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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Should SWTOR Go Free-to-Play?

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  • FluxiiFluxii Member Posts: 184

    Originally posted by MikeB

    In this week's Star Wars: The Old Republic column we discuss whether or not SWTOR should make the switch to the free-to-play business model.

    I’ve been knee-deep in the MMORPG.com community since I came on in June of 2009, but it feels like only yesterday when our community was up in arms over the notion of some Western game going free-to-play. While some of this sentiment still remains, it doesn’t take more than a cursory glance to notice that there’s been an overall attitude shift here, and this is likely due in part to the gradual trend towards free-to-play that has been going on since DDO made the extremely successful switch back in September of ’09. This apparent shift, at least to me, speaks volumes to where things are headed and it’s got me asking myself one question in particular as of late:

    Should Star Wars: The Old Republic go Free-to-Play?

    Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: Should SWTOR Go Free-to-Play?

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    As if there weren't enough threads for whiners and trolls we have community managers creating them now?  NICE!

     

    Tera is gonna have people bitching in a month.

     

    GW2 wil have people bitching a month after release.

     

    TSW will have people bitching after release...

     

    You see the trend?  It's all happened before... see the last 10 years on this forum...

  • COORSCOORS Member UncommonPosts: 353
    I too was greatly dissapointed with SWTOR. After pre-ordering and eagerly awaiting this MMO I found myself board to tears and diden't last the first full month. However, I don't believe this will go F2P in the "near" future, but undoubtedly will sometime in the far future. Bioware will have no alternative when other large, interesting MMOs begin arriving.
  • DauzqulDauzqul Member RarePosts: 1,982

    It's worth 50 bucks. However, it's not worth a subscription fee.

     

    Free to play would be better. But I still won't play it.

  • YalexyYalexy Member UncommonPosts: 1,058

    Instead of giving a way free month of gametime they should've really made it F2P after they implemented 1.2.

    I'm playing since release and have five LvL 50 chars all Rakata equipped with a few first BlackHole and Campaign items. The content is laughably easy and not really interesting.

    The game simply lacks on all fronts and the bugs are f'in annoying. Sound-issues, mails vanishing, quests bugging, and poor customer support really aren't worth $15/month.

    The players are running away allready and the game is a huge wasteland. There's only some 1k players left on the most populated servers, which is absolutely laughable. They should've offered free server-transfers two month ago allready to solve this issue, but they're not listening to their community.

    Imho, this game deserves to be dead by the end of the year.

  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979

    This is a business decision, nothing more, nothing less.

    If LA/EA/BW feel like they could make more money and have more players if they converted to a F2P model, they will.

    The game is far too new to go fully F2P, but buy-to-play would be a convenient option as long as they maintain a "premium" subscription option for people who enjoy the "classic" payment model.

     

  • kb4blukb4blu Member UncommonPosts: 717

    I would rather have cancer than to see all mmos go free to play.

     

  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,838

    There is a f2p trend becasue the new p2p games have been bad.

    People expect a p2p game to be better than a f2p game.  P2p games need to step their game up.  If they make a good game 15 bucks isn't a problem. 

    SWTOR is the first mmo I played that I said to myself  "I'm not giving them another 15 bucks. It's not worth it." It's the first game that I ever canceled. I always just let my time run out. 

    Make a good game and charge me a sub imo.

    "We see fundamentals and we ape in"
  • ShakyMoShakyMo Member CommonPosts: 7,207
    Ea don't do free to play

    They do do pay to win cash shop on top of subs though.
  • SnikzSnikz Member UncommonPosts: 120

    Originally posted by bcbully

    There is a f2p trend becasue the new p2p games have been bad.

    People expect a p2p game to be better than a f2p game.  P2p games need to step their game up.  If they make a good game 15 bucks isn't a problem. 

    SWTOR is the first mmo I played that I said to myself  "I'm not giving them another 15 bucks. It's not worth it." It's the first game that I ever canceled. I always just let my time run out. 

    Make a good game and charge me a sub imo.

     aye this is true, p2p games have to step it up.

     

    But lets see how people will react to Tera after 1-3 months and se how it hold and TSW. That maybe the last clue for companies to see what kind of game the masses want..

    Personally i prefer a p2p model with no cash-shops, or just shops with accessorie items

  • kevjardskevjards Member UncommonPosts: 1,452
    as well as this not being worthy of a sub..i found one of the most stupid things in this game..and i could'nt beleive it..dont know what made me try it but here goes..i,m not a star wars fanatic so here goes..i mailed an item from an imperial to a republic,could'nt believe that it actually worked,,even the people in my guild were gobsmacked that it worked..dont remember that happening in any other mmo but there you go,try it and see wwhat happens..it maybe its designed that way,if it is its bloody stupid.
  • WhiteLanternWhiteLantern Member RarePosts: 3,306

    Originally posted by kevjards

    as well as this not being worthy of a sub..i found one of the most stupid things in this game..and i could'nt beleive it..dont know what made me try it but here goes..i,m not a star wars fanatic so here goes..i mailed an item from an imperial to a republic,could'nt believe that it actually worked,,even the people in my guild were gobsmacked that it worked..dont remember that happening in any other mmo but there you go,try it and see wwhat happens..it maybe its designed that way,if it is its bloody stupid.

    Interesting. I tried that several times and it didn't work.

     

     

    As for F2P: it doesn't really matter to me, I'll play it either way.......once I have more time to play, that is.

    I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil

  • kevjardskevjards Member UncommonPosts: 1,452

    Originally posted by WhiteLantern

    Originally posted by kevjards

    as well as this not being worthy of a sub..i found one of the most stupid things in this game..and i could'nt beleive it..dont know what made me try it but here goes..i,m not a star wars fanatic so here goes..i mailed an item from an imperial to a republic,could'nt believe that it actually worked,,even the people in my guild were gobsmacked that it worked..dont remember that happening in any other mmo but there you go,try it and see wwhat happens..it maybe its designed that way,if it is its bloody stupid.

    Interesting. I tried that several times and it didn't work.

     

     

    As for F2P: it doesn't really matter to me, I'll play it either way.......once I have more time to play, that is.

    it may have been corrected because i did bring it to there attention,but that is something that should not be happening in the first place.

  • BLOBtheTROLLBLOBtheTROLL Member Posts: 75
    they can try to do relunch of SWG :)
  • TranquillitiTranquilliti Member Posts: 29
    Even if it went free to play I still wouldn't play it and I am sure many other people feel the same. Discussion over. 
  • OziiusOziius Member UncommonPosts: 1,406

    I say no. 


     


    I'm playing it currently and having a fantastic time. It's a casual game for casual players. The hardcores will just need to find something else to do with their time. I have no issue paying a monthly sub for this game given the patches and content I've seen to date. 


     


    Just my opinion though. 

  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237

    I think it probably should go F2P or B2P. But they wont do it. EA will milk it for every cent and then close it down before that happens.

    Wasnt this site giving glowing so called " reviews" of this game just a few short months ago? My my how things change. New advertising dollars coming in eh?

  • OziiusOziius Member UncommonPosts: 1,406

    Originally posted by elocke

    At this point, with GW2 showing up everyone and not charging a sub fee, EVERY sub game should have a F2P option.  Hybrid F2P is the way to go anymore, IMO.  Plus, it makes it less painful to log into a game to check out a new patch just to realize it's not THAT big and you end up not playing for most of the month you just paid for.  This way at least, you can see the new content patches and decide from there whether to sub and get gold or premium access or to just keep it at silver or F2P access.   Everyone wins.

    GW2 showing up everyone? Can you explain that?

     

    If you mean that GW2 is making other games look bad... I must say I disagree. Most of the reviews I have read have pretty much summed up that this isn't the "game changer" folks were making it out to be. And besides, Guild Wars 2 being good and being B2P has nothing to do with TOR. Guild Wars 1 was good and B2P and it didn't really matter to sub based games. 

     

    And again, I don't mind paying the sub fee for the work the developers are doing to the game. I'm seeing a lot of this entitlement and people thinking they shouldn't have to pay for a game, just because they personally don't like it. For everyone who doesn't like it, there's someone willing to pay a sub like me. Why should you get to check out new content for free?

  • NaeviusNaevius Member UncommonPosts: 334

    The real question is not 'Should they?' but 'Can they?'

    It takes a fair amount of planning and architecture to put in a cash shop system, design how it will interact with the game, etc.

    I see no sign EA or Bioware have even considered it until now, so unless they have a very secret Plan B, they are stuck for quite some time.

  • ZaltarkZaltark Member UncommonPosts: 437


    Originally posted by jdnewell
    I think it probably should go F2P or B2P. But they wont do it. EA will milk it for every cent and then close it down before that happens.
    Wasnt this site giving glowing so called " reviews" of this game just a few short months ago? My my how things change. New advertising dollars coming in eh?


    Its all about the GW2 now ;) Yeah, more and more hardcore SWTOR fans are starting to die out. And its not even been a year. EA is the death of games unfortunately :(

  • Cypt1Cypt1 Member UncommonPosts: 283

    Originally posted by kevjards

    Originally posted by WhiteLantern

    Originally posted by kevjards

    as well as this not being worthy of a sub..i found one of the most stupid things in this game..and i could'nt beleive it..dont know what made me try it but here goes..i,m not a star wars fanatic so here goes..i mailed an item from an imperial to a republic,could'nt believe that it actually worked,,even the people in my guild were gobsmacked that it worked..dont remember that happening in any other mmo but there you go,try it and see wwhat happens..it maybe its designed that way,if it is its bloody stupid.

    Interesting. I tried that several times and it didn't work.

     

    As for F2P: it doesn't really matter to me, I'll play it either way.......once I have more time to play, that is.

    it may have been corrected because i did bring it to there attention,but that is something that should not be happening in the first place.

    Wow... Misconceptions abound. As of patch 1.2, you can send mail to any characters in your LEGACY regardless of their faction. No, you CANNOT send mail to your friend or a random person who is the opposite faction. The purpose of this change was to mitigate the feeling of alienation for cross-faction characters within the same Legacy. Bioware said they wanted any character within your Legacy to be linked to their counterparts as much as possible. Given I was circumventing this issue the same way I did in WoW (i.e., by posting my items I wanted to trade to the neutral GTN/auction house), I was relieved when I could finally send mail directly to my cross-faction characters.

    I'll concede the fact that TOR is far from flawless, but I don't see this particular subject as warranting any b*tching.

    On topic, I do think the game should and probably will transition to a F2P cash shop model at some point. Until then, I'll be playing it intermittently as I feel like it and slowly complete the class stories I haven't seen yet.

  • blackthornnblackthornn Member UncommonPosts: 615

    why pay for it since BW keeps throwing 30 days free over and over at former players (I've had 3 offers for 30 days free, the first was a week after I cancelled my sub)?  I went back for about 20 min during one of the free time offers and it was dead on Adraas so I logged off grumpy that I took the time to reinstall/patch.

     

    I wouldn't go back for F2P.

     

    I cancelled 2 subs in feb with 6 char's finished their storylines (3 on my account, 3 on my wife's).  I'm still paying for one sub because I bought a copy for my brother in law for xmas with the offer of paying a year as part of the gift.........he plays about once a weekend still.

     

    So, how's it going with all the Chiss Jedi and Pureblood Smugglers?

     Grouping in Old school mmo's: meeting someone at the bar and chatting, getting to know them before jumping into bed.  Current mmo's grouping: tinder.  swipe, hookup, hope you don't get herpes, never see them again.
  • hardiconhardicon Member UncommonPosts: 335
    i would go back if it was f2p.  i enjoyed the game but didnt enjoy it enough to pay 15 bucks a month nor did i think the content was enough for the monthly charge.  after playing a free to play game for a year that I enjoy very much even though i still spend about 15 bucks a month on it, i am way more open to a f2p game now.  i just wish they could find some way to filter out the idiots, in sub games the sub fee does that, in free to play, there is no barrier for the idiots.
  • MyriaMyria Member UncommonPosts: 699

    For this discussion to make any sense whatsoever you would first have to establish that ToR isn't doing well with it's current model. For better or ill what hard evidence there is suggests it's doing very well indeed -- and frankly I'll take official EA numbers over the ravings of the armchair expert brigade any day of the week.

    Second you would have to establish that going F2P is actually a successful model outside of the initial looky-loo bump. To date there is no such evidence. The best you can say is that the transition to F2P has allowed some games that might otherwise have shut down continue to limp along.

    In short the question makes no sense. Should a game that is apparently doing quite well -- to the point of possibly being the second most successful Western MMO in history -- transition to a model that at best has mediocre -- and, honestly, if Turbine or Funcom were seeing huge revenue from their FtP games you can bet your arse you would be hearing about it -- results?

    No, probably not.

  • WickedjellyWickedjelly Member Posts: 4,990

    The game should have been b2p not f2p. With updates that actually add content being purchaseable dlc.

    I think the bigger question is considering the market and the lack of hype should The Secret World consider going b2p?

    1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.

    2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.

    3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.

  • RyowulfRyowulf Member UncommonPosts: 664
    It can't go ftp. It cost a ton to make and they have to pay Lucus. The might do some sort of play free until lvl 10 or other crappy gimmick to get people interested in the game again, but its going to be awhile if ever before they can go ftp.
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