[MMO] SW:TOR free to play, and is terrible

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Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

So TOR has finally gone free to play, and I thought when this happened, I might dust off my characters and get back into the game. Not so.

The restrictions on free players is goddamn absurd. Free players don't have access to crew skills, bank slots, gear customization, or even extra ui bars. They're locked to two action bars, and have to purchase extras through micro transactions. They're limited to only five pvp battlefields a week, three flashpoint drops, and can't equip purple level gear or higher. Even the ability to hide your headslot is a paid service.

Fuck you, EA.
 
Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

Shame, I was looking forward to playing the campaign/storyline.

Maybe in a few months when EA let's up with the restrictions a bit.
 
Frank

Frank

It reads like the devs are being as shitty as possible to the free to play players out of spite, like they're mad that they're being lowered to that pricing model and everyone should have been grateful to pay their subscription fee. That'll show those lazy, stingy FTPers, fuck them!
 
Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

So what if I paid for a month, then left it on FTP after. What would happen to all my bank items? My customized gear? etc

Seems like a dev nightmare.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

FTP was also supposed to make things like flashpoints and pvp easier, by providing more people to play with. So naturally, limiting those is a sound decision.

Why not charge $.25 for every line you type in chat, while they're at it.
 
Wahad

Wahad

Ravenpoe said:
FTP was also supposed to make things like flashpoints and pvp easier, by providing more people to play with. So naturally, limiting those is a sound decision.

Why not charge $.25 for every line you type in chat, while they're at it.
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That'd be an interesting experiment. See just how far people are willing to go to play a terrible game. I wonder if chat would end up dead-silent or if there would be people who would persevere.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Wahad said:
That'd be an interesting experiment. See just how far people are willing to go to play a terrible game. I wonder if chat would end up dead-silent or if there would be people who would persevere.
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The game itself isn't terrible. It suffers a little from trying to be too much like wow, but the npc interaction elements and branching flashpoints were great, as was the story. It's just mismanaged all to hell and back.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

When you said you have to pay to turn off the head slot visibility, I broke out laughing. That's just retarded.

I might still log on just to play the story sections, but I am sure less excited about it considering I will be pretty much gutted.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

ScytheRexx said:
When you said you have to pay to turn off the head slot visibility, I broke out laughing. That's just retarded.

I might still log on just to play the story sections, but I am sure less excited about it considering I will be pretty much gutted.
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It really does seem like a parody of the free to play model. Basic things that should be in any mmo, ui custimization, pvp, hiding your goddamn helm, crew skills, are all blocked by a pay wall.

To contrast that, LoL is free to play, and treats their free players with the same respect as paying players. And they're making money hand over fist.
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

Y'know what game FTP MMO developers should look at? DCU online.

Seriously, the way they handle FTP is great in that game. You aren't majorly hamstrung if you want to play completely free, but allows cosmetic changes for pay. Also, when you pay for an expansion, it unlocks all the content for that expansion without making you pay for every little extra thing. I think it's a great model, and quite frankly, they've been able to wring more money out of me than any other FTP game simply through expansions. And I was happy to give it to them.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Y'know what game FTP MMO developers should look at? DCU online.

Seriously, the way they handle FTP is great in that game. You aren't majorly hamstrung if you want to play completely free, but allows cosmetic changes for pay. Also, when you pay for an expansion, it unlocks all the content for that expansion without making you pay for every little extra thing. I think it's a great model, and quite frankly, they've been able to wring more money out of me than any other FTP game simply through expansions. And I was happy to give it to them.
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EA views TOR as a sinking ship, and is trying to squeeze out as much money as they can before they run it into the ground.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Ravenpoe said:
It really does seem like a parody of the free to play model. Basic things that should be in any mmo, ui custimization, pvp, hiding your goddamn helm, crew skills, are all blocked by a pay wall.
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I just read down the rest of the list and it's utterly absurd. They even cut down the amount of experience you gain while leveling, restrict the amount of money you can hold, only allow you to have up two auctions, don't let you join subscribed player chat channels, and even restrict the races you can play, charge you more for services and vendor items, and don't even let you talk to a GM if you have a problem, etc...

BioWare/EA just look bitter at this point. "We have to go F2P because of you bastards. Want to come back? FUCK YOU!"
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

I'm still kind of surprised that this went FTP at all... I seem to remember people absolutely gushing about it when it came out.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Bowielee said:
I'm still kind of surprised that this went FTP at all... I seem to remember people absolutely gushing about it when it came out.
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It started strong, going to 1.7 million. Then it just kept losing players. From what I hear it's now closer to 500k subscribers.

In any other time that would have been a pretty healthy subscription number, but EA said they wouldn't be making the money the want unless it was at least over a million subscribers. Since it dropped below that they decided to use this awkward F2P model to get some extra revenue in.

