Poll: old republic free to play is ready. will you be going back?
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Question: Is there a way to earn currency in game to spend on account upgrades? That will determine whether or not I give this a shot.
The only F2P model I've seen and approve of is Turbine's DDO and LotRO. Both games have ways to earn Turbine points to spend on more content, removal of caps, etc., without having to spend cash.
The only F2P model I've seen and approve of is Turbine's DDO and LotRO. Both games have ways to earn Turbine points to spend on more content, removal of caps, etc., without having to spend cash.
I did go back and check it out, but these restrictions...ugh. I know I'm playing for free and all, but this feels more like an extended trial version of the game where you need to subscribe to get any of the good features. Reduced XP, higher shop prices, not as many quickbars,reduced crew specializations and inventory space, only two character slots- and I'm talking about a PREFERRED account here, I don't even want to know how restrictive actual F2P is. They're basically just giving you access to the story and little else. It doesn't feel like you can get even a semi-complete experience without shelling out cash.
Bioware certainly has the right to do that, but compare this to other F2P MMO's like Lord of the Rings. In there, subscribing gives you access to more quests, a higher gold limit, more character slots, and priority login. It does *not* put restrictions on basic gameplay and item management, the subscription model is really more for rewarding people who like the game enough to commit to paying annually, no more no less.
It's like...say the two games were clubs. LotRO gives subscribers access to a VIP lounge whereas ToR begrudgingly lets everyone mingle outside of the building until they pay up.
Bioware certainly has the right to do that, but compare this to other F2P MMO's like Lord of the Rings. In there, subscribing gives you access to more quests, a higher gold limit, more character slots, and priority login. It does *not* put restrictions on basic gameplay and item management, the subscription model is really more for rewarding people who like the game enough to commit to paying annually, no more no less.
It's like...say the two games were clubs. LotRO gives subscribers access to a VIP lounge whereas ToR begrudgingly lets everyone mingle outside of the building until they pay up.
But why should they, when WoW is already there? MMOs that launch now are competing with WoW now, if they're not capable of doing that they'll fail because everyone will go back to the better product.BloatedGuppy said:
But only after they've failed to make money on a subscriber model.
That depends how good your F2P model is. From the sounds of it, ToRs is terrible.
See, what Free to Play is is an advertisment. You make the game free to play to convince people that it's worth spending money on for content (and you have to still have enough free to be an effective advertisement. DC Universe Online, for instance, allows you to play the full game as it was released, and buy the expansion packs seperately or subscribe to have access to all of them), convenience (characters slots, XP boosts, etc.) or customisation.
Free to Play can increase subscribers by convincing people who wouldn't even have tried the game if it wasn't free that they like it and it's worth paying for more of.
From the sounds of it though, Bioware have cut far too much out of the core experience to make the free model compelling, the XP penalty and gear prices will make later story missions frustrating because free players will be underlevelled for them, which means they will give a bad impression to those players and make them uninstall and play something else.
I want to give it another chance but the launcher is acting up. Wow! Bioware wants to make me hate them but I am still in love.
To try something mechanically different? To see new lore? Experience new challenges? Play in newer, better engines? I really enjoyed WoW, but I don't load up every new game and think "Gosh, I hope they did everything WoW did!". I mean, there hasn't really been a new CRPG as good as Planescape Torment in many years. Maybe I shouldn't buy any new CRPGs! I should just play Torment over and over and over!GloatingSwine said:
People go back to WoW for many reasons, and yes...content depth and system polish are amongst them...but you're underestimating plain old recidivism as well. People go back because they have an investment...of time, of money, they have friends there...it's comfortable. Some people might go back because they honestly think it's a better product, but a great many folks are kind of sick of WoW now. 8 years is a long time to play a game.
However, if our standard for new MMOs is going to be "everything WoW has and then some, but in a state of the art engine with all the modern MMO conveniences or GTFO", then the genre is finished, and we'll never see another game.
