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Title: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Ingmar on April 12, 2012, 01:45:51 PM If you are currently canceled you can try 1.2 out for 7 days for free (also some extra goodies for subscribed people):
Quote Game Update 1.2: Legacy is finally here, bringing a wide range of new game features and playable content to Star Wars™: The Old Republic™! With Legacy, you can now create your very own Legacy family tree, sharing the skills mastered by one character with everyone in your family tree. You will also be able to experience new adventures, including the new Operation, Explosive Conflict, the Novare Coast PvP Warzone, and much, much more! We appreciate the support of our community throughout the development of the Legacy game update. As a ‘Thank You’ gift, we are giving all active subscribers (as of April 12, 12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT or April 21, 12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT) the in-game Legacy reward: the Legacy Tauntaun Ram Pet*, sure to be your new best friend! In order to make sure that you receive your in-game Legacy Tauntaun Ram, your account must meet the following criteria by April 12, 2012 ,12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT or April 21, 2012, 12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT: You must have purchased the game and redeemed an official Game Product Registration Code at the Code Redemption Center. You must have signed up for a recurring subscription using a valid payment method OR redeemed a Game Time Code. Your account must not be banned. Not an active subscriber? Purchase the game and activate your account on or before April 21st at 12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT and you will receive the Legacy Tauntuan Ram pet*! A SPECIAL GIFT FOR OUR LEVEL 50 PLAYERS – 30 DAYS OF PLAY TIME ON US! As a thanks for being one of our most valued players, every active account with a Level 50 character as of April 12th, 2012 at 12:00PM CDT / 5:00PM GMT, will receive thirty (30) days of game time** in appreciation for your support and loyalty. In order to receive your thirty (30) days of game time, you must meet the following requirements by April 12th, 2012, at 12:00PM CDT / 5:00PM GMT: You must have purchased the game and redeemed an official Game Product Registration Code at the Code Redemption Center. You must have signed up for a recurring subscription using a valid payment method OR redeemed a Game Time Code. You must have at least one level 50 character. Your account must not be banned. FORMER PLAYERS COME BACK AND PLAY NOW ON US: APRIL 13 – APRIL 19 In honor of Game Update 1.2: Legacy, we are offering former subscribers the chance to come back and play on us. Starting on April 13th, 2012 at 12:01AM CDT / 5:01AM GMT through April 19th, 2012 at 11:59PM CDT / April 20th, 2012 at 4:59AM GMT, former subscribers will be able to log-in to their accounts without having to re-subscribe! In order to qualify for the seven (7) days of free*** gameplay, you must meet the following requirements: You must have purchased the game and redeemed an official Game Product Registration Code at the Code Redemption Center. You must have previously signed up for a recurring subscription using a valid payment method OR redeemed a Game Time Code. (This includes players in their first thirty (30) days of game time included with purchase of the game.) You must currently have an inactive subscription. You cannot have left the game in a banned status. Plus, if you reactivate your former account on or before April 21st, 2012 at 12:00PM CDT / 5:00PM GMT, you qualify for our Legacy reward: the Legacy Tauntaun Ram Pet*! For more information on these programs, please visit www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com/legacypromotion. Don’t forget to check out www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com regularly to keep up with the latest news and information about the game, and you can also join our community on Facebook and Twitter. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sky on April 12, 2012, 01:57:12 PM I like the free month. I haven't played in a few weeks now, and while I'm not all angsty about it, it is nice that they understand people have been holding off for the patch.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sjofn on April 12, 2012, 02:01:56 PM Quote We appreciate the support of our community throughout the development of the Legacy game update. As a ‘Thank You’ gift, we are giving all active subscribers (as of April 12, 12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT or April 21, 12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT) the in-game Legacy reward: the Legacy Tauntaun Ram Pet*, sure to be your new best friend! :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Nebu on April 12, 2012, 02:05:01 PM I'll come back when they consolidate servers. The warfront queues are crazy long on most servers.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sjofn on April 12, 2012, 02:06:39 PM Go join Fatman, it's apparently still got queues to log in!
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: koro on April 12, 2012, 02:22:33 PM Although I do know why they did it (lacking endgame for 50s), I do like the insinuation in the announcement that people who've been playing and subbing since day one (or before) like my girlfriend who happen to not quite be level 50 yet aren't valuable, loyal, or supporting enough for a free month of play.
