New efforts!

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

Some people I knew let their subscription stop and then when they saw they lost the ability to use inventions they up and quit.  They didn't mind losing incarnate powers, but the loss of the IO's and the option to purchase and invention license for 30 days didn't thrill them.

Which was (IMO) really schmucking stupid. They could've just resubbed to get access to all that they missed having as a free player or shelled out the lower amount needed to access IOs. Expecting you'll get everything for free that you were previously paying for and then getting pissy and quitting when it doesn't work out that way is being a spoiled child.

i never dropped my sub on my main account, but when i played on my old second account that i had stopped subbing with when additional character slots became available i noticed very little difference at the lower levels aside from not being able to use IOs. Amazingly little difference in the game experience compared to any other game with a free to play option. Spending the points for a couple licenses made it almost unnoticeable.

(On a related note i simply refuse to play SWTOR any time i'm not actively subbed because of how it locks out even basic UI customization options when not subbed in addition to all the item and gameplay restrictions. However, the upcoming expansion is adding a variety of options that will probably convince me to re-up for a while despite how awful, awful, awful the game engine's code is. In terms of appearance and gameplay it does less with more resources compared to any other game i've ever played.)

[Thezanman]

When I played SWTOR even without being subbed I could customize the UI. Did they change it or something?

[Sinistar]

Which was (IMO) really schmucking stupid. They could've just resubbed to get access to all that they missed having as a free player or shelled out the lower amount needed to access IOs. Expecting you'll get everything for free that you were previously paying for and then getting pissy and quitting when it doesn't work out that way is being a spoiled child.

i never dropped my sub on my main account, but when i played on my old second account that i had stopped subbing with when additional character slots became available i noticed very little difference at the lower levels aside from not being able to use IOs. Amazingly little difference in the game experience compared to any other game with a free to play option. Spending the points for a couple licenses made it almost unnoticeable.

(On a related note i simply refuse to play SWTOR any time i'm not actively subbed because of how it locks out even basic UI customization options when not subbed in addition to all the item and gameplay restrictions. However, the upcoming expansion is adding a variety of options that will probably convince me to re-up for a while despite how awful, awful, awful the game engine's code is. In terms of appearance and gameplay it does less with more resources compared to any other game i've ever played.)

I did remind them that for nine issues of the game they had characters that were tough enough with SO's installed to handle what the game could throw at them before inventions were released but they didn't listen.

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

When I played SWTOR even without being subbed I could customize the UI. Did they change it or something?

The limit on how many hotbars you can have open is the biggest restriction. As a free player you're limited to two and i normally have 4-5 set up on my screen. To me that's a significant restriction. It's possible to buy unlocks with Cartel Coins to remove most of the restrictions on a character, but Bioware's pricing makes almost all things on the Cartel Market at least twice as expensive as the CoH equivalents were.

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

I did remind them that for nine issues of the game they had characters that were tough enough with SO's installed to handle what the game could throw at them before inventions were released but they didn't listen.

Also the PP cost for a month's access to IOs was only a few dollars; far less than a month's sub. While i don't recall the actual price anymore i think it worked out to something like four months of IO access equaling one month of subscription.

[KennonGL]

Paragon Rewards:

Tier 7 Bonus
##Unlock Requirement: 27 reward tokens earned.
##Owning 27 Reward Tokens grants the following: Lifetime access to the Invention System, +3 Salvage Inventory, +3 Vault Inventory, +2 Recipe Inventory, +1 Auction House Slot

Which, if they were 5 year subscribers beforehand, they would have had at least 24 tokens, just from the conversion of vet rewards to tokens:  24+25  60 Months

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

Paragon Rewards:

Tier 7 Bonus
##Unlock Requirement: 27 reward tokens earned.
##Owning 27 Reward Tokens grants the following: Lifetime access to the Invention System, +3 Salvage Inventory, +3 Vault Inventory, +2 Recipe Inventory, +1 Auction House Slot

Which, if they were 5 year subscribers beforehand, they would have had at least 24 tokens, just from the conversion of vet rewards to tokens:  24+25  60 Months

My main account was subbed from a week or so after launch until shutdown. Going f2p wouldn't have affected me very much aside from the relatively small amount of time i spent running Incarnate content, but i still stayed subbed since i felt it was worth it to support the development of the game.

[Tubbius]

I'd definitely subscribe to City again, even with the fact that I'm making about half of what I was at the time of its shutdown.

[MWRuger]

Yeah, I had bought numerous character slots on both of my accounts and had all the vet rewards, all the perk packs, every premium power set (even if I wasn't anxious to play them). I could have easily stopped subbing but I continued on both right until the end.

That is why I just didn't, and still don't, understand why this happened. That kind of loyalty (and I know I am not alone) is something you cannot buy and is very rare for internet gaming. Part of my anger with the closing is that I felt they should have done everything possible and it certainly didn't feel to me that they had. It seemed pretty half-hearted and like a blow off.

Maybe it wasn't, but it sure felt that way.

[Burnt Toast]

I was never a supporter of free players and loathed the premium complaints...never hid that viewpoint.
I subbed multiple accounts for 7+ years...and spent WAY more after the market opened. Heck I even bought Titan weapons and Beam rifle (I never had a titan toon and stopped playing beam rifle after a few weeks). I could have stopped and been a Premium player, BUT I loved incarnate content and saw no reason to stop financially supporting the only MMO I ever liked.