That might have been true 5 years ago. Most of the newer games have FTP or BTP baked right into them. Subscriptions are actually becoming somewhat archaic.GloatingSwine said:
That's true, but that has nothing to do with FTP as a concept, and everything to do with EA's fundamental misread of the market. That said, I'm willing to bet it's still successful. According to Riot, 90% of FTP profits come from 5% of the player base. Do I think this is an optimal FTP model? Certainly not. Do I think it'll be profitable anyway? I certainly do.GloatingSwine said:
How is the storyline in SWTOR?
There are single-player campaigns right?
Is the story as good as the first two games or is it just some nonsense put together??
There are single-player campaigns right?
Is the story as good as the first two games or is it just some nonsense put together??
I wanted to try a new storyline, so I downloaded the client to give FTP a shot. I was a subscriber for about 4 months. When I logged in, my 6 characters were still there, but if I wanted to try a new one, I would have had to delete 5 of them because there is a 2 toon limit. Knowing how many hours I put into all of my alts in the past, I couldn't bring myself to do it so I uninstalled
I really don't like the F2P model they've implemented. Even for preferred member status it's too punishing. I really do want to experience the different class stories, but it's not worth the BS.
I really hope someone is able to figure out how to implement independent servers, so I can run my own server.
I really hope someone is able to figure out how to implement independent servers, so I can run my own server.
Eight storylines, one for each class. I don't know if I would call them "KotOR good" as morality choices boil down to pure good vs. good evil with no middle ground whatsoever, but yeah, they're all interesting and have some great companion characters.Evolutionary High said:
Trouble is, other than setting and lore, most new MMOs actually don't offer any of those things.BloatedGuppy said:
Actually, I'd argue that the genre is finished for the time being. Until someone comes along and completely reinvents the way we look at the MMORPG as a concept we'll see no big new thing. DC Universe Online is a step in the right direction, it has direct player control rather than autocombat, so the actual minute to minute gameplay is more engaging, but it still has the same skinner box of looking for the man with the floating exclamation mark, beating up the requisite number of wolves, and then returning to him for XP.
Ironically, I think the next step forward is going to be a step back, to player driven content as used to exist in Ultima Online (and ironically Star Wars Galaxies) as designers and publishers gaze longingly at Minecraft. The only big MMO still doing that though is Eve, and Eve is about as newbie friendly as grizzly wrestling, so its player base is pretty much stuck.
The big name ones generally don't. They launch with subs, fail, and go F2P. ToR, Age of Conan, Star Trek Online, D&D Online, Lord of the Rings Online. Sure, there are smaller titles that do start out F2P, but mostly the big WoW clones are not they. Mostly it's different types of massively multiplayer games, like League of Legends and World of Tanks.
On the other hand, 5% of Riot's playerbase is still more than ToR's subscriber base
and that works for Riot because their F2P model is pretty good, they have a good rotation of free champions which are generally considered good well balanced ones (ToR would probably lock you to the ones everyone hated) and there's nothing you pay for that you can't earn other than customisation. (Likewise, Wargaming.net are fiddling with the premium features of World of Tanks to reduce the accusation of pay to win, premium ammo is now buyable with credits).
That is pretty much my plan also. I love Star Wars (or at least I used to. Now I have a slightly less emotionally extreme, deep connection with Star Wars), but I'm not sure how I will do in this specific game.Zhukov said:
It might very well come down to the quality of the controls and how much I can customise my character.
Are we allowed to play with every class, or are we limited to only one or two, thus hampering which stories we can experience?
EAs free to play model is a joke, they basically charge for everything. Want to use your mouse, well that is just 100 EA points, want to be able to use your right arm? An easy payment of 150 ea points etc..
The goal of Free to play is to get people to play and enjoy your game, and then buy stuff for characters that they have invested time and energy into. Not to make them look at the list of "features" you don't get and just shakes their heads and not even download the client.
