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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Latest State of the Game Letter Published
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Jeff Hickman has posted the latest State of the Game letter on the official site. In it, Hickman takes a look back at the free-to-play launch and what it's meant to the game thus far. In addition, he drops a few hints at coming things.
We know that there are still a lot of things we need to do to make playing Star Wars: The Old Republic the best experience it can be. We hear you on features such as hood toggle (as one example of many), Asia Pacific server populations (we are actively looking into solutions that make the most sense given our current tech and should have an announcement soon), continued improvement to the Cartel Market pricing and content, and the need to keep working on performance improvements and bugs. In fact, our major focus after Rise of the Hutt Cartel launches is going to be on "quality of life" improvements. We will keep at it, I promise. We’ll keep listening to your feedback and continue to dedicate ourselves to making the game the best it can be. Nothing is more important to us than getting it right.
Read it all on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site.
Comments
And I’m happy to announce that we’ll be introducing several new features along the way, like a new customization feature, which will allow you to change your character's hair style, eye color, body type, or even species (including the upcoming Cathar!) using Cartel Coins. Look for it in early summer.
Get ready for 1 million cathar running around everywhere.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
I mean, I know you have to buy it and all, but Rise of the Hutt Cartel isn't about the cash shop... but I suppose that isn't out yet huh... also they add in the group finder. I'm too lazy to do the research, but I'm pretty sure your statement is incorrect. whoo! :'|
Oh my, that is a big update, isn't it. Group finder isn't my idea of a large game update, nor does it fix a lot of the real gameplay issues that have been around since its release. I also find it interesting that you have to pay for an expansion in a F2P game. I see that in Freemium games, but not in F2P games.
My favorite part of this is where he says that there is dissent on most aspects of MMOs. He is excusing the core problems in the game by saying that there's no way to know what is good and bad because people are too adversarial. The feedback on the game is based on the game. If you include the number of people who originally unsubbed, and the still growing number of players who have wakened enough to demand a better game, you have a pretty good idea of what is wrong. The few sport trolls are not a smoke grenade big enough to hide the terrible design of the game.
And yes, I see the irony of me pointing this out.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
SWTOR isn't really F2P(seriously, have you seen the restricions on F2P? It's a trial really), it was just a reason for them to put a cash shop in(something I could care less about), it also lowered the cost of entry to just fifteen bucks. I honestly don't mind paying the $20 for the new expansion, also I think they did release some content updates.
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.1.0/rise-rakghouls
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.2.0/legacy
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.3.0/allies
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.4.0/terror-beyond
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.5.0/hk-51-activated <--(F2P patch)
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.6.0/ancient-hypergate
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.7.0/return-gree
Since launch of the Free-to-Play option we have had over 2 million new accounts
So.. not too much..
The Cartel Market is 90% about Cosmetic stuff and 10% about unlocks for the F2P players and Xp boosters, but certainly you´re not playing the game.
DAOC Live (inactive): R11 Cleric R11 Druid R11 Minstrel R9 Eldritch R6 Sorc R6 Scout R6 Healer
I would be more interested to know how many people are subbing to the game. Most F2P players won't touch the cash shop because they have simply accepted the game as a free single player RPG. The f2p option lets you do that just fine. The thing is if you want to say, play the MMO part of it, you pretty much have to sub. You would be an idiot to actually use the passes and such to access other content. Funny thing is, I bet they get more money from the cartel market from the people already subbing to the game then the people just dipping their toes in the shallow end of the pool.
Also, nice how Jeff changed his "update every 6 weeks" to 8 weeks. I wonder if the next state of the game it will become 10 weeks. Honestly though, even with the 6 week updates the updates were fairly small. Gw2 has bigger or close to the size of SWTOR updates every month,and does not require a sub. Yes, you need a sub for the updates; don't kid yourself. The only exception is the "new ilum" which is almost as big of a joke as the previous one.
