Star Wars went from 1.7 million players to sub 1 million in 6 months. 11 months from launch to the F2P model being live on servers.
It certainly seems to be a vocal minority of people who feel its a good game.
And its something I wholeheartedly agree with. I love the Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 buy-to-play model, and would love to see every single MMO transition to that model. It allows for far greater player freedom of choice in when and why they want to paly, the devs can offer a small non-essential cash shop and everyone can just play and be happy. I would kill for that subscription model on every MMO possible, as it would mean I could play all MMOs without the worry of "am I spending enough time in-game to appreciate the $15 sub fee."Wrong.
I bought a $100 version of Guild Wars 2 and really enjoyed the time I spent in it (just don't have time these days other than once a month to go back).
I bought Morrowind: Collectors Edition, Oblivion: Collectors Edition, 2x Skyrim: Collectors Editions and a few months ago Skyrim complete edition on PC.
As I stated prior to the TES: Online model I disapprove of hiding real content behind a $20 pay-wall + the $60 game + $15/month. Some of us want to pay up front then jump in and out every few months, then purchase actual add-on content later, either in an expansion or in a few packs of micro-transactions.
They announced the sub-fee and said it was for "future content"... but that means nothing to me. I want choice, that's why I never purchased TES: Online.
Why does everyone have a hard-on for MMO's going Free-to-Play?
I was enjoying SWTOR when it launched up until they converted the game into a godawful f2p mess, utterly destroying the game in both spirit and gameplay mechanics.
I am currently playing ESO and the moment it goes f2p is the moment I uninstall. Eons ago when people didn't have money for games, they simply didn't play them. Now people are intent on dragging down the experience and quality in the name of not having to spend money.
It makes me sad.
Right but I mean they haven't even bragged about that much on TESO.SWTOR had box sales of about 1.2m. I don't think you can really gauge an MMOs subscription longevity based on sales alone.
Why does everyone have a hard-on for MMO's going Free-to-Play?
I was enjoying SWTOR when it launched up until they converted the game into a godawful f2p mess, utterly destroying the game in both spirit and gameplay mechanics.
I am currently playing ESO and the moment it goes f2p is the moment I uninstall. Eons ago when people didn't have money for games, they simply didn't play them. Now people are intent on dragging down the experience and quality in the name of not having to spend money.
It makes me sad.
I actually hope it goes F2P pretty quickly because I really enjoyed playing all the beta weekends but I just can't afford to pay a sub. But my estimate is about 12 months, maybe more. I know they have a lot of DLC/expansions planned and I don't think they'll bin the sub before they release them. Get them out the door then sometime after it'll go F2P.
Let's not forget the console versions still have to launch, adding a completely new [and potentially huge] userbase. There are way less MMOs available on consoles, which might boost subscriber numbers.
Why does everyone have a hard-on for MMO's going Free-to-Play?
I was enjoying SWTOR when it launched up until they converted the game into a godawful f2p mess, utterly destroying the game in both spirit and gameplay mechanics.
I am currently playing ESO and the moment it goes f2p is the moment I uninstall. Eons ago when people didn't have money for games, they simply didn't play them. Now people are intent on dragging down the experience and quality in the name of not having to spend money.
It makes me sad.
Nah. It's a vocal minority who feel its a bad game. Most of those people haven't played it, though.
The game dident really change for Subscribers. The Subscribers get all the benefits. How did being a Subscriber change in the F2P model?
I subbed to SWTOR for 2 months. I just wanted to complete the Jedi and Sith story arcs and thats it.
But, in ESO's case, from Angry Joe's interview it sounds like they took all the pitfalls of microtransactions anyways (little gold drop so you can't make money fast and expensive items that will take a long time to save up for, well unless you pay extra to buy them). That alone will make me want to avoid ESO entirely and hope it doesn't just go F2P, but fail so they learn not to do crap like that and actually design the game to be fun.
I know it's receiving better than expected reviews from the average person, but has it been that big of a success?Will never go free to play. It's been a huge success and will continue to be subscription only.
Angry Joe isn't exactly the person I would base your impressions off of...it's like watching Bill O'Reilly or Stephen Colbert review a product and making up your mind lol.
Right after FFXIV hopefully.
Feel the same sad people wanting mmo's to turn into cash shop f2p clones. When everything goes f2p then im out. Brings a different crowd makes the game cheap. You don't have the cash to play......don't play.
When it's a $15 sub, $60 base game and $80 for the version with full functionality of races/factions with free horse, I can see why "most of those people haven't played it".
Which is fine, but then they shouldn't talk about how terrible the game is.
I'd argue that both titles are doing well enough, and will survive for years to come on their current playerbases. I just don't get this stigma that one has to be better than the other.Not a chance, XIV is doing too well.
I cancelled my sub tonight. I really hope it doesn't go F2P because that is pretty much the death knell for the game.
I'll probably follow it, and might come back a few months down the road, but right now the game is a complete mess. So many bugs, and when you're not fighting bugs, you got botters...just a mess.