Star Wars: The Old Republic Goes Free-to-Play

Marshall Honorof

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Goes Free-to-Play


TOR will offer both subscription and free-to-play models this fall.

Last September, one of EA's competitors predicted that Star Wars: The Old Republic would be the StealthX [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113189-The-Old-Republic-Will-Be-the-Last-Subscription-MMO] and allow players to either maintain their subscriptions for full access or purchase piecemeal customizations instead.

A handy chart [http://www.swtor.com/free/features] outlines exactly how TOR will change come autumn. While free players will have access to each class's full storyline all the way up to Level 50, options such as race, warzones (PVP arenas), flashpoints (group dungeons), and space missions will be restricted - although not unavailable - for them. Additionally, a new feature called "The Cartel Market" will allow players to purchase vanity and convenience items through "Cartel Coins," which will be available in exchange for real money. According to Matthew Bromberg, BioWare Austin's general manager, "Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic universe."

Even though the game is going free-to-play sooner rather than later, EA is still offering players some incentives to get on the subscription bandwagon before that happens. Current subscribers have the opportunity to earn an embarrassment of riches in Cartel Coins [http://www.swtor.com/free], plus a few other in-game goodies.

When the freemium transition takes place, subscribers will still have considerable benefits over their non-paying brethren. On the other hand, playing through a complete TOR storyline without having to drop $15 a month on it could be the perfect way to hook players who balk at subscription fees but don't mind microtransactions. Whether this move will bring back some of TOR's Sarlacc [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117159-EA-Blames-Casuals-For-Falling-Old-Republic-Subscriber-Numbers], though, only the Force can tell.

Source: Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Site [http://www.swtor.com/info/news/press-release/20120731]

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Hal10k

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Funny how this happens on the day EA has to announce its earnings for this quarter.
 

Mr Cwtchy

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As I said in the other thread on this subject, the model they are going for seems astoundingly similar to the one Turbine uses in LOTRO. See this chart [http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/vipchart.html] as a comparison(although it is rather out of date at this point).

Most people probably saw this transition coming, subscription models just don't seem to be cutting it anymore.
 

Ranorak

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Feb 17, 2010
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I for one will not be going back to SWTOR, free or not.

Money was never the issue, it's just a sub-par game compared to.... that other MMO.
 

Karoshi

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SNCommand said:
Well, at least those who wanted Kotor III can try the singplayer for free now
Yes, absolutely. =D During the free weekend trial I have dabbled in the Agent storyline and loved it. Looking forward to actually finishing it.
 

major_chaos

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This is a good thing from where I'm standing. the sooner MMOs move away from the bullshit monthly subscription model the better.
 

nodlimax

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major_chaos said:
This is a good thing from where I'm standing. the sooner MMOs move away from the bullshit monthly subscription model the better.
You do know that Freemium or "F2P"are usually more expensive than the Sub based MMOs? But the costs in these models are kind of hidden for the uneducated kind of people.
 

SnakeoilSage

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Probably the smartest thing EA has done this year. I'll probably try it out just to see how it plays but I still fork over cast for WoW every couple of months, and TOR didn't perk my interest enough to pay for it.
 

Waaghpowa

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Apr 13, 2010
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Bull-fucking-shit. I get locked out of Operations for going free? That's all I play the game for now. I was hoping to keep playing the game while saving myself some money with the free model. Assholes.
 

mirage202

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Why are subscriptions dead?
Why is Free 2 Play the shining knight on his white steed?

Everyone that isn't Blizzard is heralding F2P as the only course of action. Interestingly, everyone who isn't Blizzard, heralding F2P, are also the same people churning out reskinned WoW clones.

My mind just seems to stick to the point that subs aren't dead, just the minor detail that nothing worth paying for has been released.

Active WOW sub 2005-2010 (Lost interest eventually)
Active Eve sub 2004-Current (Still worth paying for)

F2P games with cash shops maintain interest for.. a month tops I guess. Perhaps if they stopped A) Applying traditional game retail values to MMOs and B)Actually produced games worth paying monthly for, this wouldn't keep happening?
 

frizzlebyte

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While I am not a big fan of TOR, simply because I wanted KOTOR 3 instead of this, I will be playing it now. Can't say I would ever do a microtransaction at all, but going F2P is a good thing, IMO.
 

major_chaos

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nodlimax said:
major_chaos said:
This is a good thing from where I'm standing. the sooner MMOs move away from the bullshit monthly subscription model the better.
You do know that Freemium or "F2P"are usually more expensive than the Sub based MMOs? But the costs in these models are kind of hidden for the uneducated kind of people.
I have yet to find a F2P game that I cant fully enjoy for far less than 15$ a month and if I did I would say it was extremely poor execution of the concept, so the lesson here is shop smart, and not all games are good examples of the F2P/freemium model.
 

Mrsoupcup

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It was only a matter of time after EA laid of all those people at Bioware Austin.

(including Mr. Bannu himself Stanley Woo, who was in charge of quality assurance lol)

 

Rutskarn

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nodlimax said:
major_chaos said:
This is a good thing from where I'm standing. the sooner MMOs move away from the bullshit monthly subscription model the better.
You do know that Freemium or "F2P"are usually more expensive than the Sub based MMOs? But the costs in these models are kind of hidden for the uneducated kind of people.
I've never spent a cent on an F2P. You certainly *could* spend more an an F2P MMO, but you could also buy EVE monocles and diamond rings in TF2. For cheap players, the austere nature of the basic game is an acceptable tradeoff.

I mean, buying all the content that would be available in pay-to-play might end up costing more, but most people won't do that.
 

Saviordd1

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nodlimax said:
major_chaos said:
This is a good thing from where I'm standing. the sooner MMOs move away from the bullshit monthly subscription model the better.
You do know that Freemium or "F2P"are usually more expensive than the Sub based MMOs? But the costs in these models are kind of hidden for the uneducated kind of people.
Well that's the most pretentious thing I've heard.
"Mmm yes, microtransactions are for the SMALLER and STUPIDER people."

In all reality its easier and rarely more expensive. I think my time in a F2P game was most concentrated in STO, in which I spent maybe 10 bucks altogether and played the game for about 6 months and still occasionally play it. How is that more expensive? You do realize that 6 times 15 is 90 bucks right? That, the last time I checked, is more than 10.

Microtransactions are normally a tad cheaper, and if they are not in some cases its just easier to pay 2 bucks here or there instead of 15 a month.

But I guess I'm just uneducated for thinking that right?

OT: Oh cool, I've wanted to finish my story lines, glad to see its going F2P.
 

Lunar Templar

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Ranorak said:
I for one will not be going back to SWTOR, free or not.

Money was never the issue, it's just a sub-par game compared to.... that other MMO.
which other? i can think of at least 3 off hand that are better then ToR
 

Agow95

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While I don't mind limited access to PVP and group missions, I pretty much play TOR like a single player game, How will races be limited? I can only assume I can't play new races yet to be implemented or, and this would piss my twin off, because he's planned RP's for it, stopping the recent legacy feature that allows you to play classes without race or customisation restrictions (which already made you get to level 50 with a race to use it like that).