SWTOR will maintain subs the same way every other sub-based MMO does. People will buy the game, they'll enjoy it, then continue playing it. Not a very tough question...
SWTOR will maintain subs the same way every other sub-based MMO does. People will buy the game, they'll enjoy it, then continue playing it. Not a very tough question...
wow there goes his flame shield burnt out :O i hope he has face proof shield :O
Thanks for a polite reply, I am just trying to figure something out here as I find something puzzling. I have no doubt that people in all those categories I listed above are going to purchase the game and SWTOR will be a financial success. The question I am having is regarding how SWTOR is plannning to maintain these players in the long run with its game design philosophy. By the way, the SW fans who love MMO and RPG will fall into group 5 and RPG fans who love MMO will fall into group 5 or 4 depends on whether they are tired of WoW (or other theme park MMO they are playing).
The fundemental problem I am having is that by using RPG style of levelling as the main attraction of the game to expand market share, SWTOR is attracting people who tend to not becoming long-term subscribers and yet at same time alineating players who don't like RPG and play MMO for its long-term appeal.This is actually unique to SWTOR as all other MMOs tend to appeal to group 3, 4, and 5 with the most focus on both group 3 and 5.
And the group of people who don't like RPG but enjoy MMO is probably quite large. Again using mass effect 2 sales as a proxy, the RPG market is about 2 million while the total MMO market in North America and Europea exceeds 4 million. So if you look at people who are more likely to become long-term subscribers category by category (those probabaly all will purchase SWTOR at beginning), only one category of people is mostly likely to stay subbed and the problem is I am not sure how big that category is.
I think the issue is actually quite simple: you represent the problem as if it's a subtraction game, while in reality it's more of an addition game.
To explain what I mean via a very simple example:
- suppose you have a group of gamers that like PvE and dislike PvP and a group of gamers that like PvP and dislike PvE
- in your representation, both groups wouldn't play an MMO that has both PvE and PvP, while in reality people will just do the gameplay they prefer in that game and avoid or cope with the gameplay they disliked. Not the full 100% of both groups would go for the MMO that offers both gameplay styles, but the attraction of the gameplay they liked would be bigger for the majority than the aversion of the gameplay they disliked.
Reality has shown that a game that offers a wide variety of valid gameplay elements for various preferences will do better and be more attractive to a larger group of people than a game that only specialises in 1 aspect and discards the rest.
And to expand your scenario: GW2 as well as TSW have, next to a SWTOR, a stronger emphasis on the RPG aspect, something that the devs have been emphasising about their games. Yet I doubt that this aspect alone will deter people who dislike RPG in their MMO's from playing those games.
Actually I think your analogy is a little bit wrong:) Here is how I would put it in your example, the MMO is making the PvE its trully unique selling point (also mandatory) while offering good but nothing special PvP. The question is then why would PvPers come over and start all over if they have an alternative pvp game where they are more established? Now for argument sake let's imagine PvE players play for relatively short term while PvPers stay around longer, the question then is how would the MMO achive its goal with its current strategy if it intends to maximize the amount of people who play long term?
The example you give probabaly suits GW2 or TSW better since in your example those games can be considered as offering unique selling points in both PvE and PvP. Now both PvE and PvP players will come over and just avoid or cope with the game type they don't like.
I am having some trouble understanding how SWTOR is going to maintain enough subs after the intial couple months. As I see it, here are the demographic groups SWTOR is targetting at:
1. RPG players with no interest in MMORPG
2. Starwar fans with no interest in MMORPG
3. MMORPG players who like theme park MMORPG but do not like RPG
4. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG and is not tired of WoW yet
5. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG but is tired of WoW
Now the problem is that besides group 5, there is no reason for the other groups to stay around after the first couple months. Group 1 and group 2 will move on once they finish the stories, group 3 will not even enjoy the game (we already heard lots of complaints from power levelers from beta test), group 4 would probabaly prefer to still stay in WoW as they already have established characters/communities there and no reason for them to start over grinding BG/raids again.
