A preferred player’s perspective on Population decline

[Andryah]

None of the players I know who have left or are leaving the game cited preferred player restrictions as one of their reasons for leaving. The most often cited reason I've been given is lack of new content that didn't become stale for them after playing it a few times. The other reason is the upcoming nerfs to the classes they've gotten to command level 300. They aren't interested in doing that grind again on other characters. Furthermore, someone I know who had dropped to preferred wound up subscribing again so they could participate in endgame, so for some people the restrictions are an incentive to subscribe rather than quit.

 

Only time will tell if the current model helps reach the revenue goals set out by management, but the bottom line is different people are reacting in different ways and none of the "solutions" I've seen offered, from lessening preferred/f2p restrictions to server merger proposals address the overall issue... population decline is a symptom of a larger problem, not the problem itself, and until the problem itself is addressed, population will continue to decline no matter which of these other ideas are implemented. The real problem is players need a reason to want to subscribe, or otherwise spend real money on the game, because without revenue that meets or exceeds expectations of the company, we no longer have a game.

 

^^ Accurate assessment, in my view.

 

This thread and the topic... has been done to death already in the forum. The OP did a better job of presenting it then most have done. But at the end of the day..... the OPs ideas and premise are misplaced. People who actually support an MMO via subscription deserve to have access to things that freeloaders do not. Freeloaders deserve no such consideration. And this is the crux... freeloaders wanting paid level access.... for free.

 

Pretending that opening up Preferred's access to more of what subscribers get will somehow make for more active players that do more then just freeload.... is exactly the wrong thing to do. I have talked to enough players in game over the years that started as F2P.... quickly moved to Preferred via some small purchase, and then subscribed because they really enjoyed the game. F2P and Preferred are really just more generous "trial access" then most MMOs offer.

 

People need to stop pretending like $15 a month for unlimited play and access is somehow too expensive or not worth it. Most people piss away way more then $15 every day on frivolous things and habits. Honestly, if monthly unlocking of full access is just too expensive or not worth it.... go play something that is. if you truly cannot afford it... then you have other things to pay attention to then playing an MMO with the full benefits of a paid subscription.

Edited June 30, 2017 by Andryah

[docbenwayddo]

A player that is NOT supporting the game financially by subscribing is not entitled to have access to end game content, IMO.

 

If a player wants access to the entire game, including end game content, then they can SUBSCRIBE.

 

Preface by saying I've had a consistent active subscription for over 4 years. I also spent time Preferred.

 

Any month I spent Preferred I spent more money on Cartel Coins than I spend on a 3 month recurring subscription. Assumption that no sub = nothing spent is fair but, more often than not, false.

Edited July 1, 2017 by docbenwayddo

[QuinlanSaathis]

I have said it before and I will say it again.

Preferred should NOT exist.

 

Why do you people think that just because you gave Bioware some money at some point within the time frame since F2P started that this entitles you to above benefits for life.

 

If you are not paying (right now) you are playing for free, end of story (Paying = a sub btw.) Cash shop is money for goods like any other transaction and does not count.

 

In case I was not clear, I completely oppose any extension of preferred benefits and I advocate that preferred be busted back down to F2P where they belong and this change would also prevent the sub-for-a-month exploiting of the game.

Edited July 1, 2017 by QuinlanSaathis

[Ratajack]

Preface by saying I've had a consistent active subscription for over 4 years. I also spent time Preferred.

 

Any month I spent Preferred I spent more money on Cartel Coins than I spend on a 3 month recurring subscription. Assumption that no sub = nothing spent is fair but, more often than not, false.

 

You are more likely the exception, rather than the "rule".

 

Most people are not going to spend over $45 on CC when they won;t even spend $15 to enjoy the game with all the bells and whistles.

[Lunafox]

I definitely think the credit cap could afford to come up for the preferred players. These days it's hard to actually buy anything that isn't a million credits.

 

Though I do agree with one of the other posters, that the benefits to subscribing should be improved as well, put some chocolate coating over that carrot.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Lunafox

[spectreclees]

A player that is NOT supporting the game financially by subscribing is not entitled to have access to end game content, IMO.

