Star Wars: The Old Republic going free-to-play in November

[Shawn Knight]

Electronic Arts has announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be moved to a free-to-play platform later this fall. The decision comes after a similar move last month that allowed new players to try the game through level 15 using each character – or enough to get through the introductions and into each storyline.

Under the new plan, gamers will be able to play any character up to level 50 free of charge. If a player wants to progress further or utilize any other special in-game content, a subscription will need to be purchased or items will have to be bought a la carte.

In the interim, the game will go on sale for $15 starting August 7 which includes a full month of free play. Furthermore, there are multiple bonuses to be had for players that are already subscribers or for those that have subscribed in the past.

Current and previous players will collect 150 Cartel Coins for each paid month prior to July 31. Those that purchased the Collector’s Edition will net 1,000 Cartel Coins and a Heroes’ Banner. If you subscribed to the free-to-play option before August 1, you’ll get your choice of in-game item. Finally, all active players from August 1 until the launch of the free-to-play model will earn 250 Cartel Coins.

Cartel Coins can be used to purchase in-game items through the upcoming Cartel Market. Feel free to check out the free-to-play site for more details on these offers.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/49617-star-wars-the-old-republic-going-free-to-play-in-november.html

 

[oldikes]

so im going to play that then, although I cant stand the thought of F2P hardly.

 

[Kibaruk]

F2P... should be named F2PBS. The only free to play games I actually know where you have no disadvantage over a person who pays for in-game crap are 3, one of those is Leagues of Legends the only thing you cant get by playing are skins, the other one is Global Agenda yes you take a bit more to level and dont get as many points as a premium user but nothing one cant handle, the 3rd one is Team Fortress, you dont need to pay anything to have a blast, maybe invest a dolar so you get the premium bag and store more items.

The rest of the F2P had been crap, even APB, premium players with exclusive weapons have way too much advantage.

 

[dennis777]

so I could download an installer then I can play till lvl50?

 

[Guest]

Soon EA will be ripping people off with a new technique called Cartel Coins. People will be emptying their wallets while getting very little in return.

 

[ramonsterns]

Why was my comment deleted?

TOR going F2P was predicted before it ever launched. Bioware has done nothing but fumble the ball at every turn.

 

[gwailo247]

"You will give me your money NOW..."

"I will give you your money now..."

"You serve your master well. And you will be rewarded."

 

[Guest]

@Kibaruk
Guild Wars did an excellent job of this as well. The only advantage to going for your wallet in their FTP module was purely cosmetic. And they got FTP right years ago.

The interesting thing about SWTOR is that it punted it's story aspect to differentiate it from other MMO's. Now that it's free to play, it sounds less like an MMO and more like a single-player game with MMO elements that requires you to always be online. And we all know how people lurve that in Diablo 3. Sadly, I think Old Republic is circling the drainpipe. Pity.

 

[ramonsterns]

F2P... should be named F2PBS. The only free to play games I actually know where you have no disadvantage over a person who pays for in-game crap are 3, one of those is Leagues of Legends the only thing you cant get by playing are skins, the other one is Global Agenda yes you take a bit more to level and dont get as many points as a premium user but nothing one cant handle, the 3rd one is Team Fortress, you dont need to pay anything to have a blast, maybe invest a dolar so you get the premium bag and store more items.

The rest of the F2P had been crap, even APB, premium players with exclusive weapons have way too much advantage.

LoL and Global Agenda and TF2 are Free to Unlock games.

True F2P so far would be DOTA 2 with the ENTIRE game open from the get go.

 

[sasrob]

I wasted all day yesterday downloaded 14GB. I paused the download at midnight to sleep. (cooling fans would keep my awake) only to find this morning that I had to start from the beginning again? why have a paused button if it don't work?? its a big 20GB+ download. Think I'l give it a miss.

as for the F2P model I love it. you can give the game a good test be for you adding any funds.
plus over time you only get the best games out there. It's free why do so many players hate that??
why not think of it like a demo if you like it then you go out to buy the game!!! its no different to that really. You just add funds developers make profit this brings more content to the game. Nothing fare in life that's why you got rich and poor sadly I'm poor but I still love the F2P model its the future of gaming like it or not.

