I think all current p2p games should go f2p, or to freemium models as long as their models are fair and you aren't severely gimped unless you subscribe. I like paying on my terms, instead of being charged just to access a game.

I don't mind paying to unlock DLC, and new classes and stuff. As long as it's not pay to win and has fair access for non-subscribers I say go f2p.

FTP would kill SWTOR quick.

BW designed this game so poorly that the only hope they have of retaining players is to promise and deliver a rapid stream of content. That won't happen with FTP, and might not even happen with all of the sub money given the apparent daily battle with their engine and code.

Add to this a dev team who seem like they can't understand why they failed.

Originally posted by Grakulen

If they really have 1.7 million subs (but I don't believe they do) then no they shouldn't. Why give up $60+million in revenue each month.

 

I never said they should go free-to-play exclusively. These days free-to-play often still offers a subscription option see: LOTRO/DDO, Champions Online, DCUO, STO etc.

Originally posted by Gruug



I don't care what game you choose, be it DDO or LOTRO or STO, going so-called f2p is NOT a sucess. Sure, each of the ones I just mentioned above had a large influx of new and old players when they made the switch. The problem is, many of those that tried these games at the time moved on when they realised that they could not obtain the full experience WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY. They realised that the "free" in free to play does not apply. Go to LOTRO right now and you will find a few high level players around. Why? Because most of them are dedicated and most are former Life time or current SUBSCRIBERS. Few (if any) are players that have not spent big dollars as "free to play" players. Free to play is a scam. Wake up.

 

This ^

Even in games like LoL where you just buy skins and exp boosts, people QUITE often end up spending far more than they would with a monthly

"though they don't have too".

Yea, we all know that... but what is often the reality.

Either what the above poster said with people less than satisfied or spending money.  Maybe not for eveyone, but let's be real here.

I still wouldve played SWTOR if it was free to play.  The only difference is that I think that I would be extremely put off if they added a lot of purchased content. 

I would check SWTOR again if it would adopt a hybrid payment model like other MMO's. But it kind of depends on the implementation if I would stay. In some MMO's the restrictions are put in (for my gameplay) the wrong places.

For example, I like Fallen Earth's model. F2P is very playable and a sub gives a nice boost. But most important is that if you go back from sub to F2P, the restrictions don't hinder you.

While in EQ2 for example, the loss of sub means loads of storage space loss and unequipping of gear. When I went back to F2P, I suddenly had the problem of gold cap and no free inventory/bank space at all anymore. Not to mention that all my gear was unequipped. So to me the game suddenly became unplayable, unless I was willing to destroy all my stuff to make room in inventory and bank. No one likes to do that lol.

I can imagine what kind of tweaks EA would make to the game in order to make it cash shop centric

very frightening

let me express what everyone thought this game would be before it came out, everyone thought this game would be battlefront-ISH nope the Bioware monkey threw this crap at us.....so sick of all these mmos claiming to be fresh and they all fall back on static combat it needs to die out. You'd think bioware would be smart considering they made the Mass Effect Series but nope, they shouldve stuck with what they were good at ACTION games, since when is standing still trading blows with your enemies even close to action. SWTOR is only doing good because people got tired of looking at WOW and it's something pretty and new to look at but is it a really big leap from what they left NOPE it's just a fairly succesful attempt to steal customers from another bigger competitor.

Since when do lightsabers take more than one or two strokes to kill anything oh wait I forgot this isn't Force unleashed 1-2 or Battle Front 1-2(WHERE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN GETTING THEIR IDEAS FROM)  lols I wouldn't even touch this crap fest of a game even if it went F2P. I know Gearge Lucas is bathing in money atm but I bet even he said WTF after playing one session of this game and deleted it from his computer and grabbed his PS2. 15+ GBs of disappointment

As a subscription based game SWtOR is dead to me. I'm not going to resub ever. If it went f2p I might play it now and then with a slim chance of actually getting hooked and spending money. I guess some chance is better than no chance. For me the game is pretty lackluster and after a couple weeks as a subscriber I had little interest in playing it. I don't know if I'm the exception or the rule. If the subs are trending to under 500k, which BW said they needed to stay in the black, they need to make some changes asap. With Tera, GW2 and D3 hitting the market I think they will struggle with subscriptions numbers.

Originally posted by Ethian
TOR won't go F2P because its run by Bioware and EA. Whether it should or not doesn't really matter because its not going to happen unfortionately. You can expect them to try for as much profit as possible.

And I am arguing that going free-to-play in some form (hybrid F2P with subscription option, for example) seems like a no brainer in order to do that. Subscribers could still be given all manner of incentives to continue subscribing (see other games of this type) while also opening up the game to additional streams of revenue from free-to-play users. Even the ones who don't pay are valuable as they help fill the game worlds and make the game feel alive. This would do wonders for some of the lighter servers, for example.

Originally posted by Gruug

I don't care what game you choose, be it DDO or LOTRO or STO, going so-called f2p is NOT a sucess. Sure, each of the ones I just mentioned above had a large influx of new and old players when they made the switch. The problem is, many of those that tried these games at the time moved on when they realised that they could not obtain the full experience WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY. They realised that the "free" in free to play does not apply. Go to LOTRO right now and you will find a few high level players around. Why? Because most of them are dedicated and most are former Life time or current SUBSCRIBERS. Few (if any) are players that have not spent big dollars as "free to play" players. Free to play is a scam. Wake up.

 

   cant agree less, f2p is a boon for casual and slightly more than casual players cause it lets you pick and choose as you slowly level up

Originally posted by Eletheryl

Here we go again, Warhammer online and Daoc are still P2P MMOs, SWTOR have more than 1 mill of subs after almost 6 months and people talking about it need to go F2P. They have already 4 more content updates for this year and ¨a space secret Proyect¨ that is probably the 1st expansion of the game, all for this year, by the end of the year the population could rise and not go down.  Is ok guys if you dont like the game, but you should live with the facts, swtor is the most successfull MMO in the west Post WoW, like or not, that guys, is a fact.  

 

So, what's going to happen when you keep playing and the new content they put out doesn't meet your expectations? I mean, I've seen it enough. People get hyped up for a game and it get's seperated by the skeptics and the hardcore fans.

That doesn't mean I support SWTOR on it's endeavor nevertheless, I am just saying that as of right now. It's not necessarily in it's greatest point. It could come around, but im not sitting here and waiting on bated breath for every single person to change their mind on the game and buy up immediately.

Frankly, I am gonna wait and see what happens. Maybe they do go F2P, maybe they do turn to B2P. Either way, I don't really mind. DCUO managed to turn out pretty well with what they are doing and regardless of it being a freemium game. I still manage to buy the DLC's and have fun with the game as well. Same goes for CO and STO, basically the ones that have been subjected to the feemium based payment methods.

Hopefully, everything turns out for the better. They get more people to join and I am pretty excited to see what happens for SWTOR.

I'd ask where you get this "the mmo market is going f2p" from?

This is a terrible question to have to answer; I mean the game just came out right? That's been the one thing people have been hammering home. Talks of free to play in the first 6 months. These aren't questions of actual "money" spent on the games right?

This question is based purely on the quality of worth in SWTOR. Is SWTOR worth $15 a month when compared to games like WoW, Rift, Tera, DDO, LoTRO, or GW2...?

My answer is a wholeheartedly YES! to the thread question. This game should indeed be F2P, It should be B2P purely and if they dare to put in a cash shop then that's just an insult. They put anything in there that helps you get XP or any fiat little bonus would be an atrocity. In that thought I wonder if SWTOR would be forced to use a cash-shop because it maybe / probably should be F2P...

Haaa.!