Tera's ftp model is one of the best I've ever seen, the only one I can think of that is better is LoL. Unfortunatly, for me, the game is boring as hell. It's the first game I've ever actually fell asleep playing, it's just personally that boring.
So, what you are saying observer, is that SWTOR gives you a whole basic storyline whithout the need to buy anything. You can go anywhere and do anything, but with "minor" restrictions. While WOW only gives you 20 levels, no way to unlock unless you purchase the WHOLE game as compared to unlocking things as you go, or can afford. This includes ANY higher level dungeons. SWTOR Dungeons are limited to number of times a week, but you can go in all of them!
I think I'll take a whole storyline/arc with the option to unlock the parts I like, AND still be able to effectivly play/trade with my friends (for the most part). Sounds like SWTOR wins in my book
You're missing the point. Swtor offers free storylines, which is fine, but the way they present everything else to potential subscribers isn't working. At least with WoW, you aren't restricted with pvp or exploration; only by levels. You can even make the new races, such as worgen, pandas, draenei, or blood elves; which were all expansion races. In swtor? You cannot do this even with the races from launch (i'm not talking about faction restrictions either). In WoW, you can use titles. In swtor, you cannot. The list goes on.. Keep in mind, i'm just comparing WoW here, and not other MMOs that went F2P, such as Tera, Rift, TSW, etc.
Your post is filled with false information.
First of all SWTOR's hybrid system is just fine, the game still has plenty of subscribers and they should obviously get more than those who aren't willing to pay, and even those get plenty of content for free.
As preferred player things improve, it should also be said that free players can buy most of the unlocks and authorizations from GTN for in game credits.
Secondly you don't have restriction regarding race selection, restrictions are faction based and all the races can be unlocked in various ways, also it has to be mentioned that all the races which were present at lauch are all we have available now as well, Cathar is not yet here.
Last but not least, you cannot compare WoW's 20 level TRIAL to the amount of content you get here for free, Rift hasn't gone f2p and as for Tera....Tera with it's tedious grind and terrible questing system is a mediocre game at best when compared to SWTOR.
This is FALSE. You are restricted to certain races with a F2P account. I just created one several days ago on a Preferred Status Account. You can unlock them with Legacy, but even Legacy is restricted for F2P.
It's absolutely possible to compare other F2P models with Swtor's... why shouldn't it be? Just because you and others want to label it a "hybrid" model? Sorry, but when you open access to closed content, then it's also open to compare it to other various models.
Rift Lite is F2P, using WoW's model. Free to play for 20 levels with no time limit. Swtor is free to play to 50 with no time limit. It doesn't matter how bad you think Tera is, so stick with the subject of comparing the f2p models.
anyway lets stay to the topic, so the F2P is more like a trial, it rips off almost everything mmo has to offer for you, except for leveling and quests, we with friend are playing it only for story, we both are imperial agents, so we will try to reach end of story and drop it, because there is no point in playing after that without paying, we are both first year students so no income for us to pay for game per month(we can only afford buy 2 play) and in any time we can play any free to play mmo which is not that restrictive. I don't even know why did they even called it free 2 play, it's more like free 2 look at game, but not actually play it...
A key issue - for any game - is how much content is provided by way of the F2P content. At the end of the day the goal is to get people to spend money after all and for that you need people to stick around.
Pre-launch the amount of content that SWTOR would offer was a concern. And so it transpired. Lots of people were hitting cap in 2 weeks (power levelers doing so in 2 days!). And without the "planned" regular content drops this is all EA had to offer.
If EA could have limited F2P to 15 (or 20 levels) I am sure they would have done - they tried after all. First a series of time limited weekends etc. to level 15 and then a perpetual trial to level 15. Clearly level 15 wasn't working and so they introduced the level 50 F2P coupled with an attempt to slow down leveling.
And compared to WoW? Sure WoW's trial stops at level 20 but level 20 isn't that quick - especially for a new player starting from scratch. Throw in the fact that you can level lots of characters to 20 (40?) and have the best part of 10 years worth of quests to go at ..... easy to argue that WoW's trial surpasses SWTOR F2P offering.
