James_Mcturney Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 (edited) I just invited a friend to start playing with me, and from the start we already faced some awkward problems making the game feel like all it wants from us is money, "subscribe for this, subscribe for that, or go to hell", a good business wants to make his clients feel secure, cared for, thought of, not only "hey pay or ****", there must be a good selling point. The deal is, he WANTS to find a nice MMO and BUY IT... so, this are the things that are "struggling" against me convincing him to buy this game. In my opinion, the worst restrictions are: chat, which is only ok after level 10 you can speak in guild or group chat. We had other means of speaking, but it still is very strange and probably made my friend got a little frustrated just when we started. Maybe a time limit/size limit between messages, but not a full chat restriction. Artifact / purple items restriction -which at least i know, not completely sure, that it's not needed for 65 pvp/pve gear!? It's not necessary to the overall experience, but imagine how frustrating it would be if a player gets a lucky/beautiful item drop but is faced with "you can't equip this item, subscribe now". I had bought him a rating 50 hilt but he can't equip. I mean, purple is not needed for the leveling experience and neither for 65 gear, specially because i will power level him, therefore this unlock should (at least i hope) never be bought again by anyone, therefore you won't be gaining any more cash from this, Bioware, but instead you will be making the gameplay experience worst for these players. Credits limitation: with the current credits inflation, preferred/f2p players have no chance of buying authorizations or necessary stuff to make a living in the game which, by definition, forces them into buying and this is against the f2p concept, making the "F2P" banners a false advertising... and that, correct me if i'm wrong, is some kind of crime?! The advertising should be "free to play-test", not f2p. Trust me, if people don't want to buy the subscription, they also wont buy cash for weekly authorizations, they simply won't play this game. A more elegant solution would be 50k credits limit for each character level of the highest level character in the legacy; or something like level 1~10 = 100k, 11-20 = 200k... Trade restrictions, at level 10 a f2p player should be able to trade, even if it has a big cooldown like 1 hour. I have to keep sending him emails which he only gets after 1 hour, whenever i want to give him some item. Edited December 1, 2015 by James_Mcturney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHboy Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 have him click your referral link (once goes active) and see what its like to be a sub. Have him spend $5 on CM and can go preferred. Or as the game is intended, subscribe and get the full experience as it is intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Mcturney Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 (edited) have him click your referral link (once goes active) and see what its like to be a sub. Have him spend $5 on CM and can go preferred. Or as the game is intended, subscribe and get the full experience as it is intended. Yup, i know about that, but the referral link only works for subscribers / ex subscribers or by creating a new account, this second option doesn't give 7 free days... If it becomes active again?! Edited December 1, 2015 by James_Mcturney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
branmakmuffin Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 (edited) Making the game more appealing to play for free does not help add subscribers, it keeps more people playing for free. Not sure why people don't get this. Edited December 1, 2015 by branmakmuffin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Mcturney Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 (edited) Making the game more appealing to play for free does not help add subscribers, it keeps more people playing for fee. Not sure why people don't get this. Lol, this line of thought though... did you know that, in rich countries, like, if you go to a fair in germany, there are lots of samples people can taste of everything? Even here, in my country, i went to an agroecological fair and they offered me tons of free samples so i could taste and discover, even if i didn't buy it... you know what happened?! Most people who tasted it, bought it. So who is right now? It's called courtesy, but nowdays people only think that if you don't enforce it, the clients will take everything for free and leave. It really is another another way of seeing things in the world and we can't reach a solution if everyone thinks so individualistic in here. Also, the improvements i recommended won't make so much difference to the point of making subscribers/possible buyers avoid subscription. Edited December 1, 2015 by James_Mcturney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morthion Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 I just barely used some windfall to sub after roughly two years of being preferred. I think the restrictions are fine where they stand; F2P encourages you to go Preferred, and after enough time being Preferred, you'll want to try out unrestricted subbing. F2P has everything you need to take a character through any of the original stories, especially in the 4.0 environment. If playing through that doesn't get you to subscribe, added advantages aren't going to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalfear Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 You say this about selling the game but complain about every thing they do to try and sell game IMO you give F2P even less so they forced to sub or leave That way less resources used on them while F2P Truth is most players know from day 1 if they will ever sub or not and giving away more and more free stuff to the F2P just drags out when they will sub (if ever) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
branmakmuffin Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Lol, this line of thought though... did you know that, in rich countries, like, if you go to a fair in german, there are lots of samples people can taste of everything? I can go to stores in the U.S. to get a sample. Which is what F2P is: a sample. If stores gave away enough free samples for me to be able to eat full meals every day, I would not need to buy food at their stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XiamaraSimi Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 (edited) Making the game more appealing to play for free does not help add subscribers, it keeps more people playing for free. Not sure why people don't get this. What Bran said. You dont -need- purple gear unless you plan on raiding, in which you would want to be a sub to the avoid weekly lockouts anyhow. Chat restrictions are one of the ways they fight the credit seller spam, imagine how much worse the "HI PLEASE TO BUY MY CREDITS NOW CHEAP CHEAP!" spam would be if all the Free to Play accounts -werent- limited... no thanks... Everything in game you -need- you can obtain on your own with zero need to buy off the GTN. And if you absolutely -have- to have orange modifiable gear, you can always find the less popular sets for sale on the GTN for dirt cheap. I cant even give away some of them, especially the cybernetic sets, if your on jung ma, send me a message and ill give you a full robo suit Just doing quests gets you data crystals that you can turn in for item modifiction parts, and you can get gear from the vendors on the planets, wander around and see which ones you like best, with outfit designer it doesnt matter what your -really- wearing since you only see it if you look at your character sheet. Even some of the gear you loot from mobs looks interesting. As always, no matter if they're a sub, preferred, or Free to Play, people dont -need- those extra special fancy armors, weapons, and mounts seen on the GTN, they just -want- them. Trade restrictions are -also- a means to combat credit sellers, harder for easily replaceable accounts to transfer goods bought in RMT if they cant trade. If im helping free to play friends, they dont care if they have to wait an hour for something im giving them, they are just happy they get to play the game for free, and they can still be given stuff by friends, which they can, the world wont end in that hour, and you can send up to 8 items at a time. ◆◆Edit◆◆ I forgot Chris! Edited December 1, 2015 by XiamaraSimi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWookiee Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 I support the removal of the credit limits for F2P simply to remove the major pitfall of having a legacy bank. All of the other restrictions are fine and promote the need for a subscription. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Mcturney Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 I can go to stores in the U.S. to get a sample. Which is what F2P is: a sample. If stores gave away enough free samples for me to be able to eat full meals every day, I would not need to buy food at their stores. Well, that's what i'm trying to explain, it's not about being selfish &/or opportunist, it's about trust and courtesy. The people eating "for free" there need to know that, if they don't buy the store's food, it will go out of business and then they wont have any more "free food"... Get it? It's a collective way of thinking that is not taught a lot in the U.S. haha But i can't argue against the f2p botters annoying people, one chat solution: if both players have themselves in their respective friendlist, there shouldn't be any chat restrictions between them. BAMM, botters problem #1 solved. The trade+botter problem got me, emails it is. Still, the money restrictions are still weird, even for subscribbers, legacy money + a credits system revamp would make everyone happy i guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
branmakmuffin Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 (edited) Still, the money restrictions are still weird, even for subscribbers, legacy money + a credits system revamp would make everyone happy i guess. Subscribers have no money restrictions, so the F2P/Preferred limits are easily removed. When I play LotRO, I don't subscribe because their equivalent of Preferred is quite playable. Edited December 2, 2015 by branmakmuffin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber-Blade Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 I agree. F2P players should be able to trade, and mail items, as well as equip items. They need to be able to hide head slot and unify colors! Really that is really creatively dumb... The credit cap should be removed as Preferred. or even F2P. Bioware, all this is doing is frusterating new players into either subscribing out of anger, or throwing down the game and quitting. F2P should be meant to entice players and give them more reason to play. All this does is show Bioware and EA as money grabbers, and that they dont care about their players. "Buy this, or go to hell." is pretty blunt, but very true in this instance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turajin Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Lol, this line of thought though... did you know that, in rich countries, like, if you go to a fair in germany, there are lots of samples people can taste of everything? Even here, in my country, i went to an agroecological fair and they offered me tons of free samples so i could taste and discover... Sure, if i go to my local butcher, I can ask for a sample of that sausage here or that beef there... but he wouldn't hand over 4 sausages or 2 pounds of that beef for free so that I can go home and make dinner out of it. And he defenetly wouldn't do it every single day. And exactly that's what F2P is - a free sample. You can try the game (you can even play through the whole story content afaik), but if you want the full experience, you have to buy it, wich means sbubscribe in this case. Actually, you get much more compared to that free samples at a fair/shop analogy. As mentioned, you can play through the whole vanila story. Why should they give more to F2P? In how far would it increase subscriber rates? You'R friend couldn't use a given item because he is F2P? Well, he should subscribe so he can use it. Would he subscribe if he would be able to use that item without subscribtion? Propably not. Your friend is annoyed by credit-limit? Well, he can subscribe and can have as much credits as he wants. Would he subscribe if there would be no limit for F2P? Propably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALaggyGrunt Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Making the game more appealing to play for free does not help add subscribers, it keeps more people playing for free. Not sure why people don't get this. Making the game more appealing to play at all keeps players. The sub, scrub, or leave attitude has a lot of people choosing option 3 and not telling their friends to also not touch this game, and the attitude of certain members of the community only serve to make that worse. Probably the biggest reason this game has lasted as long as it has and generated nearly as much money as it has can be summed up in two words: "Star Wars." I know that's the only reason I touched it. Path of Exile doesn't even have a subscription option, and is doing quite well without it. Their business model is entirely F2P with everything coming from almost purely cosmetic microtransactions which you can't even trade with other players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Mcturney Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 (edited) I'm just gonna drop this here http://imgur.com/XKCJ73x, worth the necro. btw, those are the highest rated comments alongside a few high voted comments saying: "CGI cutscenes are not a reason to play / go back to a game. Thats absurd, they have nothing to do with experiencing the game itself and can be watched on youtube or even swtor's website." - 125 likes, by Hathur. "Dont do it. This game was built on a crappy engine and feels horrible. They spent their budget on voice actors but the core gameplay is cheap and nasty." - 21 likes by Ron Lim rasmusroxor 5 meses atrás "i have been waiting for so long for a good star wars game... im still waiting" 31 likes. >>> \/ Btw i guess he didn't play the jedi knight /kotor/BattleFront stuff haha, but he is probably refering to multiplayer with character (jediesss/siths/bounty huntersss) development. video : i rest my case. Edit: Why should they give more to F2P? In how far would it increase subscriber rates? You'R friend couldn't use a given item because he is F2P? Well, he should subscribe so he can use it. Would he subscribe if he would be able to use that item without subscribtion? Propably not. Your friend is annoyed by credit-limit? Well, he can subscribe and can have as much credits as he wants. Would he subscribe if there would be no limit for F2P? Propably not. He didn't subscribe, game wasn't appealing enough, lots of restrictions and slow gameplay, oh, btw, community, he bought WOW, because IT WAS CHEAP AS HELL & is much better atm. Guess i created this thread too late, should have been like 3 years ago. Edited January 1, 2016 by James_Mcturney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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