I freely confess I re-upped for the party jawa and the coins. If my total coin count allows me to "purchase" the options I want (more species choices and character slots primarily), I will be quickly unsubbing in 3 days.

Thanks! I hope I am the target market. As mentioned, I DO like the game enough to play it, and if the game was a single-player game, I'd have bought it, played it, and been happy with it. But since it's an MMO, I like it just enough to get the story out of it, but not enough to go through the gear-grinds, legacy unlocks, blah, blah, blah. I do that on the MMOs I DO like enough to pay to play. And while I'm not 12 years old and living on a pittance, I am subbed to several MMOs, and have multiple accounts on one, so that $15 a month is starting to add up. And unlike some, I do not play THIS MMO for hours a month...not enough time and games I like better. So where I can save, I will...and this seems like the way to go for me. Thanks for all the advice and happy gaming!

Great concern! I didn't think about that, and I don't think Bioware has specified how many SLOTS a f2p player gets. All they've said is that you'll be "limited" in the character creation choices. But simply put, if I had to, and it meant saving the $15 a month, I could easily delete a level 50 to roll a new character for the story. Not optimal, but would do it.

So, I unsubscribed when the 6 month subscription I bought upon release lapsed, for reasons articulated by me and others in the "Unsubscribers Thread". But, with f2p on the horizon and free cartel coins and a "party jawa" to grab, I decided to re-up for a month or two, at least until f2p goes live. Since returning, I have found the game's play to be MUCH smoother (at least for me) so that is a plus. I also discovered that much of the repetitive, non-story content can be skipped as there are many more quests to do on a given planet than are actually needed to level past that planet, which has greatly sped up my push to get the class stories complete and also increased my enjoyment of the game. I also picked up the SWTOR encyclopedia and it got me psyched to revisit. At least for me, the SWTOR ancillary products seem to be much better than the game itself, but that is a debate for another thread. But the encyclopedia had some spoilers for the class stories which I skipped as I actually decided I did want to play them, especially when they go f2p. I now have about 2300 cartel coins. Since we don't know how much the "bolt on options" will cost, I don't know how far that will go or how much content that will allow me in terms of Ops. So my question is this...Is it worth resubbing if I'm ONLY interested in the story of the game? I don't care about gear. I don't care about endgame as such. I don't care about pets, or mounts, or vanity stuff (I play another game for that). I only want to get the stories of the 8 classes, and play through the FPs and Ops once or twice on easy mode to see how they tie in to the overarching story...which I understand some do on a fairly important level. If that's all I want to experience, can I get that with f2p and spending my free cartel coins, and if need be, buying a few more to unlock some story? Or do I REALLY have to pay $15 a month to get the whole deal? TL;DR: If I'm only interested in the games story as told through the class stories, FPs, and OPs (which I can pay for with cartel coins), is a full sub really worth it?

6 month subber, with Founder title, sub expires in 6 days. Unsubbed. Game just couldn't hold my interest...and when I realized that, without the Star Wars trappings, I'd definitely not be playing this game, that was the final nail in the coffin. Next time, just because something says "Star Wars" on it, or perhaps BECAUSE it says "Star Wars" on it, as Obi Wan said... "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

Really? You want to argue SEMANTICS with me?!? REALLY?!? hall·mark (hôlmärk) n. 1. A mark indicating quality or excellence. 2. A mark used in England to stamp gold and silver articles that meet established standards of purity. 3. A conspicuous feature or characteristic: "The sense of guilt is the hallmark of civilized humanity" (Theodor Reik). I used "hallmark" in the sense of definition #3: A conspicuous feature or characteristic. I never said "hallmark" meant "first", "mark of quality" or "pointed to as...a defining feature" so don't give me "hints" until you learn how to use a dictionary yourself. And "definining" does not mean "conspicuous", which means: con·spic·u·ous (kn-spky-s) adj. 1. Easy to notice; obvious. 2. Attracting attention, as by being unusual or remarkable; noticeable. See Synonyms at noticeable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [From Latin cnspicuus, from cnspicere, to observe : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + specere, to look; see spek- in Indo-European roots.] What I SAID was "Vanity pets were a hallmark of WoW." What I MEANT was "Since WoW was the first MMO to introduce vanity pets, they stand out as an obvious, noticeable feature that attracts attention. SWTOR is not using them as a "hallmark" in this sense, but as yet another way to imitate WoW...badly." And the REAL point of my post was that I don't feel that vanity pets are very Star Wars-y. They're definitely WoW-y now...so much that WoW is building a much maligned (by the WoW haters) mini game around them to make them even more useful. But vanity pets in Star Wars? C'mon...if Han Solo had a baby Tauntaun following him around, he'd just shoot it. And btw Kharnis, I'm done now, so if you want to get the last word in, be my guest.