Bioware really needs better PR goons. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Nevermore on April 12, 2012, 02:36:16 PM It does kind of suck for people who were alting it up instead of racing to 50.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sjofn on April 12, 2012, 02:50:49 PM I am not sure being level 50 after this long counts as "racing" to 50.
This doesn't change that Bioware's PR blows, of course. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Fordel on April 12, 2012, 03:37:12 PM They should give you a free month for each 50 you have.
Sjofn wouldn't have to pay for a year! :why_so_serious: Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sjofn on April 12, 2012, 03:44:08 PM A year in Canadian maybe, a mere three months in AMERICAN TIME.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: LeaveMeAlone on April 12, 2012, 04:54:02 PM It does kind of suck for people who were alting it up instead of racing to 50. I have a 50 so I get the freebie, but it's a dick move on Bioware's part. Why wouldn't a day one subscriber who is afterall paying the same as a day one 50, be less valued? Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Mattemeo on April 12, 2012, 04:56:05 PM Subbed pretty much since the game went live, but I've yet to hit 50 on a character yet.
46, 33, 33, 27, 18, 15, 11, 9, 9... nope. No 50s. Guess I'm not a valued player then. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Ingmar on April 12, 2012, 04:58:11 PM Middle children syndrome, all of you.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Shatter on April 12, 2012, 08:16:02 PM No 50? no soup for you, come back 1 year
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Lantyssa on April 13, 2012, 07:59:19 AM Guess I'm not a valued player then. I value you. <hugs>Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: luckton on April 13, 2012, 08:30:11 AM They're either desperate, ballsy, or proud/confident in this kitchen-sink patch to offer so much free time for past people so close to post-release.
Regardless, I'm up for giving it another go. Guess I'll go piss off CenturyLink by pushing down 30GB off their fiber :awesome_for_real: Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Rokal on April 13, 2012, 11:45:29 AM Giving subscribers a free month only a couple months after launch is... bizarre. I could understand if they'd had lots of connection issues that degraded the service, but they didn't. What they had was an end-game model that wasn't satisfying for most players and I don't understand how giving players a month free is meant to help that.
Glad to hear about the free week for quitters though, it'll be nice to check out 1.2 for free. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: 01101010 on April 13, 2012, 12:41:15 PM Giving subscribers a free month only a couple months after launch is... bizarre. I could understand if they'd had lots of connection issues that degraded the service, but they didn't. What they had was an end-game model that wasn't satisfying for most players and I don't understand how giving players a month free is meant to help that. Glad to hear about the free week for quitters though, it'll be nice to check out 1.2 for free. That free month is because that is how long it will take the servers to come back on line from the patch. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Ingmar on April 13, 2012, 04:13:31 PM For those of you with ADD:
Quote Hello everyone! At BioWare we're always listening to our fans and we've heard our community's comments around players with Level 50 characters being the only group awarded 30 days of play time. We appreciate the feedback and are pleased to announce that we are expanding our Legacy Promotion, also awarding 30 days of play time at no charge to players that have reached Legacy Level 6 (who may not have a 50th level character). We just released the innovative Legacy System as part of Game Update 1.2, and felt that looking at Legacy point progression across all of your characters was a great way to reward our most avid players. This means that any of the experience you earn with any of your characters brings you closer to the goal of Legacy Level 6. The choice of how to get to Legacy Level 6 is yours. First, you need to have passed Chapter 1 to unlock your legacy. Examples of how to get to Legacy Level 6 include: A pair of characters Level 45 and 42 A trio of characters of Levels 45, 32 and 32 A bunch of characters Levels 35, 33, 31, 29 and 20 A single 50th level character that has enjoyed the endgame for a brief time Remember these are just examples – you’re free to choose how to earn your Legacy experience to gain Legacy Level 6. We've also got another significant piece of good news: everyone will have until April 22nd at noon CDT (5:00pm GMT - click here for a time zone converter) to have a Level 50 character or Legacy Level 6 on their account to get 30 days of game time on us. (Your 30 days of game time will be applied to your account on April 25th by 11:59pm CDT.) Players will now have multiple options, as well as more time, to try and reach these goals. As always, we appreciate your feedback and will do our best to surprise and delight our customers. Dr Greg Zeschuk Studio GM, BioWare Austin Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Phred on April 13, 2012, 05:25:33 PM Cue the bitching from people with 50 alts none of which have finished ch 1.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Nevermore on April 13, 2012, 05:33:54 PM Then it's a good thing they have over a week to finish it up then.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: BoatApe on April 13, 2012, 05:37:34 PM No 50's but my Legacy is about 15... Can't wait to fix my UI.
