"Free" to play feels bad.

[AllisonLightning]

I don't think the F2P aspect can be tweaked at this point and the Major XP boost change makes me think the developers want to but are stuck. You either put your foot down, and suck up the complaints and protest over things or you get to a point where you can't afford to change the system. Bioware and EA wanted these restrictions because it earned them money in the short term- now they've got an environment as enshrined with the status quo as Star Wars Galaxies subscriber base was.

 

We'd see massive un-sub waves. It'd be some disgust but some of the arguments come from people with no self-control. Me? I'll spend money on something I've gotten for free that I love, but not everyone's like that and a few of the subs arguing against loosening the restrictions admit they wouldn't stay subbed and support the game for perks, rather than full access. Look at everyone who is so happy to get 'free' expansions despite the fact it lessens the revenue of someone buying the expansion and needing an active sub to get the most out of it.

 

You've got a volatile situation where people wouldn't pay another cent despite loving the game who now make up too much of the total subscriber base. They would have to attract the people who would come and buy as they went straight away to make up for the losses as well as support subs who remain by increasing their perks.

 

F2P or not really has no bearing on me personally whether I will play or not and, truth be told, I prefer a sub model over F2P in general (not just SWTORs F2P). To me, the longer a game goes F2P and relies on those store purchases, the more gimmicky it becomes to get people buying from the store. Over time, this degrades the quality of the game as more and more is diverted to making a game drive players to the store or the game interface becomes constant spam to "buy now" from the store (I am looking at you LOTRO).

 

The problem is sub only largely doesn't work and you have few exceptions to the rule and even among those you get them changing. Personally, I'd have been happier buying the game, the whole B2P setup. Subs are just as poor when it comes to gimmicks, which is why it revolves around content carrots and actively working on how addictive their games are. WoW is renowned for it and however weak people are aside, they actively work to erode any restraints people have over spending every waking minute in game.

 

So no, it's not 'buy now' from the store, it's standing able to play with anything and everything in the store while it works to make you forget there's a world beyond that, just to keep getting your money.

 

The only buy now you get is a single tool tip unless you're Preferred or F2P and you get free coins every month you can spend.

Edited September 15, 2016 by AllisonLightning

[PlasmaJohn]

I agree that SWTOR's F2P restrictions are onerous ... and effective. When I came back to SWTOR after quitting before the advent of F2P, I lasted about ten minutes as Preferred before renewing my subscription. I just couldn't tolerate not having Hide Helmet. So, from my own experience, F2P is working as intended.

Curious that you'd pick Hide Helmet as a reason to re-sub, that's one of the cheaper permanent unlocks you can buy from the store. Now if you said something about access to forum PvP, Operations, med-probes (lol), credit caps or lockboxes then that would make more sense.

 

I concur. But that begs the question ... If you ever chose not to subscribe for some period of time (e.g., money's a little tight that month), would you continue to play as F2P until you could sub again or would you quit the game?

My old guild has long since migrated to WoW after a brief dalliance with Wildstar. We left due to Austin's utter silence about their plans for 2014, specifically the lack of new operations. We were a small casualty in the greater whole that prompted the "We'll never go that long..." statement.

 

Story, Flashpoints, PvP, Strongholds, Conquest and GSF don't hold my attention for very long. Since Operations are paywalled when my sub runs out so does my interest. I do tend to peek in every month or two but that's hardly "playing" and I'm certainly not populating any queues which what most sane F2P plans are created to do.

 

Austin had marching orders from the CFO to increase subs. Since KotFE was sub-only that very strongly suggests to me that the F2P conversion rate is not meeting their goals. Intentional or not F2P/Preferred as an extended demo is not a recipe for success.

[AllisonLightning]

Curious that you'd pick Hide Helmet as a reason to re-sub, that's one of the cheaper permanent unlocks you can buy from the store. Now if you said something about access to forum PvP, Operations, med-probes (lol), credit caps or lockboxes then that would make more sense.

 

 

My old guild has long since migrated to WoW after a brief dalliance with Wildstar. We left due to Austin's utter silence about their plans for 2014, specifically the lack of new operations. We were a small casualty in the greater whole that prompted the "We'll never go that long..." statement.

 

Story, Flashpoints, PvP, Strongholds, Conquest and GSF don't hold my attention for very long. Since Operations are paywalled when my sub runs out so does my interest. I do tend to peek in every month or two but that's hardly "playing" and I'm certainly not populating any queues which what most sane F2P plans are created to do.

