Sweet now I'll get to finish my class stories without having to pay anything. Works for me. 

WoW is a fluke, and any honest person would admit that.  And as a general rule, games which adopt a Freemium model live long, healthy lives, and enjoy higher revenue levels than they did when they were subscription only.  People did vote with their wallets, and they did vote no; but a very large portion of them were not voting no to TOR, they were voting no to the subscription only model, as most players have done in every MMO since WoW.  This is the smart move.  The only truly stupid thing they did was not realizing that *before* they launched the game.

I played the trial version and i said to my self then.This game is awesome but it will become F2P soon.

Originally posted by WhiteLantern

Content delivery "every 6 weeks".

 

 

*eyes DCUO CE on desk

 

 

 

Ya, I'll believe that when I see it.

They barely put out big patches every 3 months, with little actual content added.  How are they going to put out content every 6 weeks with a reduced staff?  If they had done that to begin with they may have lasted longer as a sub game.  I liked the game, there just wasn't enough of it, and to me there still isn't.  We would have had about 5 content updates by now if they had done this to begin with.  They also have to make it decent content if they expect people to pay for it a la cart.  Six decent actual content patches could have done wonders from the beginning.

Game of the year 2011.

Dunno for others, but I will probably get back to SWTOR, at least getting my Consular to level 50 and finish his story. then who knows.

Honestly, I think all games will adopt in the future a Hybrid system, so those hardliners who are willing only to play in sub based games probably will have to find a new hobby soon. And there is nothing right or wrong about it, it is the evolution of business. it happens in every market. 

lol. Their sub base sucked that bad huh.

lmbo

I actually had fun in the beta for SWTOR. For about an hour. Then I immediately realized this game would be F2P in 6 months. Damn, i was wrong. They lasted 7. Oh well. 

Every game has its fanboys and its haters. I was neither. The game had its merits, and also its weaknesses. Anyone even slightly objective would have called this one right the first time you logged into it. You can sell people on KOTOR:Multiplayer and expect $15 a month. Sure the media game the game great reviews, and if you read the articles, they highlight some of the wonderful things the game has to offer. Sadly the media purposefully glasses over the blatant problems the game has in hopes thier articles cant ever be called into question for causing the game to fail. Maybe if the media was alittle more objective, companies would take thier opinions more seriously.

And for the record, I would be very very surprised if TSW even lasts 7 months before the F2P announcement. Sure its a great game, hates and fanbois alike relax. But then again, theres no way in hell it deserves 15 a month. Sorry, those days are over. I dont like it, but Im not ignorant enough to know its not the way things are going.

Originally posted by Epic1oots

lol. Their sub base sucked that bad huh.

If you paid much attention to the numbers, you would know that games which convert to a Freemium model typically see an *increase* in subscribers over time, relative to their level of success prior to the conversion, not a decrease, as free players who had previously not tried the game get tired of the restrictions imposed on the free model and upgrade.

The only reason WoW not converting makes any sense is because everybody and their dog who is even theoretically interested in playing a MMO has already tried it, so the only growth potential left for their sub numbers would be bringing back people who quit.  Most of whom quit because they are thoroughly tired of the game, not because of the financial cost of playing

Well for the industry and for us gamers, I'm sad this happened so quickly. But I think they will do well with the F2P hybrid model.

It certainly renewed the LOTRO fanbase and provided the funding necessary to support the game in a great way. Good luck to everyone involved.

I find this all beyond bizarre.  I mean this game was hyped even more than WAR, and seems to have failed even quicker.

Wasn't this the game that was...

2011 GAME OF THE YEAR JUST 11 DAYS AFTER RELEASE BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR IN 2011???

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/336967/page/1

Now, less than a year later it's going free to play??? 

Hey, I got it!  Maybe they can switch it to F2P on the anniversary of it's release on 12/20/12.  Then it could be voted best Free to Play Game of 2012!!  

8.7!!!

only i am sad for 2 things, i don't about the F2P if i am continue paying 15 dolars but i am sad because i am going to lose friends of my guild and i am not going to see MAKEB soon maybe in the future but i wanted soon damn 

funny thing was i was screaming in chat the game was gonna go F2P up to 50 and one of the subbers was like no it won't.... hah! in your face!

Originally posted by xBarachielx

8.7!!!

That wasn't a rating, that was just MMORPG's estimate regarding how many months it would take the game to go F2P...and I think they were pretty close to right on the money ;).

I still enjoy the game and now I can play all the stories for free if I choose. Best news I've heard today.

Originally posted by Jaedor

Well for the industry and for us gamers, I'm sad this happened so quickly. But I think they will do well with the F2P hybrid model.

 

It certainly renewed the LOTRO fanbase and provided the funding necessary to support the game in a great way. Good luck to everyone involved.

I honestly see it as something good for the industry.  It is a clear sign that players aren't going to shell out $15 a month for years to play a sub-par WoW clone with a mediocre Bioware story attached to it.

It's a wake-up call that the "WoW+1" method is just not going to work.  It hasn't worked for so many games, and now the "golden boy" of the WoW+1 method has failed.  I really think this is going to herald the end of WoW clones...at least the end of them as the dominant kind of MMORPG.

Originally posted by GamerUntouch

Originally posted by bcbully

7 months is that a record?

APB lasted like a month.

APB had no where near the budget SWTOR did.

So IMO, yes this is a record considering this was the most expensive (supposed)MMO to date to be produced.  To fail this badly, at this level is unprecedented and I doubt we'll ever see something quite like it again.

Whether that's good or bad for the genre remains to be seen.  Good if developers learn from it going forward.  Bad if they don't, and continue with the same regurgitated crap we've been getting since 2004.