ddmsrealm-star-wars-korriban-tomb-ajunta-pallOne year into the MMORPG Star Wars The Old Republic the developers at Bioware are planning to release a Free to Play options for this popular Star Wars computer game. As with so many other Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games the developers seem to feel that they will get a lot more interest if they offer this new popular and increasingly common way to pay for games, the Free to Play option. With this option players will be able to play some of the game absolutely free. Should the players want more content, another race to make or any of the many in game perks that can be purchased through Star Wars TOR new Cartel Coins. These Cartel Coins will be purchased with real money but these micro transactions are one time only, no reoccurring subscription. This is great for those that are strapped for cash or only want some of the game and not the whole sha-bang.

The developers have announced that they will be keeping the subscription model to Star Wars The Old Republic. For those that remain on this game payment plan they will get all of the in game regular content for free along with a stipend of Cartel Coins every month to spend on the vanity perks and other Star Wars TOR Store only items. For those subscribers that come back to Star Wars TOR they will be given a one time up front pile of Cartel Coins to start off with as a thank you for playing Star Wars.

There is a lot of player discussion on whether this will be good or bad. I for one think it is going to be great. For one, any game that doesn’t have this type of model should not plan on lasting long. With the market so saturated by F2P MMO’s there are simply too many choices for people. Seeing what this did for Dungeons and Dragons online I am very hopeful this will not only revitalize the game but also make sure it has a future.

There is not a lot of details about Star Wars TOR’s new Free to Play model but they have released a video to show you some of what they have in store.

Here’s to hoping this works out for Star Wars The Old Republic!