SWTOR goes F2P (soon)

Big announcement as part of EA’s earnings conference call yesterday, is that EA will be taking BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic Free 2 Play “this fall” (November)

From the earnings release:

  • STAR WARS®: The Old Republic will move to a more accessible two-tiered pricing model in November. Players can chose between a $14.99 premium monthly subscription and a free-to-play model with some restrictions on content and advanced features. Players will be able to purchase upgrades with in-game currency.

On the call itself, EA provided what (to me) is information that contradicts with the F2P conversion of TOR.  They stated that TOR only needs 500,000 subscribers to remain profitable, and that the current subscriber count is “substantially” above that mark.  From my experience, games switch from subscription to F2P when they’re no longer above that mark… so I don’t understand the switch to F2P less than a year from release (Even STO made it more than a year, and it bled subs faster than TOR).

The conspiracy theory fan in me, is led to believe that EA has planned for TOR to go F2P all along, and is “encouraging” BioWare to convert now, thinking they’ll be able to make more money via the cash store.

The problem is… nothing was announced that would require a cash store to obtain!  Yes, they introduced the mandatory “F2P Premium currency” called cartel coins.. but even TOR’s on FAQ is vague on what you’ll be able to buy:

Cartel Coins will be the new in-game virtual currency used for the Cartel Market. Cartel Coins may be used to purchase specialty items that allow you to customize and equip your character cosmetically.  With Cartel Coins you will be able to purchase in-game items including customizable gear and convenience features that will enhance the game play experience. Cartel Coins will also be available for purchase from our website in various price packs.

Given that the Collector’s edition vendor hasn’t received a single update since the game was released (despite multiple promised “soon” updates).. I can’t see that there will be a lot of items in the cash store that will ever change (or, change more than once a year).  So, a logical guess is that the cash store will sell the various XP boosts, and… xp boosts, maybe with a side of XP boost?

Speaking of the TOR FAQ (found here for the curious), this raises more questions then it provides answers.. for example:

What happens if I decide to change from being a subscription player to a Free-to-Play member?

Your account will automatically be downgraded and it will operate under the Free player restrictions. You will need to choose what items to keep with you within the restriction levels of the free access.
But, there is no where that lists what these restriction levels ARE.  It really feels to me that EA forced the conversion announcement early (to get it on the conference call), before any relevant details were decided on, and documented.  The TOR forums are already seeing lots of “We’ll have more information on that closer to the conversion date” type responses from the BW Community team (which, is at least communication.. which is more than we’ve gotten from the BW Community team for the last two months or so).
BW has provided this handy feature chart, that is supposed to provide lots of answers, but again, it actually provides very limited information:
“Limited Access” What are the limits?!?!?

 

I’m not anti-F2P (look at my love for the two coming soon MechWarrior titles), and I have no problem supporting F2P titles.. but, I’m against poorly done F2P (Cryptic.. I’m looking at you and STO.. charging real money to open in game loot boxes?!?!).  At this point, EA/BioWare have really not provided a lot of hard information.. lots of “coming soon” and “later” but, nothing really concrete.. it looks like the only concrete information is:

Well..at least they know how much in game currency the subscription gets….

And even this “hard” information, is incomplete.. I can’t find any reference to what the Heroes banner is, or does, for example.  This also shows lack of foresight from EA/BW.. how come the Digital Deluxe purchasers don’t get any extra rewards?  They paid extra for their copy of the game (not as much as CE owners, but still).. they should get like an extra 500 cartel coins.

I’m still going to be playing the game.. but at this point, I’m extremely pessimistic about the F2P conversion, and I fear that it will be done poorly enough to drive me away from a game I love.  Hopefully, EA/BW will release actual information related to this conversion within the next two weeks.. and not make people wait for answers until October or November when any feedback we could provide to BW will be too late to be useful.