My horrible free to play experience from over a year ago still affects me.

f2p model is very basic but works.

however i would never have resubbed if not for the 12x xp bonus.

I played this game to death. I LOVE THE STORYLINES. Love it. Yes, even Jedi Consular.

But the side missions filled me with dread whenever I made a new character, to the point where I got absolutely fed up with it and left for a long time.

I hope they make the 12x xp a permanent toggle for subscribers.. It doesn't break the game anymore than the upcoming 'start at level 60!' expansion does. So I hope they consider this, if it were the case i would never unsub because i could always get my KOTOR3 on whenever i felt the itch.

12x XP will disappear but they already said that they are revamping the leveling experience so you can do it at a fraction of time of what it was. Clearly instead of 12x XP they will make leveling through the story lines a much quicker experience.

I've played lotro for years, and that was one of the games I had in mind when comparing their f2p to swtor's. And yes, it's considerably worse. Lotro doesn't limit gear, gear options such as hiding head slots and dyes, and restrict access to instances and raids.

Yippy for the entire basic story.

tyvm for this information, nothing would make me happier than to be able to enjoy the storylines without grinding like crazy in the higher levels like I used to have to.

I wish I could agree with you but I actually played the F2P and it was indeed FREE 2 PLAY.

I didn't have to pay a dime and I got to see everything I needed to play the game. I didn't have all the UI bars but here the catch. I didn't need them all. Now, in saying that there were a few things I couldn't put on the bar. Mounts, class buff and fun items but thats a frill and extra in F2P. It didn't hinder the game because all my combat stuff I was able to put on 2 bars and play to my hearts content.

I didn't need matching colors or hide helm to enjoy the stories and the credit restriction was all no big deal. That again is just extra frill and not really needed in F2P. Thats some decent subscriber perks.

The reduction in EXP wasn't even all that bad because I could buy an exp boost off the GTN if I really felt I was getting behind.

The restriction to FP and warzones I didn't even think were bad because I was there to play the stories. Thats why BW is selling. If your there to PVP or run FP/ops a lot. Yea, you should be a subscriber.

Limited GTN use. Was never an issue. Want to play the GTN or use it a lot. Another nice subscriber perk.

The only thing that I think should not be a F2P restriction is the epic gear use, That one seemed tacked on and if it's in a quest it should be usable, but guess what? I completed the entire story rather easily even with that restriction.

I did not have a horrible experience. IT was actually a good experience. I turned that F2P account into a subscriber account not because F2P was bad but because a subscriber account is just better. Which it should be.

Yeah, personally I play a story-based MMO for its cosmetic options, not for its story.

Nice that you picked out a small example of what I mentioned in swtor's f2p limitations, while completely ignoring where I also said gear itself, flashpoints, and Ops. Once your story ends, that's all any end gamer plays for.

That's right. I also forgot that everyone is an end-game raider and no one plays a heavily story-driven MMO for its story.

Point is, TOR gives you quite a bit for free. Not enough for me or for you, obviously.

Maybe if the game were marketed as "freemium", rather than F2P, people might get the restrictions. They see F2P, they expect just that--completely free to play, no restrictions whatsoever.

Then again, marketing in any major business prides themselves on the ability to turn a phrase.

What games are completely free to play with no restrictions whatsoever?
And by 'restrictions' I'm including all the games that have intrusive advertising because if you can't handle not being able to run around without your helmet showing, you wouldn't be able to handle ads in your face all the time either.