 

Austin had marching orders from the CFO to increase subs. Since KotFE was sub-only that very strongly suggests to me that the F2P conversion rate is not meeting their goals. Intentional or not F2P/Preferred as an extended demo is not a recipe for success.

 

It was trying to encourage more people to sub, yes but again- that's the goal of every MMO and they were trying to maximize the time a person would stay subbed in order to play the content as opposed to burning through and either leaving the game for months or just dropping to preferred. It says there was still the problem where people only sub for content and leave again afterwards and they were hoping to keep those people engaged. I don't think it'll work well a second time round, already you have people who are going to game the system.

 

Preferred, at the moment, is access up till last sub date's content. The problem is the whole buffering the population of the game is becoming more and more limited and because of the way the system works, the only way you've got more people for certain group activities like Ops is to increase sub numbers... it becomes a self defeating cycle because you're constantly losing the population that assists everyone else do their group content.

[Tsillah]

It could be fair to blame how the f2p model is being presented but the reality is that F2P in SWTOR is not an alternative to a sub but a prelude to it. The point is that you end up liking the game enough to sub, not to make F2P a full alternative.

 

Subs are better for MMOs. I hate that this game has a F2P option but it was needed to save the game. It should've been avoided altogether but that's in the past now.

 

If you constantly hit the "you're not a sub" barrier it means you want to play the game that is available via sub only. You may not like a sub model but overall subs are cheaper than F2P anyway.

[PlasmaJohn]

It was trying to encourage more people to sub, ...

Well sure but they banked on the same that that caused their critical launch failure. They desperately needed to solve the retention issue and they failed miserably. They pretty much repeated the same critical mistake they made at launch. Story simply has terrible retention and I think (ok, hope) most people have wised up enough that the "chapter a month" tactic won't work again.

 

Not only did KotFE fail to increase retention thanks to several mis-steps including NiM 224-gate, foot dragging on bugs and exploits, and that crock of an EtC contest it had a net-negative. They're going to do far more damage to it if they do the typical level bump plus gear reset again with KotET because nobody wants to refarm that all over again just maintain the status quo with stale content.

 

If they're just going to phone it in on Operations, they need to drop the paywall on it.

[psandak]

I am a day 1 sub (who did not start playing in earnest until three months later (so yes I spent $45 and played a grand total of 3 sessions (of about an hour each) in that time). I currently sub six months at a time. I did toy with going premium but decided against it. I have no intention of going premium anytime soon.

 

Now that you know where I am coming from...

 

Very early in the life of the SWTOR F2P model, there were many posts that asked the question: which is more cost effective: sub or prem? Overall the results were...it's a wash. If all you do is specific aspects of the game (example you solo and ops but do not FP or PvP) then prem is the cheaper option, but as soon as you want to even tip toe into all aspects of the game (FP, PvP, OPs, GSF, etc), a sub becomes more cost effective.

 

With this in mind, I think the current implementation mostly acceptable. I say mostly because there are two common sticking points:

• credits cap
  
• character limits
  

 

And IMO both of these should be increased. As others point out the F2P implementation is now 4 years old. Back when it was first introduced 350k credits was a lot, and so was having six characters. For most subs, those numbers are a fraction of what they have now, so going premium feels punitive. I am not saying grant unlimited access, but if those numbers were tripled: 1.2million credits per character and 18 total characters, I think a lot of the complaints would go away.

 

Maybe a way to implement this is adding another tier of access. Right now, F2P to do pay something and subs who let their sub lapse are lumped into the same category but they are NOT the same type of player.

[AllisonLightning]

I had a default of eight characters as a Preferred as does anyone who has been a sub since 4.0. (I think it should have extended to all former subs but pre 4.0 and paid $5 are six) I've expanded my slot stable to thirty-two as a sub so as a Preferred it will always be twenty-six, the maximum. Eight is plenty of slots as a base, and adding to it is a personal choice. The credit cap, you can be surprised how far 350k goes and you're never denied anything you need.

 

They pretty much repeated the same critical mistake they made at launch. Story simply has terrible retention and I think (ok, hope) most people have wised up enough that the "chapter a month" tactic won't work again.

 

Terrible, linear story lacking divergences has no retention, the class stories and alternate paths can easily give you material to go through. Even ROTHC and SOR, whereas KOTFE is the definition for not worth the price of admission.

