[QUOTE="brad12d3"]

TOR free to play up to level 15 now and more talk about it going full on Free to Play:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/11/star-wars-the-old-republic-now-free-to-play-up-to-level-15/

 

Megotaku77

"Late last week, SWTORs lead designer indicated that free-to-play may be in TORs future, but it sounds like either Bioware or EA may not be fully on board with that plan yet. The interview on GamesTM was pulled down and EA downplayed the lead designers comment."

You are right, WOW is free to play up to level 20 but they didn't implement that until after the game had been out for 7 years. Only after the better part of a decade did they decide to dabble in the free to play model because eventually, after 7 years your subscriber base may begin to wane a bit. However, TOR has only been out for 7 months and they are already having to look at using the Free to Play model in order to improve their numbers. That doesn't bode well. 

I am not saying that TOR is going to bust or is neccessarily a bad game. However, right now it isn't doing as well as many had hoped. We'll just have to see where things go from here.

TOR free to play up to level 15 now and more talk about it going full on Free to Play: 

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/11/star-wars-the-old-republic-now-free-to-play-up-to-level-15/

Most of that is a reprint of a quote on a Joystiq article that was pulled.  That's why the first link in the Forbes article goes nowhere on Joystiq.  The second link from the Forbes article only mentioned free-trial and free-access periods (like every MMO including WoW has through things like recruit-a-friend and play free to level 15, two "F2P" models that were recently implemented in SWTOR), and explicitly states that they aren't leaving the subscription model.  

"I don't think subscriptions ever go away, but when you have an IP as broad as Star Wars, we're definitely going to look at opportunities to grow that business and look at different ways of bringing customers in and serving them." - Frank Gibeau

So I ask again, where is you source?  Forbes says Joystiq says Lusinchi says is the epitome of he said, she said.  This is especially damning in light of the fact that the original article was retracted by the publisher.  I haven't heard a peep about F2P.  Free-trials, free-months for recruiting a friend, and free month promotions are common in every MMO and don't qualify as "F2P" as you still require a subscription to play long-term.  SWTOR is no different, and its not going F2P, not in the forseeable future at least.

Here's the real question: people have been pushing that article that no longer exists for a month and a half now to prove that SWTOR is going F2P.  Why haven't we heard anything since then?  Not a peep.  No PTS developments, no press releases, nothing.  When games go F2P they usually announce it five or six months in advance.  Example.  If its going F2P we should have confirmations.  Instead we have the same anti-SWTOR people citing an old article that doesn't exist anymore.

Megotaku77

Well EA isn't doing so hot right now. Their stock has been plummeting for the past 6 months and if things don't get better for them then they are going to have to do something desperate like Free 2 play. For many people it seems like it will be the next logical step for them. This is an interesting read: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-06-21-stock-ticker-why-eas-market-valuation-has-crashed/

[QUOTE="vishisluv7"] That about sums it up. Making yet another WoW wanna-be and pouring 100s of million$ into gimmicky voice over and hype marketing was just a bad move. Investing more money than any MMO ever into a genre when it's already been in decline for several years? After so many other "me-too" clones have failed as well. At least the others didn't sink this kind of fortune into a sinking ship.

Now they think a quickie switch to F2P will save the TORtanic. Should be interesting to watch. The model works for Turbine, but then, this is EA.Megotaku77

When is the game going F2P?  You've been saying that since June.  I've asked you more than a dozen times for your source, a request you've ignored.  So since its been well over a month since you started railing on about this F2P nonsense when can we expect the game to go F2P?  Six months?  A year?  Got a source on any of this?

What does a failing MMO look like?  How many games "fail" but still make their development companies millions of dollars in profit?  I'm just curious what metric we're using for "failing" here.  Can you clarify?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/06/16/ea-weighs-in-on-star-wars-the-old-republic-going-free-to-play/

Really wish they would just get back to making good games like KOTOR 3 and Battlefront 3. 

[QUOTE="vishisluv7"] That about sums it up. Making yet another WoW wanna-be and pouring 100s of million$ into gimmicky voice over and hype marketing was just a bad move. Investing more money than any MMO ever into a genre when it's already been in decline for several years? After so many other "me-too" clones have failed as well. At least the others didn't sink this kind of fortune into a sinking ship.

Now they think a quickie switch to F2P will save the TORtanic. Should be interesting to watch. The model works for Turbine, but then, this is EA.Megotaku77

When is the game going F2P?  You've been saying that since June.  I've asked you more than a dozen times for your source, a request you've ignored.  So since its been well over a month since you started railing on about this F2P nonsense when can we expect the game to go F2P?  Six months?  A year?  Got a source on any of this?

What does a failing MMO look like?  How many games "fail" but still make their development companies millions of dollars in profit?  I'm just curious what metric we're using for "failing" here.  Can you clarify?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/06/16/ea-weighs-in-on-star-wars-the-old-republic-going-free-to-play/

Really wish they would just get back to making good games like KOTOR 3 and Battlefront 3. 

That was my biggest beef with FC2 was stealth. It seemed like something they intended on implementing but it didn't get implemented very well. Hell, despite there being and actual stealth suit in the game, the sniper on top of the house, sitting on the side of the mountain, a mile a way, in the middle of the night, could see me hiding under a giant bush in prone. 

The other thing I would like to see is the ability to be able to drive around without the enemy knowing who I am unless I attack them, do something crazy, or if they are realistically close enough to see who I am. This business of enemies waaaaaaaay off in the distance instantly knowing who I am and unloading everything they have needs to stop. I would like to see something like what we saw in Mercenaries where you become disguised to a certain degree driving certain vehicles.

pull a Lucasarts and replace the single player games with an mmo like they did with TOR. If companies want to venture out into mmos that's fine but don't forget that it was the well crafted single player experiences that made people fall in love with the series in the first place.

A common argument is that PSN offers the exact same thing that the paid Xbox Live Service offers, therefore Xbox owners are basically getting scammed by Microsoft.

What are the differences between these two and does the opinion that they are pretty much the same hold true?

It's sad really... Such a talented company. Yet lately they just haven't been themselves.. To bad they couldn't have hooked up with a better publisher.. or found a way to stay independent.

EA really is good at sucking the life out things. :(

I was all excited about this new game by Bioware that was going to be announced at the VGAs. Being a huge RPG fan, when I hear the name Bioware.. I of course think "great story driven RPGs"... Then I see a very mediocre and short looking teaser trailer for,... Command and Conquer?

Now I know there are a lot of RTS fans that are excited about this, and that's cool. I am glad you are getting a new C&C game... But from Bioware?

I was really expecting some new RPG IP, or maybe even a Jade Empie 2 or something... Not Command and Conquer..

Maybe it's just me but I feel that there is a major void in the RPG market.. Great RPGs seems so rare and there are just a couple of developers who really know how to do them well. Bioware was one of those... However, after DA2 and seeing them being spread out to other genres.. is Bioware losing it's RPG magic?