A guide to maximizing your f2p experience.

[snowcrash512]

Paying for action bars, helm hiding, color matching... that is just idiotic.

They really couldnt come up with anything more useful? How about... Ohhh i dont know, buying extra char. slots... like every other f2p game.

Also, fun bug, if you delete all your chars to start fresh, you cant because its bugged and still thinks you have all your chars and you cant create anymore.

[Kelimbror]

Just spent $200 on coins to get more packs...ended up with some nice items but nothing too fancy. Didn't get the Throne i wanted, bah humbug. Now if TOR only had some form of player housing i'd actually have a use for half of this crap

From this and your SWG information, you have too much disposable income and I am envious.

[Redblade]

From this and your SWG information, you have too much disposable income and I am envious.

Never understood people like him, although grateful that they exist as the nice D3 players like him payed for my shiny 47" 3D smart TV. :P

[Kelimbror]

Never understood people like him, although grateful that they exist as the nice D3 players like him payed for my shiny 47" 3D smart TV. :P

I mean to be fair if I had plenty of extra money I'd spend it on video games too. On top of all my vacations.

[ariakul]

Never understood people like him, although grateful that they exist as the nice D3 players like him payed for my shiny 47" 3D smart TV. :P

Too each there own. I spent $600 on a pair of jeans, yet I think paying $15 a month for a game is crazy. lol. Everyone has different hobby's and likes.

I signed on, on the toons I was deleting, sold all there stuff, mailed gear and supplies to my 2 mains. (sucks I had to rename 1 of my toons, but one of the toons I had at least another name I liked). Then gave away about 1.5 million credits.

If you are at the credit cap of 350k and I spend some money, does it raise me back up to the cap by transferring money I had in my escrow?

[moff]

Just spent $200 on coins to get more packs...ended up with some nice items but nothing too fancy. Didn't get the Throne i wanted, bah humbug. Now if TOR only had some form of player housing i'd actually have a use for half of this crap

I am very tempted to go down that road (also because of the throne, mostly), but where would that lead to? I cant just end up buying countless packs every time they add a few items. They'll make a shitload of money with those gamble packs.
I just spent over 2000 from my 3000 awarded coins for the 350 packs and got mostly crap, two ugly mounts, glowing eyes (they're not consumed on use, cool), the invisible chest armor, a decent looking double bladed lightsaber, satele, malgus and the thworing ball are the only mentionable items. Prices on the AH will be low in the next few days when people will try to get rid of all the crap (except the few very nice items of course) so I think its best to wait a few weeks before trying to sell it.

[Sacrelis]

Was pretty excited when SWTOR first announce they are going F2P, till I looked at all the limitations...

As a player who pre-ordered the game as well as hang on to it for quite a while, this F2P model is a horrendous, constricting nightmare.

Won't touch it until the features are relaxed...a lot.

[Drakos]

They seemed to intend for your ship to be you housing, even hinted that it might become customizable down the road at the guild summit I thought.

I am pretty sure that is just guild summit talk(stuff from people who don't work there anymore/had budgets slashed/goals changed). For the same reason we don't have day and night cycles I don't expect any interior ship changes. They would have to rework far too many cutscenes to accomodate it. Maybe someday in the future if they can get back up and growing, but I don't expect to see it anytime soon if at all.

---------- Post added 2012-11-16 at 01:37 AM ----------

Too each there own. I spent $600 on a pair of jeans, yet I think paying $15 a month for a game is crazy. lol. Everyone has different hobby's and likes.

I signed on, on the toons I was deleting, sold all there stuff, mailed gear and supplies to my 2 mains. (sucks I had to rename 1 of my toons, but one of the toons I had at least another name I liked). Then gave away about 1.5 million credits.

If you are at the credit cap of 350k and I spend some money, does it raise me back up to the cap by transferring money I had in my escrow?

LOL this is so true. I can blow a grand over a weekend on an impulse ski or vegas trip and not think twice, but I don't want to spend any cash on cartel coins(although the lightsaber is calling out to me I swear it!).

[RoninaThorstone]

Ok so I was playing and got to level 16 then my game crashed and when I came back in it told me I needed to validate my account, which I did. Problem is now though that when I come back into the game I only see 1 quickbar. I thought F2P got 2? Or is that only preferred players?

Glitch or do I need to do something?

You should have 2. Open your customization and activate it.

[Deleted]

You know...this more than anything will discourage people from playing this game who want to 'for the story'. I hate to be overly negative, but this is like the biggest bullshit to everyone saying they are letting you see the 'whole story' for free. No they aren't, they are letting you see 2/8ths of the story for free, with heavy penalties during that experience.

Not letting preferred status have more than 2 characters is a huge mistake imo. I understand F2P and the possibility it is for stopping spammers/botters, but for preferred this is silly.

I agree but then I have six toons and can use them all

I do disagree with you about your statment that the sub is the reason the game has lost all its subs, that statment from EA is pure bull as they didn't want to say them selves what the players are says.

[Kelimbror]

I agree but then I have six toons and can use them all

I do disagree with you about your statment that the sub is the reason the game has lost all its subs, that statment from EA is pure bull as they didn't want to say them selves what the players are says.

You can use them all because preferred status is in a grace period right now. For an undetermined amount of time you will have all of your characters available. Whether as a gesture of good will or trying to lure you in before you get the chains, who knows?

And I'm not choosnig to agree or disagree about the sub, but EA has stated that is what the exit surveys said. I think they were glossing over that people were saying the current game wasn't worth a sub, not that they don't want to pay a sub. Regardless, their following actions for F2P donn't correlate with that data at all whichever way it's coming from.

[Psychlon]

Just spent $200 on coins to get more packs...ended up with some nice items but nothing too fancy. Didn't get the Throne i wanted, bah humbug. Now if TOR only had some form of player housing i'd actually have a use for half of this crap

Thanks, I'm not alone however I did get the throne (though I spend a little more) but no white crystal and no nihilus mask. As for the blaster/ lightsaber, sadly only mainhand.

Do the items you get from the cartel packs all bind to the character that loots them? Like the Nihilus mask and the invisible chest armor?

They will have a "bound" timer, after that they are Bind on Equip so you can sell/ trade/ sent them wherever you want.

[Deleted]

WIth all these restrictions and unlocks i would have to do to enjoy my "f2p", it def. feels like they are eyeing my wallet with greedy eyes, and I don't like that feeling.
Other f2p games I played are mostly like "oh, of course you can can play, free of charge, and here you have everything you may need. However, if you ever feel like you need a little extra oomph, or that bank is a bit too small for your liking, feel free to ask us, I'm sure we have a nice deal for you. Until then, enjoy your stay"

TOR looks too much like an "extended trial" to me. I'm sure, I'll play it again (for the story), but as a subscriber.

[Psychlon]

WIth all these restrictions and unlocks i would have to do to enjoy my "f2p", it def. feels like they are eyeing my wallet with greedy eyes, and I don't like that feeling.
Other f2p games I played are mostly like "oh, of course you can can play, free of charge, and here you have everything you may need. However, if you ever feel like you need a little extra oomph, or that bank is a bit too small for your liking, feel free to ask us, I'm sure we have a nice deal for you. Until then, enjoy your stay"

TOR looks too much like an "extended trial" to me. I'm sure, I'll play it again (for the story), but as a subscriber.

What are the restrictions you don't like especially to play it for free?

[Snorkle]

This thread sure drifted away from what it was intended to be, huh ? -_- ...

Anyway, trying to get it back on topic, has anyone tried gifting stuff to friends? Like unlocking bars for them, or other stuff?

[Emophia]

The worst restriction is the limited med bots.

It's like if you had to GY res every time dying after corpse running 5 times, it's ridiculous.

Would be so bad if the price was like 5 for 100 CCs, but 5 for 500? Really? Are they insane?

[Aquan]

Yeah well it'd also be nice too if your character was able to play past 15. It says you can play to 50 as a FTP user but that's a lie. I got to 16 the other day and logged off, then the next day when I went back in to play, I get the message where I have to validate my email, which is also a lie, because when you do what it says, you still aren't able to play the game. SCREW BIOWARE STAFF!

---------- Post added 2012-11-18 at 10:44 AM ----------

Ok so I was playing and got to level 16 then my game crashed and when I came back in it told me I needed to validate my account, which I did. Problem is now though that when I come back into the game I only see 1 quickbar. I thought F2P got 2? Or is that only preferred players?

Glitch or do I need to do something?

How in the hell were you able to play again after you got the initial error message about validating your email? I've been stuck on this for the last two days. The validation doesn't do shit for me.

[RoninaThorstone]

How in the hell were you able to play again after you got the initial error message about validating your email? I've been stuck on this for the last two days. The validation doesn't do shit for me.

I'm a subscriber and I can't access their boards. So... Yeah.
Its not like they have their shit together.

[Aquan]

I'm a subscriber and I can't access their boards. So... Yeah.
Its not like they have their shit together.

I don't know how you deal with it. I've only just recently finished downloading the game as of last Thursday. Got to play for approx. a day and a half before SWTOR basically decided for me that my time playing the game would be cut short, thanks to this error that restricts me from getting a character past 15. It's a joke.

[RoninaThorstone]

I don't know how you deal with it. I've only just recently finished downloading the game as of last Thursday. Got to play for approx. a day and a half before SWTOR basically decided for me that my time playing the game would be cut short, thanks to this error that restricts me from getting a character past 15. It's a joke.

I think its because I know that they fired everyone who was decent in an effort to cut down the day to day cost of the game.
They will have implementation issues for a while. But I think reality is slowly seeping into the EA/Bioware group thought. Just a few days ago they finally admitted the engine, mainly the changes they made to it, have made it not work very well, in particular in large scale battles.
Its a small glimmer of hope that they will start taking notes from other f2p mmos and adopt their models and options.
If they don't, we might never see a large scale expansion or major new features.
I think they will pull their heads out of their asses before they hit rock bottom.