SWTOR Free to Play ?

[Deleted]

That is the point of the F2P option- for those to experience the story without having to pay a monthly fee for it. They have 50 levels to either get hooked on the game or not. If they get hooked, chances are they will subscribe to the game. If they don't get hooked, they still played the game.

If anything they will sell many copies of the game...

[Deleted]

And after that, it can get either even better or stay the way it is, or go the downward spiral.

It's gems like this from lol/rofl posters that make me come back here. Your contribution has certainly not gone unnoticed.

[Crysis]

It's gems like this from lol/rofl posters that make me come back here. Your contribution has certainly not gone unnoticed.

^^ alright, this wasn't my smartest moment tbh.. the rest remains true

oh and by the way, calling me a lol poster since this was the first time I used this is kind of silly too

[Kelimbror]

^^ alright, this wasn't my smartest moment tbh.. the rest remains true

oh and by the way, calling me a lol poster since this was the first time I used this is kind of silly too

You have a crab on your face

[Arlee]

If they "get hooked" on the story, then they still don't really have any reason to subscribe, for other content

If they never release any content at all then you have a point. However, if they do like they have said they are going to and raise the level cap and extend the stories your point goes out the window because they made a point of saying in the announcement that subs will get access to all future content for no extra charge.

[Deleted]

There hasn't been content because they were forced to start rapidly revamping to an F2P system. Yes they probably had a framework, but if they don't launch with tons of things to spend money on then they fail. If they had strong subs and weren't going F2P, you probably would have seen an update by now.

Not to mention that saying they haven't had content in 5 months is hyperbole.

how is it huperbole?

the last content update was patch 1.2 and that was aleast 4-5 months agp, patch 1.3 was nothing but QOL features such as LFG tool.

so your theary is that they have not done anything new becuase of free to play, so they knew about f2p way back before patch 1.3?

thats a fucking joke and goes way against what they said they woudl be doing.

[Forsedar]

QoL features are content updates. They introduced 1.3 which gave us quite a bit. It redefined augmenting, allowing us to min/Max properly. It came out with LFG and rated war zones. There were many legacy updates and class overhauls. If that's not a content update then I don't know what one is.

[Kelimbror]

how is it huperbole?

the last content update was patch 1.2 and that was aleast 4-5 months agp, patch 1.3 was nothing but QOL features such as LFG tool.

so your theary is that they have not done anything new becuase of free to play, so they knew about f2p way back before patch 1.3?

thats a fucking joke and goes way against what they said they woudl be doing.

If you think that a major game company decides the night before an earnings call that they are going F2P and have people photoshop some bullshit for an official public release you are insane.

They have probably had concepts and strategies for F2P since before launch. Please open your eyes and realize that companies have to think ahead and have back up plans in order to make money. Thank god you are not the CEO of a large and publicly traded company.

In regards to content, Forse said it just fine.

[Deleted]

If you think that a major game company decides the night before an earnings call that they are going F2P and have people photoshop some bullshit for an official public release you are insane.

They have probably had concepts and strategies for F2P since before launch. Please open your eyes and realize that companies have to think ahead and have back up plans in order to make money. Thank god you are not the CEO of a large and publicly traded company.

In regards to content, Forse said it just fine.

your right, if i was the CEO of EA i would not have made BW rush the game out unfinished, id have waited an extra year

I would also not pull the plug at the first sign of trouble and then blame the dev team which in turn would mean they wouldnt be layed off.

I would see that an MMO can take a few years to created a solid hardcore following and not expect the brand IP to carrie the game.

If you think they have planned this and i mean BW then your wrong, this has been EA's plan to milk the game that they think is not worth bothering about anymore.

yes im really happy that im not a money grabbing short sighted greedy bastard of a CEO like the one EA has now.

[Arlee]

how is it huperbole?

the last content update was patch 1.2 and that was aleast 4-5 months agp, patch 1.3 was nothing but QOL features such as LFG tool.

so your theary is that they have not done anything new becuase of free to play, so they knew about f2p way back before patch 1.3?

thats a fucking joke and goes way against what they said they woudl be doing.

Even if you don't count 1.3 as content.

1.2 was released April 12th.

