The fairness in Preferred Status, or lack thereof.

[Inkling]

I agree with the OP's sentiment, if not all of his arguments. It's disingenuous to call a game free-to-play and then gimp the players as badly as SWTOR does.

 

In SWTOR, it sucks to be free-to-play. "Preferred" status in not much better; it's just F2P with a couple unlocks. The RMT implementation feels like nagware; like condescension; a constant burden of nickel-and-diming.

 

It doesn't have to be like that. You can make players want to buy stuff and like doing it! Look at Guild Wars 2 or Champions Online.

[heythereqt]

Honestly, F2P and Preferred Status are perfectly fine, and fair, as they are. These account status's should be gimped, as an incentive to make players want to subscribe. The game requires a constant stream of revenue in order to be properly maintained. Additionally, creating new content requires even more revenue. You know that recent expansion that was completely free for subscribers? That cost money to make (and A LOT of it). That money comes from subscriptions and the Cartel Market.

 

I can sympathize with you cancelling your sub for personal reasons. I hope it's nothing too serious! With that said, I respectfully disagree with you, and think that F2P/Preferred are fine as they are. Hopefully you'll be back again soon as a subscriber.

[XiamaraSimi]

At the end of the day all arguments aside, you get what you paid for.

 

If your free to play/preferred, you paid nothing for this month at the very least.

 

There are quite a few people that -only- sub to avoid the credit cap.

 

Change that and they will no longer sub.

 

The game has issues as it is with them budgeting what seems to be very little.

 

The last thing we need is to make it so even less people sub.

 

As said by others many times before, and at the top of this post, your getting what you paid for, you didnt pony up the $15 this month? Well, that was your -choice-, and you get to deal with the results of that choice, which is a credit cap and some mostly vanity restrictions.

 

There is -nothing- in the game you need that you cant get on your own by actually playing the game? You dont -need- fancy cartel armors, crystals, weapons, and mounts, you -want- them.

 

If you need armor or weaoons, there are perfectly fine inexpensive ones on the gtn, at planetary vendors, and you can always you know, make your own as a crafter. Same with mods and armorings. You can make anything you need all on your own.

 

But you want those super expensive end game mods you see for millions of credits on the gtn but its over your credit cap? Hmm, you could always you know, do the content that it comes from?

 

Id sure love those fancy OPs mounts, but if i dont do the content, i wont get one...

 

$15 a month is 3 cups of Starbucks, a pack and a half of smokes, 2 meals at a fast food restaraunt. If thats too much for you, perhaps you need to rethink your priorities? Even kids can mow lans and whatnot for $15.You want to play a game? Thats fine, but if you cant be bothered to support it, thats your choice, and you deal with the results.

Edited November 9, 2015 by XiamaraSimi

[TurtlesAWD]

I agree with the OP's sentiment, if not all of his arguments. It's disingenuous to call a game free-to-play and then gimp the players as badly as SWTOR does.

 

In SWTOR, it sucks to be free-to-play. "Preferred" status in not much better; it's just F2P with a couple unlocks. The RMT implementation feels like nagware; like condescension; a constant burden of nickel-and-diming.

 

It doesn't have to be like that. You can make players want to buy stuff and like doing it! Look at Guild Wars 2 or Champions Online.

 

"Like condescension" is in my opinion the key phrase since this is certainly the community reaction to anyone not subscribing. You don't have to look far to find people who will fight tooth and nail to make the game as bad as possible for new players for... some reason. Preserve some sort of perceived special relationship with bioware? Make people suffer in the same way they did? I'm not sure. I don't understand why there would be resistance to making the game better in ways that would increase the amount of money the game makes.

[DomiSotto]

There is -nothing- in the game you need that you cant get on your own by actually playing the game? You dont -need- fancy cartel armors, crystals, weapons, and mounts, you -want- them.

 

I will literally not allowed to play more than 5 regular warzones/week. Well, unless I group up with a sub. I will be bypassing this restriction by creating a bunch of characters, but seriously. Of all the restrictions this one really does not make sense. I can play Flashpoints. I can level. For all I know I can play GSF (I dunno, never did). But not the regs warzones?

