release.

Updates include (Epic - Vol. I, Book 15: Daughter of Strife Quests epic):

Conclusion of the "Shadows of Angmar" storyline.

Added the zone of Eregion expanding on the selected sections from Book 14. The zone does not include the Hollin Gate leading to the Black Pool.

Added UI enhancements

 

That's way more than SW:Tor and that's not even everything they put out.

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Love the Idea of bieng able to get things from the store for points. It going to bear seeing WHAT you can get from the store hopefully better gear for toons, is one thing I am looking for.

 

Glad they are giving people something finally for their sub and looking forward to the store! Great job Bioware!

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I think the last major subscription MMO that went f2p was LOTRO, and they went F2P in about the same amount of time, IIRC.

 

It'll be interesting to see what happens with The Secret World - seems like they have the best bet at staying with a pure subscription-based model.

 

LotRO went about 3 years before going F2P.

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