So now the question is how big a group is group 5? We know mass effect 2 has 2 million box sales, so that puts a upper bound on the combined numbers of group 1, 4 and 5. We can probabely also use RIFT as a reference point, which supposely appeal to people who are tired of WoW and want a fresh start but still enjoy theme park MMO. My guess is right now RIFT has about 300k to 500k subscribers, which many of them may belong to group 3. We can also use the box sale of RIFT as a rough estimate, which is about 1 million, and assume 40% of the sales are due to group 3 and group 4 and the rest is due to group 5, then that still only gives us about 600k potential long term subscribers to SWTOR.
Is there something I am missing that you guys can point out?
They are using the same raid hamsterwheel as Wow do, have worked fine for Blizzard.
While I think most RPG fans only will stay 6 months and be off until the expansion should the raid fans be enough to keep the game profitable until then. After all is GW2 not a competitor for the raid players and Wow just can't keep players interest forever, and frankly does it seems to me that TOR will offer raiders a lot more than Rifts.
It is of course possible that Bioware can mess it up but I would be surprised in TOR wont earn more money than it costs at least.
They will keep anything between 500 k - 1 mln subs imho for a long time easily. They will start with even more like 1,5 mln easily.
Game proably will "just work" , be polished , provide more than averrage amunt of content + Star Wars IP.
So if Rift can keep arond 500 k propably , with beign just a well made WoW type game , (but with very nice caring for player and alot of content updates I give them that) , then Swtor will certainly do even better , unless their player support will be bad , content upload slow or they spawn too many stupid microtransactions into a game.
If they don't do above , they can surely keep helthy amount of subs. Just bored WoW players and SW addicts will be enough for 0,5 mln + , then count all other kind of players...
Would not be superb suprised if they will be able to reach close to 1 mil stable subs.
Not to mention they will earn HUGE amount of money with inital box sales + later box sales + royalities from things like SW peripherals (razor anyone?) , surely they will have also paid server transfers ,etc
I am sure they will make a very healthy profit from this game. Easily first year will cover all developemnt expenses and turn quite a profit on top of that, question is just how big profit margin it will be?
Is the OP for real. This game will more than likely turn a profit just on box sales at release. Over the next two or three months you will be able to double that more than likely, As all the Bioware and Star Wars fans pile in who don't care for the MMO element.
With months of gameplay with respect to classes a core of Bioware and Star Wars fans will ove this game easily playing it casually on and off for at least 6 months....
At which point Bioware will be at least 150 Million up on development costs, anyone with an ounce of common sense knows this will be a massive success. The question is just how big. Not sure why this post was p[osted seems a bit of a wierd one. Oh well each to their own.
Oh you seem to have forgotten to use the words Gameplay and Fun and RPG somethin the Developers here are masters at, Guess you didn't know that.
________________________________________________________ Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Actually I think your analogy is a little bit wrong:) Here is how I would put it in your example, the MMO is making the PvE its trully unique selling point (also mandatory) while offering good but nothing special PvP. The question is then why would PvPers come over and start all over if they have an alternative pvp game where they are more established? Now for argument sake let's imagine PvE players play for relatively short term while PvPers stay around longer, the question then is how would the MMO achive its goal with its current strategy if it intends to maximize the amount of people who play long term?
The example you give probabaly suits GW2 or TSW better since in your example those games can be considered as offering unique selling points in both PvE and PvP. Now both PvE and PvP players will come over and just avoid or cope with the game type they don't like.
Of course, your as well as my example were simplified, there are a lot of other reasons that count into people's decisionmaking. So let's stick to your question and issue raised: why would people not play a game that offers great or even better PvP that they like, even if it has PvE that they dislike in principle?
Because that is what you are saying in your theory: no matter how good the PvP, people will not play that game if they dislike PvE in general even if it has the best PvP around.
I think that the past has proven that it doesn't work like that, also with MMO's: MMO games that offer more enjoyable features to various groups of gamers will draw more people in than those that specialise in only 1 or 2 features.
But we'll see how it'll work out in reality and who'll prove to be right: in your theory, GW2 as well as SWTOR and TSW would fail because it would deter groups of gamers who detest RPG gameplay in their MMO's. Somehow I don't think this will be the case, but we'll see
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
They have a chance to retain my subscription because of the ongoing 24/7 faction vs faction conflict.My wife still playes DAOC ...she started at inception. I have played on and now permenently off for 6 years.
