BioWare Considers Free-to-Play For The Old Republic

[Ishigami]

I played SW:TOR and tbh I think it was decent for the most part.
What broke the fun for me was mostly the drop in population. I left the game when BioWare/EA still proclaimed: ?Everything is cool!?
But I was sure it wasn't, I've seen the empty shell of what they claimed ?healthy? server.
Seems like even the last one now realizes that it was and is not cool.

If SW:TOR goes F2P and they merge the servers down to some really populated ones then I might give it another look.

 

[rcs619]

I liked the idea behind EVE, but the gameplay just bored me to death. Not really being able to fly your ship made me sad, and watching it orbit objects for hours just didn't appeal to me

Well, to be fair, you are piloting actual warships. It isn't like in Wing Commander where you're in a single-man fighter. It's more like you're a ship's captain telling your helmsman to hold a distance, or stay along a course, than actually flying a ship. With the big ships, it's more about using the right ammo, maintaining the right distances and managing your ship's power supply as you use your various modules than having actual piloting skill.

Although, the small quick ships, the interceptors, assault frigates, stealth bombers and so on... there are times where manual piloting at the right moment can make the difference between living and dying.

But I do understand people who feel like you do It's more like captaining a submarine or actual warship that zipping around like you're in Wing Commander. It does take a different mindset. I've found that EVE tends to very much be a love or hate kinda thing, and both sides have perfectly valid arguments for and against. It's all about personal tastes.

 

[Lunar Templar]

hahahahahahaha!!!! that's what happens when you make a 'wow clone in space'

I would be tempted if it went f2p but only if it didn't need origin, I passed on bf3 because of that and I'm not giving in for some mmo based on a property I don't find particularly interesting anymore.

no, ToR dose not require Origin, or at least did not when i played it

Free to play? Hell & YEAH! Wait, that's not a MMORPG's death sentance, is it? And is Age of Conan really still running? I admit, I didn't read everyone's comments.

yes, AoC is still running, i think its called "Age of Conan chained". [http://www.ageofconan.com/playfree] now
though i've not heard good things about the F2P model they use

 

[Mournful Crow]

I personally feel that they should drop this whole nonsense with the MMO, un-cancel KOTOR 3 and Battlefront 3, and start making good games again...

 

[JaceArveduin]

Well, to be fair, you are piloting actual warships. It isn't like in Wing Commander where you're in a single-man fighter. It's more like you're a ship's captain telling your helmsman to hold a distance, or stay along a course, than actually flying a ship. With the big ships, it's more about using the right ammo, maintaining the right distances and managing your ship's power supply as you use your various modules than having actual piloting skill.

Although, the small quick ships, the interceptors, assault frigates, stealth bombers and so on... there are times where manual piloting at the right moment can make the difference between living and dying.

But I do understand people who feel like you do It's more like captaining a submarine or actual warship that zipping around like you're in Wing Commander. It does take a different mindset. I've found that EVE tends to very much be a love or hate kinda thing, and both sides have perfectly valid arguments for and against. It's all about personal tastes.

Wrong person But yeah, I do get that, it's just I'd honestly rather be the pilot or a gunner than the captain XD I remember years ago playing the Pirates of the Caribbean online mmo thingy, and remember loving being on the cannons during the ship warfare (which, if memory serves, was more awesome than it had a right to be considering it was browser based and free to play)

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

I liked this game, but after paying 70-something dollars for the special edition, I wasn't in any position to pay 15 bucks a month to play the game. I'd be down for it if that month of playtime only counted while I was playing. As it stands, I played the game for about two weeks out of the free month I got before I decided I'd rather play something else, and the other two weeks went unused. I'll play this game to death if it goes free-to-play, and I may even be able to join up with some buddies who are interested but have no disposable income to speak of.

Here's hoping.

See, I really don't get people like you. You spent MORE money on the special edition only to stop playing two weeks into it. I find that idiotic on a spectacular level.

I have no issues with this game, as I'm not someone who played WoW, or plays MMOs like a second job. My highest character I think is 40 right now. Seriously, don't expect anything more drastic from EA or Bioware until the first expansion at the end of the year.

Well, based on the last paragraph of your post, I'm assuming we both came into the game with about the same exposure to MMOs. I've played WoW, I've tried out City of Heroes, I play APB: Reloaded and Vindictus. I know my way around them, but I'm not one to pay for subscription fees or extra content. The problem I have is that I play literally hundreds of games. It's a slow month if I haven't played at least 5-10 new games. What I play spans every genre, every category, and even a few that I really can't nail down.

