please don't waste my time

[Dryerwulf]

The same elements I like about Star Wars: the Old Republic are all things I like about a lot of single player games. I got the game at launch and paid for a 6 month subscription of which i only used 3 or 4 months. I recently resubscribed so I could take advantage of the bonus Cartel Coins. (Side note, it feels like an obvious cash-grab requiring which does not endear me to your business practices, and makes me skeptical of spending money on Cartel Coins in the future.)

 

Here is my concern: I am concerned that switching to a non-subscriber status will cost me a currency that is more dear to me than money: and that is time. If it takes longer to do things in-game, such as level your character or accrue credits because everything costs more, or you spend more time corpse-running because of higher timers, or you spend more time travelling because of longer cooldowns.

 

Currently as a subscriber, I feel that there is a lot of "grinding." Just last night I died a couple of times while doing my class quest. I was fighting single "elites" of the same level. I spend time and credits making sure my gear is up to level. I spent time and credits leveling Biochem so I would have reusable medkits and stims. Losing a couple minutes of my time because I lost a fight with some npcs isn't all that bad, but it had me thinking:

 

If I were not a subscriber and I died under these circumstances, and was hit with a longer revive timer, or was forced to revive further away and fight through more waves of mobs to get back to where I was... I would not find that enjoyable.

 

All of the limitations put on non-subscribers add up to one thing: more time spent on the game to overcome them. That is an understandable trade off. There is a point at which these time-sinks are detrimental to the game experience.

 

Whether you are a developer or a player giving feedback: take this into consideration: If at any time a restriction feels like a "penalty" or a "tax"... it's probably unfavorable.

[Urael]

The same elements I like about Star Wars: the Old Republic are all things I like about a lot of single player games. I got the game at launch and paid for a 6 month subscription of which i only used 3 or 4 months. I recently resubscribed so I could take advantage of the bonus Cartel Coins. (Side note, it feels like an obvious cash-grab requiring which does not endear me to your business practices, and makes me skeptical of spending money on Cartel Coins in the future.)

 

Here is my concern: I am concerned that switching to a non-subscriber status will cost me a currency that is more dear to me than money: and that is time. If it takes longer to do things in-game, such as level your character or accrue credits because everything costs more, or you spend more time corpse-running because of higher timers, or you spend more time travelling because of longer cooldowns.

 

Currently as a subscriber, I feel that there is a lot of "grinding." Just last night I died a couple of times while doing my class quest. I was fighting single "elites" of the same level. I spend time and credits making sure my gear is up to level. I spent time and credits leveling Biochem so I would have reusable medkits and stims. Losing a couple minutes of my time because I lost a fight with some npcs isn't all that bad, but it had me thinking:

 

If I were not a subscriber and I died under these circumstances, and was hit with a longer revive timer, or was forced to revive further away and fight through more waves of mobs to get back to where I was... I would not find that enjoyable.

 

All of the limitations put on non-subscribers add up to one thing: more time spent on the game to overcome them. That is an understandable trade off. There is a point at which these time-sinks are detrimental to the game experience.

 

Whether you are a developer or a player giving feedback: take this into consideration: If at any time a restriction feels like a "penalty" or a "tax"... it's probably unfavorable.

 

Two words:

 

Don't Die!

 

Seriously Elite mobs of equivilent level are face roll. Try 3-5 levels above then come and talk!

[TheBBP]

• If you die more than twice you are better off respawning at a med center than waiting for the timer.
  
• If you want the perks of a sub, pay the sub.
  

[XmaceukX]

That's the whole point to make you want to subscribe to avoid these annoying little things?.

 

There are more annoying things than the revive taking longer so i can't see them complaining much about that.

 

Having to pay a fee to wear good armour is more annoying imo or lack of cast bars just as annoying.

Edited November 1, 2012 by XmaceukX

[Tim-ONeil]

The game isn't free, that's a marketing term. As a community we need to let that go...

 

If you want to enjoy all the same things you do now you'll have to continue to pay the $15 per month or those perks become the opportunity cost of being a preferred account rather than a subscriber.

[Urael]

The game isn't free, that's a marketing term. As a community we need to let that go...

 

If you want to enjoy all the same things you do now you'll have to continue to pay the $15 per month or those perks become the opportunity cost of being a preferred account rather than a subscriber.

 

The occupy Vaiken Spacedock crowd says otherwise!!

 

[Drebs]

Perhaps the community here should consider addressing the substance of posts rather than nitpicking playstyles. Just a thought.