Haven't played since the end of the first 30 days. Let the patching begin! (edit: grammar am hard) Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Mattemeo on April 13, 2012, 05:46:09 PM This is a considered response to what must have been a total PR nightmare in the Bioware studios this morning.
I just wish they'd put that effort of consideration into the original release, and avoided the shitstorm of bad feelings altogether. Call me Captain Hindsight, but it seems to me they need to put the guy in charge of cleaning up their customer relations farces in charge of their customer relations. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sky on April 13, 2012, 10:00:56 PM I'd counter that with the fact that the majority of humans are complete piles of shit, so it's better to do something, let them bitch about how much it sucks, and then do what you intended originally to 'mollify the complaints'. If you just go ahead and do your original plan, the piles of shit will just bitch about that and you'll have to give more ground than intended.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Soln on April 14, 2012, 10:43:14 AM Did they improve the ability to find people to do Heroics and Flashpoints (LFG or other)?
And did they do something about the low pop planets? Either by lowering the challenge bar on certain quests or the number needed in a group? I'm just wondering how well tuned things are now, since after 30 things fell apart IMO (only got to 36 I think). Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Evildrider on April 14, 2012, 12:33:09 PM I have 3 50's and legacy 39. I want 3 free months. :oh_i_see:
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sjofn on April 14, 2012, 12:36:54 PM Yeah c'mon, Bioware, I have three 50's (a mere legacy 32 however), why don't you value meeeeeee?
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: fuser on April 14, 2012, 12:51:01 PM Why not just a tier of /played time on an account across all characters?
More effort to have an account counter and total it :oh_i_see: Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Lantyssa on April 14, 2012, 04:45:47 PM Yeah c'mon, Bioware, I have three 50's (a mere legacy 32 however), why don't you value meeeeeee? Because you'll give them money for all eternity. :-PTitle: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Furiously on April 14, 2012, 11:16:43 PM I'm confuzzled by their buy one month, get a free month subscription deal...
Is it to convince shareholders they have more subs? When does their quarter end? Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Rokal on April 15, 2012, 12:38:47 AM It wasn't intended as a 'buy one, get one' thing. It was supposed to be a 'loyalty reward' for current subscribers as of the announcement, but they extended the offer to any active subs until April 22nd due to the poor way they were initially determining 'qualifying accounts' (needed to have a lvl 50 or a certain legacy level).
But yeah, I don't understand why they're giving anyone a free month. It's not like 1.2 resolved the fact that their end-game isn't sticky. Maybe it'll keep players around that were fed up with the UI or specific bugs, but that's gotta be a fairly small group compared to the people that left from boredom or a broken end-game model. Maybe it does have something to do with massaging numbers for the next milestone they'll be reporting to shareholders, but that doesn't seem like a great reason to lose out on millions in revenue for the month. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Lantyssa on April 15, 2012, 05:00:10 AM Is it to convince shareholders they have more subs? When does their quarter end? Yes.Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: ajax34i on April 15, 2012, 05:59:47 AM [...] that doesn't seem like a great reason to lose out on millions in revenue for the month. Unless they more-than-double their current subscription numbers. Who knows, maybe they did lose half their players already, and are hoping that this carrot will bring everyone back, however briefly. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: FieryBalrog on April 15, 2012, 10:47:37 AM Is it to convince shareholders they have more subs? ding ding. Earnings report coming up end of this month. Or more accurately, it's to present a better number to shareholders that everyone knows is inflated because of this deal, but because no on knows the 'actual' number, it doesn't matter. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Ingmar on April 15, 2012, 09:00:02 PM Keep people hanging around long enough to get the dungeon finder they're working on finished, would be my guess.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Soukyan on April 16, 2012, 10:08:56 AM I wouldn't be surprised if they have already lost a significant amount of paying subscriptions. Most of my guild bailed after the free month since they all hit 50 and got a taste of the end-game and decided it just wasn't what they were looking for. (Where are you, DAoC 2? GW2 cannot come soon enough, but I digress... IN PARENTHESES)
