Star Wars: The Old Republic Is Kind Of Going Free-To-Play

The Old Republic has not been the success story that EA and BioWare had hoped it would be. Sure, the game still has quite a few players, but it’s nowhere near the levels that titans like WoW enj...
Star Wars: The Old Republic Is Kind Of Going Free-To-Play
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  • The Old Republic has not been the success story that EA and BioWare had hoped it would be. Sure, the game still has quite a few players, but it’s nowhere near the levels that titans like WoW enjoy. One method to get more players on board would be to go free-to-play, but that would be an admission of failure on the part of EA. How do you get around that? Offer a free trial to everybody.

    BioWare and EA announced today that Star Wars: The Old Republic would be getting a free trial that lasts up to level 15. That’s right, folks, you can try the latest Star Wars MMO before you buy completely free of charge. The best part is that there is no time limit attached so you can run around as a perpetual level 15 character all you like.

    EA is being especially gracious with this free trial as players will be allowed to play as each of the eight character classes and explore each origin world for all the classes. They even hint at the possibility of player’s being able to access their faction’s Capital World. To add icing to the MMO cake, free players can take part in PvP Warzones and play through Flashpoints with friends.

    This free trial is extended to everybody. If you have already played the game for free thanks to a weekend pass or a friend’s trial, you are still welcome to play the few hours it takes to reach level 15. It’s a decent deal and the amount of content available already make it better than World of Warcraft’s free up until level 20 offer.

    Now that it’s gone partially free-to-play, who wants to take bets on when it will go completely free-to-play? I give it at least one more year before they cut their losses and begin selling microtransactions to players to make more money than they ever did now.

    If you want to take part in the free trial, just hit up the game’s official Web site to start downloading the game client. You will need an Origin account so be sure to sign up for one of those as well while you’re at it.

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