A preferred player’s perspective on Population decline

[Dilemmas]

I wonder if even our glorious Lord Kanneg is going to avoid acknowledging this thread, and if so, why? My money's on it being a sensitive topic with the higher ups and shareholders, and that the idea to them; is that at board meetings, subscription numbers are the only numbers. It would explain some things like the recent doubling down on the f2p restrictions, like the removal of passes, and the implementation of an exclusionary system like CXP - all ideas with a clear intention of brute-forcing an increase in subs.

 

A lack of open-mindedness towards the business model seems prevalent everywhere here, I wouldn't be surprised if; in the end, this is just an issue with the exec management. Meaning that maybe, it's just not up for discussion ... sure feels that way.

 

 

By the way, these should be at least somewhat telling of sentiments outside of this echo-chamber:

 

Worst MMORPG Business Model Of 2016

Best MMORPG Business Model Of 2016

Edited July 14, 2017 by Dilemmas

[Marmeladix]

summary

 

3 basic elements see I do:

game-ppl-money

or

ppl+money=game

 

Discussions I see. Debate. Controversy. Diversification, like ppl devs become or sub turn into or payer or f2p or casual or player or coffee customer or freeloader or...

Simplification also notice I do in some participants (or particiskirts). Like ppl-game/ scratch money or like „no pay=no play” or the 3 elements melted into 3 times 1 element: money-money-money.

Sure know-how regarding money all we have and about it something say to always. Here only „money talks” and element no other generated would have 18 pg of posts. So far. Died out it seems? My turn now is.

 

The problem which is in fact?

Money the problem is?

Game's component systems the problem may be?

Peoples the problem are?

 

What say you? 1, 2 or 3 elements? 4-th??

 

[the 5-th element already taken into a movie is, so...]

Edited July 15, 2017 by Marmeladix

[Marmeladix]

[

By the way, a very very inspired label is „preferred”. Gratz to you devs for this peculiar pick > you prefer those players to move into sub asap or erase their own accounts, to never return unless with cash = ty for sharing this preference of yours through this discussion; we all felt it, but is just refreshing to read some bits of honesty at times out of professional... PR - posting of course anonymous, under forum accounts pretending to be of some real players with personal opinions, totally understandable, only... too transparent imop, I mean I can pinpoint just from this thread precis who belongs to BW.

 

An option could be to re-label them „wanted”, then make a billboard with classic mug shot posters of the pref, place a bounty on each, value depending of how long its been since the perpetrator last payment expired, so a player that jumps and kills such a bounty or kicks it out of a guild or votes him out of a group or at least whispers something nasty from the filter list to that delinquent, scores and gets some reward = why only you devs take measures to chase away the pref and not let the paying players contribute to speed up the process also and benefit us all?!

„Think big!” „Be bold!” „Express yourself!” "Peace is a lie!"

]

Edited July 16, 2017 by Marmeladix

[Eshvara]

PR - posting of course anonymous, under forum accounts pretending to be of some real players with personal opinions, totally understandable, only... too transparent imop, I mean I can pinpoint just from this thread precis who belongs to BW.

 

????

[Marmeladix]

????

 

(of course I can, is more than too obvious, but what would be the point? ...anyway, since I get to play less, due to the fact that are less ppl to play with, I have now time to write more, to the full delight and enjoyment of the BW's that bother to read here. Have fun guys with all I am about to write further on! )

[ladyalchemist]

The game needs money for development, especially this game that focuses so much story-telling, with hours of cut-scenes. We have to be realistic. I see it happens all the time. People just want everything free, without realizing that someone had to pay for them to have that which they want for free.

 

There is a dichotomy between F2P and P2P, and BW has attempted to bridge the gap between the two extremes. The idea of free-to-play, in the case of SWTOR, is that the player, having played a portion of the game for free, will be induced to switch to Subscriber status. So, the original intent was never to have permanent free-to-play players, but to give potential players a taste of what the game has to offer and their either subscribe, unlock portions of the game incrementally or move on.

 

There is no reason to stay Free-to-play. If you do not want to spend money on the game, leave. Plain and simple. Preferred players have no excuse. Pay the $14.99 for one month to get what you want and then go back to preferred.

 

I am not discounting that the OP raises valid points but end-game content, in a subscriber driven MMO, is never available to F2P players.

 

The removal of the passes was ill-advised, I will concede that because it still requires someone to pay actual money to get it, even if its not the end-user (which is irrelevant).

