http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-DF5xBvt/0/L/i-DF5xBvt-L.jpg

Personally I give it a year. Seriously if DC universe has convinced me of one thing its that mmos work better as f2p games.

I'm thinking at least three-five years or when World of Warcraft goes f2p they will shortly after.

I give it a year at most. Since its so story focused, I don't see it retaining a lot of people after they complete their class story.

One. Year. 

If WoW ever does, it will.

Does this game even really count as an MMO. The issue people seem to haev its super story based and its like paying 15 bucks a month to play a single player game. 

24 months

How long before new content isn't voiced?

Two years. Trek isn't even there yet, and EA's got too much invested to look bad like that.

@Jimbo said:

How long before new content isn't voiced?

I bet they'll tier it out in a couple years. Have all the minor fetch quests and incidental crap be text based and then have any expansions, or major content updates be voiced.

Just my guesses, based on absolutely unsound logic. So take it as you will.

I'm a firm believer that WoW will never go free to play due to how much insane money Blizzard makes off it every month. If they ever did, their new MMO would have to be the one to steal it's attention with literally no one playing or most servers are pretty much shut down and being used by the newer MMO. I see SW: ToR going free to play within a year or possibly 6months due to the newer expansion for WoW or possibly Diablo 3.

@Khadyn said:

I'm a firm believer that WoW will never go free to play due to how much insane money Blizzard makes off it every month. If they ever did, their new MMO would have to be the one to steal it's attention with literally no one playing or most servers are pretty much shut down and being used by the newer MMO. I see SW: ToR going free to play within a year or possibly 6months due to the newer expansion for WoW or possibly Diablo 3.

I think you're overestimating how many will switch back, and how linked the MMO market is to the dungeon crawler. I loved WoW, but I never liked Diablo.

That said, there will defiently be bleed off around when Pandas hit, and that would give a decent indication of how long it'll last. If it can weather that, I think it can go the long haul.

12 to 18 months.

It's pretty solid. I think it'll be around for a while. How long? Who can say.

One. Year. 

I'd say a year and a half.

Lol @ people saying 1 year. You guys realize EA hasn't even made Warhammer F2P yet? You honestly think this game will go F2P in a year?

Im hoping six months, but my guess is a year and half, maybe two years. It really depends on how much money they manage to con and squeeze out of their customers (which they seem to be doing rather well so far).

One year, absolute maximum.

Years if ever. Someone wanted to compare DCU to SWTOR? Not even in the same league. SWTOR is at the top looking down at the trash.

It'll take a while, at least this MMO isn't half-assed like most of the recent MMOs.

SWG went 8 years without going F2P, so I assume SWTOR won't unless it losses a lot of people.

They've supposedly got a fair amount of content in the pipeline for monthly updates, if its good enough to keep a decent chunk of initial subscribers engaged they wont have to go f2p for a long while yet.

When WoW goes free to play. Two years from now.

@mosdl said:

SWG went 8 years without going F2P, so I assume SWTOR won't unless it losses a lot of people.

Starwars galaxies had the biggest population exodus of any mmo i know of, it just came out before free to play became a viable business model.

I'll say two years ... that's a long time in video game world and WoW only lasts so long because it is THE MMO

on a sidenote: didn't WoW go semi-free to play this year or am I dreaming? I have my mind set on in the notion that earlier this year, it went free till you reach level 20 or something ....?! (too lazy to research atm)

2 years unless it picks up steam like crazy.

@DeF said:

I'll say two years ... that's a long time in video game world and WoW only lasts so long because it is THE MMO

on a sidenote: didn't WoW go semi-free to play this year or am I dreaming? I have my mind set on in the notion that earlier this year, it went free till you reach level 20 or something ....?! (too lazy to research atm)

yes

@CL60 said:

Lol @ people saying 1 year. You guys realize EA hasn't even made Warhammer F2P yet? You honestly think this game will go F2P in a year?

This...

People seem to have a cynicism towards MMOs, both assuming that going Free2Play is a desperation move (possibly true in some cases, but it's one that increases their revenue and player base, so..) and also a signal of a lack of quality.

What they aren't factoring is that most MMOs that have come out somewhat recently aren't very good and haven't done well because of that. SWTOR suffers from neither of of the previous assumptions about an MMO going F2P.

SWTOR is a quality game with a massive budget and a huge studio that sold extremely well already. There's no way it's going free to play barring some kind of catastrophe or drastically changing market. Worst case scenario, 3 years minimum.

Eight months.

It's a solid star wars product with voice over content that is rather expensive to produce, if they made it f2p the regular content updates would probably slow down significantly if not stop altogether. The game is also made by bioware who just happen to be governed by EA, and we know them. Yeah.. I don't think that they would even consider making it a f2p unless the situation is really desperate, and at that point the game would probably already be on the verge of tumbling over, aka. destined to die. Which is really not a scenario I'd imagine happening in anywhere near future.

It'll pick up the Warhammer model, free to 10(or20?) perhaps in a few years but I can see this game staying afloat for a bit.

2 years since it got a pretty huge initial boost simply because it's Star Wars and if Rift, which is much less popular (even though it's a better game IMO ;_;) can last this long without going F2P I'm sure EA can pull it out. With the huge amount of money they spent on it they pretty much have to.

3-4 years, if ever. at least Until Blizzards new MMO is out.

I'd bet on two-to-four. People just don't seem to be interested in subscription model MMOs anymore. The only reason WoW still get's away with it is because of the name and brand, and even that will end eventually. Star Wars isn't as powerful a brand as it used to be, so that will only carry the game so far.

Once the subscription numbers start to fall off because people are finishing the content and the game starts to fade out of the collective conscience, they'll go F2P to get get people taliking and playing again.

EA won't let it go free-to-play, they refused Warhammer Onlines request to do so. At best you'll be able to play to 20 for free.

I think they'd sooner run it in to the ground. Seriously though, no reason for this to go free to play.

It won't go f2p. Warhammer isn't f2p quite yet and it lasted with a sub for a long time. This game has 8 different classes all with their own storylines. Playing through on my Consular is a totally different story experience than playing on my Imp Agent. It's like if Dragon Age Origins continued the Origin stories all the way to level cap. There is SO much here it is totally worth a sub if you like BioWare stories. If not don't buy it, but don't expect it to go f2p anytime soon. Unless Guild Wars 2 ends up being as good as people hope. Even then, this game will have a paying audience for years.

Not for a while, I think. Star Trek Online lasted quite a while (I think?), and this has way more momentum than that ever did.

@Fripplebubby said:

Not for a while, I think. Star Trek Online lasted quite a while (I think?), and this has way more momentum than that ever did.

It was a little over a year. And yeah, out of the gate this is a LOT better then STO. Though I heard good things about it's updates.

I'll say two years ... that's a long time in video game world and WoW only lasts so long because it is THE MMO

on a sidenote: didn't WoW go semi-free to play this year or am I dreaming? I have my mind set on in the notion that earlier this year, it went free till you reach level 20 or something ....?! (too lazy to research atm)

Up to 20 for free in about a year and a half, but I do not expect it to become a free to play game based on EA's MMO track record.

About a day before I buy it.

I think some of you are underestimating the Star Wars brand loyalty. People will pay for anything with that name. Regardless of the quality of the game, people who want to play a Star Wars MMO have only one option now. Plus I have seen more new MMO players flock to this game than any other MMO in recent memory. It will be around for a long time to come, I think.

I just can't see this going free-to-play after a year. The game got 1 million subscribers on day 1 (and has been rising since then), plus it has been getting very good reveiws, nothing has said to me that there will be a huge drop off in the near future. If they were telling the truth in that they only need 1 million people to subscribe to turn a profit then they should be in good shape for that. to be fair though, this is mainly speculastion at this point, we'll have a clearer picture in 6 months once some updates come out and we see the numbers its able to retain, but the inital release has seemed very solid, espically since they still have to release in the asian market.

I give 2 and a half years

Two or three years. One year is way too little despite the pessimism being batted around these forums. The Warhammer 40k MMO is supposed to be out sometime in 2013 (yeah, right) so TOR will be flipping over around then, I'll wager. I believe the non-voiced content is much more likely and I say that will start appearing by summer 2012 (6 months).

I hate free 2 play. Too grindy. Not built for lasting fun on an even footing.

SW:TOR will be huge for at least a year. It will take a good chunk out of WoW's consumerbase with entire guilds changing games.

So if it ever goes Free 2 Play, it will be way down the line. I think it will be able to hold 1-2 million subs for years to come.

@kashif1: DCUO is Sony. SWTOR is EA. EA has yet to turn an MMO F2P. See: Warhammer Online.

I'm going to give it at least 2 years.

Never.

Two years. Maybe more if WoW starts to drop off. Maybe I'm just really cynical.