 

If a player wants access to the entire game, including end game content, then they can SUBSCRIBE.

It's not about letting people freeload off the game. It's about giving better incentives for people to subscribe to the game. Allowing people to enjoy the content at a reduced rate with other players allows them to see what the game is capable of and in turn will bring in more subscribers. It's about growing the game, it's not about hand outs. I've subscribed on and off for years as well but I feel like alienating the community isn't a smart business move at all. It turns people away instead of bringing more people in.

Edited July 1, 2017 by spectreclees

[Ratajack]

It's not about letting people freeload off the game. It's about giving better incentives for people to subscribe to the game. Allowing people to enjoy the content at a reduced rate with other players allows them to see what the game is capable of and in turn will bring in more subscribers. It's about growing the game, it's not about hand outs. I've subscribed on and off for years as well but I feel like alienating the community isn't a smart business move at all. It turns people away instead of bringing more people in.

 

It actually IS about freeloaders and leeches.

 

But, for the sake of discussion, what would you propose to give subscribers once you give away the game for FREE? And, what happens when the freeloaders and leeches start to complain about being "punished" because they don't get THOSE bells and whistles for FREE and then demanding THOSE extras for FREE?

 

The line needs to be drawn somewhere, and I think BW drew it at a fair and reasonable point. If they start to "move the line" because freeloaders want more, the mice will never stop their "requests" (read demands) for more.

[Toraak]

It actually IS about freeloaders and leeches.

 

But, for the sake of discussion, what would you propose to give subscribers once you give away the game for FREE? And, what happens when the freeloaders and leeches start to complain about being "punished" because they don't get THOSE bells and whistles for FREE and then demanding THOSE extras for FREE?

 

The line needs to be drawn somewhere, and I think BW drew it at a fair and reasonable point. If they start to "move the line" because freeloaders want more, the mice will never stop their "requests" (read demands) for more.

 

^ 100% this. BW has given far more then they should have. if it was up to me, players would get to play the starting planet, and the capital world for F2P, then they'd get stuck at that point (i'd even let them get to level 20 there). Once level 20 was acquired, the Free trial would end. I'd offer no Preferred option what so ever. so at that point it's time to subscribe.

[Nethrazhur]

First of all thank you all for the feedback provided.

 

I've seen the word “freeloader” be used a lot senselessly and to this respect I feel I need to retort, mainly to clear away some inaccuracies on that regard. Now for those who think “preferred players” are freeloaders and think they are entitled to everything for spending 5$; that assessment is a generalization that does not reflect the “quid in casu”. The majority of Preferred players are former subscribers who paid for any of the 3 subscription options and either let them run out or cancelled it (permitted in accordance with EU legislation) or bought the 60 day game time option, so in reality it’s not limited to 5$, but instead a successive collection of punctual pays to access new level cap and experience new content.

 

But, the argument against the “preferred players” who indeed spend pennies and wish to enjoy everything for a dime, relates to a behavioral tendency to experience the maximum possible content at minimum money expenditure, it should be noted that said behavior is aligned with the overall “premise” of the game’s advertisement as being Free-to-play.

 

Now, the transition from P2P to F2P was voluntarily carried out, no one held EA/Bioware at gunpoint or morally coerced them to adopt the model, it was a needed step, so in light of this, they lost the possibility to (like other P2P games as WoW) advertise “trial periods”. There is no going back once you sail the F2P ship.

 

Here is another point that needs to be made to shed some light on the comments by “QuinlanSaathis” who says:

 

“I have said it before and I will say it again.

Preferred should NOT exist.

 

Why do you people think that just because you gave Bioware some money at some point within the time frame since F2P started that this entitles you to above benefits for life.”

 

 

Well “preferred players”, apart from the majority being “former subscribers”, are always potential sources of income as they generally sub when new content comes out to experience it, hence why they are called “the casuals”. You can say they are a conscientious investor, they pay in accordance to what they decide is relevant for them and merits monetary support, it is not freeloading it is in fact smart investment.

