I've played last night from lvl 1 to lvl 10, had a lot of fun with a Sith Inquisitor and never felt hindered by restrictions.
I guess it comes down to your attitude. If you think its crap before even trying, it might end up being just that.
For me... I just wanted a bit of fun before WoD launch, and I was not disappointed. Definitely coming back to continue my adventure as I'm quite intrigued by the main quest line now.
Better to be crazy, provided you know what sane is...
Originally posted by ElRenmazuo F2P players have no idea how good they have it these days because back in the day sub mmos only had a 7 day free trial and then you had to sub if you wanted to keep playing it.
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.
This!
Free 2 Play has pretty much destroyed the entire genre through greed!
I always said! I rather pay 15 bucks a month and play a game that has been developed from the ground up to be fun, addictive and interesting to play for a long time.
Nowaydays, MMO´s are build from the ground up to make Money, by implementing artificial paywalls all over the Place to push People into using the cash shop.
And then lets not talk about these highly unethical lockboxes you see in all these games these days, that have the sole purpose to prey on the weak minded with addiction problems.
That is why I have seriously come to hate the entire MMO genre lately!
The only game I fully support still, is FFXIV:ARR. As it´s pretty much the only true subscription MMO left these days.
And ESO, but I have that one on hold until the planned veteran content revamp.
The problem is I paid $80+ for the game, now it's F2P that isn't taken into consideration anywhere so what I got and paid for then I don't have now. Me and somebody who just heard about the game now get the exact same start except I paid $80 and he didn't.
Not the exact same... there was some bonuses at the switch, former subscribers received contemp... eer.. (not english here ) [ some kind of a ] Cartel coins based on the subscribed months prior the f2p switch. Plus you're Preferred, while those who just start will start as Free, so even more limited. Also, you have a nice box on the shelf.
Ok, not a big difference, but not the exact same either
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
SWTOR F2P model is not F2P we all know this by now. I think they should just drop the whole "F2P" tag and go with extended trial.
AION US is F2P, SWTOR is not. But i can understand how someone new can get confused or feel cheated by this.
Of those 3, only one comes close to being F2P and those games usually have the least restrictions with cash shop items only being for fluff / appearance. Yes, those games exist.
The subscription only games are usually reserved for games that have a large enough following of dedicated players. Enough to pay for servers, maintenance fees, staff, customer support and so on.
The Hybrid model is usually reserved for companies that are nothing more than greed mongers. Anyone who has played a hybrid MMO knows that it's cash shop is designed to nick and dime people to death. SWTOR, EQ2 and ArcheAge are prime examples of games with horrible F2P options. These games are not F2P and therefore, in most countries outside the US are restricted from advertising as such.
As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing F2P about SWTOR, EQ2 or AA, when you have games like TERA, LOTRO and Rift available.
Actually many people are leveling classes in TOR without paying a dime or by just making a 5$ purchase from the cash shop in order to become "preferred". In my guild alone we have a number of players who experienced all story lines both Empire and Republic or are in the process of doing so without being subscribers. The only real drawback they face is the reduced amount of xp gained which can be easily remedied by not skipping quests and by doing all the group ones. With so many players around this is not a problem.
So, your "there is nothing F2P about SWTOR" argument is moot.
Originally posted by ElRenmazuo F2P players have no idea how good they have it these days because back in the day sub mmos only had a 7 day free trial and then you had to sub if you wanted to keep playing it.
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.
This!
Free 2 Play has pretty much destroyed the entire genre through greed!
I always said! I rather pay 15 bucks a month and play a game that has been developed from the ground up to be fun, addictive and interesting to play for a long time.
Nowaydays, MMO´s are build from the ground up to make Money, by implementing artificial paywalls all over the Place to push People into using the cash shop.
And then lets not talk about these highly unethical lockboxes you see in all these games these days, that have the sole purpose to prey on the weak minded with addiction problems.
That is why I have seriously come to hate the entire MMO genre lately!
