I've been noticing low-mid level crew skill missions (so far tested archeology and treasure hunting) are failing significantly more often, even if they're grey stuff you've been running for months with barely any issues. This may be a bug, but it seems like a nerf to crew skills that I haven't heard about yet. Anyone know which? Is it part of the big middle finger to crafters that is 6.0?

I completed "Operation Ascendant Pride" which shows that it rewards a reputation box, but it does not do so. It also does not directly add that reputation to your legacy (I'm still at 0). I have yet to test other space missions, so it may be just this one, but I would not bet on that.

My numbers are for Star Forge, but I've found some outliers in coin/credit ratio. My viewpoint so far has been as a GTN buyer so I'm not sure how most of this sells, but account artifact authorizations often get priced at 200 mil or more and cost 2700 coins. GTN slots (account) sell for 20-30 mil and only cost 280 coins. I just sold a cathar unlock at 78 mil recently and it costs 600 coins. Many of the appearance options (particularly afro, dreadlock, double braid, and a few others) haven't been on the GTN or are there barely at all so check the GTN and see what's currently missing. You can then buy one with ~100 coins and try pricing it at whatever you want to see if someone will pay a potentially ridiculous price to get the only one available. Maybe other things will get sales quicker, but these all seem good uses to me if you're willing to wait for the right buyer to come along.

Referral links are great, but they only work for people who are making a brand new account or for a previous subscriber (different benefits for those 2 categories), so if the friend is an existing F2P player, they won't be able to take advantage of that and stay 100% F2P. Getting preferred by buying $5 of coins isn't enough for the referral to work either.

I definitely agree this was underwhelming (but I'd go further and say this is a net negative). There are so many crafting materials I don't know by name, that hovering over every item in the Treasure Hunting or other section is far more tiresome than looking in legacy bay 2, seeing everything in a nice line from 1 to 10 and knowing what and how much of everything I have. I'll be pulling mats out of this materials inventory until it gets a UI upgrade.

If anyone is still wondering, a Dev replied in a different thread:

I think you've got the OP backwards (or I do). I read the suggestion as a way to convert CC coins directly into a small amount of credits, without having to buy something and sell it on the GTN. Your point 1 is valid, his ratios would be far off from what a reasonable player would want to get from their coins (as I understand it 1 coin = 20k on the GTN, give or take depending on the item), but if they hate the GTN and just want a credit infusion right now, why not let them? Bioware could conceivably get more money from people buying CCs to convert and if priced appropriately would be a direct counter to credit sellers (but understandably it wouldn't ever get that good). A significant issue is that it likely wouldn't keep up with inflation (see the escrow transfers), so it would only get to be more and more of a noob trap over time.

You can find a number of comparison charts/posts like the above provided (the reddit chart is good too), but all of them are incomplete (not that my additions are either) because there are just so many changes. There's also the ability to make characters of certain species for certain classes that subscribers get, but preferred do not (unless you've unlocked the species in your legacy). Subscribers buy from vendors for 80% of the credit cost that preferred do, gain increased experience, get rest experience, have the ability to exit stronghold direct to ship and direct to fleet (greyed out for preferred), and get additional requisition in GSF. Basically, if you can think of a way the game will make your life more difficult to not have a sub, they do it. I was surprised how many undocumented (or at least rarely discussed) restrictions are removed (or benefits applied) there are by subscribing and I'm quite sure I'll keep finding more. If you do any manner of selling on the GTN, the 5 slot limit per character as preferred is extremely restrictive, so I'd pick up the unlocks for more slots.

I wonder how bugged UI is still a thing in this game that no one has a fix for, only workarounds, but thanks all for the replies. I'm pretty sure movable windows is enabled by default (or I found it earlier and turned it on) and I can't imagine having those fixed to one spot with so many different windows to open. The problem arises quite often because when I'm browsing the GTN for stuff with my inventory window open and my crew skill and crafting open to keep my companions busy while I'm shopping, there just isn't enough screen space no matter how you arrange them to not have them overlap.

When I have 2 windows open in the game UI (for example my inventory and my crafting skill menu), often when I click on the one that's on top (say to craft an item), the game thinks I pressed a button in the lower window which is covered up by what I'm actually clicking (and for example I select an item in my inventory instead). Is there a way to fix this?

As a note, the bottom 2 options (exit to ship and to fleet) are subscriber only and are greyed out for preferred/pure f2p. This is one of the hidden perks you get for subscribing that it seems like isn't documented anywhere (at least that I found).

Yes, there are a ton of features that you would lose access to if you go preferred, such as fewer character slots, loss of artifact authorization, no section X, some races are no longer accessible for creation, etc. That is, unless you buy them with CCs or off the GTN from someone who has.