I think the big mistake was attempting to be WoW. It's not bad to go with what you see working, but the fact is WoW has the establishment and the age. You give people another WoW, only without a couple expansions worth of content and other now required features (SWTOR started without a LFD), people are just going to finish the one unique area you had (the story) and move back to WoW. (or if they are sick of WoW too, just quit.)
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Thinking about it some more, I think the reason they went with this awkward F2P model is because they still want those close to 500k people subscribed. They likely think that if the F2P model was overly attractive, then all those subscribers that still exist would just dump the subscriptions for the F2P and thus earn them a less steady cash stream. They didn't want that, so they gutted the whole thing to make sure the subscription looks twenty times more attractive.

It also feels like a giant hook. Looking at the model, if you buy something from the store, you become a "Prefered Player", that gets a few more of the restrictions lifted. I think best case scenario EA are hoping the player does this...

"Player joins game, likes it, but hates restrictions. Buys Cartel Coins for lots of money to remove restrictions, thus giving EA money, but can't remove all of them using the coins. Player decides just to subscribe so he does not feel like a lesser player (due to gear restrictions, money restrictions, etc..), thus earning them money from the cartel coins and the new subscription."
 
Just Me

Just Me

As one of those last people online when SWG got switched off at least partly because of this game (I know, NGE and all; please let us spare this debate and think of it as just another SW game and as the only one in the original timeline) I had a laughing fit when I read the announcement of SW:TOR going FtP after not even 8 months from start.

Sorry for all who love it, really. But those rabid fanbois on the SWG forums and later on the LotRo forums where just too fanatical in their praise of a game that wasn't even released. Obviously SW:TOR neither cured cancer nor was the second coming and it couldn't even keep up to their (admittedly totally over the top) expectations.


Dang now I want back into the cockpit of my own customized X-Wing and roar freely over Corellia's landscape, that was where my Twi Lek flew off into the eternal/final sunrise. :(
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Like I had said before, TOR was a great game. I loved it. But it was mismanaged all to hell.

EA could have had magic, buy they crushed it. They viewed success as beating WoW, which no mmo has done. When that didn't happen, they started to burn the place to the ground out of spite.
 
Just Me

Just Me

Ravenpoe said:
They viewed success as beating WoW, which no mmo has done.
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Yep, the sad case of not being happy with what you have and wanting what other kids have. See above, NGE. It's sad that companies don't think something new can stand for itself by its own virtues; I'll keep an eye on The Secret World though, it's not quite my kind of game but an interesting one nonetheless.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Just Me said:
Yep, the sad case of not being happy with what you have and wanting what other kids have. See above, NGE. It's sad that companies don't think something new can stand for itself by its own virtues; I'll keep an eye on The Secret World though, it's not quite my kind of game but an interesting one nonetheless.
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See: Eve.

Never has it gone free to play. It has a niche but dedicated community attached to it, unique gameplay, and a steady stream of free expansions and improvements always keeping the game fresh. CCP has had a lot of success with it, by sticking with their fans.
 
Just Me

Just Me

LotRo went FtP and from what I heard did very well financially after the switch. I don't know much about other games (being a monogamous player of one game at a time) but in LotRo FtP people actually earn points for the game's shop while playing and can, of course with some effort involved, farm enough points to really play for free. But even as a casual player you should get enough money to buy the riding skill and and switch off the gold limit of their character (But then you don't really need gold in LotRo).
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

I'm really glad I played through all the important (I.E. Revan related) stuff in SWTOR before all this shit went down. Though, I'm also kinda furious about it.

The Exile was killed 200 years before the game, along with T3-M4, by Lord Scourge (who joins your Jedi Guardian as a companion in the game). Lord Scourge then defeats Revan and The Emperor (a Darkside creature that jumps bodies every so often) keeps both of them alive via the Force. Revan is tossed into the Maelstrom prison and stays there for the 200 years between KOTOR 2 and TOR, where he is rescued in a flashpoint. His position was revealed by the force ghost of The Exile, which has apparently decided to show up.

After his rescue, Revan assaults an Imperial controlled Star Forge with an army of droids (including HK-47). He plans to use it's technology to eliminate everyone with Imperial blood in the galaxy (because it would cripple the Emperor and prevent him from consuming the galaxy, his ultimate goal). The Imperials send a team to reclaim it. The team defeats HK-47 and fights there way to Revan, then duke it out with him in THE BEST BOSS FIGHT IN THE GAME. Revan is defeated, but he doesn't die... he just kinda disappears. It's not clear if he died or was teleported away or something.
 
CynicismKills

CynicismKills

The storylines were pretty solid, but the missions inbetween were boring and redundant. Some planets were a total chore to quest through. PvP was horribly skewed in favor of certain classes and was never properly fixed. PvE was badly paced and boring.

The writing was the major saving grace, and the rest was a garbled mess. I've played a lot of MMO's, and this is the first one I truly regret paying for.
 
RoboKomodo

RoboKomodo

I had such optimism for this game. I LOVE Star Wars, and I really wanted this to succeed. But, the combination of EA and consumers wanting it to be WoW with lightsabers and not waiting for devs to work out some issues resulted in failure.

I logged on a few days ago just to see what it was like, after ending my sub in April. The only way I'll go back is with a sub, and right now, I can't afford it.
 
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