 

Now let’s dissect what this means. Instead of adopting a “passive” approach like subs who spend 15$ a month, validating the company’s decision to rehash old content and imbuing game developers with a false sense of stability and acceptance, ever so apparent with the constant subbing; they instead, adopt the “active” posture and invest when they deem the game is worthy of it. Essentially, what I’m saying is when your customer base is “self-aware” you lack the leeway to maneuver them, unlike those who passively pour money hoping the people in charge will change things for the better.

 

Luckily, Subscribers seem to have woken up and became self-aware with 5.0’s horrible RNG gearing system and they spoke with their wallets, essentially becoming “preferred players” themselves.

 

The game doesn’t need “enablers” who don’t value their own money, be it because they have a lot of it or because someone else pays for them.

 

People need to stop adhering to the drone way of behaving and become self-aware.

 

Here is a simple truth, we pay for water because we “need” to, we pay for electricity because we “need” to, we pay for medication because we “need” to, and so on; but, we pay for gaming because we “want” to and here is where the service comparison reveals itself. When there is “need” than there is perfect economical inelasticity which means the service providers can increase prices and consumers will continue paying for them.

 

Here, we “want” to pay and EA/Bioware “need” us to “want” to pay, so the logic is reversed, meaning in the previous situations we have no leeway, whereas in this one we have.

 

Let’s stop reasoning like this game wasn’t advertised as Free-to-play, and let’s stop the generalization and accept that as far as non-subs go, “preferred players” yield the most promise, mainly because many of them were at times subs themselves, so let’s refrain from placing sweet potatoes next to plain potatoes. The reality is the game is Free-to-play and the “perception” that exudes into those who enter it, is that of all-out access with minimum to no money expenditure, and this is a consequence of the adopted business model.

 

Now, I have noticed also that people seem to misunderstand something about my post, and that is they assume I am proposing changes and that is inaccurate – if you take the time to read carefully, I clearly wrote: “should have been granted access” not “have to be granted access”, there is a big difference; the inclusion of the measures that “should have been” implemented at 5.0´s launch would do little to nothing now, maybe, they’d bring back in some of the “minimum cash expenditure” portion within the “preferred player” population.

 

People argue that the company knows best, well, the influencer program seems to hint they don’t; if their “metrics” are well gathered and analyzed then how come the game is in its current state when they’ve had close to 4 full years of experience?

 

Reading these forums, I have always noticed the remarks against “preferred players” are generalizations that don’t take into account the specific niches within the sample group. Who do you think are the “casuals”?

 

So, the discussion stands, the game is free-to-play what will the company do to preserve the player base that remains dormant as “preferred players” and to entice pure free-to-play to actually spend money? Let’s be rational, and take a look at the following example – if someone is drawn to the game (just to try it out) what incentive do they have to pay to access an operation if they can’t sample one, or any end-game content for that matter? When I go buy cherries, strawberries or grapes, I “sample” one before I buy them.

 

And there is a point I didn’t want to touch, but, seems I am compelled to do, some of the comments like:

 

RataJack

 

“It actually IS about freeloaders and leeches.

 

But, for the sake of discussion, what would you propose to give subscribers once you give away the game for FREE? And, what happens when the freeloaders and leeches start to complain about being "punished" because they don't get THOSE bells and whistles for FREE and then demanding THOSE extras for FREE?

 

The line needs to be drawn somewhere, and I think BW drew it at a fair and reasonable point. If they start to "move the line" because freeloaders want more, the mice will never stop their "requests" (read demands) for more.”

 

This toxicity and hostility towards people who are in the game because its business model permits it is what ought to be lessened; what this does is create a rift between those who pay and those who could likely pay. Instead of making them feel unwanted, which happens constantly and serves as a disincentive in itself to sub, a more subtle approach should be adopted, because players can sometimes serve as a greater incentive to sub than any in-game marketing strategy.