April 12th to May 12th = 1 month
May12th to June 12th = brings us to 2 months
June 12th to July 12th = and now we are at 3 months
July 12th to August 12th (yea smidge into the future there) = and now we are at 4 months

So yes, saying it's been over 5 months is hyperbole. Even assuming you just made a simple and common counting mistake (people often forget zero is a number) you would have only come up with 5. Now if we assume that you just didn't remember when 1.2 came out I will recommend before making claims like you this you double check your info at http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes where you can easily check the date of any patch you wish.

[Deleted]

Even if you don't count 1.3 as content.

1.2 was released April 12th.

April 12th to May 12th = 1 month
May12th to June 12th = brings us to 2 months
June 12th to July 12th = and now we are at 3 months
July 12th to August 12th (yea smidge into the future there) = and now we are at 4 months

So yes, saying it's been over 5 months is hyperbole. Even assuming you just made a simple and common counting mistake (people often forget zero is a number) you would have only come up with 5. Now if we assume that you just didn't remember when 1.2 came out I will recommend before making claims like you this you double check your info at http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes where you can easily check the date of any patch you wish.

sorry got my dates wrong i throught 1.2 came in march.

but even so, im what 5 days off 4 months not wasnt that far off. It still crap that they said in 2012 that content would be rolling out monthly and its great, and they go all silent and nothing happens.... oooh we got 1.3 which most of that patch should have been in at launch so yeah we got a what 5 boss raid? (not sure not done it) that is on par with blizzard and there content updates, thing is they can get away with it as they have 9.1 million subs and a game that has tons of stuff to do in it, and before the trolls call me a wow fanboy, im far from it, i left the game in feb last year to enjoy the beta on swtor, i only just resubbed to wow on the 1st Aug due to this game going to free to play and EA having a cash shop in it.

IF they had not gone free to play and kept the cash shop out, i think this game over time would have made its money back, all that was needed was the dev team to listen to the players and deliver what they said they would. New Fresh content.

[Deleted]

If you think that a major game company decides the night before an earnings call that they are going F2P and have people photoshop some bullshit for an official public release you are insane.

They have probably had concepts and strategies for F2P since before launch. Please open your eyes and realize that companies have to think ahead and have back up plans in order to make money. Thank god you are not the CEO of a large and publicly traded company.

You vastly overestimate EA. In late summer of 2007 (!), EA had collected 400 (!) gamemasters for their new state of the art office in Dublin. They were being trained for Warhammer online, answered like two support questions for unrelated games per day and were mostly bored out of their mind. Till the game was finally released on September 18, 2008, quite a few of them had been fired again and all the work they ever did could have easily been done by 80 people max.

The gaming industry is lots of impromptu decision making b/c a) there is not enough empirical data to lean on, and b) some people think it is cool to be different. Even Blizzard with one of the most powerful entertainment IPs in their hand and a licence to print money acts extremely unprofessionel at times. So far they got away with it while EA at the moment looks as if they might not.

edit: was talking strictly about their MMO business; the Sims and Madden are strong enough to keep EA if not running, at least afloat for a long, long time

[Kelimbror]

You vastly overestimate EA. In late summer of 2007 (!), EA had collected 400 (!) gamemasters for their new state of the art office in Dublin. They were being trained for Warhammer online, answered like two support questions for unrelated games per day and were mostly bored out of their mind. Till the game was finally released on September 18, 2008, quite a few of them had been fired again and all the work they ever did could have easily been done by 80 people max.

The gaming industry is lots of impromptu decision making b/c a) there is not enough empirical data to lean on, and b) some people think it is cool to be different. Even Blizzard with one of the most powerful entertainment IPs in their hand and a licence to print money acts extremely unprofessionel at times. So far they got away with it while EA at the moment looks as if they might not.

This is the nature of lots of business, but acting unprofessional doesn't translate to not trying to prevent losses. Most of the indiscretion you mention comes from the disconnect between top tier upper management and direct reports in a building. I assure you that every company launching an MMO at this point draws up a backup plan for if their sub model fails.

As talented as people are, trains cannot be derailed overnight. The decision itself might be on a last minute whim, but that is what upper management always does. Usually the lower reports already have this stuff prepared or else they lose their jobs.