When City comes back I will probably easily spend $70-$100 a month depending on what can be bought etc.

[Ironwolf]

I hope something comes together in the near future. It's getting exhausting trying to stay positive for City of Titans with week after week of fluffed out "updates" to the state of the game that is allegedly being made.  They seem to be drowning in lore and background stories that unfortunately read like they've been written by someone's kid who was told they are the best in their grade 10 creative writing class. As for actual game media...it's little more than non-existent.

Then post on their site. This is for CoH news.

[KennonGL]

I never really liked Titan Weapons, but I really enjoyed my Beam Rifle blaster.

Dr. Device - Beam Rifle / Devices Blaster who used the Hoverboard for a travel power.

[Codewalker]

I did remind them that for nine issues of the game they had characters that were tough enough with SO's installed to handle what the game could throw at them before inventions were released but they didn't listen.

The problem with that, and with the way that the IO lockout was implemented, was that players who had IOs extensively slotted and went F2P ended up with what was effectively no enhancements at all, making them painful to try to play.

In order to fix that that you had to either respec or swap to a second build, which means starting with empty slots. -OR- overwrite all your IOs and destroy them permanently, even if you did decide to sub again later.

Both of those options require re-enhancing or even re-planning the character, something with a substantial time investment, before they're in good enough shape to do anything.

That's not the way to hook returning players. You want them in the game immediately, beating stuff up and remembering why they used to play it.

IMO it would have been better to

• Disallow slotting any new IOs.
• Allow the enhancement value of already slotted IOs to apply, possibly with a slight diminishing returns effect similar to ED or exemplaring.
• Shut off all set bonuses and procs.

That would make a returning player able to jump right in. Their build would be suboptimal compared to an IO build or even a well-planned SO build, but everything except for extremely specialized builds would at least be functional enough to play the game without having to respec.

[MM3squints]

IMO it would have been better to

• Disallow slotting any new IOs.
• Allow the enhancement value of already slotted IOs to apply, possibly with a slight diminishing returns effect similar to ED or exemplaring.
• Shut off all set bonuses and procs.

I think the 3rd option would be the best.

[Jorge Firebomb]

The F2P system CoH had at the end was not something I personally had a problem with. I remember being just shy of having lifetime access to IOs, which I didn't realize until I was actually in a mission with my stalker and was having a heck of time with the default difficulty it had returned me to. Turns out that having effectively no enhancements was quite the detriment!

I looked into the options during my free time over the next couple days, and was about to resub for the month or two I needed to permanently unlock IOs, when the shutdown announcement happened. At that point I just walked away and didn't look back, but I'm 99% sure I would have resubbed if there hadn't been a shutdown. City is by far the most fun I've ever had in an MMO. I've played tons of other MMOs, but not one has been as fun, and if my friends hadn't gotten bored with "the grind" I would have kept playing it from launch to the end.

[ivanhedgehog]

The limit on how many hotbars you can have open is the biggest restriction. As a free player you're limited to two and i normally have 4-5 set up on my screen. To me that's a significant restriction. It's possible to buy unlocks with Cartel Coins to remove most of the restrictions on a character, but Bioware's pricing makes almost all things on the Cartel Market at least twice as expensive as the CoH equivalents were.

when you bought something in COH, you knew exactly what you were getting. swtor has too many gambling choices, they play with the odds of getting anything worthwhile and it isnt in your benefit.

[mrultimate]

I was never a supporter of free players and loathed the premium complaints...never hid that viewpoint.
I subbed multiple accounts for 7+ years...and spent WAY more after the market opened. Heck I even bought Titan weapons and Beam rifle (I never had a titan toon and stopped playing beam rifle after a few weeks). I could have stopped and been a Premium player, BUT I loved incarnate content and saw no reason to stop financially supporting the only MMO I ever liked.


When City comes back I will probably easily spend $70-$100 a month depending on what can be bought etc.

Me too BT. I hated hearing them complain about what they were not getting for free. I subbed 3 accounts all along 2 for myself and 1 for my wife and used the Paragon Market on all of them monthly.

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

when you bought something in COH, you knew exactly what you were getting. swtor has too many gambling choices, they play with the odds of getting anything worthwhile and it isnt in your benefit.

Well with the SWTOR feature unlock packs you know exactly what you're getting, so as far as enhancing f2p it's not a gamble, and only a few CM items are randomized packs (most CM items are a set item or bundle), but the rest are sold at exorbitant prices. Actually even the random packs are seriously expensive.

[Zerohour]

Then post on their site. This is for CoH news.

First of all, when I said "I hope something comes together soon", I was referring to CoH. Sorry I wasn't more specific. Anyways I didn't realize that the topics were suddenly being policed.

[LaughingAlex]

Well with the SWTOR feature unlock packs you know exactly what you're getting, so as far as enhancing f2p it's not a gamble, and only a few CM items are randomized packs (most CM items are a set item or bundle), but the rest are sold at exorbitant prices. Actually even the random packs are seriously expensive.

I'll just say this.  On average, it can take between 50-100 lockboxes per vehicle in CO...........at one dollar each.....and thats the only source of the "top tier" vehicles.