The only game I fully support still, is FFXIV:ARR. As it´s pretty much the only true subscription MMO left these days.
And ESO, but I have that one on hold until the planned veteran content revamp.
Agreed! I'm pretty much on the verge of walking away from mmo's completely.i have no issue at all paying for a 6 or 12 month sub as long as i'm getting the total package.this half ass content push the cash shop all the time crap and you want me to pay you monthly is rediculious.
Most of these companies dont even deserve to be paid a sub.
You play a game and if you like it then pay for it. That is my philosophy. People do not support the games they like unfortunately so you reap what you sow.
Originally posted by cheyane You play a game and if you like it then pay for it. That is my philosophy. People do not support the games they like unfortunately so you reap what you sow.
That's pretty much how I see it as well.
When I played PoE for about a month and had a lot of playing hours in the game I decided to buy 50$ of currency to spend on various upgrades and some cosmetics. My way of saying thanks to the devs for providing a game I normally would've been happy with if I had actually bought it.
I'm not entirely sure what the point of this thread is? SWTOR's F2P model sucks? Anger at not getting everything for free? Simply a disagreement on business model? Kinda like the Ubisoft guy who told Riot Games that their system is inefficient and that they could easily make a lot more money?
Back when the conversion happened I pretty much gasped when I saw what their "F2P" entailed and thought to myself "Way to go devs, you're converting the game to an utter crap F2P system that no one's going to want to play, which completely defeats the whole purpose of switching to a F2P system in the first place!"
But clearly I was very wrong. There are a bunch of F2P players running around. And by all the information that's been published over the last couple of years, the game's doing quite well financially too.
So kudos to the EA marketting/business guys, who clearly know a lot more about the subject than I do.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
Back when the conversion happened I pretty much gasped when I saw what their "F2P" entailed and thought to myself "Way to go devs, you're converting the game to an utter crap F2P system that no one's going to want to play, which completely defeats the whole purpose of switching to a F2P system in the first place!"
But clearly I was very wrong. There are a bunch of F2P players running around. And by all the information that's been published over the last couple of years, the game's doing quite well financially too.
You weren't wrong, simply the current model is not the same one with which the f2p switch happened, there were plenty of changes since. It's still not a good one, but it's lighyears (lol) better than the initial model was.
And agree, this thread is... odd, at least. Won't believe it but I even had to say nice things about and defend TOR for some extent
IMO, it's still one of the best models out there. As far as F2P goes, if you've paid in the past (unless this has changed since I last played) then the penalty is lessened for you. However, if they're giving such big XP boosts for subscribers, it's a compelling reason to subscribe, isn't it? Actually, when I first started playing, I subbed for like 6 months, made enough credits and cartel cash to buy all the unlocks I needed to play free. Now I will poke around with my kids occasionally (but not recently) if we're just looking to do something fun with each other. Kinda like a board game
However, just hearing about the 12x experience kinda sorta makes me want to re-sub for a couple months and level my Bounty Hunter, lol. Then I remember WoW's coming in 2 weeks
So, really, it kinda is how you attract players. Rather, the "FREE" attracts players, and you CAN play for free still and parents are more than happy to download it for their kids to poke around with if they're just hacking and slashing things with a lightsaber. However, if you're serious, they make it very compelling to subscribe, even for a short time. They have plenty of free players, I'm sure. So their focus, really, is about converting those into subscribers, and you can see a definite push for that, even after their initial expack. I resubbed just to get a discount on it, lol.
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
It really does, doesn't it? Except there are a LOT of people playing the game and paying money to play it. I thought it was a complete mess when they first transitioned to F2P too, but something like a half million people started playing under the F2P system.
Mind you, I didn't think the game was all that great under the P2P system. It's no surprise to me that I didn't think it was all that great under the F2P system.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
The subscription only MMOs are giving place to a more hybrid model. It's the case of SWTOR. SWTOR it's a subscription preferred game with the F2P option as an extended trial. I think EA/BW don't have any doubts about their business plan for SWTOR; they want to give players the option to play it without paying anything but their ultimate goal is that players subscribe to the game.
