I understand why f2p/preferred accounts have a lot of limitations compared to subscription accounts. you guys ARE for profit company after all. but of all the limitations - one that IMO is just cruel - is inability to open boxes. so many of the quests in SWTOR specifically reward boxes and quite a few of them - have a box as the only reward. restricting those boxes to subscribers only just seems like a bit much.

when f2p was first implemented, you said something to an effect of "we want to give people different options in how to play and how to pay. steady monthly charge, vs individual purchases" so... would you please consider implementing another purchasable unlock. just like f2p players can buy access to artifact gear and displaying titles etc - why not unlock that allows them to open quest reward boxes?

and in that same line of thinking - what about ability to augment their gear. don't make it free, charge for it. but allow players to do that without having to subscribe - paying as they go. like say... a small tradable unlock, kinda like ... dye or inventory slot that is consumable on use and allows to add augment to a single piece of gear? come to think of it, it could also work for subscribers who might prefer to spend real life money rather then grind up enough credits for augmentation kit purchase + table fee.

it could be a nice added source of income for the company, and encourage players who for variety of reasons might not want to be tied to monthly subscription*, but are still willing to pay money - to spend more of it.

*for some people there's an emotional cost to subscription. you start feeling obligated to log in regularly to get your money's worth instead of whenever you feel like it, becasue subscription is temporary - it expires after a month so what if you barely played, it feels like you just wasted your money, and these people might be willing to pay more for one time purchases, but feel like whatever it is that they bought - will be there for them, whenever they feel like logging in, so there's less pressure. its the same reason why "one time purchase" lifetime subscriptions work. which.. incidentally another possible suggestion.

Preferred players can augment their gear, it just costs more to add the slot.

can they? becasue I've been told by preferred guildie that they are not allowed by the game. higher cost is certainly fine IMO, but both restriction on boxed quest rewards and gear augmentation (which you know what, I'm going to test out as soon as I have a chance, even though I have no reason to distrust that particular guildie) with only way of removing it being subscription seems like a bit much. quest rewards more so then augments.

can they? becasue I've been told by preferred guildie that they are not allowed by the game. higher cost is certainly fine IMO, but both restriction on boxed quest rewards and gear augmentation (which you know what, I'm going to test out as soon as I have a chance, even though I have no reason to distrust that particular guildie) with only way of removing it being subscription seems like a bit much. quest rewards more so then augments.

I did it a few days ago while I was preferred. I forget how much I paid but it was quite a bit more than the 36K (MK-9) and I remember grumbling about it to a guildmate. The price, while steep, isn't so bad but combined with the 350K credit cap, it's a bit off-putting.

ah. haven't had a chance to test it still (aaah, distractions) but nonetheless - it could still be a nice alternative item to sell.

in a same vein as they used to sell ship upgrades that you could also craft/buy with in game currency. and adding unlock that allows preferred/f2p players open quest rewards? I think would be a good addition. I will never understand why they restricted it in a first place, its not like 3 people vs 5 to send out on missions, becasue you may have fewer of them, but at least you can still do it. not being able to utilize quest rewards is just... cruel IMO.

It's called "an incentive to subscribe." There really can be no reasonable complaints regarding what limitations a game has for players who pay nothing to play it.

I'm not asking for free. I'm not asking to remove all the restrictions.

I'm SUGGESTING that they add another unlock that people could PAY for, just like the PAY for artifact equipment unlocks, weekly operations passes, access to section x, access to guild bank etc etc. we're NOT talking about free here.

ability to accept quest rewards as your major incentive to subscribe goes contrary to the idea of "chose the way you play and pay".

ability to accept ALL quest rewards acquired through a PAID FOR unlock will not remove any of the other restrictions.

ability to open basic quest rewards (and we are talking basic, you start getting boxes as quest rewards very early on and on quite a few occasions, its the ONLY reward you are getting) should NOT IMO be restricted to subscribers only. I do think that charging for it is reasonable. but even credit limits can be temporarily increased nowadays via escrow. insisting on this restriction remaining no matter what seems a bit petty to me