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Hyperspace Beacon Extra: SWTOR's expansion 'refunds'
On Thursday, BioWare gave all Star Wars: The Old Republic subscribers the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion for free. From that moment forward, if you subscribe to Star Wars: The Old Republic, you can level to 55 as well as participate in Makeb planetary content and endgame content like operations Terror from Beyond and Scum and Villainy. By doing this, BioWare increased the value of its subscription, which it has been struggling to do all this year. Disgruntled subscribers will be happy about paying their $15 a month, right? Well, not exactly... As expected, most subscribers already own Rise of the Hutt Cartel. In fact, the most loyal players pre-ordered the expansion early this year and have been paying a subscription for the full six months prior to the expansion's being given away. BioWare also announced that the subscribers who bought the expansion within the last month will receive 1050 Cartel Coins, credits to the in-game cash shop equal in value to the price of the expansion -- kind of like a refund. This seems to be a reasonable compromise, right? So why are players split on the issue? Why do some players believe that this a perfectly reasonable compromise while others are readying their hatchets and pitchforks? I think it is directly related to how players define the game. Is SWTOR a product or a service?
SWTOR subscribers to receive Rise of the Hutt Cartel free
If you're an active Star Wars: The Old Republic subscriber and haven't yet picked up the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion, BioWare has good news for you. The studio today announced that you will receive it free of charge on September 12th. The expansion, formerly priced at $9.99 for subscribers, includes the new planet of Makeb, a level cap increase to 55, and new story-driven missions. Subscribers who have already purchased the expansion will receive a new title, The Risen, as long as their subscriptions are active as of September 12th at 7:00 a.m. EDT (4:00 a.m. PDT). Additionally, those who purchased the expansion between August 11th and September 12th will earn 1050 bonus Cartel Coins. For more coverage on Rise of the Hutt Cartel, check out Eliot's impressions of the new content. And don't forget to check in on Larry's weekly Hyperspace Beacon column concerning all things SWTOR.
Hyperspace Beacon: Six misconceptions about SWTOR free-to-play
I am not an apologist for the Star Wars: The Old Republic free-to-play model, but many people (mostly those who have not seen it in action) make it out to be something that it's not. But before I begin breaking down those misconceptions, I would like to talk about some cold hard facts. For Instance, completely free players do have a significant experience point penalty, so much so that I could not finish grinding my way to level 50 in my free-to-play experiment. It was a bust on that front. I believe that BioWare needs to work on changing that portion of SWTOR. However, the game changes when you hit maximum level; at that point, the free-to-play model becomes unlike any other F2P model I've ever seen. In my guild, we have a couple of players who no longer pay for the game through a subscription. Most are raiders who do nothing but raid or roleplayers who are just interested in telling their characters' stories within the MMO. However, there is one member of my guild who I believe has truly beaten the free-to-play model. Surprisingly, he has spent nothing on the game since coming back a little more than a month ago. He has everything unlocked, a stockpile of bonuses and weekly passes, and about three million credits sitting in his bank that he can actually use despite the escrow limitation. During the next couple of editions of my free-to-play experiment, I will focus on his experience. But first, let's debunk some misconceptions about F2P.
Hyperspace Beacon: Breaking SWTOR canon one Ewok at a time
Well, BioWare's done it. It dismantled Star Wars canon with one small fuzzy teddy bear. Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but when Star Wars: The Old Republic releases update 2.3, it introduces players to a new possible companion: Treek, the Ewok. That's right: the Ewok. It makes my soul hurt; my inner canon-lawyer is screaming. I don't want to admit that the developers were out of their minds when they created this creature, but they probably were. Maybe this is a call-out to the five year old child in all of us who actually enjoyed watching stuffed animals beat the crap out of Stormtroopers. OK, let's give this furball a chance; maybe she's actually awesome. Let's take a moment to examine her abilities. We can tackle that canon thing later. Players constantly complain about not having enough companions, plus Treek represents some new story content. It's about time that we received new content that doesn't require a Cartel Market purchase.