So..yes thats the type of gaming we enjoy..if it's done "right" DAOC is the gold standard.
Why are people so upset that Swtor is going to be a success?
I understand that some might be scared that Swtor will effect there choice MMO, maybe push your MMO of choice to become free to pay or even shut down but still, why, who cares, if you don't like Swtor just don't play it, ride your choice MMO and hope it lasts,besides there will allways be GW2 that's not going anywhere because its's a buy and play MMO, even though WoW will lose about 3 million subs,WoW will still be number 1 for at least a few more years, Rift might take a hit and everything else but GW2 will go bankrupt or F2P but that dosn't mean the end of all MMO's.
Some people just can't cope with seeing people who work hard and try to deliver something special succeed. Sad but true I am really happy for Bioware.
________________________________________________________ Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Thank you for reading the rules on boosting your rating on MMORPG.com. Clearly, this long-winded nonsense post was made for that reason alone.
It baffles me how you thought this would be a legitimate question for the masses.
How will it maintain subs? If people find it enjoyable... enough said. If people find it to be a fun game, they'll stick around. If not, they'll move along.
Until the game comes out and we all have a chance to play it, these types of posts are absolutely absurd. I hate to be so negative, but really... go get a job. You clearly have way too much time on your hands... like a bored housewife.
Actually I think your analogy is a little bit wrong:) Here is how I would put it in your example, the MMO is making the PvE its trully unique selling point (also mandatory) while offering good but nothing special PvP. The question is then why would PvPers come over and start all over if they have an alternative pvp game where they are more established? Now for argument sake let's imagine PvE players play for relatively short term while PvPers stay around longer, the question then is how would the MMO achive its goal with its current strategy if it intends to maximize the amount of people who play long term?
The example you give probabaly suits GW2 or TSW better since in your example those games can be considered as offering unique selling points in both PvE and PvP. Now both PvE and PvP players will come over and just avoid or cope with the game type they don't like.
Of course, your as well as my example were simplified, there are a lot of other reasons that count into people's decisionmaking. So let's stick to your question and issue raised: why would people not play a game that offers great or even better PvP that they like, even if it has PvE that they dislike in principle?
Because that is what you are saying in your theory: no matter how good the PvP, people will not play that game if they dislike PvE in general even if it has the best PvP around.
I think that the past has proven that it doesn't work like that, also with MMO's: MMO games that offer more enjoyable features to various groups of gamers will draw more people in than those that specialise in only 1 or 2 features.
But we'll see how it'll work out in reality and who'll prove to be right: in your theory, GW2 as well as SWTOR and TSW would fail because it would deter groups of gamers who detest RPG gameplay in their MMO's. Somehow I don't think this will be the case, but we'll see
You are right, if the game does offer great pvp that PvPers love in addition to its outstanding PvE content, then PvPers will come desipte even the mandatory pve stuff. So if SWTOR also offers really attractive MMO end game content in addition to its RPG elements (enough to keep other theme park MMO players who don't like RPG interested for a long time), then SWTOR definately will appeal to group 3 and be a success in the long term. Whether it will work out or not we will just have to wait and see. Though it does baffle me that from a point of maximizing long term subs, it seems to be a better strategy to make end game content a trully unique selling point rather than the levelling process, which tend to attract short tem players. Well I guess Bioware doesn't have a choice since RPG is its specialty.
You know, yada yada 500k, blah blah 1mil, yada yada, 200k, blah blah 5mil... These TOR threads are only starting to annoy because of the repeating trend of speculating, hopes, and conserns. They are good for nothing, most of them, just something to argue back and forth before the game gets released and then everything will be known and seen what happens. I'm starting to wish there was only TOR threads where people discuss about the game, and not the stuff everyone sees every day where a bunch of people have their estimates about a hundred and one thousand things that has not happened or of things they have not experienced.
What I ment to say was: 600k people X, 200k people then again might B, and taking into consideration 400k of C the Z might end up the whole game pushing to 5mil of G but then again it might S 6k D7 and be just 3mil of 8mil f.
