Just saw an interesting post on mmochamp detailing how to play swtor for half a year and only spend 40 dollars.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1227491-A-guide-to-min-maxing-your-F2P-experience-%28Revised%29

I mean, I only pvp so for me this will work really well. Its really a shame about the operation passes not granting access to hard mode or night mare mode.