I do tend to spend a lot of time playing mmo's so think I will continue to avoid this game!
First of all, I absolutely hate this attitude. If you are going to be playing a game for a while, don't be a complete cheapskate about it. Get a job.
I wouldn't even consider what this person says.
Anyway...SWTOR is very restrictive in my opinion. I have heard some here say that you can spend X amount in cartel coins to unlock the things you like and then you don't have to pay anymore. If you like WoW, you will like SWTOR. But, don't expect to experience all that it has to offer unless you fork over some cash.
The game failed so it had to go F2P, to me a game that fails should have almost no restrictions on F2P, they should be bending over and thanking those who play that they stuck around for the substandard product they put out.
Starting out F2P is completely different. This was a poorly made game that couldn't hold a player base, that is very different.
The answer is expect to spend $15 to at least get preferred status if you want to play this game long. You can get by on preferred status. The game in no way shape or form is worth $15 a month though.
So with your poor logic...Age of conan failed, LOTRO failed, Rift failed, Tera Failed, STO failed etc etc. I would think having over a million players is far from failing buy hey those are just the facts. Its so much fun watching the haters come out every time SWTOR releases new content. You guys are so desperate in your attemps at bashing a video game its hilarious.
Originally posted by zasten It has been f2p for a while now, but I do not like the idea of restrictions, is the f2p part of the game playable or is it too restricted?
it is playable but painful. I describe the SW:TOR F2P model as: Petulant Developer free to play. Meaning, they were pissed it had to go free to play and are making it as painful as possible for the free to play, player.
I recently did another play though of the game, in order to get my bearings, and I wanted to do it free to play, but just could not put up with it and ended up subbing. Now, people with more patience/time can probably do it all free to play, but I just found it far to annoying and restrictive (buy action bars lol seriously?) yes basic ui components are one of the more ridiculous things they want you to buy.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
The F2P limitations will not really affect you if you are interested primarily in the class story (the quest series). In F2P, only high-end content is gated - you can play through most of the planets for free.
The 'limited to two action bars' thing is silly, but in PVE that's all you need. If you want to PVP, consider going Preferred (buy the $5 coin pack, 4 action bars which is plenty).
The XP rate for F2P is perfectly manageable without XP boosts. As a F2P player, I'm often 2 levels ahead of the curve as long as I do all the quests offered to me. If you want to get ahead, you can do the daily quests on the fleet for even more XP, and bonus series on past planets starting at Taris/Balmorra for even more XP. If you're a competent player, you won't have a problem with XP at all.
Group content is restricted. You can't go in any Operations (raids) unless you buy weekly passes (either with credits on the GTN, or cartel coins in the cash shop), or unless you subscribe. You can do all the Flashpoints (dungeons) you like but can only collect boss loot from them a few times a week. You can only go into warzones (pvp battlegrounds) a few times per week but Bioware is changing this to unlimited use for F2P. The flashpoint/warzone restrictions can also be bypassed by weekly passes.
You have a 200k credit cap for F2P and a 350k credit cap for Preferred, buy the $5 coin pack and you'll be this. All overflow credits go into escrow which isn't worth accessing, so when you reach the cap, you'll want to use the credits to buy cartel market unlocks from the GTN like the aforementioned weekly passes. At later levels it's very easy to reach this cap, so you'll find yourself buying from the GTN fairly often, which means you probably won't have much trouble getting cartel market unlocks.
You also can't equip purple gear as F2P, unless you buy the unlock. That said, with how easy it is to earn credits, you'll have no problem with this either because you can buy it off the GTN.
My recommendation:
If you want to play SWTOR mainly for the class story and not the group content, then you'll be happy with F2P (or Preferred, which lightens the restrictions and costs $5).
If you're looking to experience all the SWTOR content, especially group content, the best bet is to subscribe. Subscriptions have so much value versus buying the unlocks piecemeal off the GTN.