 

I never liked F2P games anyways because they are full of ads, heavily reliant on the cash shops, pay-to-win, and a massive grind fest.

 

This. I never could understand why the F2P model came out. There was a time when all MMOs where subscriber model... and that for a reason. I can understand trial offers to introduce new people to a game. The F2P model and cash shop makes very little sense to me (I understand the business reasons for the CM - but note the significant decreased quality of gaming it brings). If I like a game, I am going to pay my monthly fee to play it. If I get tired of the game, I am gone... with my monthly subscription. There isn't any in-between. I don't stop subscribing and then go preferred/F2P. The only time I am preferred status is when my sub comes up up suddenly and I am short cash til payday. As soon as payday hits, my sub is renewed.

 

Therefore, I don't feel the least little bit of compassion for the "freeloaders"... ahem... F2P players who want to play an online game for nothing at the expense of others. I am part of the "subscribe or leave" crowd. Pay your $15.00 a month to support your game or get out of Dodge. I don't see any reason to offer incentives to freeloaders. Give 'em an inch today and they will demand a mile tomorrow as "their right". Heck, you see that kind of entitlement enough in real life, we don't need it here in our gaming community as well.

[Tsillah]

This. I never could understand why the F2P model came out.

 

The F2P model came out because in the first 6 months of the game probably more than 80% of the players stopped playing and we had TWO rounds of server merges to deal with that. F2P came in to at least keep enough players on the servers to be able to have enough population on the remaining servers. I mean the game started with like 200 servers.

 

So it was a literal stop gap because the main complaint of people leaving was that the game was not worth the sub they were paying for it. Of course this introduced the cartel market as a replacement for sub income.

 

I really wish none of that had happened because I do not like the whole F2P/cash shop approach, but at the same time the game is still struggling with population issues and that's where the difficulty lies.

[mmmbuddah]

I really enjoy this game, mostly. But the preferred restrictions are simply too much. I have been subbing for the majority of time for over 4 years now, and getting all my warzone priv. and endgame priv. stripped because I have to unsub for a month or two for financial reasons after subbing for 4 years is a bit insulting to be honest. I mean a grace period or something for long term subs after cancelling their subs would be very much appreciated.

[CrazyCT]

I really enjoy this game, mostly. But the preferred restrictions are simply too much. I have been subbing for the majority of time for over 4 years now, and getting all my warzone priv. and endgame priv. stripped because I have to unsub for a month or two for financial reasons after subbing for 4 years is a bit insulting to be honest. I mean a grace period or something for long term subs after cancelling their subs would be very much appreciated.

 

How long would the grace period be for you to keep working if your employer stopped paying you?

 

"We can't afford to pay you this month, but can you still come in and do all the stuff you normally do for free? kthx"

Edited July 16, 2017 by CrazyCT

[ladyalchemist]

I wonder if this would make everyone happy.

 

Give Level 70 Preferred Status Players (Someone who has already paid for the current level cap of level 70 by means of Subscribing.) access to the Galactic Command System, but with a reduction of Command XP gain at either say 50% or 75% less than the current gain rate of CXP that a Subscriber currently gets.

 

So pretty much Level 70 Preferred Players would only have access to solo content (Story Chapters and Heroics), Warzones, 4 player group content (Flashpoint and Uprisings) that they already have access to right now and the same restrictions that they already have right now as well, but be able to use the Galactic Command System window, gain CXP at a reduced rate and be able to gain Command Crates as well per Command Rank. So they can participate and progress in end game activities like they did pre-5.0. Which in turn would solve the population decline and give Subscribers more players to queue up with for end game activities that only can be queued for through the Galactic Command System window.

 

Also while we're at it, let's bring back Operation Passes as well. Although this time let's make sure they can't be sold on the GTN. Maybe they could be giftable direct purchase codes bought on the website here, that you have to enter on the website here(like other codes we use for 30 day subs and Cantina tour in-game items.). So if someone what's a friend to do a week of Ops with them. They can buy the OPs Pass outside of the game, and give the code to their Level 70 Preferred Satus Player friend outside of the game. So we don't have to go through the problems of the past with OPs Passes being available on the GTN in-game.

