BioWare and EA Reveal Star Wars:TOR F2P Restrictions
SWTOR's gone F2P at least. Here are the restrictions for free players...
Star Wars: The Old Republic, EA and BioWare's Star Wars MMO, has finally made the leap from subscription model to free-to-play, just less than one year after its release. Though SWTOR had strong starting numbers, a lack of new content release has caused the MMO to lose hundreds of thousands of subscribers in a few months.
More and more MMOS have made the leap from subscription to free-to-play as of late, and it was obvious that SWTOR wasn't far behind. However, in making the switch, BioWare's sectioned off significant parts of the game to be for subscribing players only.
The official SWTOR website delineates all restricted content, which happens to be everything except the story content. However, free-to-play players will be given preferred status if they decide to purchase in-game content, giving the advantages of the ability to sprint, access to bank slots, higher login priority, and increased access to chat and trade options.
For those transitioning from subscription to free-to-play, there's no need to worry about losing characters. Unfortunately, since non-paying players have fewer character slots, such a transition means players will have to make the tough decision on which characters they'd like to keep active.
BioWare's also whipped together an entire FAQ dedicated to answering player questions about the transition, including questions about how many Cartel coins subscribing players will be receiving.
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fuzzion BenthonSo.. basically... it's not free to play at all. Great model, NOT.Reply
Life taught me that nothing is ever free in this world. -
hotroderx This screams we are just trying to make a little more off Starwars before we shut the servers down. The games already dying so they put on a a ton of restrictions.Reply
They wanted to see a semi decent F2P business model they should have looked at Cabel. -
techguy911 LOL free to play? - you have to pay for content=not free to play wow thats pretty bad nope not going back if it's like this aion is free to play, gw2 buy the game and free to play.Reply
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A Bad Day It reminds me of Valve's F2P policy regarding TF2.Reply
The Hat infection is irresistible. Those 50 item slots don't last long. -
jimmysmitty A Bad DayIt reminds me of Valve's F2P policy regarding TF2.The Hat infection is irresistible. Those 50 item slots don't last long.Reply
The difference is that you buy one item, even the cheapest item, and you get full player status. It makes sense considering that there are millions who spent $20 bucks on it.
But this just sounds bad. Like WoW F2P bad.
GW has always had the best F2P model. Buy the game and have full access, sure you can buy more player slots or storage space but thats i. Not content. -
Hunter_Killers I'm sure all of those players that either never bought it or stopped playing are just dying to come back with all these restrictions. 3 Warzones a week won't get you crap. The best one had to be that you have to pay to use purples.Reply -
fantanel sorry to hear that BW. I was hoping F2P looked decent, but this is an insult.Reply
You guys truly deserve your fall. RIP. -
cats_Paw Lucky for me, i can enjoy actually free games for a very long time (trackmania 1, tribes ascend...).Reply
Lets see how fast EA drops this game from its servers due to negative income.