Star Wars: The Old Republic II: Hutts don't have feet!

[HalfTangible]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

Suggestion: All posts in this thread from this point forward should follow this general format.

Explanation: This is scientifically proven to be the coolest speech pattern in the galaxy.

Flat Denial: No.

[MCerberus]

Originally Posted by HalfTangible

Flat Denial: No.

Thinly-veiled threat: I wouldn't dream of ending this formatting, as it would be dangerous to meatbag health.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Thanatos 51-50

A playgrounder recently did me a favour a purchased a standard edition code and two additonal months of game time, so I've been tooling around on the Aussie PvE with said playgrounder. Gunslingers in formalwear are awesome.

That sounds like me aside from the Playgrounder, the gunslinger and the Formal dress (My friend has his Consular in it but i drew the line at a Knight wearing it)

[Squark]

So... Bioware appears to be introducing cartel coins now. I suspect that means full F2P is not far behind...

Hk-51 requirements [Minor spoilers]

Spoiler

First off, you need a level 50 character from either faction. Second, you need a character of the opposite faction capable of braving the outlaw's den on tatooine. Finally, you'll need a group of four for a brief part of this, although they don't have to be working on the assembly (Just capable of getting through a level 50 flashpoint)

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by Squark

So... Bioware appears to be introducing cartel coins now. I suspect that means full F2P is not far behind...

I believe they said they're shooting for early November.

[MCerberus]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

I believe they said they're shooting for early November.

Well I have 150 now... and if I pay for a month I'll get another 150 for a bonus... and another bonus when f2p goes live if I'm active.

Time to reallocate the monthly gaming budget.

[NEO|Phyte]

I'll have 2500 once they get handed out. I regret nothing.

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by NEO|Phyte

I'll have 2500 once they get handed out. I regret nothing.

2750 for me, I think. Buy ALL the things!

[Leon]

As someone who will be on free to play when the prepaid account time expires not having access to my cargo hold will be brutal - i can live without everything else but that and restricted crafting is crazy

[Sith_Happens]

Speaking of F2P, they Cartel Market is on the PTS now. Among other things, it has (albeit only from a grab pack) a THRONE that's a SPEEDER.

Spoiler

[HalfTangible]

Originally Posted by Leon

As someone who will be on free to play when the prepaid account time expires not having access to my cargo hold will be brutal - i can live without everything else but that and restricted crafting is crazy

WHAT!!!!! D= Half of my crafting materials are in there...

[JediSoth]

Has anyone heard if existing characters from former subscribers don't match the F2P race/class combos, will they be available? 'Cause right now, it's looking like NONE of my characters will be playable without a subscription.

[Squark]

Originally Posted by HalfTangible

WHAT!!!!! D= Half of my crafting materials are in there...

To be precise, you can purchase and expand your cargo hold with cartel coins as an f2p player. Not sure what the word on how players who are grandfathered in will work.

More concerning to me is making f2p inventory expansion only purchasable via cartel coins (at the very least, let f2p have the first four rows available, Bioware).

F2p players also only get 1 crew skill (unless they by more slots [PER CHARACTER] with, you guessed it, Cartel Coins)

Also, 3 Warzones per week for f2p is stupid beyond belief, especially at level 50 for the gear grind (Wait, f2p players need to spend cartel coins to equip purple items anyway )

Other stupid restrictions;
-Sprint comes later for f2p players, at level 15
-You can only use the field respawn option 5 times before you have to purchase more.
-Longer quick travel cooldown
-3 Flashpoints with loot per week: While I suppose being able to do extra flashpoints without getting loot is better than nothing... It's still stupid.
-Hide Head slot, Match color to chestpiece, and Titles are all p2p only.
-Event based loot requires a per-character authorization.

Restrictions I'm okay with;
-No emergency fleet pass: Meh. That's what the security key and fleet passes are for.
-No operations: I can see how they have to keep some stuff open only to the subscribers, although the weekly pass stuff continues to drive me nuts

Perks they added for subscribers (Which I don't mind)
-2 more quickbar slots are available
-Automatic Access to Legacy Speeder Piloting I
-Free respecialization!
-Reduced Mod removal cost (Frankly, I still think mod removal costs should go the way of the dodo, but I'll take what I can get)

Good things they added- Previewing weapons, color crystals, pets, and speeders with the preview armor option

Originally Posted by JediSoth

Has anyone heard if existing characters from former subscribers don't match the F2P race/class combos, will they be available? 'Cause right now, it's looking like NONE of my characters will be playable without a subscription.

I know character race at least will get grandfathered in, thankfully. You may not be able to create additional characters of that race, but current characters won't be locked simply because they're of a premium race (Also, you can buy legacy unlocks with cartel coins)

[The Glyphstone]

You will receive Complimentary Cartel Coins for all your previous and current subscription months.

The Cartel Coins that are visible in your Ledger now will be granted to you when the Free-to-Play option becomes available as long as you have active game time on your account at that time.

So if your account happens to be lapsed when F2P goes live, you get diddlyjack,even if you've been a loyal customer since launch apparently. Great customer appreciation, there.

[HalfTangible]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

So if your account happens to be lapsed when F2P goes live, you get diddlyjack,even if you've been a loyal customer since launch apparently. Great customer appreciation, there.

*sigh* Welp. There goes what little interest i still had in going back.

