SWTOR 2.7: Invasion

[Ironman5000]

Just tried the new lv55 questline involving to 2 new flashpoints and loving the new addition so far, it seems this new story will expand over the year so that should be cool. There is also a new PvP Huttball arena and Starfighter battle to play but not tried them yet as i'm not a massive fan of PvP (that's me saying I suck at it) but sound and look cool.

There's also a nightmare mode for Dread Fortress, new Cartel Market gear to buy, more new gear, mounts, pets, and other stuff to obtain in-game, and some well needed improvements and bug fixes to the game. Not a bad update indeed :)

 

Here's a link for the rundown:

http://www.swtor.com/gameupdates/invasion

[Vagrant0]

Still EA and Origins right? Still putting gear and content behind pay-walls while selling bought bonuses to give you an "edge"?

 

In that case, nope, never, would rather have a molten carbonite enema.

[Ironman5000]

You lost me there sorry, you mean the cartel market? You can also buy that stuff on GTN (like WoW auction house) for game currency most of the time, theres usually a few guys who bung them on in bulk. I currently own lots of cartel items and hardly spent any cartel coins, these items dont actually give advantages over other player though - the armours and weapon are 'custom' shells to modify yourself. The cartel market gear is just to make you look pretty really.

 

FYI i'm not a subscriber and just as maxed out as others who are, just had to buy the DLC and save in-game credits to purchase other unlocks

Edited April 21, 2014 by Ironman5000

[JimboUK]

Still EA and Origins right? Still putting gear and content behind pay-walls while selling bought bonuses to give you an "edge"?

 

In that case, nope, never, would rather have a molten carbonite enema.

 

It requires an Origin account, it doesn't require the installation of the Origin client. As for free to play, they treat those who don't pay like dirt, I didn't stick around for long.

[Deleted54170User]

Subs are getting bashed too. In fact we don't even have to be involved in any guild or references. Trolls are using war tactics to shove people into violent rants and rave about other people.

 

It is really unfair to anyone who isn't smart enough to type " /ignore " to have to watch as some invisible player, who may or may not be a member of the nationality or creed mentioned, as they wag their Troll chatting tongue and raise a flame war between others, who may or may not be aware if that person starting it is of theirs or the other nationality's or creeds group.

 

Such a shame it is to fail to remember that, " /ignore " works to shut out all offensive chat on our view.

 

So don't bark back at me for reminding you /ignore is there! Use it and be one with the force. Or don't read the chat board!

[Rennn]

I really don't understand the hate for micro-transactions and subscriptions. I don't understand the hate for anything that isn't free.

 

Okay, let me think this through.

-The developers spent a lot of money, time, and effort, making a massive and [probably] inspired game.

-The developers let people play said game for free.

-The developers should not ever expect to make money from their efforts, because LAME. GIVE IT TO MEH FREE BECUZ PAYING MONEY FOR A SERVICE IS EVIL. ALSO, WHY ISN'T THE STUFF AT WAL-MART FREE 4 ME SINCE I'M A SPECIAL BUTTERFLY??????????

 

The people who subscribe or "pay to win" are the ones supporting the actual game and the developers. They're the ones who let other people play for free. Without the people who "p2w", nobody would get to play the game at all, free or not.

 

I can see how it'd be an issue if you were ever expected to pay a lot... Like that ridiculous train simulator where each new train costs $1,000 real world dollars. But spending $5 on extra bank slots and $10 to access a new location patched in 3 months after launch isn't going to sink anyone who can afford to pay for internet in the first place.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Rennn

[hoofhearted4]

i think at this point people dont like to pay to play because the F2P (Guild Wars 2 for example) has proven successful. so if a F2P model can be successful, why even have a sub model?

 

as far as micro trans, i dont disagree with it. the games that put stuff youd normally get through play, as a buyable item, that kind of stinks. so they player who doesn want to (or cant) spend extra money, gets beat by those who just bought all their stuff. this however only matters for PvP. if you cant use said items in PvP, then it doesnt matter how OP you bought yourself for PvE....other things like cosmetics, or items that make PvE easier (in GW2's case items like boosts, or infinte harvest items) thats fine. i for one have spent money on those infinite harvest items, several extra toon slots (enough for one of each and one for my gf and a mule, i think thats 10, when you start with 5) as well as an extra bank slot and ect. ive probably spent just as much in this stuff, as i would have with a sub fee. but i didnt have to spend on both, and the micro stuff was all optional.

[Deleted54170User]

Aah! It is time for me to go a hunting for a guild. Preferably one which focuses on Smugglers :whistling: and Scoundrels :pirate: .

 

We love, we flirt, we want friends and family :wub: . We're just a bunch of rejects from the Jedi temple who fell in love with our Padawan :wub: :dance: or a Sith that went too far :yucky: over to the light side :woot: .

 

We're the regulars in the SWTOR game of life.

 

We may not all be hero's :D or villians :wink: , but we're closer to the baker, the candlestick maker, and the butcher who all want some wool 3 bags fulll, and weapons to destroy the Republic or the Imperials so they don't get stuck with great big tax hikes so high they can't make a living. :ohdear:

 

We are the ones who help keep balance, style, and happiness among all the Kings men, the President's 1st Lady and the Kings women. :cool: Baby makers all! :tongue:

[Ironman5000]

Oh Pagafyr I have missed your ramblings lol :teehee:

 

I must say i've played the game for nearly a year now day-in-day-out and this supposed hated to F2P players is a total myth, or an attitude held by a vast minority. The guild I am in - ICE - is quite popular and welcomes subs, prefs, and F2P gladly without criticism. Sure there are some trolls who blast F2P players but these idiots tend to be prejudice against most/all walks of life if you watch them carry on with themselves, so not even worth paying attention to.

