Any idea how much less experience you get for being a f2p player, and does it affect both quest and kill experience or just kill experience.

 

Seems a bit of a strange thing to add, and could put a few people off.

From my experience on the PTS I found it strange to have it presented so negatively. Instead of saying Subscribers get a bonus after level 10, they say you lose XP as a non-subscriber. I can't remember what the reduction was though. However, if you do all the quests including the bonus series, don't bypass all the mobs in the area and do a few space missions and FPs along the way you should be fine. If you are wanting to blow through to 50 as fast as you can you will need XP boosts, but otherwise I've found my characters to always be overleveled if I wasn't skipping stuff.

Seems a bit of a strange thing to add, and could put a few people off.

 

Yeah, the marketing for F2P has been atrocious. It's marketing school 101 - you should frame being a subscriber as a benefit, NOT being a free player as a restriction. Yet all of their marketing has been "these are the restrictions for F2P players." Frickin' amateur hour over at this studio. They can't even grasp basic business psychology and advertising.

 

As for the experience - don't worry about it. I skipped numerous quests in my leveling experience, mainly the heroic missions requiring a party to complete, and skipped all of the Flashpoints except the first one, and I still found myself 3-4 levels higher than the majority of enemies I fought. You won't have any issues keeping up

thanks for the info, that is handy to know, was looking to resubscribe in the near future, and was a little concerned if I returned and quested as a f2p player I would struggle keeping my characters level with the content they are currently up to.

You'll never have to grind, and you're given many experience boosts as quest rewards that return your rate to normal, anyway. Personally, I tend to miss out on a lot of content while levelling up (particularly bonus series), so there is definitely enough out there to hit 50 without a hitch. And that's if you don't take advantage of the allotted flashpoints and warzones.

Ran a quick test,

Created two Jedi Knights, one on subscription account, one on f2p.

 

Killed through the first quest.

- Mobs killed gave 21, 33, or 35 xp. This was the same for both characters.

- Quest gave 512 xp. This was the same for both characters.

 

So at least at first, there was no xp difference between subscribe and f2p. Still wondering what the difference is other than rested xp.

I though F2P got the same experience as was standard prior to 1.5, and subscribers got a bonus. I wasn't under the impression that F2P xp went down from the pre-1.5 ratio. If the F2P xp rate is the same as pre-1.5 it will NOT affect your ability to level, and you may even slightly outpace some content if you do all the bonus series and a few flashpoints.

From Free-2-play comparison chart (http://www.swtor.com/free/features)

 

Experience rate -

Subscription - Gain Experience Points (XP) faster than Preferred Status and Free-to-Play players.

Preferred - takes longer to gain Experience Points (XP)

Free-to-Play - takes longer to gain Experience Points (XP)

 

I have not found the difference between subscription and Free-to-Play, so far my Subscription and Free-to-Play characters are gaining the same XP.

From Free-2-play comparison chart (http://www.swtor.com/free/features)

 

Experience rate -

Subscription - Gain Experience Points (XP) faster than Preferred Status and Free-to-Play players.

Preferred - takes longer to gain Experience Points (XP)

Free-to-Play - takes longer to gain Experience Points (XP)

 

I have not found the difference between subscription and Free-to-Play, so far my Subscription and Free-to-Play characters are gaining the same XP.

 

See, that only demonstrates an xp boost to subscribers. What I'm asking is if F2P has actually had a reduced XP rate, or if they are at 100% of the original pre-patch rate while subscribers were given a passive permanent xp boost, thus operating at, say, 110% of the pre-patch amount.

Regardless, still playing a subscription character side-by-side with a f2p character and I have not seen ANY xp difference.

Regardless, still playing a subscription character side-by-side with a f2p character and I have not seen ANY xp difference.

 

Thanks for doing the research, that was one of my concerns now that my account was switched to preferred.

See, that only demonstrates an xp boost to subscribers. What I'm asking is if F2P has actually had a reduced XP rate, or if they are at 100% of the original pre-patch rate while subscribers were given a passive permanent xp boost, thus operating at, say, 110% of the pre-patch amount.

 

I have the exact same question. A lot of people aren't understanding that when I ask as well.

Don't quote me on this ,but I heard somewhere that F2P characters dont Accrue Rest EXP?

Ran a quick test,

Created two Jedi Knights, one on subscription account, one on f2p.

 

Killed through the first quest.

- Mobs killed gave 21, 33, or 35 xp. This was the same for both characters.

- Quest gave 512 xp. This was the same for both characters.

 

So at least at first, there was no xp difference between subscribe and f2p. Still wondering what the difference is other than rested xp.