Originally posted by maxima29 Originally posted by Ender4The game failed so it had to go F2P, to me a game that fails should have almost no restrictions on F2P, they should be bending over and thanking those who play that they stuck around for the substandard product they put out.Starting out F2P is completely different. This was a poorly made game that couldn't hold a player base, that is very different.The answer is expect to spend $15 to at least get preferred status if you want to play this game long. You can get by on preferred status. The game in no way shape or form is worth $15 a month though.
So with your poor logic...Age of conan failed, LOTRO failed, Rift failed, Tera Failed, STO failed etc etc. I would think having over a million players is far from failing buy hey those are just the facts. Its so much fun watching the haters come out every time SWTOR releases new content. You guys are so desperate in your attemps at bashing a video game its hilarious.
Yes all of those games failed. You did not list a single good game in your post. These games are why the genre has been so awful for so long now. LOTRO might be the exception but they stayed pay to play for quite some time. When a game that planned to have a subscription goes F2P in under 3 years though I do consider it a failure.
Are you guys freaking kidding me???? do you really think some one is going to put time and money to develop a game then just make it FREE?! Do you really expect that??? obviously the ppl who don't even wunna pay the preferred status is stupid then complain the game sucks.....some of you need to go back to school for business 101 and maybe there you learn that money makes the world go around (well, in this case the game).
If you want to play SWTOR mainly for the class story and not the group content, then you'll be happy with F2P (or Preferred, which lightens the restrictions and costs $5).
If you're looking to experience all the SWTOR content, especially group content, the best bet is to subscribe. Subscriptions have so much value versus buying the unlocks piecemeal off the GTN.
Well put.
My personal opinion is that FTP shouldn't be a free ride because then what's the point of subbing? As someone who subscribes to this game I want to make sure that I'm getting real value for my money and not paying for someone else's free gaming. The fact that you can go from level 1 to level 50 without paying a dime is giving away more than enough considering that is really the best part of the whole game. I don't get the anger over this model especially when it's usually coming from the same people who never liked this game in the first place and who will still bitch about it no matter how much free stuff Bioware gives away. And entitlement really is the proper word to describe the current mentality of some on this board. $15.00 is not a lot of money and if they think that's too much then they should either go play a game that they do think is worth that much or perhaps go get a real job.
Originally posted by Ender4The game failed so it had to go F2P, to me a game that fails should have almost no restrictions on F2P, they should be bending over and thanking those who play that they stuck around for the substandard product they put out.Starting out F2P is completely different. This was a poorly made game that couldn't hold a player base, that is very different.The answer is expect to spend $15 to at least get preferred status if you want to play this game long. You can get by on preferred status. The game in no way shape or form is worth $15 a month though.
So with your poor logic...Age of conan failed, LOTRO failed, Rift failed, Tera Failed, STO failed etc etc. I would think having over a million players is far from failing buy hey those are just the facts. Its so much fun watching the haters come out every time SWTOR releases new content. You guys are so desperate in your attemps at bashing a video game its hilarious.
Yes all of those games failed. You did not list a single good game in your post. These games are why the genre has been so awful for so long now. LOTRO might be the exception but they stayed pay to play for quite some time. When a game that planned to have a subscription goes F2P in under 3 years though I do consider it a failure.
Failed when viewed through the lens of highly subjective criteria, perhaps. But all the objective markers-- are they in the black, are the lights still on, do they have players, are they fixing bugs and releasing new content-- suggest that those games are, in fact, successful. As a P2P, DDO was on life-support with no chance of recovery. How many expansions has it got now? F2P allowed the game to find an audience, survive, and grow. Examples of failed games would be CoX (R.I.P), Auto Assault, The Matrix Online, Glitch, and all those eastern imports that seem to go belly up without anyone noticing or caring.
