Trion today announced that their MMO Rift Online would be joining the great migration from subscription-based gaming to a free-to-play model, walking in the footsteps of Lord of the Rings: Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and DC Universe Online.
Though one key difference between Rift and all those other MMOs... we’ll let the list of restricted features speak for itself.
With the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic 2.0, Bioware have launched a new trailer into the internet. While a great many internettians were killed by the media projectile, we can’t help but weigh their loss against the quality of the video payload delivered.
After all, it has got lasers in it.
It's Sunday, having tired yourself out making snowmen, failing to dodge snowballs, and generally using the snow for all its worth, you've found yourself pooped and needing to just sit back and relax with a good game or two. You could stop at two but here we have five that you can throw yourself into. Actually, in Rob's case you need to really throw yourself in, can't slip a disc without a little bit of effort.
If games have taught me anything, it’s that when life hands you lemons, you make those lemons into free-to-play lemonade with extra delicious garnishes for paying customers. In this case, BioWare and Electronic Arts have finally taken Star Wars: The Old Republic from its subscription model to free-to-play.Our Spotlight units plug content our journalists have made, that our advertisers want to promote. Sometimes the promotion is paid for, but the content they go to is always independent with no client oversight or approval.
With Star Wars: The Old Republic about to become free-to-play, its success is dependent on the cartel store. It will offer both free subscription players goodies, boosts and equipment.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is headlong rushing towards a free-to-play release with a trial version already in testing on its public beta server. Early last week Bioware announced the restrictions on free-to-play players, included limited PvP warzone bouts and the number of quickbars they're allowed. Yup, quick bars are seen as an optional extra. Well, some of these choices have come under flack and Bioware have announced some changes.
Last time I walked up and down the aisles of Waterstones I was struck by the lack of SWTOR encyclopedias. There I was wondering about the lineage of the Wookie gentry and with no tome to hand that could help me. Thankfully, publisher DK is on the case.
/conciliatory Many's the time I've felt I can't properly express myself in an MMO. My sarcasm in general chat is taken as aggression, my jokes as insults, and my upset as irony. /seeking affirmation Does this happen to you too? /relieved Finally, Bioware have ended this angst by adding mood shift controls to SWTOR's 1.4 update. /explanatory You can now have your character's face reflect your intended mood. /cutting fake joy Huzzah!
We've now seen a number of subscription MMOs make the transition to free-to-play, some successfully, others not, the key is keeping those players locked in and paying a tuppence here and a tuppence there. Bioware hope that they can keep gamers' attention through regular, large updates - akin to The Secret World's issues - releasing an update "every six weeks".
Following one of its most difficult periods since opening its doors, BioWare has received a vote of confidence from EA's chief operating officer Peter Moore. 
Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to become mostly Free to Play this Autumn, following a year of subscriber numbers that clearly weren’t quite what EA was hoping for. We knew that we’d be allowed to level up to 50 without paying anything, but the details of exactly what we get without paying, and what we don’t, has been properly explained on the game’s website.
Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going Free to Play this Autumn, EA have announced. Where previously characters were only free to play up to level 15, all eight class storylines are to be made available up to level 50, albeit with limited access to particular features.
This is the way the universe ends: not with a bang, but with a short, deliberate snip of the creator’s garden shears. Such is the fate that awaits SWTOR’s underpopulated origin servers during BioWare’s planned server consolidation. In the inevitable panic, the developer has spoken to allay fears about where characters from pruned servers might end up.
After the recent free weekend, EA and Bioware are hopefully celebrating a new influx of players, keeping their servers nice and teeming, and their coffers nice and filled. Still, with a troubled few months, plans are being set in motion to properly reinforce SWTOR’s core servers, while letting the unnecessary peripheral servers fall by the wayside. It sounds drastic, but it could be just the right move to keep the game hale and hearty.
That keening sound you can hear, that you can’t quite place, that’s your modem having a bit of a cry. Because it knows you’re going to update an MMO, and that means it’s going to be force fed internet until you’re satisfied that it’s juicy modem-liver is going to be properly swollen and tender. Then you’ll update your MMO, and use all that juicy internet to play all the lovely new features. Today’s MMO is SWTOR, and today’s update is a big one. Article submitted by: StarWarsOTRPodcast
Lou and Evarwyn team up in this episode to give you the latest news on the recent server transfers and their opinions surrounding this community changing event in-game! Also, information on the brand new patch for this week, an update on the augmentation system on the PTS as well as its new...
Article submitted by: StarWarsOTRPodcast
Lou and Evarwyn team up in this episode to give you the latest news on the recent server transfers and their opinions surrounding this community changing event in-game! Also, information on the brand new patch for this week, an update on the augmentation system on the PTS as well as its new...
