All this ludicrous faux outrage over a $9.99 DLC?

Pathetic.

At this point the ToR devs could cure cancer and there'd be a 32 page thread on this site of people ripping them for not doing it sooner.

why should it be free ?.

with the game now free to play. its how it should be if you play for free if you want big content updates you pay for it.

if i am not paying a subb ive no probs paying for content updates if i like whats on offer :).

As superniceguy said, LOTRO's Siege of Mirkwood contained a few more things than a new area and extension of the epic quest line. Along with skirmishes, a new game mechanic, which is still very popular today, Siege of Mirkwood offered five new instances - three 3-man, one 6-man, and one 12-man raid (all of which just got scaled up to maxium level, by the way).

If this so-called "expansion" throws in a few flashpoints and a new operation, then it might be considered on par with Siege of Mirkwood. Otherwise, it is more similar to LOTRO's content updates, which are incidentally free to subcribers.

The price is quite reasonable for the size.  It's not a huge game changing expansion like MoP.  But like the OP said, it's similar to LotRO dealo.  Yet still charging less.

And while everyone KNOWS it's just makeb, I'm pretty sure it won't be JUST the planet.  I'm willing to bet we will see a flashpoint and raid (Look at the picture, that's a new tier of raid armor/pvp armor).  I bet we will see quests to visit other planets/space stations/etc.

I am not going to buy it, as there is no reason too.  I gave up on swtor.  I went back to try the free to play and hit a brick wall.  There is no way that EA is getting any more of my money.

I am tired of EA's lies.  Remember in beta when the said they would have 10 years worth of content lie.  Remembe when they said they had all this great content banked up and ready to go another lie.   How many times are we going to fall for EA's lies.

I only have one message to send to EA, your too greedy. 

"At this point the ToR devs could cure cancer and there'd be a 32 page thread on this site of people ripping them for not doing it sooner."

you are 100% correct. Im willing to bet half the people complaining here dont even play the game.

Here's what you guys were missing. SWTOR had a monetized model from Day 1.

This is what their original assumptions were:

1. SWTOR would be a hit and people would "pay" to play it.

2. EA deviced a plan to get richer off its success. Thus the Paid Expansions delivered every month or 2. Double dip the subscribers.

$60-150 - Startup SWTOR

$14.99 - Monthly SWTOR Sub(179.88 annually)

$20.00 - Expansions( EA probably had it a $30.00 before the user revolt)(4 times per year/$80.00)

Year one Total revenue per sub annually : $319.88

With 2,000,000 subs that $639,760,000 per year.

Actuality:

1. SWTOR started strong but faded and EA had to F2P the game.

2. EA is still greedy so the paid "expansions"  are still coming. We're still going to try to double dip the subsciber by adding the store and the "expansions"

$14.99 - Monthly SWTOR Sub(179.88 annually)

$20/$10 - Expansions( EA probably had it a $30.00 before the user revolt)(4 times per year/$80.00)

Cartel Coins:  I have no estimates for use of CC

Year Two Total revenue per sub annually : $219.88 subs

Year Two Total revenue per F2P annually: $50.00

With a 1,000,000 subs that's $219,880,000 per year.

With a 1,000,000 F2P that's $50,000,000

Total Revenues is $269,880,000 per year

See the differences?

Finally, for all of you who want to use Cartel coins...Please.  EA gave them to you to lure you back to the game, they'll never let you use them to buy expansions(not during the first year). That's not part of the "Plan"

I've watched this game since I've unsubbed but EA isn't making the turn. This is DCUO.

I'd like to see them alter the IA Sniper (Smuggler) so that Engineering becomes a "Tanking capable" spec, (Flak Jackets & shield probes ahoy) give Marauders (Sentinels) a "Melee healer" role from annihilation.

Cathar, hmm, more species being added is fine by me but the problem as I see it is if more races are going in there needs to be the option to "Race switch" perhaps as part of the purchas you get the 1-time per purchase option to switch the race of an existing character you have, with 16 characters built already I'm not interested in re-rolling (especially since to do so I'd have to delete 5 characters to do it & end up with only 12 at most when I like my 16 as is), so unless they add that I will have zero interest in more races unless further class options are introduced with them.

Disappointed indeed that Makeb is now a DLC purchase rather than a "subscription update" but that's how EA are operating in other titles so it's no surprise this change was made, no class story coming with it is a bit disappointing though the class story "Chapters" did encompass more than 1 Planet each anyway, so those going in later after a few "Planet DLC" have been put in would make for more continuity with earlier class-story chapters.

Still, looking forward to a level-raise, new skill points & quietly optimistic they wont cause older content to be irrelevant & leave the game with a new, reduced relevance end game.

Originally posted by Nefarion84
Bioware should call Trion and ask them how to make a worthy expansion to an MMO :D

I don't think Trion have anyone left to man the phones. LOL

And this is why FREEMIUMs dont do near as well as actual F2P games.

Once you create a rift in your playerbase by having "pay" subscribers and "non-pay" players you already have a major hole to overcome because some of your consumers feel second rate, then you start with the idea that you have to start charging for things you shouldnt be which makes the hole deeper.

If you are going to go F2P, DO IT. Make the game FREE. Create micro-transaction items for your shop THAT is your revenue. Make all your players EQUAL.

EA doesnt get it, guess that is why Nexon is quickly overtaking their position as the largest gaming company on the planet...and they are doing it with mostly F2P games, real ones.

---

Originally posted by jtcgs
And this is why FREEMIUMs dont do near as well as actual F2P games.

---

Care to list some "actual f2p games"? only one that comes to mind is Aion.

Originally posted by Coolit

this seems sadly lacking.

^that pretty much sums up my thoughts on SWTOR as a whole so it's no surprise the expansion is on par.

Originally posted by Nitth

Care to list some "actual f2p games"? only one that comes to mind is Aion.

 

 Umm...serious? Atlantica Online, Runes of Magic, RF online...every game made by Perfect World, Aika, eden eternal...basically everything labeled as F2P in Asia is actually F2P. American and European F2P is actually Freemium, partly free the rest is locked and even if you pay to unlock it all you still dont get what subscribers get.

There is no arguing against it, Nexon has made over 1 billion DOLLARS in profits for 2 straight years and just over 60% of it comes from their F2P games, its right in there shareholders report for everyone to read. They make a larger profit from their free games than all Freemium games combined...their profit margin from free games is larger than Turbine and Funcoms total company revenues combined...and they are second only to EA in terms of total profits.

Originally posted by Jonnas13

Originally posted by Nefarion84
Bioware should call Trion and ask them how to make a worthy expansion to an MMO :D

I don't think Trion have anyone left to man the phones. LOL

I played Rift for few weeks and just could not force myself through this grindfest. It not my playstyle, and based on available information (Xfire numbers and server population) the new expansion did not drastically change the number of people playing it.

First if the content is that big they should have avertised it as it would mitigate the feeling from subscibers of being milked.

Then they should have allowed people to actually purchase the new content with CC. Thing is they would not have lost that much money and it would have given a better image to the players.

On top of that, from the very few we actually know, it looks more like a DLC than even a small Xpack as there's no new type of  gameplay.

---

Originally posted by Ozmodan Asking subscription players to pay for additional content that is not an expansion is the most greedy thing I have seen from a MMO developer. Glad I don't play this anymore. This just insures I will not play it again.

---

Once again when you thought they could not do worse they are digging even deeper their grave.

The thing that worries me is that there's lots of family income involved and it bodes not well for their future as more layoff might come from this.