 

Also, when some people argue that most of the game time is spent alone, that is also due to the incentive to “solo play”, mainly, mechanics like “achievements” are solo ventures in the most part, decorating strongholds and farming credits to acquire things on GTN or purchase other specific in-game vanity items are all incentives to drift from group activity, but that is an architectural issue transversal to all games of this genre, it has to do with game design.

 

Lastly, “perception” is just as important as “awareness” and when u visit an instance that used to be heavily populated and you see merely a few people, you associate it with desertification; even when playing alone, knowing that many others are venturing with you gives you a sense of inclusion in your solace. Naturally, there is a predominant social aspect to everyone that compels them to gather where large groups are, empty instances are unattractive. Non-subs do help in this regard, they are content.

 

Overall, in an MMORPG players are “all” content and the most important content. Actual in-game expansions with single or multiplayer content are tools that have a will but need a master (to borrow Marr’s words on KotFE).

 

SWtOR is like a big amusement park with many rides, naturally some people pay to ride the rollercoaster, some the house of horrors, some come to eat and others just come to see what’s up and don’t pay a dime; but each has its own importance. Naturally the park won’t open without people or for a limited amount of them who just want to ride the rollercoaster, it needs “numbers”, the more people the more appealing it is to check out, so yet again “perception”.

 

The incentives for “everyone” need to be revised and the existing “dormant” player base recovered and retained, only then can drafts be made on how to acquire more; and in this regard, remaining faithful to your original philosophy of slowly nurturing new players into potential subs, rather than implementing totalitarian measures that contrast from the advertised Free-to-play model, is the most reasonable path to follow.

 

I wish to see this game succeed, but, it won’t happen unless we bridge the gaps that separate us from eachother.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Nethrazhur

[AlrikFassbauer]

We read subscriber posts on a daily basis but not so often posts from non-subs, mainly because the system in play denies that possibility, and also, on account of the self-conscious understanding that a voice without money backing is inaudible.

 

I just resubbed to comment on this this thing.

 

Even this thing alone - it is worthy to comment on, I thought.

I have had and read cases of non-subs having a bug - but begging people in General Chat to get help, because they couldn't send out a ticket just because they weren't subs.

 

Assumed, there was a bug which was caused by the sheer fact that one was a non-sub - and thus his or her items would be buggy because of thet - just assumed : This bug woulkd never make it to the developers because the person could never send it out. The person could never send it out, because the person was no subscriber.

Of course Custumer Support could get contacted via phone - but how much does this actually help ? Especially when it comes to the CS person trying to reconstruct what actually had happened with that non-subscriber player's character ? The CS person would have to switch into an Preferred or F2P status himself (or herself) in order to get this bug reconstructed, and, perhaps, get confirmed - all of this assumed there could bugs happen due to the restriction of rights as a non-subscriber or otherwise because of not being a subscriber.

 

To me, this is quite a breach in the try of getting an equally bug-free game.

 

 

 

When I was becoming Preferred Status, I was quite shocket at how much restricted my game play was. Especially with a char being at level 70.

Green Quality items suddenly required Artifact Authorization. Blue Quality, of course, that was nothing unexpected to me. Green Quality was.

Now even Cartel Market require Artifact Authorization as well. I saw it very clearly with several CM crystals (which I collect).

 

Okay, the Patch Notes of 5.2.2 now say this :

 

Various Premium and Prototype items no longer require Artifact Equipment Authorization for Free-to-play players.

 

Source : http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/6132017/game-update-5.2.2

 

Still, even after that, I saw Cartel Market still requiring Artifact Quality Authorization.

 

At level 70, my currently level 70 main char sits on several CXP packs (or how they are called) which he cannot use, because they require subscriber status. Literally.

 

And then, the money issue. With that amount of inflation, it becomes quite difficult to get items in the Galactic Trade Network with a cap of 350.000 This amount of money is easily spent, and anything above that requires another Cartel Market item to get additional money - even when the own in-game bank account has 0 Credits !

The money just doesn't fill back - it is stored elsewhere, unaccessible without any CM item.