I liked KotOR, and I liked TOR. If I could play forever after paying the 70 bucks, I'd play it a ton, I'd plow through tons of levels, I'd buy all kinds of in-game items. The game's good enough that I *might* even consider paying the subscription.
The thought that stops me is, 'why would I pay 15 bucks every month for ONE game?' I pay $10 a month for xbox live when I can afford it, and that gets me multiplayer for every xbox game I own. I could buy a full new game on steam every month, or I could buy continued access to one game. And even then, it's basically just KotOR but waaaaaaaaay stretched out to cover 900 million hours.
The last, and most important reason I stopped playing after two weeks, is that the solo questing is just as boring in TOR as it was in WoW, City of Heroes, and every other MMO. It's good with friends, but not alone. I held off on playing during my included month of playtime for a while to see if my friends would play. One friend bought the game, and never got in touch with me. I indirectly found out two months after my time expired that he had the game and had been playing it religiously. By then, it was far too late to do any quests with him. Even if I had more play time, I'd be so far behind him in levels that neither of us would have fun questing together.

I'm not saying TOR is bad in any way. What I am saying is that I can't find any reason to justify 15 bucks a month out of my very small budget. Now as for buying the collector's edition at launch? I thought I would play it. I had a job at the time. I figured my friends would buy it too, and I'd have someone to play with. All of that went to crap, so I never paid any subscription fees to continue my playtime.
I have a new job now, and I'll be getting my first paycheck in a few weeks. I may look into TOR again if I can get a small group or even one guy together, and if I have any money left in my budget after a MechWarrior Online founder's package and Battlefield 3 Premium.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

Stupid double posts -_-

 

[immortalfrieza]

I've NEVER agreed with Subscriptions on MMOs. It's like buying a bike in full from Kmart or wherever and then having one of their employees come by every month demanding that you play more money for the bike or they will and can legally take the bike away from you, and they don't even put more bells and whistles on the bike to make it worth paying more money for.

TOR however has managed to be quite different, it's story content is long enough and enjoyable enough that it has made me not care that much about paying the subscription, and Bioware did throw in new content constantly. Though only with some small changes TOR could easily be made into a single player game and it would be just as good. I don't know what the F2P model will be like, but as long as the social content and the story content is freely available I won't have any issues with it, since I don't PvP that much at all anyway.

 

[kajinking]

The main reason The Old Republic is failing to meet expectations is the same reason nearly every other big-name MMO released since WoW has failed to meet expectations, or even survive in some cases.

You can't beat WoW by trying to out-WoW it. World of Warcraft just has such a massive lead, in both subscriber base and developer experience at this point that trying to do what it's done "but better" is just not that viable. It's just like how trying to beat Call of Duty or Gears of War by doing the exact same thing "but better" just isn't going to work. You gotta bring something unique to the table, or people are generally going to stick with the more polished, more popular game.

That's why I've stuck with EVE Online myself. For all of it's flaws, and occaisional annoyances, it has legitimately tried to do its own thing, and not conform to the common rules and norms of nearly every other MMO out there. It doesn't have millions upon millions of subscribers, sure, but the player-base is generally passionate and the devs work closely with their players to provide regular patches and the twice-yearly free expansions.

You gotta try to bring something new to the table these days. That's why, as much as a truly dislike the idea of an Elder Scrolls MMO, I have to at least give The Elder Scrolls Online some credit for seeming to try something a bit different with their PVP Imperial City conquest thing. Hopefully they'll roll with that, and other elements and not just try to be WoW re-skinned as The Elder Scrolls.

Yeah EVE is the only MMO I'm willing to pay for because of the nice free expansions twice yearly, that and fact that all the "end game content" is pretty much just players throwing around vast amounts of resources and people to basically just screw with other players. EVE's PVP ranges from random fights that take place even when you really don't want to fight to all out war that requires logistics and planning normally only seen in actual wars.

Fly Safe

I liked the idea behind EVE, but the gameplay just bored me to death. Not really being able to fly your ship made me sad, and watching it orbit objects for hours just didn't appeal to me

You can fly your ship in any direction you don't just have to orbit stuff or follow stuff. Granted the old tutorial didn't explain that well and it took me three months to figure that out. EVE has tried to become more newbie-friendly but still it's controls are a good bit more complicated than what most are willing to deal with. But still I like that, I never got into WOW even with the first 20LVs free deal since it's gameplay was just boring and a bit too easy. I'm amazed TOR was even made with the exact same controls since the star wars universe could lend itself so well to gunplay and actual melee combat. I really think Tera is heading into the right direction but from what I hear even that has it's flaws, but still people are usually willing to give games with good gameplay a bigger chance since even a great story can't make up for a game that's a chore to play.

 

[JaceArveduin]

You can fly your ship in any direction you don't just have to orbit stuff or follow stuff. Granted the old tutorial didn't explain that well and it took me three months to figure that out.

Well, I don't play anymore, and LotRO's my MMO fix, but could you tell me how you can actually move without having to tell your ship to go to an object?

 

[StriderShinryu]

Definitely a bit of a stumble. They've already gone for the permanent free trial so this will just be a step further in that direction.. but it's certainly going to be seen as a major failure. Fact is, it is a failure but only in the sense that this is what they should have done all along. Unless you're the 5 million pound gorilla that is WoW, you just can't be a successful mass market MMO these days while still having a monthly sub fee. It just doesn't work and that trend was blatantly obvious before TOR even saw the light of day.