My FFXIV ARR referral code for new EU accounts: 5JPF7ZQ3 Step into the amazing world of Eorzea! Use this reference code on a new account and we'll both get goodies for it!
Back when the conversion happened I pretty much gasped when I saw what their "F2P" entailed and thought to myself "Way to go devs, you're converting the game to an utter crap F2P system that no one's going to want to play, which completely defeats the whole purpose of switching to a F2P system in the first place!"
But clearly I was very wrong. There are a bunch of F2P players running around. And by all the information that's been published over the last couple of years, the game's doing quite well financially too.
You weren't wrong, simply the current model is not the same one with which the f2p switch happened, there were plenty of changes since. It's still not a good one, but it's lighyears (lol) better than the initial model was.
And agree, this thread is... odd, at least. Won't believe it but I even had to say nice things about and defend TOR for some extent
Yeah, I remember the original incarnation before they listened to player feedback and changed a few things (like the actionbars).
I think most of my initial outrage came from playing F2P titles like DDO where you could do just about anything as long as you were willing to put in the time. To a lesser extent that holds true for SWTOR too, but there's still a couple of things you can never get rid of (like the credit cap).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
Originally posted by DwarfZZZ The subscription only MMOs are giving place to a more hybrid model. It's the case of SWTOR. SWTOR it's a subscription preferred game with the F2P option as an extended trial. I think EA/BW don't have any doubts about their business plan for SWTOR; they want to give players the option to play it without paying anything but their ultimate goal is that players subscribe to the game.
^That's pretty much it IMO.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
... but there's still a couple of things you can never get rid of (like the credit cap).
... or the longer fleet pass cd, or the hugely reduced crafting crit (my two "most annoying" hinderances). If you experienced just once the cd-less fleet jumps, a real pain in the bantha-butt to switch back onto the 3h cooldown.
Originally posted by Azaron_Nightblade
I think most of my initial outrage came from playing F2P titles like DDO where you could do just about anything as long as you were willing to put in the time.
I think it's not the option to earn Store currency ingame - at least for me (but I wrote it several times before too). I don't mind paying for the fun, so a good f2p model to me is one which gives the option to choose my way of paying. Flat monthly sub, or microtransactions, or the mix of the two, to get the same game. That's my problem with TOR, in it you could spend even 100 bucks every month as a Preferred, you still can't get the same as a vip, which is dumb, imo.
(and yep, in that case it's easier to sub for 15. It doesn't change the fact that you don't have the option to purchase everything. As many said in this thread too, it's not f2p, just a glorified trial.)
Of those 3, only one comes close to being F2P and those games usually have the least restrictions with cash shop items only being for fluff / appearance. Yes, those games exist.
The subscription only games are usually reserved for games that have a large enough following of dedicated players. Enough to pay for servers, maintenance fees, staff, customer support and so on.
The Hybrid model is usually reserved for companies that are nothing more than greed mongers. Anyone who has played a hybrid MMO knows that it's cash shop is designed to nick and dime people to death. SWTOR, EQ2 and ArcheAge are prime examples of games with horrible F2P options. These games are not F2P and therefore, in most countries outside the US are restricted from advertising as such.
As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing F2P about SWTOR, EQ2 or AA, when you have games like TERA, LOTRO and Rift available.
Actually many people are leveling classes in TOR without paying a dime or by just making a 5$ purchase from the cash shop in order to become "preferred". In my guild alone we have a number of players who experienced all story lines both Empire and Republic or are in the process of doing so without being subscribers. The only real drawback they face is the reduced amount of xp gained which can be easily remedied by not skipping quests and by doing all the group ones. With so many players around this is not a problem.
So, your "there is nothing F2P about SWTOR" argument is moot.
The F2P model in SWTOR gives access to the game, yes. It's the restrictions in place that make the game pointless to play. If you want me to show you what SWTOR requires you to pay for as a F2P player vs. what other F2P games offer, I'd be happy to do so.