Not to mention that pretty much all the content they have been putting out was stuff being worked on before they fired half their staff. The Cathar were originally supposed to come out in 2012 but now it looks like it will be summer 2013. Don't be too shocked when Cathar come out and that is the only thing that comes out in the update with them as far as "content". I will be interested to see what kind of content they can produce after Makeb comes out.
Forgot to mention the newest joke in the cartel market: Cartel market faction. Every time you buy cartel packs from the cartel market you get a new rep consumable that gives you cartel market faction. Yes, this is a faction that requires you to pay real money to grind. You can't get it otherwise. Pretty hilarious.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
I can't get behind any of their F2P restrictions. There are games out there that prove you don't have to screw over your customers. Tera being the latest example. Tera doesn't restrict anything except the amount of auctions you can have up on a character. Not to mention that Tera you can play for free without paying up front as well. TSW is another example of this. EA/Bioware has no excuse honestly. I think Tera and TSW are both garbage, but I am sure there are just as many people who think SWTOR is as well. The fact is that these other games exist so SWTOR has no excuse.
Haven't spent a dime on cartel shop. I do dailies and get enough in game currency to buy packs from the GTN. But for those who just want everything quicker they have option to spend real life cash. it all depends upon what kind of gamer you are..impatient or patient.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
TERA hasnt proven anything yet. We have no way of knowing if TERA's f2p will be a financial success in the long run or not. SWTOR isnt in a position to risk a f2p model so good they lose subs over it, they cant afford it.
And you're surprised?
EA milking every last $ out of the community while they still can. For me the crowning moment was the reputation you raise with using the cash shop....
It's really positive that over 2 mil new accounts have been created over 4 months , which ever way you look at it. I noticed some of the SWTOR hate is still here at MMORPG.com spreading missinformation again. It is a freemium game and you don't have to spend money upfront , the game is free to download and play and if you spend $4.99 you aren't restricted by much at all , 4 quick bars ( the same as subs had for 8 months ) and 6 character slots. As someone else stated you can buy all the unlocks and perks etc off the GTN for in-game credits.
Barber shop , that's ok I guess , I would have lked them to include a voice change , where you change the pitch of your voice slightly , no smurf voices. You can do this without loosing the length of a voiced word or statement , so as not to ruin the timing within the game for convos.
Anyways seems healthier than it was 5 months ago.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
I'll just leave this here
"Originally Posted by Jeff Hickman, November 2009:
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has had a solid first year despite some issues that we're working to address every day. We've seen a great response to 1.3.2, which introduced tremendous performance improvements. A flood of new players are discovering the game every day thanks to the recently released Endless Trial and New User Journey. Moving forward we remain committed to releasing more great patches, continued performance improvements, and changes based upon your valuable feedback!"
A flood isn't 2 mil + or thousands every day or is it ?
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
This right here is comedy gold. Perhaps they're like the emperor's new clothes, and you need to be deemed a worthy person to see them?
I suppose it doesn't matter though. SWTOR is more cash shop now than game, twisted and greedy.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grimoire-forever/
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AGREED! There are a lot of peeps running around at every hour of the day and PUGs for Heroics and Flashpoints seem pretty easy to find without a Group Finder IMHO. I've been having Empire side fun.
Don't forget that you can get a toothpick now to have hanging from your lip while you go barefoot. I guess Jigglebilly was a character from Star Wars and I didn't know it!
"C'mon everybody, commence to jigglin"
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
The hate towards swtor will never stop, is not a game for everyone but is a good MMO and they have really a lot of people playing it. 5 months after the F2P model, and they have all the servers at primetime veryheavy or full, and the expansion will bring a lot of people back. The problem is the people who was talking about the death of swtor, never happened and it wont happen anytime soon, some people just cant live with that.
Can't speak for everyone man, I don't care for cathar.
Looking at: The Repopulation
Preordering: None
Playing: Random Games