SW: TOR MSRP drop to $14.99 on Aug. 7; goes F2P in Nov.

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EA announced today in its earnings conference call TOR is going F2P (limited access) through LVL 50 in Nov. You can play the storyline quests through LVL 50, but the other types of quests in the game you either have limited or no access to as a free player. You either have to subscribe (still $15/month) or buy stuff ala carte. You are also limited in the races you can choose with a new character as a free member.

Current and former subscribers get a boost with the new currency called Cartel Coins which are used to unlock stuff, similar to how it works in other games. If you want to get some of those bonuses before Nov., MSRP of the game drops to $15 next Tuesday the 7th.

http://kotaku.com/5930586/star-wars-the-old-republic-is-going-free+to+play-up-to-level-50-this-fall
http://www.swtor.com/free
 
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...why not just lower the sub cost...i'd be much more willing to pay 7.50/mth. Not sure why everyone follows the arbitrary 15/mth standard.
 
[quote name='Lemarfanz']...why not just lower the sub cost...i'd be much more willing to pay 7.50/mth. Not sure why everyone follows the arbitrary 15/mth standard.[/QUOTE]


See, this I agree with. I think they should offer F2P options plus a lower subscription fee for those that want to pay. This, I think, would kill WoW. Or at least force them to drop their pricing, which would do EA the favor of knocking that crutch out from under Activision's arm.

I think expecting users to pay $15 per month for lots of games was, is, and will always be silly.
 
When checking store availability through this link I get 'in store only' in red for most locations. Does this mean that it is there? Usually it says available or whatever but in some places it states 'Unavailable.'
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']There's a shock. Another MMO going free to play because they can't compete against WoW, despite WoW losing customers over the years they still have a firm grasp over the market. I think that was even more apparent when EQ went free to play. It will be interesting if FF online ever goes free to play.

Now if only UO would go free to play after all these years. I'm assuming UO is very easy to maintain being a old game with all the content already there, cuz I kinda doubt UO has 500k+ subscribers still.[/QUOTE]

:lol: I was just thinking about this too. Moldy oldy 2D Ultima Online from the 90s that probably costs like a nickel to keep up is still not F2P. Why?

If they put microtransactions in some of the Facebook crowd who obviously don't care about visuals and/or people who have utter crap computers from a decade ago would probably buy it.
 
[quote name='Motoki']:lol: I was just thinking about this too. Moldy oldy 2D Ultima Online from the 90s that probably costs like a nickel to keep up is still not F2P. Why?

If they put microtransactions in some of the Facebook crowd who obviously don't care about visuals and/or people who have utter crap computers from a decade ago would probably buy it.[/QUOTE]

There are a good amount of old MMOs that still require a monthly sub. Final Fantasy XI just celebrated it's 10 year anniversary and it's still 12.95 a month. In 10 years the subscription cost hasn't even gone done in price, let alone disappear. Hell, they even announced a brand new full-on expansion for it due out in 2013. Some games just have a fan base loyal enough (and large enough) that they never have to go F2P.
 
I just re-upped my Warcraft account. A few weeks ago I played some of the SWKotR trial thing I got board after like a hour
 
[quote name='FlyingMonkey9']So theyre trying to con people into paying 14.99 to buy something thats about to be worthless?[/QUOTE]
eggsactly .... maybe after the MMO genre is officially announced dead, the suits will revisit drop in MP co-op to most single player cRPGs. I doubt it, because it makes too much sense.
 
[quote name='wynams']eggsactly .... Maybe after the mmo genre is officially announced dead, the suits will revisit drop in mp co-op to most single player crpgs. I doubt it, because it makes too much sense.[/quote]

+1
 
[quote name='DOMINATOR912']There are a good amount of old MMOs that still require a monthly sub. Final Fantasy XI just celebrated it's 10 year anniversary and it's still 12.95 a month. In 10 years the subscription cost hasn't even gone done in price, let alone disappear. Hell, they even announced a brand new full-on expansion for it due out in 2013. Some games just have a fan base loyal enough (and large enough) that they never have to go F2P.[/QUOTE]

I think the market is strongly affected by public perception that any game that isn't WoW will go F2P, so more and more people willingly avoid it until then, while others are simply burnt out by the genre, especially when there isn't much unique about this or others in recent years. Those other games that failed much harder set a precedent, but then made notable profits with their hybrid systems...so that's what EA decided to do to attempt to maximize profits before it does dip down to that stagnant level at 500k subs.

XI is a strange exception since it predates the WoW model and has always had the name giving it much more extra attention across multiple regions. It was a clever marketing tactic to say the least. Having console versions also helped as there was little competition there in the last decade. It has always been decent and above average in other ways, but so are a lot of MMO's that fail to create a sustainable fanbase and costs have risen as standards have, like with most genres.
 
[quote name='DOMINATOR912']There are a good amount of old MMOs that still require a monthly sub. Final Fantasy XI just celebrated it's 10 year anniversary and it's still 12.95 a month. In 10 years the subscription cost hasn't even gone done in price, let alone disappear. Hell, they even announced a brand new full-on expansion for it due out in 2013. Some games just have a fan base loyal enough (and large enough) that they never have to go F2P.[/QUOTE]

Um yeah because of Japan - they're known for obsessive behavior. That's it. I'd like to see the sub numbers for US and EU.

Most Western MMO's tank under the old subscription model.
 
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