For now, here's a few examples of horrible F2P restrictions:
1) Action Bars restrictions
2) Gear restrictions
3) Crew Skills restrictions
4) Bank / Cargo restrictions
5) Credit Cap restrictions ( probably the worst of all the restrictions )
Sorry, SWTOR may have a great free trial, but it's definitely not F2P.
Its free...you aren't entitled to anything. Grow up.
Of those 3, only one comes close to being F2P and those games usually have the least restrictions with cash shop items only being for fluff / appearance. Yes, those games exist.
The subscription only games are usually reserved for games that have a large enough following of dedicated players. Enough to pay for servers, maintenance fees, staff, customer support and so on.
The Hybrid model is usually reserved for companies that are nothing more than greed mongers. Anyone who has played a hybrid MMO knows that it's cash shop is designed to nick and dime people to death. SWTOR, EQ2 and ArcheAge are prime examples of games with horrible F2P options. These games are not F2P and therefore, in most countries outside the US are restricted from advertising as such.
As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing F2P about SWTOR, EQ2 or AA, when you have games like TERA, LOTRO and Rift available.
Actually many people are leveling classes in TOR without paying a dime or by just making a 5$ purchase from the cash shop in order to become "preferred". In my guild alone we have a number of players who experienced all story lines both Empire and Republic or are in the process of doing so without being subscribers. The only real drawback they face is the reduced amount of xp gained which can be easily remedied by not skipping quests and by doing all the group ones. With so many players around this is not a problem.
So, your "there is nothing F2P about SWTOR" argument is moot.
The F2P model in SWTOR gives access to the game, yes. It's the restrictions in place that make the game pointless to play. If you want me to show you what SWTOR requires you to pay for as a F2P player vs. what other F2P games offer, I'd be happy to do so.
For now, here's a few examples of horrible F2P restrictions:
1) Action Bars restrictions
2) Gear restrictions
3) Crew Skills restrictions
4) Bank / Cargo restrictions
5) Credit Cap restrictions ( probably the worst of all the restrictions )
Sorry, SWTOR may have a great free trial, but it's definitely not F2P.
It is a F2P game. The game can be played for free, with nothing but a download. It seems very restrictive to me, but that doesn't make it not F2P.
Also, as of August 2014 they had a million people playing the game. One Million people playing the game a month. However restrictive their system seems to me, the people playing seem to think it works just fine, because they keep playing.
So this doesn't look like something I'd say should attract players, but the reality is that it seems to work for EA and SWTOR.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Its free...you aren't entitled to anything. Grow up.
That's a boring overused argument, Path of Exile is 100% F2P with no gear, currency, level, or content restrictions, if you decide to pay $1000 or absolutely nothing you have no advantage over the other player unless you decide to RMT which is against the rules.
The point is, advertising your game as F2P makes people who want to play it entitled to their own opinion, if your game is actually just an unlimited trial (like WoW is doing) then say that's what it is, don't waste peoples time lying about it.
And besides, as somebody who test their game, reported bugs, gave my suggestions and put faith into their end-game content by pre ordering the game, I'm definitely entitled to say, hey, look how awful your game has become now, and I won't be playing it.
The problem is you have these browser based games, that are 100% P2W, saying their F2P, you have games like SWTOR, that are P2W, sorry but leveling 12x faster is P2W in my eyes, and then you have games like Path of Exile that are how you actually do a F2P business model, the difference is 2 out of the 3 types of games are trials, and only one is actually F2P.
When all is said and done, more is always said than done.
Of those 3, only one comes close to being F2P and those games usually have the least restrictions with cash shop items only being for fluff / appearance. Yes, those games exist.
The subscription only games are usually reserved for games that have a large enough following of dedicated players. Enough to pay for servers, maintenance fees, staff, customer support and so on.
The Hybrid model is usually reserved for companies that are nothing more than greed mongers. Anyone who has played a hybrid MMO knows that it's cash shop is designed to nick and dime people to death. SWTOR, EQ2 and ArcheAge are prime examples of games with horrible F2P options. These games are not F2P and therefore, in most countries outside the US are restricted from advertising as such.
