Have they taken F2P restrictions a little too far?

[leafs43]

the xp nerf doesn't affect you at all, unless you plan to skip quests and never touch heroic quests or space combat.

F2P doesn't have access to space combat. You have to purchase space combat.

[Deleted]

can you name any other games that are f2p and restrict xp and character slots? I can't remember any f2p game I've ever played, years ago or recently doing it. Most f2p games have a marketplace you spend money to buy fake currency for clothing and increasing an already large inventory, or gaining double xp, stuff like that. This is just an incredibly greedy f2p model and it's not going to work for them very well.

DC universe online (limited character slots, limited classes chioce limited acces to Auction House and blocked most of dungeons/raids),
Dungeons and Dragons online (limited charr slots, limited classes choice limited zone access limited bag space)
and frankly many many others. You will always get very little content for free when microtransactions /possible prepaid is possible. They still want to make some cash on it.

[RoninaThorstone]

To me that is still the number one bizarre thing for them to not allow. I mean just make the limit 2 and you can buy up to four extra, that way the sub would still be better on that front. /sigh

Its definitely an area of untapped revenue for EA. I get that they "want people to subscribe" but if you are going to offer a f2p model, you should actually offer it. lol.

Oh well, they will figure it out eventually... Right? lol

---------- Post added 2012-11-20 at 05:32 PM ----------

F2P doesn't have access to space combat. You have to purchase space combat.

No, you have access to a few missions a week. 3 to be exact. Come on. They have this stuff up on their main page.

http://www.swtor.com/free/features

You can't just say that stuff without expecting to be called out on it.

[leafs43]

DC universe online (limited character slots, limited classes chioce limited acces to Auction House and blocked most of dungeons/raids),
Dungeons and Dragons online (limited charr slots, limited classes choice limited zone access limited bag space)
and frankly many many others. You will always get very little content for free when microtransactions /possible prepaid is possible. They still want to make some cash on it.

DCOU and DDO have restrictions. Any F2P MMO has restrictions. Nobody is contending that.


DCUO and DDO don't nickel and dime people over stuff that should be standard like action bars. That's the difference.

[shimargh]

i guess they intend for ppl to pay instead of playing free...i don't know i'm wild guessing here.
wow is also free (until lev 20) and noone gives a crap (or wine) about that.

[sarahfireworks]

I won't be one of them, but it looks like my time spent smashing dailies out and never spending credits will come in handy.

Absolutely! Thriftiness is awesome, but I still never thought this addiction to the GTN would pay off so well.

[duster2]

Honestly looking at everything, i think in the debates leading up to the f2p model being released it was discussed to death by most. The current way they are doing the f2p model wont work at least no in the way they wish. I already have a few friends who fell into the trap trying the f2p version of SW:TOR all of them within 2-3 hours said the same thing to me.

*peep* this..

The whole game feels so restricted which in the grand scale of things is just silly. The biggest problem for game like SW:TOR is that it still misses core features and is more restrictive then wow trial at points which is just beyond me. Besides this today a new f2p mmorpg released RaiderZ while not an amazing game it shows that with very little you can do a lot.

In the end SW:TOR has to compete with f2p titles like gw2 / RaiderZ and then not even talking about games like DCUO, DDO who have showed how easily it is to convert a p2p game to f2p. Looking at gw2/raiderz from a consumer point of view you simply have to ask yourself the question:

"Do i want to feel restricted and a second class citizen currently. (and hell the game wants you to know it)? "

To that question a lone SW:TOR is missing the line by a couple of miles and i dont see them improving it either. They keep thinking people will enjoy the game, but there was a reason people left the game in the first place. And very little has been changed since that point in comparison yes it has improved but it is just passing the line of how it should have been when it was released.

With other MMORPGs in front of us like The Elder Scrolls Online which might be f2p to i really do not see any chance for SW:TOR to survive with a large player base.
I think the best question to be asked is:

"Can it compete with other f2p (no monthly fee, only maybe pay for the game) types of games?"

