Free to play has finally reached the galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR) will be changing its subscription model from
November 15th. It’s only taken a year for what was expected to be EA’s
flagship MMO, to be forced into a new revenue stream. And the retro fit really
doesn’t work.
But before diving into the negatives of the change, there’s
a big plus for anyone who hasn’t already tried it. The story content is fully
unlocked to all free players. You can enjoy all eight class story arcs; if you
have the patience to work your way through the arbitrary levelling mechanics. MMORPGs
are often panned for poor story telling. SW:TOR genuinely bucked that trend.
The story telling and character interaction got me incredibly invested in my
character. I felt like an individual despite being surrounded by hundreds of
other players. This is mostly down to the heavy use of instancing in the game.
It’s odd to see lots of green barriers everywhere, but it works.
The only downside to the single player experience is that
the planet story arcs are only interesting the first time. They’re also necessary
to level up your character to continue your own personal story. So if you’re
interested in playing more than one Republic or Empire character, you’ll have
to put up with repeating a lot of content.
So if the game has gone free to play, how can there be any
negatives? Well if you’re playing for free, you’re going to have to put up with
some annoying travel handicaps. Sprint is a skill that can only be used by paying
players to run faster. It’s really useful at low level for getting around. At
the game’s launch, many players complained that it wasn’t unlocked at level one
as it is now. Also, your quick travel uses will be limited. So you’ll need to
get used public space transport.
Various other game elements have limited access for free
players, or are entirely blocked. Most notable is the limitation on operations.
Operations are SW:TOR’s raid content,
large dungeons pitting eight or sixteen players against the greatest threats to
the galaxy. Like the rest of the game, operations are story driven and are good
fun for a group of players. However as a free player, there’s no way to sample
this content. You have to pay up front for something you might not enjoy.
This is just one element that will divide the player base.
The idea of a free to play model is to let players sample content. Thus
encouraging them spend money on accessing or getting more from the game for
their time. But who will want to spend money on an unknown?
Ultimately, retro-fitting a free to play model to a
subscription based game wasn’t going to be perfect. It’s not surprising that a free player is
treated like a second class citizen. But the smart choice would be to offer
subscribers new benefits. There’s little reason to hang around once you’ve had
your fill of the story. The endgame PvP and PvE isn’t as other MMOs. And with
the imminent release of Planetside 2; and Guild Wars 2 offering a better
experience overall. SW:TOR will need to carve out a fan base to survive in the
market.
A full list of free to play limitations can be found here on
the official website.
