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The Importance of Player Feedback with the New Free-to-Play Option

CourtneyWoods

By CourtneyWoods
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ApocalypseDan

ApocalypseDan

Posted
Posted
I was quite happy with the change to F2P overall but feel there is more value in keeping my sub active. I do think BioWare & EA will make more money overall by loosening the restrictions on F2Players and adding more and more $ content to the Cartel store. Restricting Freepers doesn't make them rush to get a sub, it makes them leave. I am glad that Jeff and the rest of the SWTOR team are at least looking at eliminating some of the barriers, it shows they are aware and at the helm. Yes, there will be bugs, it's the primary result of a tiny QA staff and no-transfer of existing characters to PTR. I'm confident that things will improve, especially once the corporate Sith overlords of EA see the economic reports for this quarter.
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Dizplacer

Dizplacer

Posted
Posted

I had to cancel my account after 2 ticket submissions went without help. My 50 main on my paid account is bugged and parts of the character (this one only) think it is a free account. (can only send one companion at a time on missions, and a few other issues). My current account status is active. I was looking forward to the changes, but after that and disappearing cartel coins, I was at a loss.

 

I also put comments when I cancelled my account but I'm not sure anyone actually reads those. I'd be happy to continue if someone could help me out. Heck, I've done so much beta testing I can probably tell you how it happened.

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AndrewTM

AndrewTM

Posted
Posted
Dear SWTOR, I was thinking about how you can have relationships with companions, and I also thought that you guys should make it so we can be in a relationship with companions in our legacy family tree. Just something to think about.
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Bugattiboy

Bugattiboy

Posted
Posted (edited)
Our community team truly has an ear to the ground with community concerns and discussions and we often make changes based on player feedback.

Just because you say so doesn't make it true. I think Vokk from Esseles said it best. "Words are nothing without action."

 

And when you do make changes it's mostly changes that were never needed or asked for in the classic EA method of fixing what isn't broken.

Edited by Bugattiboy
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librarygiant

librarygiant

Posted
Posted

My suggestion would be to unlimit chat for F2P. One thing that will keep people on is if they develop friends on a server... they will come back for people, instead of for the story (as good as it is). However, if they can't develop friends (because they have to talk like Captain Kirk), then they're going to play less frequently.

 

In many ways, it feels like the wrong things were restricted. Content was unrestricted, but gameplay and interactivity were crippled. One toolbar. Slow chat. Sure, you can't play all the races, but the race is largely irrelevant. You can play all the classes, which is where the content is. (I will say, restricting us to two crew skills was great, and no skill queue... those features ALONE are worth paying for, and the ability to skill queue creation needs to be in the cartel store). I also feel like the cartel store is a bit light on content that I want. There's fancy clothes, sure, but other than that? What I'd pay for is a shared storage between characters, instead of relying on mail... a legacy bank, instead of a guild bank.

 

As it stands, SWTOR is basically a big single-player game with the occasional mutliplayer options, if you're F2P. The MMO part of the game is lost under restrictions. I'm enjoying the game, and I am a subscriber, now... but I subscribed out of frustration, rather than a sense of "I need to get more."

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CKNORTH

CKNORTH

Posted
Posted (edited)

Could you raise the credit cap?! Please? I mean really........ :rolleyes:

 

Edit: it would be the only thing that needs to be done, make credit cap unlimited, and have all unlocks available on the GTN and I mean everything from Legacy unlocks to extra character slots. You could also keep the game as restricted as you wanted. Subbed make credits from preferred and f2p , and Cartel store has every unlock under the sun. And instead of weekly unlocks for heroics and OP's make them one time unlock for character or account.. :cool:

Edited by CKNORTH
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ApocalypseDan

ApocalypseDan

Posted
Posted
My suggestion would be to unlimit chat for F2P. One thing that will keep people on is if they develop friends on a server... they will come back for people, instead of for the story (as good as it is). However, if they can't develop friends (because they have to talk like Captain Kirk), then they're going to play less frequently.

 

In many ways, it feels like the wrong things were restricted. Content was unrestricted, but gameplay and interactivity were crippled. One toolbar. Slow chat. Sure, you can't play all the races, but the race is largely irrelevant. You can play all the classes, which is where the content is. (I will say, restricting us to two crew skills was great, and no skill queue... those features ALONE are worth paying for, and the ability to skill queue creation needs to be in the cartel store). I also feel like the cartel store is a bit light on content that I want. There's fancy clothes, sure, but other than that? What I'd pay for is a shared storage between characters, instead of relying on mail... a legacy bank, instead of a guild bank.

 

As it stands, SWTOR is basically a big single-player game with the occasional mutliplayer options, if you're F2P. The MMO part of the game is lost under restrictions. I'm enjoying the game, and I am a subscriber, now... but I subscribed out of frustration, rather than a sense of "I need to get more."

 

^^ This!!

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Grecanis

Grecanis

Posted
Posted (edited)

As an altoholic I'm happy too see more slots opened. Now you need to make it worth-while to use those slots.

 

- Legacy cargo hold.

- Adding legacy toons to mailbox autofill (tired of typing out names)

- Another server or two

- Bind on Legacy

 

Make the game fun for altaholics ...it's a PITA now ;)

 

On another note ..fix the daggum launch and landing sequences!