On topic. There are a few F2P monetization philosophies on offer for MMOs nowadays; it just so happens that SWTOR chose among the worst. EQ2 also started with a model that was punitive towards F2Pers, placing obstacle after obstacle before the player in hopes they'd pay to get anywhere but they seemed to have gotten wiser about it since. People seem to be more willing to pay for added value than to combat a boatload of restrictions in these games, a lesson that I expect EA will eventually learn with SWTOR.
I think EA could be making more money if they didn't face stomp ftp and preferred players.
My option is that when EA saw Tor take its nose dive they decided to go ftp, but based on how poorly subs went they figured it would be the same with ftp. They made a system to get as much money as possible is a short amount of time, before the game went under.
Had they been thinking long term and had faith in their game, they would have tried harder to give all their customers a pleasant playing experience.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Ftp in Tor is painful. EA treats those people like they are garbage and makes sure they know how worthless they think they are. Ftp players after a short amount of time either spend money or leave. They must, because who would stick around for that abuse?
Over time EA is finally noticing that Tor is doing better than they thought so they are opening the game up a little, but for long term survivability it would be in EA's best interest to make sure everyone is having a good time.
A happy person will spend money. Not so much when they feel EA is saying to them "We don't want you, but we were forced to let you in so hurry up and spend some money or F-off."
I think EA could be making more money if they didn't face stomp ftp and preferred players.
My option is that when EA saw Tor take its nose dive they decided to go ftp, but based on how poorly subs went they figured it would be the same with ftp. They made a system to get as much money as possible is a short amount of time, before the game went under.
Had they been thinking long term and had faith in their game, they would have tried harder to give all their customers a pleasant playing experience.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Ftp in Tor is painful. EA treats those people like they are garbage and makes sure they know how worthless they think they are. Ftp players after a short amount of time either spend money or leave. They must, because who would stick around for that abuse?
Over time EA is finally noticing that Tor is doing better than they thought so they are opening the game up a little, but for long term survivability it would be in EA's best interest to make sure everyone is having a good time.
A happy person will spend money. Not so much when they feel EA is saying to them "We don't want you, but we were forced to let you in so hurry up and spend some money or F-off."
I wonder what the 600 thousand F2P or Preferred players might think of your post ? Or the 500 thousand subbs ? SWTOR has over 1 million players per month and less than half are subbs , so yeah lies ?
Anyway OP just check Larry Everret's ( can't spell his name ) hyperspace beacon he did a pure F2P experiment and got to about level 40 before he couldn't face it anymore. Also one of his guildies is a pure F2P and is an expert at it , maybe talk to him ? He plays end-game and all.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing. "SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13 The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
The game failed so it had to go F2P, to me a game that fails should have almost no restrictions on F2P, they should be bending over and thanking those who play that they stuck around for the substandard product they put out.
Starting out F2P is completely different. This was a poorly made game that couldn't hold a player base, that is very different.
The answer is expect to spend $15 to at least get preferred status if you want to play this game long. You can get by on preferred status. The game in no way shape or form is worth $15 a month though.
So with your poor logic...Age of conan failed, LOTRO failed, Rift failed, Tera Failed, STO failed etc etc. I would think having over a million players is far from failing buy hey those are just the facts. Its so much fun watching the haters come out every time SWTOR releases new content. You guys are so desperate in your attemps at bashing a video game its hilarious.
STO definately failed, and i really like that game
they launched a buggy ,half finished game, and they fell flat on on their faces
without F2P/P2W, and the overlords from PW , they would have shut Down years ago
but one thing saved them: the core of the game was new and inventive
First, These days, games are failing not only because they may be poor games, but mostly because there are so many free to play games to compete with which are just as good, if not better quality than some of these subscription games. STO definitely was not a subscription worthy game and neither is Swtor. So the question then becomes, why pay a recurring subscription when you can play a similar game of comparable quality for free?
