SWTOR Free to Play ?

[ptwonline]

When? Honest ignorance here from my part. But when was that shown? In wich games?

The three I hear about are DCUO, LOTRO, and CoH/V.

[Kathoss]

I see it being free in the next year

[SamR]

I'm not sure how they would convert SWTOR to f2p. Are they going to charge for your class quest? Because class quests are the main thing people are going to play for. If you don't charge for those, not sure what else you're going to make money on. And if people do have to pay for class quests, it's going to turn a lot of people off.

[Shadylol]

I'm not sure how they would convert SWTOR to f2p. Are they going to charge for your class quest? Because class quests are the main thing people are going to play for. If you don't charge for those, not sure what else you're going to make money on. And if people do have to pay for class quests, it's going to turn a lot of people off.

That's a very good point

Free to play might be less successful than we think

[vizzle]

As I understand it, TOR isn't really going F2P though. Its more like a permanent demo or trial, since you can't pass level fifteen. You get a few hours of content and then get stuck unless you start paying. If TOR actually went F2P like one of the many hybrids out now, I could definitely see playing again. But this? I don't see it helping very much because as soon as the new people run out of content they are just going to leave again. More like F2D than F2P.

For a game as short and linear as TOR, I just don't see this helping for very long.

Do you have another quote other than the one on the front page that led you to this guess?

[Argroth]

I see it being free in the next year

Then I guess I see myself leaving in a year if that happens.

I want quality in my games not $15 so my character can have an eyepatch.

[Kalesh]

The three I hear about are DCUO, LOTRO, and CoH/V.

The point is that F2P is only more profitable when the game has a certain number of subscribers. Once it reaches that number (and exceeds it), then a subscriber format generates more money. Those games generated more money once they switched to a F2P model, true, but that's only because they didn't have many subscribers to begin with. I'm not quite sure that TOR has reached that level yet.

[iggie]

I bought swtor but don't sub. I'd love it to be B2P like GW2 is. Hmmm tempted to almost level a toon now!

[Argroth]

That's a very good point

Free to play might be less successful than we think

If they do make the terrible decision to go free to play I hope the game crashes and burns hard for them. They would deserve it this time because of their stupidity and laziness.

They give up on us, I'll give up on them.

[Deleted]

In my opinion, Guild Wars 2 is going down the same road. Not only Guild Wars 2, but any game that thinks NOWADAYS they can survive without REAL END GAME CONTENT. You can`t survive. Simple as that. Let games learn that. Sad to see SWTOR learn that the hard way, but it was pretty clear to see that.

If you think GW2 is gonna fail you're just plain wrong and don't know shit. lol

[Lazerbrain]

I see it being free in the next year

this I agree.

[Dakia]

When? Honest ignorance here from my part. But when was that shown? In wich games?

If we're talking games on the scale of WoW, nothing. If we're talking games on the scale of Aion, LotR and CoH, along with the myriad of other F2P MMOs out there, there is plenty of evidence. I hesitate to toss GW in there, but it does somewhat fit the model.

All you have to do is continually provide the carrot on the end of the stick. Realistically, development costs of this carrot are rather small in comparison to large content releases. Keep people wanting the next carrot, and you are financially stable, with a smaller population base, as you work on the next major content push.

I have read a few analytic articles on the subject of this and the comparison between the two, but I don't have the time to pull them up right now as I am at work.

[ptwonline]

I'm not sure how they would convert SWTOR to f2p. Are they going to charge for your class quest? Because class quests are the main thing people are going to play for. If you don't charge for those, not sure what else you're going to make money on. And if people do have to pay for class quests, it's going to turn a lot of people off.

They'll probably charge for new stuff, not existing stuff. For example: new companions. New outfits. Speeders. Ship designs. Playable races and other character creator options. Convenience items like more bag space or bind points. More character slots. And so on.

Things like new class or planet quests would either be part of regular updates, bundled into paid expansions, or both.

[jsg388]

If TOR goes with a cash shop, they can sell all sorts of small useful things that don't make the game play to win but generally just easier. For example: a 2-day mount at any level, exp bonuses, unique weapon models / pets / mounts.

I hope they don't go so far as to remove some of the classes (or advanced specs) and require you to pay to unlock them, though. (I'm thinking of Champions Online here)

[Derah]

So? Rather Blizz have 15 bucks to at least give me the excuse they use it to make new content then Mcdonalds making me fat. 15 bucks is 15 bucks, and no matter who or what you are: that is not a lot of money.

Actually it is. Over here where I live, that's a lot of money, and I for one would be ecstatic if wow suddenly adopted the F2P model.

[ptwonline]

The point is that F2P is only more profitable when the game has a certain number of subscribers. Once it reaches that number (and exceeds it), then a subscriber format generates more money. Those games generated more money once they switched to a F2P model, true, but that's only because they didn't have many subscribers to begin with. I'm not quite sure that TOR has reached that level yet.

That logically doesn't make sense. The way you make more money is by raising more additional revenues over additional expenses. There is no reason why a particular threshold of number of subscribers would mean that a F2P model would be more or less successful unless the number is extremely high or extremely low.

If SWTOR had 1 million subs paying $15/mo, then a FP2 model simply needs to be able to generate more than $15M/mo in revenues (assuming expenses are around equal). The key thing is having things people are willing to spend money on, and being able to attract more players since the amount per month per player being spent will likely drop a bit long term. But those conditions are true no matter what number of subscribers you have.

Your point is more valid not talking about profits, but risk. Why risk going F2P if you have a million subs and are making decent profits?

[Argroth]

If you think GW2 is gonna fail you're just plain wrong and don't know shit. lol

Yet many people said that about SWTOR. It's certainly not dead or anything but its not the god smashing mmo people hoped it to be.

I wonder what makes your psychic visions better then 1000s of people who had them for SWTOR?

[SirRobin]

The problem is that the devs seem to have just opened the door to the possibility of the entire game going F2P. Which would mean stuff like cash shops, no actual expansions just new inventory and maybe a few levels to making that inventory more mandatory to buy for ridiculous prices. Like Many F2P they will make some flashy items and sell them for an ungodly amount of money and the rest will be reskins with better stats that are still way overpriced.

Ugh... Reading comprehension fail. My bad, sorry.

A real change to F2P would get me playing again. I have a couple of F2P games that I tinker around in when I'm bored. Heaven forbid I don't actually spend any money in their cash shops, but I still boot them up from time to time.

[Deleted]

I quite playing a long time ago mainly due to the terrible engine and "screw the EU we're from the US" mentallity.

[Shadylol]

Yet many people said that about SWTOR. It's certainly not dead or anything but its not the god smashing mmo people hoped it to be.

I wonder what makes your psychic visions better then 1000s of people who had them for SWTOR?

Guild Wars 2 can't fail

It's not a subscription based game, so all they need is for people to buy the box, and it's immediately a success. Now I'm not saying it'll be the best MMO ever, or kill WoW or anything, like the guy you quoted might have been trying to say, but it's still unreasonable not to expect GW2 to be a smashing success. Call of Duty, Diablo, and many others are proof that buy to play games that focus on online multiplayer are extremely popular