[PlasmaJohn]

Terrible, linear story lacking divergences has no retention, the class stories and alternate paths can easily give you material to go through. Even ROTHC and SOR, whereas KOTFE is the definition for not worth the price of admission.

A highly linear story with no class variation is KotFE's twist on the launch error. At launch Austin was betting on people doing all of the class stories before looking for end-game activities. Apparently most people (as defined by the sharp population drop-off) weren't interested in that.

 

While the eight class stories offered a significant amount of levelling content it's still finite. If I didn't start raiding I wouldn't have lasted longer than six months.

[Andryah]

I am a day 1 sub (who did not start playing in earnest until three months later (so yes I spent $45 and played a grand total of 3 sessions (of about an hour each) in that time). I currently sub six months at a time. I did toy with going premium but decided against it. I have no intention of going premium anytime soon.

 

Now that you know where I am coming from...

 

Very early in the life of the SWTOR F2P model, there were many posts that asked the question: which is more cost effective: sub or prem? Overall the results were...it's a wash. If all you do is specific aspects of the game (example you solo and ops but do not FP or PvP) then prem is the cheaper option, but as soon as you want to even tip toe into all aspects of the game (FP, PvP, OPs, GSF, etc), a sub becomes more cost effective.

 

With this in mind, I think the current implementation mostly acceptable. I say mostly because there are two common sticking points:

• credits cap
  
• character limits
  

 

And IMO both of these should be increased. As others point out the F2P implementation is now 4 years old. Back when it was first introduced 350k credits was a lot, and so was having six characters. For most subs, those numbers are a fraction of what they have now, so going premium feels punitive. I am not saying grant unlimited access, but if those numbers were tripled: 1.2million credits per character and 18 total characters, I think a lot of the complaints would go away.

 

Maybe a way to implement this is adding another tier of access. Right now, F2P to do pay something and subs who let their sub lapse are lumped into the same category but they are NOT the same type of player.

 

Great assessment. I agree with you on everything except character limits. Non subs can indeed unlock more characters if they need them, so I don't see a real issue here. If they are altaholics, then sub is probably the best choice anyway. Credits though.. yeah.....they should probably loosen that a bit.... but not beyond say 1M credits, which is about what you would earn if you played 1-50 on a character.

[Rolodome]

I am a day 1 sub (who did not start playing in earnest until three months later (so yes I spent $45 and played a grand total of 3 sessions (of about an hour each) in that time). I currently sub six months at a time. I did toy with going premium but decided against it. I have no intention of going premium anytime soon.

 

Now that you know where I am coming from...

 

Very early in the life of the SWTOR F2P model, there were many posts that asked the question: which is more cost effective: sub or prem? Overall the results were...it's a wash. If all you do is specific aspects of the game (example you solo and ops but do not FP or PvP) then prem is the cheaper option, but as soon as you want to even tip toe into all aspects of the game (FP, PvP, OPs, GSF, etc), a sub becomes more cost effective.

 

With this in mind, I think the current implementation mostly acceptable. I say mostly because there are two common sticking points:

• credits cap
  
• character limits
  

 

And IMO both of these should be increased. As others point out the F2P implementation is now 4 years old. Back when it was first introduced 350k credits was a lot, and so was having six characters. For most subs, those numbers are a fraction of what they have now, so going premium feels punitive. I am not saying grant unlimited access, but if those numbers were tripled: 1.2million credits per character and 18 total characters, I think a lot of the complaints would go away.

 

Maybe a way to implement this is adding another tier of access. Right now, F2P to do pay something and subs who let their sub lapse are lumped into the same category but they are NOT the same type of player.

I've played around with the "additional tier of access" idea in my head before (I think I even suggested it once). Only problem with that, is it adds another complexity to the system.

 

There is no denying, however, that it's absurd that someone who potentially spends thousands of dollars on the game (I'm imagining whales) can be booted down to the same restrictions as someone who only ever paid $5 (I think that's the minimum?), if they let their sub lapse. I think that's complete nonsense and doesn't make a lick of sense.

 

Setting aside the problems with adding more complexity, it would make more sense if, after passing a certain threshold of months subbed or money spent on the game, you get access to some kind of Preferred+ status that removes some of the more obnoxious restrictions. The problem with doing this though, aside from the complexity, is that the more restrictions you remove, the closer this hypothetical Preferred+ comes to being akin to a lifetime sub. And that would be equally absurd and self-defeating.

