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Updated Restrictions, from a F2P perspective, what a mess.
Karteli
Member CommonPosts: 2,646
Here are the restrictions placed on Free to Play (FTP) players. More added as I discover them on the PTS, as time goes on.....
Character Creations Restrictions
Information courtesy of Settesh
- Jedi Knight – Human, Zabrak
Jedi Consular – Human, Zabrak
Smuggler – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
Trooper – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg - Sith Warrior – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
Sith Inquisitor – Human, Zabrak
Agent – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
Bounty Hunter – Human, Zabrak, Cyborg
1. Chat & General stuff
- General chat/Trade/PvP limited to one message every minute (shared timer)
- No trading with other players
- Can not send mail
- No /who usage
- Say chat/tells/groups/ops not restricted.
- No access to Emergency Fleet Pass
- 2 hr cooldown on Quick Travel
- No access to Cargo Hold
- No access to Guild Bank
- Cannot expand inventory tabs by credits
- No access to Section X
- No rest XP
- Cannot equip purple/artifact quality gear.
- Cannot equip event stuff
- Limited to 3 Space Missions/week
2. Quickbars
- One quickbar only with 12 abilities. You can still use extra abilities off the abilities window. [UPDATED SEE BELOW]
3. Appearance
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4. Coins & Commendations
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5. GTN
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6. Companions & crew skills
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7. Emotes & Moods
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8. PvP
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9. Flashpoint & Operations
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UPDATE, thanks to an uproar across social sites:
We've been observing PTS closely over the last few days. In that time, we have generally been very pleased with how well the build has been performing, as well as overall reaction to the build both on the boards and in-game. That being said, based on community and internal feedback here and further deliberation, we will in short order make the following changes to the Free to Play restrictions:
There are a couple of key concepts that should be kept in mind as you review free to play changes. The first is that, to be honest, all of you are looking at a gameplay mode that you will likely never see. Subscribers who choose to cancel their account will typically revert to something that we refer to as preferred status. My fellow designer Nathan Emmott has a post up describing the ins and outs of Preferred Status. Originally, the second quickslot bar was part of preferred status, but this morning based on feedback here and what they were seeing in the community we decided to give it to everyone.
The second is Warzones. Perhaps the most interesting point regarding the Warzones limitation is that some players have concerns that putting limitations on Warzone runs might make Warzone queues less likely to fire. While it is possible that this may happen, we don't think it will -- our subscriber base likely will not shrink much, and for some of our competitors, converting to Free-to-Play has resulted in a subscriber increase! Which means that Warzone queues should likely see improvement from what you experience in game, and at minimum be relatively unchanged in experience.
That being said, one of our golden rules is that the Free-to-Play experience should not cheapen the experience for paying subscribers. If it turns out that the Free-to-Play conversion results in a degraded Warzone experience once we go live for subscribers, you can rest assured that we will quickly make adjustments to the system to ensure that subscribers have an optimal experience.
That being said, it is important conversely that the subscription offers subscribers strong, tangible benefits over the Free-to-Play experience. We value our subscribers greatly, and they are crucial to the success of Star Wars: the Old Republic.
Thank you for helping being our guinea pigs through this experience, and please continue to keep posting your feedback on issues here. We're listening!
- Free-to-Play players will now get a second quickslot bar.
- Free-to-Play players will now be able to do 5 Warzones per week instead of 3.
- The Cartel Coin item lock (i.e. temporary bind) will be reduced to 3 days for Free-to-Play players, and 2 days for subscribers.
There are a couple of key concepts that should be kept in mind as you review free to play changes. The first is that, to be honest, all of you are looking at a gameplay mode that you will likely never see. Subscribers who choose to cancel their account will typically revert to something that we refer to as preferred status. My fellow designer Nathan Emmott has a post up describing the ins and outs of Preferred Status. Originally, the second quickslot bar was part of preferred status, but this morning based on feedback here and what they were seeing in the community we decided to give it to everyone.
The second is Warzones. Perhaps the most interesting point regarding the Warzones limitation is that some players have concerns that putting limitations on Warzone runs might make Warzone queues less likely to fire. While it is possible that this may happen, we don't think it will -- our subscriber base likely will not shrink much, and for some of our competitors, converting to Free-to-Play has resulted in a subscriber increase! Which means that Warzone queues should likely see improvement from what you experience in game, and at minimum be relatively unchanged in experience.
That being said, one of our golden rules is that the Free-to-Play experience should not cheapen the experience for paying subscribers. If it turns out that the Free-to-Play conversion results in a degraded Warzone experience once we go live for subscribers, you can rest assured that we will quickly make adjustments to the system to ensure that subscribers have an optimal experience.
That being said, it is important conversely that the subscription offers subscribers strong, tangible benefits over the Free-to-Play experience. We value our subscribers greatly, and they are crucial to the success of Star Wars: the Old Republic.
