It should go F2P, but no EA game will ever go that route just look at Ultima Online, it is the oldest mainstream MMO on the market that still has a monthly subscription.
DAoC also EA and a old MMO, its older than EQ2 and its still p2p. Yet EQ2 is going f2p.
Warhammer another fail from EA still has subs.
SWTOR was rushed and was never designed right for the time it was released. The graphics are worse than those seen in WoW. Coming from Eve Online I can safely say space combat in SWTOR is a joke. And the missions were nicely wrapped up kill / collect with voice overs.
The only thing I did like was the companions, but then some of those were buggy.
PvP in open worlds was pointless and gained you nothing.
Crafting what was the point of anything other than Biochem?
I logged on the other day to end my subscription and to see about doing a flashpoint and seeing it was night time EU time on a EU server there were only 20 people on the republic fleet station the place was empty. Server population was light. 1.7 million subscribers ?
Companies should realize that $15 a month to play a game is a rip. I buy a game and they want me to spend $180 a year to keep playing. That's 4 months mobile phone bills for me and I'd rather clear that first.
There is still a place for p2p mmo's but I think they are charging too much. How many more players would stick with a game if it was $5 a month? Alot more than what they have now I bet.
I think this is something the industry as a whole may want to consider if they want to charge sub fee's but still expect to move the games they make beyond the current sub levels. With SWTOR I'm not willing to accept that they are anywhere near this consideration just because the vocal majority (most of whom trashed the game pre release anyway) say's so.
I enjoy the free game time more than anything but that is going to put atleast another month on trying to see how many subs BW is losing so I tend to think of this topic being more about pushing the industry towards free to play than having anything to do with TOR in particular.
For me while I would love the industry to adopt a lower sub rate I have to be honest and say if I enjoy playing a game I have no problem paying the 12-15 a month it costs to subscribe though I doubt I would ever want to pay a higher rate.
Companies should realize that $15 a month to play a game is a rip. I buy a game and they want me to spend $180 a year to keep playing. That's 4 months mobile phone bills for me and I'd rather clear that first.
There is still a place for p2p mmo's but I think they are charging too much. How many more players would stick with a game if it was $5 a month? Alot more than what they have now I bet.
Nonsense.
Don't confuse what isn't worth it to you with what isn't worth it for anyone.
There's over 10 years of evidence that prove subscriptions to be perfectly viable and worth it for millions of people world-wide. It works off the same principle as anything - people will readily pay for something they find worthwhile. That's all it boils down to.
People will happily pay a $15 sub fee if they feel the game is enjoyable enough and worth the fee. People continue to pay $15 a month because they feel it's worth it. Whether or not it is to you does not change that. It simply places you on the other side of the fence as a consumer.
Regarding value, for a $15/month sub fee, you're paying around 50 cents a day. How many comparable activities can you list which will cost you that little?
Also, as far as why they charge a sub fee, you have to understand that MMORPGs are not only a game, they are a service. It's like when you subscribe to a cable service. Many charge you to buy the cable box, and also charge a subscription to use their service. It's a very similar setup. You cancel your cable subscription, you still have the cable box, but can't do anything with it where their service is concerned, at least not legally.
"But what about F2P MMOs, then?" you might ask. Two words: Cash Shop. Despite the game being free to play, Cash Shop MMOs can, and do, bring in far more revenue than a subscription based MMO. I'm not going to get into the why's of it, but there are plenty of resources on the web that explain it. Suffice to say, it has a lot to do with an understanding of human psychology, the predictability and malleability of human behavior, and the ways developers have found to influence and capitalize on those things.
Frankly, all you need to do is pay attention to how the game is designed and the ways it tries to direct players toward the cash shop, sometimes in very subtle or non-obvious ways, and you can see it in action yourself. I suspect many people don't pay that much attention to it, though. I've personally looked into it and have seen enough to know that I don't like the payment model at all. I prefer to know that a developer is putting their time and effort into finding ways to entertain me to earn my gaming dollar on a month-to-month basis, rather than finding new, subtle ways to try and "monetize me" every minute I'm playing.