 

- When entering ship you simply enter ship.

- You launch by choosing to launch.

- you land by choosing to land ...then you open the door :rolleyes:

 

oh ...^ that also ...open the chat for f2p'rs

Edited by Grecanis
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Sir_Galapagos

Sir_Galapagos

Posted
Posted
Honestly this fixes the main two problems I had with the free to play option- the character and skill limits. Everything else is primarily cosmetic in my opinion. Those two things allow free to play to be the full experience. Is it perfect? Maybe not, but I think it's incredible for being able to play a game like this for zero cost. Keep up the good work!

 

This game isn't a charity. Bioware doesn't want you to "have the full experience" , they would make no money.DUH. Why can f2p post on forums?

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Vlacke

Vlacke

Posted
Posted (edited)
While I am preparing a thorough post with my feedback about free-to-play, my main gripe is with the way flashpoints, operations and warzones are handled for non-subscribers. I can understand that those would be the main reason someone would subscribe after playing the game all the way through to 50 with a character, but this is an alternate way to handle it :

 

 

  • Allow players access to all normal Tier 1 flashpoints.
  • Allow players to purchase access to normal Tier 2 flashpoints.
  • Allow players to purchase access to Heroic Tier 1,2 Flashpoints
  • Allow players access to all Tier 1 operations.
  • Allow players to purchase access to Tier 2 operations.
  • Allow players to purchase access to Tier 1 Heroic Operations.
  • Allow players to purchase access to Tier 1 Nightmare Operations.
  • Allow players to purchase a single Warzone for unlimited play.

 

Bundles could be made to include [Heroic Flashpoints] [All Normal Operations] [All Heroic Tier 1 Operations] [3 Warzone Pack] etc.

 

This would allow free players to experience the storyline of Operations and Flashpoints, while giving the option of paying a one-time fee to unlock content (like Section X for example). The weekly pass for operations and warzones never made much sense to me (in my opinion, a monthly pass would be a more logical choice).

 

It comes to reason that subscribers will always have the edge over preferred/free players, an option would be to allow purchasing newer Tiers of content after a certain amount of time (2 weeks/1 month) for preferred accounts. From an economical viewpoint, it makes sense that people who want to really put time in the game will subscribe, as it will be cheaper than buying all the content separately, but people who don't play fixed amounts of time (I may log in 5 times one month, and log in every day another), just straight-out buying the content I want to play will make me a happy customer.

 

A good idea would be after a certain amount of time to open the oldest content Tier (i.e. we are at Tier 4-5, open Tier 1) to free accounts. Most players (especially subscribers) will have little to no reason to run those instances anyway.

 

This system is modeled strongly after Age of Conan's shop system, which gave the option of either a subscription and full access, or limited access but the option to buy literally all the game's features (including heroics,raids, expansions etc.). I believe this will echo strongly to the people who are unwilling to pay a subscription because they play sporadically, but still want access to everything.

 

Hilarious.

Those who want all that will have to cough up subscription money, as they should.

These are excellent additions for preferred lot, and those who are full f2p and don't want to spend a dime are also just fine with what is available to them.

Edited by Vlacke
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Grecanis

Grecanis

Posted
Posted
If there will be a vast increase in the number of characters that can be created per account I can see characters being created just to camp out names. This will make creating names for characters rather difficult.

 

too late ...they're already gone ;)

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Vlacke

Vlacke

Posted
Posted
Why not give f2p character 1 more action bar. 2 is just a crappy amount for the number of abilitys there are. Im a subscriber but I honestly think 2 action bars isnt enough.

 

They can always buy more, it's not like it's expensive.

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Valethar

Valethar

Posted
Posted (edited)

If you valued feedback, you'd actually listen and do something when we point out what's broken.

 

Case in point is the current state of the Cartel grants balances. 1.5 went live 20 days ago, and the balances still have not been fixed. M0-R0N is still sending out automated replies that have nothing to do with the ticket itself, your CSR's are lying to people when we call them on the phone (i was specifically told that the problem would be corrected TODAY with the maintenance, it hasn't been) and you still refuse to officially acknowledge the problem anywhere on the site.

 

If player feedback is so important, why do you continue to lie to us and avoid the issues?

 

Because it's not important to you, that's why.

Edited by Valethar
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Vlacke

Vlacke

Posted
Posted
No, don't buy more ...buy something else then use the two you get as a preferred ;)

 

Or that, which is something any normal f2p player who likes this game would do because the preferred status is much better.

F2P system overall, with these new improvements for preferred players is just fine.

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Grecanis

Grecanis

Posted
Posted
My God.....WHY would anyone want/need to create 50 chars?

 

Can you say ...altaholic ...lol ...it's the journey, not the destination.

 

I have 28 toons ..been here since beta and my highest is a 31 BH.

 

oh ...need has nothing to do with it ;)

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DesparadoIV

DesparadoIV

Posted
Posted
I have never liked the F2P option and will continue to pretend it doesn't exist. Still giving the F2P more and more priveliges is ridiculous. You are playing a game others pay 15 bucks a month for for free. Why the hell would you cry about the restrictions? If you open chat to F2P players the fleet will be flooded with spam bots in a matter of days. Even with these restrictions I see people beg for credits on the fleet. What the hell happened to my favourite game...
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