I personally have mixed feelings about TOR going from P2P to F2P (freemium). This is more of a hook line and sinker more so than giving free trials. It could be a money sink for people that do not purchase a sub (good for BW). People will realize that it is cheaper to get a sub and pay the monthly fee instead of getting nickel and dimed (still good for BW).
This happened to me in DDO. I had stopped playing DDO while it was still P2P then came back later after it was F2P. I no longer had access to the areas I had before, but still played. I got to talking to some people in game and they invited me to join them in an instance but I did not have access to go there. They were kind enough to get me a “pass” for that instance (using their DDO Coin, a great marketing idea to gain members to join guilds); I ended up joining their guild.
Back to my first sentence about mixed feelings. Mixed in that I don’t know what will actually be affected and what BW will implement fully with the “Cartel Coins”. I share with what a lot of people are saying that P2W would not be good. As long as all items are accessible by all those that are P2P and F2P. The F2P folks may not be able to get into the area the item is located at unless BW allows a “pass” system like DDO has, or allow a F2P to purchase the item on the GTN this would inflate the cost of the item (good for the P2P if BW does not limit the amount of credits a F2P can hold).
I have read where some people are concerned that more kids will be playing the game than before. This does not bother me too much, because there are a lot of kids that play this game already (along with many other games). There are even adults that have the mentality of a kid. I have always just “vote kick” or “kick” and /ignore these “kids”.
The one thing I am looking forward to (if BW follows through with it) is more World Events like the Rakghoul event. Events that come and go, and once they are gone can’t be repeated like the current FPs. These events would have specific rewards for that event. A month after the event some guys asks you “Where did you get that armor, it is bad __s?”, “I got it last month when the Sith Forces laid siege to the Republic Base on Illum a world PvPvE event”.
Like I said, my mixed feelings are not knowing all the details about the F2P route BW is going. Guess I will just have to wait and see.