Worry not, we will know after the launch if this will happen. Or the 8quadruplamilzionquanthousand other outcomes.
Have the developers leave the game alone for at least 12 months
No .. content updates ... so you dont loose what you worked for becasue it was trumped by an update item
No...pandering to whiners that complain about imbalance .. you want to class x.. play class x .. warts and all and get the kudos ...sympathy wehatever that that entails becasue of that imbalance.
No .. excessive policing of the game. few rules = more creative play and making players /guilds self reliant ... get robbed for being dumb .. tough .. get better at recognising a scammer, forming relationships with decent players etc etc ...
No ... making everything so simple that you hardly have to do any research or have any brains to know x is valuable .. y is not valauable....if you make the game simple and reward laziness, dumbness etc .. you loose complexity that = challenge and opportunity to get knowledge or cash or some other advantage.
Yes .. to a decent crafting system
No .. to too many ways of getting broadly equivalent gear ....tough if you cant play 24/7 ... play over more months to get gear etc but be sure it wont have be given away at 1/4 the cost a few weeks after you got it...
yes .. keep the servers up ....
No discounting of the game for at least 12 months and until there is updated end game content / expansion. Recruit a freind incentives etc that reduce the effort required to gain levels, characters etc ...
Oh no ? Guess you'll be disappointed at release then.
I can assure you I will NOT be disappointed. I have very high hopes for this game and I can tell you I will not be displeased. I'm looking forward to the stories as well as the PvP.
For me its a sci-fi mmo. Im so sick of fantasy or asian mmo's its not even funny. Only a handful of sci-fi mmo's out there, we need more. Plus i like star wars and star trek (to bad the game wasnt very good). I played SWG for 7 years because it was a sci-fi game, even after the CU/NGE i adapted and still pushed on. Until about a year ago when no one i knew left was playing i took off. Since then ive been looking for a good mmo, and cant find one with even half the features SWG had
Originally posted by Actus Originally posted by hefan I am having some trouble understanding how SWTOR is going to maintain enough subs after the intial couple months. As I see it, here are the demographic groups SWTOR is targetting at: 1. RPG players with no interest in MMORPG 2. Starwar fans with no interest in MMORPG 3. MMORPG players who like theme park MMORPG but do not like RPG 4. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG and is not tired of WoW yet 5. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG but is tired of WoW1
Is there something I am missing that you guys can point out?
Oh no ? Guess you'll be disappointed at release then.
I can assure you I will NOT be disappointed. I have very high hopes for this game and I can tell you I will not be displeased. I'm looking forward to the stories as well as the PvP.
You and then there is the masses...
Expect the worst, and you really don't have to worry, it's an MMO there will be people who enjoy it, as well as people who find it generic, also people who dabble and/or hate the overall game. Your own experience speaks nothing for the masses.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I don't think it will maintain subs. It's just another MMO with a difference of story/voice. Why solo in an MMO, to what level? 20?
dude it will mantain the subs look at everquest 1 2 and lord of the rings online other games they maintaain there subs... if people like the game enough they will stay. Every game has it hardcore fans and you dont sound like one .
Thank you for reading the rules on boosting your rating on MMORPG.com. Clearly, this long-winded nonsense post was made for that reason alone.
It baffles me how you thought this would be a legitimate question for the masses.
How will it maintain subs? If people find it enjoyable... enough said. If people find it to be a fun game, they'll stick around. If not, they'll move along.
Until the game comes out and we all have a chance to play it, these types of posts are absolutely absurd. I hate to be so negative, but really... go get a job. You clearly have way too much time on your hands... like a bored housewife.
lol i love this comment so true play what you like and enjoy what you eat at dinner if not toss out the meal and order another
OP you are not missing anything. The biggest question with SWTOR is how the game will be beyond the story, as a pure MMO, and that nobody knows. Answer 3 months after release.