 

In that spirit--yes, it's a drag and obvious cash-grab when a game makes you feel inconvenienced and you have to spend money to overcome the inconvenience. At the same time, publishers have to make money. An alternative approach that seems to have worked in many other games would be to give the players a fun, non-handicapped experience, but make the perks and cash shop items plentiful and desirable. Combine that with some RNG (such as cartel packs) and you've got 1) players having fun and continuing to log in and 2) people spending money to increase their status within the community.

 

Anyway, I too hope someone in the Biosphere wises up and realizes that the game needs to be fun before anything else and it shouldn't feel crippled.

[Tim-ONeil]

Perhaps the community here should consider addressing the substance of posts rather than nitpicking playstyles. Just a thought.

 

In that spirit--yes, it's a drag and obvious cash-grab when a game makes you feel inconvenienced and you have to spend money to overcome the inconvenience. At the same time, publishers have to make money. An alternative approach that seems to have worked in many other games would be to give the players a fun, non-handicapped experience, but make the perks and cash shop items plentiful and desirable. Combine that with some RNG (such as cartel packs) and you've got 1) players having fun and continuing to log in and 2) people spending money to increase their status within the community.

 

Anyway, I too hope someone in the Biosphere wises up and realizes that the game needs to be fun before anything else and it shouldn't feel crippled.

 

That's not the model they chose. GW2 and Aion have this model. This game does not. This is a pay to access content model, not a cosmetic micro transactions pay the bills model.

[Lostpenguins]

If at any time a restriction feels like a "penalty" or a "tax"... it's probably unfavorable.

Um... every restriction in life feels like a penalty or a tax. That is so obvious I'm not even sure what the point of saying that was. The point of these restrictions is to just squeeze tight enough that'll make a F2P'er want to buy some things to increase their game.

 

You need to stop looking at the $15 game as "perfect". It's $15 + some extras to make it worth your while. Maybe it'll come out to $25 + $5/month. That's what they're looking for. They're not looking for the guy who pays $15 and never pays a cent again. They're looking to attract the people who wouldn't pay $15/month, but will pay $5/month.

 

It's like offering a car w/ no radio, no ac, no power steering, power windows and no 5th gear. It's super cheap, but if you want the ac, it'll cost you a little more.

 

Heck, the already do this with lower-end models of the car. F2P is the exact same thing. Previously everyone had to buy the high-end model, but now they're offering cheaper ones with less luxury items attached to them.

Edited November 1, 2012 by Lostpenguins

[AMulls]

If your time is more dear to you than your money, which is a perfectly valid and sound feeling, and one which I share, then I'd just advise you to pay the subscription.

 

If those extra seconds/minutes/hours that you'll lose leveling up as F2P are worth more than the $.50 per day that a subscription costs, then again, just get the subscription.

 

If it's purely a concern over the time, then you'll also get a bunch of other "perks" for paying the subscription cost of $.50 per day, including unlimited warzones/flashpoints, use of any and all gear drops, unlimited credit earning, and storage space for all the items you're collecting. That's just to name a few.

 

I understand that the loss of some of the "perks" from unsubbing seems unfair. But if you really do value your time more than your money, then it seems to me that $.50 per day would be well worth it to save yourself that time.

[JimG]

I recently resubscribed so I could take advantage of the bonus Cartel Coins. (Side note, it feels like an obvious cash-grab requiring which does not endear me to your business practices, and makes me skeptical of spending money on Cartel Coins in the future.)

......

Whether you are a developer or a player giving feedback: take this into consideration: If at any time a restriction feels like a "penalty" or a "tax"... it's probably unfavorable.

 

Sorry, but I just can't seem to reconcile either of these statements.

 

With the first one, you intentionally re-subbed just to "take advantage" of getting extra Cartel Coins but you're complaining about their "business practices" of adding them into the game? Look, once the Cartel Market was announced, everyone knew that there would be items and non-subscriber unlocks available for purchase on the market. That's pretty much any F2P game. Knowing this, you re-subbed intentionally to get extra coins to spend in the market once it launches and you're making it sound like somehow you were deceived into doing this. If your entire point of re-subbing was to get extra Cartel Coins, perhaps you should have done some more research or waited for more details to come out about the Cartel Market before you re-subbed.

 

On the second one, how would any game restriction NOT feel like some sort of penalty? Under your reasoning, the entire game would just be free as any restriction, but it's very nature, would obviously feel like a "penalty" for not subbing. However, like many other people, you're thinking like a past-subscriber and not like a brand-new player. Past subscribers might feel like things are being taken away from them, although they get some automatic unlocks as preferred status players and they should be starting out with enough coins from past sub time to purchase most of the unlocks they want....and if they have to spend another $5 to $15 for lifetime unlocks to get the rest of what they want and never have to pay again as a preferred status player, then that seems more than fair too. If someone just wants to unlock everything, then they need to be a sub. However, for the brand-new players, they shouldn't feel like things are being taken away from them as they've never had any of this stuff in the first place. They won't have had faster death re-spawns, faster travel power cooldowns, sprint at earlier levels, etc. So I don't see why they would feel they are having some massive penalty imposed on them when they don't even know what the game played as a sub feels like.

 

To me, at least, the one exception would be the loot rewards for quests. I don't think they should get credit lockbox rewards that they can't open.....that should be switched to some sort of random piece of green quality gear or something for free players and preferred players should be able to open those rewards. These aren't flashpoints or end-game content....just basic planet quests so the rewards aren't all that great or anything, just seems odd that the player basically gets no reward for a particular side quest on a starter planet. They should at least have a warning pop-up before the player runs the quest that they won't be eligible for quest reward.

[NinjaApacHe]

You want advantages? Pay a sub.

[MariaD]

The language of efficiency (as in time being a resource) always feels a bit off in a game. There is this mindset that faster=better. Well, it's simply not true. I would not want to finish my ops run in five minutes. I would not want to level in a day. Things like corpse runs are good pacing mechanisms for pausing and considering tactics.

 

This is not a conveyor belt where better speed makes better profits.

Edited November 1, 2012 by MariaD

[Xatasha]

It is your time and your money and it is up to you how you want to spend it. If you think you are wasting time with this game then don't play it. Basically all you say in your post is...........I want even more free stuff. Free to play is not Fun to Play.........it is all about tempting you to pay for things.

[Gomla]

I don't think some people quite grasp what this kind of business model is trying to achieve.

 

It isn't to let you "have everything for free" it's to make you want to sub so you get the perks.

 

I seriously want a lot of the folks on these forums to make a game, we wouldn't have to pay them anything to play it. Or I want them to open a pizza take away .... free pizza is always good.

 

In closing ... this F2P model isn't about convenience for people that aren't paying, it's about making them want to pay thus creating profit. Give too much for free then where is the incentive to pay?

[well]

That's the whole point to make you want to subscribe to avoid these annoying little things?.

 

There are more annoying things than the revive taking longer so i can't see them complaining much about that.

 

Having to pay a fee to wear good armour is more annoying imo or lack of cast bars just as annoying.

 

My favorite is crafting 1 item at a time.Since I am into crafting that definitely sucks raw eggs.Next to the story line it is what I like the most.It drove me nuts on PTS.Not a far drive but still if I unsubbed I wouldn't play ftp or preferred.

[BadOrb]

My favorite is crafting 1 item at a time.Since I am into crafting that definitely sucks raw eggs.Next to the story line it is what I like the most.It drove me nuts on PTS.Not a far drive but still if I unsubbed I wouldn't play ftp or preferred.

 

You will get 2 as a preferred player , crafting skills that is and how much to unlock the 3rd?

 

Anyways OP try doing group content with 3 people in the party ( unbalanced ) , then you'll know what death and dying really is. To me it sounds like you got bored of the game after 3-4 months so it seem you are only returning to get your free cartel coins , just see how many you get and what you can buy and if it isn't much then you can make up your mind then.

 

Cheers,

 

BadOrb.

Edited November 1, 2012 by BadOrb

[IHateDruids]

If $15 is to much, You might not want to look into a game as a time dump, but maybe find a new job or do something past living as a low life. Don't say I'm wrong, If its that big a deal, don't play. That easy.

[Revanchis]

If $15 is to much, You might not want to look into a game as a time dump, but maybe find a new job or do something past living as a low life. Don't say I'm wrong, If its that big a deal, don't play. That easy.

 

Did you seriously just call someone a low life because they don't have as much money?

[IHateDruids]

Dont' change the subject, a low life is someone that has the path to better themselves yet fails to do so. In today's day and age, why? Why settle for less? Go out there and do something with your life instead of crying on forums about how expensive is. It's no different then the Bums outside walking and holding signs, When they could do the same thing for a car dealer ship and make MORE money. #yolo

[waterdaemon]

If $15 is to much, You might not want to look into a game as a time dump, but maybe find a new job or do something past living as a low life. Don't say I'm wrong, If its that big a deal, don't play. That easy.

I don’t know if you are trolling, or are just living up to the old adage, “On the internet, we are all toughguys.”

