Is the F2P/Preffered system too prohibitive, and if so, what should change?

They don't spend nothing... and one day, they spend a lot on something they really want. And 2 months later, they do it again because they forget the previous one or because it's easier the second time.

But the important point is that Bioware doesn't pay nothing for us. No ingame request, no customer service, no moderation and better : free players have no priority to access the server. They only take the vacancies.
They are free to Bioware.

Preffered is ok, i'd say it's even better than ok, when you have got your unlocks.

f2p, tbh i think their trade restricktion should be reduced so they at least could trade in FP's or just move them to preffered status with regards to Trading.

Just to throw something else in to the mix. How on earth can F2P become part of the so called 'community' when they can't even post on the forums?

Nickle and dime approach is unhealthy. One day, EA will wake up but then again, they have NEVER understood Community from day #1

I agree.

I personally go the route of the first choice, where i pay every now and then for 2 months playtime instead of a recurring subscription, that allows me to pay for 2 months when i have spare cash.

The f2p is awful....I sub because play for free is tooooo much headache.

You know full well that I'm talking about the N word. Something that is nothing but "a name" for a group of people but has an immensely loaded value no less. Don't pretend you didn't know what I was talking about.

But that's the point. Not a single one of the other F2P games I've played have ever had any discussion about "this game has X number of VIP accounts" since it suddenly doesn't become important.
Because as long as it is called subscriptions, people will still compare it to other games that are subscription based (which TOR no longer is).

I don't understand why you brought a racial slur into a discussion about the concept of how one pays to play the game. The two have absolutely no relation to each other. And I totally didn't get that you were referring to a racial slur; I figured you were talking about the unique names African-American parents give their children because, you know, that's their name and we were talking about names.

TOR has a mixed revenue model, just like other games including the big dog, WoW. If people get their minds wrapped around the axle of how many subscriptions the game has, that's their problem for thinking about such an irrelevant thing like it means something. (Unless they intend to invest in EA, in which case it means something but not much because SWTOR is but a nugget in a large pile of... something... within the EA portfolio.)

In all honesty, F2P has no universal definition past "I am playing without spending a single cent".

http://www.swtor.com/info/overview <--- what can we read just under the usual PR BS?

So, it`s NOT F2P - you are playing up to lvl 50 with some restrictions, or become a sub. People tend to read what they want to read, but this is not the case - the norm, or standard is STILL the subscription - the only difference being that freeloaders get to load the game and play it to some extent, as opposed to the 2012 state of things, which required the client bought and a sub plan set.

Again you're comparing them one to one. That won't work. Of course the sub will reflect more consistent revenue when compared to a single non-sub even the averaged non-sub revenue. In successful Freemium games the non-sub population is much larger than the sub population. For instance if the ratio were 1:10 then you'd need to compare the average revenue generated by 10 non-subs for the average revenue generated by 1 sub especially if you count whales as outliers.

I count indirect sales of CM items. That subsidy fuels the demand. No demand on the GTN, less demand on the CM. The credit caps tend to foster a "use it or lose it" attitude though I'm loathe to point that out.

Is TOR at the point where non-sub revenue matches or exceeds sub revenue? I don't know for sure, but I'd say it's close if not already there. The content drought is impacting the population.

I am more simple minded and I say money is money and there is nothing unclear about it. If I am spending 100 bucks and buy whatever packs I am buying, I paid Bioware 100 bucks. Your ingame money that are buying whatever I am selling from the packs I bought will still amount to ZERO towards Bioware revenue.

And my stuff put on sale WILL sell. It might not be you, but some other guy that spent 100 bucks might buy what I`m selling, because he didn`t get it dropped, or some other sub that hasn`t paid anything above 15, but has plenty of ingame cash.

I also happen to not subscribe to the "free players are useful" wave of thinkers. To me, 15 bucks a month is and always will be better than "maybe" 15 bucks a month. And if I am to believe the posts that want more features for freemiums, they don`t seem to want to spend ANYTHING on this game, ever. You know how they can be useful? By paying their 15. You know how they can have no restrictions whatsoever? By paying their 15. Because, after everything is said and done, they are STILL getting this game for free.

And I like comparing then 1:1, because I don`t see anyone collecting money for MY sub, so why would I think otherwise? A player either pays its dues or it doesn`t. But can`t ask for nothing if it doesn`t. Tell you what: pay half my sub from now on and I`ll concede the 1:1 thinking. Will you?