The Old Republic F2P This Fall

[Jul 31, 2012, 4:57 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

EA announces that they are adding a free-to-play option to Star Wars: The Old Republic this fall, a move many have been expecting for the Star Wars MMORPG, which has not exactly being WoWing everyone with its subscription model. Word is: "This option will give players access to each of the eight iconic Star Wars character class storylines, all the way up to level 50, with certain restrictions*. Unlimited game access, including new higher-level game content and new features will be made available through individual purchases or through a subscription option." Here's more:

Starting this fall, there will be two different ways to play Star Wars: The Old Republic:

Subscription – A service designed for players who want unrestricted access to all the game features via ongoing subscription or by redeeming a Game Time Card. In addition to gaining access to all game content as our current subscribers do now, Subscribers will receive ongoing monthly grants of Cartel Coins**, the new virtual currency that will be introduced later this fall. Cartel Coins can be used to purchase valuable items including customizable gear and convenience features that will enhance the game play experience.

Free-to-Play –The first 50 levels will be free-to-play, with some restrictions on access to new content and advanced player features. Some restrictions can be “unlocked” with Cartel Coins.

As the first step towards adding the new Free-to-Play option this fall, in August at retail Star Wars: The Old Republic will go on sale for $14.99 USD, including one-month of free subscription.

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19.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:52

Parallax Abstraction

NKD wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:11:
This still surprises me, given Bioware's reluctance to use the F2P model for Warhammer, which has a tiny fraction of the subs of SWTOR. I guess they figure it's a better fit for this more PvE-centric game. I dunno.

This is a completely wild guess but I bet Games Workshop didn't want them to do it, likely out of some stupid idea that it "cheapens their universe" or something. Given the huge success most older MMOs have seen by going free-to-play, that's the only reason I can think of why Warhammer Online never did. That and I suppose they pretty much laid off everyone who had anything to do with making that game.




Parallax Abstraction Geek Bravado \| Retro Flashback \| All Together Now

18.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:50

Cutter

Hrm, what was it I said about a 300+ million dollar failure?




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

17.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:49

AnointedSword

Wow, did I call this or what?:) Thank me very much!




If you were right, I would be agreeing with you.

16.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:44

NKD

Mashiki Amiketo wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:37:
RailWizard wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:30:
EVE is basically FP2 too, you just have to work for it in game. Though to get started you do have to pay.
Or you could just be a filthy stinking pirate, and try to get lucky. There's nothing really stopping you from doing that in game of course, except perhaps everyone else piling on you, and well concord.

That's probably the best way to try and get the money during your free trial. You can't use a lot of the bigger ships during the trial, so ganking idiots is your best hope for trying to score real iskies.




If you don't like where gaming is heading, stop giving your money to the people who are taking it in that direction.

15.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:38

Julio

EA will turn off the servers on the old republic by the end of 2013...

14.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:37

Mashiki Amiketo

RailWizard wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:30:
EVE is basically FP2 too, you just have to work for it in game. Though to get started you do have to pay.

Or you could just be a filthy stinking pirate, and try to get lucky. There's nothing really stopping you from doing that in game of course, except perhaps everyone else piling on you, and well concord.




-- "For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

13.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:34

NKD

RailWizard wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:30:
NKD wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:11:
This still surprises me, given Bioware's reluctance to use the F2P model for Warhammer, which has a tiny fraction of the subs of SWTOR. I guess they figure it's a better fit for this more PvE-centric game. I dunno.

Either way, it's probably the only way to ensure the games longevity at this point. The industry is moving away from subscriptions. The exception will be niche titles from companies like CCP.

EVE is basically FP2 too, you just have to work for it in game. Though to get started you do have to pay.

Yeah. I like that model a lot. Of course it only works if money actually means something in your game. Maybe we'll see it for World of Darkness too.




If you don't like where gaming is heading, stop giving your money to the people who are taking it in that direction.