I am having some trouble understanding how SWTOR is going to maintain enough subs after the intial couple months. As I see it, here are the demographic groups SWTOR is targetting at:
1. RPG players with no interest in MMORPG
2. Starwar fans with no interest in MMORPG
3. MMORPG players who like theme park MMORPG but do not like RPG
4. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG and is not tired of WoW yet
5. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG but is tired of WoW
Now the problem is that besides group 5, there is no reason for the other groups to stay around after the first couple months. Group 1 and group 2 will move on once they finish the stories, group 3 will not even enjoy the game (we already heard lots of complaints from power levelers from beta test), group 4 would probabaly prefer to still stay in WoW as they already have established characters/communities there and no reason for them to start over grinding BG/raids again.
So now the question is how big a group is group 5? We know mass effect 2 has 2 million box sales, so that puts a upper bound on the combined numbers of group 1, 4 and 5. We can probabely also use RIFT as a reference point, which supposely appeal to people who are tired of WoW and want a fresh start but still enjoy theme park MMO. My guess is right now RIFT has about 300k to 500k subscribers, which many of them may belong to group 3. We can also use the box sale of RIFT as a rough estimate, which is about 1 million, and assume 40% of the sales are due to group 3 and group 4 and the rest is due to group 5, then that still only gives us about 600k potential long term subscribers to SWTOR.
Is there something I am missing that you guys can point out?
you forgot group 6. sandbox mmo players who got nothing else to play, many of the SWG players will be switching over to SWTOR , but they will find out that the game has little to nearly none sandbox features, Crafters won't have much in this game iether. i can easy predict a huge Exodus of players quitting their subscriptions after the first month or so. no need to be miss cleo the mind reader to figure that out.
unless they gonna force people to reajust their playing class every week or so ( like Trion did in Rift and led to the exodus of most of the playerbase for not knowing how to balance a class system game ), i dont see why Star War fans wont stay around.. the game looks to have a lot to offer even for solo / casual player who like the franchise.
of course there are a lot of hichups there.. like the use of the grind4ever raidcrap format to get high end gear, or the badly done space combat system etc.. but well.. lets give them a chance, im sure things will reajust and improve until the game goes live.
fact is loads of people did preorder it.. so.. expectations pretty high and the fan base is real, not hyped like for other upcoming mmorpgs.
theres a huge Star Wars fanbase that has been craving for a decent mmorpg after swg fiasco by SOE.
Comments
SWTOR will maintain subs the same way every other sub-based MMO does. People will buy the game, they'll enjoy it, then continue playing it. Not a very tough question...
wow there goes his flame shield burnt out :O i hope he has face proof shield :O
.....
Actually I think your analogy is a little bit wrong:) Here is how I would put it in your example, the MMO is making the PvE its trully unique selling point (also mandatory) while offering good but nothing special PvP. The question is then why would PvPers come over and start all over if they have an alternative pvp game where they are more established? Now for argument sake let's imagine PvE players play for relatively short term while PvPers stay around longer, the question then is how would the MMO achive its goal with its current strategy if it intends to maximize the amount of people who play long term?
The example you give probabaly suits GW2 or TSW better since in your example those games can be considered as offering unique selling points in both PvE and PvP. Now both PvE and PvP players will come over and just avoid or cope with the game type they don't like.
I don't think it will maintain subs. It's just another MMO with a difference of story/voice. Why solo in an MMO, to what level? 20?
They are using the same raid hamsterwheel as Wow do, have worked fine for Blizzard.
While I think most RPG fans only will stay 6 months and be off until the expansion should the raid fans be enough to keep the game profitable until then. After all is GW2 not a competitor for the raid players and Wow just can't keep players interest forever, and frankly does it seems to me that TOR will offer raiders a lot more than Rifts.
It is of course possible that Bioware can mess it up but I would be surprised in TOR wont earn more money than it costs at least.
They will keep anything between 500 k - 1 mln subs imho for a long time easily. They will start with even more like 1,5 mln easily.
Game proably will "just work" , be polished , provide more than averrage amunt of content + Star Wars IP.
So if Rift can keep arond 500 k propably , with beign just a well made WoW type game , (but with very nice caring for player and alot of content updates I give them that) , then Swtor will certainly do even better , unless their player support will be bad , content upload slow or they spawn too many stupid microtransactions into a game.
