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Star Wars: The Old Republic Opens Free-to-Play Option
Post by Eorl @ 10:15am 16/11/12 | 24 Comments
BioWare and Lucas Arts have today announced that the free-to-play option for their Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO has now gone live, allowing players to experience the eight class stories available.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a story-driven, massively multiplayer online game with a Free-to-Play option from BioWare and LucasArts. Set thousands of years before the classic Star Wars movies, players team up with friends online to fight in heroic battles, explore a galaxy of vibrant planets and experience visceral Star Wars combat, all set to a sweeping musical score.

Players are asked to join forces with either the Galactic Republic or Sith Empire and choose one of eight iconic Star Wars characters, including the Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler, Trooper, Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter and Imperial Agent.
BioWare has also coincided the release of Game Update 1.5: HK-51 Activated, which adds new areas to explore, a new Companion character and more. Players who take up on the free-to-play option will find that they can level all the way to 50, however there are certain restrictions being placed, including limited access to chat functionality and Flashpoints.

For more info on what to expect from the new free-to-play option head over to the official game page which also includes a chart on what features each subscription model can access.


biowarestar warsthe old republiclucas artsfree-to-play
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Latest Comments
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Khel
Posted 10:33am 16/11/12
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.
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dais
Posted 10:36am 16/11/12
That's misleading because according to that chart you can hardly do anything with a ftp account.
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Hogfather
Posted 11:18am 16/11/12
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...
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Khel
Posted 12:12pm 16/11/12
Yeah, I got three emails too
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Nerf Lord
Posted 03:40pm 16/11/12
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
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kappa
Posted 03:49pm 16/11/12
Might fire this up over the weekend and take a look at f2p. I never did finish my BH story :S
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Nerf Lord
Posted 04:41pm 16/11/12
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.
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Sc00bs
Posted 05:39pm 16/11/12
when it says "sprint" is that like run? because thats so gay if u have to pay to get the run function
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Hogfather
Posted 05:42pm 16/11/12
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.
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Nerf Lord
Posted 05:50pm 16/11/12
500 Complimentary Cartel Coins
Friend Referral Reward when your friend becomes a subscriber

We should set up a referral circle system...
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Khel
Posted 06:00pm 16/11/12
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.
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BladeRunner
Posted 08:34pm 16/11/12
What about people who bought the game? I stoped playing a while after launch. What do we get? The FTP sounds pretty gimped.
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Nerf Lord
Posted 08:48pm 16/11/12
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.
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BladeRunner
Posted 09:06pm 16/11/12
I still have the client on my 2nd drive so I will give it a go later on. Thank you for the info Nerf Lord.
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DK
Posted 01:47pm 18/11/12
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
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Khel
Posted 01:58pm 18/11/12
Well, if you started a new character, the first hour of gameplay would the the starting planet, which nobody really has much reason to go to unless they are also starting a fresh level 1 character. Play a bit longer and get through the starting zone and you'll get to more populated planets/places.
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DK
Posted 02:03pm 18/11/12
Also are the two factions fairly balanced on most servers?
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Nerf Lord
Posted 03:16pm 18/11/12
I started on the aussie pvp one a few months back when they had the free to level 15. I had regrets, because it was consistently the least populated server out of any in the world...

From level 1 to max level, I met other people to group with maybe a half dozen times, and saw an enemy once... The instanced PvP still found people though.
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eski
Posted 12:50pm 19/11/12
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.
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Hogfather
Posted 12:50pm 19/11/12
I mean seriously, not letting me SPRINT until I pay money?! F*** you guys.

Level 15 I thought?
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ravn0s
Posted 01:45pm 19/11/12
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
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eski
Posted 01:50pm 19/11/12
Level 15 I thought?


yeah, I deleted that comment after I reread the above discussion where you guys had already touched on it.

Its still a completely idiotic thing to do, and to me demonstrates how they've missed the point of F2P. It feels like both the sub and F2P offerings are pretty boned.
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Nerf Lord
Posted 05:55pm 19/11/12
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...
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Nerf Lord
Posted 01:05pm 27/11/12
They're making it 4 quickbars for former (preferred) players, which will make it actually possible to step outside and use one's speeder or whatever in f2p mode and consider spending money on the game.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=562422

They must have heard my whinging ;).
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