The problem is that people seem to think in completely strict "A or B" terms. It has to be "one" or "the other". It has to be "subscriptions" or "cash shops". People like "A", therefor "B" is automatically not viable. That's simply not the case. The world, and the people in it, are not subject to such strict dichotomies. There's room for everyone. Some people simply need to take off the blinders, get past their tunnel vision and open their minds a bit to realize it.
Im sorry, but you guys from MMORPG hailed this game and hyped it up so much that it was the biggest MMO since WoW = ?And
What happend? No more PR money from EA?
No the game should not go f2p, they should start makeing improvements for GFX + Performance and make much more content
Now they moved on and now Guild Wars 2 is the biggest thing since sliced bread..... its a bad cycle that keeps continuning they keep buying into the hype then realize its the same thing.
TOR won't go F2P because its run by Bioware and EA. Whether it should or not doesn't really matter because its not going to happen unfortionately. You can expect them to try for as much profit as possible.
And I am arguing that going free-to-play in some form (hybrid F2P with subscription option, for example) seems like a no brainer in order to do that. Subscribers could still be given all manner of incentives to continue subscribing (see other games of this type) while also opening up the game to additional streams of revenue from free-to-play users. Even the ones who don't pay are valuable as they help fill the game worlds and make the game feel alive. This would do wonders for some of the lighter servers, for example.
Looking at it this way makes a bit of sense I loved playing lotro as a frp hybrid as I continued to sub and earn great perks and only left for TOR. But I do tend to agree with alot of other posters that this is something we may not see since EA has gone to this so rarely in the past.
I would probably buy it if it went B2P. The only thing that ever kept me from trying SWTOR was the subscription. I'm against them on principle. So if it was B2P, I'd say there was an 85% chance I'd buy and play it. If it went F2P I'd 100% play it and decide then if I wanted to keep playing or not (depending on gameplay, CS, etc.)
You want me to pay to play a game I already paid for???
"Would you have tried out SWTOR (assuming you haven’t already) if it were free-to-play at launch? Likewise, if you’ve played the game already, would you check it out again if it went free-to-play in the future?"
Hell NO! - what I will do is log into MMORPG just to state the fact....
SWTOR goes down as the biggest dissapointment I personally have ever had with a game.
Why would I not play it as F2P = because its largely boring and uninspiring. game worlds are DULL.... It really does become so obvious to the MMO community that games like GW2 and Tera appear as a piece of art, loved and cherished by its makers for the striving achievement it wants to become. SWTOR appears as a hopless set of poor game design decions mixed with a whole heap of business decisions ( as many have pointed out - decisions that appear to play to the investors) having a negative impact on the game.
I hope SWTOR fails miserably to send a warning to all MMO makers that they should always adhere to the first rule - of Inspiring the MMO community with their creation, less the first M in MMO come to flame you for your epic fail.
I would play it if it was B2P of F2P. i already subscribe to several F2P MMO's and do shop in the item mall when i need to. sometimes its maybe the £15 subs fee of SWTOR sometimes nothing but its as i choose not a monthly demand. In the current ecomic situation i dont belive many "regular" housholds can afford to shell out a monthly fee.
I don't think F2P would work for SWTOR the way it does for other MMOs. SWTOR is not an eye-candy, dress-up game where people would be eager to buy new outfits or fancy weapons. If they tried to sell a Jedi outfit with massive armor and eye-popping particle effects, it wouldn't sell because most people want their Jedi to be appropriately dressed in a simple brown robe.
99% of the reason for playing the game is the class stories. The only way they could make the game F2P is if they monetized the stories, perhaps by having players pay for the game chapter by chapter. I don't think that kind of F2P model would be very successful. Many people would buy only the bits of story they want to play, and NOTHING else. It's great for the players, but SWTOR wouldn't make much money that way.
"Outside of World of Warcraft (at least until recently), all subscription-based MMOs have been fighting the losing battle of subscriber attrition; it’s just the way things go."
I don't think the sub is the problem, I believe it's because just about every release the last couple of years have not been worth the sub price. It's a long time since a really good MMO was released. I don't mind paying a sub, but I don't pay for crap.