 

EA and/or Bioware seeminglxy studied Zynga's concept of "fun pain" very thoroughly. EA later acttually acquired Zynga. The concept is just so to make it a pain for people if they want to have fun - so much that they rather want to buy an additional thing to get the pain away - that's exactl Zanga's concept. I can see it within SWTOR with the money and its current state of inflation - or just the weekly passes.

 

The danger, however, is, to make it all too restrictive. So much restrictive in fact that people rather turn away from the pain than as just another way to make it go away than spend CM items or become subscribers to make it go away.

 

I have no real idea why the population is dexlining. Perhaps EA / Bioware actually gets a lot of money through F2P players. I don't know.

But I still believe that making a system like that too restrictive might also cripple its F2P base. People might turn away from that game and say it's no fun anymore. Because it is too restrictive for their taste.

 

My personal, very personal and subjective advice would be to let the cap end at let's say 600.000 or so Credits - so much that people are even able to buy at least *some* rooms in newer Strongholds, for example.

Not to mention the prices on the GTN, even for Decorations alone.

 

My more serious advice to the development team is this : Please do make a new character and play that character WITHOUT being a subscriber. And scribble down nots at points where you have the feeling that the "fun pain" is too strong and the means to make it go away are too restrictive. This is imho an highly emotional thing, a thing not easily to get quantified through sheer numbers and databanks (which are emotionless).

[Rheshalea]

What I would like to see is one-day login passes, sold in bunches of 30, 50 and 100 or some such suitable numbers.

They'd give the user all the benefits of a monthly subscriber, but each pass would be valid for, say, 12 hours, after which the player would be prompted to either use another one or play on as Preferred.

 

As some sort of background: I used to be a very avid WoW player. I was in a big, happy guild where I met lots of awesome people. I stopped playing WoW years ago, and every now and then go back for a visit of maybe a week of more active gaming until I get bored with it again. But I still get twinges of wanting to visit a certain area, or making a new alt, or just hopping in to see how my friends in the guild are doing. And I can't, because I know I'll be wasting my money since I have to sub for a month and will only play for a few days.

So Blizzard misses out on that money. I'd gladly pay for a bunch of daily passes, though, and indulge in a weekend of touring Azeroth with guildies. And no, I don't have enough ingame gold to buy more than one or maybe, if I'm lucky, two months of subtime without using real money.

 

Eventually I won't want to pay for SWTOR either. Not a monthly sub, at least. So I'll stop playing completely for a good while, and EAware won't get any money from me at all. It's not because the sub costs too much, because that's really not it. It's just that I can use that money better if I don't play the game anyway.

If there was a daily pass I could buy, though, EAware would at least get that money out of me. Eventually, maybe I'd have more time to play again and re-sub.

 

These daily passes should naturally only be obtainable with Real Money, not Cartel Coins. They could be a code sent to the user's email, like the one-time security code thingies. And "proper" fulltime subscribers should get better perks than 500 Cartel Coins for being proper subscribers so they don't whine too much on the forums about why the one-day scrubsubs are their equals.

[CrazyCT]

What I would like to see is one-day login passes, sold in bunches of 30, 50 and 100 or some such suitable numbers.

They'd give the user all the benefits of a monthly subscriber, but each pass would be valid for, say, 12 hours, after which the player would be prompted to either use another one or play on as Preferred.

 

Worst. Idea. Ever.

 

Instead of people subbing, they'd buy a 100 pack of those passes and play once a week for 2 years. I don't know how much you think they're going to sell those 100 packs for, but if it meant there were no subs for 2 years, it'd completely kill the game off.

 

And people are already complaining in other threads about there being nobody in the queues, it'd be a 100 times worse when people are only playing once a week cause they don't want to waste a 12 hour token if they've only got an hour or so to play.

 

What kind of incentive do you have in mind for people continuing to sub? 2 years of subbing would be $360, so it'd need to be something substantial to be worth that kind of investment instead of buying a few passes.

[Rheshalea]

Worst. Idea. Ever.

 

Instead of people subbing, they'd buy a 100 pack of those passes and play once a week for 2 years. I don't know how much you think they're going to sell those 100 packs for, but if it meant there were no subs for 2 years, it'd completely kill the game off.

