So will the new f2p stuff bring old players back?

[Senden]

Personally think EA have made the game way too restrictive for old subscribers, if you had a level 50 before unsubbing (loads of people do) and comeback only to see two quickbars, that right there is going to deter a lot of people to come back. Then every other little thing like paying money to hide helm, show titles, legacies etc seem just a little too petty to throw at old subscribers at first.

 

Now a common theme here is now "well then they should subscribe" but need I not remind everyone that: " The subscription requirement was driving away huge numbers of people who do not want to commit to paying monthly." was said by the executive producer himself.

 

What EA should have done is offered 7-14 day free full subscriber trials for old subscribers to let them get a proper feel for how the game currently is, let them get their feet fully wet unrestricted and then maybe they'd feel more inclined to resubscribe and give the game a second chance.

[Ixodor]

You know i was thinking of coming back, was happy to see i would get 1500 CC and was sorta excited for this game again. Then when i logged in and went to buy some little things like epic gear, more action bars and more WZs. I found out that bioware has messed up again. In order for me to get my 1500 CC that they were advertising to make older players return was a lie and i had to Resub. I want to like this game but this leaves yet another bad taste in my mouth...

[Senden]

You know i was thinking of coming back, was happy to see i would get 1500 CC and was sorta excited for this game again. Then when i logged in and went to buy some little things like epic gear, more action bars and more WZs. I found out that bioware has messed up again. In order for me to get my 1500 CC that they were advertising to make older players return was a lie and i had to Resub. I want to like this game but this leaves yet another bad taste in my mouth...

 

To be fair it was advertised that you'd have to resub to get them. Still think that once again they should have let people get their feet wet before committing. Like give players either 1/4 or 1/2 of their allocated cartel coins for free then let them get the other half and a bonus amount for resubscribing after.

[Master_Dark]

Personally think EA have made the game way too restrictive for old subscribers, if you had a level 50 before unsubbing (loads of people do) and comeback only to see two quickbars, that right there is going to deter a lot of people to come back. Then every other little thing like paying money to hide helm, show titles, legacies etc seem just a little too petty to throw at old subscribers at first.

 

Now a common theme here is now "well then they should subscribe" but need I not remind everyone that: " The subscription requirement was driving away huge numbers of people who do not want to commit to paying monthly." was said by the executive producer himself.

 

What EA should have done is offered 7-14 day free full subscriber trials for old subscribers to let them get a proper feel for how the game currently is, let them get their feet fully wet unrestricted and then maybe they'd feel more inclined to resubscribe and give the game a second chance.

 

That would have never work with EA/Bioware remember the old Bioware developers aren't there anymore now its all about EA they want money, when the original Bioware Crew was there did anybody notice there wasn't a release date at first on SWTOR cause it wasn't done yet in those original developers eyes so what EA did was made them quit by giving them a mandate to release this MMO before Guild Wars 2 came out cause EA wanted to milk Kotor Universe for all its worth how they failed cause newer MMOs are changing the way MMO works with F2P or B2P and making micro transaction thats what keeping people online in stead of Subscription like WoW cause even World of Warcraft is almost dead because of non-subscription base MMOs and micro transactions EA/Bioware should have taken a page out of Guild Wars rule book in stead of Activision/Blizzard book.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Master_Dark

[eldefail]

That would have never work with EA/Bioware remember the old Bioware developers aren't there anymore now its all about EA they want money, when the original Bioware Crew was there did anybody notice there wasn't a release date at first on SWTOR cause it wasn't done yet in those original developers eyes so what EA did was made them quit by giving them a mandate to release this MMO before Guild Wars 2 came out cause EA wanted to milk Kotor Universe for all its worth how they failed cause newer MMOs are changing the way MMO works with F2P or B2P and making micro transaction thats what keeping people online in stead of Subscription like WoW cause even World of Warcraft is almost dead because of non-subscription base MMOs and micro transactions EA/Bioware should have taken a page out of Guild Wars rule book in stead of Activision/Blizzard book.

 

Well said. F2P isn't about getting more subs or any kind of long-term cash flow. It's obnoxiously restrictive for a reason--EA wants to force inconvenience on F2Pers to get them to spend money on cartel coins or subscribe. They're just trying to squeeze a few more miles out of this jalopy before scrapping it. Hopefully they'll listen to player feedback and give a REAL F2P model a chance and see it turn the game around. Right now when you have to unlock BASIC UI ELEMENTS I think it's pretty obvious that EA isn't interested in prolonging the life of this game.

[Ungodlyomen]

In short. No.

[Dalnar]

Most of us (returning) will try it and also try to bring friends/family into game. But I think most of us will fail to keep them interested with current model, so won't resub as well. Time will show.

[Senden]

Well said. F2P isn't about getting more subs or any kind of long-term cash flow. It's obnoxiously restrictive for a reason--EA wants to force inconvenience on F2Pers to get them to spend money on cartel coins or subscribe. They're just trying to squeeze a few more miles out of this jalopy before scrapping it. Hopefully they'll listen to player feedback and give a REAL F2P model a chance and see it turn the game around. Right now when you have to unlock BASIC UI ELEMENTS I think it's pretty obvious that EA isn't interested in prolonging the life of this game.