At the end of the day the fact that Makeb has taken so long speaks volumes - despite the fact that work on an xpac started before the game launched (according to James Olsen). If the game was making lots of money via subs and/or the cash shop content would be faster. As it stands it looks a lot like WAR which got just one set of three $5 "mini-xpacs" and then a case of so long and thanks for the fish.
SWTORs F2P is a joke. They nickle and dime you for literally everything in the game. TERA has a pretty good F2P model and they seem to be doing quite well with it. Thats the type of F2P we should be requesting from these developers. Not accepting what people like EA/Bioware are giving us.
"In the immediate future, we have this one, and then weve got another one that is actually going to be so were going to have, what we want to do, is in January, what were targeting to do, this may or may not happen, so you cant hold me to it. But what were targeting to do, is have a fun anniversary to the Ilum shenanigans that happened. An alien race might invade, and they might crash into Ilum and there might be some new activities that happen on the planet." ~Gabe Amatangelo
What does the word "working" even mean? Are they winning over the SWG Grognards? No. Are They changing the game focus of the game to be less of a themepark? No. Are they giving away the game to everybody as a tax write off? No.
Are they gaining players? Yes. Are players subscribing? Yes. Are there people who spend their whole pay check on SWTOR? Yes.
Is the game turning a profit? Well, here we go opening up a whole other can of worms. They spent $600 Billion, (or was it Trillion?) on voice over work, according to "some analysts", so at that rate, they will never profit from anything ever again. Poor SWTOR. /sarcasm off
If it wasn't making a profit, it would not be expanding. EA is evil, not stupid.
Gaining players? I don't know, but player actitivty is dropping and has been since the week after F2P launch more or less. Gaining subscribers? No idea, but if they had I bet it would have been mentioned in their quarterly report, so ye unlikely.
I still dont think the game has really expanded either. They are mostly releasing content that was in the works before the game even launched, Makeb including.
No idea if they are making any profit. They have cut down a huge amount of personnel costs at least. But I think they still are working on paying off the development cost.
The continuation of pushing more and more unpopular things on Cartel Market shows a desperation to me. Might even be a last cash grab before the end to come.
Player activity is not a goal that F2P game companies really care about. If you only login once a month, but you spend $200 a month, do you really think they care how active you are? And let's step aside from a moment. Who says player activity is dropping?
You say the game hasn't really expanded, but they have added Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations since launch, multiples in each case. And yes, a lot of it was in the works for a while. Why does that matter? It wasn't in the game at launch, and now it is. And I was referring to an expansion pack. Makeb aside, they are expanding the level cap and adding more content to the game.
Yeah, you are one of those people who think the game cost them $600 million +++ to make, and they will never pay it off. Like I said, EA would have shut the game down a long time ago if this were the case. They care about money and money alone.
The Cartel Market push is out of greed. And I don't know about you, but when I log in I see a lot of people decked out in Cartel items and Cartel mounts.
Personally, I've spent a little bit on SWTOR... maybe the equivalent of 2 extra shifts at work. I spend a lot more on Steam. For example though... one guy in my SWTOR guild has spent well over $2000... and he is happy about it. Some have spent hundreds, and the only compaints I ever hear are from people who buy massive amounts of boxes and lose the RNG lottery. No matter how you cut it, losing the RNG lottery really sucks, which is why they are in the process of removing that aspect from play.
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Agree. Also, SWTOR is NOT F2P game. It is P2P game with F2P option, not like TERA which is completely F2P with option for some additional fluff if you pay monthly. It is a BIG difference.
and even that was in decline, so they come up with the new reputation system
if youre so certain of swtor success,,buy EA stocks now,,theyre cheap, and according to you, a sure
way to make a fortune
put your money, where your mouth is,,i dare you
This reply wins "Most Insane Post of the Year." First off, why is it in stanza structure, but with no capital letters and extremely random punctuation? You looked like an idiot, even before you started posting random crap.
Of course SWTOR is living off the few people who spend their whole pay check. That's how cash shops/F2P models work. Or, did you somehow have it in your head that game companies make money from people who don't buy anything? TERA, AOC, GW2, TSW... all of them make the bulk of their money from the cash shops. The only MMO game that doesn't make most of its money from cash shops is WOW. WOW makes most of its money by banning and reinviting Asain gold farmers to their game.
