Star Wars: The Old Republic going f2p this fall

[AlanJohn]

Yes, you heard that right. I bet you're really surprised by this, and absolutely nobody ever expected this to happen due to the major success of TOR. Ok, sarcasm away, EA has announced that BioWares MMO 'Star Wars: The Old Republic' is going to become Free-to-play this fall.

All eight character storylines up to level 50 will be accessible with restricted access to new content and advanced features. Some of these restrictions can be removed by "purchasing" access with Cartel Coins, the new virtual currency to be introduced in the fall. Unlimited access including higher-level content and new features will be available through subscription options.

"Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic universe," said GM of BioWare Matthew Bromberg in a press release.

Beginning in the fall, players will have free-to-play and subscription options. Players can purchase on going subscriptions or play advanced content by redeeming Game Time Cards. Subscribers will receive monthly allowances of Cartel Coins, which can be used to purchase in-game items, gear, and convenience features.

"Since launch, we've been listening to feedback from our fans and adding new content and refining The Old Republic at a breakneck pace," said executive producer Jeff Hickman. "We believe we are in a position to help improve the service even more, not only by continuing to add new content, but also by expanding the game to many more Star Wars fans, increasing the populations on worlds and the vibrancy of the community."

BioWare will increase the frequency of content updates until the game goes free to play. Current subscribers can look forward to a new update in August as well as Cartel Coin grants and access to special in-game items. A full list of content available for free and with subscription is available at the game's official website.

In preparation for the move, Star Wars: The Old Republic will go on sale in August for $14.99 and will include a one-month free subscription.

BioWare began considering moving the game to a free to play model back in mid-June. The first 15 levels of The Old Republic went free to play in early July.

Source

 

[Skelletonike]

Took them long enough, but this outcome was inevitable... The game is ok-ish, but not something I'd pay monthly to play.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Awesome, I've been wanting to play this game but nowadays paying a monthly fee for a MMO is a bit ridiculous.

I've heard average things about it but I'd rather see for myself.

 

[Gahars]

EA: "We are altering the subscription model. Pray we don't alter it any further."

 

[BORTZ]

I have alot of friends i wont be seeing this fall then...

 

[Clarky]

June-Play till level 15

Fall-Play till level 50

Next Year-EA pay you to play

silly unfunny stuff aside, I maybe convinced to try this now, hope to find some of you guys on there

 

[Janthran]

This is what should have been done to Lego Universe.

 

[Xuphor]

I hate Star Wars, but I remember being in the Beta for this game. Even as a Star Wars hater, it was pretty fun for a standard hotkey driven MMO. I also remember thinking if it went FTP, I'd get back into it (I never bought it). Too bad they are making it FtP after Guild Wars 2 comes out.

 

[shakirmoledina]

does f2p mean free to play or free too (and) premium

 

[Celice]

Yeah, is this gonna be free to download and install or the game still required to be paid for? Their wording could be better, like saying there's no longer a monthly fee to play in addition to the cost of purchasing a game.

 

[clonesniper666]

Just wanna say have fun downloading the 25+ gigs of data that this game uses. I will have to reinstall the game once it goes F2P since I bought it on launch and never really played that much of it but what I did play was really fun but the story is more single player driven, so a monthly fee did not seem right for this game. Too bad a lot of people have already stopped playing the game, hopefully this action will bring more people into the game.

 

[RupeeClock]

Not even a full year and they'll be going free to play.

Not that this'll actually help the game's cause, the reason people aren't playing it wasn't because it was expensive or anything, it's because nobody wanted to play it for more than a month or two, compared to WoW.

They took the completely wrong approaches to how to handle an MMO, longevity is the key thing here.

 

[chavosaur]

Huh, i was interested in the game. Guess I can try it out now.

 

[RupeeClock]

Huh, i was interested in the game. Guess I can try it out now.

You still gotta buy the actual game, it's just that a subscription fee will be optional now.
Will go on sale for $14.99 with a free month subscription in August.

Still wouldn't do it. I've seen everything I need to see from Youtube.

 

[raulpica]

Next game to go F2P-Freemium: Diablo III

 

[chavosaur]

Huh, i was interested in the game. Guess I can try it out now.

You still gotta buy the actual game, it's just that a subscription fee will be optional now.
Will go on sale for $14.99 with a free month subscription in August.

Still wouldn't do it. I've seen everything I need to see from Youtube.

Hmm, Well I never was a big star wars fan so i guess I will end up staying away from it. I will stick to Minecraft

 

[Skelletonike]

Just wanna say have fun downloading the 25+ gigs of data that this game uses. I will have to reinstall the game once it goes F2P since I bought it on launch and never really played that much of it but what I did play was really fun but the story is more single player driven, so a monthly fee did not seem right for this game. Too bad a lot of people have already stopped playing the game, hopefully this action will bring more people into the game.

25GB isn't that much for some big mmo's nowadays, I remember having to download 50GB for a mmo a few months back (don't recall which tho), seeing as internet speed keeps increasing a lot lately those sizes don't mean much (like when I was a kid a 30MB game was something massive and I needed to use several floppy disks to even install it. .-.

 

[RupeeClock]

Just wanna say have fun downloading the 25+ gigs of data that this game uses. I will have to reinstall the game once it goes F2P since I bought it on launch and never really played that much of it but what I did play was really fun but the story is more single player driven, so a monthly fee did not seem right for this game. Too bad a lot of people have already stopped playing the game, hopefully this action will bring more people into the game.

25GB isn't that much for some big mmo's nowadays, I remember having to download 50GB for a mmo a few months back (don't recall which tho), seeing as internet speed keeps increasing a lot lately those sizes don't mean much (like when I was a kid a 30MB game was something massive and I needed to use several floppy disks to even install it. .-.

The reason it's so big in the first place is just because of all of the voice acting they put in.
Pretty much every generic quest is given full VA work, receiving your generic kill X monsters or fetch Y items quest has never been so immersive!

 

[DragorianSword]

Yes! I will try this one for sure.
I'm getting bored of LOTRO by now.

 

[SpaceJump]

Great! I always wanted to try this out. Diablo 3 is getting boring anyway.