A preferred player’s perspective on Population decline

[Damask_Rose]

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?

 

The problem with that is that anything given as a carrot to subs today would be viewed as a stick to f2p next month. It's an ever moving goal post.

[jpscjpsc]

ESO have the best model in my opinion. There is incentive to sub through QoL improvements but no requirement, very little is kept back from a non-subscriber. They of course charge for expansions if you don't sub, which is a good balance.

 

Plenty of ideas in this thread are a long that vein.

[Severith]

ESO have the best model in my opinion. There is incentive to sub through QoL improvements but no requirement, very little is kept back from a non-subscriber. They of course charge for expansions if you don't sub, which is a good balance.

 

Plenty of ideas in this thread are a long that vein.

 

I really like ESO's model as well. You get to pay for the content you want, or gain and lose content depending on the status of your subscription.

 

If SWTOR did something like that, they'd have to come up with a cool planet that people wanted to go to, and have reasons for going back to. You know, MMO reasons and not single player rpg reasons.

[mike_carton]

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.

 

This is how I've experienced the game for the last few months. Pay ~$15 per month and play just one character (more or less) for the purposes of CXP and gear.

[srackwood]

Can I push my "All Access Token" idea again? You buy a token that gives you access to all the content (including your escrowed money) for 1 month. They could throw in a bonus 500cc for you to spend on the cartel market. I suggest about $15 for it. What do you think?

 

They already have this for 60 days ($29.99), 90 days ($?), and 120 days ($?). This is the way I prefer to sub. Making a 30 day pass would just take away the subscription model. not saying that I wouldn't jump on it in a heartbeat.

[DanNV]

I really like ESO's model as well. You get to pay for the content you want, or gain and lose content depending on the status of your subscription.

 

I do, too. Buy the game, buy expansions (that have real content) and either sub and get DLCs and QoL improvements or don't sub and pay for DLCs as they come out.

[DarthSpuds]

SWTOR is one of the, if not THE, most punitive game when if comes to non-subs.

 

And I am 100% convinced that is counter productive.

 

I recently came back to SWTOR after a stint in ESO. Most of my ESO guild were looking for another game to try together, but once they saw how F2P and Preferred players are PUNISHED for not being Subbed they chose to not even give SWTOR a chance.

 

Most games give subscribers benefits above "normal game content".

SWTOR give Subs "normal game content" and then punishes non-Subs with less than normal game content.

 

Its backwards, it makes it harder to get new players to try the game.

 

I mean who decided you had to buy Skillbars, Unify Colours and Hide Helmet, if you are not a Sub?

That person has done significant harm to the game.

 

All The Best

[Yezzan]

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.

[DarthSpuds]

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.

 

LOTRO.

 

End game requires Quest Packs, and they can be purchased by using Turbine Points, which can be earned by completing in-game deeds.

 

If you are prepared to grind the Turbine Points you can experience the whole game, including end-game content, for free. I used to be in a guild with three such players.

 

All The Best

[DarthSpuds]

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.

 

Yeah, because GC isn't a massive grind fest right?

 

So glad we avoided that by being subbed.

 

Oh, wait...

 

 

All The Best

[Hell_Kaiser_Fett]

As someone who currently bounces between subbed and "preferred" I would like to add to this.

 

I started F2P because I was never an mmo/rpg fan, and didn't want to pay for a game I wouldn't enjoy. I played WoW for about 6 months several years before Swtor came out and didn't care for it myself. I also was not big into RPG games, KotOR and TSL being an exception because Star Wars.

 

I quickly fell in love with the game, and especially the amazing story telling of the class quests. I played 2 characters F2P all the way through. I eventually subbed shortly after for the Makeb expansion and to be able to create more characters. At that time, long before KotFE, the incentives for subbing were very much worth it. Active playerbase, expansions with a great amount of content, and good stories to go with it. Makeb and Oricon were fantastic and well worth a monthly sub.

 

So let's skip ahead to KotFE. Chapters killed it. Period. I like that they wanted too give us "fresh content" every month, but you can go through a chapter in a day or so. The rest of the month was the same grind for endgame, but with no added content for endgame. All the changes that were made, the companions taken, this literally killed my guild. We used to have several full 16 player raids every week, and even 2 HM runs as well. KotFE caused everyone to abandon everything we had worked for over the years, but I can't blame them.