For me that is going to be a no. It should have gone completely free to play if you ask me. That way they could have done a better job at balancing i hope at least. Since these semi-models never work perfectly and in this case can even be made terrible.

I know alot of ppl that felt the same way as your friends. PPL that already bought the game and wanted to see what this model would offer. They just walked away in the first hour. We were talking on skype and having a laugh how stupid ppl must be to fall for this stuff. Its horrible buisness practice and I think SWTOR will be even less populare within 1-2 months than ever before just based on the nickle and dime that is going on.

[leafs43]

No, you have access to a few missions a week. 3 to be exact. Come on. They have this stuff up on their main page.

http://www.swtor.com/free/features

You can't just say that stuff without expecting to be called out on it.

3 space missions per week is pathetic. That's 15 minutes in one day and you can never touch them until the following week.


Anyone trying to argue that this is more than enough is only trying to defend a crappy f2p design.

[duster2]

FTP can be a decent way to go, BTP is even better. The best I have experienced is Gw2. If you think you need ANYTHING from the cash shop to play the WHOLE game then you havent played at all lol. I have spent 10 dollars, 10, not because I had to but because I wanted to to show support and guess what? I have access to all my action bars I can run all the dungeons, battlegrounds, pvp have as much money as i want to have, post as many things on the auction house i want to, spam chat all I want to and all of the other rediculous things they are trying to nickle and dime you for.. for.. FREE.

If you haven't played GW2 then please don't comment on the monitization system. The unfortunate facts are that despite there being viable and absolutely awesome ways to make what they tried to do work.. they once again chose the most boneheaded counter productive way to implement it possible.

After seeing what B2P can be and how its done right, I will never again pay a sub fee for any game.

Same here - I spent some stuff in the GW2 shop just to support the game. Im not the biggest fan of it - but I still think the game is good enough to earn more than just the box price.

When it comes to SWTOR tho...... I bought the game - I subed for months... and even as a prefered player - I loose stuff like quickslot bars and hiding headgear ? Really ? ... I mean .. REALLY ?

I already bought the game with those features....

[RoninaThorstone]

3 space missions per week is pathetic. That's 15 minutes in one day and you can never touch them until the following week.


Anyone trying to argue that this is more than enough is only trying to defend a crappy f2p design.

Doesn't change the fact that "f2p can't do space missions" isn't accurate.

[Kiry]

i guess they intend for ppl to pay instead of playing free...i don't know i'm wild guessing here.
wow is also free (until lev 20) and noone gives a crap (or wine) about that.

I think that's because you have access to just about everything the game has to offer from 1 -20, there's no real feeling of restrictions. With Swtor, you know you are restricted. Everywhere you turn you are restricted. There's a real psychological hammer to that. For me, if I felt like I was hitting barriers everywhere I turned in a game that I was supposed to like, don't think I would feel good about the game.

The model doesn't interest me, and I play F2P games. If they are happy with the state of the game, more power to them. If not, I think they should really evaluate what is preventing people from playing, paying or such.

[Arlee]

Anyone trying to argue that this is more than enough is only trying to defend a crappy f2p design.

he didn't say that it was more than enough at all. Please don't infer things and try to start arguments. All he did was point out that 0/=3.

[duster2]

Do you really think that a decision such as how to build the free to play model has been decided in a 15 minute after-lunch meeting?
Do you really think a decision that will potentially involves loss or gain of tens of millions of dollars has been taken lightly?
Don't you think they have closet full of folder filled with business strategy, market simulations, even psychology reports on which they based their decisions?
Do you really think Electronics Arts is run by novice team in business and marketing?
Do you really think they haven't anticipated the current forum outcry, calculated the outcome and chose the most profitable solution?
Do you really think random post on some random fansite forum would make them suddenly change their mind?
Do you really think EA's stupid?

Why do you think EA has the worst track record of any publisher when it comes to MMOs? Because they are smart ? They dont care... They would close SWTOR down if it wasn't in such a horrible debt atm. Their main goal now is to get some money back with their F2P model.

[Kelimbror]

They would close SWTOR down if it wasn't in such a horrible debt atm.

