Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
This is not how you attract players.
OhhPaigey
Member RarePosts: 1,517
So I came back today, or I was going to, I bought the game at launch and played for a few days with a friend, logged in when it went F2P and you had to pay for actionbars, and then I decide to redownload it today and I see this. (http://i.imgur.com/3SEMFiE.png)
I also checked out the free to play restrictions, they seem pretty horrible, you can't sprint until you're level 10 as F2P, but if you pay you have it unlocked at level 1, chat restrictions, support restrictions. I would've rather paid for a subscription today and be even with everybody else, this game even outlines how F2P it is on it's restrictions page. (http://www.swtor.com/free/features)
Idk, it just seems like a complete mess, like most of these business models.. /shrug
Comments
I don't think she's mad. She's just stating facts, plus I'm pretty sure everyone knows SWTOR has a terrible f2p model.
My point is the complete opposite of this though, I'd rather pay $10-$15 a month and be equal to everybody else than being able to potentially spend thousands of dollars in a cash shop and being able to level 12x faster than others just because I paid.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
This. The only actual free to play game I've played in years and years would be Path of Exile.
You can't actually believe this though, try to get somebody to invest into your company when you say your game went F2P a year after launch and you're actively working towards not getting anymore players. GL. The reason it went F2P is because they didn't have enough players to begin with.
You can argue their model is doing fine, but I can argue it isn't and compare it to other games. In the end I've been a player since CBT #1, me and my friend both pre ordered the game and played during launch and I won't be coming back to try out their updates years later.
And i wish these days back, F2P is such a pain the ass and damaged the whole genre, if you wanna play you have to pay for it even in a "F2P" game , F2P is just a bait. I rather pay monthly and get a good product from a reliable company.
- Albert Einstein
The 12x XP is to catch up and be on equal footing as the LVL cap is being raised, not unlike WOW giving out LVL 90's with their next Xpac.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Well I cancel you out, as I also played CB1, and will come back to check out updates..
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
My point is that swtor is still a sub game with a glorified free trial.
I never thought I'd defend SWTOR in my life, but after having played the F2P for a few days (hadn't tried it since beta test), I could see that the F2P model was just there to give you a taste of the game before trying to convert you into a subscriber. And is this bad? I don't personally think so, as I ended up becoming a subscriber and now I have access to nearly everything and life is grand.
It's basically a F2P model designed for the short term, to see if the game is worth subscribing to. Some people are cheap enough where they drag their play experience for free, but then they are actually playing the full game for free.
There you go man, you'd do good work in PR. Follow what the companies have laid out for you or shut up!
+1
Look, I love to bash TOR's model, because it really is crap (
) but in this case you're wrong. The sub option is still there, you can pay the monthly fee and be equal to, well, not everybody else, just equal to the Vips (and better than the f2p / preferred players)
The 12x boost is a temporary thing, for those who preorder the next expansion. It lasts only till the expansion goes live in December.
Turbine have a pretty good f2p model. Yes there are people that don't put any money in at all, but it's enticing enough to want to put some money in. I started f2p on DDO, and put in about £500 over the last 2 yesrs to get the collecters edition of the expansions and the high end guild ship. I don't have the worry of making sure I have the funds for a subscription. Ok, the subs get a bit more xp then me, but it's nothing that makes me stay awake at night.
Ok, there are some restrictions when it comes to questing, but people will buy passes for those that don't have the quests available. And it is easy to earn store points to buy the packs or anything else. Where as other f2p games are constantly in your face to pay, Turbine have been more subtle about it to the point where I'm sure they are on a beach in Jamaica, drinking rum and don't really worry that much. It seems like a really strange way to run things, but I like it hence I paid more money into it then subbing.
I'm sorry for sounding like Turbine fan boy, but I give credit where credit is due.
I don't see the problem with this considering at launch we had to pay to get what players get for FREE now.
At launch, we got sprint at level 14, had only 2 toolbars (We had several pages in the first toolbar tho) and we had the exact same xp gain.
They didn't remove anything for free players, they just added things to subscribers.
Its free. You are not entitled to anything other than what comes with free.
That isn't how business works unfortunately, if you have $10 but could've had $20 you still lost potential earnings no matter what.
The game has a limited F2P option, players can try the game without paying a penny, how is that a bad thing? Players have the opportunity after all, to experience just about everything the game has to offer, before they decide whether to pay for a subscription, although there is nothing to stop them from completing the class quests without ever having to pay. Judging by how many people I see playing these days, I would suggest it's a fairly popular way of paying, or not, for the game. If games are going to embrace F2P more in the future, then I can see SW:TOR's model being used more often, Archeage is probably the first of many to do just that.
Well I already answered that argument in an earlier post but hey, if you like how it's run then I'm happy for you and I'm sure a lot of companies are too.
It's F2P is really aimed for those that haven't tried it before and just want to check out the feel of the game. At least that's what I think they were aiming for. But they are giving away the best of the game for free (storylines)....
As others have pointed out already its really just a glorified trial. If you are going to casually mess around then you can use the F2P option. If you want to spend a considerable amount of time in the game, you are going to need to sub to enjoy it.
All there is to it. I pay, I play, I enjoy it a great deal.
I understand the OPs problems with SWTOR. It's by far one of the worst examples of F2P in the industry.
First off those that actually bought the game and subbed at one point got NOTHING in compensation for the switch to F2P. Now I know it's not required but it shows some respect to those that did support your game. It also gives something extra for that $60 you ponied up that all those new players don't have to pay, since now both have to pay for the same things.
Not sure who (Lucas, Bio or EA) decided on the F2P model for SWTOR but they gutted the game and tried to put a price tag on EVERYTHING! The staple of F2P is there with character slots and a whole bunch of convenience items but for a returning player who already paid for the game finding you can't even play your own characters cause you're past the cap just makes for a tough decision to PAY more.
After you finally get into the game you find that you can't use many features. Come on! action bars?!?! That's a horrible cash grab you could expect from some sub par dev. Questing is limited. PvP is limited and this one I don't understand this one. Wouldn't they want more F2P players in PvP to give those that are paying (who can equip better armor/weapons) more people to pummel.
With how badly they cripple F2P this game in nigh impossible to enjoy. If someone can't even enjoy the basics of the game why in the hell would they want to pay? I find when I put money into a F2P game I do so out of respect for the devs who gave me a game I enjoy playing. Some devs or maybe it's the publishers are just to damn greedy now and have no respect for their player base.
That's another thing I was confused about, I didn't get a single thing for buying their game (I believe I paid $80+) at launch and now that money was just disregarded apparently. I don't have a single cash shop currency or anything on my account. And I didn't even get preferred status.