SWTOR Going Free-To-Play by Fall

Unfortunately there is really not enough info yet to tell if this is good or bad. We have a lot of opinions flying, including mine. I will continue to play and hope for the best. Can't wait for more details so we can all make educated decisions on this news.

true, the OF people are already brandishing the pitchforks saying the sky is falling, but i'll be sat on the fence awaiting any firther info as it comes out. i'll still be playing and stick with the sub model...

damn. i was hopeing for someone to finally put WOW down. but i knew we were in trouble when they cut the amount of severs. Too bad alll of the contenders to the mmorpgs title seem to be failing...free to play game tend to suffer from content issues... no body pays so why put out expansions or storys

The thing I like about this thought is that not only do we still get the option to sub, which I will be still, but we get rewarded too with monthly Store Coins. So we will still be ahead of the F2P people.

You won't have enough people paying for the rest so content will grind to a halt.

I play lotro, which had started a similar program. Hated it at first, but it was successful for them and the content still rolls out well enough. I even found uses for their in game currency in their store. I'll wait and see myself.

I am never a fan of a game that does what 'age of conan' did when converting to f2p. They prevent access to your toons (and if you're an alt-aholic like me this is not cool), they cap your bag space, they cap your bank space, they prevent access to funds you already accumulated.....all this after already buying the collectors edition and paying them money for months and months. To me it's a slap in the face that will in the end probably lead me to quitting permanently. And I understand that all I have to do is keep paying. I just dont like the penalty and loss of earned rewards for embracing their f2p structure. So annoying. Star Wars: The Old Republic | Customer Service

Me and my kids accounts will remain unchanged. We'll keep playing just like we have been. If the game thrives like this, fine. if it falls, the so be it.

We really like the game, but the problems were written on the wall very early on. And for all the effort BW is going through to GET players now, the stupid thing is that many of the early problems were ones that kept people who WANTED to play from doing so. No Mac version...stupid. Computer crippling lag. Random crashing to desktop. Launcher that randomly made the game unplayable on computers.

All those things locked out people who WANTED to give BW their money, but couldn't. Now they've told all their friends and family about the problems, and those people don't bother to even give the game a try. Will F2P get them to try it, maybe...no way to be sure.

One thing is for sure though, getting kicked to desktop every 30-40 minutes, or getting stuck loading 'main assets', will definitely make them give the game up. Just like it did for SO MANY players.

Great game, but too many technical errors and bad technical decisions by BW. All this still makes me wonder what would have happened if they had just skipped the MMO idea and gave us all the KOTOR 3 (w/Mass Effect graphics) that we all wanted. /sigh...

Originally Posted by thantilis

damn. i was hopeing for someone to finally put WOW down. but i knew we were in trouble when they cut the amount of severs. Too bad alll of the contenders to the mmorpgs title seem to be failing...free to play game tend to suffer from content issues... no body pays so why put out expansions or storys

To sell it.

you guys would be surprised about how bad free to play games are and their lack of content. guild wars came out apr 2005 and has had four expansions since with all kinds of new content, and still has a pretty decent player base to this day.

Im still loving the game and all the concepts, I wont be going anywhere for awhile.

Have you played Team Fortress 2??? It goes a lot better after it became F2P. And if you see you can still pay for full game like in LOTR. Anyway I hope this will bring some ppl and they will see the new game. And I hope the game will evolve and goes to better. The only wrong thing in this game is the Logo of EA Games. I really wish some other company to buy Bioware and to give them real support not the fail "money" support given by EA till now.

When Everquest 2 went Free-to-Play it was well into their I think 7th year of being active. It was after 6 expansions, and the game had been played out. For Sony, it was a white flag - the beginning of the end, and if you ask the people who played Everquest 2 since launch, it wasn't the same game any more. Sony had lost its subscribers well before the Free-to-Play option was even conceived (about a year before actually).

For SW:TOR I don't think BioWare is putting up the white flag and saying: "We're in trouble, we're a sinking ship." I think BioWare has a really good Marketing department, who wanted to pre-emptively think of ways to build their initial member base up.

It isn't even the first year, and this game shows no signs of floundering. It had an incredible launch, and is constantly getting new content. I normally agree with the pessimists, but in this particular case, I think BioWare is just trying something a little different. And lets face it, they've always been just a little different - damn Canadians. =P

This isn't Bioware saying they are going F2P, this is EA telling Bioware to adopt the F2P model. EA has come out and said that freemium is the future of the way they will do things.

EA or BW is still forcing people to pay to play.

Originally Posted by Markk9

EA or BW is still forcing people to pay to play.

You're absolutely right - companies/corporations like to advertise that their game is "free", which in this particular case it will be interesting to see the "limitations" on a Free-to-play account. (In EQ2 they restricted 3/4 of the classes, and a number of races if I recall - and severe restrictions on the type of loot you could equip). The free-to-play model allegedly allows people to play for free, but its so hosed down no one would have fun with it. But its a lot easier to ask you for money when what you want is to use the trade market, and you'll justify it to yourself to pay for it, when you compare $15 a month, to a one time $5 payment (or whatever it is). In truth the free-to-play model causes players to end up paying more money for the same thing.

Personally I feel going "free-to-play" is absolute bullshit for lack of a more appropriate expression. Developers are definitely going more and more towards the free-to-play model, and it infuriates me. I WANT to pay for a game. I want a quality MMO, with a population of good players. The only way for this model to work is to build an MMO for the hardcore players, which since Generation 2 or even first generation MMOs, really hasn't existed. Every game gets more simplistic, faster, and easier to obtain the "top-end" spoils.

If I could have just one developer who wanted to make a game for the "MMO" players and not for the casual gamer, it would make me very happy. Casual gamers can have their free-to-play style, and if that's the way the majority of the market wants to go, let them. Can we just have one developer interested in the "niche market" of actual gamers, it would make all the difference.

/end_rant

I think that the f2p will end up working out great. If you think about it in the end it is all about money. They are making the game free,but adding a new currency and most likely more premium content. All of us with subscriptions will most likely be rewarded. And we get cartel coin on top of what we already have. They are making the game better for current players and bringing in new ones now that they have fixed all the tech issues. Its to soon to tell but I am willing to bet before this f2p system takes effect we will get a lot more content and probably more mod and equipment options, maybe even a level cap increase.