All of these games came out when? AFTER WoW...WoW did the mini-pets first, so they were what? "A HALLMARK of WoW". And I didn't call ANY game that came out after WoW a WoW knockoff...just SWTOR...because it is.

If they gave me enough $20 bills to make up for my CE and my initial six month sub, I would not.

rofl!

They have these...they're called "Companions".

Gotta say...the whole mini-pet thing just cracks me up!! Vanity/mini-pets were such a singular hallmark of WoW that they've even decided to add a mini-game to make them useful, which many WoWers are complaining about as Pokemon-esque. Now SWTOR has mini-pets...about the single most un-Star Wars-y thing I've ever seen. LOVED 'em in WoW...HATE 'em here...If you're gonna do pets, do droids, or SOMETHING Star Wars-y. Imagine Luke, or Han, or Anakin or whoever with a little tauntaun pet following them around?!?! The closest the movies came to that was the Ewoks. And with them, SWTOR is now creating another dilemma...for some, the vanity pets are just going to be a reminder of how SWTOR is a WoW knockoff with a Star Wars skin. For others, like me, it will be "What the HECK do vanity pets have to do with Star Wars?" Eventually, if and when SWTOR decides to make a mini-game out of these pets, I hope all the current WoW hating, SWTOR loving folks will have the cojones to admit that WoW did it first, and not leap to bash WoW but defend SWTOR.

Hi Black...a very well thought out post. I was not a new MMORPG player when I came to SWTOR and agreed with much of what you say...and had my own reasons for unsubbing. My sub ends in 3 weeks. As a new MMORPG'er...if you like the genre, and as you say, like exploration, you really should try World of Warcraft...the exploration and the sense of open space are one of the best things about that game. I think you'd dig it. Just a suggestion. *edited to change name from "Blade" to "Black".

Thanks for the advice everyone. Indeed to each their own...and based on your helpful responses and my own thought processes, I must regretfully concede that SWTOR just isn't the game for me, much as I wanted it to be. Felt the same way about WAR a few years ago...wanted to like it, but it just didn't hook me. Ah well, the great thing is, there are lots of games for every taste! Back to WoW and The Secret World for me. Imho, it IS Redfurry...strongly recommend trying it! *edited to correct Secret WAR to Secret WORLD...still have the name of the introductory FB game in my head.

Hello SWTOR players... I am coming to the court of public opinion because I simply can't seem to make up my mind otherwise. My dilemma is this... I REALLY, REALLY WANT to like SWTOR more than I do. The reasons I don't are the same that most people who are disenchanted have expressed elsewhere. However, the devs seem to making improvements in the right direction, so I'm inclined to hang on...but...and here's the big but... The MMOs I've loved in the past "had me at hello" and hooked me right off the bat. WoWs flyovers during the login, with the music and the narration summing up the story and seeing the other players beneath me just grabbed me right off the top and got me excited to play more, and I was hooked. So far, I'm enjoying the heck out of The Secret War...the modern world setting, the conspiracy theory thing, all of that had me hooked and dialed in right off the bat. SWTOR hasn't yet...I've tried starting two Siths, both Inquisitor and Warrior, a Jedi Knight, a Smuggler, an Imperial Agent, and a Bounty Hunter...and so far, I'm just meh. I can't seem to get psyched up. A lot of people who love SWTOR have said "Well, the starter planets aren't that great...it's like the first 10 levels of WoW or whatnot...You gotta get past that and into the mid game." But my problem again with that argument is the games I've loved I loved right off the bat. What do folks think? Am I giving up too early and really need to push past the 2 starter planets to really give the game a chance to hook me? Or is my inclination corect that if I'm not hooked by the end of Dromund Kaas or Coruscant I'm not gonna get hooked later?

To me this is one of the things most lacking in SWTOR and that WoW does EXCEPTIONALLY well. I've posted time and again on the WoW forums that the unsung heroes of WoW are the sound designers, composers and musicians. While the VO on SWTOR is really great, I could've done with a little less of it and a little more ambient sound... 1) Different sounds of my footsteps on different terrain 2) The actual sound of rain on Dromund Kaas, and other environmental effects 3) Ambient planet noise 4) Background conversations in cities 5) Creature noises other than the sound of their attacks and their "rawr" when they aggro. So many other possibilties. Adding audio textures to SWTOR would help a lot towards making it live and breathe. The hum of a lightsaber, while awesome, is not enough.