Should SW:ToR go F2P?
For me, it doesn't matter. Imo, it's not an MMO at all, it's a single player RPG with some online features. I might play it when it gets older and gets lots more contents, but today it's way too shallow and boring for me.
Its decline isn't because it costs money, it's becasue it's not that great a game.
With all the other FTP/B2P options out there, it would be hard for me to justify a switch to FTP. Market saturation is starting to become a problem for FTPs because there are just so many out there now.
Play a FTP with standard MMORPG features such as a Dungeon Finder, Housing, quality raid content, a differnt spin on the genre... or play SWTOR.
i would of loved it if it was F2P it was fun and all but i never felt it as a P2P i was in one of the beta's and i had a lot of fun with my friends but i never got much time to play MMO's anymore. so in the end i feel like i would be just wasting money out the window as it is because if im not playing every day im basically handing away free money.
Jumped Swtor from the release. Still subed and find it interesting enough to hang on a couple more. The complaints are always the same and every new game gets flamed down sooner or later. Would never play a Ftp for one simple reason... the model allows anyone with more spendable income to simply outspend me for gear, upgrades, etc. The frustration would be enough to cause discouragement. I like the prescription model and will stick to that model.
Jumped Swtor from the release. Still subed and find it interesting enough to hang on a couple more. The complaints are always the same and every new game gets flamed down sooner or later. Would never play a Ftp for one simple reason... the model allows anyone with more spendable income to simply outspend me for gear, upgrades, etc. The frustration would be enough to cause discouragement. I like the prescription model and will stick to that model.
"Would never play a Ftp for one simple reason... the model allows anyone with more spendable income to simply outspend me for gear, upgrades, etc."
Not every ftp is like that, but how is that worse than someone having better gear than you because they have more time to grind for it?
The reason Tor gets ripped on isn't because "that's what people do to new games", its because Tor is a mediocre game. There isn't anything interesting about it, besides the storylines. If it wasn't SW no one would be playing it.
Jumped Swtor from the release. Still subed and find it interesting enough to hang on a couple more. The complaints are always the same and every new game gets flamed down sooner or later. Would never play a Ftp for one simple reason... the model allows anyone with more spendable income to simply outspend me for gear, upgrades, etc. The frustration would be enough to cause discouragement. I like the prescription model and will stick to that model.
Well said!
F2P model allows people to outspend you in gear only if gear is allowed to be purchased, which by far is not the only source of income for F2P games. I understand the concern, though, I do. I'm not knocking it. But I have seen some great, and still profitable, examples of f2p item malls and, as MB specifically stated, if done "responsibly", gamers are warm to the idea. I think Star Wars would be phenomenal as a F2P, one of the pluses of that model is people are FARRRR more patient when a patch fails or bugs pop up. They're not paying monthly fees, they can afford to wait it out.
It also allows people to jump in and out of the game. The majority of gamers, even if they love a game, are not entertained by it enough to play it exclusively. That's not the fault of the game, that's just being human; humans like variety and don't want to do the same thing over and over. Without that barrier of entry, not only do you attract new players, but vets are more likely to re-visit as well.
I'm not a sci-fi fan, I know balls about the Star Wars universe and frankly, I wasn't a fan of my SWTOR beta experience. But would I play SWTOR if it was F2P? Yap. I have several friends who play it, and I'd play it casually just to have something to do with them. But I'd be enjoying my time with them, less so the game, which is why as it stands, it's not worth the price of admission for me.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
"Would never play a Ftp for one simple reason... the model allows anyone with more spendable income to simply outspend me for gear, upgrades, etc."
Not every ftp is like that, but how is that worse than someone having better gear than you because they have more time to grind for it?
The reason Tor gets ripped on isn't because "that's what people do to new games", its because Tor is a mediocre game. There isn't anything interesting about it, besides the storylines. If it wasn't SW no one would be playing it.
