dankat Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 It depends how it is handled in my opinion. If handled in a way if it does not take away from the subscribers experience (except socially, whichever way that goes is inevitable) or even rewards them for being loyal, fantastic. If it gives people that KOTOR 3 (4,5,6...) they wanted WITHOUT the anal subscription, that is great. If Free-To-Play includes only leveling content, great. If you can't buy your way to high level content and gear as a free OR subscriber player, great. As long as for the subscribers, the game does not change much, and gives more flexibility for those who really want to try the game, this is BioWare's best decision, especially considering that Free-To-Play makes more money and cultivates a higher player base than Subscription based games. HOWEVER, if the apparent 'evils' of EA overtake the game, SWTOR is finished. If a subscriber STILL has to pay to receive content, that is damned horrible. If Free Players can't experience their story right, that is awful. If Free-To-Play players can play higher end content, it is awful. If ANYBODY can buy gear and free players can buy end game content, awful. If Free-To-Play is at the expense of BOTH sides of the audience, the game is done with, and greed would have killed it. WHAT WILL HAPPEN EITHER WAY- - A massive influx of players. - BioWare and EA will most likely cultivate greater success in SWTOR, in content, polish, populance, and above all, financially. - MORE itemization will be in-game with the new store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islander Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 It won't be EA's final disaster, I'm sure they will find a new MMORPG to screw up. TOR is just the latest casualty of EA's terribleness, right next to another nice IP - Warhammer. At this point, I'm actually more inclined to play another SOE MMO then the next EA MMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocek Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 (edited) .....they wanted WITHOUT the anal subscription, ...... Did you play wow? Anyway we will see, i'll let F2P hit first and see what comes out in the wash. Edited August 14, 2012 by Bocek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TUXs Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Huge mistake. Not a final disaster. F2P games are viewed as cheap and disposable...and they are. When people have nothing invested in a game, they don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vespassian Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I still enjoy this game as the QQ trolls hate it. Considering that I hate EA. Would that be my 1 Cent or 2 Cents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nydus Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I still enjoy this game as the QQ trolls hate it. Considering that I hate EA. Would that be my 1 Cent or 2 Cents? +1. EA is standing in the way of sequels for several of my favourite games. Just because. They have nothing to gain or lose by it, they've just acquired a license and are sitting on it for no good reason. That being said, I've enjoyed this game immensely so I suppose they aren't wrong all the time. Regard the F2P option, I'm a bit skeptical myself as to how this will pan out. I personally don't see why someone should have access to the same things I do as a subscriber. If it was up to me, F2P wouldn't be able to finish their class storylines, wouldn't be able to participate in half the flashpoints, wouldn't be able to do the heroic quests. I'd have a huge "Tier" difference between the people who have committed to the game and the itinerant hippies who want everything for free . Regarding SW being a "disaster". Sorry guys, but no. We are past that point. It is extremely unlikely that SW won't have recouped costs by December. That means your statement is hyperbole. Doesn't mean TOR couldn't die and be a giant disappointment, but investments that recoup costs can't really be considered "disasters". - Arcada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeada Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Players can sub up to play the operations now, but they don't. What is going to change to make them do it in the future? How does F2P increase the value (to the player) of subbing to play ops? Because right now they have to sub to even get past level 15. When f2p hits, they will be able to play the whole game, hit cap and wonder "What now?" The answer to that question is subscribe for unlimited Ops, WZs, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTHC Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 (edited) Because right now they have to sub to even get past level 15. When f2p hits, they will be able to play the whole game, hit cap and wonder "What now?" The answer to that question is subscribe for unlimited Ops, WZs, etc. I'm not talking about the free-to-15 crowd not subscribing for endgame content. I'm talking about the over 1.7 MILLION people who bought the game, could have played all the way to 50 + endgame, and chose not to subscribe. That is a problem with content, not how long people get to play for free. And it won't be solved by letting people play for free, longer. Edited August 14, 2012 by DarthTHC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nydus Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 That is a problem with content, not how long people get to play for free. And it won't be solved by letting people play for free, longer. Interesting, I obviously don't fall into that category (as I'm still playing) but there is probably some truth to this. Obviously there was gameplay / content issue that caused a lot of people to unsub. I think the loss of a good portion of dedicated players actually caused many others to quit. Inability to find a group, sparse planets was probably the main reason my friends left the game. So I guess I'm agreeing and disagreeing with you. I think by improving the populations, many of these people will come back to the game BUT there is the entire issue of what caused those other folks to abandon the game in the first place (sparse content at Level 50). - Arcada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bojangle Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Players can sub up to play the operations now, but they don't. What is going to change to make them do it in the future? How does F2P increase