Board Thread:Online Discussion/@comment-5247041-20130821093041/@comment-7153552-20130827222714

The thing is, the reason SWTOR needed to go F2P was because of server issues. They opened too many on the front side and had to close a bunch down, something being avoided these days by using unified server technologies (Mega-Server in the case of ESO). SWTOR was also released at a time when Pay to Play models were still viable (a la Rift to name one). So the constant comparison is actually a little bit of a misnomer, in my opinion. I'm not saying that there aren't some (SOME) similarities, but it's a different game with different choices taking different paths. I think ESO will make some money, and I think it'll eventually drop the sub-based model, but they can't do it and keep the respect of the players for at least three to five years (see my most recent blog for ideas on the best compromise).