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In approximately a month's time, subscribers to Star Wars: the Old Republic will be playing the new expansion and no doubt blazing a trail through the nine chapters of the new story that will be released at launch. Whether you prefer to gobble it up in one sitting or take your time and savor, there's plenty of new BioWare-flavored story to enjoy. However, let's take a look at what will happen if you're not a subscriber.
Comments
In SWTOR many unlocks can be purchased with in game money.
Heck all you need to do is spend $5 in the Cartel market and you get a ton of unlocks, then become a premium member.
At premium the F2P model is not bad, unless you insist on stuff for free.
--> http://www.swtor.com/r/nBndbs <--
Several Unlocks and a few days game time to make the F2P considerably easier
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
Now, which one of you will adorn me today?
I applaud EA / Bioware bringing back the subscription model for new content. I see no fault in that. As a customer I can say this part pleases me.
My biggest objection to this new expansion is the Story Itself. My objection is how this changes the SWTOR "universe" and how it completely trash cans the two main factions. Some People will see this as brilliant storytelling, I see it as taking the MMO in a direction it should not go for a Star Wars MMO. In my opinion Star Wars just got a kick in the neither regions with this new expac and I for one am not a happy customer about it.
My other objections are some of the Companion changes and the hinted at changes to Crafting. Not a fan of those either.
So I do see the requirement of a subscription as a good thing... but I won't pay it because EA took the Star Wars Old Republic experience off the main road and onto a detour as far as I'm concerned. maybe one day they'll find the main road again.
This whole thing to me is ironic... EA / Bioware goes back to requiring a Sub for new content, a policy I will always support, but the new content I think is ... you get the idea.
This have been a good conversation
I am playing SWTOR as a preferred right now. Crafting is a pain due to not being able to que up crafting orders, and mailing stuff is a hassle, but other than that anything I really need I got unlocked years ago. Playing SWTOR as Preferred with Unlocks is completely do-able and I still, for now, have fun with it.
I will not subscribe when I feel the Writers at EA need a swift kick the trousers. Enough said.
They're basically saying that both major factions got their asses kicked in five years by a third faction which came right the hell out of nowhere. Truly there has not been such a monumental ass-pull since the Catalyst Fiasco of Mass Effect 3.
You can't just throw everyone in carbonite for a few years and say, "While you were sleeping, ALL THIS HAPPENED!" There's no lead-up to it, nothing in the storyline hinting at the existence of the 'Eternal Empire' (nice name, not cliched at all, right?), nothing explaining how it is they have access to the equivalent of Jedi / Sith. NOTHING.
It's piss poor and lazy writing. For Christ's sake, it makes Blizzard's writing for WoW look like Charles Dickens. Somebody needs to shove a boot up the asses of Bioware's writers. At the very least, they should scrap the whole thing and have the competent writing team they're bringing in rewrite it.
Terrible. Just terrible.AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
The alternative is the "cash cow" free-to-play model where they target the top 1%-10% spenders and milk those people to pay for the game. It works, but the result usually turns out to be a pay-to-win model. Would you rather have that?
Side note: I agree with one of the earlier posters. The basis for the story strikes me as lazy at best. Taking on the Republic army, Jedi, Imperial army, Sith, and the Cartels, is just too much of a stretch. Plus as was also said they just popped up? Really? An army big enough to take on the all the super powers of the galaxy and no one knew about them?
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
In keeping with Disney's wishes that in exchange for continued operation of SW:TOR, they take all future development in a different direction. They had to quickly (and within a budget) create the new scope we have coming. It doesn't need to make sense at this point, where we don't have all the information. The fact is, Disney said take it in another direction, or we shut you down. So, they took it in another direction. If you care enough to get angry at said new direction. Stop to think of how angry you may or may not be if they had abruptly shut the game down. As they had with Star Wars 1313 a few months before they finished development.
I'm happy that we still have the game. And I'm happy that Bioware, and the associated writers, now have free reign to take the story where they want. Maybe the transition could have been handled better, but as many have pointed out, the game (while profitable) hasn't been a huge money maker within the last year. The way in which they're transitioning the game is likely a combination of sacrificing for the budget they have. As well as creating an equal and blank slate to start over from. The alternative would have been to just revamp existing content. Something which would cost just as much, but with far less returns on investment (or interest by players).
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Now, with that off the way its completely another matter if what they deliver will be worth 15/month.
As you nicely pointed out in the article, you can just stop playing and in a years time sub and get it all. Then play throught it in whatever time you need to experience it in the ways you want and rince-repeat the process next year.
And as far as new players are concerned, SW hype with movie heavily influenced the "reset" they are doing, as you can get insta lvl 60 character and just play new stuff....if you sub. They do want to bank on that free hype, now it just remains to be seen how it will play out.
In all their wisdom they finally (correctly) concluded that worn out raid for gear endgame cant keep the game afloat. Because if anything is anti star-warsy, that is. And, unfortunately, they had to find out first hand that KOTOR fans dont really care for all MMO stuff that dilutes the game.
Star Wars for me (and I am a huge fan of 4-5-6) are about Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Storm Troopers, Death Stars, Mos Eisley, Jabba etc. (death to all ewoks btw)
Jar Jar, Kyle Katarns...nothing for me.
Oh I must admit, I liked only 2 characters of ep. 1-2-3, and they died too early. Darth Maul and Dooku. (rip Christopher Lee)
About SWTOR, I liked the graphics, what I didn't like:
-horrible coded game engine.
-lag
-very restricted worlds with invisible walls -although they looked very nice-
-extremely railed themepark
-no experience of visiting ' worlds'
-- worst experience: it did not feel like STAR WARS to me. I did not have that feeling like that certain other Star Wars mmo that was mismanaged to the ground and below.
I was a pre-order customer, also played closed+open betas. Subbed for like 6 months after release. Lack of fixing groups made my guild die. A guild that was created with RL friends from EVE Online, so that was a killer for me too.
In the end it felt like WoW, 90% sitting on that Fleet Station waiting for a pop up to appear, doing nothing else.
F2P made me come back 2-3 times for a week or so. Stories were GREAT.
In short: would I pay? NO.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
Or perhaps you can produce compelling evidence to substantiate your claim?
Well looking back a bit, didn't they try that already? And it didn't work.
Ftp doesn't have to be a whale cash shop game (there are enough of those already)
Neither does it have to be so restrictive that players just give up with it after a short time.
There are good ftp models out there. Most players regard Rift as one of the best - but not the only one.
If you like the game pay, can also be looked at as:
If you like playing and what the game has to offer, then maybe you'll like it even better with this great mount we have in the store, or this fantastic new costume for yourself / your companion.....or this weapon skin etc.
The point could be made that a good game with an equally good ftp model will keep non-sub players in the game, whilst attracting repeat spend in the store.
Conversely, a punitive ftp model could drive non-sub players away from the game, drowning out any attraction they may have for it.
If the ftp model is truly just there for players to try it before subbing then I'd suggest they are doing it wrong.
When the garage gives you their demo car to test drive, it isn't one without wipers, 4 space saver wheels and only 1st gear.
A true trial ftp model would be a nearly full game, level or time limited, FFXIV + WoW for example.
No, this restrictive ftp model seems to be the worst of both worlds. Repeated in your face notifications of penalties, and severe restrictions that do nothing except put people off continuing with the game.
You like the game? Pay .....didn't work before when the market was more open to sub models. We'll see how this second sub only attempt goes.