 

In conclusion I repeatedly said, "Level 70 Preferred Status Players" for a reason. I am referring to those that have at least subbed for one or more months since the release of 5.0 Knights of the Eternal Throne that was released last December 2016. I am not referring to Preferred Status Players who have only spend 5 dollars or more in the Cartel Market. What I am suggesting is only for people who have subbed in the past and have the current level cap of level 70. And going forward what I'm suggesting, should only be available to Preferred Status Players who sub to get the new expansion and new level cap. They should indeed be able to continue to progress in the end game. Even if they unsub, but they should be able to progress with reduced CXP gain rates and with restrictions, and no OPs without a Pass.

 

If this were to occur, I could experience the game as I currently experience it and never, ever pay another dime to the game. I don't do pvp and I dont care much about ops - I do them occasionally when some friends are going and have a hole that needs filled. I do FPs, but I don't pug and have never, ever, used the group finder - I couldn't tell you right now where to find it or how to get myself qued... for anything.

 

I have several level 70 toons and don't grind GC points on purpose - so don't really care about how fast they accumulate. I just do my thing and points rack up by themselves. I don't care about acquiring the highest-end gear - I see no point in it as another tier will just come along to replace it... e.g.: no reason to endlessly farm ops. I'd rather watch water boil or paint dry. I like the stories so would play those. I like to craft so would farm mats and craft. I like decorating my one SH. I like socializing and doing things with my guild. And I can name 10 other current players right now who think exactly the same as I do.

 

So what you propose gives me an incentive to UNSUB rather than pay for what I do. Why pay money for what I can have for free?

[ladyalchemist]

The F2P model came out because in the first 6 months of the game probably more than 80% of the players stopped playing and we had TWO rounds of server merges to deal with that. F2P came in to at least keep enough players on the servers to be able to have enough population on the remaining servers. I mean the game started with like 200 servers.

 

So it was a literal stop gap because the main complaint of people leaving was that the game was not worth the sub they were paying for it. Of course this introduced the cartel market as a replacement for sub income.

 

I really wish none of that had happened because I do not like the whole F2P/cash shop approach, but at the same time the game is still struggling with population issues and that's where the difficulty lies.

 

I was here when it went live. I have my party jawa that gets mailed to me every time I roll a new toon... and takes up space never to be used again. The way it was rolled out is one of the reasons I left the game in Dec 2013. The population wasn't all that bad back then - there were still 3+ instances on fleet at the time. I don't remember any merges during the time I played.

 

EDIT: You know, after thinking about it, I I think I do remember at least one of the merges... at least vaguely. I also remember the long ques to get into game at one time. But I also remember not seeing much of a population difference either after the big surge and normal decline after the big launch.

Edited July 16, 2017 by ladyalchemist

[Andryah]

This. I never could understand why the F2P model came out. There was a time when all MMOs where subscriber model... and that for a reason.

 

Really? You have absolutely no idea why this model has proliferated in online MMOs?

 

There are a number of very real reasons, the most notable being:

 

1) the proliferation of mobile gaming has been on a free-2-play+microtransactions business model. And more and more people are not only indulging in mobile gaming, they have a preference for the business model. So.. if you want to retain players, and or pull in new players... you adjust to the changing needs and wants of the potential player base.

 

2) there are many more MMOs on the market these days and more and more players "play the field" and hence can and will have multiple MMOs installed and playing them at some regular interval. Can you not understand how this sort of nomadic play style would prefer a business model that allows them to selectively defray costs to access said MMOs?

 

There is a common theme with these flexible access models. They are designed to give a player a range of choice in how they access game content, and what game content they pay microtransactions to access. This gives players a lot more flexibility, and the player simply needs to assess for themselves what facet of the access model they choose to select.

Edited July 16, 2017 by Andryah

[Tsillah]

I was here when it went live. I have my party jawa that gets mailed to me every time I roll a new toon... and takes up space never to be used again. The way it was rolled out is one of the reasons I left the game in Dec 2013. The population wasn't all that bad back then - there were still 3+ instances on fleet at the time. I don't remember any merges during the time I played.

 

EDIT: You know, after thinking about it, I I think I do remember at least one of the merges... at least vaguely. I also remember the long ques to get into game at one time. But I also remember not seeing much of a population difference either after the big surge and normal decline after the big launch.

 

The Jawa came later actually. I missed that one cause I unsubbed for a couple of months before F2P came in to try out GW2 (which was a big disappointment.

 

But let me share this video with you

It shows you a player showing off the server selection. Do mind this was in the early access still, so before the official live date when even more players started and he is only showing the NA servers.

 

Look at it and compare it to what's left today...feel free to cry.