 

And people are already complaining in other threads about there being nobody in the queues, it'd be a 100 times worse when people are only playing once a week cause they don't want to waste a 12 hour token if they've only got an hour or so to play.

 

What kind of incentive do you have in mind for people continuing to sub? 2 years of subbing would be $360, so it'd need to be something substantial to be worth that kind of investment instead of buying a few passes.

 

Well, right now, instead of subbing, a lot of people simply don't play at all or play for free. Which alternative is better? Making some money or making no money?

As for incentives, I can imagine quite a few. Off the top of my head:

Sub-only offers on Cartel Market items. Bigger monthly Cartel Coin grants. These could be affected by continuous sub streaks - the longer you keep your sub up, the better the deal.

Lower repair costs. Higher cxp-rewards. Better drop chance of decorations in FPs. Reduced CC-cost for unlocking stuff in Collections. Extra rooms in Strongholds/reduced cost to unlock rooms. Dye modules for vehicles.

 

That's 8½ ideas for incentives that took me five minutes to think up. What are yours?

[AlrikFassbauer]

But I still get twinges of wanting to visit a certain area, or making a new alt, or just hopping in to see how my friends in the guild are doing.

 

SWTOR has that only to a minimal point for me - because my taste changed over the last few years.

 

First, I was happy about all of this action going on (WAr !) within that Galaxy, -

- but now my taste has fully changed, and every time I go back into SWTOR I must think : "Well, they are still fighting ? There is still war ? Nothing silent and quiet within the game ? And, if I wanted to find myself a nice and quiet place, it'd be filled with hostile critters, animals, droids or other races."

 

Because m taste has changed, SWTOR doesn't appeal that much to me anymore.

[ZionHalcyon]

I'd like to offer a different suggestion.

 

If we were to use a similar model such as DDO, then instead of locking players out of operations, put the operations up for sale individually on the Cartel Market. If you purchase an operation you own it for life.

 

Dungeons and Dragons online does this for their adventure packs and raids and it has allowed them to continue developing content even to this day.

 

Subscribers get all the operations for free while free-to-play and preferred players have to pay per operation for which ones they want.

[AlrikFassbauer]

I'd like to offer a different suggestion.

 

If we were to use a similar model such as DDO, then instead of locking players out of operations, put the operations up for sale individually on the Cartel Market. If you purchase an operation you own it for life.

 

Dungeons and Dragons online does this for their adventure packs and raids and it has allowed them to continue developing content even to this day.

 

Subscribers get all the operations for free while free-to-play and preferred players have to pay per operation for which ones they want.

 

Supported by me. DDO is the only other MMO I know, but I like its model a LOT more than that of SWTOR.

[CrazyCT]

Well, right now, instead of subbing, a lot of people simply don't play at all or play for free. Which alternative is better? Making some money or making no money?

 

As soon as your idea is implemented, just about every single player who plays once a week will stop subbing. Which is better, having subs keeping the game afloat, or losing 99% of them, in the (faint) hope that a few extra players will buy a token to play.

 

I can't think of a reasonable incentive big enough to keep me subbed if these tokens were introduced.

[AllisonLightning]

It actually IS about freeloaders and leeches.

 

But, for the sake of discussion, what would you propose to give subscribers once you give away the game for FREE? And, what happens when the freeloaders and leeches start to complain about being "punished" because they don't get THOSE bells and whistles for FREE and then demanding THOSE extras for FREE?

 

The line needs to be drawn somewhere, and I think BW drew it at a fair and reasonable point. If they start to "move the line" because freeloaders want more, the mice will never stop their "requests" (read demands) for more.

 

My honest opinion is we subscribers should have been given a lot more- it isn't about freeloaders- it's about the fact that they saw fit to make subs pay for a F2P grind. The CXP garbage belongs to Preferred- give us the old system back, the old pass system back because it worked. I play an insane amount of characters at endgame group content- the pass system is absolutely worthless for me. I can't imagine playing with that limitation. What galls me is they are serving up old content, servers that are buggier than ever (want fun- try almost having a group wipe because we lagged during the Styrak burn phase today after reset- we lost half the group within seconds and then it was my turn) and we're defending this as an entitlement.

