The HK-51 stuff sounds pretty cool, I'm tempted to play it some more to do all the new stuff if there wasn't a bazillion other games out atm I want to play. Stupid November and its stupid amount of games.

That's misleading because according to that chart you can hardly do anything with a ftp account.

You can play through story content level 1-50 which is pretty good, and for a single $5 transaction you can get the basics for convenience like a bank tab. But yeh so much competition for game time atm!

Also, don't know why bioware emailed me 3 times today about F2P...

I finally found a decent page showing the differences between free/preferred/subscriber http://www.swtor.com/free/features

Just logged in quickly then, not having access to at least 3 quickbars proved to be an immediate problem, and not being able to hide helmets was a huge downer. But it's free, so, eh...

There's also real pricing of items available here, with a range depending on whether you get the better value currency packs: http://www.darthhater.com/articles/feature/22357-the-real-cost-of-cartel-market-items

Tbh it stll seems best to just pay $30 for 2 subscriber months, and if you still want to play, then you'll have 1050 coins after that (525 per month), which you can then use to unlock quickbars and a 3rd companion skill permanently.

when it says "sprint" is that like run? because thats so gay if u have to pay to get the run function

Mouse over it. Sprint unlocks for everyone at level 15.

Sprint is not just normal run either, you can run, and then sprint is more like "Force Sprint" that makes you go faster, its a travel power sorta deal.

You'll automatically have preferred status, which is a little bit less gimped than free. If you subscribe now, you'll also get a little bit of the "pay for" currency for each month that you were previously subscribed (I think that deal has been extended until December, though it may be over).

Basically, free is gimped but it's also free, for a $200 million dollar game with some insane voice acting. It's basically just a limited demo version, can't really complain. For about $30 I think that you can get the most important things such as quickbars and crew skills (and you no longer have to buy the game or pay subscriptions), and then never have to pay again. If I ever have time, I'm probably just going to do the subscription route like normal.

The only reason to really play this game is the stories though, and they're fully unlocked. You don't need crafting/companion customisation/PvP/etc for it, and all those things are pretty weakly implemented anyway.

Can someone give some advice on the server aussies play on. I started on the aussie pvp one and didnt see 1 other person in an hour of game play. Is it best just to go to a US server or something? Pretty sad

Also are the two factions fairly balanced on most servers?

I tried playing some last night, but I got sick of being made to feel like a second class citizen by constantly having locked features shoved in my face with a lovely message saying that they were only available to subscribers.

The cutscenes were kinda cool, but I'm not sure thats why I come to an MMO.

Game was super choppy whenever I saw any other players, I'm not sure if that was happening on my machine or the server.

I found myself getting depressed while playing because I kept remembering that this is the game that broke Bioware. I'll give it another shot this evening now that I've tempered my expectations.

Level 15 I thought?

they changed sprint to level 1 a long time ago, but it looks like you have to buy it if you're f2p.

edit: you pay $5 to become preferred status which unlocks a a few features

http://www.swtor.com/free/features

last edited by ravn0s at 13:45:04 19/Nov/12

The 2 character limit with no option to buy more prevents somebody like me with 3 just picking it up and getting into it again without subbing straight away, and the missing task bars mean that I can't activate the speeders and whatnot, which makes it impossible to just pick up. If their goal is to make it a limited demo from the start for new players than it kind of works, but if their goal is to get old players to return and see if they want to spend money, then they need to make it actually playable without subbing straight up...