That's easy. If I get outplayed by better gear because someone spent the time grinding for it. so be it. To get outplayed by someone with better gear because Dad and Mom gave up a credit card number, is troubling. I would disagree with your assesment of Swtor. As games go of this type, it ranks well. It has some innovative features and a decent storyline for each class. End game is ok right now and the pvp is horribly imbalanced by class, but it's not been around that long, yet. Last year ftp was not the way to go, at least in the US market. If that is changing then I propose there will be alot more average games. Just like the cable market and the music industry...the mmo gaming world will fragment...into many smaller pieces. The big development, design dollars and marketing revenue just simply will not be there and smaller less profitable, quicker to market games will be the result. The mmo gaming world is fickle. I would rather commit a month or two at least to a sub and get a better product in the end, especially with the time sink of the genre of mmorpg's. I have not played alot of ftp (five or so), for the reasons stated. Unless other revenue sources are there that are not readily seen, it would seem difficult to design, market and build a very big title without having major studio backing and that might be why the sub model has prevailed so far.
What everyone here fails to realize that this game will remain p2p forever look at EA's last mmo warhammer online almost no one plays and it still is p2p so I would swtor to go f2p but the only prob is it won't
To get outplayed by someone with better gear because Dad and Mom gave up a credit card number, is troubling.
I have always had a hard time wrapping my mind around this.
If you want to cry because someone paid money for stuff... GET A JOB.
I know this is an unpopular sentiment on this site but I have a job that consumes 60+ hrs, a family that consumes the rest, when I want to game, I game on MY terms. Why should I not get to see some of the cool dungeons because I can't farm for rep for 8000000 years. Why do I have to miss content because losers insist you have a certain item score in order to participate in a group? Money levels that playing field. PERIOD.
I would possibly throw a couple of bucks towards ToR as a F2P but again... only if it allowed me to do things my way. As long as you have the ability to earn the same item for free in game... well then here's to you.
And you weren't outplayed because they threw money at a problem, you were outplayed because you just didn't think of the method first.
Idk. I can't see TOR being F2P. Doesn't have a model that would fit. They could restrict level content asking you to pay to access, but really? Would you enjoy that?
Cash Shop? Vanity items? Doubt it. Give me a consular that doesn't look like a nun and I'd consider spending $5, but that would be it. With the amount they spent in production; There's no real way it can convert to a F2P now.
However if the game was a F2P, it would finally be considered a AA MMO /chuckle.
I'm a bit lost here, how many of you work for free???? How many, I bet none, so you want B2P games well guess what thats what GW is for... I fyou want B2P then, they should do it and they we will get no updates and no content like GW does and every other B2P because I would not work for free, I know what it takes to make these games I have my degree and I would not work for free knowing how much work it takes to build such a game, some of you than whine and complain need to work for free if you expect Bioware to..
If you want free to play there are plnety of other games on the market, and its funny when people won't spend 15 bucks a month but they will play LOTR and spent 30 with the so called F2P model, you people amaze me, and by you people I mean gamers today.
People wonder why we don't get many new games that are good, its because gamers have stopped many MMO's ....They won't because trying to please a gamer today is a no way situation..... and not worth it....
By the way I no longer play SWTOR... for now, I did like it but it did fall short being a fan of star wars, I didn't expect anything but what we got, because games are not made by gamers hardly anymore .... They have moved away from MMO's and these are facts.. Gamers if you want good games stop whining about everything !!
Swtor going F2P might bring in some new players, but I doubt it would pull people back who already gave up on it. I never went back to a game just because they went F2P, I only went back to games that I liked regardless if they have a sub or not.
Swtor's problem is not the sub fee, swtor's problem is it was made 5 years too late. People are tired of the WoW styled theme park games, we want innovation. If we wanted to play WoW, most of us would just play WoW.
When an MMO is F2P you have more input and choice. IT is easer to vote with your wallet in F2P.
However, with regard to SWTOR, I don't think anything could make me go back; It's not simply one thing, I don't TORs design philosophy from the ground up.
Comments
SWTOR does not deliver on many fronts.
It should go F2P, but no EA game will ever go that route just look at Ultima Online, it is the oldest mainstream MMO on the market that still has a monthly subscription.
DAoC also EA and a old MMO, its older than EQ2 and its still p2p. Yet EQ2 is going f2p.
Warhammer another fail from EA still has subs.