Oh, and hey Secret World, are you seeing this? Yes, I want to play you but no I will not pay monthly subscription fees. Just saying.

 

[kajinking]

You can fly your ship in any direction you don't just have to orbit stuff or follow stuff. Granted the old tutorial didn't explain that well and it took me three months to figure that out.

Well, I don't play anymore, and LotRO's my MMO fix, but could you tell me how you can actually move without having to tell your ship to go to an object?

double click and you'll start heading in that direction, it's useful for avoiding all the laser fire in empty locations

 

[JaceArveduin]

You can fly your ship in any direction you don't just have to orbit stuff or follow stuff. Granted the old tutorial didn't explain that well and it took me three months to figure that out.

Well, I don't play anymore, and LotRO's my MMO fix, but could you tell me how you can actually move without having to tell your ship to go to an object?

double click and you'll start heading in that direction, it's useful for avoiding all the laser fire in empty locations

Well damn, now I feel stupid XD Didn't think to try something like that... Then again, I've never really played games where you have to double click to move.

Oh, and I do think I'll actually give it a try if it's F2P, why not? Mandalorians are pretty bad-ass so long as you ignore the Clone Wars cartoon's... discrepancy.

 

[Zetatrain]

I've NEVER agreed with Subscriptions on MMOs. It's like buying a bike in full from Kmart or wherever and then having one of their employees come by every month demanding that you play more money for the bike or they will and can legally take the bike away from you, and they don't even put more bells and whistles on the bike to make it worth paying more money for.

Eh, the problem with that analogy is that MMOs cannot really be considered just a product. MMOs are both a product and a service with the game obviously being the product and the game servers being the service.

 

[Dirty Apple]

Eventhough I've never played, nor ever planned to play ToR, it still saddens me to think it's failing. I've always cheered for the underdog. Even a rediculously well backed and financed underdog.

Ah, que sera sera. No?

 

[Beautiful End]

uh..dc universe did it incredibly well actually.

Spoiler: Wha--

OT: If they give into F2P, they color me interested. I do have a copy of the game that I haven't installed mostly because I don't wanna play 15 bucks for a game I'd play casually...because I'm mildly curious about it but really eager to play it.

So yeah, it would be a smarter move than to expect people to pay up for a 'Eh' kind of game.

 

[kajinking]

You can fly your ship in any direction you don't just have to orbit stuff or follow stuff. Granted the old tutorial didn't explain that well and it took me three months to figure that out.

Well, I don't play anymore, and LotRO's my MMO fix, but could you tell me how you can actually move without having to tell your ship to go to an object?

double click and you'll start heading in that direction, it's useful for avoiding all the laser fire in empty locations

Well damn, now I feel stupid XD Didn't think to try something like that... Then again, I've never really played games where you have to double click to move.

Oh, and I do think I'll actually give it a try if it's F2P, why not? Mandalorians are pretty bad-ass so long as you ignore the Clone Wars cartoon's... discrepancy.

It's not free to play but you can get all sorts of deals to get a longer trial period. If you played before and din't like it you may not be able to really get into it, EVE has changed with better tutorials and a few other things but it's still pretty the same game.

 

[immortalfrieza]

I've NEVER agreed with Subscriptions on MMOs. It's like buying a bike in full from Kmart or wherever and then having one of their employees come by every month demanding that you play more money for the bike or they will and can legally take the bike away from you, and they don't even put more bells and whistles on the bike to make it worth paying more money for.

Eh, the problem with that analogy is that MMOs cannot really be considered just a product. MMOs are both a product and a service with the game obviously being the product and the game servers being the service.

There really isn't such a thing as a perfect analogy anyway. To answer you, what you said would be true if the general game was still playable after purchase and the servers and other social content was optional, not mandatory, but it IS mandatory. If I were able to play most of the game solo for free and then pay to have the social content only when I wished it that would be one thing, but that's not the way it is. As it is people that play P2P MMOs are paying JUST to be able to play the game, whether they even want the social content with it or not, and in TOR's case isn't even doing that great a job of making sure that there are lots of other people playing anyway.

Besides, the fact that there are plenty of F2P MMOs out there that are doing just as well or even better than many P2P MMOs (including TOR) which destroys any argument in favor of P2P anyway. The one thing that developers of the endless army of MMOs don't seem to get is that it doesn't matter whether there's a subscription or not, what matters is how good the game is, THAT is what keeps players playing an MMO or any game for that matter.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I canceled my sub a month or so back. Played it since launch. Loved it. Didn't feel like paying money every month to keep playing my video game. Free to play is even worse, because they constantly jab you for money anyway and unless you do pay, you never get the full experience.

 

[JaceArveduin]

It's not free to play but you can get all sorts of deals to get a longer trial period. If you played before and din't like it you may not be able to really get into it, EVE has changed with better tutorials and a few other things but it's still pretty the same game.

The first half was a response to you, the second half was talking about TOR XD But yeah, my friend gave me the 1 month trial code he got when he got some time, or something like that. It didn't seem all that bad, just not really my style.