**OFFICIAL** Star Wars: The Old Republic Thread

[SunnyD]

Yup.. read the link I just posted..
and your purple gear becomes unequipped as well unless you buy a license.

as well as char slots.. if you have all 50s like I do you would eb forced to chose which ones are available in F2P.

Can't. Site is blocked at work.

But that is one thing that totally irritates the fuck out of me. At least REWARD your returning players with something useful.

 

[zinfamous]

Its been true F2P you just couldn't interact really with anyone else, which suited me fine because I was playing for the story and single player aspects of the game and not the MMO part of the game. So basically it was the whole game minus the MMO aspect. Now, as far as I know, its the whole game and free for everyone. Anyone who had been paying is awarded with 'Cartel points' for the months that they paid to play, 200 for each month or something that you paid. Which you can use to buy gear and stuffz.

I wouldn't call it true F2P. I tried to log back in about a month ago (after letting my sub expire in august).

I couldn't.

It was only F2P up to level 15, and I had my geared 50 Sin, level 40something? Sentinel, and 30 something BH.

I wanted to play around on my sentinel, but couldn't log in.

So, this means they are now initiating the F2P max level model, with sub restrictions on elite content?

 

[zinfamous]

Can't. Site is blocked at work.

But that is one thing that totally irritates the fuck out of me. At least REWARD your returning players with something useful.

wow. holy shit.

screw this to hell then



now sorry I spent $100 on this game.

 

[AMDZen]

Yea the site is blocked at work for me too but I may have been misinformed on everything the F2P model brought, however I was under the impression it was like you just wrote there Zin

 

[CVSiN]

well there is this..

but no detail on it.

Preferred Status

And we have not forgotten about those of you who once had accounts, but cancelled. We are hoping to get you to come back and play! Any player who has ever paid a monthly subscription fee will be given Preferred Status automatically when Free-to-Play option is launched. Players with Preferred Status do not face the same limitations as a Free-to-Play player and will find that some restrictions are either removed or greatly reduced.

In addition, Preferred Status can be earned by any Free-to-Play player who spends a minimum of $4.99 at our web store.

 

[darkewaffle]

I was wondering if it worked that way, that kind of sucks if F2P retroactively revokes access to gear/storage/etc but I figured as much. Can you get Cartel Coins for credits?

And imo for a new player you've got access to all the crucial parts of the game. It's just available in less volume (ops, FPs, space missions). But even then you've got unlimited access to levelling/planets/story/questing/flying/etc which I think is pretty competitive.

 

[CVSiN]

New updates – October 25

Free-to-Play players will now get a second quickslot bar.
Free-to-Play players will now be able to do 5 Warzones per week instead of 3.
The Cartel Coin item lock (i.e. temporary bind) will be reduced to 3 days for Free-to-Play players, and 2 days for subscribers.

Preferred Status

Former subscribers and Free to Play players who made any purchase will get preferred status rank

As a Preferred Status Player, you will gain the following benefits compared to Free-to-Play Players:
• The Sprint ability at Level 1
• Access to your Cargo Hold (an 80 item Player Bank)
• Access to Secure Trade
• The ability to send Mail, including one (1) attachment
• Increased allowance for chat message frequencies in Public chat channels (such as /general)
• An increased Credits Cap
• Access to the Who List
• Three (3) additional Sale Slots on the Galactic Trade Network (for a total of 5)
• One (1) additional active Crew Skill Slot (for a total of 2)
• Reduced skill point respecialization costs
• Increased Server queue priority

Subscribers who return as Preferred Status Players will find that they retain any Cargo Hold and Inventory expansions they had unlocked, any Legacy Unlock or Perk they have gained (including Species) and can continue to use any Artifact equipment that was bound to them previously.