SWTOR was rushed and was never designed right for the time it was released. The graphics are worse than those seen in WoW. Coming from Eve Online I can safely say space combat in SWTOR is a joke. And the missions were nicely wrapped up kill / collect with voice overs.
The only thing I did like was the companions, but then some of those were buggy.
PvP in open worlds was pointless and gained you nothing.
Crafting what was the point of anything other than Biochem?
I logged on the other day to end my subscription and to see about doing a flashpoint and seeing it was night time EU time on a EU server there were only 20 people on the republic fleet station the place was empty. Server population was light. 1.7 million subscribers ?
Dont make me laugh.
I think this is something the industry as a whole may want to consider if they want to charge sub fee's but still expect to move the games they make beyond the current sub levels. With SWTOR I'm not willing to accept that they are anywhere near this consideration just because the vocal majority (most of whom trashed the game pre release anyway) say's so.
I enjoy the free game time more than anything but that is going to put atleast another month on trying to see how many subs BW is losing so I tend to think of this topic being more about pushing the industry towards free to play than having anything to do with TOR in particular.
For me while I would love the industry to adopt a lower sub rate I have to be honest and say if I enjoy playing a game I have no problem paying the 12-15 a month it costs to subscribe though I doubt I would ever want to pay a higher rate.
Nonsense.
Don't confuse what isn't worth it to you with what isn't worth it for anyone.
There's over 10 years of evidence that prove subscriptions to be perfectly viable and worth it for millions of people world-wide. It works off the same principle as anything - people will readily pay for something they find worthwhile. That's all it boils down to.
People will happily pay a $15 sub fee if they feel the game is enjoyable enough and worth the fee. People continue to pay $15 a month because they feel it's worth it. Whether or not it is to you does not change that. It simply places you on the other side of the fence as a consumer.
Regarding value, for a $15/month sub fee, you're paying around 50 cents a day. How many comparable activities can you list which will cost you that little?
Also, as far as why they charge a sub fee, you have to understand that MMORPGs are not only a game, they are a service. It's like when you subscribe to a cable service. Many charge you to buy the cable box, and also charge a subscription to use their service. It's a very similar setup. You cancel your cable subscription, you still have the cable box, but can't do anything with it where their service is concerned, at least not legally.
"But what about F2P MMOs, then?" you might ask. Two words: Cash Shop. Despite the game being free to play, Cash Shop MMOs can, and do, bring in far more revenue than a subscription based MMO. I'm not going to get into the why's of it, but there are plenty of resources on the web that explain it. Suffice to say, it has a lot to do with an understanding of human psychology, the predictability and malleability of human behavior, and the ways developers have found to influence and capitalize on those things.
Frankly, all you need to do is pay attention to how the game is designed and the ways it tries to direct players toward the cash shop, sometimes in very subtle or non-obvious ways, and you can see it in action yourself. I suspect many people don't pay that much attention to it, though. I've personally looked into it and have seen enough to know that I don't like the payment model at all. I prefer to know that a developer is putting their time and effort into finding ways to entertain me to earn my gaming dollar on a month-to-month basis, rather than finding new, subtle ways to try and "monetize me" every minute I'm playing.
The problem is that people seem to think in completely strict "A or B" terms. It has to be "one" or "the other". It has to be "subscriptions" or "cash shops". People like "A", therefor "B" is automatically not viable. That's simply not the case. The world, and the people in it, are not subject to such strict dichotomies. There's room for everyone. Some people simply need to take off the blinders, get past their tunnel vision and open their minds a bit to realize it.
Now they moved on and now Guild Wars 2 is the biggest thing since sliced bread..... its a bad cycle that keeps continuning they keep buying into the hype then realize its the same thing.
Looking at it this way makes a bit of sense I loved playing lotro as a frp hybrid as I continued to sub and earn great perks and only left for TOR. But I do tend to agree with alot of other posters that this is something we may not see since EA has gone to this so rarely in the past.
It stay has over 1 million people paying 15 bucks a month, what possible reason would it have to go f2p?
So it can get 5 million people for 2 months where 2 million of them might spend 3 bucks on something?