 

I expect more because I'm not going to argue that F2P/Preferred should get less because we've only recently started actually getting new content- the state of the game is the fault of the 5.0 gearing system and the content drought because monthly chapters were seen as a good idea. They didn't leave because they couldn't freeload- they left as there was nothing to subscribe for. They've been the smokescreen for a long time and along with the new communication, content and so on- I want to see Bioware stop hiding behind F2P/Preferred as scapegoats... and yes, I do think we should have real expansions and pay for them.

[HuaRya]

"A preferred player’s perspective on Population decline"

 

The perspective of a decline is coming from a person on one of seventeen different servers. Games that don't have the perception of a decline have but two (one in North America and one in Europe). SWTOR is actually doing pretty good they just have a fragmented active player base across too many redundant servers. They need to see that games like GW2, FF, & ESO don't play identity politics with labeling people PVP/PVE/RP we are all just players in a big melting pot of personalities. Those labels are up to the guilds if they so choose to .

 

While we don't know for sure it is collectively assumed that Bioware Austin's main form of revenue come from buying a subscription. EA is probably getting half or more of the cartel market sales. For every dollar made probably half goes towards Disney. To get more money to Bioware so we can have new content we need to accommodate the folks who just want to play pvp/operations on a single toon.

 

So Introducing: The Sub-Light Subscription direct purchase $9.99

 

For $4.99 a month you get to do anything a full subscriber can do but only on ONE SINGLE TOON. The alts will be F2P/Preferred Status. Can you have more than one Sub-Light Subscription? Yes.

 

Intended for the type of player that likes to run a few operations a week, do a little PVP, have the ability to have their character advance in CXP, and catch up with their guildies. These types of players existed in larger numbers around the time of Oricon dropping off just before the advent of guild grind Galactic Conquest

 

That's my 2 cents from a player who's been around since 2012

Edited July 5, 2017 by HuaRya

[Karasuman]

 

People need to stop pretending like $15 a month for unlimited play and access is somehow too expensive or not worth it. Most people piss away way more then $15 every day on frivolous things and habits. Honestly, if monthly unlocking of full access is just too expensive or not worth it.... go play something that is. if you truly cannot afford it... then you have other things to pay attention to then playing an MMO with the full benefits of a paid subscription.

 

I can see both sides of this debate, but ultimately I am where you are on this. All of this back and forth over a measly $15 a month? MMO's in general are a pretty incredible value in that they give you a month of entertainment for ~ $15.

 

$15 a month isn't even on my radar. I am by no means rich, but if someone has that hard of a time scratching together $15 in a month, then they have other issues and priorities that they need to look at. The only thing I will say is that they should remove the credit cap for preferred players. Even as a sub, I've always thought the credit cap for preferred players to be such a petty and silly thing, and to compound the issue, right now that cap is way, way too low with the mega-inflation going on in this game currently.

[Severith]

OP had some good points, but missed the actual one which is the root of all the problems.

 

The Dev team relied on the story to keep people interested and subbed to an mmo.

 

Even if it was the best conceived of and written story that had ever existed, (it's nowhere close) people still would of gotten bored. It's all because of how Bioware reacts to data.

 

Bioware sees people doing solo pve, and think that's the way to drive the game. They didn't realize that the reason people favored solo pve so much was that the other content was flawed, so instead of fixing what needed fixing they decided to double down on solo mode pve.

 

And that's no way to sustain an mmo.

[Karasuman]

Even if it was the best conceived of and written story that had ever existed, (it's nowhere close)

 

 

I strongly disagree with this point. A very good case could be made that TOR has some of the best storylines of any MMO out there. Maybe not the FE/ET stuff, but I've played a lot of MMOs, and the class stories in this game are arguably some the best stories of any MMO I've played, maybe *the* best.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Karasuman

[Severith]

I strongly disagree with this point. A very good case could be made that TOR has some of the best storylines of any MMO out there. Maybe not the FE/ET stuff, but I've played a lot of MMOs, and the class stories in this game are arguably some the best stories of any MMO I've played, maybe *the* best.