 

Doesnt happen until after level 10

Doesnt happen until after level 10

 

Wait, so there is a difference in exp gained after level 10 (excluding rest exp)? And by that I mean sub 100% exp from subscriber to F2P. What I've noticed so far (I think) is that they have removed the 3 stage bonus missions for the F2P. That does limit exp gain but I don't see it as earning less for quests, mobs, etc. Any additional research would be helpful.

I have a solution: don't unsub from the game if you like it.

Doesnt happen until after level 10

 

Thanks for that. Maybe I will try to continue the test post lvl 10. Or is it possible you can say what the observed xp difference is?

 

Don't quote me on this ,but I heard somewhere that F2P characters dont Accrue Rest EXP?

 

Yes, no rest xp. This is stated in the F2P matrix.

Edited November 24, 2012 by LOWTHOR

I have a solution: don't unsub from the game if you like it.

 

There is no problem here, just a discussion, so you can take your "solution" and shove it where the sun doesn't shine, troll.

Ok, I've done some more playing and testing and have information on my observed F2P experience reduction:

 

I made two characters, one on my subscription account, one on a new f2p account.

I created the subscription character on a new server so it was not affected by my legacy.

 

They are on different PVE servers. Both the same, female human Jedi Knight, same appearance, same name.

 

For levels 1-9, they received the same experience. Since my subscription character did get some rested experience, I made sure to bleed off the rested experience to keep them even.

 

At level 10, they both became Jedi Knight Sentinels. The f2p character received a warning that "Free to Play players begin gaining reduced experience and Valor points at level 10." "begin gaining reduced experience" seems to be pretty wonky grammar.

 

I then tested experience gains. I compared MOB xp, Legacy xp, Discovery xp, Codex xp, and Mission xp. Oddly, both characters continued to gain the same xp. I then logged off for the night.

 

As I suspected, when I logged back in, experience was no longer equal. The f2p character was now receiving reduced xp.

 

I will use the quest "Senator's Stolen Goods" as the comparator. According to Darthhater, Torhead, and swtor-spy, this mission had been giving 1710 xp prior to patch 1.5.

 

Kill a level 9 mob

sub - 67 xp, 15 legacy

f2p - 54 xp, 15 legacy (-20%)

 

Kill a level 10 mob

sub - 78 xp, 17 legacy

f2p - 63 xp, 17 legacy (-20%)

 

Kill a level 11 mob

sub - 81 xp, 18 legacy

f2p - 65 xp, 18 legacy (-20%)

 

Quest turn in

sub - 2181 xp, 570 legacy

f2p - 1745 xp, 570 legacy (-20%)

pre-1.5 - 1710 xp

 

So I saw a 20% reduction in experience for f2p. However, if Darthhater is correct, mission experience was increased by about 25% overall with 1.5 (I cannot verify the Darthhater/torhead numbers). So even my f2p character was getting more xp than my old characters prior to 1.5. Legacy experience was not reduced for my f2p character.

 

The experience change was indeed a reduction for my f2p character, rather than just a boost for my sub's experience. I say this because my f2p character got MORE xp at level 9 for killing a mob then she did at level 10.

 

I did observe that the f2p experience reduction did not occur until I logged off after reaching level 10. So stay logged on after 10 as log as possible until this is fixed.

Edited November 30, 2012 by LOWTHOR

That would explain something I've been wondering about. It definitely seems that my characters level even faster than before 1.5 hit and if they indeed upped the quest rewards, that would explain it.

From my experience on the PTS I found it strange to have it presented so negatively. Instead of saying Subscribers get a bonus after level 10, they say you lose XP as a non-subscriber. I can't remember what the reduction was though. However, if you do all the quests including the bonus series, don't bypass all the mobs in the area and do a few space missions and FPs along the way you should be fine. If you are wanting to blow through to 50 as fast as you can you will need XP boosts, but otherwise I've found my characters to always be overleveled if I wasn't skipping stuff.

 

The number is either -25% or -30% and there is no rested XP either.

And they cant really "do a few space missions and FPs along the way" since they can only do 3 of each every week...

This is exactly why we are seeing an influx of people asking for help with their class missions because they are underleveled for them. (yes, theres always the lazy sods that dont want to do anything but their class missions, but those are in the minority).

F2P players are falling behind on the leveling curve for their class missions unless they do ALL the sidequests and ALL the heroics on every planet.

Any idea how much less experience you get for being a f2p player, and does it affect both quest and kill experience or just kill experience.

 

Seems a bit of a strange thing to add, and could put a few people off.

 

Its barely enough to really matter. That's the truth.