What is this BS about stocks. I don't invest in stocks, and if I did, I would never invest in technology, ever. Why? Because any stock broker will tell you that tech stocks are unstable, all of them, universally.
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Originally posted by tiefighter25 The F2P is a roaring success. Another giant success is a long line of EA successes. EA is so succesful that CEO John Riccitiello just resigned.
"The New Leadership is needed"... hmmm where did I hear it last time.... ahhh Rise of Senator Palpatine....
Obviously, EA decided that things have to change.
I just hope it's not going to be a bad news for big games and not a turn towards mobile gaming
What is this BS about stocks. I don't invest in stocks, and if I did, I would never invest in technology, ever. Why? Because any stock broker will tell you that tech stocks are unstable, all of them, universally.
Actually, it is not a good time to buy EA stocks. It was last year:) when stocks were for $12 bucks, right now it's $18 or $19. Not sure how market will react to news about changing CEO, but I bet it's going to go up....
Agree. Also, SWTOR is NOT F2P game. It is P2P game with F2P option, not like TERA which is completely F2P with option for some additional fluff if you pay monthly. It is a BIG difference.
This.
Yup. And that's why Tera will be closed down by the end of next quarter.
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What is this BS about stocks. I don't invest in stocks, and if I did, I would never invest in technology, ever. Why? Because any stock broker will tell you that tech stocks are unstable, all of them, universally.
Actually, it is not a good time to buy EA stocks. It was last year:) when stocks were for $12 bucks, right now it's $18 or $19. Not sure how market will react to news about changing CEO, but I bet it's going to go up....
Yeah, it's up in after hours trading to $19.34 from a day low of $18.42.
Ding Dong the witch is dead?
Remember though, SWTOR was Riccitiello's baby. He became CEO by brokering the deal that got EA Bioware (and it's crown jewel of the LA license for a SW MMO.)
The new boss may want to break all ties with an inglorious past.
You say the game hasn't really expanded, but they have added Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations since launch, multiples in each case. And yes, a lot of it was in the works for a while. Why does that matter? It wasn't in the game at launch, and now it is. And I was referring to an expansion pack. Makeb aside, they are expanding the level cap and adding more content to the game.
The game had warzones, Flashpoints and Operations at the start, and what they added was add ons. The only thing so far that I would say expanded SWTOR would be the reputation system.
Makeb has taken way to long as the level cap is only because of that, and they are cheaply implementing SGR into Makeb when it was going to be a more complex system. It has had some additions, but no where near the amount that it could have if it sustained at least a million subs or more
The things I would like to see to expand SWTOR would be things like instanced player housing, beast master, story creator system for players or a random mission generator, multipkayer open space, more events etc.
Agree. Also, SWTOR is NOT F2P game. It is P2P game with F2P option, not like TERA which is completely F2P with option for some additional fluff if you pay monthly. It is a BIG difference.
This.
Yup. And that's why Tera will be closed down by the end of next quarter.
Most MMOs can operate with little money and little updates, with the exception of SWTOR. SWTOR F2P system is so stingy because it can not survive on less. Any other MMO with 500K subs or more would not have needed to go or add a F2P option. It needs 500K subs or $7.5 million per month to break even. There is more chance that SWTOR will shut down than Tera if it is not getting enough
You say the game hasn't really expanded, but they have added Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations since launch, multiples in each case. And yes, a lot of it was in the works for a while. Why does that matter? It wasn't in the game at launch, and now it is. And I was referring to an expansion pack. Makeb aside, they are expanding the level cap and adding more content to the game.
The game had warzones, Flashpoints and Operations at the start, and what they added was add ons. The only thing so far that I would say expanded SWTOR would be the reputation system.
Makeb has taken way to long as the level cap is only because of that, and they are cheaply implementing SGR into Makeb when it was going to be a more complex system. It has had some additions, but no where near the amount that it could have if it sustained at least a million subs or more
The things I would like to see to expand SWTOR would be things like instanced player housing, beast master, story creator system for players or a random mission generator, multipkayer open space, more events etc.
Add ons? Umm, that's just a simple rewording of the exact thing I just said. Change the words around. Call it a content patch. Fact of the matter is, expanded content has been added on to the game. Same thing.