You want me to pay to play a game I already paid for???
Be afraid.....The dragons are HERE!
"Would you have tried out SWTOR (assuming you haven’t already) if it were free-to-play at launch? Likewise, if you’ve played the game already, would you check it out again if it went free-to-play in the future?"
Hell NO! - what I will do is log into MMORPG just to state the fact....
SWTOR goes down as the biggest dissapointment I personally have ever had with a game.
Why would I not play it as F2P = because its largely boring and uninspiring. game worlds are DULL.... It really does become so obvious to the MMO community that games like GW2 and Tera appear as a piece of art, loved and cherished by its makers for the striving achievement it wants to become. SWTOR appears as a hopless set of poor game design decions mixed with a whole heap of business decisions ( as many have pointed out - decisions that appear to play to the investors) having a negative impact on the game.
I hope SWTOR fails miserably to send a warning to all MMO makers that they should always adhere to the first rule - of Inspiring the MMO community with their creation, less the first M in MMO come to flame you for your epic fail.
rant over,lol.
I don't think F2P would work for SWTOR the way it does for other MMOs. SWTOR is not an eye-candy, dress-up game where people would be eager to buy new outfits or fancy weapons. If they tried to sell a Jedi outfit with massive armor and eye-popping particle effects, it wouldn't sell because most people want their Jedi to be appropriately dressed in a simple brown robe.
99% of the reason for playing the game is the class stories. The only way they could make the game F2P is if they monetized the stories, perhaps by having players pay for the game chapter by chapter. I don't think that kind of F2P model would be very successful. Many people would buy only the bits of story they want to play, and NOTHING else. It's great for the players, but SWTOR wouldn't make much money that way.
From the article:
"Outside of World of Warcraft (at least until recently), all subscription-based MMOs have been fighting the losing battle of subscriber attrition; it’s just the way things go."
I don't think the sub is the problem, I believe it's because just about every release the last couple of years have not been worth the sub price. It's a long time since a really good MMO was released. I don't mind paying a sub, but I don't pay for crap.
Should SW:ToR go F2P?
For me, it doesn't matter. Imo, it's not an MMO at all, it's a single player RPG with some online features. I might play it when it gets older and gets lots more contents, but today it's way too shallow and boring for me.
Its decline isn't because it costs money, it's becasue it's not that great a game.
With all the other FTP/B2P options out there, it would be hard for me to justify a switch to FTP. Market saturation is starting to become a problem for FTPs because there are just so many out there now.
Play a FTP with standard MMORPG features such as a Dungeon Finder, Housing, quality raid content, a differnt spin on the genre... or play SWTOR.
Well said!
"Would never play a Ftp for one simple reason... the model allows anyone with more spendable income to simply outspend me for gear, upgrades, etc."
Not every ftp is like that, but how is that worse than someone having better gear than you because they have more time to grind for it?
The reason Tor gets ripped on isn't because "that's what people do to new games", its because Tor is a mediocre game. There isn't anything interesting about it, besides the storylines. If it wasn't SW no one would be playing it.
F2P model allows people to outspend you in gear only if gear is allowed to be purchased, which by far is not the only source of income for F2P games. I understand the concern, though, I do. I'm not knocking it. But I have seen some great, and still profitable, examples of f2p item malls and, as MB specifically stated, if done "responsibly", gamers are warm to the idea. I think Star Wars would be phenomenal as a F2P, one of the pluses of that model is people are FARRRR more patient when a patch fails or bugs pop up. They're not paying monthly fees, they can afford to wait it out.
It also allows people to jump in and out of the game. The majority of gamers, even if they love a game, are not entertained by it enough to play it exclusively. That's not the fault of the game, that's just being human; humans like variety and don't want to do the same thing over and over. Without that barrier of entry, not only do you attract new players, but vets are more likely to re-visit as well.