(source)

Character Creations Restrictions

Information courtesy of Settesh

Jedi Knight – Human, Zabrak
Jedi Consular – Human, Zabrak
Smuggler – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
Trooper – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
Sith Warrior – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
Sith Inquisitor – Human, Zabrak
Agent – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
Bounty Hunter – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg

1. Chat & General stuff

General chat/Trade/PvP limited to one message every minute (shared timer)
All vendors have their credit/commendation prices increased by an additional 25% of the subscriber cost for FTP players (see specific examples below under PvP and Flashpoint/Operations).
2 character slots per server
No trading with other players
Can not send mail
No /who usage
Say chat/tells/groups/ops not restricted.
No access to Emergency Fleet Pass
2 hr cooldown on Quick Travel
No access to Cargo Hold
No access to Guild Bank
Cannot expand inventory tabs by credits
No access to Section X
No rest XP
Cannot equip purple/artifact quality gear.
Cannot equip event stuff
Limited to 3 Space Missions/week
Cartel Coin item lock (Cartel items are temporarily bound to you for a few days after purchased) will be 3 days for Free to play players and 2 days for subscribers
Total of 5 Field Revives (if you run out, you will need to return to med center or purchase more field revives).

2. Quickbars

Two quickbar/hotbars

3. Appearance

No Unify Color, no Hide head slot

noheadlsot

No title, no legacy name display

notitle

4. Coins & Commendations

Credits capped at 200k, if you are over 200k the credits goes into Credit Escrow Balance. The restriction can be only removed by subscribing.

ftpcreditcap

Flashpoint Commendations cap (Tionese 60, Columi and Black Hole 100).

flashpoint commendationscap

Planet Commendations cap (All planets capped at 20, daily capped at 175). This means that you can’t get some of the new relics due to the daily cap

planetrestrictionscap

Space and PvP Commendations cap (Warzone Comms capped at 2000, ranked Warzone comms capped at 3500)
As a reader point out in the comments section below, FTPers cannot obtain elite War Hero weapons since it is priced over 3500 cap for FTP players

swtorcommendations3

5. GTN

Two active sale slots

gtnrestriction

6. Companions & crew skills

Max Deployable companions: 3



Only 1 crew skill allowed

1crewskill

Crew skill that returns lockboxes do not return lockboxes. Instead, players are asked to subscribe to get full rewards.(picture taken from d4rkfire on reddit)

restrictedlockboxes

No access to companion customizations

nocompanioncustomization



7. Emotes & Moods

A lot of emotes and moods are locked and there is no specific way to unlock them except through random luck at the Crime Lord and Black Market Cartel packs

swtoremotesrestrictions

8. PvP

All PvP equipment prices are increased for FTP players (see example for War Hero). 25% increase in the number of commendations needed per item.

pvpgearpriceincrease

Limited to 5 warzones/week





9. Flashpoint & Operations

3 Loot rolls per week (displayed at the bottom of the group finder).
This is currently a bit buggy as it doesn’t seem to update after every roll. Regardless, with two players, we both reached our weekly loot limit before we even finished normal mode Black Talon on the PTS (I only got 2 items). Once all 3 loot rolls are used up, you will be automatically skipped in the next loot distribution.
If you pass on the loot, it doesn’t appear to trigger the count.

lootrestricitons3lootrolls

Price/Comm increase on Tionese, Columi, and Black Hole Gear (see example of Columi). 25% increase on the number of commendations required.

pvegearincrease

No operation access (but you have access to hardmode flashpoints).

 

[SunnyD]

2. Quickbars

Two quickbar/hotbars

Who the fuck thought standard UI options as a subscriber-only "feature" was a good idea?

The game was nearly impossible to play with only the 4 hotbars they had in the first place for most classes. Now they're limiting people to TWO?!

Good lord... I may not come back just on principle.

 

[CVSiN]

Who the fuck thought standard UI options as a subscriber-only "feature" was a good idea?

Good lord... I may not come back just on principle.

read more.. it gets worse.. IMO.

basically a death sentence for anyone not a subscriber.

 

[darkewaffle]

I guess I don't see what you guys have such a problem with, I think it sounds like they did a good job monetizing kind of obscure or 'convenient' things without really influencing the base game itself. Almost every other F2P out there really locks down your character build/class or levels or quest/area/content access itself. I much prefer this approach personally.

 

[SunnyD]

read more.. it gets worse.. IMO.

basically a death sentence for anyone not a subscriber.