10, 12, 15 years ago, there were no such thing as free to play...or maybe it wasn't well known or easy to access since the internet was pretty pathetic back then (still had 56k dial up in many households, I know because I had one lol). So what's happening now is that it's kind of like saturating that intersection near your house with a gas station on each of the four corners...when you pull up to the stop light, you scan the prices and often go to the cheapest one because all your looking for is gas and one is not likely to have better gas than the other (or so you assume anyway). Again, 15 years ago you'd pull up to that stop light and there would only be 1, maybe two gas stations there.
Secondly, free to play games make more money than most subscription based games....instead of getting $15 from 13 players, they make an item shop and put items for sale for $200 (yes there is a game with such an item) and sell it to one player. With this, it's a higher chance that each month at least one individual will spend $200 rather than relying only 13 players to always spend $15 every month. To me, it's simple logic that help cut cost (because free game don't usually have the amount of staff that subscription games require) and keeps a company relevant in the gaming world....or at least keeps them from turning to new careers LOL.
Now as for swtor and it's free to play model...come on guys, open your eyes...it's one of, if not the best for free players. How can I say that? Well consider this....
1. How many f2p games restrict the level a free player can level up to?
2. How many f2p games only give you access to part of missions, part of events, part of towns/planets/ships or whatever?
3. How many f2p games let you experience 100% of the game and give you unlockable access to everything paid subscribers have?
4. How many f2p games can you truly play from start to end game without the need to pay a single penny, yet still get the same gear paid players get and lets you be competitive both in PVE and PVP?
5. How many f2p games don't allow free players to join or create a clan/guild?
Now I could go on, but you should get the point by now....when you look at swtor, essentially there is no free player restrictions that can't be overcome either completely or at least lessen the burden of restrictions. Swtor's free modal gives you 100% everything and the only thing you are forced to pay is "YOUR TIME GETTING IN-GAME MONEY AND UNLOCKING ACCESS".
Overall, some people may think SWTOR doesn't have a the best free to play model out there, but I'd say it's a damn good contender. Reason I say that is because I've gravitated towards free to play games (for personal reasons) and of all that I have tried, none of them give me the freedom to the level that SWTOR gives me as a free player. Now each f2p game I play I usually end up spending the bare minimum for something just in order to earn some kind of perk or something (such as swtor's preferred status and ease on free player restrictions)...so the fact that you can spend money in swtor so you can get a bigger bank account, more players slots and such things, doesn't mean it's a bad f2p model....I'd say it's quite the opposite. YOu need small costing things to benefit the poor gamers out there....not everyone has 20, 50 or 100 bucks to spend on a single cash shop item to help support a game. Like really, a f2p game with these $300 founders packages...well that's nearly my car payment....at least my car payment is an investment LOL.
Bottom line, we gamers spend too much time judging games like SWTOR harshly and saying how bad of a game it is when we should be thankful they even make a star wars game for us to play. If SWTOR was gone, you'd see a bunch of hurt feelings and people in forums crying about how there is no star wars MMO to play...kind of how the Star Trek community cried about not having their MMO for so many years.
So with all of that said, I would tell anyone that SWTOR is a decent game to play and make sure you get preferred status...don't have to subscribe at all, just spent as little as you'd like in the cartel market...you automatically get preferred status permanently....that'll help ease the restrictions on the full free to play model....I mean if you can't afford $5 or something to get preferred status, then you probably shouldn't be playing video games at this point.
I've never experienced a worse implementation. It seems to be built to annoy the player into subscribing, or, cashing in on kids who play on accounts with their parent's creditcard attached to it.
Originally posted by zasten Originally posted by PhryInteresting, people seem to be complaining that at some point you have to spend money, and yet there is not one single F2P game out there, that does not do the exact same thing, or in some cases, more often than not, with far more restrictions than is present in SW;TOR.If people really begrudge paying money, then here's a tip, MMO's are not your thing. Too many people seem to think that getting something for nothing is their right, and if they don't get it then they whinge and whine about how unfair life is. Time to grow up kiddies. Everything has a price.