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR's customization cash kitty
It's a hard thing to admit when you're wrong. But I admit that I was wrong about Star Wars: The Old Republic Update 2.1: Customization. Even as late as last night on The Republic, I believed that things like the new Appearance Designer might not cost players Cartel Coins to use, but now that the update has arrived, I admit that is certainly not the case. Had I known that it would cost CCs to so much as use the Appearance Designer, I would be in the camp of players upset about this update containing only Cartel items. If you define an expansion or DLC as additional content that costs money, then that is exactly what this update is. I'm not against BioWare making money, and to be completely honest, I'm not upset about the company making money on many of these items. Perhaps through my own misunderstanding, I feel a bit cheated with the update. Let me break down the Update 2.1 items for us. I'll point out the good and the bad, and maybe you will understand my perspective, even if you don't agree.
Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR F2P experiment, Coruscant
I was asked last week why I chose The Ebon Hawk as the server on which to run my Star Wars: The Old Republic free-to-play experiment, especially since it's my home server. Some people believed that the experiment would be flawed because I would have many people to call on to help me out in different areas. This is only partially true. I do have some people to call on if I absolutely need it, but remember that I play on the Imperial side normally; this test character is Republic-side. My guildies and friends do not play Republic characters on a regular basis. And I have already said that I will not take gifts from other characters. The only thing that they can offer me is a partner for leveling, and currently, no one that I know is the same level as my Smuggler. I won't catch up to any of them until I hit level 35.
SWTOR allows some players to buy Cartel Coins by phone
If you have a cell phone and live in one of a select number of countries, you now have the option to purchase Star Wars: The Old Republic Cartel Coins with just a few button presses. BioWare announced that it's partnered up with BOKU to offer SMS billing for its premium currency. There are two important caveats to this, however. The first is that it applies only to those living in Germany, France, Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil, Turkey, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Hungary, Spain, Australia, and The Netherlands. The second is that the one and only option is to buy 450 Cartel Coins at a time through this method. At least now some players have the option to hang up on their mothers because there's a currency emergency and a spiffy new outfit needs to be purchased.
Hyperspace Beacon: What would you like added to SWTOR's cash shop?
I wondered for a long time whether western MMOs could survive a free-to-play transition, especially since many of them were bent on having both a cash shop and subscription fee. Star Trek Online is a key example of this. You couldn't even play that game without a subscription, and yet it still had a cash shop. Then you also had hybrid models like EverQuest II and Lord of The Rings Online, which didn't require subscriptions but seemed to force players into one. And despite my initial thinking, even these games thrived -- STO especially surprised me. Now, Star Wars: The Old Republic has picked up a similar model, and despite the negativity from the comments on gaming news sites, Electronic Arts says it is pleased with the results. In fact, SWTOR was listed as a major contributor to the company's $185 million in F2P revenue. As I've stated before, I don't really spend money in SWTOR's cash shop. But at the same time, I don't have any moral opposition to it. Plus BioWare is giving me 600 Cartel Coins a month thanks to my subscriptions and security key. It's just easier for me to buy items from the Galactic Trade Market, and no item on the Cartel Market has excited me enough to buy it right away. I know that eventually everything will end up on the GTN, so I just wait. However, since this model seems to be working well for the game, I thought about where there could be an item that would compel me to immediately buy it from the Cartel Market. I also asked some of my friends whether there are any items that they would immediately buy if they were to appear on the Cartel Market. I received some very interesting results.
Hyperspace Beacon: Givin' SWTOR props
All MMOs could use improvements, but that doesn't negate what they have done right. And despite the negativity, SWTOR is doing well. In fact, in a recent forum post Systems Designer Damion Schubert said that the free-to-play push was working quite well: "The success of the market (and it has been quite successful) has given us the time and resources to do some ambitious things on Makeb and plan some very ambitious things beyond." Without even looking at the specific numbers, I can tell that the Cartel Market cash shop is working really well because of the sheer number of items I see on the Galactic Trade Network (auction house). As much as I hate to admit it, if the Cartel Market does well, so does the rest of the game. I also see other hints that BioWare might be changing up its game a little bit. Direct discussion with the community appears to be on the rise, and BioWare has also admitted and is attempting to properly fix its mistakes. In the wake of Stephen Reid's departure, direct communication had become lax, and besides Ilum, I don't remember BioWare ever truly admitting to mistakes. Let's take a look at a few of the changes BioWare has already made this year. Maybe it will give us a clue as to where SWTOR is going in the near future.