12.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:30

RailWizard

NKD wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:11: This still surprises me, given Bioware's reluctance to use the F2P model for Warhammer, which has a tiny fraction of the subs of SWTOR. I guess they figure it's a better fit for this more PvE-centric game. I dunno. Either way, it's probably the only way to ensure the games longevity at this point. The industry is moving away from subscriptions. The exception will be niche titles from companies like CCP. EVE is basically FP2 too, you just have to work for it in game. Though to get started you do have to pay.

11.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:20

Graham

1AngryGamer wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:04: TORtanic! HAHAHAHAHAHA Dick. Anyway, it'll be nice to play ToR again. Hopefully they see some success with F2P, which is what it should have been to begin with.

10.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:19

SimplyMonk

NKD wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:11: This still surprises me, given Bioware's reluctance to use the F2P model for Warhammer... I'm pretty sure if you asked anyone at EA if they plan on doing the same model for WAR, you'd get a: "What is WAR? Is that a title we own?"

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:19

JeffD

No, I think a lot of people asked for it. Although I am sure a lot of people were up in arms after the turd SOE laid too. The problem is just like pretty much every other game out there trying to kill wow, they want to do it as cheap and easy as possible. In order to phase wow, you need to do 5 things; 1) Release a complete game that offers content up to max level and another tier of content for those at max level. 2) You need to release content at regular intervals. essentially the first release of the game should be equivilant to wow +1 expansion, so after release and the first tier of end game they need to release a new tier with additional max level content every 3-4 months. 3) Constantly refine your game. In the first several years of WoW, they spend unimaginable amounts of time tweaking in live.. no one gets it right the first try so you need to fix things asap. 4) Stay with your game. I felt that blizzard went from a stand alone game maker to being nothing more then the dev team for WoW for half a decade. They did nothing but command wow for 5 years! Bioware did nothing of the sort, they continued making more pc games and removed resources from TOR. 5) Beta test, beta test, beta test! You know how much new content WoW got in beta that wasn't originally planned? or how many ideas that were planned and implemented got removed because after 2 years of people playing it, it really just didn't pan out? The two most successful MMORPGs, EQ and WoW, had 2 year beta cycles. You can't tell me that wasn't the bulk of their success.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:11

NKD

This still surprises me, given Bioware's reluctance to use the F2P model for Warhammer, which has a tiny fraction of the subs of SWTOR. I guess they figure it's a better fit for this more PvE-centric game. I dunno.

Either way, it's probably the only way to ensure the games longevity at this point. The industry is moving away from subscriptions. The exception will be niche titles from companies like CCP.




If you don't like where gaming is heading, stop giving your money to the people who are taking it in that direction.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:07

ASeven

In other financial news.... EA lost 9% overall profit, lost 6% in net revenue, the PC grew 35% of market share in YOY change while all consoles without exception lost share, the Wii losing 81%, and PC as a platform brought almost as much money as the xbox, leaving the PS3 and Wii cold in their tracks. EAtanic.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:07

Blue

nin wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 17:02:
eunichron wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 16:59:
Whoa, whoa... what is with that shade of yellow?

Blue refers to it as "Gunnar Yellow".

lol




Stephen "Blue" Heaslip Blue's News Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, El Presidente for Life

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:07

Thakk

It was inevitable, had to happen. They knew it, we knew it, and that's that. Good luck EA/BioWare...I hope you treat this IP better than you treated the talent base that created it.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:05

NegaDeath

And the MMO nobody asked for ends up being the MMO nobody pays for. Cue the "Called it!"s. Ok maybe not "nobody" nobody, but certainly "not enough" nobody.

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:04

Angrius Maximis

TORtanic! HAHAHAHAHAHA

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 17:02

nin

eunichron wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 16:59:
Whoa, whoa... what is with that shade of yellow?

Blue refers to it as "Gunnar Yellow".




RollinThundr Apr 17, 2013, 12:25: Eh really tossing stuff like that in there only to get your panties all bunched up. If you really want to call that trolling sure. Mr. Tact Apr 17, 2013, 12:33: Pretty sure that's the definition of trolling...

Re: The Old Republic F2P This Fall

Jul 31, 2012, 16:59

eunichron

Whoa, whoa... what is with that shade of yellow?

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