 

 

Edit: Another interesting link: http://swtorhumanrelations.com/2011/12/12/swtor-server-list/ Please note that when people say there used to be around 200 servers, this is not just an exaggeration but there really were that many.

Edited July 16, 2017 by Tsillah

[AlaricSevGirl]

They are never going to do it right in SWTOR. In ESO, f2p players have access to the entire game as long as they buy the DLC, no restrictions and let me tell you, the game is very busy. It's not barren like SWTOR. But I fear it is too late for SWTOR because they can't get it through their thick heads that a larger customer base means more money spent in the store. Their view on F2P and preferred is just ignorant.

[leonlotus]

Agreed to many concepts.

Players are human capital. They must be motivated to play before being motivated to subscribe. Anything else will just make the coomunity slowly abandon the game. Ppl wont pay monthly to play recyled content, even if they love the game and are attached to their toons.

I am an example. Being a susbcriber from 1.2 to 3.0 almost all the time, because the game made me very happy. Even in the periods without new content, i was happy with what was there, because it was made carefully.

I also think SWTOR must open the community for preferred players to speak of what would make then subscribe.

Edited July 17, 2017 by leonlotus

[Sareeph]

The F2P model came out because in the first 6 months of the game probably more than 80% of the players stopped playing and we had TWO rounds of server merges to deal with that. F2P came in to at least keep enough players on the servers to be able to have enough population on the remaining servers. I mean the game started with like 200 servers.

 

So it was a literal stop gap because the main complaint of people leaving was that the game was not worth the sub they were paying for it. Of course this introduced the cartel market as a replacement for sub income.

 

I really wish none of that had happened because I do not like the whole F2P/cash shop approach, but at the same time the game is still struggling with population issues and that's where the difficulty lies.

 

And the game was not worth the sub because of poor dev choices with things like rng loot bags for Pvp, letting inbalance issues stand for too long, and an obvious design bias between the factions. People posted here about issues which were not addressed and so the "money" left. Seems vaguely familiar somehow.......

[MeNaCe-NZ]

The F2P model came out because in the first 6 months of the game probably more than 80% of the players stopped playing and we had TWO rounds of server merges to deal with that. F2P came in to at least keep enough players on the servers to be able to have enough population on the remaining servers. I mean the game started with like 200 servers.

 

So it was a literal stop gap because the main complaint of people leaving was that the game was not worth the sub they were paying for it. Of course this introduced the cartel market as a replacement for sub income.

 

I really wish none of that had happened because I do not like the whole F2P/cash shop approach, but at the same time the game is still struggling with population issues and that's where the difficulty lies.

 

Point remains had there never been a form of F2P this game would no longer be here. It struggles with population at it is with F2P (thus I'm all for allowing F2P into more warzones and operations and finding a different means to get them paying - mostly so I get more value from my sub with more people to play against/with) so without it ... there just wouldn't be enough population to sustain it.

 

I take myself as a prime example in saying this. I went through beta and was 50/50 on the game but when it came to paying for it at that time I wasn't really interested in the price for the content, too many other games out there for me to play. Thus it wasn't until after F2P came in and I noted I could give the game a good go for free that I figured might as well - took me about a week or two to start subscribing as I found I really enjoyed the game and wanted the speed up exp benefits etc. in my leveling experience. I had no interest in doing MMO content, just wanted solo story content but even over time I've now managed to become a true "MMO player" and enjoy all content to a degree.

 

Point is if there were no F2P I might well have never bothered and thought nothing more of it (nothing in the media screamed to me I had to try this game, it was no Kotor 2 sequel). I wonder how many other people even now trying the game and converting to sub.

 

I also then wonder if by streamlining the leveling exp gain/leveling experience so much if they haven't shot themselves in the foot. Same with these "start at X" tokens.

By this I mean new player to the game, like me might have no interest in MMO content, they can complete the class stories now very comfortably without paying.

They may/may not pay for expansions with a one off fee and again get a ton of content to work through as their 1 month sub and then preferred. Rinse and repeat on more toons. There isn't a lot of encouragement to pay for this game for this type of player and I would wager this type of solo content consuming player makes up the largest portion of the playerbase (or ex. playerbase if we include those who left as we must with such metrics).

Instead BWA tried to focus on the MMO content to get people paying ... unfortunately it's my belief there just isn't a big enough MMO audience to makes this long term viable.

Hard to get a gauge on this from the forums since most people here this long and actively participating enjoy the MMO experience ( be it ops, pvp, rp or just playing story with friends).

As for the tokens ... really bad idea imo because you've basically made the means for new players to bypass the best part of your product and the newer content isn't a glowing advertisement for the game. If they went through KoTFE for example and thought "is this really all this game is" well don't expect too many to stick around and do the old content especially if the new content in a means "spoils" the old content. I loved Baldurs Gate 2 heaps but still to this day have not gone back and played Baldurs Gate 1 for example.

 

All in all I think a lot of the design and marketing decisions this game has taken are coming back to haunt them, I don't think F2P was ever one of these.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

If this were to occur, I could experience the game as I currently experience it and never, ever pay another dime to the game. I don't do pvp and I dont care much about ops - I do them occasionally when some friends are going and have a hole that needs filled. I do FPs, but I don't pug and have never, ever, used the group finder - I couldn't tell you right now where to find it or how to get myself qued... for anything.

 

I have several level 70 toons and don't grind GC points on purpose - so don't really care about how fast they accumulate. I just do my thing and points rack up by themselves. I don't care about acquiring the highest-end gear - I see no point in it as another tier will just come along to replace it... e.g.: no reason to endlessly farm ops. I'd rather watch water boil or paint dry. I like the stories so would play those. I like to craft so would farm mats and craft. I like decorating my one SH. I like socializing and doing things with my guild. And I can name 10 other current players right now who think exactly the same as I do.

 

So what you propose gives me an incentive to UNSUB rather than pay for what I do. Why pay money for what I can have for free?

 

Why do you pay now? You seemed to say "I don't do any of the stuff that actually costs money to do but I pay anyway" but no doubt I'm missing something?

[MeNaCe-NZ]

The Jawa came later actually. I missed that one cause I unsubbed for a couple of months before F2P came in to try out GW2 (which was a big disappointment.

 

But let me share this video with you

It shows you a player showing off the server selection. Do mind this was in the early access still, so before the official live date when even more players started and he is only showing the NA servers.

 

Look at it and compare it to what's left today...feel free to cry.

 

 

Edit: Another interesting link: http://swtorhumanrelations.com/2011/12/12/swtor-server-list/ Please note that when people say there used to be around 200 servers, this is not just an exaggeration but there really were that many.

 

Just use the internet archive to pull through old copies of http://mirror.torstatus.net/shards/us/trends and you can see an unpleasant picture over time (minus the mirror. - the person who has www. runs an inferior website but got ahold of the owner of the original to redirect to inferior site for some reason, advertising money I guess, very annoying anyway).

[leonlotus]

Point remains had there never been a form of F2P this game would no longer be here. It struggles with population at it is with F2P (thus I'm all for allowing F2P into more warzones and operations and finding a different means to get them paying - mostly so I get more value from my sub with more people to play against/with) so without it ... there just wouldn't be enough population to sustain it.

 

I take myself as a prime example in saying this. I went through beta and was 50/50 on the game but when it came to paying for it at that time I wasn't really interested in the price for the content, too many other games out there for me to play. Thus it wasn't until after F2P came in and I noted I could give the game a good go for free that I figured might as well - took me about a week or two to start subscribing as I found I really enjoyed the game and wanted the speed up exp benefits etc. in my leveling experience. I had no interest in doing MMO content, just wanted solo story content but even over time I've now managed to become a true "MMO player" and enjoy all content to a degree.

 

Agreed. It was something like that for me.

I would not have even tried SWTOR if it did not have turned F2P. A friend asked me to play, and since it was free.. Didnt think a MMO was worth paying. Was not interested in group content nor PvP, i wanted KOTOR.

.....A week later i did my subscription to level up quickly, and a month later i was addicted to its PvP and turned my prime interest. I stayed as a subscriber for years, and left just when it turned storytelling.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Agreed. It was something like that for me.

I would not have even tried SWTOR if it did not have turned F2P. A friend asked me to play, and since it was free.. Didnt think a MMO was worth paying. Was not interested in group content nor PvP, i wanted KOTOR.

.....A week later i did my subscription to level up quickly, and a month later i was addicted to its PvP and turned my prime interest. I stayed as a subscriber for years, and left just when it turned storytelling.

 

It's funny that eh? Come for the story, leave because of the story.

 

I personally saved quite a bit of money with the model they adopted for 4.x once I realized I could just pay $15 at the end for all of it in one hit. so I took time off here n there and to this day I don't know how I managed to get the HK bonus chapter but I did and I'm not giving it back.