As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing F2P about SWTOR, EQ2 or AA, when you have games like TERA, LOTRO and Rift available.
Actually many people are leveling classes in TOR without paying a dime or by just making a 5$ purchase from the cash shop in order to become "preferred". In my guild alone we have a number of players who experienced all story lines both Empire and Republic or are in the process of doing so without being subscribers. The only real drawback they face is the reduced amount of xp gained which can be easily remedied by not skipping quests and by doing all the group ones. With so many players around this is not a problem.
So, your "there is nothing F2P about SWTOR" argument is moot.
The F2P model in SWTOR gives access to the game, yes. It's the restrictions in place that make the game pointless to play. If you want me to show you what SWTOR requires you to pay for as a F2P player vs. what other F2P games offer, I'd be happy to do so.
For now, here's a few examples of horrible F2P restrictions:
1) Action Bars restrictions
2) Gear restrictions
3) Crew Skills restrictions
4) Bank / Cargo restrictions
5) Credit Cap restrictions ( probably the worst of all the restrictions )
Sorry, SWTOR may have a great free trial, but it's definitely not F2P.
Sorry, I'll have to press the BS buzzer on that one. Any and all of what you're mentioning can be unlocked by purchasing unlocks off the Auction House, using credits earned in the game, not real money. Soooooo, yeah, I don't know many other games that do that, actually. Even in POE you're required to purchase additional storage.
Sorry, I'll have to press the BS buzzer on that one. Any and all of what you're mentioning can be unlocked by purchasing unlocks off the Auction House, using credits earned in the game, not real money. Soooooo, yeah, I don't know many other games that do that, actually. Even in POE you're required to purchase additional storage.
No you aren't, people create separate accounts and characters to hold stuff lol.
And you don't even really need to do that, if you don't hoard level 1 gems and trash uniques.
If you play on another league all of your stash items are put into a remove only tab so you never even have to use the items until you absolutely need them.
When all is said and done, more is always said than done.
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
If you would run gaming company would you be happy to invest a lot of money on software, hardware, ... all this so free players would be happy? Don't you think this people have to eat, sleep, pay bills, have families, ...?? Agrr.... I'm really HATING from day to day more and more this F2P. Should be banned by law. Like game? Then PAY that PATHETIC sub of 13€ for MONTH of joy or don't pay and go doing something else!
SWTOR offers far better value at $15 or so month then most other MMOs that rely solely on a cash shop to get by.
Check out the cash shop prices of any decent, non-bland as hell f2p MMO on the market. They are all overpriced and often you need to make purchases just to be able to keep up with the general population. The average Joe needs to spend far more then a sub price to be competitive in these games.
Comments
I've played last night from lvl 1 to lvl 10, had a lot of fun with a Sith Inquisitor and never felt hindered by restrictions.
I guess it comes down to your attitude. If you think its crap before even trying, it might end up being just that.
For me... I just wanted a bit of fun before WoD launch, and I was not disappointed. Definitely coming back to continue my adventure as I'm quite intrigued by the main quest line now.
Better to be crazy, provided you know what sane is...
This!
Free 2 Play has pretty much destroyed the entire genre through greed!
I always said! I rather pay 15 bucks a month and play a game that has been developed from the ground up to be fun, addictive and interesting to play for a long time.
Nowaydays, MMO´s are build from the ground up to make Money, by implementing artificial paywalls all over the Place to push People into using the cash shop.
And then lets not talk about these highly unethical lockboxes you see in all these games these days, that have the sole purpose to prey on the weak minded with addiction problems.
That is why I have seriously come to hate the entire MMO genre lately!
The only game I fully support still, is FFXIV:ARR. As it´s pretty much the only true subscription MMO left these days.
And ESO, but I have that one on hold until the planned veteran content revamp.