I'm not a sci-fi fan, I know balls about the Star Wars universe and frankly, I wasn't a fan of my SWTOR beta experience. But would I play SWTOR if it was F2P? Yap. I have several friends who play it, and I'd play it casually just to have something to do with them. But I'd be enjoying my time with them, less so the game, which is why as it stands, it's not worth the price of admission for me.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
That's easy. If I get outplayed by better gear because someone spent the time grinding for it. so be it. To get outplayed by someone with better gear because Dad and Mom gave up a credit card number, is troubling. I would disagree with your assesment of Swtor. As games go of this type, it ranks well. It has some innovative features and a decent storyline for each class. End game is ok right now and the pvp is horribly imbalanced by class, but it's not been around that long, yet. Last year ftp was not the way to go, at least in the US market. If that is changing then I propose there will be alot more average games. Just like the cable market and the music industry...the mmo gaming world will fragment...into many smaller pieces. The big development, design dollars and marketing revenue just simply will not be there and smaller less profitable, quicker to market games will be the result. The mmo gaming world is fickle. I would rather commit a month or two at least to a sub and get a better product in the end, especially with the time sink of the genre of mmorpg's. I have not played alot of ftp (five or so), for the reasons stated. Unless other revenue sources are there that are not readily seen, it would seem difficult to design, market and build a very big title without having major studio backing and that might be why the sub model has prevailed so far.
I have always had a hard time wrapping my mind around this.
If you want to cry because someone paid money for stuff... GET A JOB.
I know this is an unpopular sentiment on this site but I have a job that consumes 60+ hrs, a family that consumes the rest, when I want to game, I game on MY terms. Why should I not get to see some of the cool dungeons because I can't farm for rep for 8000000 years. Why do I have to miss content because losers insist you have a certain item score in order to participate in a group? Money levels that playing field. PERIOD.
I would possibly throw a couple of bucks towards ToR as a F2P but again... only if it allowed me to do things my way. As long as you have the ability to earn the same item for free in game... well then here's to you.
And you weren't outplayed because they threw money at a problem, you were outplayed because you just didn't think of the method first.
1.7 million! <(0.o)<
Idk. I can't see TOR being F2P. Doesn't have a model that would fit. They could restrict level content asking you to pay to access, but really? Would you enjoy that?
Cash Shop? Vanity items? Doubt it. Give me a consular that doesn't look like a nun and I'd consider spending $5, but that would be it. With the amount they spent in production; There's no real way it can convert to a F2P now.
However if the game was a F2P, it would finally be considered a AA MMO /chuckle.
Played - M59, EQOA, EQ, EQ2, PS, SWG[Favorite], DAoC, UO, RS, MXO, CoH/CoV, TR, FFXI, FoM, WoW, Eve, Rift, SWTOR, TSW.
Playing - PS2, AoW, GW2
I'm a bit lost here, how many of you work for free???? How many, I bet none, so you want B2P games well guess what thats what GW is for... I fyou want B2P then, they should do it and they we will get no updates and no content like GW does and every other B2P because I would not work for free, I know what it takes to make these games I have my degree and I would not work for free knowing how much work it takes to build such a game, some of you than whine and complain need to work for free if you expect Bioware to..
If you want free to play there are plnety of other games on the market, and its funny when people won't spend 15 bucks a month but they will play LOTR and spent 30 with the so called F2P model, you people amaze me, and by you people I mean gamers today.
People wonder why we don't get many new games that are good, its because gamers have stopped many MMO's ....They won't because trying to please a gamer today is a no way situation..... and not worth it....
By the way I no longer play SWTOR... for now, I did like it but it did fall short being a fan of star wars, I didn't expect anything but what we got, because games are not made by gamers hardly anymore .... They have moved away from MMO's and these are facts.. Gamers if you want good games stop whining about everything !!
Swtor going F2P might bring in some new players, but I doubt it would pull people back who already gave up on it. I never went back to a game just because they went F2P, I only went back to games that I liked regardless if they have a sub or not.
Swtor's problem is not the sub fee, swtor's problem is it was made 5 years too late. People are tired of the WoW styled theme park games, we want innovation. If we wanted to play WoW, most of us would just play WoW.
When an MMO is F2P you have more input and choice. IT is easer to vote with your wallet in F2P.
However, with regard to SWTOR, I don't think anything could make me go back; It's not simply one thing, I don't TORs design philosophy from the ground up.
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