Makeb is launching about 18 months after initial release. In your opinion that is too long? In some people's opinion it's too soon. Who is right? I'd say you should ask people who actively play the game.
Instanced player housing? What, a ship doesn't work for you? Beast master sounds cool, and I would like to see it. Story creator is a massive undertaking for a fully voiced game. In fact, I'd say we won't see anything with story creation/ random mission generators with voice in the next 15 years, at earliest. And even then, people whine about the cost of VO in SWTOR now. Yes, it would be cool. It would also cost well over $2 Billion to do, unless we go old school and drop the voices, which would be annoying. Open space? Don't want. I don't see where people attach open space to Star Wars. It never happened like that in the movies, or novels... nowhere in canon does any character just fly off randomly and dick around in space. Ever. You're mixing up Star Wars and Star Trek, which is annoying for Star Wars fans. Multiplayer Co-op/PVP space battles do sound cool, but they would take some time and money to add in.
Nothing good happens quickly or cheaply in MMOs.
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You say the game hasn't really expanded, but they have added Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations since launch, multiples in each case. And yes, a lot of it was in the works for a while. Why does that matter? It wasn't in the game at launch, and now it is. And I was referring to an expansion pack. Makeb aside, they are expanding the level cap and adding more content to the game.
The game had warzones, Flashpoints and Operations at the start, and what they added was add ons. The only thing so far that I would say expanded SWTOR would be the reputation system.
Makeb has taken way to long as the level cap is only because of that, and they are cheaply implementing SGR into Makeb when it was going to be a more complex system. It has had some additions, but no where near the amount that it could have if it sustained at least a million subs or more
The things I would like to see to expand SWTOR would be things like instanced player housing, beast master, story creator system for players or a random mission generator, multipkayer open space, more events etc.
Add ons? Umm, that's just a simple rewording of the exact thing I just said. Change the words around. Call it a content patch. Fact of the matter is, expanded content has been added on to the game. Same thing.
Makeb is launching about 18 months after initial release. In your opinion that is too long? In some people's opinion it's too soon. Who is right? I'd say you should ask people who actively play the game.
Instanced player housing? What, a ship doesn't work for you? Beast master sounds cool, and I would like to see it. Story creator is a massive undertaking for a fully voiced game. In fact, I'd say we won't see anything with story creation/ random mission generators with voice in the next 15 years, at earliest. And even then, people whine about the cost of VO in SWTOR now. Yes, it would be cool. It would also cost well over $2 Billion to do, unless we go old school and drop the voices, which would be annoying. Open space? Don't want. I don't see where people attach open space to Star Wars. It never happened like that in the movies, or novels... nowhere in canon does any character just fly off randomly and dick around in space. Ever. You're mixing up Star Wars and Star Trek, which is annoying for Star Wars fans. Multiplayer Co-op/PVP space battles do sound cool, but they would take some time and money to add in.
Nothing good happens quickly or cheaply in MMOs.
Makeb was initially going to be a free update, and EA was bragging it would be the biggest FREE update of all MMO history. SWTOR would still get expansions, but Makeb was not going to be it. They are not getting enough money, and not putting any more into a proper expansion like what WOW and other MMOs get. EQ2 last expansion was announced Oct 2012, and went live Nov 2012, that is just 1 month, so 18 months is way too long when you look at what other MMOs can do.
You say the game hasn't really expanded, but they have added Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations since launch, multiples in each case. And yes, a lot of it was in the works for a while. Why does that matter? It wasn't in the game at launch, and now it is. And I was referring to an expansion pack. Makeb aside, they are expanding the level cap and adding more content to the game.
The game had warzones, Flashpoints and Operations at the start, and what they added was add ons. The only thing so far that I would say expanded SWTOR would be the reputation system.
Makeb has taken way to long as the level cap is only because of that, and they are cheaply implementing SGR into Makeb when it was going to be a more complex system. It has had some additions, but no where near the amount that it could have if it sustained at least a million subs or more
The things I would like to see to expand SWTOR would be things like instanced player housing, beast master, story creator system for players or a random mission generator, multipkayer open space, more events etc.
Add ons? Umm, that's just a simple rewording of the exact thing I just said. Change the words around. Call it a content patch. Fact of the matter is, expanded content has been added on to the game. Same thing.
