Announcing a Free-to-Play Option

I have mixed feelings about F2P, as any reasonable player might have. I like the idea that since I have been with the game since the beginning (not to mention beta), that I get unique rewards. I think it tarnishes the game and companies reputation but at the same time will add more players, more content and a broader horizon for the game itself. I, myself, am going to play both SWTOR and GW2 frequently. I have learned that you CAN balance between games.

SWTOR is fun. But the few that still found it fun, weren't bring Bioware enough revenue to continue to make it fun. They said it themselves, they plan to stay in the game for a decade and I myself sincerely hope they do. I just hope this game doesn't turn into a Buy to Win scenario. Please Bioware, follow in GW2's footsteps and limit what the cash shop does in the game world and what ramifications it will have against people who don't frequently use it. I pray for this game to finally go in the right direction.

I am all for this F2P system and despite what others think and say and are freaking out about, I personally believe it will be good for business AND Game Experience. I Have a lot of friends who play other games and/or are just starting to get into the MMO feild, and I would love for them to come and play with me but they don't see the point when the f2p is only up to level 15 and they just aren't ready to deal out money for a game they aren't to knowledgable about! My only concern on the business end part of this is Benefits of being a sub vs. f2p member.
If I were to make my own suggestions I would say;

-Only Subscribers should be able to create a Legacy (Because lets face it, Legacy is ****** and i'm sure people will buy the game to get access to it and all of it's benefit)
-Make the Bonus items truly ****** (I know that they all have not been revealed yet by far lol, I'm just saying make them EPIC!!!! one I would love to see is the rainbow saber crystal and yes it is canon look it up)
-Don't allow F2P members to complete their last chapter, sure they can get to level 50 but I say they have to pay the sub to complete their story
-Limit the F2P to 2 servers. (Why 2 and not 1? have to give people to option of playing on both pvp and pve servers at the same time)
- No new titles for F2P (i.e they only get the first; Apprentice, Padawan, Agent, etc.

I think if you impliment restrictions such as these this will greatly Improve the communities mood, Improve the rate at which these F2P players switch to Paying Subscribers

P.S. one more idea that is for the Cartel Coin deal, First I would like to say I AM EXTREMELY EXCITED For this wonderful addition to the game experience, and I CANNOT WAIT For my Nihilus Mask lol! Brilliant Idea and whoever thought of it should get a definite raise haha X3 anyway, I have no idea what items cost and I am purly speculating this suggestion off of guesses but I think there should be diffent MONTHLY benefits for different teirs of subscribers because we all love to feel like our extra level of support is also getting acknowledged and rewarded. Now I could have read it wrong but to me I read that all subscribers would recieve 200 Cartel Coins a month, even new and those who Switch from F2p to Payed Account. While this is awesome, and don't get me wrong I know you don't have to do ANYTHING Like this for us in the first place, but I think I speak for all of your loyal supporters who have been with this amazing game since launch when I ask, "Could we recieve a little more than the new and Switchers from F2P subscribers?" Not much lol maybe like 250-225 instead of 200? I know you are giving us like that extra 250 and even 1k for CE owners but it will probably go pretty fast with all the awesome things in store I'm sure there will be, I think a continuous reward would be much more satisfying instead of just one large sum, whether replace or add that on. and if you do end up replacing the initial 250+ coins with a larger monthly gain could I suggest you also impliment this for different game version owners? Like DDE owners get an extra 25-50 on top of that, and CE get an extra 50-75 or something. these are just suggestions that come to mind that might make the community a bit happier <3

This is by far My Favorite MMO and Despite all of the hate and rable on these forums, and even though this game got off to a rocky start, I only see this game getting better and better and even with features better than any mmo I have played. I am Trully excited for all the new content that has been promised and is to come and I am not going anywhere soon, I really want to see this game prosper and become the Shining Star in the Gaming world it so deserves to be.

2 of my raiders already cancelled because of F2P and I can't help to fear more will do.
Who can even blame them

What makes me saddest about all this is that they shut down star wars galaxies for this game. They wanted to "steal" all the players from there to boost swtor. Makes sense if you have no sense though. THey are two DIFFERENT games. One much better for single player hence swtor and the other a TRUE star wars experience, hence swg. I played swg from day one until the end. I even put up with the combat update which was absolutely horible. But that game WAS star wars. Real space battles. Real player markets. COMPLETELY open worlds. And when I mean open I mean that an entire world map was accessable from corner to corner. You could go EVERYWHERE. This games limits you like a single player first person shooter. You are forced to only travel the paths and you can cross on foot entire planets after a few minutes. SWG would take you an hour plus. As you can see I MISS swg more than any game I have ever played. I am a paying subscriber now with swtor, however, I have never done operations or even flashpoints and only have grouped about a dozen times for the 2+, or 4 group missions. I love the single player swtor has. It really is to me a SWKOTOR 3. That is why I will continue to pay UNTIL I do all the stories for all the classes. Then guess what? Free to play!

Having seen what F2P did for Lord Of The Rings Online (very successful F2P model), I can only think this is a positive move from EA/BioWare. I guess it just depends how greedy they get with the micro-transaction system they use for it.

Turbine (LotRO) were very generous with F2P content unlocking and at the same time had a great selection of micro-transaction stuff to compliment it. It worked well. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it elevated their MMO success to record profits and players, compared to their subscription based model, breathing life back into a dying game.

I don't really like this F2P change, but I am still staying subscribed. I plan to keep it that way until very first P2W item appears in the shop. And to say it very clear, in next minute I will leave and never ever come back to this game.

So it is 3am, I had to take a moment to allow this news to sink in and not reply with an emotional response.

However, I am very upset. I was in the beta. I have played since the early start days. I had such high hopes that this was a MMO that I could play for years. Sadly, I see a game that has a smaller staff to fix a huge list of bugs. I see a game that will release new content before all the bugs are fixed to keep what few paying players happy and try to bring in new ones. I see a game that is on course to die a slow death.

Programmers will be hired and fired, Producers will rotate out as better projects come along and in the end there will be a last note stating that it has been a great experience and Star Wars fans/players are the best. The words will be hollow... as the game died long before they were typed.

My heart is broke.

Bummer - oh well.

I really dont think this is the best idea I highly doubt they will listen to us....But I just dont want the 10 or 15 years olds causing trouble on the servers I've played all over the gaming community and kids dont know how to behave...

Maybe there will be an option to not see chat from F2P players. I will stay subed so i can complete all the stories i want and with the F2P option, allot more options for grouping even at the times i play.