So what's the incentive to subscribe?

[Andryah]

The majority of what is on the CM now is recolors of existing skins.

 

Personally, I am enjoying the fact that they have put reskins on adaptive armor so any/all of my characters can wear armor that was previously denied to them. I am also very pleased that they made the items tradeable, so that I can freely buy them off the in game economy if I choose (which by the way, is what I do, because credits are in way more abundance then my coins which I save for buying future items in the shop).

 

So, I disagree with you that they are simply reskinning and price gouging.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Andryah

[CosmicKat]

Yes I do. Because I can ignore it if I don't like it and I know that with hundreds of thousands of active players there will be plenty of people that appreciate this sort of thing. It's a fair outlook, and I'm not selfish about it since it is and MMO, not a single player game.

 

You say that now. Wait till they are sc****** the bottom of the CM barrel and they add the Twikki and Dr. Theopolis companions!

 

Edit: Haha! It censored s c r a p i n g?

Edited December 14, 2012 by CosmicKat

[CelCawdro]

Yes I do. Because I can ignore it if I don't like it and I know that with hundreds of thousands of active players there will be plenty of people that appreciate this sort of thing. It's a fair outlook, and I'm not selfish about it since it is and MMO, not a single player game.

 

It is a Star Wars game and a BioWare game, however - a game built on having a cohesive setting, with as much respect being paid to the source material as possible (how many times have you heard the word "iconic" thrown at us?). That used to mean something to BioWare, and it still means something to me, but if it doesn't to you, there's really no chance of changing your mind on the subject.

[Urael]

You say that now. Wait till they are sc****** the bottom of the CM barrel and they add the Twikki and Dr. Theopolis companions!

 

Kat they are "already" s c r a p i n g the bottom of the barrel.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Urael

[Andryah]

Not sure how you'll manage to ignore a dozen ignorant fools driving a pack of those Czerka snowblowers around the fleet ring next July but whatever. I know it's pointless to debate you.

 

I do not role play on Fleet. Fleet is the antithesis of Star Wars role play in my opinion. Speeders on Fleet is an oxymnoron to begin with.... regardless of which speeder it may be. But they are not going away, and the lore police do not seem to complain about them for some odd reason.

 

I've yet to see an MMO where it is 100% immersive except when out in the wilds of a zone somewhere. And population hubs in MMOs will always be over-run with people breaking immersion, so it's silly to try to pretend otherwise and expect otherwise.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Andryah

[CelCawdro]

Now that I'm actually thinking about it, I would actually be willing to shell out $20 for a Life Day themed speeder (no, not the Christmas-themed one that was made available). Imagine, if you would, a speeder fashioned from the wood of Kashyyyk's wroshyr trees, illuminated and powered by Life Orbs. That would have actually been pretty awesome.

 

But again, taking this back to the subject, this extreme emphasis on the Cartel Shop does nothing to incentivize a subscription.

[Urael]

I do not role play on Fleet. Fleet is the antithesis of Star Wars role play in my opinion. Speeders on Fleet is an oxymnoron to begin with.... regardless of which speeder it may be. But they are not going away, and the lore police do not seem to complain about them for some odd reason.

 

I've yet to see an MMO where it is 100% immersive except when out in the wilds of a zone somewhere. And population hubs in MMOs will always be over-run with people breaking immersion, so it's silly to try to pretend otherwise and expect otherwise.

 

SWG ... Pre-CU (especially on the Intrepid Server). "The Other Guild" made sure of that.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Urael

[CosmicKat]

I do not role play on Fleet. Fleet is the antithesis of Star Wars role play in my opinion. Speeders on Fleet is an oxymnoron to begin with.... regardless of which speeder it may be. But they are not going away, and the lore police do not seem to complain about them for some odd reason.

 

I've yet to see an MMO where it is 100% immersive except when out in the wilds of a zone somewhere. And population hubs in MMOs will always be over-run with people breaking immersion, so it's silly to try to pretend otherwise and expect otherwise.

 

Oh now you are just nit-picking!

 

What's not immersive or "Star Warsy" about being on Deep Space Nine while most of the population drives around in Space Scooters, Jetson's cars, and floating chairs while the 90dB voices of the patrons at Quark's carry all the way to Capt. Sisko's office?

[Shubsathoth]

While no doubt a post made out of bitterness, still quoting for truth.

 

SWTOR's strength is it's story and the ability to immerse you completely into it's universe. It's the same magic that KOTOR and KOTOR 2 had.