If they don't do above , they can surely keep helthy amount of subs. Just bored WoW players and SW addicts will be enough for 0,5 mln + , then count all other kind of players...
Would not be superb suprised if they will be able to reach close to 1 mil stable subs.
Not to mention they will earn HUGE amount of money with inital box sales + later box sales + royalities from things like SW peripherals (razor anyone?) , surely they will have also paid server transfers ,etc
I am sure they will make a very healthy profit from this game. Easily first year will cover all developemnt expenses and turn quite a profit on top of that, question is just how big profit margin it will be?
Is the OP for real. This game will more than likely turn a profit just on box sales at release. Over the next two or three months you will be able to double that more than likely, As all the Bioware and Star Wars fans pile in who don't care for the MMO element.
With months of gameplay with respect to classes a core of Bioware and Star Wars fans will ove this game easily playing it casually on and off for at least 6 months....
At which point Bioware will be at least 150 Million up on development costs, anyone with an ounce of common sense knows this will be a massive success. The question is just how big. Not sure why this post was p[osted seems a bit of a wierd one. Oh well each to their own.
Oh you seem to have forgotten to use the words Gameplay and Fun and RPG somethin the Developers here are masters at, Guess you didn't know that.
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Of course, your as well as my example were simplified, there are a lot of other reasons that count into people's decisionmaking. So let's stick to your question and issue raised: why would people not play a game that offers great or even better PvP that they like, even if it has PvE that they dislike in principle?
Because that is what you are saying in your theory: no matter how good the PvP, people will not play that game if they dislike PvE in general even if it has the best PvP around.
I think that the past has proven that it doesn't work like that, also with MMO's: MMO games that offer more enjoyable features to various groups of gamers will draw more people in than those that specialise in only 1 or 2 features.
But we'll see how it'll work out in reality and who'll prove to be right: in your theory, GW2 as well as SWTOR and TSW would fail because it would deter groups of gamers who detest RPG gameplay in their MMO's. Somehow I don't think this will be the case, but we'll see
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
They have a chance to retain my subscription because of the ongoing 24/7 faction vs faction conflict.My wife still playes DAOC ...she started at inception. I have played on and now permenently off for 6 years.
So..yes thats the type of gaming we enjoy..if it's done "right" DAOC is the gold standard.
Some people just can't cope with seeing people who work hard and try to deliver something special succeed. Sad but true I am really happy for Bioware.
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
@ OP
Thank you for reading the rules on boosting your rating on MMORPG.com. Clearly, this long-winded nonsense post was made for that reason alone.
It baffles me how you thought this would be a legitimate question for the masses.
How will it maintain subs? If people find it enjoyable... enough said. If people find it to be a fun game, they'll stick around. If not, they'll move along.
Until the game comes out and we all have a chance to play it, these types of posts are absolutely absurd. I hate to be so negative, but really... go get a job. You clearly have way too much time on your hands... like a bored housewife.
You are right, if the game does offer great pvp that PvPers love in addition to its outstanding PvE content, then PvPers will come desipte even the mandatory pve stuff. So if SWTOR also offers really attractive MMO end game content in addition to its RPG elements (enough to keep other theme park MMO players who don't like RPG interested for a long time), then SWTOR definately will appeal to group 3 and be a success in the long term. Whether it will work out or not we will just have to wait and see. Though it does baffle me that from a point of maximizing long term subs, it seems to be a better strategy to make end game content a trully unique selling point rather than the levelling process, which tend to attract short tem players. Well I guess Bioware doesn't have a choice since RPG is its specialty.
You know, yada yada 500k, blah blah 1mil, yada yada, 200k, blah blah 5mil... These TOR threads are only starting to annoy because of the repeating trend of speculating, hopes, and conserns. They are good for nothing, most of them, just something to argue back and forth before the game gets released and then everything will be known and seen what happens. I'm starting to wish there was only TOR threads where people discuss about the game, and not the stuff everyone sees every day where a bunch of people have their estimates about a hundred and one thousand things that has not happened or of things they have not experienced.
What I ment to say was: 600k people X, 200k people then again might B, and taking into consideration 400k of C the Z might end up the whole game pushing to 5mil of G but then again it might S 6k D7 and be just 3mil of 8mil f.
