Have they taken F2P restrictions a little too far?

[ranku]

well theres some good news form the Q and A, in additon to the quickbar change theyre letting Free players have 6 characters instead of 2

can you please link this, i want to see if anything new pops up.

[DarkEmperor]

well theres some good news form the Q and A, in additon to the quickbar change theyre letting Free players have 6 characters instead of 2

Another positive change to the restriction, I see. I wonder which restriction is next they will change. Hopefully the one that restricts you from choosing the lockbox as reward from a mission completion. I still find it to this day the most ridiculous restriction that is in-game and how they manage to come up with such an idea. I understand with a Freemium model there are outta be restrictions in-game, but that one is mind-blowing. Those are the moments when I am thinking I should just stop supporting the company behind it. And the only way to do that is not give them a penny but at the same time I like the game so much, so what to do... Maybe next restriction they are going to soft up will be credits cap, on my server the artifact authorization initially was 5 million credits, now it's 4 million and there is only one seller and I don't see anyone selling unify colour, show title, hide helmet unlocks. :< It's not really making ppl to sell their stuff from the Cartel Market on the GTN it seems if you look at what's on the GTN on my server.

I still think they should just change their model completely and go with a Freemium model to allow players to buy purchasable content free of their choice instead of these weekly passes. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would prefer to see my money going to the department that is responsible for developing the content that I play. And of course part of the money goes to what holds the game together, guild features, GTN, UI, character animation, etc. I'm looking at you WoW, stupid Pokemon, don't want part of my money go to that... even it's only 0.10 euros!

[Forsedar]

Over the course of the F2P going live, I'm sure we can expect changes to be made. This is just the start so just give it time for the developers to hear the community and act on it (within reason of course). Giving more characters and changing the amount of quickbars limited is a great start!

---------- Post added 2012-11-30 at 12:07 AM ----------

can you please link this, i want to see if anything new pops up.

Check this forum section. I made a thread with a full transcript of the QA panel.

[Repefe]

Hm, with the character unlocks playing TOR as leveling MMO becomes much more appealing. Now all is left is to offer long term b2p option instead of the weekly passes for wz, operations and space missions. I actually think that 6 slots is too generous ... they could have made it unlockable feature past 3-4. But it's looking better and better.

[Cooper]

Outside of the ludicrous limitations on quickbars (which is apparently going away for preferred, but still), artifact gear, hide helmet/unify colors, companion customization, and the like...

...non-subbers not only don't get all the quest rewards and have a credit cap, but they have to pay 25% more at vendors, including commendation vendors. Oh yeah, and non-subbers have their commendations capped.

But I digress. Seeing "This item costs more for non-subscribers" (or whatever the message is) every time I'm buying something from a vendor really makes me feel like BioWare is spitting on me for not subbing.

And that doesn't make me any more inclined to give them money.

Oh, and for the argument that one can buy unlocks from the GTN - that only works if people actually sell the unlocks. The Cartel Shop Items listed on my server is three pages of Cargo Bays put up by one guy (for 400,000 credits, no less).

[Bolverk]

Outside of the ludicrous limitations on quickbars (which is apparently going away for preferred, but still), artifact gear, hide helmet/unify colors, companion customization, and the like...
[SNIP]
Oh, and for the argument that one can buy unlocks from the GTN - that only works if people actually sell the unlocks. The Cartel Shop Items listed on my server is three pages of Cargo Bays put up by one guy (for 400,000 credits, no less).

Yep, I thought that feeling of positivity was starting to spread a bit too infectiously and needed to be snuffed out, it took longer than expeected tbh.

[ElDee]

Treat it as a discount for subscribers.

[AnthonyUK]

Yep, I thought that feeling of positivity was starting to spread a bit too infectiously and needed to be snuffed out, it took longer than expeected tbh.

Yup a one post warrior moaning about not having enough free stuff apparantly.

[Xcitement]

Treat it as a discount for subscribers.

His point is they don't have to rub it in your face every time you buy something.

[Cooper]

His point is they don't have to rub it in your face every time you buy something.

Actually it was that they've gone so far as to punish people for not subscribing within the game itself. It's not a "discount for subscribers" because the price hasn't changed for subscribers from before f2p - it's quite clearly an in-game mechanical penalty for non-subbers for being non-subbers.

[namelessone]

Treat it as a discount for subscribers.

Yeah, that's like the store increasing the price on all goods by 20% and then starting a payed membership that gives you 20% discount on everything. It has "dick move" written all over it.

[ati87]

I think it is save to conclude that their is not much incentive to stick with your character past lvl 50...at best people will probably level up another character.

My suggestions for Bioware.