[Icykill_]

There were other options to F2P to keep the game going.

One big one would have been making expansions paid for like every other game does.

[ZionHalcyon]

It's funny that eh? Come for the story, leave because of the story.

 

I personally saved quite a bit of money with the model they adopted for 4.x once I realized I could just pay $15 at the end for all of it in one hit. so I took time off here n there and to this day I don't know how I managed to get the HK bonus chapter but I did and I'm not giving it back.

 

No real mystery. The original class and companion stories were so epic that it sucked people in.

 

Whether its been due to bad decisions, less staff or both, there's been a creative decline when it comes to consistency and continuing those stories and people leave because of it.

 

Which means if they want any hope at getting players back (and increasing staff as a result to do more), they need to bring a story that respects what came before and finds a way to continue it, rather than go the KotFE route.

 

We also agree on F2P - I think had they started the game with that, Makeb would still have remained Varl, been the Hutt homeworld as originally planned, and we would have had all 8 class stories as planned, and maybe Yavin as well as class story (no idea if this would have lasted until Bothawuii, the last known original class story planet).

 

As it is, we all know what happened and the history.

[Marmeladix]

The initiator of the subject did introduced something overlooked into the thread by all that wrote something here: „the influencers program”.

 

„the influencers program”

 

It pointed it as „essential”. I fully agree...in total disagreement.

 

What is the job description of an influencer? What is an influencer to do? Which are the influencer tools, which are his permissions and limitations? Who is assigning a task and who is rewarding for fulfilling it?

Whom is an influencer to influence?

In the presentation video of the influencer program there were a few representative examples, revealing that an influencer is to influence the public. An influencer role is to promote, stimulate, encourage, advocate, cheer, serve, steer the interest of the peoples toward SWTOR-KOTOR-KOTET &Bioware interests. The target public of the influencers are the SW players of all categories and the ppl that had no contact yet with the game.

This part is fine, everything is right.

 

I've encountered a few influencers inside the game, pushing... 'notions' into the general chat or the guild chat with results...well... not that great. Based on those personal direct observations and the game's situation at hand, namely „the population decline”, plus a few other elements, judging the results all active players can see, I've developed an opinion in this matter.

 

[imop]

The „influencers program” has been inserted by 'a player' with a char named 'Joker' and a main sith char named 'Trickster'. This is a relevant aspect explaining its actual functionality:

- The program was supposed to carry the will and value of BW and its work to the conscience of the public, players and/or potentials.

- Also, the program was also supposed to provide a useful, relevant, real and trustworthy feedback from the community toward BW.

 

Only due to the program's designer and operator mind's layout, it functions mainly in reverse:

- it fails to convince the public about the great value of the game and the devs efforts = some ppl love the game, some like it, some... but all those have almost nothing at all to do with the influencers influence;

- the feedback brought from the community to the devs is not objective at all at all at all = the influencer's interest is consistent, he needs to make his employer happy in order to 'get payed', he just can not be fair and honest, so he reports a feedback wearing thick makeup, like a char with no gear, but in an awesome looking outfit, pretending to do NiM content.

The influencer submits to his boss only what the boss wants to hear, because if he tries otherwise, the influencer's Big Boss, alike Mr.Burns, the Springfield Nuclear plant's boss, would send him on the highway. There is no other logic in the mostly illogical disregard of all and all the signals and true feedback of the community considering and judging and suggesting about aspects of devs work, since BW never considers it and never budge, but only perseveres on the same path... a clear direction that lead to this state of „population decline” we have today.

 

The influencer's scheme was faulted since insertion, since before it went public, it did not performed, only the Boss lacks... so he bloated the program further to obtain what he wants, and now the real results should be noticeable even to him, but are they really?

Edited July 17, 2017 by Marmeladix

[Dilemmas]

There were other options to F2P to keep the game going.

One big one would have been making expansions paid for like every other game does.

 

Like WoW and FF:ARR?

 

Neither of them failed miserably and had a mass exodus of players shortly after launch. In fact; FF:ARR shows exactly what it takes to get back in the subscription market after a catastrophic failure - A total redesign from the ground up.

 

Games unwilling to do this will likely have to turn to some form of f2p in today's MMO market, and we have plenty of examples that prove this besides SWtOR. The problem is; that SWtOR should be thriving now, (especially with such a namesake a Star Wars) but its f2p model is a joke compared to other MMO's that have been forced to adopt it.