 

Right now, the playerbase is so diluted it's sad. None of the KotFE/ET planet have more than 10 people on at a time. The other day I was on a new toon and saw over 50 people on one of the very few first planets, Balmorra I believe. That's it. I remember starting a new character and there being near 200 people on starting and capital planets sometimes more. Even now, those numbers show people would rather replay the class stories than any of the expansions.

 

Even Iokath is a desolate wasteland. When you don't have several people all fighting over the same daily objectives in an instance, you know your game is dying. The supposed server mergers never needed to be a thing before. Perhaps BW is aware of this, and I hope they're secretly working on something awesome to rectify this, but the game is staying afloat somehow.

 

As F2P, I hated some of the restrictions, but I understood the reasoning and it was acceptable. As long as I could play the main story I was fine. That is the whole point to F2P. I don't believe you should have to sub for story content as long as you pay for the expansion. You aren't required to sub, you still get to experience the story, and BW still gets paid.

 

The game is definitely a lot harder with F2P restrictions, reduced exp, and only 5 revival probes that quickly run out and force you back to base. However, looking back after having played subbed for so long I feel more accomplished with that toon, and he's still my main to this day.

 

Now "preferred" is a flawed status to me with equally flawed requirements. I do not think spending $5 one time should automatically make you preferred. I think preferred should be reserved for those players that legitimately stayed subbed for an extended period of time, having paid a good deal of money to supporting the games continued development.

 

For example, the people who were subbed since launch, but quit when KotFE turned the game into something they didn't like, they should be "preferred" by BW, and should be rewarded as such. Should they still get CC, perhaps, but in smaller quantities. The limitations on their QoL should also be much closer to subbed QoL than it is, as currently it's no different from F2P besides a few more credits.

 

I myself became "preferred" shortly after KotFE, and after having paid for a couple years of sub, that literally meant nothing, because I felt no difference between my "preferred" status and F2P. I eventually took time away from the game until just a few months ago so I could play through all of KotET, and the state of the game is at an all time low.

 

There are several things they could do to bring players together, but BW would rather segregate them into groups based on how much they give a damn about you. F2P is fine, as only the most casual players are genuine F2P, however they should still get access to posting in the forums and submitting tickets. The real issue is with preferred status, which can easily be fixed by allowing them a few more privileges, such as removing the credit cap, gear restrictions, ect.

 

I will be returning to preferred soon, as the content doesn't warrant much past solo stories anymore. My guild will not be returning any time soon, and finding groups for Ops is difficult with the current server population, especially for decent players that know their roles and the operations themselves. You should never wipe on a SM Op. So with all this what incentive is there to sub right now?

 

BW needs to make some big changes to bring players back, let alone keep the few they still have. I love this game and my 16 toons, but the recent content they have given us doesn't warrant a constant $15 from people's wallets. Even the newest Op isn't worth it. Perhaps the next expansion will be, if BW actually listens to the players for a change. I've seen a few recent changes in this area, but it isn't really enough.

 

Hopefully the project they're working on now will breathe life back into the game, giving us better content (as well as our remaining companions, with a damn good story explanation for their absence), and bring players back to the game. As others have mentioned, players are content as well, creating a better gaming environment for everyone. If BW would realize this and respect their players a little more, perhaps one day this game will be teeming with life again.

 

As for now, I'll just be sticking to solo PvE, creating new characters and replaying old content. Sorry for the book I've written and the rambling it contains. I just hope BW is paying attention and takes some of this to heart.

[Narasil]

I could care less honestly.

 

It's not that I disagree with the OP, I think everything he said about how the game is being run and managed is spot on. I just thought and still think it's sheer idiocy to try a free to play model....it NEVER works, and regardless of anyone else's opinion or games where they've seen it work that I haven't played, it HASN'T WORKED HERE.

 

Scrap it, be done with it. It also seems that the free to play people are the biggest whiners and why we get the idiotic and game breaking nerfs and other nonsense that comes from the developers. I don't think they've ever come CLOSE to balancing classes...sorc's being the most blatant, obvious, and just plain stupid. OP on the heal side, completely useless on the DPS side (and very soon both)...but I digress.

