SWTOR F2P

Guernica · Joined: 13 Mar 2009 Posts: 480

So SWTOR is F2P as of today. It kinda has gone over under the radar. Anyone planning on playing again?

C_nate · Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 424

I haven't played in close to 2 months but I kept my account open to check out what goodies I would get for being such a loyal customer.

1750 cartel coins. That is it. For being subscribed to the game since last December. What I got if you were counting the 500 coins a month that subscribers get comes out to 3 1/2 months worth of coins.

A lot of the items in the store are pretty pricey. To put in perspective, a set of cosmetic gear cost 1200 coins. A new shiny crystal for you lightsaber is 900. And these things are for a single character. Someone with 8 level 50's like me? Ha.

They also did the scumbag move and current hot ticket item seller in all F2P MMO's of adding gambling boxes in the form of Black Market and Cartel packs.

The packs contain various things like exp boosts, crafting materials, but the real draw of them is for the possibility of rare items and gear. Like all MMO gambling boxes, it is like playing the lotto except even when you win, you still lose. So of course the first thing I did when I logged in was spend all my cartel coins on 3 Cartel packs and 3 Black Market packs to get a bunch of worthless junk, a vanity pet, and a new speeder that is just a reskinned model of a current common speeder.

I also started the quest chain for the new HK-51 companion. Don't even bother trying to do it if you have no level 50 characters. You will need at least 1 Imperial and 1 Republic character to complete it as well and 125k credits and the ability (and gear) to finish hardmode maelstorm prison.

It is actually a decent quest chain for level 50's as it gives them something else to do and from what I've done so far they did a good job of putting it together and it is a fairly entertaining quest chain with full voice work and all (something that was lacking in their last world event.)

In any case, unlike a F2P game like lotro that lets you earn currency to use in their store by playing their game like a poor Chinese gold farmer being forced to play at gun point, swtor does not have a way to earn cartel coins in the game. So if you are thinking about checking out the f2p version of the game, expect to have a very limited experience unless you are willing to shell out a bunch of cash to unlock everything.

Longo_2_guns · Ruler of the Queen's Navy Joined: 29 Jun 2003 Posts: 14083

Considering how limited they have the F2P version right now, I'll wait a few more months until they're so desperate that they give most everything for free.
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Guernica · Joined: 13 Mar 2009 Posts: 480

Yeah I got shit from my coins too. I spent it all on cartel packs which are the shitty gambling packs you talked about. I got 2 speeders a couple pets and an extra rare armor piece which just makes you look like you have nothing on even though you do.

I think they could have done an amazing job making it f2p but they f'd it up by making it so entirely limited. It would have been amazing if the main game was f2p and then you just paid for the end game features you wanted. Instead you are limited on the most basic things. Like how many hotbars you can have? WTH is that? That's a basic feature that you need to play. It's not really optional to just not have enough spaces to put all your skills on.

drathbone · Joined: 19 May 2011 Posts: 279

Optional hotbar? They actually monetized the UI? That screams desperation to me. I don't foresee that lasting very long.

I'll hot into it and play a couple toons through the stories and drop it after that. Just waiting for KOTOR 3

LinksOcarina · The Anti-Fanboy Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 11119

eh, I am ignoring it all together so far. Later on I shall see how it plays. I honestly looked over the shop and saw little I would want to buy with my cartel coins anyway. Maybe later over time I might see something I want, but thus far its just not worth it at this time.
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C_nate · Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 424

cyberjim2000 · Forum Bum Joined: 28 Feb 2010 Posts: 1481

Looking through the feature page, one item caught my eye is the "item equipping" which said you're not allowed to equip purple or greater items unless you pay for an unlocker... geez, that's gonna put a damper on your end-game progress a bit don't you think? Atleast, it's not as bad as Vanguard which limits you to items level 24 or less.

Sourdeez · Does it use DX11?!? Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 1171

I rarely play free to plays unless you can literally earn everything and access everything in the game through work in the game itself. Technically GuildWars 2 is buy to play but I like the model they use. Tribes Ascend is another one I can think of.

Hearing how restrictive SWTOR f2p is makes me sad. I just hate feeling like a free to play is trying to milk more money out of you than a traditional game.
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“Yeah but when does EA come in when your trying for auto erotic asphyxiation and decide that you are really trying to commit suicide? Then they force you to do what they want.”