 

Sadly, that magic ends as soon as you hit 50. The story ends. Fin. And they all lived happily ever after - After that, it's the same as any other MMO. Dailies, dungeons, PvP, raids (Operations), gearing up. But that's not what SWTOR is great at. SWTOR is great for it's story and immersion.

 

Once you hit 50, the big reason to play this game is done. You are indeed better off unsubscribing and playing for free on occasion, then perhaps coming back for Magreb.

 

Indeed, I laugh at the players that say they did 50 in 4 days! What's the point? Did you really enjoy the ride? Doubtful. Been playing since beta and still don't have a 50 yet. Maybe it's because I have a job and family to take care of... I will be very sad once I hit 50 and there is no more story. No Story=No Reason to Play:(

[KerryK]

My incentive at the moment is the hope that by continuing to support the game

 

i been a sub since launch and really its to support a game i enjoy

[psandak]

QFT!

 

Right now there really isnt any "perks" for subscribing other than a supposed 25% xp bonus (not that ive noticed it playing with my alts since patch 1.5).

 

It is probably the result of rested XP for subs and no rested XP for F2P. I know this because I sub, but I created a F2P account just to see what it was like. While I could use the XP boost items (got two for quest rewards), when I went into the cantina to log out, I immediately got a message that rested XP is for subs only.

 

My point stands, events like life day at the minimum should be free to subs. Instead they are forcing you to pay if you want what every other game gives out for free

 

No one is holding a gun to your head saying, "YOU MUST BUY THE LIFE DAY STUFF!!!!" I saw it and said, no thank you. Would it have been nice if they gave us subs (at least) one item for free? Sure. But when you think about it, that is why they give us a stipend of coins each month.

 

You're changing the subject. I'll just ask directly - do you support content with real world references being implemented at the cost of things that are in keeping with the Star Wars setting?

 

I'm afraid I have to say yes. As someone who came from WoW, where if you sneeze you miss the break between events , I have come to appreciate "celebrating" real world holidays in game. It breaks up the grind. "Life Day" this year does not have an "event" per se, but maybe next year they'll do something akin to the other lore based events they've had in the past (rakghoul and the treasure hunt [can't recall the exact name]).

 

Then there is the fact that if your subbing, your also paying for the time your not online...

 

Yeah, all of TWO CENTS an hour. Give me a break!!!!

 

It's immersion breaking if one actually roleplayes. That's what the "R" stands for. Even if you are only "roleplaying" in your mind as you go about the game it is immersion breaking. I wonder if we are going to see "product placement" next in games for "real world products". But hey, you can ignore them.

OK so on RP servers do not have these items and events.

I've been playing MMOs for a while (more than a decade) and RP, even on dedicated RP servers, is a JOKE. If you want to REALLY RP then get a table top group together. That being said, this is the first MMORPG that I have even considered RP aspects because of the stories.

 

Getting back on topic "why should one sub?"....

 

For the convenience nothing more. I all but exclusively do leveling alts and HM FPs on my 50s, I did PvP at one time but have since stopped, and up until recently I had not stepped foot in an OP in three months. I considered going F2P and buying what i wanted to unlock, but the $15/month is NOT a hardship on me at all (never has never will), and therefore I stayed sub so that if I do get heavily back into operations or I start doing PvP again I do not have to worry about the "Oh crap. I have to pay to unlock X" moments.

[Felioats]

Yes, you can buy your way out of almost all of the restrictions FTPers have, and I assume this is by design. I intend to do this with all the free coins I've been getting for subscribing. But then again, it's not like they haven't been making money off of me. I've spent more than a nonsubscriber would buying the coins straight up.

 

I think the only thing you can't get is infinitely reusable Quick Travel. The market only sells disposables.

[CorellianWannabe]

Life Day does not have anything to do with strings of multi-coloured lights.

Life Day is not related to snow.

Life Day has nothing to do with tinsel.

 

Sorry, but rebranding Christmas as "Life Day" does not justify all of these real world references, particularly in a game that was founded on respect and immersion within the Star Wars setting.

 

Life Day is not the equivalent to Christmas. In fact, it was based on Thanksgiving, but even so, it remains an event distinct from both holidays.

 

Respect and immersion in the Star Wars setting? Chiss Troopers with Force Choke? Miraluka Snipers? Life Day itself-introduced in a holiday special that George Lucas-the man who will lease the Star Wars name to almost anyone for cash-has disowned repeatedly?

 

SWTOR has as much respect for the lore of Star Wars as the stories I made up with my Kenner figures 30 years ago-and those involved them meeting GI Joe and He-Man,

[Gavin_Kelvar]

I'd say one plus to subscribing is the huge credit wallet. It lets you purchase anything so long as you save up the credits. You can also buy unlocks/authorizations to decrease the cost of going to Preferred status assuming you have the credits and someone is willing to sell.

