SWTOR Gains 2 Million Users from F2P

[chumly]

Gains 2m players for a week before they realize the game is garbage.

 

[hate machine]

[citation][nom]Lunatic Magnet[/nom]Few, if any, MMos have promoted themselves as WoW killers. That's normally players and the press. The only thing that will 'kill WoW" is Blizzard. No new game, regardless of polish, content and features can lure people away from the archetype MMO especially if they're heavily invested in it. WoW is both the best and worst thing for MMOs and I'm skeptical any new MMO will be a drastic departure from it.[/citation]

In my personal opinion WoW was just the worst thing. Not only did it lock in themepark based mmos but it introduced a bunch of people who cut their teeth on WoW and only expect WoW clones in new games. You know those people who jump ship because "WoW sucks so bad" but then complain that the new game has all these systems that aren't exactly like WoW. Therefore these studios will only my WoW themepark clones centered around easy PvM with tacked on second thought PvP. Genre is dead my friend... dead.

 

[rohitbaran]

Now, SWTOR is reporting that over two million new accounts have been created since the F2P change.

that doesn't mean they all will stay. The game will be successful if a majority of them play.

 

[basketcase87]

Making the switch to F2P was a good move for SWTOR.

Increased subs doesn't make F2P a good move; increased income makes F2P a good move. More people to play with doesn't mean squat if EA decides to axe the game because it has no hope of being profitable anymore.

 

[burmese_dude]

I would love to know if there's a f2p mmorpg gane that has heroes like original GW did. I currently stopped playing GW2 because it has become too tedious and there's no heroes/companion (not pet) system.

 

[asjflask]

If I had a penny for every time I read the words "WoW killer", I'd have enough money to buy all of Activision and create World of Warcraft II.

Also, SWTOR is a great game but have some VERY serious issues:

A) the game had way too many bugs in it and still does -- it's basically a "paid beta"
B) the lack of grinding makes getting to the maximum level quick and easy
C) end game content -- the problem is that people reach end game content quickly because of reason B. Furthermore, there isn't much time to develop end game content as a result. People get bored easily and quickly with a game built like that.

How do you solve these issues? Tone down the "easy" difficulty of the game. Make the game require more grinding, but not necessarily at vanilla-WoW levels. When it takes longer for players to accomplish in-game goals, it gives the developers time to come up with more end game content. That way, when the players hit max level and grind all they need, there is plenty to do in-game to keep them satisfied.

And let's not forget the most important solution: patch bugs immediately! Don't wait 2 months and fix 150 bugs all at once! Patch them quickly and in small patches if need be! Bugs make players angry and frustrated. Remember that a frustrated and angry player is more likely to cancel their subscription!

 

[asjflask]

2 million players playing for "free" doesn't help your profit margin. Yes, it is good to attract new people because they may ultimately end up subscribing; however, it is bad when you do not increase your profits because no one (or very few) end up subscribing. Fix the major problems as I stated in my previous comment and you'll see more subscriptions.

 

[John_From_Steam]

Look at that... 1-2 years after release and the only way to ACTUALLY enjoy the game is to pay 15$ but Rift has more intriguing combat and is A REAL F2P game. SW:TOR makes SWG the best SW MMO that ever came to this planet! I highly recommend Rift, SWGEmu, and ProjectSWG over SWTOR.