First adjust the restriction on the purple gear, don't allow people to use the best or second best gear but at least allow them to use the first tier.
Second: give access to the entry lvl Operations, the only restriction should be on the 2 most recent tiers (and if Bioware doesn't follow the tier system of WoW then they should start doing that as well)
Finally: adjust certain other restriction to allow people to perform at a acceptable level in both pve and pvp (not best but at least middle pack)

Bioware is still making the same mistake, they are focussing to much on the 1-49 part of the game and not enough on the lvl 50+. What are the chances of a current non paying player to switch over to a sub account? My guess is low since he/she doesn't really experience anything pas lvl 50.

[ElDee]

Bioware thought it was a good idea to let subscribers have lower vendor prices than free players, presumably to make subscribers feel like they're getting a good deal. They could have gone about it two ways: either they give subscribers a 25% discount, or they charge free players with a 25% tax. The net effect is the same in both cases, except the game is already balanced around the prices subscribers were paying before F2P. Rather than risk disrupting game balance and damaging the in-game economy by lowering prices for subscribers, they decided to increase prices for F2P players.

Sorry if that offends you.

[Kittyvicious]

Rather than risk disrupting game balance and damaging the in-game economy by lowering prices for subscribers, they decided to increase prices for F2P players.

Sorry if that offends you.

The Cartel Market would like a word with you. That word is that your logic is flawed.

[Pugbot]

#1 answer to all things EA has their fingers in is.....
*drum roll*
Its EA, what do you expect?

[Argroth]

The restrictions are ridiculous.

I tried to give this game a second chance because my friends decided to try it (they havn't bought anything but the 10.99 disk and never plan on buying anything else so no big win for bioware there).

Even with preferred status The restrictions are unbelievable.

You will be able to do quests but that's pretty much all. Because of the insane restrictions like inventory not able to be expanded and direct experience lowering even questing is hindered. Even ridiculous things like hiding a helmet and displaying a title arn't allowed.

You get a choice of the 2 most boring/uninteresting races and 1 more. You get just enough character slots to get a republic and a sith character (for now). You get a credit cap but good luck reaching it when you cant get 3 crew skills, things cost more and quests deny the choice of credit box rewards.

It's really pathetic the amount of things they restricted, They made it free but it's hardly a game if you decide to go that option.

I figured F2P would be crap but I didn't realize it would be as terrible as it is.

[Azhreia]

Bioware thought it was a good idea to let subscribers have lower vendor prices than free players, presumably to make subscribers feel like they're getting a good deal. They could have gone about it two ways: either they give subscribers a 25% discount, or they charge free players with a 25% tax. The net effect is the same in both cases, except the game is already balanced around the prices subscribers were paying before F2P. Rather than risk disrupting game balance and damaging the in-game economy by lowering prices for subscribers, they decided to increase prices for F2P players.

Sorry if that offends you.

Fair enough, let's assume that EA had the best of the game at heart and wanted to avoid disrupting the ingame economy. Would it have disrupted the economy if they silently raised prices for non-subscribers ? Did it help the economy that they rub it into the non-subscribers with each purchase that they are second class citizens ?

You should realize that Bioware/EA needs those new players way more than they need them. It's SWTOR that is struggling to get more subscribers/revenue, while the potential customers have quite a few MMOs to choose from. So what's the gain of alienating potential customers ? I at least see none. Which makes me believe it was a stupid move on their part to implement this tax in such a way. Ideally you want to make F2P players feel welcome so that they stay, you want to entice them to spend money. Instead they are hit on the head at every turn with obnoxious reminders of their non-premium state. I have my doubts that it is a good idea, but oh well ...

[Cooper]

Bioware thought it was a good idea to let subscribers have lower vendor prices than free players, presumably to make subscribers feel like they're getting a good deal. They could have gone about it two ways: either they give subscribers a 25% discount, or they charge free players with a 25% tax. The net effect is the same in both cases, except the game is already balanced around the prices subscribers were paying before F2P. Rather than risk disrupting game balance and damaging the in-game economy by lowering prices for subscribers, they decided to increase prices for F2P players.

Sorry if that offends you.

If the game is so precariously balanced that lowering vendor prices for subscribers would wreak the in-game economy (which it wouldn't do at all, but let's run with this), how is it not game-breaking to raise the price for non-subscribers?

It has nothing to do with giving subscribers a good deal, and everything to do with maltreating non-subscribers into subscribing - which is a terrible business model.

[Repefe]

To sum up my issues:

There are too many unlocks. First impression is everything you do is restricted.
The b2p route is not complete. Week long passes for space missions and warzones . No b2p unlocks for operations etc.
The questing/VO features can be better. I really don't want to read multitude of replies when the conversation is just polite chitchat. I feel that for both TOR and DA3 BW should offer a mixed mode where you pick just the important answers and rest is auto reply.