Makeb is launching about 18 months after initial release. In your opinion that is too long? In some people's opinion it's too soon. Who is right? I'd say you should ask people who actively play the game.
Instanced player housing? What, a ship doesn't work for you? Beast master sounds cool, and I would like to see it. Story creator is a massive undertaking for a fully voiced game. In fact, I'd say we won't see anything with story creation/ random mission generators with voice in the next 15 years, at earliest. And even then, people whine about the cost of VO in SWTOR now. Yes, it would be cool. It would also cost well over $2 Billion to do, unless we go old school and drop the voices, which would be annoying. Open space? Don't want. I don't see where people attach open space to Star Wars. It never happened like that in the movies, or novels... nowhere in canon does any character just fly off randomly and dick around in space. Ever. You're mixing up Star Wars and Star Trek, which is annoying for Star Wars fans. Multiplayer Co-op/PVP space battles do sound cool, but they would take some time and money to add in.
Nothing good happens quickly or cheaply in MMOs.
Makeb was initially going to be a free update, and EA was bragging it would be the biggest FREE update of all MMO history. SWTOR would still get expansions, but Makeb was not going to be it. They are not getting enough money, and not putting any more into a proper expansion like what WOW and other MMOs get. EQ2 last expansion was announced Oct 2012, and went live Nov 2012, that is just 1 month, so 18 months is way too long when you look at what other MMOs can do.
You can't compare complexity of SWTOR expansion with EQ2 expansion. C'mon.
You say the game hasn't really expanded, but they have added Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations since launch, multiples in each case. And yes, a lot of it was in the works for a while. Why does that matter? It wasn't in the game at launch, and now it is. And I was referring to an expansion pack. Makeb aside, they are expanding the level cap and adding more content to the game.
The game had warzones, Flashpoints and Operations at the start, and what they added was add ons. The only thing so far that I would say expanded SWTOR would be the reputation system.
Makeb has taken way to long as the level cap is only because of that, and they are cheaply implementing SGR into Makeb when it was going to be a more complex system. It has had some additions, but no where near the amount that it could have if it sustained at least a million subs or more
The things I would like to see to expand SWTOR would be things like instanced player housing, beast master, story creator system for players or a random mission generator, multipkayer open space, more events etc.
Add ons? Umm, that's just a simple rewording of the exact thing I just said. Change the words around. Call it a content patch. Fact of the matter is, expanded content has been added on to the game. Same thing.
Makeb is launching about 18 months after initial release. In your opinion that is too long? In some people's opinion it's too soon. Who is right? I'd say you should ask people who actively play the game.
Instanced player housing? What, a ship doesn't work for you? Beast master sounds cool, and I would like to see it. Story creator is a massive undertaking for a fully voiced game. In fact, I'd say we won't see anything with story creation/ random mission generators with voice in the next 15 years, at earliest. And even then, people whine about the cost of VO in SWTOR now. Yes, it would be cool. It would also cost well over $2 Billion to do, unless we go old school and drop the voices, which would be annoying. Open space? Don't want. I don't see where people attach open space to Star Wars. It never happened like that in the movies, or novels... nowhere in canon does any character just fly off randomly and dick around in space. Ever. You're mixing up Star Wars and Star Trek, which is annoying for Star Wars fans. Multiplayer Co-op/PVP space battles do sound cool, but they would take some time and money to add in.
Nothing good happens quickly or cheaply in MMOs.
Makeb was initially going to be a free update, and EA was bragging it would be the biggest FREE update of all MMO history. SWTOR would still get expansions, but Makeb was not going to be it. They are not getting enough money, and not putting any more into a proper expansion like what WOW and other MMOs get. EQ2 last expansion was announced Oct 2012, and went live Nov 2012, that is just 1 month, so 18 months is way too long when you look at what other MMOs can do.
You can't compare complexity of SWTOR expansion with EQ2 expansion. C'mon.
It's like comparing scpaceship with bicycle
EQ2 expansion is bigger than SWTORs expansion
SWTOR expansion was not even going to be an expansion, James Ohlen said it was going to be the biggest free update ever. Since they are not getting enough money from the game /F2P they are now marketing it as an expansion to get more money for it
You can't compare complexity of SWTOR expansion with EQ2 expansion. C'mon.