The point is that, if they decide to make it f2p then it should be f2p
If it is not truly f2p then that's fine (I don't mind if its p2w), but don't call it f2p!
I will not be playing it because I do not support companies that use any form of dishonest marketing approach to the product!
You are not going to be happy with any F2P game then. You shouldn't play any of them. There's no point in even asking the question on these or any other forums.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
The restrictions in this game are over the top. Even if your a preferred player. The dumbest one is not letting you ask questions in the forums. That one will turn more players away than anything. Not being able to post on boards is so stupid. No other f2p title does that. Your a new f2p player checking out the game,You have questions about the game but you can't ask them. Oh well screw this game.Really stupid restriction. And the email restrictions are another dumb one. They think by doing this it will make you sub.Not piss you off and leave.They put restrictions on the most basic mmo things.
Comments
I wouldn't even consider what this person says.
Anyway...SWTOR is very restrictive in my opinion. I have heard some here say that you can spend X amount in cartel coins to unlock the things you like and then you don't have to pay anymore. If you like WoW, you will like SWTOR. But, don't expect to experience all that it has to offer unless you fork over some cash.
So with your poor logic...Age of conan failed, LOTRO failed, Rift failed, Tera Failed, STO failed etc etc. I would think having over a million players is far from failing buy hey those are just the facts. Its so much fun watching the haters come out every time SWTOR releases new content. You guys are so desperate in your attemps at bashing a video game its hilarious.
it is playable but painful. I describe the SW:TOR F2P model as: Petulant Developer free to play. Meaning, they were pissed it had to go free to play and are making it as painful as possible for the free to play, player.
I recently did another play though of the game, in order to get my bearings, and I wanted to do it free to play, but just could not put up with it and ended up subbing. Now, people with more patience/time can probably do it all free to play, but I just found it far to annoying and restrictive (buy action bars lol seriously?) yes basic ui components are one of the more ridiculous things they want you to buy.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
The F2P limitations will not really affect you if you are interested primarily in the class story (the quest series). In F2P, only high-end content is gated - you can play through most of the planets for free.
The 'limited to two action bars' thing is silly, but in PVE that's all you need. If you want to PVP, consider going Preferred (buy the $5 coin pack, 4 action bars which is plenty).
The XP rate for F2P is perfectly manageable without XP boosts. As a F2P player, I'm often 2 levels ahead of the curve as long as I do all the quests offered to me. If you want to get ahead, you can do the daily quests on the fleet for even more XP, and bonus series on past planets starting at Taris/Balmorra for even more XP. If you're a competent player, you won't have a problem with XP at all.
Group content is restricted. You can't go in any Operations (raids) unless you buy weekly passes (either with credits on the GTN, or cartel coins in the cash shop), or unless you subscribe. You can do all the Flashpoints (dungeons) you like but can only collect boss loot from them a few times a week. You can only go into warzones (pvp battlegrounds) a few times per week but Bioware is changing this to unlimited use for F2P. The flashpoint/warzone restrictions can also be bypassed by weekly passes.
You have a 200k credit cap for F2P and a 350k credit cap for Preferred, buy the $5 coin pack and you'll be this. All overflow credits go into escrow which isn't worth accessing, so when you reach the cap, you'll want to use the credits to buy cartel market unlocks from the GTN like the aforementioned weekly passes. At later levels it's very easy to reach this cap, so you'll find yourself buying from the GTN fairly often, which means you probably won't have much trouble getting cartel market unlocks.
You also can't equip purple gear as F2P, unless you buy the unlock. That said, with how easy it is to earn credits, you'll have no problem with this either because you can buy it off the GTN.
My recommendation:
If you want to play SWTOR mainly for the class story and not the group content, then you'll be happy with F2P (or Preferred, which lightens the restrictions and costs $5).
If you're looking to experience all the SWTOR content, especially group content, the best bet is to subscribe. Subscriptions have so much value versus buying the unlocks piecemeal off the GTN.
