SWTOR Free to Play ?

[Deleted]

All smart Dev's/exec's leave options open. The back lash of "oh they are thinking about doing x" is always less hurtful than the backlash of "They said they wouldn't do x but now they are!".

not really

bioware has stated on more than one occashion that they will not put in a cross server lfg as they think community is important, if they intended to do it, i sure they would use the words "at this time we dont want to" no flat out and say no.

[Deleted]

here is a nice little link about lotr going pay to win

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01...ons-for-playe/

i do like the line


i love how he says "at this time" meaning we are looking into it lol

if he had said, nope its never going to happen, then that would be cool, but that means that its on the table

free to play moving to pay to win.

this will happen in swtor with in 6 months.

im sorry because a competitor not associated with SWTOR in anyways has come out and said no intention to sell raid gear in 6 months star wars will? seriously? come on dude now your just trolling for trollings sake.

[Arlee]

I am not saying they never do it. I am saying any dev who is forward thinking and smart about things wouldn't say something like that.

[ringthree]

1.3 was released on June 26th. That is not 5 months. Please keep the WoW vs SWTOR mentalities to yourselves. It is an extremely touchy subject. Everyone has their own opinions so bickering back and forth about difficulty is not productive.

I suppose you could defend 1.3 as "content", but most people don't follow that interpretation.

[Forsedar]

I suppose you could defend 1.3 as "content", but most people don't follow that interpretation.

The patch released many new features to the game. It was definitely content, no matter how you look at it. One can complain and say that they should have been in the game from launch, but that doesn't take away from the fact that its still content.

[Redblade]

The patch released many new features to the game. It was definitely content, no matter how you look at it. One can complain and say that they should have been in the game from launch, but that doesn't take away from the fact that its still content.

I would class it as not enough content, transfers should have been in at launch, the legacy stuff was already there just not possible to unlock, don't even think it changed much if at all, which gives only LFD which to be perfectly honest isn't much of content as opposed to an unnecessary convenience feature.

[Deleted]

I would class it as not enough content, transfers should have been in at launch, the legacy stuff was already there just not possible to unlock, don't even think it changed much if at all, which gives only LFD which to be perfectly honest isn't much of content as opposed to an unnecessary convenience feature.

Same here, i was only happy on the word from a devs that there wouldnt be less of a gap between 1.3 and 14. because it was feature not content heavy, obviously F2P stuff put a spanner in the works, but im still not feeling im getting value from my sub, im hoping next weeks reveal will change that, we'll see

[ringthree]

The patch released many new features to the game. It was definitely content, no matter how you look at it. One can complain and say that they should have been in the game from launch, but that doesn't take away from the fact that its still content.

Most people consider "content" to be raids, dungeons, quests, etc. While the LFG and rated battlegrounds were nice, they didn't add anything to gameplay.

[Kelimbror]

Most people consider "content" to be raids, dungeons, quests, etc. While the LFG and rated battlegrounds were nice, they didn't add anything to gameplay.

One could argue since 90% of the playerbase didn't experience any of these things due to population issues and no LFG that they technically readded all the content the game launched with. I felt like I was given content, since it was finally accessible. I'm just lpaying Devil's Advocate here...we all know that they didn't give us 'new' things to do.

But for most people playing, what was given was more than enough to fill the time usually spent standing in the fleet doing nothing.

[Redblade]

But for most people playing, what was given was more than enough to fill the time usually spent standing in the fleet doing nothing.

Except all the players with a active enough guild to not need the LFG, they had already done the content.

[Arlee]

Except all the players with a active enough guild to not need the LFG, they had already done the content.

Yea.. I am in that category... and technically 1.3 really didn't change anything for me at all in that respect. However, ever since transfers and 1.3 happened I have been playing FAR more than I previously had been and am actually enjoying leveling alts (something I previously didn't enjoy at all). I have been sort of musing over why this could be and the only thing I can come up with is the xp perks. It has allowed me to tailor my leveling experience on each toon to the things I enjoy doing on that toon; and I think that has made all the difference in the world in my enjoyment of leveling alts.

Not to mention the coms from doing LFG while leveling are pretty nice as well especially since I miss out on a lot of coms since after I do a planet once I am not really interested in those quests anymore.

[Redblade]

I have been sort of musing over why this could be and the only thing I can come up with is the xp perks. It has allowed me to tailor my leveling experience on each toon to the things I enjoy doing on that toon; and I think that has made all the difference in the world in my enjoyment of leveling alts.

Not to mention the coms from doing LFG while leveling are pretty nice as well especially since I miss out on a lot of coms since after I do a planet once I am not really interested in those quests anymore.

That's fair enough but those legacy features where there, even the description of what they would do if I remember correctly so not so much content as flipping a switch allowing you to use them.

[DanBowie]

Its a great idea I feel. It will get more people into the game or willing to try it out. Might even bring some people back. Means higher population and faster ques for everyone. Also Suscribers get extra rewards and full acess to the game still and new content wich means developers still make money to keep servers going and to create new content. It's a win for everyone in my mind if they do it right. Hopfully when it goes free they advertise more or at least for holiday season to get the word out to new players.