It's like comparing scpaceship with bicycle
EQ2 expansion is bigger than SWTORs expansion
SWTOR expansion was not even going to be an expansion, James Ohlen said it was going to be the biggest free update ever. Since they are not getting enough money from the game /F2P they are now marketing it as an expansion to get more money for it
Off EQ2's website
Qeynos Rises
Released: July 24, 2012
The new Qeynos is rife with intrigue and conflict as the city, Queen Antonia Bayle, and the Circle of Ten evolve and struggle to oversee the welfare of the goodly folk of Norrath. As is in most places in Norrath, power can tip the scales. The new racial quests, which are available at all levels, offer historical lore and an introduction to your origins as well as a sense of your place within your race while experiencing Qeynosian struggles. The new class and storyline quests, starting at level 20, drop you amidst the city's strife with your brethren all the way to the high court.
Features
New revamped areas combined from 4 to 2 zones with amazing designs with Qeynos Palace overlooking the city.
Class Focus Effects have been consolidated and will now be available starting at level 9 and then every 9 levels in the Character Development window.
Massive PvP Update with new PvP stats derived from PvE stats, PvP gear that is useful in PvE combat, revised achievements, infamy, bounty, and a new token earning system.
Level-agnostic gameplay in Battlegrounds making it more fun, rewarding, and accessible for everyone. Players level 30 to 89 can play together as well as levels 90 to 92.
Earn bonus tokens to spend on new items in Battlegrounds with kill streaks, rewards for breaking streaks, capturing the flag, and more.
Battlegrounds tokens can be spent on new gear starting at level 10.
Fighters receive a new stance called "Recklessness," allowing them to do significant damage while sacrificing their ability to withstand damage.
and from SWTOR's
Rise of the Hutt Cartel
First Digital Expansion - Coming in Spring 2013!
Continue your Star Wars™ saga with a new level cap of 55.
Experience new epic story content with fully-voiced cinematic conversations.
New Planet: Makeb - Explore a vibrant alien landscape.
Pre-Order by the launch of the Digital Expansion and receive two new in-game items* and a unique title:
New Title, "Scourge of the Hutts"
New Makrin Seedling Mini-Pet
The Dr. Oggurobb Hutt Holostatue
Players WHO HAVE ALREADY PRE-ORDERED by January 7, 2013 will receive 5 days of Early Access** as well as the 3 items listed above.
While i did not see a price tag on EQ2 (free maybee?) SWTOR's expansion is 9.99 to subscribers and 19.99 to everyone else
Prestige Abilities - Each subclass will get access to new Prestige Abilities!
Prestige Tradeskills - Your crafting will shine like never before with Prestige Tradeskills.
Organic Adornments - New adornments that gain experience with you and grow in power.
Guild Level Cap Raised to 95.
Adventure to Level 95.
Tradeskill to Level 95.
New Content
Obol Plains - Discover the realm of Ethernere and the mysterious Obol Plains where an imbalance in the realm of the afterlife is apparent in all the surroundings and its inhabitants.
The Eidolon Jungle - Every area of Norrath has its own home in Ethernere. Adventure through the amazing, transformed lands of the Feerrott as it exists in the afterlife.
9 New Instanced Dungeons - All new dungeons with unique, exciting encounters...and loot!
All New Quest Lines - Experience the story of this unique realm in any play style you choose. There is plenty for everyone!
Prices and Bonuses
There is no physical version of this expansion. It cannot be purchased with Station Cash.
Comments
This is FALSE. You are restricted to certain races with a F2P account. I just created one several days ago on a Preferred Status Account. You can unlock them with Legacy, but even Legacy is restricted for F2P.
It's absolutely possible to compare other F2P models with Swtor's... why shouldn't it be? Just because you and others want to label it a "hybrid" model? Sorry, but when you open access to closed content, then it's also open to compare it to other various models.
https://rift.trionworlds.com/account/reg/account-registration-short-flow.action?experience=lite&request_locale=en
Rift Lite is F2P, using WoW's model. Free to play for 20 levels with no time limit. Swtor is free to play to 50 with no time limit. It doesn't matter how bad you think Tera is, so stick with the subject of comparing the f2p models.
very true
A key issue - for any game - is how much content is provided by way of the F2P content. At the end of the day the goal is to get people to spend money after all and for that you need people to stick around.