 

I could care less if they all stopped playing and we went to one server. I've never thought the philosophy of F2P works because, no kidding, you ACTUALLY have to have someone pay the bills...period. Better to listen exclusively to those people, those actually contributing to the game in the most important sense so that THEY don't leave. Trying to keep around PVP whiners, who's incessant whining breaks the hell out of PVE is a problem in my book. It's a benefit if they leave, or start paying and actually have some skin in the game so they start to THINK about what they're saying and how it effects the whole game. Something given has no value....

 

Good riddance. Sorry, but that's the way I see it.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Narasil

[ivanhedgehog]

Can I push my "All Access Token" idea again? You buy a token that gives you access to all the content (including your escrowed money) for 1 month. They could throw in a bonus 500cc for you to spend on the cartel market. I suggest about $15 for it. What do you think?

 

Maybe call it a "subscription token"? I like it.

[ivanhedgehog]

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.

 

snip

 

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

 

I used to pay verizon for phone service, but after I stopped paying they wont let me keep using it!! I paid them lots of money for years, why wont they let me stay preferred?

[Darevsool]

This is the first MMO I've played that offered a "free" version. In my opinion, if you want to play a game, you pay for it.

However, that seems to be a generational thing. In an age of "free with ads" game on other platforms there has been a demand for those type of free games, and I suspect EA was trying to tap into that market when they went with an F2P model for this game as subscriber numbers were shrinking.

 

HOWEVER, I do believe there needs to be clear divisions between the various "levels" of access (f2p/preferred/subscriber).

 

IF tokens were put back in the cartel market I would want them to be 100% bound to the purchaser. No more selling/trading between toons/accounts. No more rich in game subscribers giving them away to populate their guild to get enough people to do raids...etc.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Darevsool

[Andryah]

IF tokens were put back in the cartel market I would want them to be 100% bound to the purchaser. No more selling/trading between toons/accounts. No more rich in game subscribers giving them away to populate their guild to get enough people to do raids...etc.

 

I agree with this.

 

The game is not free to play all content.. and never has been. It has a blended access model that lets players decide what level of access they want and will pay for. This constant demand for more for Preferred and F2P is misplaced, and just shows that people do not want to support the game financially but want all the goodies. Go freeload some other game that is actually free to play.

 

In my view, the only thing worthy of consideration is to:

 

1) Sell bind-on-sale access tokens for select content on a weekly or monthly basis, as the above post suggestions. This enables players who only want to play very specific content some options to pay as they go... with a crossover point that is clear when it makes more sense to just slap an sub on the account rather then a la carte buys. These need to Bind-on-sale in order to deny the RMTs and other exploiters any way to leverage or exploit the sale of these in game.

 

2) Put a self-adjusting index to the credit limits for F2P and Preferred such that their buying power in game stays roughly constant as the credit supply grows over time and players become more wealthy and the resulting prices on the GTNs. The current credit caps have not changed in 4 years, and that is something that needs to be corrected.. not to make it easier for F2P/Preferred, but to just keep them at relative parity in the buying power they had in late 2012.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Andryah

[Ramalina]

I thought I'd pop in and mention that there's a bit of failure to communicate going on here, possibly due to English as a non-native speaker for the OP. To be clear Puctual means occurring at the time that something was intended to occur. This is often put less formally as "on time," which in meaning is quite different from "one time."

 

 

Another thing is that on the end of the people talking about Preferred options, most of them are not talking about free access to content.

 

The are talking about a la carte purchase of content.

 

If SWTOR as a whole to a subscriber is worth something in the range of $13 to $15 dollars per month, then it's reasonable to think that someone who only likes specific subsets of that collection of content might not be interested in paying the full rate for the parts they don't want. Paying prorated amounts for access only to the portions that they happen to desire, is not freeloading no matter how much you try to stretch the definition of freeloader.

 

How to structure bulk subscription bundles, pro-rated a la carte options, and limited free samples into a pricing structure that allows a sustainable business model is a long and complex discussion with multiple potentially viable answers. By all means have at it with respect to who can come up with the best business model for SWTOR, but enough already with calling people insulting names for, "asking for," things that they are quite explicitly not asking for.

[Serrowherrow]

Just chiming in here also as someone who's bounced between preferred and subbed status. Endgame for me was (and still is) purely PvP. I don't really do PvE outside of leveling and maybe the odd dungeon if I'm dragged into it by a guildie. I like to just hop on, do some warzones and occasionally RP (EH server) so for me, the old WZ passes were absolutely perfect. I don't know if the concept worked equally well for operations, but I will say I feel the blanket removal of all passes was a huge mistake on the dev's part.