 

I guess it's all about your attitude and who you choose to befriend that makes the experience what it is, look hard enough and you'll find plenty of tolerant folks into equality :)

[Vagrant0]

i think at this point people dont like to pay to play because the F2P (Guild Wars 2 for example) has proven successful. so if a F2P model can be successful, why even have a sub model?

 

 

There are generally three themes involved with most the hate.

 

Theme 1). People dislike subscription model games because:

A} They have been burned many times before by games that required subscriptions ahead of time, being conned into spending $60 on a title that usually has a great deal of instability for the first month, quickly loses its playerbase, but takes them having to renew subscription a few times before realizing that there are just better games out there.

B}. They have trouble paying for a subscription due to being young/unemployed/poor, and have a hard time justifying (to themselves or their parents) the monthly subscription fee when they will only end up playing 6-12 hours a week (and usually only on weekends when the servers have trouble keeping up).

C}. They have this belief that they are entitled to playing what they want, however they want, because they have played a similar game that allowed it... Usually bringing up what other games have done.

D}. People who have genuine concerns regarding the security of using their creditcard to pay for an online game.

E}. People who have come to realize that subscriptions have stopped being all-inclusive in regards to game content in many cases, making them have to fork over even more money just to get the complete experience.

 

Theme 2). Because of the above, F2P games become more open to those who do not have any invested interest in making that game experience good for themselves or others.

A}. Leads to people making accounts for the sole purpose of ruining the game or exploiting.

B}. Leads to more people who lack the maturity or consideration of other players to play the game as intended:

• Doing little more than trolling chat or being offensive to see how quickly they can be banned.
• Joining parties or raids and refusing to participate while getting all of the benefit.
• Constantly begging for free stuff.
• Constantly complaining about the game or some feature just because it doesn't work the way they want... While they continue to play for months at a time.

C}. Leads to more scamming/botting since accounts can be made freely, used, abused, and deleted with almost no loss from the process.

D}. Leads to a generally low amount of player skill required for end-game as everything invariably gets toned down to be made easier for newer players with the hope that those players will stick around and become subscribers.

 

Theme 3). People who dislike the ways that microtransactions work:

A}. Because the notion that someone can just use their real-world wealth to get something in a game world when they cannot get without also spending money.

• Bought extras, such as costumes, may be higher quality than normal content.
• Bought extras allow them to do something they cannot.
• Bought extras allow them to do something easier/faster than they can.
• Bought extras related to holiday requiring payment instead of being an ingame event for all.

B}. Because companies have often fallen into the practice of designing bought items that give players an edge, such as instant revive items, special higher quality equipment, instant travel, restoration items, improved mounts, queue priority, ect... Then taking it a step further and limiting the ability of everyone along those lines so that these items almost become a necessity for reasonable progress.

 

C}. Because it leads to a mentality where rich people just play the ingame market, buying cash shop items, selling them for instant money, and doing little else beyond playing with the game economy to amass a silly amount of money which removes their need to actually learn how to play the game. A mentality which is expanded further with the practice of buying spots on boss-runs and the like for those things that cannot be simply bought. Leading them to have the best equipment in the game without having to ever learn how to play or go through the process of playing. (see also bought max-level accounts).

 

D}. Because often people spend 4-5 times the amount of money on a f2p game than they would on a subscription game simply because of all the nickle and diming that goes on. A $15 monthly subscription is transaction that most recognize as a constant while a $2 pack of teleport stones, $5 pack of enchanting stones, $10 mount, $9 costume, $5 extra character slot, $2.5 extra bank slot, ect don't register as clearly since they are usually all spur of the moment and when you actually need/want those things to progress.

 

E}. Because it is very easy for companies to be cued into all this and start making game or mechanic decisions around these things in order to squeeze as much money as they can out of people while providing little else. (See: (recycled) game content accessed only by means of RNG lockbox that can only be opened by purchased keys).

 

 

While successful games are generally a good thing, and money being made by that game is a good measure of success, players want to have the feeling that they are getting what they are paying for by means of new content or things ingame that they aren't being constantly charged extra for. When paying a monthly fee, they don't want to see chat flooded with goldsellers or other bot spam. When paying a monthly fee they don't want to see open exploiting/bot use. When paying a monthly fee people don't want to have to deal with numerous and severe game bugs for the first few months of play (despite the previous 4 months of beta testing). Except that many subscription based games have had exactly these problems, meanwhile the latest F2P game runs perfectly fine with relatively few hitches (usually because the game was Subscription Based in another country for several months before going F2P).

 

While many of the supposed things that come with F2P gamers are also present in subscription games, they become significantly less common or become harder to get away with after the initial month or two as the first group of subs dwindles and only those who actually want to play the game remain, allowing the game to either sustain itself or slowly die based on the quality of content and frequency of updates.

 

 

My personal beef with SWTOR is that it has done many of these things, including a few other things like limiting gear progression only to subscribers while also only moving to a F2P model because the game content itself was not viewed by many as being worth a subscription. Some of this may have improved over the last year, but much still exists. Given that much of what the game has been described to me as consists of a lengthy story quest where you essentially play by yourself as some key figure, being sorrounded by numerous others who are clearly doing the same thing but don't seem to be of consequence... About the only thing that sets it different from dozens of other MMOs is in being loosely connected with the Star Wars universe (which really wasn't all that deep and fleshed out to begin with). Beyond that, the game is published by EA, a company I don't wish to support in any way, and which requires Origins (another DRM service that I don't need which has had a history of recording and releasing personal information to third parties for the purposes of marketing).