Former paid subscribers will get "preferred player status": http://www.darthhater.com/articles/swtor-news/22123-bioware-details-preferred-status
^That's encouraging...but I'm still pissed about the head slot. I'm going to try to stay optimistic that the majority of the QOL restrictions will be account-wide unlocks. Honestly, I think I may be able to tolerate the FTP system if they are. Interestingly enough, all this talk of SWTOR (and the fact that I've been getting bored with STO and LOTRO) motivated me to re-sub a few days ago. To my surprise I'm actually having a lot of fun. The bugs are worse than when I left, though, and the animation lag is absurd. Also, it turns out that my server got merged and I lost two character names.
^Yeah, funny thing that. another server got merged into mine, but I'm the one that lost 2 names. I am guessing there was some kind of preference for high level characters to take precedence in who gets the name.
^That would be an incredibly stupid business move. EA runs the game, LA just licenses the Star Wars IP and periodically collects fees. There's no logical reason for Disney to pull the license which is essentially free money for them.
November 15th. On another note, I felt like playing yesterday so I went to subscribe with PayPal and nothing happened. I did it twice. I also tried this months ago. I'm amazed. There's money in my PayPal, I made sure the addresses matched exactly. What the hell?
Downloaded it, am playing it for the first time. I'm going F2P to see whether I like it or not (plus I can't afford monthly sub games right now). I chose Jedi Consular, and have been enjoying the game thus far, though it is a bit rankling that I'm a level 4 taking on level 9 enemies, while my fellow players who sub are level 6s or 7s after the exact same missions. I can live with it, but it is a bit annoying to know that I don't get nearly as much XP, and that all of my gear costs far more than what a sub pays. See, that would be an area I wouldn't touch, if only because it slows down progress, and a game that seems like a slog without much benefit is not going to spur me to subscribe.
I don't remember reading that f2p accounts would earn less xp as standard. I know you can use cartel coins and/or legacy/credits to purchase increased percentage of xp earned, but is there also a bonus just for having a paid account?
I think your level deficiency might be a result of you skipping quests. AFAIK, the XP nerf doesn't kick-in until level 10. (That's how it was on the PTS.) So it shouldn't even be a problem yet. But even if they did change it, it shouldn't be noticeable that early in the game as long as you do all the quests. Be sure you always get the bonus objective(s) also. As far as taking on a level 9, the only thing I can think of is you wondered off to someplace you didn't belong. Stick to the rails. They're a total pain, but they keep you were you're supposed to be. The only other thing I can think of is there is, if you're on Tython, there's a level nine elite in the level 4-6 area. You might have run into him. Honestly though, I think people are making a big deal out of the F2P Xp nerf. As it is, this game hands out Xp like candy, and it's really easy to always be over-leveled for whatever planet you're on. I suspect, with the nerf, you'll just be closer to the normal level range. Apparently, they give the Xp boost items for quest rewards too. All in all, I really wouldn't worry about it. And I don't know what you mean about the gear costs. Quest gear and planet com gear is the same either way and twinking is completely unnecessary in this game. You should never buy any gear with your first character ever. Save your credits for skills (They start to get REALLY expensive 35+.) and on crafting should you choose to do it.
Nope, I followed each quest as they came, and I did the bonus quests as well. The level 9s I was fighting were a part of those quests. The areas I traveled in, as part of each mission quest, reached level 9. There is a level 12 Elite in the ruins near the Forge, but that's not what I'm talking about. As for gear, I'm talking about stims, medpacs, and such, which I found out, having talked to some subs and doing some comparison, do cost more for F2P. Training costs are also higher for F2P. Here's a rundown of what Premiere/Preferred/F2P players get: http://www.swtor.com/free/features Still, I'm a Level 8 on Coruscant now, have my lightsaber and everything, so it's all good.
It still sounds like you missed something. Even without doing the heroic you should have been able to reach level 9 or 10 before finishing Tython. They try to get you to 10 so you can pick your specialization when you reach the fleet station after Tython/before Coruscant. If you reached Coruscant without specializing, then you missed something.
Yup. You definitely missed something. Of all the starting planets, Tython as the most xp. Even with a 25% deficiency, there's more than enough there to get you to 10. As for medpacs and stims. Don't buy those either. You get more than enough medpacs from quest rewards and loot. And stims aren't worth the money. If you're really worried about it, take Biochem as your crafting skill. Which is pretty universally considered the optimum crafting skill for first character. (Since it's the only one that can really benefit all alts.) It's the easiest to level of all the skills, and you can keep it "up to level" fairly easily--any of the of gear crafting skills will ultimately start to fall behind unless you spend a lot of cash. The Green medpacks and stims are way better than anything you'll find or buy and blue stuff isn't hard to make either and they add a HoT. Plus, the purps (also not too hard to get) are reusable (unlimited). Also, you can get packs that heal both you and your companion. You can't buy those from any vendor and they get expensive on the GTN. Oh, and the Ancient Droid isn't an elite but a champion (gold and silver star) Elites just have plain gold stars and they're all over the place.
I'm at a bit of a loss atm as to how the crafting system is supposed to work on f2p. I mean unless you pay, you can only have one crew skill. That seems to mean that you can either harvest resources you can't use, or you can be able to craft things but not have the resources...? Am I missing something here? Between that, the restrictions on sprinting, quick travel and the cargo bay I think they've gone a bit overboard with their f2p model.
Well, as I said, I did everything in the main story mission and the bonus quests, but didn't reach level 10. I still got my lightsaber, still got to go to Coruscant, so I'm not worried about it. I'm still killing level 12s at level 8, so it's all good. I might try that. I can't use or equip purple anything. He wasn't a droid.
Class quest alone (with bonus objectives) can never get you leveled enough, even w/o the FTP XP nerf. You gotta pick up sidequests from all those village folk and random jedi.