 

The OP has some serious misconceptions about what F2P means. Maybe I’m just crazy this way, but I think it’s more productive to explain it to him go for ad hominem attacks.

[Brool]

The only person that can waste your time is "YOU"

[Urael]

The only person that can waste your time is "YOU"

 

Pssst ... hey buddy ixnay on the uthtray. *film noir gangster voice*

Edited November 1, 2012 by Urael

[Dryerwulf]

Wow, ok. Lets clear up some misconceptions about my post:

 

I would pay a subscription for a better game than Star Wars is now. Changing the game to free-to-play is not improving the game as it is now, it is making the game worse for those who are free-to-play.

 

As a previous subscriber, in order for me to collect the cartel points I had to resubscribe now. I did this because I knew I would at least come back and try the game when it became free to play, and it I found it worth it to spend $15 to get some Cartel Coins from my previous subscription, of which I feel I did not get value for what I paid.

 

When I buy a single player game, I can play the game at my leisure, taking months between play sessions. Having purchased Star Wars: the Old Republic feels like having bought a single player game and not having the option of going back to finish it. When it goes free-to-play, I will have the option of finishing the game without paying a monthly subscription.

 

I am expecting that the cartel coins will allow me to bring my play experience close to that as a subscriber. (I'm talking about game function and quality of life here.) I am not expecting to raid at 50, nor do I have a desire to play warzones or flashpoints. Which is why it is not worth it for me to pay for a subscription.

[Bojangle]

The same elements I like about Star Wars: the Old Republic are all things I like about a lot of single player games. I got the game at launch and paid for a 6 month subscription of which i only used 3 or 4 months. I recently resubscribed so I could take advantage of the bonus Cartel Coins. (Side note, it feels like an obvious cash-grab requiring which does not endear me to your business practices, and makes me skeptical of spending money on Cartel Coins in the future.)

 

Here is my concern: I am concerned that switching to a non-subscriber status will cost me a currency that is more dear to me than money: and that is time. If it takes longer to do things in-game, such as level your character or accrue credits because everything costs more, or you spend more time corpse-running because of higher timers, or you spend more time travelling because of longer cooldowns.

 

Currently as a subscriber, I feel that there is a lot of "grinding." Just last night I died a couple of times while doing my class quest. I was fighting single "elites" of the same level. I spend time and credits making sure my gear is up to level. I spent time and credits leveling Biochem so I would have reusable medkits and stims. Losing a couple minutes of my time because I lost a fight with some npcs isn't all that bad, but it had me thinking:

 

If I were not a subscriber and I died under these circumstances, and was hit with a longer revive timer, or was forced to revive further away and fight through more waves of mobs to get back to where I was... I would not find that enjoyable.

 

All of the limitations put on non-subscribers add up to one thing: more time spent on the game to overcome them. That is an understandable trade off. There is a point at which these time-sinks are detrimental to the game experience.

 

Whether you are a developer or a player giving feedback: take this into consideration: If at any time a restriction feels like a "penalty" or a "tax"... it's probably unfavorable.

I respect your post as it is your opinion and constructive criticisms of what you feel but in all honesty this part, "I feel that there is a lot of "grinding." is where you lost me. This game is far from a grind. Is this seriously your first mmo because Vanilla/BC WoW, GW2, Aion, AoC, Rift, Tera, Warhammer, LotR were all way worse grinds.

 

Heck look at Tera. You NEED to have the top enchant to do anything and people are spending tons of money and tons of time on failed enchants. The grind just for that is insane.

 

Aion was huge grindfest especially as a higher level they ran out of quests and people had to do like 5-10 levels of just going around killing mobs for xp.

 

ToR is far from grinding. There are way more quests then needed to hit max level and that is not even having to do heroics. It is extremely easy and fast to level. Also once you hit max level it is so easy to get your gear too. I have heard GW2 is a pain to do so and extremely grindy and it is 1 dungeon. With ToR you have many dungeons to run so at least you have a mixture. Plus the story mode raids are very easy to do and pug. Sure you may not get the best gear if you aren't in a raiding guild, but to get good enough gear is quite easy.

 

Crafting is quite simple and fast also. I come across so many things for all professions while questing on alts that you can level that up too. Plus you can also send companies on those gathering type quests where you don't have to do anything and still get xp for that. Just keep sending them out everytime they are back. It is also cheap until way higher level but credits are so easy to get you will be fine.

 

Again not trying to say you are wrong but imo having played many mmos since UO, ToR is one of the less grinding games I have played.

Edited November 1, 2012 by Bojangle