Please don't state things as factual data that you have no clue on. We don't know anything regarding their financials. Even guesstimating I could put them at an overall gain, but 'nothing to write home about'.

[LilSaihah]

Why do you think EA has the worst track record of any publisher when it comes to MMOs? Because they are smart ? They dont care... They would close SWTOR down if it wasn't in such a horrible debt atm. Their main goal now is to get some money back with their F2P model.

I'm kind of wondering why they're not selling assets off, to be honest, and giving their corporate structure a good hard look at. EA does not seem to be working at all as a corporation.

[Rimrot]

"No where near pefect, but damn good imo. " You clearly aren't doing end game raiding and high end pvp on a marauder, this game is NOT damn good or half good, it is shit. Could it be good? Yeah, if any development shop other than BioWare were in control and any corporate partnership other than EA.

There are MILLIONS of players who quit this game, not because of the 15 bucks but because this game SUCKED. If they'd improve the game and make the game on par with Rift and WoW, people would GLADLY give BioWare 15 bucks a month and make this apart of their games they play. F2P isn't going to keep users in this current model and as people figure out how shit end-game is it'll be December all over again.

[WoWGoneBad]

not scanning 12 pages for this, but basically

the xp nerf doesn't affect you at all, unless you plan to skip quests and never touch heroic quests or space combat.

If you clear out everything, you will out-level the zone by quite a bit.

Example: recently leveled a new sorcerer healer. By the time I left DK, I was nearly 20. No space battles. Just logging out in cantinas and doing the group quests (heroics), and I think I did a daily FP twice for the 5 comms. That means, I could SKIP the next planet entirely.

Leveling is not an issue, even with an xp nerf. Add the fact they added 25% xp boosts as rewards for quests and random drops during low level content ... and the nerf is completely negated.


Hint: Log out in cantinas for rested xp ... just like WoW;
and just like WoW, people bitch about leveling taking too long, want to skip quests, zones, etc. then bitch there is not enough for them to do at max level.

lets see your reaction after you hit 25 and for subbers even they have a time getting lvls with all the missions on planet. 1-20 is the EASIEST lvling zone even for F2Pers but the higher lvls will take a bit more time to get through with all the exp needed to lvl through them.

[ranku]

not scanning 12 pages for this, but basically

the xp nerf doesn't affect you at all, unless you plan to skip quests and never touch heroic quests or space combat.

If you clear out everything, you will out-level the zone by quite a bit.

Example: recently leveled a new sorcerer healer. By the time I left DK, I was nearly 20. No space battles. Just logging out in cantinas and doing the group quests (heroics), and I think I did a daily FP twice for the 5 comms. That means, I could SKIP the next planet entirely.

Leveling is not an issue, even with an xp nerf. Add the fact they added 25% xp boosts as rewards for quests and random drops during low level content ... and the nerf is completely negated.


Hint: Log out in cantinas for rested xp ... just like WoW;
and just like WoW, people bitch about leveling taking too long, want to skip quests, zones, etc. then bitch there is not enough for them to do at max level.

Hint: you can't get rested xp unless you sub

and seriously, HOTH, if you only do quests and nothing else you will run out of quests before you get even close to the bracket for the next planet, the xp reduction becomes VERY noticeable at higher levels. I wonder why? maybe because... *gasp* it takes more xp to level when you are already a high level!! also space combat has always hardly given anything so don't bother with that example, and fyi if you turn in the daily quest for random dungeon it will give a SHIT TON of xp even with the 25% reduction so i wouldn't use that as an example (seriously my marauder got 1/4 of a level with one daily and im on preferred)

[steveyboy]

To think this time last year i got a ban on these forums for saying the game would be going free to play within a year.

Ontopic:

Terrible restrictions, not even considering trying it out now.

[RoninaThorstone]

To think this time last year i got a ban on these forums for saying the game would be going free to play within a year.

Ontopic:

Terrible restrictions, not even considering trying it out now.

It was probably how you were saying it.

I've been saying it and hoping for it for a while. F2P is my favorite model.