Pre-launch the amount of content that SWTOR would offer was a concern. And so it transpired. Lots of people were hitting cap in 2 weeks (power levelers doing so in 2 days!). And without the "planned" regular content drops this is all EA had to offer.
If EA could have limited F2P to 15 (or 20 levels) I am sure they would have done - they tried after all. First a series of time limited weekends etc. to level 15 and then a perpetual trial to level 15. Clearly level 15 wasn't working and so they introduced the level 50 F2P coupled with an attempt to slow down leveling.
And compared to WoW? Sure WoW's trial stops at level 20 but level 20 isn't that quick - especially for a new player starting from scratch. Throw in the fact that you can level lots of characters to 20 (40?) and have the best part of 10 years worth of quests to go at ..... easy to argue that WoW's trial surpasses SWTOR F2P offering.
At the end of the day the fact that Makeb has taken so long speaks volumes - despite the fact that work on an xpac started before the game launched (according to James Olsen). If the game was making lots of money via subs and/or the cash shop content would be faster. As it stands it looks a lot like WAR which got just one set of three $5 "mini-xpacs" and then a case of so long and thanks for the fish.
"In the immediate future, we have this one, and then weve got another one that is actually going to be so were going to have, what we want to do, is in January, what were targeting to do, this may or may not happen, so you cant hold me to it. But what were targeting to do, is have a fun anniversary to the Ilum shenanigans that happened. An alien race might invade, and they might crash into Ilum and there might be some new activities that happen on the planet." ~Gabe Amatangelo
Player activity is not a goal that F2P game companies really care about. If you only login once a month, but you spend $200 a month, do you really think they care how active you are? And let's step aside from a moment. Who says player activity is dropping?
You say the game hasn't really expanded, but they have added Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations since launch, multiples in each case. And yes, a lot of it was in the works for a while. Why does that matter? It wasn't in the game at launch, and now it is. And I was referring to an expansion pack. Makeb aside, they are expanding the level cap and adding more content to the game.
Yeah, you are one of those people who think the game cost them $600 million +++ to make, and they will never pay it off. Like I said, EA would have shut the game down a long time ago if this were the case. They care about money and money alone.
The Cartel Market push is out of greed. And I don't know about you, but when I log in I see a lot of people decked out in Cartel items and Cartel mounts.
Personally, I've spent a little bit on SWTOR... maybe the equivalent of 2 extra shifts at work. I spend a lot more on Steam. For example though... one guy in my SWTOR guild has spent well over $2000... and he is happy about it. Some have spent hundreds, and the only compaints I ever hear are from people who buy massive amounts of boxes and lose the RNG lottery. No matter how you cut it, losing the RNG lottery really sucks, which is why they are in the process of removing that aspect from play.
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This.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
This reply wins "Most Insane Post of the Year." First off, why is it in stanza structure, but with no capital letters and extremely random punctuation? You looked like an idiot, even before you started posting random crap.
Of course SWTOR is living off the few people who spend their whole pay check. That's how cash shops/F2P models work. Or, did you somehow have it in your head that game companies make money from people who don't buy anything? TERA, AOC, GW2, TSW... all of them make the bulk of their money from the cash shops. The only MMO game that doesn't make most of its money from cash shops is WOW. WOW makes most of its money by banning and reinviting Asain gold farmers to their game.
What is this BS about stocks. I don't invest in stocks, and if I did, I would never invest in technology, ever. Why? Because any stock broker will tell you that tech stocks are unstable, all of them, universally.
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"The New Leadership is needed"... hmmm where did I hear it last time.... ahhh Rise of Senator Palpatine....
Obviously, EA decided that things have to change.
I just hope it's not going to be a bad news for big games and not a turn towards mobile gaming
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
Actually, it is not a good time to buy EA stocks. It was last year:) when stocks were for $12 bucks, right now it's $18 or $19. Not sure how market will react to news about changing CEO, but I bet it's going to go up....
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
Yup. And that's why Tera will be closed down by the end of next quarter.
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Yeah, it's up in after hours trading to $19.34 from a day low of $18.42.