[JediSoth]

Originally Posted by Squark

I know character race at least will get grandfathered in, thankfully. You may not be able to create additional characters of that race, but current characters won't be locked simply because they're of a premium race (Also, you can buy legacy unlocks with cartel coins)

Well, that's one thing, at least. Still not keen on the quickbar restrictions, but I might be OK with using what cartel coins I have to unlock additional ones (though I think locking interface stuff under a paywall is monumentally stupid).

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by JediSoth

Well, that's one thing, at least. Still not keen on the quickbar restrictions, but I might be OK with using what cartel coins I have to unlock additional ones (though I think locking interface stuff under a paywall is monumentally stupid).

It's like the developers spent way too long playing Upgrade Complete.

[Squark]

Originally Posted by JediSoth

Well, that's one thing, at least. Still not keen on the quickbar restrictions, but I might be OK with using what cartel coins I have to unlock additional ones (though I think locking interface stuff under a paywall is monumentally stupid).

TO be clear; F2p players still get the four quickbars we've had since launch free; Subscribers just get a fifth and sixth one they can use for extra stuff (Legacy abilities, mainly, I imagine, since you can fit everything else on the existing four)

[JediSoth]

Originally Posted by Squark

TO be clear; F2p players still get the four quickbars we've had since launch free; Subscribers just get a fifth and sixth one they can use for extra stuff (Legacy abilities, mainly, I imagine, since you can fit everything else on the existing four)

Oh. How did I miss that? Is the information just being disseminated in a confusing way? 4 is plenty for me, since I was just playing the story portion of the game and could care less about Operations.

[Squark]

Originally Posted by JediSoth

Oh. How did I miss that? Is the information just being disseminated in a confusing way? 4 is plenty for me, since I was just playing the story portion of the game and could care less about Operations.

THere are a couple of sources I'm using here; the f2p chart here, and also the PTS server's patch notes deal with some of the newer things they've added recently.

[NEO|Phyte]

Originally Posted by Leon

As someone who will be on free to play when the prepaid account time expires not having access to my cargo hold will be brutal - i can live without everything else but that and restricted crafting is crazy

Did a bit of digging, you're in luck

Unlock: Cargo Hold Access Unlock access to your ship's cargo hold. Gain storage for 80 items. Your Cargo Hold can be accessed on your Ship or from the Fleet. Subscribers and Preferred Status Players have automatic access to this feature. Makes a great gift for another player. 475 CC

:edit: and it turns out it's real easy to become Preferred Status, too.

Spoiler

Once our Free-to-Play option launches, Free-to-Play Players will gain Preferred Player Status by making a single purchase through our website. This purchase can simply be a quantity of Cartel Coins, or a Game Time Card, or even a month of a Subscription. Additionally, former Subscribers who are returning as Free-to-Play Players, will find they have Preferred Status!

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

In addition to the above benefits, 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.

also, regarding warzones,

That being said, one of our golden rules is that the Free-to-Play experience should not cheapen the experience for paying subscribers. If it turns out that the Free-to-Play conversion results in a degraded Warzone experience once we go live for subscribers, you can rest assured that we will quickly make adjustments to the system to ensure that subscribers have an optimal experience.

No clue if they'll actually hold to it, and I don't PvP anyway, but it sounds like they care if PvP goes down the hole over there.

[Squark]

Oh, whew... Preferred status gets rid of a lot of the really stupid restrictions, although I really wish there were lifetime account-wide content unlocks like a permanent Space Mission unlock.

[JediSoth]

Oh, that Preferred Status sounds right up my alley. Certainly, it removes most of the reservations I had about returning to the game in F2P mode. Looks like my subscription was good for something, after all!

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by JediSoth

Oh, that Preferred Status sounds right up my alley. Certainly, it removes most of the reservations I had about returning to the game in F2P mode. Looks like my subscription was good for something, after all!

Depending on how long you were subscribed for, you should have enough starting coins for at least some of the other unlocks/authorizations as well.

Also, on the quickbars bit, free players start with two.

[Antonok]

It appears the F2P goes live Nov. 15th.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by NEO|Phyte

Did a bit of digging, you're in luck

Yeah I have seen that since i posted, still rankles me about the crafting restrictions ~ im going to have to alter some of the crewskills to keep the materials flowing for all (or be prepared to pay through the nose for the rare things)

The ability to send Mail, including one (1) attachment

This had me annoyed initially until i realized that its not that bad, just going to be like mailing anything in LotRO

[NEO|Phyte]

So the new stuff from the cartel market's been interesting to watch prices for, most of the new speeders are dirt cheap, aside from the throne, which ranges from 4mil to 20mil. Which is a shame, I really want a throne for my sorcerer. Hard to track the price on pink-purple crystals since they can't be put on the GTN, but whites are 3mil+ thus far.

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by NEO|Phyte

So the new stuff from the cartel market's been interesting to watch prices for, most of the new speeders are dirt cheap, aside from the throne, which ranges from 4mil to 20mil. Which is a shame, I really want a throne for my sorcerer. Hard to track the price on pink-purple crystals since they can't be put on the GTN, but whites are 3mil+ thus far.

How much is the Lhosan Manta going for? That's actually about equal to the throne with respect to "speeders I want."

[NEO|Phyte]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

How much is the Lhosan Manta going for? That's actually about equal to the throne with respect to "speeders I want."

Hmm, also less than dirt cheap, looks like 300k-550k. On my server anyway.

[Neftren]

So I logged back in for Free to Play. Chatted with a few of the old server regulars, though it looks like a lot of the people I once knew have moved on.