 

[avioza]

Even if EA started paying me, I wouldn't play this game... I just found it intellectually unchallenging and got bored with it quickly.

Oh, and all the bounty hunters in the galaxy can only use blaster pistols... ?!

 

[wcbert]

I glad I did not go out and spend any "real" money on this game. Now it is free I give it a try, but this is the trend of MMO, they have to be free to play.

 

[Zilpha]

Not terribly shocked. I played at launch but didn't go past the initial 30 days. Didn't even buy the collectors edition - knew this one was going to flop. As much as I like listening to Jennifer Hale's voice, even she can't save BioWare from themselves.

 

[TitoBXNY]

Coming off WoW after several years, I had high hopes for this game. Other than Dragon Age 2, this has to be the the most disappointing game for me personally in the last 2 years. I am a big Star Wars fan and my expectation was very high. I found it extremely boring and I really didn't like the simplistic combat. The voice acting is superb and my character story was ok at first, but fizzled out rather fast. I think that game companies misjudge how fast people go through content these days. There was absolutely nothing interesting after 50. I hope F2P model gives the game more longevity, I will revisit with friends that predicted it would be free within 2 years and play other classes.

 

[javierkaiser]

More than Free-To-Play this is instead an extended Free-To-Try ... or a big demo...
As estated in other comments, Free-To-Play games implies that you have full access to the game without having to pay ...

 

[MrBlkfx1]

I saw this article right before I was about to resubscribe. I think I will wait till it's free to play again lol. I can't say I saw this coming though. I thought SWTOR was doing great. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Guest]

Especially in this day & age, parents are shelling out $60+ for console games, yet PC games are not much cheaper, then come with a subscription price. So now you're looking at nearly $180 a year for their child to sit and be mentally consumed by video games. We need some more physically interactive games with MUCH better playability. There's no reason this game shouldn't come with some sort of lightsaber that can be used during specific battles. Any exercise is better than no exercise.

With that said. I'll definitely be picking this up in November to give it a shot. I've been addicted to Mount & Blade Napoleonic Wars since it's mod came out though =X

 

[LNCPapa]

I saw this article right before I was about to resubscribe. I think I will wait till it's free to play again lol.

No you won't Blkfx1 - we'll be playing GW2 by then

 

[MrBlkfx1]

I will be playing BOTH! MMO's are pretty much what I play all day lol.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Seems like almost every MMO has to go F2P today... I think we're just MMOed out, in many ways. When it was new and exciting, it was easier to justify dropping $15 a month to play, now it's become harder to warrant spending all that money, even if you do generally get far more gaming hours than a typical game release.

Guild Wars, in my estimation, did it right... And rocked the boat on the status quo at the time. Pay more up front for the game (like you would any single player or co-op game), and that's what you get, with minor patches of course. New expansion comes out, you buy that up front if you want it, if not just keep playing what you have. That sales model created an interesting economic model - rather than charging a subscription and rolling out marginal "free" expansions, with the occasional stellar expansion, you have to roll out full-on expansive and quality expansions that make consumers want to pay for the product. It put quality first, because a crap expansion will never sell enough to recoup the development costs. Then adding the micro-transactions for just cosmetic stuff and convenience bonuses made it easy to maintain the game's upkeep.

 

[Guest]

I loved EveOnline and think its worth what they charge for it, and wish them success, but wow. What a time sink. I don't understand how people can hold down a job and any sort of social life what-so-ever and do anything significant in-game, particularly industry-wise.

 

[Guest]

as awesome as this game was drummed up to sound last year something about it was giving me a red flag, not to try it and wait about a year before jumping in. it looks like my gut was right on this one!

 

[NightAngel79]

I've been actively playing since early access in Dec. I love the game personally but I do need to save money. I may cancel my subscription