 

It's sad because it's true. This game has so much potential too however it seems like they want to neglect the games strengths. The worse thing is, in 3-4 months EA will probably downsize the development team further, stick their hands in the air in an act of corporate snobbery and blame the players. The truth is, EA seem clueless about the long term sustainability of the game and think f2p mmo gamers are going to yell at them "shut up and take my money"

Edited November 16, 2012 by Senden

[TwwIX]

After seeing all the restrictions for those basic functions? I don't think so.

 

Even with a "Preferred Status". It's just not worth it. EA/BioWare appears to be completely out of touch with the current climate of MMO's and PC gaming in general. Not that i am surprised.

[Lindraskada]

TLDR: No

 

long version : F2P , as i see it, is meant to be a restricted -content- experience, to entice you to want to play more. Limit warzones, dungeons, xp gain etc, fine

but when you limit functionality , it becomes a joke.

"Play for free" is a misnomer, you cannot "play" with limited UI. And anyone who thinks you only need 2 Qbars is playing something easy

 

I logged in my 50 jugg.. she looks appalling. why ? i cant hide her hat, or unify her colours. i dont want to play her in that state, and im certainly not paying for something cosmetic. it strikes me as penny pinching meanness, and it makes me wary of playing

i cant access my guild bank, that i personally paid ingame money for back when they were first released. why ? i cant actually -play- without being able to move things around and help other people out who are offline - what does that do ? damages the community spirit as far as i can see

I cant hold more than 350k. ok, rest of my few million creds is "in escrew". thats nice. I can understand that, but its annoying.

little functionality things... recall to fleet restricted, etc, just strike me as being death of a thousand cuts/micropayments.

 

end of the day, people have problems with different things, but as i see it atm, i cant actually play, at all, on F2P, so its not actually F2P, its like a restricted tech-demo. And instead of my reaction being "oh this is cool, if i paid i could get more stuff", my reaction was "***.. why cant i do basic simple things that exists in all other F2P games"

Edited November 16, 2012 by Lindraskada

[lklinga]

Well I agree with the fact that the quick bar limitation should have been only for new accounts and not for former subbers. Other thant that here is what I am posting in all of these whine threads

 

I understand now why BW does not listen to the players of this game.

 

This latest whine fest is simply hilarious.

 

1 UI quickbars do not need them until level 20 you are perfectly fine with 2 maybe even higher.

2 For measly 4 dollars you get the quick bars and sprint and other things activated on first purchase.

 

You got the game for free and all the story which is basically the best part for free.

 

You did not have to pay for the box like with GW2 so they have to make some cash and annoy you to get at least small one time purchase and reward you for that.

 

Shut up

[Lindraskada]

stuff

 

there are 2 sets of F2P people:

 

Set a: new players who are being tempted to play

Set b: old players returning

 

Set A, as far as i can tell so far*, are finding it a bit mixed , some like it , some dont, some will go on to pay, some will not

Set B, seem to be universally unimpressed by and large*. possibly because we know what we are missing as we used to have it.

 

Now; Set A are just as easy to entice in WITHOUT an F2P model , by doing a "perma trial to lvl 10 (Hello warhammer)", or a "recruit a friend for a week", or a plethora of other easy to implement options

 

which leads to the conclusion that F2P was mainly meant to catch Set B people.. which it isnt doing

 

also, ending a post with "shut up" really isnt very mature :\

 

 

* ive been reading these forums, and other MMO sites forums to get a feel for what was going on, and these are merely my impressions

 

/edit:

for the record, i have a CE, i played since headstart, and i have 3 lvl 50s, i quit about 3 months ago

Edited November 16, 2012 by Lindraskada

[grombrinda]

TLDR: No

 

long version : F2P , as i see it, is meant to be a restricted -content- experience, to entice you to want to play more. Limit warzones, dungeons, xp gain etc, fine

but when you limit functionality , it becomes a joke.

"Play for free" is a misnomer, you cannot "play" with limited UI. And anyone who thinks you only need 2 Qbars is playing something easy

 

I logged in my 50 jugg.. she looks appalling. why ? i cant hide her hat, or unify her colours. i dont want to play her in that state, and im certainly not paying for something cosmetic. it strikes me as penny pinching meanness, and it makes me wary of playing

i cant access my guild bank, that i personally paid ingame money for back when they were first released. why ? i cant actually -play- without being able to move things around and help other people out who are offline - what does that do ? damages the community spirit as far as i can see

I cant hold more than 350k. ok, rest of my few million creds is "in escrew". thats nice. I can understand that, but its annoying.

little functionality things... recall to fleet restricted, etc, just strike me as being death of a thousand cuts/micropayments.

 

end of the day, people have problems with different things, but as i see it atm, i cant actually play, at all, on F2P, so its not actually F2P, its like a restricted tech-demo. And instead of my reaction being "oh this is cool, if i paid i could get more stuff", my reaction was "***.. why cant i do basic simple things that exists in all other F2P games"

This ...For all you defending free to play read this...No former player will come back to a f2p environment like this.