 

I'll agree that for an MMO, the story is decent. But that's a relative assessment. MMO story writing, as a genre, is high school level at best. My original point was that even if it was the best story ever created (NOT MENTIONING MMOS) it still wouldn't be enough to keep people subbed.

 

Please read carefully before quoting. Thank you.

[AlrikFassbauer]

A player that is NOT supporting the game financially by subscribing is not entitled to have access to end game content, IMO.

 

If a player wants access to the entire game, including end game content, then they can SUBSCRIBE.

 

Reminds me of the subscription costs of scientific magazines at universities. Quite costly for the libraries there, at least in my own country.

 

At one point I found that settling the price of Archaeology magazines quite high is quite a way to keep poorer people from knowledge - simply through money. Money as a social barrier.

 

You ask now what this has to do with SWTOR ? Well, subscription costs something.

 

If a player wants access to the entire game, including end game content, then they can SUBSCRIBE.

 

Same is true for most scientific magazines which you won't read anyway, I guess from your tone. However, Libraries could suddenly come to the opinion that there shouldn't be Public Libraries anymore. Those who want knowledge have to pay for knowledge - social barrier through money.

 

When I invite someone to be my guest and even serve him / her a snack or even a meal - do I call these invvited people Freeloaders ? Or even Parasites ?

 

With turning SWTOR into F2P, Bioware exactly did this . Invite people. Bioware explicitely doesn't call F2P players "Freeloaders". Of course, those F2P guests won't see *all* rooms. Me, for example, if i invited guests, I wouldn't show them the sleeping room, for example. The toilet, however, would be something I'd see as necessary to show them.

 

These days, I do not see any difference between F2P and "Preferred Status" anymore. Like friends I could invite, I put them into drawers of how much I trust them. I naturally trust good friends more than friends I don't know that much.

Same should be there with F2P ... But I don't see any difference between F2P and "Preferred Status" anymore.

 

After my current subscription of 2 months I'll be going back into F2P because SWTOR has lost its taste for me. I'm changing.

[Severith]

Reminds me of the subscription costs of scientific magazines at universities. Quite costly for the libraries there, at least in my own country.

 

At one point I found that settling the price of Archaeology magazines quite high is quite a way to keep poorer people from knowledge - simply through money. Money as a social barrier.

 

You ask now what this has to do with SWTOR ? Well, subscription costs something.

 

 

 

Same is true for most scientific magazines which you won't read anyway, I guess from your tone. However, Libraries could suddenly come to the opinion that there shouldn't be Public Libraries anymore. Those who want knowledge have to pay for knowledge - social barrier through money.

 

When I invite someone to be my guest and even serve him / her a snack or even a meal - do I call these invvited people Freeloaders ? Or even Parasites ?

 

With turning SWTOR into F2P, Bioware exactly did this . Invite people. Bioware explicitely doesn't call F2P players "Freeloaders". Of course, those F2P guests won't see *all* rooms. Me, for example, if i invited guests, I wouldn't show them the sleeping room, for example. The toilet, however, would be something I'd see as necessary to show them.

 

These days, I do not see any difference between F2P and "Preferred Status" anymore. Like friends I could invite, I put them into drawers of how much I trust them. I naturally trust good friends more than friends I don't know that much.

Same should be there with F2P ... But I don't see any difference between F2P and "Preferred Status" anymore.

 

After my current subscription of 2 months I'll be going back into F2P because SWTOR has lost its taste for me. I'm changing.

 

Comparing the tens of thousands of dollars a library spends so students can research to a simple 15 dollar sub fee? Really?

 

If anyone is hard up for a sub fee, go knock on some doors and offer to mow someone's lawn. They'll look at you funny if you only ask for 15 bucks, so I recommend asking for 30-40 dollars. Do that 3-4 times and you've got a swtor sub for an entire year.

 

The real cost of an mmo is in the time spent playing it.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Severith