 

But I think it ultimately depends on the individual. How much time do you have to play? What sort of content do you play and how often per week? Are you big into alts or do you really just like focusing on one character?

 

Personally I think the game might be best by slowly weaning it off of subs all together and just allowing people to buy unlocks/authorizations for what they want since there really isn't an "incentive" to subscribe and in theory players would get more bang for their buck by just buying unlocks/authorizations outright rather than having to rent them every month (in an odd way the current system works where subs are renting this access but don't have them unlocked for life whereas preferred has to buy them for life outright. In theory a preferred status person pays the equivalent of a 3 month sub to permanently have the unlock for the life of the game whereas a 3 month sub only rents it for those 3 months, thus preferred got more value for the same amount of money in that scenario). No doubt it would need tweaking to make Preferred more generous by blending sub features into default preferred status perks and/or additional unlocks (like XP and field revives).

[Fardarter]

I have quite a few 50s and several characters in the 40's I think it would cost me more to make them all playable than to just sub for the game. I also think the prices on the cash shop are a bit steep. When you add all the things you would need just to get to sub level, to me, it just isn't worth it.

 

LOTRO as an example seems to have a ton of free to play players and you can earn shop currency through various achievements in the game, seems like a better system. It is almost like lotro rewards players for playing in hopes they will spend some of there money through the shop. This game seems to more punish players for not subbing. I have a sub to this game and a lifetime membershio to lotro which gives me free cash shop currency every month. i have bought more currency in that game though.

 

Ideally Guild Wars 2 does it the best. No subs ever with a cash shop that you can but currency for with in game currency. There is a sliding scale for this though so if everyone is using game currency to buy shop currency the returns are less.

 

The problem is MMOs can't generate new content fast enough. They wouldn't need to charge a sub at all if they released large mini-expansions every few months that you purchase for something like 20 bucks. I am sure over time the cartel market will evolve, it is new after all. SWTOR is in much better shape now than it was a year ago. The dev team does seem to move slowly though, i think this is more about the limitations of the engine and tools available than anything else.

[Thehellfire]

It is probably the result of rested XP for subs and no rested XP for F2P. I know this because I sub, but I created a F2P account just to see what it was like. While I could use the XP boost items (got two for quest rewards), when I went into the cantina to log out, I immediately got a message that rested XP is for subs only.

 

 

 

No one is holding a gun to your head saying, "YOU MUST BUY THE LIFE DAY STUFF!!!!" I saw it and said, no thank you. Would it have been nice if they gave us subs (at least) one item for free? Sure. But when you think about it, that is why they give us a stipend of coins each month.

 

 

 

I'm afraid I have to say yes. As someone who came from WoW, where if you sneeze you miss the break between events , I have come to appreciate "celebrating" real world holidays in game. It breaks up the grind. "Life Day" this year does not have an "event" per se, but maybe next year they'll do something akin to the other lore based events they've had in the past (rakghoul and the treasure hunt [can't recall the exact name]).

 

 

 

Yeah, all of TWO CENTS an hour. Give me a break!!!!

 

 

OK so on RP servers do not have these items and events.

I've been playing MMOs for a while (more than a decade) and RP, even on dedicated RP servers, is a JOKE. If you want to REALLY RP then get a table top group together. That being said, this is the first MMORPG that I have even considered RP aspects because of the stories.

 

Getting back on topic "why should one sub?"....

 

For the convenience nothing more. I all but exclusively do leveling alts and HM FPs on my 50s, I did PvP at one time but have since stopped, and up until recently I had not stepped foot in an OP in three months. I considered going F2P and buying what i wanted to unlock, but the $15/month is NOT a hardship on me at all (never has never will), and therefore I stayed sub so that if I do get heavily back into operations or I start doing PvP again I do not have to worry about the "Oh crap. I have to pay to unlock X" moments.

 

Im not saying we are being forced, Im saying Bioware is screwing everyone over when its free in EVERY OTHER MMO. Obviously you are happy with being analy raped by Bioware, you likely would have cheered at Hitlers speeches too in 1938

[IslanderRebel]

well last timeI checked, it's mostly a free world. I work hard for my money so I choose to pay $15 a month for TOR> I also play a couple other games that 15 is also the going rate. One will give you a premium account and more xp and credits for your vehicle, the other is that other "Space" game EO.

you can never get enough of doing another character from the same class and completing the storyline every time.

good luck all. TOR ftw.

[psikofunkster]

lol the incentive is that you can play the same dailies each day!!! do you want more?