When I do finally unsub I will never ever come back.

[nriemupah]

Well said. F2P isn't about getting more subs or any kind of long-term cash flow. It's obnoxiously restrictive for a reason--EA wants to force inconvenience on F2Pers to get them to spend money on cartel coins or subscribe. They're just trying to squeeze a few more miles out of this jalopy before scrapping it. Hopefully they'll listen to player feedback and give a REAL F2P model a chance and see it turn the game around. Right now when you have to unlock BASIC UI ELEMENTS I think it's pretty obvious that EA isn't interested in prolonging the life of this game.

 

Could not agree more. This F2P model restricts basic game elements in an attempt to revive sub numbers. I expect this to completely fail. IMO using a GW2 / NWN type F2P system with microtrans for cosmetics (hell even XP/Valor boosts would be reasonable to me) would have been a much better long term solution. But this is EA after all, what else should we expect

[Ungodlyomen]

Its out and out fail.

[Senden]

Well I agree with the fact that the quick bar limitation should have been only for new accounts and not for former subbers. Other thant that here is what I am posting in all of these whine threads

 

I understand now why BW does not listen to the players of this game.

 

This latest whine fest is simply hilarious.

 

1 UI quickbars do not need them until level 20 you are perfectly fine with 2 maybe even higher.

2 For measly 4 dollars you get the quick bars and sprint and other things activated on first purchase.

 

You got the game for free and all the story which is basically the best part for free.

 

You did not have to pay for the box like with GW2 so they have to make some cash and annoy you to get at least small one time purchase and reward you for that.

 

Shut up

Yes for 4 measly dollars you can get the basic features most other f2p games offer for FREE. BW have never listened to us and look where it's got them. From the very first people to post about how the world feels lifeless in closed beta, to the loyal subscribers who have looked at the f2p restrictions and basically said they are too restrictive and won't work.

 

These whiners and haters for the most part are in the same boat as you, they want a successful game and are trying their darn hardest to get their logical complaints heard and listened to. Sadly their "whines" are falling on deaf corporate ears.

[Senxicia]

Its out and out fail.

 

Seriously dude stop trolling if you don't like the game just stop writing your pathetic posts and find yourself a game which is suitable for you.

[Ungodlyomen]

Im not trolling I believe the f2p option is fail.

 

I brung 9 friends over to try it Only to find out about all the restrictions.

 

So many things .

 

Bioware made me feel like a fool. And i will not suggest the game to another friend

[Aedey]

Idk bout anyone else but I'm not coming back even if it is free.

[grombrinda]

Im not trolling I believe the f2p option is fail.

 

I brung 9 friends over to try it Only to find out about all the restrictions.

 

So many things .

 

Bioware made me feel like a fool. And i will not suggest the game to another friend

 

Yeah that sux man..Nothing like hyping up your buds only to have them turn around with.."***..I can't unify my uniform without paying for it? F*** this ,I'm going back to WoW."

[Jorgoman]

Idk bout anyone else but I'm not coming back even if it is free.

 

Then why are you on the forums?

 

Also, yeah, it brought me back, definitely, and a lot of my friends with me. It's great, and a lot of these threads, filled with complaints is completely ridiculous. I think they done good on SWTOR.

[Killigraphy]

Then why are you on the forums?

 

Also, yeah, it brought me back, definitely, and a lot of my friends with me. It's great, and a lot of these threads, filled with complaints is completely ridiculous. I think they done good on SWTOR.

 

 

I'm gonna assume you aren't going to be doing much of anything, including Flashpoints, which require constant reruns due to obvious drop rates, let alone the feeling of having everything "leashed:"

[Senden]

Then why are you on the forums?

 

Also, yeah, it brought me back, definitely, and a lot of my friends with me. It's great, and a lot of these threads, filled with complaints is completely ridiculous. I think they done good on SWTOR.

 

Really? Sadly with how f2p works, I'm not even going to try and convince my friends to come back. However I have managed to get a few people to try it out for the first time however not quite sure if they'll stick it out.

[Master_Dark]

Well I agree with the fact that the quick bar limitation should have been only for new accounts and not for former subbers. Other thant that here is what I am posting in all of these whine threads

 

I understand now why BW does not listen to the players of this game.

 

This latest whine fest is simply hilarious.

 

1 UI quickbars do not need them until level 20 you are perfectly fine with 2 maybe even higher.

2 For measly 4 dollars you get the quick bars and sprint and other things activated on first purchase.

 

You got the game for free and all the story which is basically the best part for free.

 

You did not have to pay for the box like with GW2 so they have to make some cash and annoy you to get at least small one time purchase and reward you for that.

 

Shut up

paiding for the box which I did is a better option in my opinion GW2 got that part right $60 bucks a pop never have to subscribe to the MMO and little micro transactions that sound worthy to me, the MMO space is changing fast how long do you think other Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games are going the way of GW2 those developers want to keep there fan base and also there high revenue from game.

[xSchLemMx]

Left wow because swtor went ftp, besides i think wow ran its course so im back.