SWTOR going F2P

SKLURB

Called from Darkness Web Developer
http://www.swtor.com/free

From Massively:
"EA BioWare is making the jump to lightspeed -- and free-to-play. That's right: As of this fall, Star Wars: The Old Republic will transition to a hybrid F2P business model.

Players who choose to engage in free-to-play will be able to experience a majority of the game for free, including the first 50 levels and all eight classes. BioWare did state that there will be restrictions, but those can be removed with microtransactions.

SWTOR will still be available in the standard subscription model. Subscribers will be given an allowance of store currency, called Cartel Coins, to buy customizable gear and other niceties. Current subscribers and those who sign back up before the fall can also rack up special rewards for when the transition is made.

BioWare GM Matthew Bromberg said that this is the next logical step for the game: "Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic universe."

Check out Massively's recent Hyperspace Beacon column on why F2P was inevitable for the game. BioWare's also posted a F2P FAQ with all the nitty-gritty details and a letter from the executive producer.

[Update: During this afternoon's investor call, EA President Frank Gibeau revealed that SWTOR subs have dipped below one million but are still "well above" half a million. Forty percent of those leaving do so because of subscriptions. The game claimed 1.3 million subs last May and had leveled off at 1.7 million in March, having sold in the range of 2 million copies. Gibeau hopes the new F2P model will win back players lost to churn.]" Source Link
 
Last edited:
So now that it's free-to-play, has anybody started playing again. There's a person on the republic side that wanted to play in our Imp guild. He/she was from SOTOR.
 
I've been pretty busy with Grad School over the last few months, and MMO's haven't really seemed that interesting to me lately to be honest. I may play some over the next few weeks, though. I still keep an eye on these forums and I pop on to steam (username is D4rthSp0ck) fairly often, so if anyone needs anything from me I can still try to be accessible.

In other news, I just logged in and it looks like the game is still going to let me use all my characters and gear even though I don't have an active subscription. So I have 9/2 of my character slots used, lol. I have access to every class except trooper (and several of them are special races that I unlocked through my level 50s), so I'm glad I created so many characters before. Also, apparently Alerron is now the guild master. I don't know if I did that at some point or if the game did that automatically when my subscription expired, but it's fine either way. Just thought I'd mention it.
 
Interesting. I must be the only one with an active sub. According to their FAQ as related to guild leaders:

As a Guild Leader, if I switch to Free-To-Play, what will change?

The most important thing for you to be aware of as a guild leader is that only Subscribers may be guild leaders of Subscriber Guilds in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. If you plan to become a Free-to-Play player, you should prepare your guild for the transition by passing your leadership on to a guild member that plans to remain a Subscriber.

If you do not do this prior to your account status changing, the system will automatically pass guild leadership on to the highest ranked active Subscriber in your guild once your account changes to Free-to-Play. You will remain a member of your guild and will have Free-to-Play access to guild features.
 
Well that would explain it. I wonder what would have happened if we'd had no more subscribers in the guild.
 
Well that would explain it. I wonder what would have happened if we'd had no more subscribers in the guild.
Apparently the guild becomes leaderless. They're considering it a bug but they don't appear to address the issue where no one is active. I wonder if that changes the status of the guild to a free-to-play guild?
Our Guild has no leader since the Free-to-Play option became available, what should we do?

We are aware that some Guilds may have been affected by a bug where an inactive or non-Subscribing Guild Leader has been demoted and no replacement has been put in place. If this has happened to your Guild, please contact Customer Service and provide them with the following information:
Your Guild Name
Your previous Guild Leader’s character name
The Guild officer/member who you would like to have promoted to Guild Leader
Once they have all of this information, our team will investigate on your behalf and assign the new Guild Leader as requested. We are currently working to identify and resolve the cause of this error, and apologize for any inconvenience caused.
By the way, I'm happy to transfer the position to whoever is going to be active. I don't plan on working on my PvP toons.
 
Well I'm fine with you holding on to it for now, at least. I don't intend to resubscribe and my other characters still have high enough rank to promote members and such. So it doesn't really matter to me. I suppose we could become a free-to-play guild if necessary, but I think we'd need to reform it. Or maybe that's something the guild leader can do...?
 
Which server is Called from Darkness on? Been meaning to give TOR some love now that it's gone F2P (or, more accurately, check out the stories since I adored the stories of the KOTOR games). Would like to do so on a server with youse guys. :)

Edit: I suppose I could just not be lazy and go look... where I'd find the group is on the Bastion. If I'm not mistaken, that's where I made my character while playing the "free to level 15" period before. I'll have to look for y'all if I put down GW2 long enough to play. :D
 
Last edited:
If you can catch me online I'll be happy to toss you an invite. You might need to try and catch me on steam or something, though, because my play time is pretty erratic.

I'm with you on the storylines. KOTOR is one of my favorite games ever and KOTOR 2 was pretty good too. I've finished 3 of the class stories in TOR and those were pretty good as well, so I'd like to finish the rest of them eventually.
 
I intend to work on my Imps again once I get my Jedi to 50. However, when server transfers are opened up I would like to move them to The Bergern Colony.
 
Booted up for the first time since the game went F2P. The first thing I noticed while playing (so... skipping over having characters moved to different servers... and needing to rename them) was that my crew skills weren't accessible. I have to choose one skill of the three I'd previously chosen to hang on to or pay cashmoney to regain the extra slots.

Even if some games pull off F2P really well in my book (looking at you DCUO), having to pay for things like that that I consider very basic kinda hurts.

But, I suppose, I can still go about the story stuff without spending much money outta pocket. I just have a love for crafting in my MMOs. I'll have to see how expensive account-wide crew skill slot upgrades are.


Edit: Looks like if I become "Preferred" by making any Cartel Coin purchase or subbing for a month... I get a second crew skill slot among other account upgrades straight away. Similar to what DCUO, LOTRO, and most F2P MMOs I've played have done (if I recall correctly, anyway). That'll probably be worth it. Huzzah.
 
Last edited:
I believe you can get 5500 Cartel Coins for $39.99. 5500 would go a long way. 945 coins would unlock a crew skill for your account.
 
Edit: Looks like if I become "Preferred" by making any Cartel Coin purchase or subbing for a month... I get a second crew skill slot among other account upgrades straight away. Similar to what DCUO, LOTRO, and most F2P MMOs I've played have done (if I recall correctly, anyway). That'll probably be worth it. Huzzah.

And if you are a subscriber you actually get access to 3 crew skills.
 
And if you are a subscriber you actually get access to 3 crew skills.
Yus. Saw that. Wasn't at all clear in what I said, though. haha Had in mind "If I sub for a month then let my sub go, I'd retain preferred status rather than going back to free/basic." But yeah... subbing has its definite perks. I'm just feeling more inclined toward one-time or occasional purchases rather than ongoing subscription fees. Thanks for pointing that out, though. :)

And thanks for the numbers, Aleron! :)
 
Back
Top