 

Which is why I think what they need to do is make the sub bonuses far more enticing and then lessen a lot of the Preferred restrictions. Subbing should feel like you're getting privileged access, not basic functionality; I think this is the simplest way to do it, given how the system is already designed. The Preferred ceiling could even be raised a bit along with this, with people who want it in the future needing to pay a static number like $30 (the price of a non-recurring 60 day pass). Old Preferred qualifiers who didn't pay enough to reach the new ceiling would be grandfathered in, or maybe they would just maintain the old restrictions until such time as they pay to qualify for the new version of Preferred.

 

I think, in general, Preferred is both too easy to get and too lame for those who have spent a lot of money on the game. And yeah, there are certain things you can buy to remove some of the restrictions, but this is a convoluted hassle of a grocery list just to go down to Preferred and doesn't encourage the person to go back to subbing.

 

Then there is F2P status, which I don't think would seem as bad if Preferred and Sub were both more appealing. But as it stands now, upgrading from F2P to Preferred is not a huge gain on its own; you still need the unlocks to get a lot of the basic functionality.

 

If you consider how buy-to-play models work, and keeping in mind what I've said so far about upping the cost of Preferred but also removing some of the restrictions on it and upping the Sub perks, Preferred could hypothetically be almost like buy-to-play. You make the one time purchase for "the box" (the Preferred qualification cost) and now you have access to virtually all of the features in the game. This might make more revenue than you'd think and if the sub perks are enticing enough, you still have that buffer of getting sub money from people as well.

[ottomadduxone]

Support the game financially with a sub or leave.

There is no in-between in my opinion

 

This kind of response is narrow minded and extremely short sighted. BW decided to take the game F2P, that was their choice not the players. They did this to keep the game going, which is a good thing, but they did it differently than the other game models that are successful. Instead of making people interested in sticking around, playing the game and possibly subscribing, F2P players are made to feel bad about wanting to play. This encourages F2P players to leave instead of stay and furthers the demise of the game.

 

I see dead server merge request threads almost daily on the forums. A good indication that subscribers are leaving more than signing up. As a subscriber I would rather they followed a better F2P model so they could fill up some of these servers, bringing enough new players for me to find an ops group and have a reason to keep my sub.

[AllisonLightning]

A highly linear story with no class variation is KotFE's twist on the launch error. At launch Austin was betting on people doing all of the class stories before looking for end-game activities. Apparently most people (as defined by the sharp population drop-off) weren't interested in that.

 

While the eight class stories offered a significant amount of levelling content it's still finite. If I didn't start raiding I wouldn't have lasted longer than six months.

 

But raiding is finite content otherwise people would be happy doing the same raids over and over again, it's only the illusion of extra content of which you need to keep releasing new ones in order to keep that segment happy much like story. I've only done one of the Ops twice (Karraga's Palace) and I can't imagine wanting or enjoying doing them over and over again, just to get gear or for enjoyment either. Flashpoints, warzones, GSF- yes because of different people and group combinations- it's how I can play L4D2 maps over and over again.

[lightSaberAddiCt]

I am a day 1 sub (who did not start playing in earnest until three months later (so yes I spent $45 and played a grand total of 3 sessions (of about an hour each) in that time). I currently sub six months at a time. I did toy with going premium but decided against it. I have no intention of going premium anytime soon.

 

Now that you know where I am coming from...

 

Very early in the life of the SWTOR F2P model, there were many posts that asked the question: which is more cost effective: sub or prem? Overall the results were...it's a wash. If all you do is specific aspects of the game (example you solo and ops but do not FP or PvP) then prem is the cheaper option, but as soon as you want to even tip toe into all aspects of the game (FP, PvP, OPs, GSF, etc), a sub becomes more cost effective.

 

With this in mind, I think the current implementation mostly acceptable. I say mostly because there are two common sticking points:

• credits cap
  
• character limits
  

 

And IMO both of these should be increased. As others point out the F2P implementation is now 4 years old. Back when it was first introduced 350k credits was a lot, and so was having six characters. For most subs, those numbers are a fraction of what they have now, so going premium feels punitive. I am not saying grant unlimited access, but if those numbers were tripled: 1.2million credits per character and 18 total characters, I think a lot of the complaints would go away.

 

Maybe a way to implement this is adding another tier of access. Right now, F2P to do pay something and subs who let their sub lapse are lumped into the same category but they are NOT the same type of player.

 

There is no legit reason to add to either the F2P or the Premium credit limits. Because if they were dumb enough to do it, then pandora's box will be opened. Because as it has been shown multiple times, nothing is good enough. If they up it to 1 million, then you would have people complaining it still isnt enough, and they need to just remove it.

 

That goes for premium as well. I am sorry but putting down 4.95 should not open the gates. This is a sub game, with a F2P option. If people want full access, with no credit limit etc, then they can pay a sub. It amounts to 2 starbuck's coffees a month.

[Andryah]

There is no legit reason to add to either the F2P or the Premium credit limits. Because if they were dumb enough to do it, then pandora's box will be opened. Because as it has been shown multiple times, nothing is good enough. If they up it to 1 million, then you would have people complaining it still isnt enough, and they need to just remove it.

 

I think a modest increase in credit limit is warranted. Every now and then I do get a tell from a non-sub asking me if I would be willing to lower the price of an item on the GTN because it's above the credit cap. They are usually polite about it and what I do is simply send them another of the same item (if I have it in stock) for free. It's not like something listed from the cartel pack drops for 350-500K is some super rare item.

 

Back when F2P first released, credits were being hawked by the RMTs for around $20-30 dollars per million. Now days, the hawking price is down to around 30 cents per million. Which demonstrates what we all know.. credits fall from everything since 4.0. So a modest increase is warranted IMO. 1M for F2P and 2M for Preferred is a fair adjustment IMO, and the whiners who will say it is not enough can just suck it up IMO.

 

That goes for premium as well. I am sorry but putting down 4.95 should not open the gates. This is a sub game, with a F2P option. If people want full access, with no credit limit etc, then they can pay a sub. It amounts to 2 starbuck's coffees a month.

 

100% agree with you on this part. I think the studio just followed the industry norm by having a sub/preferred/free 3 tier approach. But I do agree that 4.95 is a very low barrier to entry for Preferred. So I think that should be raised modestly as well. Make it = to one months sub price is fair I think.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Andryah

[lightSaberAddiCt]

I think a modest increase in credit limit is warranted. Every now and then I do get a tell from a non-sub asking me if I would be willing to lower the price of an item on the GTN because it's above the credit cap. They are usually polite about it and what I do is simply send them another of the same item (if I have it in stock) for free. It's not like something listed from the cartel pack drops for 350-500K is some super rare item.

 

Back when F2P first released, credits were being hawked by the RMTs for around $20-30 dollars per million. Now days, the hawking price is down to around 30 cents per million. Which demonstrates what we all know.. credits fall from everything since 4.0. So a modest increase is warranted IMO. 1M for F2P and 2M for Preferred is a fair adjustment IMO, and the whiners who will say it is not enough can just suck it up IMO.

 

The thing is ANdryah, it would never be enough. Once they open those flood gates, it will just empower people to come on the forums, and demand even more. Lets say they raised it up to 2m. Then you would have people going on about how 2m isn't enough, that they cant afford something that is 3m. Then 5m, then 10m then cmon, just take away the credit limit. Why am I being punished because I am F2P.

 

You know how it works.

[Oreget]

Why this game called free to play MMO if playing F2P is like feeling hungry and watching everybody around

eating?

F2Psucks so bad its indescrible.

[AllisonLightning]

The thing is ANdryah, it would never be enough. Once they open those flood gates, it will just empower people to come on the forums, and demand even more. Lets say they raised it up to 2m. Then you would have people going on about how 2m isn't enough, that they cant afford something that is 3m. Then 5m, then 10m then cmon, just take away the credit limit. Why am I being punished because I am F2P.

 

You know how it works.

 

It's why I stand by the premise it's too late to change anything, the sentiment behind this statement. You've got two groups of subs you stand to lose and when you've created the situation where over time you've become dependent on keeping the status quo going than innovative access- you've already culled/made cautious the F2P pool who would buy up CM as they play you could have drawn from and made these two groups either fall into the 'it offends me' or the ones paying lip service to subbing.

 

The game just couldn't take the gap between them embracing it and losing subs. Look at the fact there are so few of us who think they should charge for the expansion and want them to. In order to play to your full unlocked access at each chapter release (med probes, credit cap and so on), you'd have to suck up being preferred or stay subbed. It's not that hard to target consistent subscription over chapter release and would also give them a cashflow injection but you've got people who insist that sub only is better who feel perfectly entitled to free expansions. ESO is a B2P game and subs 'rent' expansion access- they want them for keeps, they have to buy them like everybody else.