Yes all of those games failed. You did not list a single good game in your post. These games are why the genre has been so awful for so long now. LOTRO might be the exception but they stayed pay to play for quite some time. When a game that planned to have a subscription goes F2P in under 3 years though I do consider it a failure.
Offical website: www.TheLostTribeSWTOR.enjin.com
Well put.
My personal opinion is that FTP shouldn't be a free ride because then what's the point of subbing? As someone who subscribes to this game I want to make sure that I'm getting real value for my money and not paying for someone else's free gaming. The fact that you can go from level 1 to level 50 without paying a dime is giving away more than enough considering that is really the best part of the whole game. I don't get the anger over this model especially when it's usually coming from the same people who never liked this game in the first place and who will still bitch about it no matter how much free stuff Bioware gives away. And entitlement really is the proper word to describe the current mentality of some on this board. $15.00 is not a lot of money and if they think that's too much then they should either go play a game that they do think is worth that much or perhaps go get a real job.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Failed when viewed through the lens of highly subjective criteria, perhaps. But all the objective markers-- are they in the black, are the lights still on, do they have players, are they fixing bugs and releasing new content-- suggest that those games are, in fact, successful. As a P2P, DDO was on life-support with no chance of recovery. How many expansions has it got now? F2P allowed the game to find an audience, survive, and grow. Examples of failed games would be CoX (R.I.P), Auto Assault, The Matrix Online, Glitch, and all those eastern imports that seem to go belly up without anyone noticing or caring.
On topic. There are a few F2P monetization philosophies on offer for MMOs nowadays; it just so happens that SWTOR chose among the worst. EQ2 also started with a model that was punitive towards F2Pers, placing obstacle after obstacle before the player in hopes they'd pay to get anywhere but they seemed to have gotten wiser about it since. People seem to be more willing to pay for added value than to combat a boatload of restrictions in these games, a lesson that I expect EA will eventually learn with SWTOR.
SWToR is not ftp. Unless you are a masochist.
I think EA could be making more money if they didn't face stomp ftp and preferred players.
My option is that when EA saw Tor take its nose dive they decided to go ftp, but based on how poorly subs went they figured it would be the same with ftp. They made a system to get as much money as possible is a short amount of time, before the game went under.
Had they been thinking long term and had faith in their game, they would have tried harder to give all their customers a pleasant playing experience.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Ftp in Tor is painful. EA treats those people like they are garbage and makes sure they know how worthless they think they are. Ftp players after a short amount of time either spend money or leave. They must, because who would stick around for that abuse?
Over time EA is finally noticing that Tor is doing better than they thought so they are opening the game up a little, but for long term survivability it would be in EA's best interest to make sure everyone is having a good time.
A happy person will spend money. Not so much when they feel EA is saying to them "We don't want you, but we were forced to let you in so hurry up and spend some money or F-off."
I wonder what the 600 thousand F2P or Preferred players might think of your post ? Or the 500 thousand subbs ? SWTOR has over 1 million players per month and less than half are subbs , so yeah lies ?
Anyway OP just check Larry Everret's ( can't spell his name ) hyperspace beacon he did a pure F2P experiment and got to about level 40 before he couldn't face it anymore. Also one of his guildies is a pure F2P and is an expert at it , maybe talk to him ? He plays end-game and all.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
STO definately failed, and i really like that game
they launched a buggy ,half finished game, and they fell flat on on their faces
without F2P/P2W, and the overlords from PW , they would have shut Down years ago
but one thing saved them: the core of the game was new and inventive
AFAIK , Conan was very close to shutting Down too
First, These days, games are failing not only because they may be poor games, but mostly because there are so many free to play games to compete with which are just as good, if not better quality than some of these subscription games. STO definitely was not a subscription worthy game and neither is Swtor. So the question then becomes, why pay a recurring subscription when you can play a similar game of comparable quality for free?