SWTOR fan site posts cartel market poll results
Following BioWare's promise that the studio's made substantial changes to its Cartel Market in Star Wars: The Old Republic, fan site Darth Hater polled over 2500 players about how they use the item shop (if at all). The results are quite fascinating. Most of those polled (89%) are still subscribed and have made purchases from the Cartel Market (87%). Only half of those polled spent real money on store currency, but of that sample, most had spent over $20 and 26% had spent over $100. The most popular purchases on the Cartel Market from this survey were random Cartel packs (80%), legacy unlocks (61%), armor (33%), and XP boosts (20%). 22% of those surveyed said that they were disappointed with the market, while 40% were satisfied with it.
Hyperspace Beacon: Advantages and disadvantages of SWTOR's free-to-play
In a recent Gamasutra article, Funcom's Craig Morrison argued that most games that have moved from subscription to free-to-play are "using a hybrid model, where the free-to-play is a trial and then what they really want is the users to move on to whatever they've called what used to be a subscription." You don't have to look too deeply to realize that was BioWare's intention when it shifted Star Wars: The Old Republic to a free-to-play model. But is there still some advantage to just playing free-to-play? Also, the Cartel Market, SWTOR's cash shop, both opened up a new real-money economic arena and transformed the in-game market. Most free-to-play cash shops offer cosmetic items or items that don't give players a clear advantage over other players. There are certainly no endgame items available on the market, but what about other buy-to-win items?
Star Wars: The Old Republic goes free-to-play on November 15
One question has been on the minds of Star Wars: The Old Republic fans recently: "Has BioWare announced a free-to-play date?" The answer to that question is finally yes. On Thursday, November 15th, SWTOR launches what Senior Producer Blaine Christine calls its "free-to-play option." Christine and Producer Cory Butler discussed F2P and Update 1.5 with us yesterday. They explained that BioWare is looking to expose its game to the widest audience possible, so it is allowing everyone to download the game for no charge, then play the level 1-to-50 game without having to purchase anything. The producers also gave us a tour of the SWTOR cash shop, called the Cartel Market, and introduced us to Cartel Coins, the cash shop currency. Read on for all the shiny details of the changes coming to SWTOR next week.
Star Wars: The Old Republic launches the Cartel Market on the PTS
Since the free-to-play announcement, Star Wars: The Old Republic fans have been asking what exactly will be offered in SWTOR's microtransaction cash shop. Fans on the public test server now have the chance to find out. This morning, BioWare shut down the PTS for a few hours and brought it back online with a fully installed Cartel Market. To test out its new market, BioWare set all PTS players to F2P status so the team can fully assess the F2P options. But does that mean that players have to spend real money to test out F2P? No; according the patch notes, "all PTS testers will be periodically granted a small amount of Cartel Coins for the purpose of testing the Cartel Market." Earlier today, the Hyperspace Beacon talked about the impact of F2P on SWTOR. Log on to the PTS, test out the Cartel Market, then let us know what you think in the comments. How does it stack up to other cash shops? Is this enough to change the course of the game?
Star Wars: The Old Republic transmits free-to-play video
The race toward free-to-play is gaining momentum for Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare's been talking the transition up quite a bit lately, and has just released a new video giving players an overview of the differences once the change is made. While most of it is old news to those following the game, there are a few new tidbits worth noting here. One of these is clarification on character creation restrictions; BioWare revealed that the three free-to-play races are Human, Cyborg, and Zabrak. Previous subscribers are targeted for hugs and love with the F2P transition, as BioWare is not only granting them instant preferred status but also handing them currency to spend in the Cartel Market. Speaking of which, the market is briefly shown in the video with the following categories: featured, newly added, packs, cosmetic, unlocks, equipment, and consumables. Check out the video after the jump and let us know -- are you going back to SWTOR for F2P?
SWTOR expands free-to-play rewards
With the days until Star Wars: The Old Republic's conversion to free-to-play ticking down, BioWare is rounding out its reward system for current and former players. The studio announced that the players voted for the Party Jawa as a special reward that all current and previous subscribers will receive when the title goes F2P. The Party Jawa is an item that unleashes a fun-loving native of Tatooine who has nothing better to do than bring the festivities to you. BioWare's also expanded its reward chart to include purchasers of SWTOR's digital deluxe edition. Those players will receive 250 cartel coins to spend on rewards this fall.