Most of the rest of the stuff is standard fare access restrictions and whatnot. I'm used to seeing things like that. But seriously... STANDARD USER INTERFACE OPTIONS as a FOR-PAY FEATURE? You have got to be kidding me! I mean this is seriously make or break. I played the game quite heavily for 8 months, and the UI itself was lacking to begin with. 2 hotbars will make it functionally impossible to play. Period. This is worse than EQ2's F2P transition imho.

Wow. Just wow. I'm gonna have to log in to verify this just so I can roll on the floor laughing, literally.

 

[CVSiN]

I guess I don't see what you guys have such a problem with, I think it sounds like they did a good job monetizing kind of obscure or 'convenient' things without really influencing the base game itself. Almost every other F2P out there really locks down your character build/class or levels or quest/area/content access itself. I much prefer this approach personally.

if you have played SWTOR at all you will realize some of this is a deal breaker basically forcing you to sub.

you need all UI 4 bars in this game..

1 crafting skill means you cannot gather for yourself which will make crafting a deal breaker unless you buy credits as already the economy is super high.

2 active crews means that grind will take you 3x longer IF you even have the mats..

no access to bank.. means you have no room to store those mats even if you buy every single backpack upgrade they have you will be full.

credits capped at 200k.. when 99% of the items on the AH are well over 500k-1+ million credits these days.
flashpoint com cap.. as well as a ROLL cap on items.. so even if the item drops in your group you cannot roll on it if you have rolled too many times.. which is like 5..

Sorry as an active SWTOR player and knowing the state of the game now this is a death sentence to the entire FTP project.

 

[cronos]

b2p?

nothing has really changed since they announced the F2P option.. they did loosen up some of the restrictions but not many..

I haven't been following which is why I asked. Early on they announced that it was going to be buy-to-play (as you need to pay $15 to buy the game to start playing), as opposed to true F2P (like many other MMOs who used to have subscription, DDO/LoTRO/etc.) where you can just download the client, install, and play without paying anything.

I was just wondering if that has changed. Obviously this won't affect most everyone here because very likely that you all already have an account and used to be a subscriber, but it's of interest to me.

 

[SunnyD]

To be fair... what they DID do is make F2P into a workable version of KOTOR3. A pure single player SOLO experience with a big huge world and a giant chat room. And I forgot that this is exactly what they set out to do in the first place (I remember the devs talking on the forums about this when F2P was first announced).

The single player experience you can get away (barely, on most classes) with just two hotbars if you're judicious with your skill rotations and understand the rest of the UI controls. Crafting is an endgame experience and completely unnecessary for solo play. Credits and meaningless for solo play as well - gear is easy enough to come by just by doing quests and you will outlevel the mobs faster than it matters anyway.

I should apologize, having played the game I completely forgot that their original intent of F2P was to basically open up the base SINGLE PLAYER STORY ARCS to everybody and try to hook them monetarily into the rest of the game that was as a subscriber. In that vein, it's not as bad as it seems on first glance.

But if you want to play the WHOLE (read: MMO) game as a F2P player... yeah, good luck with that.

 

[Xonim]

But if you want to play the WHOLE (read: MMO) game as a F2P player... yeah, good luck with that.

Been following this F2P transition with some interest. Paid for the game at release + 1 month sub, got a marauder and a sorc to late-30s, so I wanted to come back and finish. However, this is not shaping up nicely so I doubt I'll be coming back. EA can take this game and shove it.....

 

[darkewaffle]

if you have played SWTOR at all you will realize some of this is a deal breaker basically forcing you to sub.

you need all UI 4 bars in this game..

1 crafting skill means you cannot gather for yourself which will make crafting a deal breaker unless you buy credits as already the economy is super high.

2 active crews means that grind will take you 3x longer IF you even have the mats..

no access to bank.. means you have no room to store those mats even if you buy every single backpack upgrade they have you will be full.

credits capped at 200k.. when 99% of the items on the AH are well over 500k-1+ million credits these days.
flashpoint com cap.. as well as a ROLL cap on items.. so even if the item drops in your group you cannot roll on it if you have rolled too many times.. which is like 5..