10, 12, 15 years ago, there were no such thing as free to play...or maybe it wasn't well known or easy to access since the internet was pretty pathetic back then (still had 56k dial up in many households, I know because I had one lol). So what's happening now is that it's kind of like saturating that intersection near your house with a gas station on each of the four corners...when you pull up to the stop light, you scan the prices and often go to the cheapest one because all your looking for is gas and one is not likely to have better gas than the other (or so you assume anyway). Again, 15 years ago you'd pull up to that stop light and there would only be 1, maybe two gas stations there.
Secondly, free to play games make more money than most subscription based games....instead of getting $15 from 13 players, they make an item shop and put items for sale for $200 (yes there is a game with such an item) and sell it to one player. With this, it's a higher chance that each month at least one individual will spend $200 rather than relying only 13 players to always spend $15 every month. To me, it's simple logic that help cut cost (because free game don't usually have the amount of staff that subscription games require) and keeps a company relevant in the gaming world....or at least keeps them from turning to new careers LOL.
Now as for swtor and it's free to play model...come on guys, open your eyes...it's one of, if not the best for free players. How can I say that? Well consider this....
1. How many f2p games restrict the level a free player can level up to?
2. How many f2p games only give you access to part of missions, part of events, part of towns/planets/ships or whatever?
3. How many f2p games let you experience 100% of the game and give you unlockable access to everything paid subscribers have?
4. How many f2p games can you truly play from start to end game without the need to pay a single penny, yet still get the same gear paid players get and lets you be competitive both in PVE and PVP?
5. How many f2p games don't allow free players to join or create a clan/guild?
Now I could go on, but you should get the point by now....when you look at swtor, essentially there is no free player restrictions that can't be overcome either completely or at least lessen the burden of restrictions. Swtor's free modal gives you 100% everything and the only thing you are forced to pay is "YOUR TIME GETTING IN-GAME MONEY AND UNLOCKING ACCESS".
Overall, some people may think SWTOR doesn't have a the best free to play model out there, but I'd say it's a damn good contender. Reason I say that is because I've gravitated towards free to play games (for personal reasons) and of all that I have tried, none of them give me the freedom to the level that SWTOR gives me as a free player. Now each f2p game I play I usually end up spending the bare minimum for something just in order to earn some kind of perk or something (such as swtor's preferred status and ease on free player restrictions)...so the fact that you can spend money in swtor so you can get a bigger bank account, more players slots and such things, doesn't mean it's a bad f2p model....I'd say it's quite the opposite. YOu need small costing things to benefit the poor gamers out there....not everyone has 20, 50 or 100 bucks to spend on a single cash shop item to help support a game. Like really, a f2p game with these $300 founders packages...well that's nearly my car payment....at least my car payment is an investment LOL.
Bottom line, we gamers spend too much time judging games like SWTOR harshly and saying how bad of a game it is when we should be thankful they even make a star wars game for us to play. If SWTOR was gone, you'd see a bunch of hurt feelings and people in forums crying about how there is no star wars MMO to play...kind of how the Star Trek community cried about not having their MMO for so many years.
So with all of that said, I would tell anyone that SWTOR is a decent game to play and make sure you get preferred status...don't have to subscribe at all, just spent as little as you'd like in the cartel market...you automatically get preferred status permanently....that'll help ease the restrictions on the full free to play model....I mean if you can't afford $5 or something to get preferred status, then you probably shouldn't be playing video games at this point.The SWTOR f2p-model is more like 'nagware'.
I've never experienced a worse implementation. It seems to be built to annoy the player into subscribing, or, cashing in on kids who play on accounts with their parent's creditcard attached to it.
If it is not truly f2p then that's fine (I don't mind if its p2w), but don't call it f2p!
I will not be playing it because I do not support companies that use any form of dishonest marketing approach to the product!
You are not going to be happy with any F2P game then. You shouldn't play any of them. There's no point in even asking the question on these or any other forums.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.