 

It's not like they charged for each previous expansion either.

[CKNORTH]

It's why I stand by the premise it's too late to change anything, the sentiment behind this statement. You've got two groups of subs you stand to lose and when you've created the situation where over time you've become dependent on keeping the status quo going than innovative access- you've already culled/made cautious the F2P pool who would buy up CM as they play you could have drawn from and made these two groups either fall into the 'it offends me' or the ones paying lip service to subbing.

 

The game just couldn't take the gap between them embracing it and losing subs. Look at the fact there are so few of us who think they should charge for the expansion and want them to. In order to play to your full unlocked access at each chapter release (med probes, credit cap and so on), you'd have to suck up being preferred or stay subbed. It's not that hard to target consistent subscription over chapter release and would also give them a cashflow injection but you've got people who insist that sub only is better who feel perfectly entitled to free expansions. ESO is a B2P game and subs 'rent' expansion access- they want them for keeps, they have to buy them like everybody else.

 

It's not like they charged for each previous expansion either.

 

its a shame really, if this game was worth playing, servers would be full, but even "Free" players are few and far between. That Does speak Loudly. So the question becomes "Why?" whats driving people to play something else or not even bothering to log in? until EA/BW addresses those core issues. mostly what people have been wanting in this game, and actually listening to its community, its going to get worse. from beta they haven't done so, they have been strapped behind the corporate ladder that is EA dictating to them how this game should be, instead of listening to the community.

 

its sad but true, anyhow continue on.....

[LordArtemis]

I would not agree with those increases suggested by some, though there is logic in them certainly...at least not as proposed.

 

This is what I would suggest....

 

F2P - 500k - no character change

Preferred - 1 Million - 8 Characters

Gold - 1.5 Million - 10 Characters (requires at least 200.00 spent)

Platinum - 2 Million - 12 Characters - unrestricted mission rewards (requires at least 1000.00 spent)

Subscription - See below

 

All other restrictions for Preferred stay in place for new access tiers.

 

Note that Gold and Platinum access would be special tiers for Preferred AND Subs, but subs would get special perks as well for reaching those milestones

 

Gold Sub - 2 extra character slots per server - 10 percent increase in crystal payouts/10 percent reduction of vendor costs game wide

Platinum Sub - 4 extra character slots per server - 25 percent increase in crystal payouts/25 percent reduction of vendor costs game wide

 

 

In other words, the Gold and Platinum status would apply to both Preferred and Subscribers with different benefits.

 

The idea, of course, is to provide an incentive for both to substantially invest in the Cartel Market.

Edited September 16, 2016 by LordArtemis

[ZanyaCross]

There is no legit reason to add to either the F2P or the Premium credit limits. Because if they were dumb enough to do it, then pandora's box will be opened. Because as it has been shown multiple times, nothing is good enough. If they up it to 1 million, then you would have people complaining it still isnt enough, and they need to just remove it.

 

That goes for premium as well. I am sorry but putting down 4.95 should not open the gates. This is a sub game, with a F2P option. If people want full access, with no credit limit etc, then they can pay a sub. It amounts to 2 starbuck's coffees a month.

 

And if the devs shared your attitude then the game would have closed its doors two years ago.

 

The problem is this game is trying to be two things at once, and doing both poorly. Just get rid of the sub model entirely. More money is coming from the cartel market anyway, and then you wouldn't have fifty-page threads about sub exclusives people missed out on.

Edited September 16, 2016 by ZanyaCross

[DarthWoad]

Support the game financially with a sub or leave.

There is no in-between in my opinion

 

You're 4 years too late. That's why we have a F2P In between option right now, because everyone left

[Master_ivar]

Don´t even know why I´m commenting.

 

The Whale-Subs as usual put down the Preferred players and Musco probably ignores these threads outright,

because he knows nobody at BIO understands how F2P actually works and is in no hurry to get educated soon.

As evident in the stubborn refusal to even adjust the ridiculous 250/350k max credit to the galloping inflation in the game.

 

I could point out all the flaws and deficiencies and make up a proper F2P system, but why bother?

It will be ignored.

 

The most spenders (aka.whales) are subs?

Well OF COURSE THEY ARE, the F2P WHALES have long abandoned this game.

Duh.