 

It's not like it will make me to sub in the absence of anything else I want, because it can be bypassed in two easy ways (many alts and grouping up). The ranked and Op participation gate is already there, and makes sense, since you get fancy rewards for playing it.

 

And I do not want to continue the sub because I want to play another game for the story, not because I want to save the sub fee.

Edited November 9, 2015 by DomiSotto

[hadoken]

I don't see how giving away more stuff for free is going to get people to subscribe.

[DomiSotto]

I can only speak for myself, but I will be more likely to return to a sub status if I keep playing in the interim. If preferred restrictions are too gated, I would just end up not logging in and drift elsewhere. And once I skip playing for a few weeks, I doubt I will be back, because it will be so hard to restart it all over again, particularly if the catch up is feeling surmountable. What Bio is doing now to me is creating a perfect storm of not being able to keep my head above the water with the frequent level updates. Edited November 9, 2015 by DomiSotto

[WulframH]

I spent a long time as preferred, completed all the class stories that way, some of them multiple times. It seems pretty fair to me.

 

Just subbed for a month to pick up the expansions and then I'll be back to preferred.

[DreadtechSavant]

It's not meant to be otherwise why sub?

 

I do have preferred accounts and for the most part it's not so bad not as bad as the OP claims. I agree there may well be very small things that could change but overall I am happy with it as in 95%.

At the end of the day BW is still a company and are only going to keep subs if it's worth players subbing.

 

And yes do play on that preferred account and its not just there to get the 100cc for the attached security key.

[hadoken]

I can only speak for myself, but I will be more likely to return to a sub status if I keep playing in the interim. If preferred restrictions are too gated, I would just end up not logging in and drift elsewhere. And once I skip playing for a few weeks, I doubt I will be back, because it will be so hard to restart it all over again, particularly if the catch up is feeling surmountable. What Bio is doing now to me is creating a perfect storm of not being able to keep my head above the water with the frequent level updates.

 

So you're saying they're giving you too much content (or too quickly)? I think you don't realize how envious of that perspective a lot of people would be

[IslanderRebel]

Preferred sucks and so does F2P.

Bioware simply wants you to go get a job or beg granny for your next 50 years Christmas presents from her to sub.

So grab a mower and ask one of your neighbors if they'll pay you 30 bucks to do their lawn so you can sub for at least 2 months.

Rinse and repeat.

These are not the droids you are looking for.

Han shot first!!!!

next please.

Move along.

[TurtlesAWD]

I don't see how giving away more:rak_04: stuff for free is going to get people to subscribe.

 

Its not giving away free stuff that does it so much as increasing the amount of fun people have.

 

Consider alcohol prices. Average price of a six pack of decent beer is about ten bucks, give or take. At a sports event they will tend to charge upwards of 8 or 9 dollars for a glass - a single glass - of something like budweiser or coors. This is something like 6 times the price for a worse beer and why does it work out for them that they still sell gallons and gallons of alcohol? Because people are at this sports event to have fun. When they have fun, they spend more money.

 

Now consider the fact that at casinos they give alcohol away for free. For free! The same thing that costs about a dollar per ounce at a football game can be gotten for free at a casino. And why is that? Because at a casino being drunk is what creates the illusion of fun which encourages people to put way more money than they should in slot machines. That's where a casino's profit comes from.

 

Fun=profit. Plenty of wildly successful business models out there that exemplify this.

[DomiSotto]

So you're saying they're giving you too much content (or too quickly)? I think you don't realize how envious of that perspective a lot of people would be

 

And I am envious of them. I keep cutting back and back on all of my more than modest goals and come up with the efficiencies, but I am unable to keep up. All I want is to run one healer, and one DPS for PvE and PvP.

 

I started with axing one role, the tanking. Then I trimmed my aspirations even further by trying to restrict each of my 2 healers to either PvP or PvE. Then I cut out the second rDPS I wanted to try out. Oh, and I gave up on finishing the KotFE story a couple of weeks back.

 

And I still have a mess on my hands that makes me want to scream.