Sorry as an active SWTOR player and knowing the state of the game now this is a death sentence to the entire FTP project.

I played a healing sorc and tank powertech extensively, for the most part every active ability was kept in my bottom two bars on both of them. Left bar did have some mouse binds, but for the most part my left and right bars were mostly trinkets or click abilities. Quick travel, mount, fleet pass, the "PVE" skills, etc. Two bars will limit you somewhat, but certainly will be playable.

True, you'll be limited to one craft or gathering profession but this isn't isn't a game where crafting is a big deal either, it's a fairly simple system. With the exception of Slicing just after release or Biochem pre-nerf there's never been anything particularly alluring about it. Even moreso now that you can simply attach augment kits to any armor for an extra slot, so being able to crit craft your own gear is pretty much inconsequential.

Even with crew access limited maxxing your crafting (given the resources) still wouldn't take more than an evening really. Two/three at the very most if you're even somewhat attentive.

Haven't seen the AH in months, but 200k is enough for the basics and it doesn't prevent you earning more since it all flows into an escrow account. While it would limit you to items worth 200k or less individually, that still gives you access to a ton of stuff. Not the best of the best of course, but I think you could probably outfit yourself in blues easily enough. How easy/how often you can draw from the escrow balance could be a bottleneck however.

If simply 'rolling' instead of winning a roll consumes one of your five, that would suck. However you're also limited to three flashpoints and one ops in that same period, which when taken together isn't too bad. That should average out to slightly more than one win per instance. Maybe 1 per FP and 2 per OP. Not a bad return.

I think it's important to remember these limitations do not exist in a 'vacuum', but all together and in that sense they're fairly practical. So while five rolls sounds bad, you're only going to be using them in four instances. 200k credits sounds low, but you probably won't be spending them on crafting materials or purple gear anyway. Limited commendations mostly only limits you from buying gear you can't equip anyway, etc etc.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

I have a few quick questions if you don't mind throwing me some knowledge.

1) I played the first Kotor and loved it immensely (one of my top 10 RPG's of all-time), but I never did play the 2nd one. Since this is more geared to single player now would I miss out on parts of the story since I don't have the reference from the 2nd game?

2) How is the solo experience in this game? I tend to end up playing solo, guess I don't make friends too easily or something idk lol, so it is important to me that I can hop on & play by myself and get some things accomplished in my play sessions by myself.

3) Do you want to add me? Seriously though, if it is F2P I will definitely check it out and probably be playing it for a good long while (probably get a sub if it's worth it) so if anyone is looking for more people let me know.

Thanks guys, may the Force be with you.

 

[zinfamous]

read more.. it gets worse.. IMO.

basically a death sentence for anyone not a subscriber.

dang, first you had me, again...then i got all sad, again

The "preferred status" seems nice, but then you get all of these ..."midieval" restrictions that you see in other F2P MMOs: locked skill slots/bars, locked inventory tabs, locked skill progression, locked "elite" classes, etc etc.

I was hoping that what I had originally read so long ago about the initiation of F2P here, was that it would simply lock you out of the higher level MMO aspects: HM and NM FP and OPs. Or, with a reduced sub, you might then gain access to it.

I was getting sick of the gear treadmill, so that was one incentive to stop playing (of course my geared main is certainly now undergeared since I left, but I miss playing with guildies more than anything, and well...spamming the guild chat with inane chatter . It was a good guild for that :\)

Anyway, looks like I will be able to do that, at least...so I'll just have to log in at some point and see what is truly going on.

However, I will be busy at work this weekend, and GW2 is launching their new huge update at the same time, so....I will have to wait some time to test this out.

 

[zinfamous]

I have a few quick questions if you don't mind throwing me some knowledge.

1) I played the first Kotor and loved it immensely (one of my top 10 RPG's of all-time), but I never did play the 2nd one. Since this is more geared to single player now would I miss out on parts of the story since I don't have the reference from the 2nd game?