As for me, I cancelled after the free month, but I was lost well before that was over. I got to level 25 and was bored to tears with the game. I love story in a game, but I cannot figure out for the life of me why the spoken missions and cut-scenes felt like such a waste of time. Maybe I just prefer to _read_ my stories. I'm not sure because I love listening to audio books. The production value was high for the game, but after the initial starting planet, I think it kind of went to shit. Of course, the same old trappings were in place on the starting planets, too, which is why my attempts at other classes fell short far sooner than level 25. No matter how you cut it, you can play for at least the free week if you have the notion to come back and see what's new. It certainly doesn't hurt them to attempt to lure people back in to the game. As was mentioned in some other thread, it's a casino tactic. Lure people with addictive behaviors back into your fun house, and they might just pony up some more money. If not, it's not like they didn't have the infrastructure in place already. The cost to them is minimal for the potential gain. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: nurtsi on April 16, 2012, 11:37:31 AM Just chiming in to add one data sample. I'm one of the people who cancelled after first month. I played few guys to 40+ and some to mid 30s.
So I noticed the free week here and patched to give it a go. I've been playing some RIFT lately (for PVP) and SWTOR seems just way too clunky compared to it. I still like the fact that in PVP I'm pitted against level 49 people when I'm level 11. Great fun for all involved. The only change I can see from launch is that you can customize the UI more. My free week is done after three hours. I won't play this game even if it is free. Huttball is still awesome though. Every other game should blatantly copy it. When will they patch in more story which is one of their strong points? I can stand the wonky sub-par implementation if the plot is interesting. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: March on April 16, 2012, 01:47:52 PM I too downloaded and checked the changes; nothing compelling to make me stay.
I'll consider another look when LFD and Dual Spec (with some sort of Click Heal for us support types) are in game... Regarding their crown jewel of voice-over stories... all I can say is that I like it for the Class Storyline, but honestly hate it for garden variety quests -- particularly because the planet quests are the same for every character and instead of adding flavor it seriously degrades the experience after the first time. My final word: A lot of hard work and polish for incremental improvements for people already committed to the game. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sjofn on April 16, 2012, 02:24:27 PM There's some flavor in the planet quests, but it's all small throw-away line sort of stuff. Like my twi'lek manquisitor can usually tell the stupid racist Empire people bitching about aliens to stop being racist dickbags right in front of him, the quest givers are usually all HOORAY HAVOC SQUAD IS HERE at my trooper, that sort of shit.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Ingmar on April 16, 2012, 02:25:37 PM Yeah there are honestly more class specific lines in those things than I thought. Sure, there's also a lot of "Sounds like you need a soldier!" but pretty often the top response is a class-specific special line for just that quest. I noticed it a lot on my smuggler.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: March on April 16, 2012, 03:05:13 PM Yeah there are honestly more class specific lines in those things than I thought. Sure, there's also a lot of "Sounds like you need a soldier!" but pretty often the top response is a class-specific special line for just that quest. I noticed it a lot on my smuggler. Perhaps, I'm not sure I'd put it as "class flavor" if the flavor is as bland as my Man-Sage (Mage?): "How can I help?"Also... The Mask of Revan called and wants to know if you want to join a sekret special cult. This quest probably killed the VO for me... first time I hit is as an Imperial Agent and I played it straight; for whatever reason, the quest really bugged me (probably all the horrible running back and forth), so when I got it the second (third? fourth?) time I basically told them their cult was based on lying liars lying loudly and that their founder used the mask to seduce and fuck goats... result: go there, kill this, gather that... YAY! you're in. ...and that's the day the music died. :why_so_serious: Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Fordel on April 16, 2012, 04:24:48 PM Sage's in general are bland though :why_so_serious:
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Ingmar on April 16, 2012, 04:58:41 PM Also "how can I help" is of course one of their generic replies rather than the flavor-y type. Those tend to be <Force mumbo jumbo> (Tharan -2)