 

1. I have a level 65 sorc that can only get a PvP gear set if I level my healer Sage from 63 to 65. Which I am doing by grinding Heroics and queuing for PvP. Because my guildies want to try ranked, and that's the first offseason in months, and well, I only have an Operative heals geared so far, because I was planning on regs only. And, of course, I cannot build a 65 set until both mirrors are 65.

 

2. But my 65 heals Sorc also runs in Ops and is now stuck on 4 pc bonus set, and that's after I ramped up my Ops participation to 4-5x a week. My rolls suck.

 

3. I need to find the time to somehow level my Mando from 48 to 55, so she could take my Merc's level 55 bonus set, and I can build a level 60 set that both my Merc and my level 60 Scoundrel can use, because....

 

4. My operative has already updated his PvP gear to level 65....

 

4.a. P.S. Do not forget to pull those alacrity 186 augments from the sage's MH/OH to give to the merc/scoundrel instead of power 186.

 

5. I am also trying to parse my PT to keep running her at least once a week as a DPS in some sort of a decent range, while my Vg got to 65 by completing 7 chapters of the KotFE. He is now nekkid, because his 162 set went to the Merc. Yeah, he can borrow the PT's PvE set, but.... I had no time for the PvP set for them.

 

... and augments, did I mention the ceaseless grind for the new augments? I need more gifts for the 3 or so companions I have on my forgotten synthweaver, to jack up the efficiency. Not to mention the endless relogins of my 6 or 7 slicers.

 

Anyone envies me? Go right ahead. I still cannot fit in any FPs I wanted to try, or trying out the Sniper. or lowbies PvP.

Edited November 9, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Brodoin]

I don't think some people realize how restrictive SWTOR is compared to some other F2P MMOs with an in-game store.

 

Limited flashpoints, limited space missions, limited warzones, no rest XP and 25% reduced, less money earned and increase vendor costs, to name a few.

 

Meanwhile in other online games the free and premium free players get a lot more access and not many restrictions.

 

TERA

 

RIFT

 

The Lord of the Rings Online

 

Lord of the Rings Online has a little more than the others, but it also allows players to spend the store tokens on items that can unlock near full access to the game. Spend a little money in the store and you'll have near the same access as a subscriber without a monthly payment.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Brodoin

[XiamaraSimi]

World of Warcraft free to play ends at level 20. (Yes i know you can buy tokens, but someone buys that token)

 

So, it could be much worse. At least you can play all those characters you listed all the stuff you say you have to do? I think they also restrict you to a f2p servr?

[DocDAM]

I’m doing a F2P experiment right now. And I played as a Pref for well over a year. Based on that …

[and big caveat: someone who doesn’t do PvP or Ops]

 

My big 3 points:

 

1) I totally disagree with your assertion that the distinction is “near non-existent”. I’ll list some of the differences below, some are huge differences to me.

 

2) But even so, sure, you can get Pref status just by subbing 1 month, or with a $5 CC purchase. So your other point about long-time subs being treated similarly to F2P’s is more or less valid if you replace “F2P” with “F2P who spends $5-10”.

 

3) BUT… if you were a sub for a long time, you had enough time and credits to buy all the unlocks necessary to make a Pref account nearly the same as a Sub … except:

a) the credit cap (legit gripe, but see below)

b) Access to KotFE limited to the released chapters

c) And of course, PvP/Ops limitations, which are severe (but you can buy a lot of weekly unlocks!)

 

Okay, on to the differences between F2P and Pref (not a spoiler, just to clean up post):

 

a) 4 Qickbars vs. 2. You might not have thought about this one. But 2 QB’s is crippling!

b) No Cargo Hold. HUGE.

 

Lesser, but significant:

c) No sprint till L10. Okay, it’s only till L10. But just go ahead and play without sprint (or a speeder), and a 26 min QT, and see how you like it!

d) 2 GTN slots vs (5) both small. 2 is downright painful.

e) 1 vs 2 crew skills. I can live with it, but it’s a non-trivial difference.

f) No trade

g) can’t send mail (less an issue with SH’s now)

 

Credit cap:

At one time, this might have mattered. But with inflation (>10X since I’ve been on), yes, either is just too damned low. And makes the 200/350K difference less significant.