[Arlee]

but even so, im what 5 days off 4 months not wasnt that far off. It still crap that they said in 2012 that content would be rolling out monthly and its great, and they go all silent and nothing happens.

All of that is fine. You were just wondering why you were being called out for hyperbole and while saying it's been five months would have been a simple thing where hyperbole would not have been appropriate; you actually had said "More than five months" which is why Kitty was saying you were engaging in hyperbole. I use just clarifying where he was coming from on that one.

[Deleted]

This is the nature of lots of business, but acting unprofessional doesn't translate to not trying to prevent losses. Most of the indiscretion you mention comes from the disconnect between top tier upper management and direct reports in a building. I assure you that every company launching an MMO at this point draws up a backup plan for if their sub model fails.

As talented as people are, trains cannot be derailed overnight. The decision itself might be on a last minute whim, but that is what upper management always does. Usually the lower reports already have this stuff prepared or else they lose their jobs.

So if this is EA's back up plan for swtor?

why did they not kick in with one for WAR, i mean the Warhammer IP is massive and the games workshop logo alone brings in players, just look at how well DoW has dont over the years. Yet WAR is still P2P and doesnt even have a cash shop, there has been more than enough time for them to 1- close the servers and save money 2- go free to play and put in a cash shop, making more money.

So are you going to keep defending them like a good little fanboy or are you going remove the rosetinted glass's and see that EA is going to screw this game up, more than they have already done.


Infracted: Calling other members fanboys or any other inflammatory remark is against the forum rules.

[Kelimbror]

So if this is EA's back up plan for swtor?

why did they not kick in with one for WAR, i mean the Warhammer IP is massive and the games workshop logo alone brings in players, just look at how well DoW has dont over the years. Yet WAR is still P2P and doesnt even have a cash shop, there has been more than enough time for them to 1- close the servers and save money 2- go free to play and put in a cash shop, making more money.

No idea, but at the time it failed F2P wasn't a proven successful strategy yet. As such, it probably wasn't any part of a backup plan. Probably is a red headed step child at this point and clearly the IP doesn't bring in anything or else it wouldn't have been so terrible.

So are you going to keep defending them like a good little fanboy or are you going remove the rosetinted glass's and see that EA is going to screw this game up, more than they have already done.

1) Going to ignore how this is attempting to be blatantly confrontational, but I would warn you these forums don't really tolerate personal attacks regarding 'fanboys' and the like.

2) In response to EA as a whole, I am ambigous at best towards them. However, after recently seeing the hoops to jump through with the Sims 3 my fiancee was playing and after BF3 I can tell you that I hate Origin, hate the way they operate with most every other game, and generally agree that they should be voted the worst company in the world.

Even saying that, I can tell you that I have more faith in this game from it's ancestors and current incarnation than what that last statement offers.

[Alvito]

SWTOR's endgame suffers from being too easy, though. I realize that WoW is too hard for certain players, and that makes the game unattractive, but BioWare took it too far with SWTOR, and I think that "easier is better" mentality has really hurt the game

EV and KP are way too easy even in the hardest versions. EC beyond just needing better gear is a little more difficult. Seeing how you just stated you unsubbed in January a few days ago, you can't really comment too much on how difficult things are or aren't now.

[Forsedar]

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.

[Deleted]

There is one thing I'm kinda worried about though.
If many people opt for the free option, they will have very limited access to warzones and flashpoints, probably a few times per week.
After that they won't have access to them.
Which means that there will be fewer people queuing for warzones and flashpoints once the free players' times per week is over, the queues might get longer and would negatively impact the game, especially the paying customers. This problem may also snowball; because warzones/LFG/LFR are negatively impacted, subscribers feel they are not getting their money's worth, they also go for the free option, and then EA realizes there might be a problem and changes the rule again.
My worries might be unfounded if there's still insta-queue after the free option though.

For me personally, I've long unsubbed, but might come back to make other alts and play for free. I think many people have similar mentality. I'd imagine lowbie levels will be crawling with free players, but probably after Tuesday of each week, lowbie warzones would be dead.

[Forsedar]

After server consolidations, everywhere is packed. Warzone queues are near instant and Planets are filled. A lot of the people subbed will most likely stay subbed since the wave of people leaving is evening out now. What you see is what you get. The F2P option is to attract people back to the game.