 

And newsflash, there´s A LOT more "F2P Whales" around than sub-fanatics.

See Guild Wars 2 or pretty much all the other MMOs.

Oh well, I ´ve said my part.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Master_ivar

[lightSaberAddiCt]

Don´t even know why I´m commenting.

 

The Whale-Subs as usual put down the Preferred players and Musco probably ignores these threads outright,

because he knows nobody at BIO understands how F2P actually works and is in no hurry to get educated soon.

As evident in the stubborn refusal to even adjust the ridiculous 250/350k max credit to the galloping inflation in the game.

 

I could point out all the flaws and deficiencies and make up a proper F2P system, but why bother?

It will be ignored.

 

The most spenders (aka.whales) are subs?

Well OF COURSE THEY ARE, the F2P WHALES have long abandoned this game.

Duh.

 

And newsflash, there´s A LOT more "F2P Whales" around than sub-fanatics.

See Guild Wars 2 or pretty much all the other MMOs.

Oh well, I ´ve said my part.

 

Yeah those F2P whales, with their 350k limit lol. Must be like baby orcas or something. Whether you want to admit it or not, the mass number of F2P people, don't spend as much as subs do in the CM. Not to mention, subs actually, you know...pay a sub fee.

 

But yeah it is such a terrible thing to lose people that pay nothing, and actually think they are the cool kids for getting a service for free, when others pay for it.

[Keraejis]

As a disclaimer this is completely my opinion and my own experiences.

 

I have actually been seriously thinking hard about dropping my sub and going F2P. I went F2P for a few months during 3.0 and, because I had a small stash of CC, I was able to unlock most of what I needed. The main thing that hurt was the credit limit. Just mentioning this so you know where I stand if I do go free to play. All the unlocks are already there, at least the ones I want and not the ones I don't care to have.

 

The reason I've been thinking hard about going F2P is, after paying monthly since I resubbed, there really hasn't been anything redeemable. KotFE, personally wasn't really worth the sub rate considering most games have much more content added for a lower price. Better content is debatable but since this is my opinion, I'm going to say better in other games.

 

So basically, what I'm paying for is a no credit limit. I'll admit, this is a huge part of the game now. With the inflation of credits, it's just too easy to get millions of credits and therefore prices on everything has gone up and most of it is well above a F2P credit ceiling. Even if I buy gear shells, I'm stuck using green mods or I have use escrow for a single, as in, one prototype mod and if I want to buy an artifact, there's just no way. So I'm stuck with, at highest GS 216 armor with hopes that the RNG gods give them to me in FPs or doing a ton of HFPs and OPs for those rarely dropped radiants or the other better one. That way I can buy the armor from the alliance war room merchants and rip out the mods.

 

That's a lot of regurgitation of old content with new and improved bugs for my sub fee.

 

Moving to the KotFE content. I really feel like I'm just watching someone else's machinima with mandatory pauses (where I click a dialogue answer that really is just there to make me feel like I'm making decisions).

 

 

Seriously, I would never have sent Kaliyo on any mission ever and would have just killed her in the first place for being an untrustworthy terrorist. I would have never brought Scorpio with me to the invasion of the 'lone' Zakuul battleship. Why couldn't I blast a way for the Mandos to get to safety AND then turned the guns on the original target? I would have never even experienced the chapter with the 'nature walk' to talk to Valkorion. Because bad plot holes.

 

 

Then add in the part that all I really had to do was sub for the last month and I would get all the content for free. Well, except all the HK-55 content, which thus far hasn't made it worthy. I haven't played the bonus episode yet so this opinion could change, slightly.

 

Hindsight is always 20/20.... but it's hindsight that we use to make present and future decisions.

 

At this point I'm really leaning F2P, which really would not improve BWs finances. In my experiences, many of the players I have talked to in the guilds I'm in, general chat and in groups have been pretty unanimous with the same decision of the game not being worth subbing of late.

 

So, on these points, making the F2P more advantageous for non-subs would be a win/win situation. Or they can get their act together and put out some content worth my subscription fee.

 

Edit: sorry a pretty bad spelling of a word.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Keraejis

[LordArtemis]

...Might even say that their could be a Platinum level as well, for both preferred and subs. But it would have to be for a sizable CM investment...say 3000.00.

 

If you are either preferred or a sub, and you reach platinum level, you no longer pay a sub. From that point forward your subscription would be free for the life of the game.