Did it last though? Iirc they did it during free login, how many resubbed, and for how long?
I don't have any hard data or numbers. But one of their main tricks SE uses to get people to resub is when a returner realizes all of his gear is locked behind wardrobes during a "
Free Play" campaign. Dangling a bonanza weapon that the user can play around with for a few weeks is fun up to a point, but its basically bait to convince them to unlock their wardrobes (invalidating their free login and resubbing in the process). So in the end, far more people resub to the game when they do freebies like bonanza weapons or whatever, even if just for a month, because they can't really enjoy the game like they used to without access to their locked gear. I think it has a huge effect on player numbers, even if temporary.
I'm even more certain they would redo the bonanza weapon freebie this time around, because they can advertise all the new content updates they've pushed out since last year, which is a lot.