Not the exact same... there was some bonuses at the switch, former subscribers received contemp... eer.. (not english here
) [ some kind of a ] Cartel coins based on the subscribed months prior the f2p switch. Plus you're Preferred, while those who just start will start as Free, so even more limited. Also, you have a nice box on the shelf.
Ok, not a big difference, but not the exact same either
SWTOR F2P model is not F2P we all know this by now. I think they should just drop the whole "F2P" tag and go with extended trial.
AION US is F2P, SWTOR is not. But i can understand how someone new can get confused or feel cheated by this.
Actually many people are leveling classes in TOR without paying a dime or by just making a 5$ purchase from the cash shop in order to become "preferred". In my guild alone we have a number of players who experienced all story lines both Empire and Republic or are in the process of doing so without being subscribers. The only real drawback they face is the reduced amount of xp gained which can be easily remedied by not skipping quests and by doing all the group ones. With so many players around this is not a problem.
So, your "there is nothing F2P about SWTOR" argument is moot.
Agreed! I'm pretty much on the verge of walking away from mmo's completely.i have no issue at all paying for a 6 or 12 month sub as long as i'm getting the total package.this half ass content push the cash shop all the time crap and you want me to pay you monthly is rediculious.
Most of these companies dont even deserve to be paid a sub.
That's pretty much how I see it as well.
When I played PoE for about a month and had a lot of playing hours in the game I decided to buy 50$ of currency to spend on various upgrades and some cosmetics. My way of saying thanks to the devs for providing a game I normally would've been happy with if I had actually bought it.
I'm not entirely sure what the point of this thread is? SWTOR's F2P model sucks? Anger at not getting everything for free? Simply a disagreement on business model? Kinda like the Ubisoft guy who told Riot Games that their system is inefficient and that they could easily make a lot more money?
Back when the conversion happened I pretty much gasped when I saw what their "F2P" entailed and thought to myself "Way to go devs, you're converting the game to an utter crap F2P system that no one's going to want to play, which completely defeats the whole purpose of switching to a F2P system in the first place!"
But clearly I was very wrong. There are a bunch of F2P players running around. And by all the information that's been published over the last couple of years, the game's doing quite well financially too.
So kudos to the EA marketting/business guys, who clearly know a lot more about the subject than I do.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
You weren't wrong, simply the current model is not the same one with which the f2p switch happened, there were plenty of changes since. It's still not a good one, but it's lighyears (lol) better than the initial model was.
And agree, this thread is... odd, at least. Won't believe it but I even had to say nice things about and defend TOR for some extent
IMO, it's still one of the best models out there. As far as F2P goes, if you've paid in the past (unless this has changed since I last played) then the penalty is lessened for you. However, if they're giving such big XP boosts for subscribers, it's a compelling reason to subscribe, isn't it? Actually, when I first started playing, I subbed for like 6 months, made enough credits and cartel cash to buy all the unlocks I needed to play free. Now I will poke around with my kids occasionally (but not recently) if we're just looking to do something fun with each other. Kinda like a board game
However, just hearing about the 12x experience kinda sorta makes me want to re-sub for a couple months and level my Bounty Hunter, lol. Then I remember WoW's coming in 2 weeks
So, really, it kinda is how you attract players. Rather, the "FREE" attracts players, and you CAN play for free still and parents are more than happy to download it for their kids to poke around with if they're just hacking and slashing things with a lightsaber. However, if you're serious, they make it very compelling to subscribe, even for a short time. They have plenty of free players, I'm sure. So their focus, really, is about converting those into subscribers, and you can see a definite push for that, even after their initial expack. I resubbed just to get a discount on it, lol.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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It really does, doesn't it? Except there are a LOT of people playing the game and paying money to play it. I thought it was a complete mess when they first transitioned to F2P too, but something like a half million people started playing under the F2P system.
Mind you, I didn't think the game was all that great under the P2P system. It's no surprise to me that I didn't think it was all that great under the F2P system.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
My FFXIV ARR referral code for new EU accounts: 5JPF7ZQ3
Step into the amazing world of Eorzea! Use this reference code on a new account and we'll both get goodies for it!