The goal of Free to play is to get people to play and enjoy your game, and then buy stuff for characters that they have invested time and energy into. Not to make them look at the list of "features" you don't get and just shakes their heads and not even download the client.
Haven't played it before, but hey, they're handing down a slightly weak, grindy KotOR III with 8 storylines and no actual choice for free. There's some tradeoff there, but all in all, sounds interesting, so I'll play until I lose interest, and in all likelihood, won't spend a dime. I mean, seriously, you can take a look at free to play, and tell that they totally screwed it up, because they're bitter about actually having to shift to it. Free-to-play won't work if you go into it half-heartedly, it'll just seem to everyone that you're trying to punish the ftpers, they'll leave, and what could have been a good model will fall on its ass.
I really wanted to, but those restrictions are just too much. So it's a no go for me. It's a shame, I really did enjoy the game.
I don't care about that 2 hotbars issue. That's pretty much what I tried to do anyway. Having 40 different fucking abilities available at all times is just bad game design in my opinion.
I don't care about that 2 hotbars issue. That's pretty much what I tried to do anyway. Having 40 different fucking abilities available at all times is just bad game design in my opinion.
- Bland, but well done.Evolutionary High said:
- Right, but you will need to do sidequests to level.
- I didn't tought the story of the first two was particulary good. This one is on the same league IMO, a bit worse at most; but feels less substancial due it's MMO nature.
Overall, if you tought the story of the first 2 was very good, i would give it a try. I know i miss my light sabers from time to time, but... mheee, planetside 2 and dota 2 are just too good.
Sure they do. TSW and GW2 are examples of games offering new mechanical wrinkles. Even sad retreads like TERA are differentiated enough from WoW to be fundamentally different mechanical experiences. So playing them and then immediately grousing that there's only a few raids and WoW has 50, and then with the same breath complaining the industry is stagnating because everyone copies WoW...it's seriously cutting off your nose to spite your face. People need to be a little more patient. WoW had nothing on EQ, depth wise, when it launched.GloatingSwine said:
What you mean to say is that you are finished with the genre. Don't be one of those bloviating doomsayers on the internet who proclaims entire genres have died because you've lost interest in them. The games are still doing fine.GloatingSwine said:
Well, we won't see another WoW, but at some point people are going to need to wake up and recognize that WoW was anomalous. The circumstances that allowed for its breakaway success no longer exist.GloatingSwine said:
Surely there's a lot of room for innovation in this genre, but we've reached a serious stumbling block. MMOs are huge investments. Even small games are very, very costly...tens of millions in most cases, if not more, and that's for games that launch relatively content light. If the ongoing whine the moment they hit market is "Why isn't this more like WooooooooW" then you're going to see an innovation level of exactly zero. No one wants to gamble with tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars. They're going to make the most conservative, market-proven games possible, and any innovation is going to be in the form of baby steps.GloatingSwine said:
AoC, DDO, and LOTRO are all like, 5 years old. STO is almost 3 years old. You already have industry pundits discussing whether or not the subscription is dead. Games are going to launch with FTP models built into the back end to make a smooth transition, at the very least, and most will likely have elaborate FTP trials to haul in as many initial players as possible. It's a very crowded, competitive market out there now, and most of the competition is "free". We're going to come to a point where it's go free or go home.GloatingSwine said:
Turbine doesn't have a fraction of TOR's playerbase, and they turned a handsome profit with their FTP model (and TOR is at about 10% of LoL at present time). This isn't going to be LoL 2 or anything, LoL is a genuine phenomenon (that tends to happen when you're early to the party in a burgeoning genre). But I'm pretty sure TOR is going to make a good buck. Heck it already makes a good buck. The problem is the game was so damn expensive it needs to make a great buck.GloatingSwine said:On the other hand, 5% of Riot's playerbase is still more than ToR's subscriber base
Decent enough compared to the first one. Less what-the-fuck than the second, in both good and bad ways. Padded as a motherfuck compared to either of them, though.Evolutionary High said: