J. Allen may have a point. I've been continuing my sith inquisitor from the free trial and even with all the random sidequests, I'm struggling to keep up level-wise. I suppose if I do all the heroics, space missions and flashpoints I might be able to manage, but it feels an awful lot like grinding...
I do, and I have. Right now I'm doing every side mission I can get my hands on, and I'm just about to reach Level 10. Not yet. I'm still getting familiar with some parts of the game. I do wish that F2Pers could use the Galactic Market, or at the very least, chat in the chat window with other players. Exactly. I'm grinding the hell out of the game, doing all of the missions I can find, and I'm still struggling to move upward. It sucks that "Sprint" is only available as a subscriber. Casually walking everywhere sucks, too. I think they really need to rethink some of the F2P limitations. I get limiting maps and certain customizations, but forbidding Chat? Not being able to run? That's just silly.
Go to both starting worlds before heading to the capital. Get the datacrons on both starter worlds. Explore the entire map on both starter worlds. Get the codex entries (that aren't bugged) on both starter worlds. I was level 10 before leaving my first world on each toon, picking an advanced class and going back to finish it, and was 12 by the time I left the second and hit the capital. This was on all 8 toons. Don't skip mobs until they stop giving XP. Track down every mission. Always satisfy the bonus conditions for every mission. Solo the Heroic 2+ missions. Solo the Heroic and Area 4s where possible. Some are so balls hard as not to be worth the effort. Make sure you're fighting above your weight class on the first two worlds so you're getting max XP for mobs and missions. From the capital planet on, if you follow this pattern, you will have great difficulty NOT graying out (over-leveling by more than 6) your story missions. This is without playing a single space mission until 50 and only randomly bothering with flashpoints. The game throws so much XP at you that wasting credits/money on the legacy XP perks is for noobs, even with the F2P XP nerf. Don't get me wrong, the inane, draconian restrictions on F2P suck the big one, but the game is so simple once you understand what your class can do and how you can use each to break the game, especially the story missions, it only becomes a matter of how much time you want to invest to experience the story.
The key to taking out elite mobs: your interrupt ability. Learn to stop the elite's big attack and everything becomes easy sauce.
Just to see for myself, I made a F2P account on Tuesday and made a Smug. I did all the quests on ORD and got all three crons and all of the Codex. I received two of the XP buffs as quest rewards. I used one towards the end when I soloed Sav Island once I got Corso. I spent a little extra time killing elites and downed the Champion a couple of times. And got to level 10. Some extra grind, yes, but only about 10 minutes' worth. Went to fleet got AC and was sure to grab all the Codex from the Crew Skills area (plus the little quest). This put me half-way to 11. Ran Esseles and used my second XP boost then. When that was done, I did one PvP match. I was then 12. Cleared out Coruscant (did all the quests, Heroics, and bonus stages crons/codex) and finished at 15. Got my ship and did all the space missions I could. Went back to Tython for the crons/codex. Then last night I queued for Hammer. I was 16 and some when I finished. When on to Taris. I had a couple more of the XP items so I pretty much had the buff on the entire planet. Cleared it out (including bonus series) and am now 20. Right where I should be. I admit I did some extra mob killing here and there. And I know the quests by heart, so I was able to do them quickly and maximize my time with the buff on. But I still don't think it's as bad as some are making it out to be. If I was to continue, I'd probably skip Athiss and save my third FP for Mando. And do remaining pvp matches after Nar Shaddaa. Then the following week, skip Cad, and save my three FPs to run T5 twice and Maelstrom Prison once. Then the third week, skip CWG and do RR three times.
Both starting worlds? I start out on Tython, and can't go anywhere until I've completed the story mission there. Once that's done, I can either stay on the Republic Fleet or go to Coruscant. I do. So far I've managed to kill each mission boss without much difficulty. I just finished the "Shadows" mission where I had to kill Lars Baddeg. I did that as a level 11, though I barely managed to win. By the way, I try not to, but I think I really hate Qyzen Fess. It never fails when I'm trying to sneak through a high level mob area, he'll just flail right on over to them and start attacking, and it's at that point I know I'm fucked, and will have to go back to the nearest med center.
BDZ was referring to Ord Mantell, where Republic Troopers and Smugglers start. Even before you get your own ship, you can travel there via shuttle from the Republic Fleet.
Are you sneaking all the time? If so, that could be why you've been having trouble getting XP. My first toon was a smuggler and I used stealth to get around as many mobs as possible. This made the game much less frustrating, but it forced me to PVP my face off to stay high enough level to defeat bosses.
Or put him on passive (ctl+2 default). Just remember it's a toggle so you have to turn it off. But really, if you're in stealth, companions will only attack if you're spotted and pull agro. Stealth skill decreases with level difference, so you really it's best to take a wider route around the packs if you're being spotted. Also keep in mind that frontal and side detection went way up in patch 1.4. Even trash mobs of the same level will see you if you stand in front of them.
Oh! Sorry, guys! I didn't know actual sneaking was an option. No, by sneaking, I mean trying to go around some of the larger mobs. Qyzen will then just haul ass right for them, or walk farther out from me and trigger them. It's a headache. I'll try the passive toggle, CorporalClegg, thanks!
I gave the game a chance, now that it is F2P. Playing a smuggler and, so far, the story is good. As is most of the gameplay that I experienced thus far. In fact it's good enough for me that I'd consider subscribing for a while to help keep this game alive. However: Due to the extremely strict F2P model, I won't pay a single dime out of sheer spite. From some official a few months ago on the matter of character slots for subscribers who stop paying: At Launch, we are not enforcing the penalty on subscribers who convert to Free-to-Play, but we will in a subsequent patch. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5340746#edit5340746 "enforce"? "penalty"? That's an interesting choice of words. I for one do not appreciate being spoken to like a fellon just because I'm not paying for the game. Potential customers should be welcomed with open arms, not punished on every turn for not having payed yet. So, as I said, no money from me, even though I'd like to. It's the only way EA might learn from this.
EA wouldn't learn if you went in and punched each executive in the face. They're EA. They don't, and won't, ever care. Also, I think I may use my second character slot for a Smuggler. It just sounds like fun!
Honestly, I don't see what the problem is. "enforcing a penalty" is a pretty common phrase in the corporate lexicon. It's used in sports and board games. It is also used within the game to describe various game mechanics in tool tips. It is a clear and concise semantic choice. It sounds more like you're giving yourself an excuse not to pay. I'm surprised they're even doing it at all. Several games that have gone F2P in the past pretty much just allow you access to whatever character was in the first slot the last time you logged out. If you want to play any of the others, you were SOL unless you payed. This way, players are at least given the chance to get their houses in order and choose which characters they want to keep. They are IMO the most fun class in the game. (I have four!) For one, kicking guys in their man-parts just never gets old. I'm more of a scoundrel guy. Tried slinger once, but just found it to be too static. The DPS is nice; it's just too dull for me. Plus, shotgun = fun! Also, if you want to heal, Sawbones is currently the best heal spec. It has an epic HoT, outstanding survivability, and pretty much infinite resources. Though its AoE is the weakest of the three. Unfortunately, scrappers have been nerfed hard twice. They've gone from top DPS to second from the bottom. But for some of us, they're such a great source of endless fun (and trolling ability) that we just don't care. There have been a few cosmetic changes first was the giggle that sounded when your proc was up. Not only was it awesome, it was easily to hear. The sound they replaced it with is short and really quiet and is easily drowned out by background noise. Then with the F2P patch, they replace the shotgun model with one that looks like a plastic toy that was best left in the Hasbro basement. The third spec, dirty fighting, isn't even worth mentioning. It's fundamentally broken and needs to be completely overhauled. Ironically, it's the one both scoundrels and slingers share and it doesn't work for either of them. FWIW though, the one caveat here is, since you're limited to characters, you might want to try an Agent instead. You lose the kick to the junk (and the shotgun if you go Op), but the gameplay is otherwise identical. However, Agent story is by far the best in the game. (You'll find few who disagree.) Some have even deemed it the best story BW has ever written. I'm not ready to go that far--simply because they have so many great ones, but it's definitely worth the experience.
Agent is pretty fun if you like to play a bit of James Bond in Star Wars. And the look at a society full of force users as a "normal" person is also pretty interesting. Most stories are pretty good, to be fair to Bioware, I also really liked the Light Side Sith Sorceror Questline. Rags to riches, but well done. Gameplay wise i found Warriors as Marauder/Sentinel the easiest to level, their self heals and cooldowns make it really easy.
Yeah. For breaking rules. I don't consider not paying to be any kind of rulebreaking activity but that's exactly what they make it sound like with this type of terminology. It was just an example for showing EA's general customer relationship philosophy. My main reason is that the F2P model is too restrictive. Well, in STO you can just keep all of your characters if you switch from gold status to silver. Your bank and inventory space doesn't suddenly shrink either. Everything you have earned while being subscribed is yours to keep.
If you were a subscriber at any point or paid for anything in SWTOR you won't be a pure FTPer ever again. Going free turns you into a preferred player that will keep soem benefits of a subscription. like chat and sprint... and any other unlocks you already had as far as I know. not sure what stuff you lose in any way.