SW The Old Republic: Sith Inquisitor

[SabreMau]

Which would be the case if they'd built it from the ground up as a single-player KOTOR game. Unfortunately, it's still using the MMORPG model and playing with other people necessitates the server maintenance and upkeep costs. If that stops becoming profitable, the game simply shutting down (like Star Wars Galaxies) seems more likely than it being turned into a standalone offline game.

[SabreMau]

Part 3 is here, mentioning some of the pricing issues discussed earlier.



https://sfdebris.com/videos/games/swtorinq.php

[SuccubusYuri]

So I haven't even finished but I have to say I laughed my ass off when Chuck did the evil laugh, but forgot to adjust his voice again so he slipped into Janeway xD

[Worffan101]

I notice Chuck brought up STO, which has basically the same FTP structure as Champions (though they haven't sold freeform abilities yet). I wonder what he'd think of that game? I know it's gotten better over time, but the Temporal Cold War arc is still hackwork.

Anyway, I had a good laugh, that was a great update.

[SpacePaladin]

When he talked about the Champions Online Pay To Win, I heard him say "Chickens Online".

[SuccubusYuri]

I don't know if I entirely agree with Chuck's approval of SWTOR's FTP system. I have always considered it more like a demo than a free to play game. When you lock really basic things like, action bars, behind paywalls, it ceases to be "paid features" and more "if we twist your arm enough you'll buy a sub you filthy star wars whore".

That said, I do approve of them being innovators in the "buy a sub and the expansion is free", which caters much more to the casual players who like the game enough to see the story, but not enough to drop, effectively, a hundred dollars an expac. Now, you just buy a month or two of subs, play the story arcs, and you can walk away with basically the same experience as having bought a really cheap box price for a story-driven game.

[BunBun299]

From what Chuck talks about in the latest video, yeah, Star Trek Online's system sounds pretty similar. You can't sell C-Store ships to other players. But there are a ton of other ships that can be sold and traded. Ships that come from Lockboxes or the Lobi Store, for example, can be sold on the Exchange. So can weapons and gear you find or craft. I was actually making a pretty good amount of Energy Credits for a while crafting gear, though I had to stop for a while because I exhausted my Dilithium reserves, and haven't gotten back into it.

It's actually possible to get pretty much anything in STO's C-Store without ever spending a dime on it. There's a Dilithium Exchange in the game, where you can buy Zen, their store currency, from other players with refined Dilithium. The only real limiting factor is the rate at which you can refine Dilithium, which is normally 8000 a day. If you're in a Fleet with a sufficiently advanced Dilithium Mine, you can refine another 500 a day. And if you have a Life Time Subscription, you can refine another 1000 every 48 hours. Which brings the grand total to 9000 a day, per character. I have 5 characters in the game with enough Dilithium to buy 20 Zen a day, and still have some left over for things I use it for in game.So 100 Zen a day. It would take me about a month to save up for a T-6 Ship at that rate. Which isn't too bad. I have a couple more Captains I'm hoping to have add to this, but they don't have Dilithium to contribute to my buying yet.

Also, STO gives away 3 T-6 ships a year, just for playing. Anniversary Event, Summer Event and Winter Event. Participate in these for I believe 25 days each, earn a T-6 ship. Beggars can't be choosers on these, but still, end game ships given away for just playing.

[CBear]

I believe Chuck may be mistaken about not being able to get the DLC in the in-game store. I personally bought the Hutt Cartel DLC in the store using my previously saved up monthly bonus credits while on FTP status. The only problem is the store's revolving inventory nature. The DLC may simply not have been listed at the time he went looking. Of course it is also possible that they have removed it from being listed permanently since I bought it.

Also very happy to see we are using Kem's Incredible Hulk skin.

[chaos42]

just do us all a favor chuck - when you start on your force walking no deals force them all and keep them all. I just really really want to see you do that at the end.

[Eishtmo]

Champions I think did get their own version of the Dil Exchange a few years ago. Haven't played enough to know otherwise.

STO did take out subscriptions, but did introduce one time purchases that give you a bunch of extra slots (inventory, bank, boff) across all characters. In fact, they have a lot of things that you buy once and all characters (or most) get access to it. And a lot of event unlocks, like those ships, that are account wide.

On the PTW scale, STO is so easy, you can beat every mission in the starter ship with some planning (something I've done BTW). If you're buying a ship, it's because it appeals to you, but isn't an instant win in most cases. The high end "DPSers" actually have to work damn hard to kick ass, but the average player can get along with whatever drops, mission rewards and persistence (see the starter ship run I did).

STO's weakness is story for the most part, but they've been improving it, and they tend to be much more fanfictiony than other games. That said, they do take it somewhat seriously and manage to forge ties between things that you wouldn't think were related at all. It's kind of fun from a lore perspective, but also maddening as they don't seem to always have totally original thoughts.

BTW, Victory is Life, the new expansion, is probably the best story they've ever had. It just kind of lacks player agency (you really don't NEED to be there for much of it). That said, if you wanted a follow up miniseries to DS9, here you go.