Ding Dong the witch is dead?
Remember though, SWTOR was Riccitiello's baby. He became CEO by brokering the deal that got EA Bioware (and it's crown jewel of the LA license for a SW MMO.)
The new boss may want to break all ties with an inglorious past.
The game had warzones, Flashpoints and Operations at the start, and what they added was add ons. The only thing so far that I would say expanded SWTOR would be the reputation system.
Makeb has taken way to long as the level cap is only because of that, and they are cheaply implementing SGR into Makeb when it was going to be a more complex system. It has had some additions, but no where near the amount that it could have if it sustained at least a million subs or more
The things I would like to see to expand SWTOR would be things like instanced player housing, beast master, story creator system for players or a random mission generator, multipkayer open space, more events etc.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Most MMOs can operate with little money and little updates, with the exception of SWTOR. SWTOR F2P system is so stingy because it can not survive on less. Any other MMO with 500K subs or more would not have needed to go or add a F2P option. It needs 500K subs or $7.5 million per month to break even. There is more chance that SWTOR will shut down than Tera if it is not getting enough
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Add ons? Umm, that's just a simple rewording of the exact thing I just said. Change the words around. Call it a content patch. Fact of the matter is, expanded content has been added on to the game. Same thing.
Makeb is launching about 18 months after initial release. In your opinion that is too long? In some people's opinion it's too soon. Who is right? I'd say you should ask people who actively play the game.
Instanced player housing? What, a ship doesn't work for you? Beast master sounds cool, and I would like to see it. Story creator is a massive undertaking for a fully voiced game. In fact, I'd say we won't see anything with story creation/ random mission generators with voice in the next 15 years, at earliest. And even then, people whine about the cost of VO in SWTOR now. Yes, it would be cool. It would also cost well over $2 Billion to do, unless we go old school and drop the voices, which would be annoying. Open space? Don't want. I don't see where people attach open space to Star Wars. It never happened like that in the movies, or novels... nowhere in canon does any character just fly off randomly and dick around in space. Ever. You're mixing up Star Wars and Star Trek, which is annoying for Star Wars fans. Multiplayer Co-op/PVP space battles do sound cool, but they would take some time and money to add in.
Nothing good happens quickly or cheaply in MMOs.
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I think the point many are trying to make about SWTOR is that nothing good happens quickly or cheaply for SWTOR subscribers.
And yet... SWTOR was billed as an MMO? SHOCKER!!!
j/k. but I don't see a disconnect in this way. Things happen slowly and expensively in every MMO. People are bashing SWTOR for being the same?
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Makeb was initially going to be a free update, and EA was bragging it would be the biggest FREE update of all MMO history. SWTOR would still get expansions, but Makeb was not going to be it. They are not getting enough money, and not putting any more into a proper expansion like what WOW and other MMOs get. EQ2 last expansion was announced Oct 2012, and went live Nov 2012, that is just 1 month, so 18 months is way too long when you look at what other MMOs can do.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
You can't compare complexity of SWTOR expansion with EQ2 expansion. C'mon.
It's like comparing scpaceship with bicycle
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
EQ2 expansion is bigger than SWTORs expansion
SWTOR expansion was not even going to be an expansion, James Ohlen said it was going to be the biggest free update ever. Since they are not getting enough money from the game /F2P they are now marketing it as an expansion to get more money for it
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Off EQ2's website
Qeynos Rises
Released: July 24, 2012
The new Qeynos is rife with intrigue and conflict as the city, Queen Antonia Bayle, and the Circle of Ten evolve and struggle to oversee the welfare of the goodly folk of Norrath. As is in most places in Norrath, power can tip the scales. The new racial quests, which are available at all levels, offer historical lore and an introduction to your origins as well as a sense of your place within your race while experiencing Qeynosian struggles. The new class and storyline quests, starting at level 20, drop you amidst the city's strife with your brethren all the way to the high court.
Features
and from SWTOR's
Rise of the Hutt Cartel
First Digital Expansion - Coming in Spring 2013!
ehm the last eq2 expansion is CoE
Features
New Content
Prices and Bonuses
There is no physical version of this expansion. It cannot be purchased with Station Cash.
my mistake as i am not familiar with EQ, but i have played SWTOR