 

The simple truth of the matter is that SWTOR is not worth me maintaining a sub for on a passive basis. I don't actually care to enjoy everything the game has to offer. I don't care about new operations or dungeons or strongholds. The three big things I come back for are: PvP, Roleplay, and Story, in that order. There have been several times I've updated the game, played to my weekly WZ cap and just sort of went 'meh' at the thought of resubbing to play further. In the old system though, I could've purchased a $5 supplement of CC to buy passes, or played the GTN to afford them with in-game currency to keep doing just what I wanted to do.

 

I've noticed there are several posts decrying 'freeloaders' on the pages preceding this. Personally, I feel the merits to the old system were obvious. People who had to obtain passes automatically stimulate server economies - those cartel coins have to come from somewhere and ultimately, it might not be worth it for a person to drop $15 bucks just to PvP or do Operations, but $5 is negotiable. Furthermore, when people are already complaining about queues shouldn't we be encouraging more bodies in warzones, flashpoints and operations?

 

I'm not saying passes need to come back in exactly the same fashion as they were before by any means. I just think the developers ought to give them another look, because I know at least among my circle of friends and certain guildies, the inability to consciously pay directly for the content we want to access is a huge deterrent, whereas before that wasn't the case. Maybe the 'optimal' amount of revenue wasn't being wringed from our wallets, but at least we populated the server and the queues and still contributed to the game's livelihood.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Serrowherrow

[Ratajack]

I agree with this.

 

The game is not free to play all content.. and never has been. It has a blended access model that lets players decide what level of access they want and will pay for. This constant demand for more for Preferred and F2P is misplaced, and just shows that people do not want to support the game financially but want all the goodies. Go freeload some other game that is actually free to play.

 

In my view, the only thing worthy of consideration is to:

 

1) Sell bind-on-sale access tokens for select content on a weekly or monthly basis, as the above post suggestions. This enables players who only want to play very specific content some options to pay as they go... with a crossover point that is clear when it makes more sense to just slap an sub on the account rather then a la carte buys. These need to Bind-on-sale in order to deny the RMTs and other exploiters any way to leverage or exploit the sale of these in game.

 

IMO, if BW chose to sell access to endgame content via passes again, they should not only be bound to character (purchaser would have to choose which character on their account that would be receiving the "pass" at the time of purchase) , but also real money transactions, as well. There are far too many players who receive thousands of "free" CC per month via stipends.

 

A real money price of $8 US per weekly pass would be my suggested price. That would price them such that a subscription becomes the cheaper option for as little as two weeks of that content.

 

That said, if BW were going to sell passes and sell them for CC, I would think that a price of 1000 per weekly pass would be equivalent. Again, the object is to price them such that subscribing would quickly become the cheaper option.

 

2) Put a self-adjusting index to the credit limits for F2P and Preferred such that their buying power in game stays roughly constant as the credit supply grows over time and players become more wealthy and the resulting prices on the GTNs. The current credit caps have not changed in 4 years, and that is something that needs to be corrected.. not to make it easier for F2P/Preferred, but to just keep them at relative parity in the buying power they had in late 2012.

 

I disagree with adjusting the credit limits on F2P or preferred players.

 

As you noted, the necessities in this game are very affordable. Unless I am mistaken, there is nothing a person "needs" in this game that exceeds the credit cap.

 

Luxuries are not a necessity, IMO.

 

IMO, if Johnny wants those luxuries, then he should be willing to support the game financially, either through a subscription or through purchasing CC's to purchase them via the CM.

[Andryah]

IMO, if BW chose to sell access to endgame content via passes again, they should not only be bound to character (purchaser would have to choose which character on their account that would be receiving the "pass" at the time of purchase) , but also real money transactions, as well. There are far too many players who receive thousands of "free" CC per month via stipends.

 

A real money price of $8 US per weekly pass would be my suggested price. That would price them such that a subscription becomes the cheaper option for as little as two weeks of that content.

 

That said, if BW were going to sell passes and sell them for CC, I would think that a price of 1000 per weekly pass would be equivalent. Again, the object is to price them such that subscribing would quickly become the cheaper option.

