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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Should SWTOR Go Free-to-Play?
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
In this week's Star Wars: The Old Republic column we discuss whether or not SWTOR should make the switch to the free-to-play business model.
I’ve been knee-deep in the MMORPG.com community since I came on in June of 2009, but it feels like only yesterday when our community was up in arms over the notion of some Western game going free-to-play. While some of this sentiment still remains, it doesn’t take more than a cursory glance to notice that there’s been an overall attitude shift here, and this is likely due in part to the gradual trend towards free-to-play that has been going on since DDO made the extremely successful switch back in September of ’09. This apparent shift, at least to me, speaks volumes to where things are headed and it’s got me asking myself one question in particular as of late:
Should Star Wars: The Old Republic go Free-to-Play?
Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: Should SWTOR Go Free-to-Play?
Comments
Swtor should have been B2P its not worth P2P or F2P. Of course this is my opinion and apparently the permanently static 1.7 million subscribers that never ever fluctuate (the first in the history of mmorpgs) seem to enjoy it and good for them even if some of them don't exsist.
I regret buying swtor it was over priced and under-delievered way to far. This I will never forgive Bioware and EA for.
I played SWTOR for about three months, defended it heavily on the SWTOR forums until I woke up and realized that it I was questing in a HUGE GATED dead world where I could not go off to explore and had no reason to. No, I would not come back if it went F2P.
The fact that games are subscription based or not makes no difference to me. A 15$ a month game is 50 cents per day to play. Thats less than a bag of chips from the vending machine at work.
I am currently involved with TERA as it is an amazing game, and I will continue to follow GW2 (although last weeken's BWE was a disappointment). The fact that GW2 is F2P is only a bonus, not an incentive to play. Its the quality of the game that matters to me.
Speaking out of context, I managed to play the weekend trial. It really seemed dead, and as much as most would my opinion doesn't matter. Im sure it mattered where it counted, regardless. I would definately give this game a try had it gone F2P or even B2P.
Either way, it would be better to make the decision of where SWTOR is going soon. Lest the game completely falls down the drain.
Im sorry, but you guys from MMORPG hailed this game and hyped it up so much that it was the biggest MMO since WoW = ?And
What happend? No more PR money from EA?
No the game should not go f2p, they should start makeing improvements for GFX + Performance and make much more content
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Buy to play is the only thing that would make me come back to this game.Im not even playing it as a free to play.
First all free to play sucks balls.
Secondly hey we got gw2 coming and seriously who gives an f about swtor and all other mmos.
No, they moved on to hyping up GW2.
Hate to admit it, but im waiting for the secret world. Thats a sub-based MMO and looking to be one the last ones for a AAA mmorpg. + It has cash shops for getting other kind of clothes wich i can live with
Swtor should probably go the B2P with cash shop route like GW2.
I don't agree that there is no more place for P2P in MMO market. There definately is. But Swtor does not fullfill the requirments to be a P2P mmo.
In the end all that counts is how much money the company can earn (and not how much money the customer must pay for an mmo). And I think that Bioware could earn more money with a B2P/cash shop in Swtor. The current P2P forces people to cancel their accounts due to lack of content which would not be the case with B2P/cash shop.
Just my 2 cents.
I love the Star Wars genre, but I don't care if BW paid me to play SWTOR, I still wouldn't . SWTOR is a pitiful excuse for pvp, mmo, and especially Star Wars. Until BW realizes its more important to stay true to the canon that made Star Wars what it is instead of being greedy, SWTOR will always be a fail in my book.
There is a huge difference between being profitable and being greedy.
Lets be honest here. Even if it did go free2play, what would keep the customers? The PvP is atrocious, the quests end at 50. Once you beat the game, theres nothing to return to. Legacy system? meh....
I played SWTOR until February. The unwillingness of some of BW's senior developers to listen to the overwhelming waves of feedback they were receiving from the community at large is the biggest reason why I left. I won't list all the broken systems or the ways in which the game actually got worse with 1.1, but they lost my subscription then and there.
I have a friend who's still playing - he keeps me updated on what's going on in game (how cool 1.2 is, etc etc), but the one thing he's said every time he's talked about it: The population on our server (Krayt Dragon) is dead.
Maybe they don't need to go F2P to spice things up. What they should do is offer free server transfers and start consolidating servers to prevent the dwindling diaspora effect we saw with WAR.
Don't be a Menace to MMORPG While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.
I only played SWTOR for the initial month included in the purchase price before quitting. I regarded it as being too mediocre to warrant a monthly subscription beyond that point. If it had been F2P from the start, I would probably have played longer but I don't think I'd ever go back now even if it did go F2P.
I've already got a lifetime sub to LotRO and have pre-purchased GW2, which the weekend beta convinced me I'm going to want to play for a long time. So it will take something exceptional to get a monthly sub from me. I've got TSW on pre -order too but with a monthly sub, unless it's amazing, I probably won't stay too long there either.
IMO, P2P is a dying business model and those games that don't adopt some kind of B2P or Freemium payment alternative are going to find it increasingly hard to survive the competition.
And lets be honest, this is EA we are talking about.. they are never going to let the game go free2play..
they would rather close it and let someone take over their contract from Lucas
I'm with you on the rest of your post, so no argument from me there.
Only one minor nitpick. GW2 is B2P, not F2P
.
It should have launched B2P
With model where you buy the initial boxed game (with decent chunk of game). And later pay for additional planets/quest series (like LOTRO/DDO)
Problem is. It would have worked on launch.
Now that ship has sailed.
I dont think nothing will be able to save this game.
Not even F2P at this moment.
And knowing EA, they rather kill games than make them F2P
F2P or Freemium?
Lol no.
This game is not made for that and besides those business model are bad for mmorpg's.
SWTOR seem like 'mmorpg' lite - more like Single player game with co-op option.
So B2P - no optional subs , whole game avabile after buying box. New zones-packs (zone + dungeons + some story) released as DLC's.
No cash shop or very minimalistic one (not like in F2P / Freemium games where CS is big and infuential like in Lotro , DDO or SoE games - no this does not fit into B2P).
Thing is, SWTOR always felt empty. I played from release on server with hours long queue at the start and I hardly met anyone...I think in the process of levelling I met 4-5 persons from opposite faction and a tad more of my own faction (not counting the space station hub). Granted, I was ahead of the curve but even after a month the situation didn't change much, felt like you're roaming desolate planets.
They should make the game 50% smaller (area wise) at the start and work on other things.
Oh, and not be stingy for the game engine at the start too.