Thank you for helping being our guinea pigs through this experience, and please continue to keep posting your feedback on issues here. We're listening!
2 Hotbars should not have even been a second thought though. 5 WZ's instead of 3 will make little difference. The rest still all adds up to a pretty yucky Freemium system going in. Therefore:
EA should not be anywhere near a Star Wars license!! 
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
Comments
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
All those restrictions = No Player support
What a joke...EA can blow me!
Hey!, maybe they WANT to annoy people away, what do we know
All this will surely work in that direction.
yea im fine with restrictions but some of this stuff is downright crazy.. no hide helmet option? really? only one skill bar? also little odd they upped the PVP gear prices for F2P when you are limited the 3 warzones a week anyway...
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
This is a good speculation as to their intent. If EA can MAKE this game fail, then they might be able to excuse themselves from their obligation with George Lucas .. an obligation which carries a high cost.
In essense, EA might be trying to get this game to tank, because in the long run, it's more profitable. They still need to show that they "tried", which will be important in court hearings.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
I expect nothing less from EA/Biowaste.
They cannot even copy a "successful" F2P model.
They are going to offer the full leveling experience 1-50 with access to all the story completely for free, and that is very generous in my opinion.
I honestly see this thread filling up with all the cheapskates and freeloaders complaining that they can't have everything for free and hating on EA for being so evil and greedy.
The one skill bar has to be seriously one of the worst f2p restrictions Ive ever heard of, and supposedly its something like $25 to unlock it for your entire account.
This isnt f2p, its an unlimted trial that does everything it can to force you to sub, just like AoC's f2p conversion.
My Guild Wars 2 Vids
Well restrictions weren't sounding that bad before minus the gear restriction and the quick bar slot access, but now... it just went stupid. Honestly I might not even bother, was thinking of it for a time filler but its just so dumb now its not even worth trying to play. The game isn't even that great to warrent this type of restrictions.
Good luck trying to even enjoy the 1-50 story content considering how asinine all these extra restrictions they tacked on.
I hope that's sarcasm. What good is a mediocore video game story compared to gameplay? Games are about gameplay, and these restrictions make it rediculously tedious that the classic Atari ET game shakes its head.
We are fine with, understand, and were expecting limitations. Forcing people to play with one skill bar is removing actual game functionality from people who do not pay. You don't lock away core functionality and then say open your wallets and expect people to be ok with that.
My Guild Wars 2 Vids
SWTOR was suppose to be an MMORPG. Ask yourself if it is.
Cheapskates? Umm 2.5 million tried this game knowing that it had a subscription. 2 million+ quit. Are those people, including me, cheapskates?
I'd pay 50 bucks a month for a superior Star Wars experience. The fact that SWTOR isn't worth 15 bucks a month to all the people who left should chime a bell in your head.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
Yes if you bought the game and thought about possibly coming back your a cheapskate.
What a slap in the face. EA gives a big FU to players that think "meh I'll play it and not spend anything"
-1 Hotbar?
-Crew skill that returns lockboxes do not return lockboxes. Instead, players are asked to subscribe to get full rewards. So if you think "gee, since i can only get 1 crew skill, then I'll get slicing or treasure hunting for the extra creits", think again.
-Emotes unlock at random with purchase of cartel packs.
Amazing how the went through the list of things they could lock and pretty much checked off everything.
But SWTOR is going to be FREE to play. Heaven forbid they CHARGE people real money to play. And btw, you can SPEND real money to "unlock" all those things. But wait.....its FREE to play. F2Pers brought this on themselves. I really don't care if SWTOR sinks or swims after so-called f2p goes live as ALL f2p games are a rip-off!
Let's party like it is 1863!
Pretty sure Bioware brought this on themselves by making a lackluster Star Wars game.
My Guild Wars 2 Vids
TOR's craptastic F2P model should make it perfectly clear that although a player can technically play the game for free, EA has does every possible thing to make that player not want to.
Some of the things on the restriction list are just stupid and insulting....
Not that I'd care to touch TOR with someone else's 10 foot pole.
But they think this effort is going to be successful? Really?
Morons.
Didn't one of the developers say something to the effect of:
"this game didn't do well because the players are dumb".
It someone wants to carry their "Free" status in this game, it will cost them over $100 to unlock basic stuff that is normally included in actual Free to Play Games.
Aion is a great example. The whole game is unrestrictive. The cash shop only consists of furniture for player housing, xp buffs, and costumes + illusions. NCSoft makes money from this game because people WANT to spend money, not because they NEED to.
EA is just following other games .. they made a WoW clone, now they're following LOTR's & DDO's cash shop .. wonderful. EA leading the industry? I think not.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
Only difference I see here is that EA isnt waiting until end game to give the F2P players something to cry about, a time frame this crowd is more accustomed to.