 

I agree with your assessment.

 

I disagree with adjusting the credit limits on F2P or preferred players.

 

As you noted, the necessities in this game are very affordable. Unless I am mistaken, there is nothing a person "needs" in this game that exceeds the credit cap.

 

Luxuries are not a necessity, IMO.

 

IMO, if Johnny wants those luxuries, then he should be willing to support the game financially, either through a subscription or through purchasing CC's to purchase them via the CM.

 

While I agree with you in principle, from a practical point of view..... I do feel that some of the lower end CM content should be within a Preferred's reach. True F2P... yeah.. leave them go sulk in a corner or pay some money into the game they play.

 

From a pragmatic perspective... maintenance costs DO go up as you go up in levels and a Preferred player may have in fact been a sub and hence has equipment that may be fairly costly to keep maintained at the current credit cap limit. All I really see is the creation of a cost index based on key things you would expect every player to incur expense wise plus some spare for modest item purchases.... and adjust the credit cap for Preferred quarterly to track said index. If the index goes up.. the cap goes up, AND if the index goes down the cap goes down (to some floor limit, probably what they have today).

Edited July 6, 2017 by Andryah

[purewitz]

I agree with the OP. Preferred Status Players are paying customers. They don't spend money all the time, but they pay into the game. Either through the Cartel Market or subbing when there is a new expansion. I personally think that if someone has paid for a month's sub to get the current expansion, to get the current level cap. They should be able to keep everything that goes with that current level cap with restrictions. Like right now Level 70 Preferred Status Players should have restricted access to the Galactic Command System.

 

Meaning they should have the restrictions that have always been in place for various end game activities since the beginning of the Free to Play switch. With the addition of lowered Galactic Command XP gained, access to only tier 1 armor sets and weapons, no Disintegrate with crate items, no gear items from crates, can only get Command Tokens from crates to use on the Tier 1 Gear vendors and non-gear items from crates, etc. Only other thing I'd add is story mode only access to Operations and Uprisings with a no boss loot restriction for both and a restriction of only 2 or 3 completed Operations and Uprisings can be done per week.

 

I think giving Preferred Status Players a good and fair taste of end game, will bring in more subs ultimately and boost the populations on servers as well.

Edited July 6, 2017 by purewitz

[CrazyCT]

I think giving Preferred Status Players a good and fair taste of end game, will bring in more subs ultimately and boost the populations on servers as well.

 

I think this is a moan from paying subscribers, who don't want to pay anymore, and are saying what the reasons for them paying is, in the hope that Bioware add that to the preferred model so the players can stop subbing and still enjoy that part of the game.

 

Anyone who thinks that adding more to the preferred model will increase subscriptions is either a lunatic or lying. I don't think I'm alone in saying that I've unlocked pretty much everything with my free CC, so there are very few things left that I need to be subbed for. If enough of them are added to the preferred model, you can kiss my (and probably a good few others) sub goodbye.

 

Gaming would probably be considered a luxury. It's not something that you need, it's something that you enjoy. Like all other luxuries, whether it's a Starbucks, a McDonalds or whatever. Stop pretending like free gaming is a right and pay for the bloody thing.

[purewitz]

I think this is a moan from paying subscribers, who don't want to pay anymore, and are saying what the reasons for them paying is, in the hope that Bioware add that to the preferred model so the players can stop subbing and still enjoy that part of the game.

 

Anyone who thinks that adding more to the preferred model will increase subscriptions is either a lunatic or lying. I don't think I'm alone in saying that I've unlocked pretty much everything with my free CC, so there are very few things left that I need to be subbed for. If enough of them are added to the preferred model, you can kiss my (and probably a good few others) sub goodbye.

 

Gaming would probably be considered a luxury. It's not something that you need, it's something that you enjoy. Like all other luxuries, whether it's a Starbucks, a McDonalds or whatever. Stop pretending like free gaming is a right and pay for the bloody thing.

 

You missing the point, I'm not talking about a free ride. I'm talking about getting what you paid for, but with restrictions. After your sub lapses. Everything I suggested would still push toward a subscription to relieve said restrictions. If BioWare is going to say, "all you need to do is sub to get all current content and a new level cap". Then they should let players still play that content for what goes along with that level cap with restrictions after their sub runs out. If they feel they can't do that, then they should either go back to full paid expansions for everyone (Preferred can have their end game back, because they paid say 30 bucks for the expansion.) or they should go back to a full pay to play business model.

