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

When you say "content behind paywalls" what exactly are you referring to (in regards this game)?

One of the main raiders in our guild was F2P for several months. He crafted and sold stims and adrenals, then bought all the unlocks he needed with the credits. There was no content beyond his reach, without spending real money.

Well I'm a sub and happy how things are, was F2P for awhile.

However F2P and Preferred are meant to be prohibitive to a large extent, if not why would any of us ever sub?

Again, thats a good point, and I would simply say that there should naturally be incentives to sub...but there should also be two other incentives IMO...

The incentive for potential F2P that are drawn in to the game to remain playing the game with the possibility of subbing or at least spending cash.

The incentive for former players to return to the game and eventually sub, or at least spend lots of cash.

And both of those points are just as important as getting current players to sub.

I am suggesting the removal of the few remaining items that I feel actually encourage folks to give this game a pass instead of a real try. Most of the draconian aspects of this particular game's F2P model were removed or altered to make them more palatable, and I think that was a good move.

But there are still a few remaining roadblocks, IMO, to player retention.

Things like the stale old Flashpoints and Operations and Warzones. You know, the kind of stuff you see people screaming out to others to join the group finder.

The cost of passes depends on your server, some are over the price cap for F2P or even preferred without escrows. I firmly believe if that remove the petty restrictions, all of the above would be thriving. It just means Bioware would either have to find a new revenue source or take the hit.

Absolutely, if you open up more of the game to free play, more free to play players would play those parts of the game! DUH! Of course!

But... where would the revenue come from if you did that? How do the dozens of men and women who work their tails off to bring us this entertainment get to pay their rent or feed their kids?

What do you (or do your parents) do for a living? How would you like it if people told you it was valueless and didn't pay you to do it? Would you keep doing it?

Fair enough. I haven't checked other servers to see if they're priced out of reach. It seems odd to me, though -- the primary market for "unlock passes" are F2P that don't want to spend cash. If a seller lists one above the price cap, who's buying them?

I suppose. It's true that if more were given for free there would be more people taking advantage of it.

When you say, "find a new revenue source", do you have any suggestions?

They could charge for newer Operations and flashpoints, so called expansions but the way content has been drip fed, they would need to be like Guild Wars 2 with its regular fortnightly updates. Then, people have more of a reason to subscribe and login.

Hell, they could even look at reskins of your toons to sell on the CM, like LoL does. Yes we have the vanity thing on the fleet but this could be like a full customisation reskin packs with a certain look, maybe even exclusive colours etc for 250cc

Cartel Market FTW!!! or did you not read any of the official EA financial announcements? If you are so worried(i doubt you are) about EAWare devs not being able to eat or sleep, you should stop being worried; EAWare has it covered.

Yes, no doubt that Bioware could put something like Legacy Mail behind a CM or Legacy unlock.

I'd point out that there are a few games in different genres that offer F2P that is much less restrictive (Path of Exile, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Neverwinter) that make a metric ton of money by offering what SWTOR calls the cartel market. These games do, in fact, make a good deal of money. Dota 2 is about to have an international tournament that was player funded and raised 7 MILLION dollars (that's not including the cut Valve took)!

Aesthetics are a vast source of currency. i've played all of the above games and in each of them, said to myself, "I'm playing this game for free, since I like it, i'll put some money into the game."

Now, picture SWTOR when I started in March. I was preferred on day 1, spent $250 within the first month, then subbed. I have no interest in purchasing anything more now that I'm subscribed, as I'm paying for content and now offer BW a small amount of money on a monthly basis.

In PoE, I spent ~$800 over a 6 month period, and that has ZERO restrictions at all - their model is 100% non-pay 2 win (example: stat crystals would NEVER be offered in PoE - that's paying for an advantage, and NOTHING can offer an advantage in their model) Neverwinter was ~$500 over 6 months.

I'll never get to that level in SWTOR now that I'm subbed, particularly because they OFFER the sub, they've lost money from me, but I think BW has underestimated the power of non-sub purchasing power.

But personally, I think that they're still really upset that their game was forced into F2P, and thus are overly aggressive in their attempts to "persuade" non-subs to become subs. If they made a game enjoyable without the NEED for F2P (locking content - operations, 4+ FPs/WZs, credit limit, XP reduction at 20+) , they'd have (more) people that make purchases purely for aesthetics and support for the game.

honestly, that notice once i hit 20 saying, "hey, we're reducing your xp rate now because you're not a sub" was a real stupid move. You got my (small) investment to remove that and get my character leveling with rested, regular XP - i even spent my remaining CC on the legacy boosts to ALL areas and it still feels slower than I'd like when i'm leveling.

They got a 3 month sub from me, and a giant reduction in additional financial support. i'll be preferred and they'll not get my typical 50-100 dollars of "free to play support" I usually toss at a free to play game because they're not free to play, they offer a sub, and think the hybrid model (i.e. punishing players that don't feel the game is worth a subscription, maybe because there is a lack of content being released, maybe because the game offers lacking options in end game) benefits them more than a higher population and more opportunity for independent-player financial support based on the quality of their game.