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Sjofn on April 16, 2012, 05:40:30 PM 90% of the time, I am totally in agreement with Tharan on that.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: caladein on April 16, 2012, 06:42:06 PM There's plenty of class-specific lines. Also some race-specific ones, usually dependent on class. For example, a Chiss Agent will get some unique responses while a Chiss BH is lumped in with the other "aliens". I'd guess most classes have that human/alien split that Agent occasionally breaks out of. And there's a scattering of sex-specific lines that aren't flirts.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Nevermore on April 16, 2012, 07:01:07 PM Some NPCs even have a few group specific lines. Nothing that's a huge difference but a nice touch for when you're grouped and run across them.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Soln on April 16, 2012, 10:41:56 PM Is it to convince shareholders they have more subs? ding ding. Earnings report coming up end of this month. Or more accurately, it's to present a better number to shareholders that everyone knows is inflated because of this deal, but because no on knows the 'actual' number, it doesn't matter. May 02, 2012 / 12:00AM Earnings Mar 2012 Electronic Arts Inc. Earnings Release link (http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nasdaq/electronic-arts/ea/corporate-events) Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: FieryBalrog on April 17, 2012, 12:54:19 AM Report might be for March, but at the Feb investors call, the report was for December and they still gave the current sub number- current as of the call. They did the same in March.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Mrbloodworth on April 19, 2012, 08:22:59 AM Are most of the flashpoints still just classic dungeon runs? ( IE: Not like black talon )
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: PalmTrees on April 19, 2012, 10:02:58 AM I haven't done the higher ones (40+, Colicoid and up) but everything below that is standard dungeon run. Nothing like Black Talon. Guess they ran out of cutscene money or something. Probably why I had to go back and do them solo with my 50. They're kinda sub-par compared to the dialogued quests.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Mrbloodworth on April 19, 2012, 10:07:06 AM Meh.
Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Raknor on April 19, 2012, 10:26:53 AM Cut scenes are only fun the first few times. Then it becomes more of a time sync than the trash. Most everyone in my guild has toggled all that stuff off or furiously hits the space bar. You can tell who is pro when the cut scenes end and they are jumping in the air.
I certainly enjoyed it the first couple times though. Different bosses based on light or dark was nifty. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: FieryBalrog on April 19, 2012, 12:45:56 PM Played a few hours after I got the free week, and I really enjoyed the UI editor, but I uninstalled last night. The main reason is, playing 2 MMOs just doesn't cut it for me; when I'm tired of WoW (where all my friends are), I want to play other games or just do other things period, not switch to an experience almost exactly like it. It's like making all of your meals revolve around hamburgers. Sometimes you just don't want hamburgers anymore.
Not a bad game and they did improve some of the things which caused me to leave in the first place, but graphical and performance issues still dog it and I'm not sold until they fully resolve those. In addition, I just don't like the aesthetics of the game, I think they're stuck in a weird place between stylized graphics and realism, because the stuff they are stylizing is still mostly drab military installations, gray metallic space ports, and so on. That stuff tends to work better with higher end, more realistic graphics. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Merusk on April 19, 2012, 02:24:11 PM I'm going to give it another shot with the free week tonight, but since they don't have an LFG/ LFR tool chances are I won't play more than about 15-20 minutes.
They really, really underestimated the impact of not having those tools. This isn't 2004, people don't enjoy scrambling to put groups together. It needs to be a standard feature and it needs to be seamless. That it's in the PVP system but not the PVE system is even more egregious. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: Fordel on April 19, 2012, 04:59:24 PM I'm going to give it another shot with the free week tonight, but since they don't have an LFG/ LFR tool chances are I won't play more than about 15-20 minutes. They really, really underestimated the impact of not having those tools. This isn't 2004, people don't enjoy scrambling to put groups together. It needs to be a standard feature and it needs to be seamless. That it's in the PVP system but not the PVE system is even more egregious. Speaking of: What part of a Group Finder feature is most important to you? (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=420543) But yea, the lack of a LFD tool and no cross server'ness is what is killing things. Title: Re: Come Back for free for a week thingy Post by: ShenMolo on April 20, 2012, 07:40:56 PM Patched and logged in, but sat staring at character select screen for a few moments then exited...
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