My situation is the same. The story is fine and great. FWIW, I felt like I missed nothing. For me, The inquisitor (Sith) is an excellent storyline, but I am enjoying the Jedi Sentinel as well (it takes a while, but gets much better later on. I think it is the "main" storyline for this, whatever that means.

You have to do the flashpoints, though, if you want to really follow the Revan storyline. This requires grouping, but really isn't that bad. can be done at any point, after you level, so it isn't such a chore to deal with general MMO assholes: OMG U R NOT GEARED U SUCK NOOB DER DER DURRRR.

2) How is the solo experience in this game? I tend to end up playing solo, guess I don't make friends too easily or something idk lol, so it is important to me that I can hop on & play by myself and get some things accomplished in my play sessions by myself.

It's quite easy, really. All of PvE main storyline is more or less easy to solo, especially depending on your class. You get a companion (a list to choose from), so you can easily (not easy mode, mind you) do the entire storyline on your lonesome. For my taste, hitting the MMO stuff is where I lost interest (not that I didn't enjoy it for the most part)

 

[zinfamous]

credits capped at 200k???

how is that possible? lol. This game has the most inflated economy...The middle class is sitting on about 1mil-1mil+ credits. (at least when I left)

insanity.

 

[darkewaffle]

But if you want to play the WHOLE (read: MMO) game as a F2P player... yeah, good luck with that.

Well, I don't think many F2P mmos even let you get to the whole game to my knowledge. I don't actually have much experience with them though, but relative to the two I am fairly familiar with, Champions Online and Eden Eternal, SWTOR is far more accessible and/or fair to free players.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

My situation is the same. The story is fine and great. FWIW, I felt like I missed nothing. For me, The inquisitor (Sith) is an excellent storyline, but I am enjoying the Jedi Sentinel as well (it takes a while, but gets much better later on. I think it is the "main" storyline for this, whatever that means.

I am going to play the Inquisitor first, without a doubt, and if it is worth continuing to play I will probably get Kotor 2 then go play the flashpoints, thanks for the info.

You have to do the flashpoints, though, if you want to really follow the Revan storyline. This requires grouping, but really isn't that bad. can be done at any point, after you level, so it isn't such a chore to deal with general MMO assholes: OMG U R NOT GEARED U SUCK NOOB DER DER DURRRR.



It's quite easy, really. All of PvE main storyline is more or less easy to solo, especially depending on your class. You get a companion (a list to choose from), so you can easily (not easy mode, mind you) do the entire storyline on your lonesome. For my taste, hitting the MMO stuff is where I lost interest (not that I didn't enjoy it for the most part)

Thanks for the info.

 

[zinfamous]

Thanks for the info.

just fair warning for Inquisitor:

If you go Sorcerer, you can be a DPS or Heal build
Assassin: Tank or mele damage.

I went the assassin route expecting a burst damage semi-squishy agility type character, but they don't have that. I specced early on with tank and though I don't really like the tank role in general, I grew into it.

If you get into the MMO stuff, as a tank, you are in constant demand. So, no waiting around for groups, whereas DPS could be up to 30 minutes or worse for Flashpoints. (Same with healers if you go with sorcerer.)

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Inquisitor tank, got it. I would have picked DPS Sorc if I had my choice but that is useful info, thanks again, because I do plan on at least giving the MMO portion a try.

 

[zinfamous]

Inquisitor tank, got it. I would have picked DPS Sorc if I had my choice but that is useful info, thanks again, because I do plan on at least giving the MMO portion a try.

I should add some more details--it is a light armor tank. So, it requires a lot of skill-based finagling, but it is a very solid and dependable build.

It is not the favorite tank for healers, for sure, because you will require more attention. But for any HM FP it works just fine. Some of the HM OPs battles can be a bit dicey, so you're often relegated to off-tank status.

If you want a choice between a DPS or Tank main, then start with Sith Warrior. Juggernaut = DPS or Tank, and um, the other, shit, forget the name, is the dual-wield class that offers only DPS skill trees. Ah...Marauder.

I don't know much about that story line, but the inquisitor line is just really freaky and nuts, so I enjoyed it. also, playing republic kinda blows. 90% of the fun in this game was being as evil as I possibly could.