[Lathais]

Most people consider "content" to be raids, dungeons, quests, etc. While the LFG and rated battlegrounds were nice, they didn't add anything to gameplay.

Exactly, the other things are features. Features can be classified as content though, so i understand where some people are coming from. However, people want end game things to do, not just features.

[kenn9530]

Same here, i was only happy on the word from a devs that there wouldnt be less of a gap between 1.3 and 14. because it was feature not content heavy, obviously F2P stuff put a spanner in the works, but im still not feeling im getting value from my sub, im hoping next weeks reveal will change that, we'll see

the has been much content added in since the start, much more over a short period of time than most games, im not 100% but i think rift is the only one to pump out content even faster but im not sure on how much, there has been 14 OP bosses so far many world bosses including at least 2 lvl 50 ones, the rakghoul event which added some temporary quests which were not too bad and some nice extras, at least 2 more FPs, an extra PvP zone along with another area for dailies with even further rewards combined a really nice lfg feature that does more than just FPs and OPs, improvements to armoring ie the adding of augments to any gear along with the evolution of the legacy.

Thats more than yours moneys worth just there, there is always something to do, there may not be a vast majority of acheives to hunt down like WoW but im sure the codex will evolve further to help those who like that sort of thing. Value for money can be said on many games especially wow, how many wow players just log on to afk in the cities and do nothing.

[Forsedar]

Ah the codex. I do want a proper achievement system, timestamps and all.

[Kelimbror]

Ah the codex. I do want a proper achievement system, timestamps and all.

Dear lord yes. And if they made it so it was either account wide or if per toon, awarded Cartel Coins (at a much quicker rate than LotRO's system) then it would be heaven.

[Forsedar]

Dear lord yes. And if they made it so it was either account wide or if per toon, awarded Cartel Coins (at a much quicker rate than LotRO's system) then it would be heaven.

Wow, an even better idea!

[SirRobin]

here is a nice little link about lotr going pay to win

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01...ons-for-playe/

i do like the line


i love how he says "at this time" meaning we are looking into it lol

if he had said, nope its never going to happen, then that would be cool, but that means that its on the table

free to play moving to pay to win.

this will happen in swtor with in 6 months.

I think its important to clarify that, as a revenue model, I don't have any "beef" with F2P beyond its greater vulnerability to shifting towards P2W than P2P. The problem I have is that it doesn't "fix" the game. Now in both DDO's and TOR's case I can see the validity of going F2P. DDO was having a hard time justifying even keeping the servers open and TOR appears to still be in the midst of an ongoing severe issue with retention. In the same vein I can absolutely see why Vanguard would go F2P. Its not like it had prospects of growth any time soon.

LotRO is more questionable. From what I recall from trying the game and from those I knew playing it, the game's population wasn't growing, but it wasn't shrinking either. Like EVE, LotRO appeared to have found its "niche." They had regularly been adding content to the game and seemed to be doing fine. The "need" to go F2P just didn't seem to be there. In my opinion, there wasn't anything that really needed to be "fixed." It has its niche and adding a cash shop and transients might look attractive in the short run, but how beneficial they'll be in the long run?

[Deleted]

Free to play will only worsen an mmo.
1)Free to play will attract less desirable players.

a) Imagine a sub-mmo being like a restaurant.Where the price of the food is decent.All kind of folks go eat there,and you rarely have rude people.
Then imagine the restaurant becoming free.You can eat there for free,only some types of food require payment.
While the food still has the same quality you can already foresee what kind of people will go to that restaurant.There will be way more rude and unpleasant people.In our case,an mmo,there will be way more trolls,douchebags and scammers.

b)It will also attract lower quality gamers.Obviously the group in a) fits this description.But it also will attract people who aren't really interested in the game,but are willing to try it because it's free.Those types of people while mostly come and go,play sporadically...actually they will not add much ''value players'' to the game.
By that I mean players who are genuinely interested in the game and will actively be part of the community,they will be your raiding friends,they will bring competitivity to the game.
While the ''free casual'' type of players don't actually do anything bad and they even add value players in small numbers they do break down the social climate.
This is of course subjective.This is out of the pov of the active and involved player.Not necessarily only hardcore player,the midcore (casual active) player too.
To state the obvious,an mmo is a social game,the more game is flooded with ''free casual'' players,the more you have to deal with them,the less chance for you to encounter like-minded players because you have to filter through a bigger less desirable crowd.
They will also make value players leave who don't like F2p games for this reason.You can count me as one of those.
So to say these players don't have a bad intention,but things are what they are,they lower the social quality of the game.

2)Free to play will lead to greedy content.Content designed in a way for you to go to the cash shop asap.
I can't understand how people like to think about money while they play,that's why I like sub-based mmo's,you pay once a month and you're DONE,you can go on enjoying the game,and if you want something in the game,you actually play the game for it.I may be too old school but I like the idea of doing something in the game to get a reward I want.

Call me old school again but when I buy a game I expect it to have the actual game.
Not the ''main part'' of the game while you're expected to pay for extra DLC,cash shop,...
About the developing part.Things are what you put into it.
What kind of game do you expect when it's mostly free and the company need to make money through their cash shop?
Its not gonna grow into something impressing that way.

;this one's for you Forsedar,