f2p

[Proskill]

what does it have to offer except for quests ? is there anything u can do in the endgame without buying the game ? like bgs or raids or whatever

[Kelimbror]

what does it have to offer except for quests ? is there anything u can do in the endgame without buying the game ? like bgs or raids or whatever

Please refer to http://www.swtor.com/free/features for your information. You can do a limited amount of warzones (pvp) and flashpoints(dungeons), but no operations at all.

[sarahfireworks]

If it helps, it is possible to open up a lot of content by buying unlocks on the GTN (auction house). Weekly unlimited warzone and flashpoint passes have been selling for around 100,000 credits each the last couple of weekends, on my server at least. Which is a fairly affordable amount.

[Argroth]

what does it have to offer except for quests ? is there anything u can do in the endgame without buying the game ? like bgs or raids or whatever

Barely anything at all.

F2P gives you bare minimum. If theres anything they can cut back on they will.

worst F2P ever.

[Vankrys]

i suppose people expectation of a F2P model are different from people to people.

But i can understand EA wanting you to at least drop some cash in the game if you're planning to play for a while. Even as a F2P player. After all, GW2 player did drop at least 60 bucks in the game.

Reguarding SWToR F2P system, my recommendation would be to treat it a first as some kind of regualr game, download it, try it for around 10-15 level (the first 2 planets), then if you feel you can enjoy it, you see yourself finishing 1 or several class story, then drop by the cash shop and purchase somewhere around $10-$15 in cartel coin, like you would buy a single player game on steam.

First, that will put in a preferred status, thus unlock many things, including a grand total of 4 action bars (48 keys), 6 character slots per server, a second profession slot, and a few other things.

With the cartel coin, you can buy addition action bar (though 4 is plenty enough, even at 50 IMO), some cosmetic unlock (hide head slot, uniform color pattern, companion customization, title display), buy access to your bank, increase the amount of selling slot on the market, maybe some warzone passes or XP boost here and there.

When you reach 50, you no longer need to drop a dime into the game, you can easily farm credits with daily and buy every unlock and passes from the market for in game currency. Join guild, make friend, they might help you buying expensive stuff, you can pay back little by little, since you are limited to 350k credits. If you don't feel like farming or don't have the time, then buying cartel coin will help you (or subscribing for that matter). Biggest unlock that come to mind is the ability to wear epic gear.

This is definitely not the worst F2P ever, as someone suggested above, me, it has some weird twist (locking the ability to wear epic gear seems too much), but it's playable and enjoyable, once you learn to use the system.

I wish mist of pandaria would offer the same F2P system, even with the same restriction, it would give me at least the occasion to try it out. §I probably will never get to play MoP, oh well, plenty of other game out there.

[Kelimbror]

But i can understand EA wanting you to at least drop some cash in the game if you're planning to play for a while. Even as a F2P player. After all, GW2 player did drop at least 60 bucks in the game.

Can you also understand why they would take people who have spent $100+ on the game already and give them a $5 status? Because I sure can't. Your logic would work if they had the same system as TERA, but they don't.

They only reward people who give them money right now, even if it is as little as $5. It's a load of horse crap.

[Vankrys]

i don't see it like that.

i was sub to World of warcraft for 7 years. At some point i even had 2 accounts. Will blizzard ever acknowledge the money i spent in wow and reward me, probably not, but i don't regret it, i had fun, i was subbing willingly to play the game.

In a similar way, i remember buying GTA4 for 70€ on console the day of it's release. Now i could buy it for a mere 8€ on steam sales, should i regret buying game full price, or is it the way it goes in the world.

When you subbed (i assumed you did sub) to swtor back then, you did it like me without second thought that bioware should refund would the game go F2P. You did it because you wanted to play the game. Do not regret the $100 or more you spent on the game, that was the price to pay then.

Should bioware have done more for old costumer, maybe, maybe not, i can't tell. But that's the past now, let's move on. Let's just judge the game and the model on its merit or fault.

The OP ask question about how to approach the F2P of SWTOR, i gave my opinion, which may or may not be the same as your, but i tried to give advice from my own experience, i don't want to dwell on criticizing the game and its model, i prefer to deal with how you can get the most bang for your buck and have fun.

[Kelimbror]

i don't see it like that.

You specifically said you don't have a problem with them expecting a little money to play their game. Your response to me has nothing to do with what you originally said. You didn't say, youdon't have a problem with them wanting even more money...you just said there's nothing wrong with them wanting 'to drop some cash' to play the game.

Plenty of people have dropped lots of cash to play a game that was severely lacking. Then they promised rewards for previous money spent (hey that would've been awesome), then held it over everyone's head and forced them to pay another $15 to get it. If you wanted to move on, you shouldn't have stated specifically that you don't see a problem with them asking for some money to play.

They've already gotten the money from thousands of people. Excuses, excuses.

[Gerendfs]

I'm a former subscriber and thinking of coming back to play under preferred status occasionally. I logged in once since the F2P and saw I was limited to 350k credits even though I had more than that when I unsubbed. Would it be worth it to re-sub for a month to get access to all my former credits to buy a bunch of unlocks and then go back to F2P?

[sarahfireworks]

I would say it's entirely your preference. If you sub it would probably be a lot faster to get all of what you want, but don't feel like you have to. So many unlocks sell for less than 350,000 now there's likely very little you can't afford.

[Kelimbror]

I'm a former subscriber and thinking of coming back to play under preferred status occasionally. I logged in once since the F2P and saw I was limited to 350k credits even though I had more than that when I unsubbed. Would it be worth it to re-sub for a month to get access to all my former credits to buy a bunch of unlocks and then go back to F2P?

It's what a lot of people did. If you feel that $15 more to have some form of unlocks is preferable, it is totally worth it. Keep in mind though that they are releasing additional content, with a new level cap, and those unlocks might not exist for that content. If you choose to, you could wait until RotHC is released, resub for one month and purchase the 'expansion' for a total of $25 and use your credits to buy any new unlocks that might exist.

I have a sneaking suspicion that any new gear in the 'expansion' will be behind a new artifact authorization, but I could be wrong. Ultimately it's up to you whether paying $15 now to be able to have a lot of unlocks starting next month is worth it. I think it's a pretty sound investment. If you sub, make sure you are constantly checking the GTN and never buy anything over 350k credits. Just wait it out. If you haven't spent down to 350k by the time your month is up, you can feel free to blow them on whatever is available.

[Argroth]

I would say it's entirely your preference. If you sub it would probably be a lot faster to get all of what you want, but don't feel like you have to. So many unlocks sell for less than 350,000 now there's likely very little you can't afford.

Well that's just not true, at least on my server.

There are several things that sell for under the 350K mark but others will never seem to go below that. If the moons aligned and you have the best luck in the world you may be able to get an equipment authorization (not the event one) but you are unlikly to find it unless you scan the GTN several times a day.

Races seem to fluctuate wildly. Most days they are well over the 350K mark but randomly it seems someone curves the market and several will be just barely under 350K (thank god for them)

Then there's the fact there are several things you simply just can't unlock because there is no option for it. It's always a sad excuse when people say you can just buy everything with credits making this not one of the worst F2P mmos out there.

[sarahfireworks]

Ugh, well that's awful. What server do you play on Argroth?

I suppose I should clarify, on Shadowlands weekly content unlocks have been about 70k or so the last couple of weekends. For most of the cosmetic stuff you can get an account unlock for around 200k, there were 3 single character artifact authorizations for 325k each. Crew skills, legacy race unlocks, and some of the others have been 200k-300k or so, more GTN slots have been really cheap, like 45k give or take.

You know I wasn't able to get the companion customization at all though. I looked for weeks, and had to end up buying it with the last of my cartel coins from my subscription. Perhaps just lucky I guess? It took about a month to collect all the ones I wanted. They certainly weren't there all the time, but prices have really started to come down in the last month or so and that's helped a bunch.