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There have been rumors for some time that Bioware/EA were looking deeper into a free-to-play model for their Star Wars MMO, and considering that these rumors came among some fairly significant subscriptions drops, they made sense. I've argued in the past that the WoW MMO model has long been on life support and would most probably be dead in the near future, being replaced by the free-to-play open world model that makes games like DayZ and Minecraft (the latter just having a starting fee associated) thriving at this very moment.
Now it seems that SWTOR may be inching closer to that model. Starting today, SWTOR will offer new players the opportunity to experience the first 15 levels of the MMO for free. Any of the eight character classes can be made and the PvP zones are also available to these new players. Basically it's the entire meal with no restrictions...up to 15. Although, with a current level cap of 50 perhaps we can just call it a very hearty appetizer.
I have my own feeling about MMO's (I'm done with them) but if you're still willing to try out this slightly antiquated model of online play with a Star Wars skin thrown on top, then here's your chance to do it for free. And you never know, you might just like it for awhile.
Comments
12 years, 4 months ago
To be fair, the "free trial for x levels" is also used by other subscription based MMOs such as WoW and Rift. Its pretty standard for this type of MMO.
Not to mention, if you have a subscription model, looking into free to play is never a bad idea from a business standpoint. If your MMO can't sustain itself on subs, its better to work out how the game would function as free to play beforehand, rather than shut down the game for 6 months while the dev team tests out and overhauls the game.
12 years, 4 months ago
As far as I'm concerned, there's no point in treating an MMO any differently from any other video game, considering how prevalent online interactivity is in today's games.
All MMOs should be a one-time purchase and play, just like any other video game. It has been proven that this sort of income is more than adequate to cover the age-old excuse of "Server maintenance costs", and if the developer truly wants a more steady income from their product, they can create 'cash-shop' items if they wish.
12 years, 4 months ago
It's like every MMO is going free-to-play, and one having a subscription from the start is weird. A lot of them are doing this free trial thing. I can't stand any kind of subscription right now for financial and cheapskate reasons. I also just can't stand paying for a game and then paying recurring costs after that either. That's why I don't do Xbox Gold, so I never get multiplayer. The main things that keep me out of MMOs are the time involved, the same kind of gameplay through a bunch of them, and the cost. I'd rather just buy a game and play after that, or go into a free-to-play that's good and fun and not pay-to-win and deserves to be paid.
12 years, 4 months ago
I'm playing TERA sine open beta and they have something similar for new players. You can play the game in full for 1 week as a trial and if you wish to stay after, you can keep your character and start paying. Problem with free to play MMOs they are almost always ended up to be pay-to-win. DayZ is not an MMO, it's a multiplayer RPG game. There is no single unified server that holds thousands of players like in EVE Online.
12 years, 4 months ago
its gonna happen because they are just losing soo many players as of this point. I mean bioware is all about the story in their games, which is a good and bad thing in this MMO. Most ppl decided to stop when they finished the story
12 years, 4 months ago
the ship continues to sink...
12 years, 4 months ago
Why would you want pay someone to dangle a meager, sickly, carrot in front of your face? Especially when there's a juicy steak, so larger that it can't be swallowed in one bite, waiting for you on a silver platter to be eaten at leisure?