Worry not, we will know after the launch if this will happen. Or the 8quadruplamilzionquanthousand other outcomes.
For me the best way to maintain subs is to ...
Have the developers leave the game alone for at least 12 months
No .. content updates ... so you dont loose what you worked for becasue it was trumped by an update item
No...pandering to whiners that complain about imbalance .. you want to class x.. play class x .. warts and all and get the kudos ...sympathy wehatever that that entails becasue of that imbalance.
No .. excessive policing of the game. few rules = more creative play and making players /guilds self reliant ... get robbed for being dumb .. tough .. get better at recognising a scammer, forming relationships with decent players etc etc ...
No ... making everything so simple that you hardly have to do any research or have any brains to know x is valuable .. y is not valauable....if you make the game simple and reward laziness, dumbness etc .. you loose complexity that = challenge and opportunity to get knowledge or cash or some other advantage.
Yes .. to a decent crafting system
No .. to too many ways of getting broadly equivalent gear ....tough if you cant play 24/7 ... play over more months to get gear etc but be sure it wont have be given away at 1/4 the cost a few weeks after you got it...
yes .. keep the servers up ....
No discounting of the game for at least 12 months and until there is updated end game content / expansion. Recruit a freind incentives etc that reduce the effort required to gain levels, characters etc ...
Caveat Emptor
You and then there is the masses...
Remember a few years back there was this crazy company that had this insane idea for an MMO that would target:
1. RTS players with no interest in MMORPG
2. Warcraft fans with no interest in MMORPG
3. MMORPG players who like theme park MMORPG but do not like RTS
4. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG and were not tired of EQ yet
5. MMORPG players who enjoy theme park MMORPG and RPG but were tired of EQ
It now has more subs than every MMO made prior to it combined. Thoughts?
And no, I doubt TOR will be that successful. But it may last longer than we give it credit.
For me its a sci-fi mmo. Im so sick of fantasy or asian mmo's its not even funny. Only a handful of sci-fi mmo's out there, we need more. Plus i like star wars and star trek (to bad the game wasnt very good). I played SWG for 7 years because it was a sci-fi game, even after the CU/NGE i adapted and still pushed on. Until about a year ago when no one i knew left was playing i took off. Since then ive been looking for a good mmo, and cant find one with even half the features SWG had
qft
Expect the worst, and you really don't have to worry, it's an MMO there will be people who enjoy it, as well as people who find it generic, also people who dabble and/or hate the overall game. Your own experience speaks nothing for the masses.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
dude it will mantain the subs look at everquest 1 2 and lord of the rings online other games they maintaain there subs... if people like the game enough they will stay. Every game has it hardcore fans and you dont sound like one
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lol i love this comment so true
play what you like and enjoy what you eat at dinner if not toss out the meal and order another 
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I'm pretty sure having a login screen will maintain subs.
OP you are not missing anything. The biggest question with SWTOR is how the game will be beyond the story, as a pure MMO, and that nobody knows. Answer 3 months after release.
An honest review of SW:TOR 6/10 (Danny Wojcicki)
you forgot group 6. sandbox mmo players who got nothing else to play, many of the SWG players will be switching over to SWTOR , but they will find out that the game has little to nearly none sandbox features, Crafters won't have much in this game iether. i can easy predict a huge Exodus of players quitting their subscriptions after the first month or so. no need to be miss cleo the mind reader to figure that out.
unless they gonna force people to reajust their playing class every week or so ( like Trion did in Rift and led to the exodus of most of the playerbase for not knowing how to balance a class system game ), i dont see why Star War fans wont stay around.. the game looks to have a lot to offer even for solo / casual player who like the franchise.
of course there are a lot of hichups there.. like the use of the grind4ever raidcrap format to get high end gear, or the badly done space combat system etc.. but well.. lets give them a chance, im sure things will reajust and improve until the game goes live.
fact is loads of people did preorder it.. so.. expectations pretty high and the fan base is real, not hyped like for other upcoming mmorpgs.
theres a huge Star Wars fanbase that has been craving for a decent mmorpg after swg fiasco by SOE.