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

The only way to do that would be to add more benefits to subscribers and that would only make the F2P/preferred players scream even more about how unfair it is and so on and so forth...

Why would F2P or Preferred players ever "scream" about how "unfair" it is? One gets to play the game without spending a dime, which I admit is pretty unfair to the developers and the paying players, but if they feel the need to "scream" about it, they could just pay instead to fair it up. The other gets to play a less restrictive version of the game after having paid a small bit of money once which is also pretty unfair to the developers and other players but the same resolution exists.

Well I'm not an F2P player so I don't know why they ever scream about it, but they do (not all of them of course, but some... especially former subs).

Don't pin it on me, it's not me doing the screaming.

It was $20 when it came out, however subscribers got a $10 discount.

Maybe you should look at games like LOTRO, Star Trek online, World of Tanks, League of Legends, the list goes on. EA/Bioware just don't understand - like the majority here - if you place content behind a firewall, people will not pay it and they wont stay.

There's a reason why all servers remain 'light' population for longer - because of the restrictions.

IMHO, the entire F2P model is as flawed as a sub-only model. No one should be able to play a game "for free" in a way that gives them full access. Most F2P models are heavily dependent on either P2W, or funding themselves solely from cosmetics. Particularly with the latter, if that's where your money comes from, what do you think a game will spend a disproportionate amount of time developing?

I think SWTOR comes closer to what I think is a fair model, though not completely. This model is more of an a la carte model, where the amount you pay is proportional to the amount you want to play, Now, I don;t mind some level of pay for cosmetics, I just don't think it's good for it to be the lion's share. And, I don't mind there being a "casual and free" option, but it should be limited in how much play per time period is allowed.

...My post pretty clearly spelled it out, but I will repeat myself though I expect your intent was not to get an answer, rather to try and demean the post.

The intent is to try and reduce the bad impression new players get when trying out the game...something Bioware has been actively doing since the F2P model launched.

I personally feel that the items I mentioned are the only remaining items that really turn folks off to the game.

Frankly I couldn't care less if subs dont like F2P players, nor am I concerned about subs feelings toward giving F2P players more perks. My only concern is to see the game thrive and grow.

Hopefully that answers your question.

F2P player most of the time (haven't got time for OPS or PvP anyway. And playing class stories with full unlocks ain't that painful..)
Yeah, alot of restrictions are making the life hard. (350k credit limit and inability to send credits via mail are on the top of the list for me..not to mention that crafting with only 10% re chance and without crafting ques is totally unfair). But that seems some what reasonable
But still some of the restrictions seems stupid to me..
1) Inability to post in the forums. I mean..really..? If you don't want all of the "WE WANT EVERYTHING FOR FREE" threads just let f2p's to post in Story and Lore or STAR WARS Discussion, Classes, whatever..
2) F2P and Pref can't open the tickets. ***..? yeah..support resources etc, but few times already I've stumbled upon a bug in the game, wanted to report it..aaand..nope, I can't do that. You have to pay 15$ a month to report bugs

The game wont thrive and grow when you place content behind pay walls. Bioware just need to remove subscriptions altogether and just focus like they are now - on the cartel market. It's heading that way.

The extremely pedestrian pace of content releases, doesnt yield value for the majority, if it did, more would subscribe. And locking out the ability to post on the forums is yet another Bioware own goal. This lot simply do not understand community.

There is nothing to stop them having a forum for free to play to post in asking questions, where the COMMUNITY could engage. Some new players may have questions before subbing and it would be the best place to do this. But oh well.

I think Zynga invented the zynical model of making a game so that it is more poain than fun - but still gets people hooked - so that they can sell things to relieve that pain by buying something for in-game.

Most MMOs seem to have followed this model.