Yeah, I remember the original incarnation before they listened to player feedback and changed a few things (like the actionbars).
I think most of my initial outrage came from playing F2P titles like DDO where you could do just about anything as long as you were willing to put in the time. To a lesser extent that holds true for SWTOR too, but there's still a couple of things you can never get rid of (like the credit cap).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
^That's pretty much it IMO.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
... or the longer fleet pass cd, or the hugely reduced crafting crit (my two "most annoying" hinderances). If you experienced just once the cd-less fleet jumps, a real pain in the bantha-butt to switch back onto the 3h cooldown.
I think it's not the option to earn Store currency ingame - at least for me (but I wrote it several times before too). I don't mind paying for the fun, so a good f2p model to me is one which gives the option to choose my way of paying. Flat monthly sub, or microtransactions, or the mix of the two, to get the same game. That's my problem with TOR, in it you could spend even 100 bucks every month as a Preferred, you still can't get the same as a vip, which is dumb, imo.
(and yep, in that case it's easier to sub for 15. It doesn't change the fact that you don't have the option to purchase everything. As many said in this thread too, it's not f2p, just a glorified trial.)
Its free...you aren't entitled to anything. Grow up.
It is a F2P game. The game can be played for free, with nothing but a download. It seems very restrictive to me, but that doesn't make it not F2P.
Also, as of August 2014 they had a million people playing the game. One Million people playing the game a month. However restrictive their system seems to me, the people playing seem to think it works just fine, because they keep playing.
So this doesn't look like something I'd say should attract players, but the reality is that it seems to work for EA and SWTOR.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
That's a boring overused argument, Path of Exile is 100% F2P with no gear, currency, level, or content restrictions, if you decide to pay $1000 or absolutely nothing you have no advantage over the other player unless you decide to RMT which is against the rules.
The point is, advertising your game as F2P makes people who want to play it entitled to their own opinion, if your game is actually just an unlimited trial (like WoW is doing) then say that's what it is, don't waste peoples time lying about it.
And besides, as somebody who test their game, reported bugs, gave my suggestions and put faith into their end-game content by pre ordering the game, I'm definitely entitled to say, hey, look how awful your game has become now, and I won't be playing it.
The problem is you have these browser based games, that are 100% P2W, saying their F2P, you have games like SWTOR, that are P2W, sorry but leveling 12x faster is P2W in my eyes, and then you have games like Path of Exile that are how you actually do a F2P business model, the difference is 2 out of the 3 types of games are trials, and only one is actually F2P.
Sorry, I'll have to press the BS buzzer on that one. Any and all of what you're mentioning can be unlocked by purchasing unlocks off the Auction House, using credits earned in the game, not real money. Soooooo, yeah, I don't know many other games that do that, actually. Even in POE you're required to purchase additional storage.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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No you aren't, people create separate accounts and characters to hold stuff lol.
And you don't even really need to do that, if you don't hoard level 1 gems and trash uniques.
If you play on another league all of your stash items are put into a remove only tab so you never even have to use the items until you absolutely need them.
I self identify as a monkey.
If you would run gaming company would you be happy to invest a lot of money on software, hardware, ... all this so free players would be happy? Don't you think this people have to eat, sleep, pay bills, have families, ...?? Agrr.... I'm really HATING from day to day more and more this F2P. Should be banned by law. Like game? Then PAY that PATHETIC sub of 13€ for MONTH of joy or don't pay and go doing something else!
f2p is not bad for this game. There's more than enough to do as f2p while bioware entices you enough at certain areas to get you to pay.
Played the game months on f2p with no hassle. Wanted to get deeper into it so i subbed. No biggie.
SWTOR offers far better value at $15 or so month then most other MMOs that rely solely on a cash shop to get by.
Check out the cash shop prices of any decent, non-bland as hell f2p MMO on the market. They are all overpriced and often you need to make purchases just to be able to keep up with the general population. The average Joe needs to spend far more then a sub price to be competitive in these games.