 

The way things have been since the launch of 5.0, has been bleeding this game of players. The game is at all-time low right now, server population wise. BioWare needs to do something sooner than later or fail victim to the mistakes of other MMORPGs of the past that had a short service life. Showing Preferred Status Players that they appreciate what money Preferred Status Players do spend on this game will go a long way and will make some actually sub. Because they will know that BioWare appreciates that they actually spend money on the game.

 

Right now Preferred Status Players feel like they have been betrayed by BioWare for locking them out of end game all together and aren't playing, after they hit level 70. Some Subscribers hated the original Galactic Command System, so some have unsubbed and haven't returned yet. The lack of players on the servers are proof of that and also the long queue times as well. BioWare need to make changes to keep the game going. The recent changes to Galactic Command are a step in the direction, but so is bring back level capped Preferred Status Players to the end game with restrictions.

 

In the end everyone has opinions on what should happen or should not happen and everyone is entitled to there opinions. People have been sharing their opinions and BioWare needs to collect all those opinions and make a decision sooner than later. I just hope for better or for worse, they make the right decision that will keep the game going for years to come. If not EA should move on and make a new Star Wars MMORPG, before their license runs out. Which is rumored to be 2023.

[Severith]

It's weird to think that 12 years ago, when WOW came out, sub fees were 15 dollars. They were generally 10-15 dollars per month for mmos before that.

 

Now how much does an mmo subscription cost? 15 dollars still? Disregarding inflation, look at how much our expectations of what an mmo should deliver and then look at how the price never actually changed. Our expectations got bigger and bigger but our contribution to the game stays the same.

 

I've got no sympathy for people who can't manage to sub. If you have time to play video games you have time to make 15 dollars. The only exception to that is perhaps people living in a country where the exchange rate massively penalizes local currency conversions to the US dollar. I doubt if many people from Congo or Zimbabwe are playing though.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

I agree with the OP. Preferred Status Players are paying customers. They don't spend money all the time, but they pay into the game. Either through the Cartel Market or subbing when there is a new expansion. I personally think that if someone has paid for a month's sub to get the current expansion, to get the current level cap. They should be able to keep everything that goes with that current level cap with restrictions. Like right now Level 70 Preferred Status Players should have restricted access to the Galactic Command System.

 

Meaning they should have the restrictions that have always been in place for various end game activities since the beginning of the Free to Play switch. With the addition of lowered Galactic Command XP gained, access to only tier 1 armor sets and weapons, no Disintegrate with crate items, no gear items from crates, can only get Command Tokens from crates to use on the Tier 1 Gear vendors and non-gear items from crates, etc. Only other thing I'd add is story mode only access to Operations and Uprisings with a no boss loot restriction for both and a restriction of only 2 or 3 completed Operations and Uprisings can be done per week.

 

I think giving Preferred Status Players a good and fair taste of end game, will bring in more subs ultimately and boost the populations on servers as well.

 

The problem with the definition of preferred status is that it makes no distinction between someone who buys cartel packs every month and someone who spent 5 dollars one time ever.

 

Someone who spent 5 dollars one time is not a paying customer, they were a paying customer, one time, but they don't pay anymore. This mentality is sort of like going to eat at Burger King and thinking you should get to eat there for free from now on because you paid last time you ate there.

 

They should have some limitations and they shouldn't be able to get 242-248 gear. What they should do is make different categories of preferred status players base on how much they spend over a given time period. Each category should than have progressively greater access to game features based on amount spent over time. This would it's own way perhaps lead to more people subbing because if people who spend more money frequently than certain others they may just decide it makes more sense to spend the extra 3-5$ and just sub.

 

Someone who spent 5$ one time should have virtually no special consideration whatsoever. They might as well be f2P. It's too easy of a loophole to exploit otherwise. Expenditures in game buying cartel items on the GTN using in game credits should not count as 'paying' because they didn't use real money to get the item and thus BW is making no profit off it. The guy who original bought the cartel item with real money and than put it on the GtN, he should be given credit for money spent, but not the person who buys the cartel item off the GtN with ingame credits. That person has spent no money and should not be given any status change.