 

[VanorDM]

It's the only MMO that continues to lock content behind a pay wall.

 

Not true, LotRO is very much the same and in fact worse than SWTOR in that way. In LotRO the best you can really do as a non-subscriber is about lvl 25... Unless you pay to unlock the content.

[DomiSotto]

Ah, no. In preparation for switching to the preferred status, I made sure that there is only 16 chars on my main server, and moved the overflow characters and leveled (while it is easy) additional ones to create a self-supported mid-level legacy on another server. To bypass the restriction on the reg PvP zones, so I can play without worrying about the gear.

 

I also have to buy 3 more unlocks to make sure I can play all 16 chars.

 

And finish up the gearing 65s before I drop from the sub status on my 3 mirrors.

 

The day Bio announces level 70 might be the day I uninstall the game. Because BioWARE does not let you have a breather and enjoy your characters at max level. This is tbh the main reason I am unsubbing. That moving target instead of having time to play.

Edited November 9, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Brodoin]

Not true, LotRO is very much the same and in fact worse than SWTOR in that way. In LotRO the best you can really do as a non-subscriber is about lvl 25... Unless you pay to unlock the content.

 

To be fair the story is all free up until Helms Deep where everyone has to pay. It'd be a grind to level but it's doable.

[VanorDM]

To be fair the story is all free up until Helms Deep where everyone has to pay.

 

Yeah but as you point out, trying to grind your way to Helm's Deep would be a massive pain. It would be like trying to get to lvl 50 in SWTOR, but the only content you could play is the class and planet quests, but at the v1.0 XP rate.

 

Which I frankly think is fine, preferred players should feel like they're missing something. Otherwise why sub?

 

I sub to most MMO's I've played, like TSW, SWTOR, Star Trek Online, ect... Of them all RIFT is one I never bothered with because there was no reason at all to do so, I couldn't really see a single reason why the game was worth $15/month compared to what you got for nothing.

 

Hell when I played RIFT I somehow got a $5 credit for some server issue, that was enough to make me a prefered account.

[DarthMaulUK]

This isn't true in the least and considering WoW remains the leader and you can't even log into that game without a subscription...

 

OP, I agree preferred is really bad, so I just simply never play preferred. It costs 50 cents a day to subscribe, and if you can't afford that, at least you can still log in and play the game when preferred. Sub only games don't even allow that much.

 

I agree about the credit cap though. That's the worst.

 

WOW isn't selling itself as 'free to play'. It has a trial up to level 20. theres a big difference. Google your facts first.

[WulframH]

Credit cap:

At one time, this might have mattered. But with inflation (>10X since I’ve been on), yes, either is just too damned low. And makes the 200/350K difference less significant.

 

Yeah, I think inflation is something of a big deal. Part of why my preferred status works is because I was able to nab a lot of unlocks off the cartel market for less than my credit cap, but looking at prices nowadays that would be much harder.

[Anaesha]

I hate to be the one to say it but here it goes.

 

You GET what you PAY for and neither f2p or Prefs are PAYING so WHY should they get the same BENEFITS as those of US who are PAYING?

[richiesilva]

I hate to be the one to say it but here it goes.

 

You GET what you PAY for and neither f2p or Prefs are PAYING so WHY should they get the same BENEFITS as those of US who are PAYING?

 

I'm led to believe you didn't read neither the OP nor through the thread because:

 

a) that's already been said.

 

b) nobody is claiming equality between subs and preferred status.

 

Bad strawman.

[thebobmaster]

First off, I admit that I may be quite biased in this, as I am primarily a preferred player. I sub when I can, but I can't be consistent with it (job market in my area sucks for someone who doesn't speak Spanish, and I can't afford Rosetta Stone or anything like/will not break the law by torrenting it), so until I move elsewhere in March, the on-and-off tutoring job I have now is the best I can do, and it's not very good.

 

 

With that preamble, let me just say that, if they were to even raise the credit cap from 350K to, let's say, 500K, I'd be fine with that. Would I want to subscribe still? Yes! This is a great game, and I'd love to consistently put money into it. But even raising the credit cap that 150K more would make the gap between when I can and can't sub much more bearable, and less of a drag.