And that’s my acronym quota for the day filled.
Here’s the translation -
Star Wars: The Old Republic is adding a free-to-play option this Autumn.
Free-To-Play-ers will have access to the entirety of the story’s content for all eight classes. Additionally their character will be able to level up as far as 50, the current level cap.
That’s a pretty good deal.
BioWare GM Matt Bromberg told
IGN the decision to give Free-To-Play a whirl is less to do with subscriber loss and more to do with the market...
"There has been some decline in our subscriber numbers, but I wouldn't say that's what's driving the decision...what's happened in the marketplace is that free-to-play has really become the market standard for MMOs and we felt like there were both potentially millions of new players who were
Star Wars fans who never tasted the game because the subscription was a barrier. Our research also told us that a lot of the folks who we had earlier on who left the game would like to come back and try some of the new features and content that we've put into the game since they've left if the subscription wasn't a barrier. So we feel like the market and our players are telling us that greater access is what they want and so we're really responding to that."
Certain content will be restricted, though!
This will only be attainable via paying a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 or using an upcoming in-game currency called "
Cartel Coins" to make purchases. This content apparently includes new high level content, fresh features, unlimited access to newly created content and unlimited plays in PvP warzones.