the value (to the player) of subbing to play ops? They don't? So you know this for a fact? If you are referring to right now, yeah a lot don't because the content was to easy and everyone is geared up. But I still see a flood of people forming groups for all 3 operations. So f2p will increase the value because I know people will want to do the new operation and war zones when they come out. Only way to do that is sub up. And yeah I will bet new people to the game who wanted to try it out now will sub as well. I'm not saying everyone will re-sub but I will bet you those who raid will re-sub for the operations. I know if I went f2p in time I would get tired of being limited to how many flash points I can do, no raiding, no really pvping, etc. It's $15. So don't eat out at lunch 1 day a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhay Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 A couple of points: Maybe alot of people who left the game, there was not really anything BW could do. Maybe they were Star Wars junkies who didn't like MMOs. Maybe they were WoW/GW2 fanboys who wanted to claim the game was failing. Maybe they really didn't want to pay $15 / month because they wanted to keep playing WoW and didn't want 2 subs. It seems to me there is a really good case that it's not just about content here. 2nd, I am in complete agreement with the OP. Especially on one key point: IF THEY MAKE SUBSCRIBERS PAY TO OBTAIN ITEMS THAT CAN'T BE OBTAINED IN THE GAME THROUGH NATURAL MEANS THEN I WILL IMMEDIATELY LEAVE. This is non-debatable. That would be a horribly awful way to treat people who pay for the game and it would be a sign of what the game will be about for the next few years. If I can get a speeder by killing an operation boss and it costs 10 bucks for somebody to buy it, that's fine with me. If I can only obtain it by spending 10 bucks then I'm gone. That simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrosov Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I don't think F2P is going to save this game at all. This "massive" influx of players you talk about is just not going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTHC Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 They don't? So you know this for a fact? If you are referring to right now, yeah a lot don't because the content was to easy and everyone is geared up. But I still see a flood of people forming groups for all 3 operations. So f2p will increase the value because I know people will want to do the new operation and war zones when they come out. Only way to do that is sub up. And yeah I will bet new people to the game who wanted to try it out now will sub as well. I'm not saying everyone will re-sub but I will bet you those who raid will re-sub for the operations. I know if I went f2p in time I would get tired of being limited to how many flash points I can do, no raiding, no really pvping, etc. It's $15. So don't eat out at lunch 1 day a month. Yes, I actually know this for a fact. I know that over 2,000,000 players bought the box... because EA told me so. I also know that fewer than 1,000,000 players currently play... because EA told me so. That, at a minimum, is over 50% of the players who could have played all the way through end-game content but do not currently subscribe. If we consider that it's probably closer to 500,000 than 1,000,000 active subs right now, heck, split it at 750k, that's over 60%. People who raid will re-sub for operations if new operations keep coming in at a reasonable clip. Since so many subs are gone, we can assume that the clip they've been releasing at is insufficient to earn those subs back. They're going to have to get quicker about it. But here's the thing... if they had done that, they'd have the subs and never would have had to go f2p. And if they can't do that (they can't), all the f2p players in the world won't have anything worthwhile to sub to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Vae Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 This video sums up how I feel. I love Francis. Yes, I know he is acting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrosov Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I like this video about SWTOR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWIX3YT0nPA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trippyhippy Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 At this point, I'm actually more inclined to play another SOE MMO then the next EA MMO. Never going to happen I dont even buy sony products anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Vae Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I like this video about SWTOR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWIX3YT0nPA LOL i bookmarked that. Thanks I needed a good laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteDeLaRocha Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 The Old Republic Radio podcast had a great discussion about this in a recent episode. Bottom line is the subscription model for MMOs is just flat out going away. New MMOs coming out are much more likely to be F2P, and existing games are either converting or are looking at it. There are just too many good MMO options out there to compete for subscription money. It is not a death sentence, it is the future. The hardcore MMO gamers that used to shell out monthly money are getting older and have less time to play, and new gamers coming up aren't willing to shell out the money either. F2P opens up this game to a wider audience of gamers and that's good for our community. Existing subscribers who don't like the game enough to keep paying (or are waiting for content) may consider staying and switching to the F2P model instead of quitting. New gamers, even new to MMOs, may consider trying the game when it becomes free. SWTOR is a -fantastic- single player game and people may try it out free just for that. With this new base of looky-loos, BW has the potential of receiving small amounts of money from a larger number of players. I.E. I don't want to pay a subscription, but I may pay a few bucks to unlock this race or mount. It will bring in -more- money to the game. As long as they channel this money into providing new content, I'm all for it. Unless the game takes a complete nosedive after F2P opens, I'm going to stay a subscriber. I think F2P will be great for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts