old player returning to the game

[Deleted]

so i bought the game on day 1 and played for a good 6-7 months, i have just decided to check out the f2p swtor, see if anything has changed, being a old sub i expected some form of special access, i got hardly anything and was pinned with some ridiculous restrictions, even bloody forum access was only for paying sub's, so i browsed the forums a little, and by god the fanboy's in that forum are so blinded its silly, saying you cant expect to play the game for free you should have to pay for forum access and even hotbars ingame,

personaly i think my over 160$ spent on the game should be enough to give me unlimited access to hotbars, forums and flashpoints/warzones at very least but no, i get nothing, am i the only one who feels a bit cheated by the f2p restrictions on a previously sub'ed player?

[WarpedAcorn]

You're probably not the only one. SWTOR's F2P system is very restrictive, but all though comforts you spoke of can be purchased with in game credits via the GTN. After a hiatus I came back and tried to F2P it as preferred, but being an alt-a-holic it just wasn't possible. I played maybe 20min before I re-subbed. For me, its worth $15 per month and I will continue to play it until its not longer worth that price point or I find a better game to play.

I will say, however much you spent on the game in the past is irrelevant. This is an MMO, not a single player game. You are paying for monthly access to the content, not for the entire game. That being said, if you don't like the way SWTOR does its F2P, there are A LOT of other options on the table. The best way to vote is with your wallet...although since its F2P and you don't want to spend money on it I'm not sure that phrase applies. =)

[Deleted]

i love the game, always have loved it. but this kind of f2p i hate, and that is the deciding factor for me not re-subing. i don't want to support this kind of nickel and diming. its just EA trying to grab all the money they can from swtor, i do disagree with you about paying for monthly access but i respect your opinion

[WarpedAcorn]

There are a lot of things that reek about their F2P model, and we've discussed them at length on this board. There are certainly better models out there that are less restrictive and make the general gameplay experience "better" for new or F2P players.

On the flip side, SWTOR has managed to keep its nose fairly clean in the P2W respect (a few notable smudges along the way). I believe one of the Developers (maybe James Ohlen) mentioned in an interview that the team had to fight hard to keep out the P2W element, and the cost was that the Execs could monotize pretty much anything else in the game (which they've basically done). For me though, the P2W element is crucial and once it rears its ugly head then I typically head for the hills.

So at the very least, despite having a crappy F2P system, they have done a good job of keeping the P2W element out in dark space.

[Mavecryst]

i love the game, always have loved it. but this kind of f2p i hate, and that is the deciding factor for me not re-subing. i don't want to support this kind of nickel and diming. its just EA trying to grab all the money they can from swtor, i do disagree with you about paying for monthly access but i respect your opinion

Exactly what I'm going through at the moment, actually. I too, just retried the game about a week ago, and two things pissed me off so bad that I refused to spend any money on the game (I had been considering buying some cartel coins, maybe even a sub for awhile). One, that you can't transfer credits to your own damn characters. And two, the Credits cap is ridiculously low. Which results in most of my credits on my main when I was subbed being kept by them, and the BEST PART is that I have to pay real money to access my fake money?? It's these kind of tactics that get my back straight up the proverbial wall.

I had to take a really deep breath, before continuing. I reminded myself why I was playing again in the first place; I just wanted to experience some of the stories (made a Sith Assassin!) this time round, so I'm treating it as a single player game with multiplayer aspects (warzones are fun). Levelling itself is not too bad, decent fun and there's enough people in the world helping out.

I was a really huge fan of this game when it was first coming out. It's sad that I now kinda hope it tanks (though it doesn't seem like it's going to) at some point, so Bioware is forced to give it up and maybe let someone else give a shot at a decent Star Wars MMO. Star wars is one of my favourite universes, and this game was THE biggest disappointment in my gaming life, no exaggeration.

But well, at least they're not making me pay any more to see the stories. So see the stories I shall. It's definitely not a game I recommend to new players, and if you're a returning player, find out about the restrictions in place and decide if you can bear with it and how much you can bear. For me, the kind of things they restrict just... blows my mind and I will never give them a cent ever again, even if they eventually end up producing a KoTOR 3/4.

[mstieler]

Which results in most of my credits on my main when I was subbed being kept by them, and the BEST PART is that I have to pay real money to access my fake money??

You can just as easily purchase the Escrow transfers off the GTN for credits, or if there aren't any, ask if people are willing to buy them to sell to your for credits. That's the thing about Free to Play: you do not need to spend any amount of actual money on the game. You don't need to hit the Cartel Market at any point during the game. You can buy everything with credits. Or, if you want to speed things along, then you spend actual money to get Cartel Coins to buy stuff as opposed to using just credits.

[Mavecryst]

You can just as easily purchase the Escrow transfers off the GTN for credits, or if there aren't any, ask if people are willing to buy them to sell to your for credits. That's the thing about Free to Play: you do not need to spend any amount of actual money on the game. You don't need to hit the Cartel Market at any point during the game. You can buy everything with credits. Or, if you want to speed things along, then you spend actual money to get Cartel Coins to buy stuff as opposed to using just credits.

Didn't know you could do that, actually O.o such a strange method. However, as good as that is to know (thanks for the tip!!), it still doesn't remove the credit limit, which as far as I could tell was only unlockable with a sub, and no amount of cartel coins would do any good. Am I mistaken on that? At any time I can only have 250k credits which is kinda little, when I look at some of the end-game stuff and/or cartel coin unlocks sold on the GTN.

[Deleted]

At any time I can only have 250k credits which is kinda little, when I look at some of the end-game stuff and/or cartel coin unlocks sold on the GTN.

Your credits are capped at 350k and, at least on my server, no unlock will cost more than that on the GTN.
On my server, the prices are the following (on average) :
80k to show titles
80k to show legacy name
140k to hide helmet
140k to unify colors
350k to wear purple gear (maybe you only care for this last unlock but cosmetic is very important for me XD)

That's pretty much all you need to enjoy the game as a Preferred player and I believe the amount of credits needed to unlock everything can be gained in 2-3 days of daily quests.

[mstieler]

I have no idea just how the escrow system works, but I'd guess it's like a Savings account that doesn't gain interest, that you can only take out in chunks, and is automatically deposited into once your "checking account (your on-hand credits) goes over a certain limit (200k or 350k, depending on F2P or Preferred). You then can buy the Escrow transfers to move your credits from the "savings" account to your "checking" account.

This bit was going of an assumption you were F2P; I can't remember if prior subs were automatically granted Preferred status or not, but those who are F2P can see what the differences are. If you make a single purchase (the $4.99 450 cartel coins, or possibly even the $4.99 Digital Upgrade pack, though I'm not certain on that) you become Preferred as opposed to F2P, which raises some restrictions a bit:
Sprint at level 1 instead of 15
2 Crew Skill Slots baseline instead of 1
Have a storage bay; can buy more with Coins but not credits, or buy the unlocks off the GTN (F2P starts with no storage bay)
350k credit cap as opposed to 200k
Send items through the mail (only one at a time, and not credits....)
Less expensive respecs
6 character slots instead of 2 baseline
4 quickbars instead of 2 baseline

[Mavecryst]

Hmm, I'll have to check again when I get home then :/ in any case, I am enjoying the story mode and the slow xp is compensated by the fun I have in warzones. I'll get over it

- - - Updated - - -

This bit was going of an assumption you were F2P; I can't remember if prior subs were automatically granted Preferred status or not, but those who are F2P can see what the differences are. If you make a single purchase (the $4.99 450 cartel coins, or possibly even the $4.99 Digital Upgrade pack, though I'm not certain on that) you become Preferred as opposed to F2P, which raises some restrictions a bit..

Yep, I'm pretty sure prior subs were automatically granted Preferred status. I started off subbing from the very beginning, and continued to sub for about 8 months before I decided I was really not going to enjoy paying for the game, and stopped; shortly after that they introduced the F2P scheme, which I did not take part in at any point. When I relogged into my old characters, I was automatically put on Preferred status. And thank goodness, those F2P limitations are ridiculous..though to be fair, it's pretty cheap to lift the basic ones.

[Jalek]

Didn't know you could do that, actually O.o such a strange method. However, as good as that is to know (thanks for the tip!!), it still doesn't remove the credit limit, which as far as I could tell was only unlockable with a sub, and no amount of cartel coins would do any good. Am I mistaken on that? At any time I can only have 250k credits which is kinda little, when I look at some of the end-game stuff and/or cartel coin unlocks sold on the GTN.

The credit limit is actually not a bad thing for f2p and preferred as it means that most unlocks are reasonably priced. It is also to try to prevent credit selling.

[Kelimbror]

An important thing to note is that the escrow transfers will actually put you over the credit cap. For example, you play the game and earn your cap (not hard at max level with some dailies). You continue doing dailies for a week and have built up a bank of 2 million credits. You then purchase 2 escrow transfers of 600k, a total of 1.2 Million credits.

Once used, this will add that total to your current credit cap of 350k, bringing your current available credits to 1,550,000 credits. Afaik there is no limit to currency when using the escrow withdrawal items. So while there is a small financial penalty (in game) for accumulating wealth, it is not impossible.

[mstieler]

An important thing to note is that the escrow transfers will actually put you over the credit cap. For example, you play the game and earn your cap (not hard at max level with some dailies). You continue doing dailies for a week and have built up a bank of 2 million credits. You then purchase 2 escrow transfers of 600k, a total of 1.2 Million credits.

Once used, this will add that total to your current credit cap of 350k, bringing your current available credits to 1,550,000 credits. Afaik there is no limit to currency when using the escrow withdrawal items. So while there is a small financial penalty (in game) for accumulating wealth, it is not impossible.

I was wondering how the hell the 600k transfers worked with a 350k cap haha.

[Mavecryst]

An important thing to note is that the escrow transfers will actually put you over the credit cap. For example, you play the game and earn your cap (not hard at max level with some dailies). You continue doing dailies for a week and have built up a bank of 2 million credits. You then purchase 2 escrow transfers of 600k, a total of 1.2 Million credits.

Once used, this will add that total to your current credit cap of 350k, bringing your current available credits to 1,550,000 credits. Afaik there is no limit to currency when using the escrow withdrawal items. So while there is a small financial penalty (in game) for accumulating wealth, it is not impossible.

Now this, I can work with. Thank for you that important bit of info

[Kelimbror]

Now this, I can work with. Thank for you that important bit of info

NP. It really is possible to play completely free, with some setbacks that can't be avoided. And unfortunately it depends on your servers GTN as to whether you will be able to buy raid unlocks and whatnot, but if you have a lot of time and don't want to spend money it's a great situation as you can earn your game through playing.

[wombinator04]

SWTOR is worth it just for the storys alone. That's literally the only reason why I still play. I'm trying to finish the Consular and Trooper story. I've done all the other stories.

The F2P restrictions annoy me greatly, I subbed for that reason. F2P in SWTOR is a horrible experience and I wouldn't recommend anyone go F2P unless they are really tight on money and play very casually.