Star Wars: The Old Republic roll-out avoids digital gridlock

The only reason why the subscription business model is in question is because a few pundits say it is. The freemium model creates a much different gameplay environment that over time will attract a different type of user. Subscription and Freemium MMORPGs are not at all equal or to be compared solely on their business model merits.

Posted:A year ago

I don't think the same rules apply to a franchise like Star Wars, with such a massive fan base I think they can get away with whatever payment model they feel like, as long as the game's good of course!

Posted:A year ago

The combination of Star Wars and BioWare gives The Old Republic some serious brand power. They've also got a good product - I was initially underwhelmed during my Beta weekend by how similar it felt to WoW, but it's fun. It may not be a clean break from MMO conventions, but the few deviations from the WoW formula work well and the game as a whole felt pretty polished.

Whether it'll last remains to be seen, mind you, but The Old Republic has a good chance of being successful.

Posted:A year ago

Subscription model works fine, as it has a long history or proving, freemium model's may generate in some cases more money for the company running them short-medium term but alas often in return in my experience provide a poorer level of service for average player's and indeed most of that extra money appears comes not from the majority of user's but a tiny fraction of them who take advantage of the system to become rich/powerful which seem to be results of studies etc so setting up a tiered subscription model with item store and unlimited trial (ie level limited freemium) may well be far superior to straight freemium without subs.

Any freemium game that doesn't offer a subscription option will inevitable offer a greatly inferior experience, which whilst feeding off free-loaders for player count's even they, (tis true they do have a higher tolerance but surely that will change as they are "spoiled" with ever more freemium releases) will eventually wise up to the inferior experience offered when you have to pay 5x more to do what you could have done with the 1/5th price subs model and so they will go try something else eventually and if the population leaves so well likely the money maker's, as truly free player's at least in my observable experience but logically I could be wrong have less investment in the product meaning they find it far easier hopping MMO's, and in this day and age there's always a new release just around the corner, this may lead to long-term MMO's struggling to stay affloat on this model alone.

Posted:A year ago

I queued last night for 45 minutes. Some EU servers listed queue times of nearly two hours.

Posted:A year ago

I had to wait 15 minutes yesterday for a German server.

Regarding the model: I personally tested many MMOs so far, and I never sticked to any kind of freemium model, as there those, who are willing to spend 100ds of $ / month will always be the richest and best people, as they can buy everything, what other guys have to spend massively time to get these items etc. And who can spend hours a day, when he is working? So I stayed with WOW and now I will also with SWTOR ;)

Posted:A year ago

I agree with Udo Engel above. I can't say if I'm not used to them, but I always feel that those free MMO's are nothing but quick distractions. You simply can't take one of them seriously, if you are a serious gamer. The players aren't on the same level - people who spend hundreds of dollars on cash shops are way ahead. The funny thing is people who spend their dough on premium items end up spending MUCH more than a 15-dollar subscription.

On a subscription-model game, everyone is on the same floor and must equally fight their way to superiority. Also, the companies having a constant source of revenue means more solid upgrades and a constant flow of content. I wouldn't abandon a subscription model - especially because I can pay for them. =)

Posted:A year ago